Struggling to be Honest

JacobxBella

Rated M

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or the franchise, as it belongs to Steph Meyers

Struggling to be Honest

Chapter 16

Bella sat up in bed gasping for breath as she quickly woke up from her dream. Panting she looked around her room and realized that it was rather bright for it to be night time. Looking at her clock she realized it was bright because it was ten in the morning. Throwing back the sheets she headed towards the bathroom to take a shower.

While the water of the shower cascaded over her, she thought about everything that she had learned less than twenty-four hours ago. The Volturi were coming, Edward was going to tip them off about the Quileute shifters today, and there could possibly be a bloodbath because of her and her decisions that affect everyone around her. Why couldn't she have just ignored her stubbornness and curiosity when it came to Edward and the Cullens? Just her finding out what he was, that she was his Singer, and him not having the will to kill her led her to believe that they could be happy as a vampire human couple. Instead it just set off a chain of events that could have been avoided had she not let herself be dazzled and walk right into their world. Well, it was all in the past now and she needed to focus on the future, i.e. tomorrow.

Shutting the water off, Bella stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. She towel dried her hair before wrapping the towel around her naked body. Once the towel was securely wrapped around her, she twisted the doorknob and opened the bathroom door, letting out a surprised yelp when she saw who was standing on the other side.

"Leah!" Bella exclaimed, backing a bit back into the bathroom. She really wasn't expecting Leah of all people to be here waiting for her. The last time she had seen her the she wolf had caught her and Jacob kissing on First Beach yesterday. Bella had been so sure that Leah was going to come and choke her out later, but she never showed up.

"Bella," Leah said curtly. She really didn't want to be here, far from it as she still held nothing but hate for the girl, but Jacob had asked her to pick up the pale face and escort her to where the leeches and Pack were going to training. "Hurry up and get dressed; we're going to the training session. You know, the one that is being called for because of your pitiful ass."

Bella flushed and ran past Leah into her bedroom, closing and locking the door behind her. Honestly, what was it with people catching her out of the shower? Still Leah's words rang in her head. The training the wolves and vampires would be doing together wouldn't even be happening had she just married Edward like she was supposed to. But her heart belonged to Jacob and she knew she made the right decision leaving Edward and going to Jacob. She knew that she still wasn't well liked by some of the Pack (Leah, Paul, and Jared) but she also knew she would gain a whole lot of respect from them for being the Alpha's Imprint. With that knowledge in mind, Bella dressed and stepped outside her room when she finished. Head held high she looked up at Leah square in her eyes and said, "You need to show me respect, Leah. I am the Jake's, the Alpha's Imprint after all, so I have some sort of authority over you. Now how about instead of being impatient with me, you hold your tongue and let's get a move on?"

Leah's eyes narrowed quickly and the next thing Bella knew, she had been grabbed by her hair and jerked forward, her head being forced upward as she tried to keep herself upright. She gasped in pain, shocked at the sudden movement and scared by the harsh look and fury in Leah's brown eyes. Leah leant in towards Bella's face and said in a low, menacing voice, "It's a few years to early for you to think you can tell me what to do. Now get your scrawny ass downstairs and outside so we can go, now."

As soon as she was let go, Bella hurried down the stairs and out the backdoor. Okay, maybe it wasn't a good idea to try and assert some female dominance over Leah just yet. Maybe when she grew into the role as an Alpha's Imprint everything would fall into place gradually. But as of right now, she valued her life and didn't want to test anymore of the she wolf's patience.

The two of them walked into the woods behind the house and Bella waited for Leah to phase before climbing on her back and holding on as the grey wolf ran quickly through the woods. It wasn't long before the two of them came upon the grounds where the Pack and Cullens had trained to fight the newborn army. Jacob smiled as he saw Leah approach with Bella and gently got his girlfriend off of his Beta's back. Giving her a kiss he said, "It's good to see that Leah got you here in one piece. She didn't give you a hard time, did she?"

"Uh, not really," Bella lied, knowing good and well her boyfriend didn't believe her. Jacob frowned and glared at Leah who growled in response, basically telling him to not mess with her at the moment. Jacob ignored Paul's wolfish laugh and turned to the Cullen coven that were waiting patiently.

Jasper nodded and said, "Thank you all for joining us once again. As you all know, the Volturi is coming and Edward has betrayed us and the Quileute Pack by telling Aro, Marcus, and Caius about the supposed werewolves. Alice's visions of what will tomorrow are unclear because the Shifters will be here, but in case of a fight, we need to be ready. That is why we have called another training session. Carlisle has asked me to be the curator once again, and Esme has packed four cooler full of food and drinks for the Shifters. We will have a few breaks, but it is best that we spend this whole day training and maybe even a little into the evening."

Jacob nodded and asked, "Is there anything absolute about Pixie's visions?"

Alice nodded and said, "The Volturi will be arriving at our house at exactly eleven AM sharp."

The young Alpha gave Alice a nod and turned to his Pack, asking them if they were ready. When they all gave their own confirmation, Jacob let Jasper take over. Jacob had opted to sit the training out for a few hours to give Bella some comfort, as she may begin to feel anxious as she watches the practice fights. He heard Jasper say that he would start the practice fights with vampire verses wolf first, wolf on the defensive and vampire on the offensive. The empath pointed to a brown wolf with dark grey around the eyes, which Jacob identified as Jared, and paired him up with Esme to fight.

While those two sparred, Bella looked around and noticed that a certain black wolf was missing. Turning to her boyfriend she asked, "Hey Jake, where's Sam?"

"He's still….recovering from losing his Alpha position yesterday," Jacob answered. "I had Leah help him home to Emily after I appointed her Beta."

"Leah's Beta?" Bella asked in surprise. She honestly had to wonder why Jacob would do that. To her, Leah just didn't seem like the right person to be Beta of the Pack; she let her emotions get the best of her and she easily flipped.

Jacob sat down on the ground and pulled Bella into his lap, holding her close. He looked into her chocolate eyes and said, "I made her my Beta because even though she might be a bit rash at times, she is actually very reasonable and logical in critical situations. When I was fighting Sam yesterday, I told him that if he didn't step down willingly I would kill him."

"Jake!" Bella exclaimed.

"I know, I know, but let me finish," Jacob said, calming his girlfriend down. "When I decided I would give a final blow, Leah stepped in front of me to protect Sam. She basically helped me to realize that I may have been going a bit too far in order to force Same to hand over the position of Alpha to me; she even threatened to fight me if I didn't. Because of her doing that, I realized that she can put her personal feelings aside and assess a situation clearly and carefully before making a decision. That's why I appointed her Beta and I trust her to take over for me when I can't attend anything that has to do with the Pack."

Bella was amazed that Jacob saw that kind of quality in Leah. From what she had seen, she was just mean, bitter, and had her heart broken too many times. But maybe she was more underneath the surface; she just hadn't seen it because Leah doesn't trust or like her. Deciding to take Jacob's word for it, she nodded and turned back to watch the session, Jared trading places with Paul and Esme with Emmett.

Leah sat quietly and watched Paul and the beefy vampire battle it out. She honestly was a little bored and wanted to be somewhere else. Maybe at home helping her mom cook or at the antique shop on the Res helping Mrs. Chopin place antiques on the shelves the little lady couldn't reach. Or maybe….

Shaking her head, Leah immediately tried to keep a certain long haired, grey eyed man out of her head. But even so, she wondered what he was doing or even if he was thinking about her. She began to wonder if she was sounding desperate. Before she could think of anymore, she felt her phone in her pants on her strap vibrate against her hind leg. Excusing herself she walked away into the woods to phase back into her human form and answer it.

"Hello?" Leah answered.

"Hey Leah, it's Kai," Kai's voice floated easily through the phone.

"Oh, hey! How's it going?" Leah replied, unable to keep the small smile from her face at hearing his voice.

"Pretty good, but I had a question for you."

"Shoot."

"Would you like to come to my place today?"

Leah's eyes widened at the question. Had Kai just invited her to his home on the Hoh Reservation? She asked him to repeat the question just to make sure she had heard right; she had.

"So, what do you say?" Kai asked, his voice sounding very hopeful.

"Sure, I'd love to," Leah answered.

"Great! Text me your address and I'll come and pick you up."

"Okay, I'll see you soon."

"Okay, see you."

Leah hung up and smiled while biting her lip. She was going to go to Kai's place. Getting dressed she ran over to Jacob and told him that she was leaving. When he asked her why, she said that she was meeting up with a friend, but promised to make up for her missed training session later on that night. When Jacob gave his consent for her to leave, she thanked him and took the keys to his Rabbit, telling him she'd leave the keys with her mom, and took off in his car seconds later to head home. She made it back to the Reservation quicker than she expected and hurriedly parked in front of her house.

Running inside, Leah gave Sue Jacob's car keys and told her that he'd be over to get them later before running straight for the bathroom. She immediately jumped in the shower, washing her hair and body in a timely manner and rinsed the suds down the drain before stepping out and towel drying her hair. The water droplets on her body had already evaporated, so she wrapped the towel around her body and quickly left the bathroom for her room. Leah put on clean underwear and bra before fumbling through her drawers for something nice to wear. By nice, she meant something presentable. Grabbing a pair of light blue skinny jeans, she put them on, zipping and buttoning them before looking for a shirt. She found a pale yellow cami and put it on, looking for some sort of over shirt to wear over it. As she looked, Sue stepped into her room, watching her daughter frantically look through her clothes.

"Sweetheart, what's the matter? Why are you running around like a lost dog?" Sue asked her daughter.

Leah stopped moving and turned to look at her mother, a dark blue button up in her hand. She looked down at the shirt, then looked back up at her mother before saying, "I'm uh, going to a friend's place."

Sue gave Leah a surprised look, then asked, "Is it a boy?"

When Leah nodded, Sue gave an exasperated sigh and said, "Leah honey, I think you need to take a break from boys. You just end up getting hurt. First it was Sam and then he Imprinted on Emily. Next it was Jacob and he Imprinted on Bella. Now this strange boy who I'm not familiar with is taking you to his home. He's probably just trying to seduce you into pleasing him. Leah, you need to stop and think this decision through."

"Okay one, you act like I'm still a virgin. I lost it to Sam, remember? You walked in on us after it was over. And B, you don't even know Kai. I don't know him well either, but from what I have seen, he is a genuinely nice guy and, and I think he likes me," Leah said, finishing with a slight blush.

"Okay, he likes you and you are apparently into him as well, but I just don't want to see you hurt again," Sue said as she watched her daughter put on the button up and search for a pair of socks.

"Well with the way we met, I probably hurt him."

"What do you mean?"

"I hit him with my car."

"What?!"

"He's fine, mom. In fact, he was walking around and flirting with me like it wasn't a big deal."

"Where is he from?"

"The Hoh Reservation. And if it helps you feel better, he's on his way here to pick me up, so you can meet him then."

Sue looked like she wanted to say more, but decided not to and left Leah's room. Leah sighed as she put on her socks and stuck her feet in her combat boots. She went back to the bathroom and combed her hair, just finishing when there was a knock on the door. She heard her mom answer the door, giving her time to run back to her room and grab her phone and put it in her pocket before walking down the hallway to the living room.

Entering the living room, she saw Kai standing there looking around before his grey eyes settled on her. He smiled at the sight of her, making her blush a little before she cleared her throat and said, "Mom, this is Kai Whitfield. Kai, this is my mom, Sue Clearwater."

Kai held out his hand for Sue to shake, saying, "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Clearwater. I must say, Leah definitely gets her looks from you."

Sue's eyebrows rose before she gave Kai a small smile and shook his hand, telling him to have her back by midnight. Embarrassed, Leah told Sue that she was twenty and didn't need a curfew anymore, but her mom insisted on midnight. Kai promised to have her back by then and he and Leah left her house, getting into his blue Chevy and driving away.

"I'm really sorry about my mom. She's been really protective of me and my brother after our dad passed," Leah said.

"It's no problem, really. I think she was just suspicious of me, since I don't live on your land and all," Kai replied easily.

Leah gave a small chuckle and asked Kai what he had planned besides showing her his place. He smiled and told her that she would just have to wait and see. The she wolf just rolled her eyes and shook her head, making the man in the driver's seat laugh. The two of them talked all the way to the Hoh Reservation, mostly about their likes and dislikes. When Kai passed over into the boundaries of his Reservation, he suddenly asked, "Leah, do you like bears?"

"What?" Leah asked confused.

Kai let out a small chuckle and repeated, "Do you like bears?"

"I don't know, why?" Leah asked.

"Just wondering," Kai replied, his tone indicating that maybe there was more to his question that what he had asked Leah. Leah didn't want to think anything suspicious of Kai just yet. After all, she had never felt so comfortable around a guy than she did when she was with Kai. But she didn't want their friendship to be suspicious, though it was obvious Kai wanted more than friendship with her.

In all honesty, Leah would be okay with dating Kai, but she wasn't sure if she was willing to open her heart up to that possibility again. Ten minutes later, Kai pulled up to and parked in front of a forest green house with red shutters and roof. Leah got out of the car and noticed an array of rose bushes lining both sides of the front of the home. Kai noticed her looking at the bushes and said, "My mom loves to do gardening and keeps the flowerbeds looking nice all the time."

Leah smiled and told him that the roses were beautiful, making him smile before he gently grabbed her hand and led her inside of his home. Leah tried to ignore the spark and shudder that ran through her from Kai's hand touching hers, but the storm of questions asking 'why' in her head came.

"Mom! Dad! I'm back, and I brought Leah!" Kai called as they entered his house. As soon as he finished calling out, a short brown haired woman came out of the kitchen and smiled sweetly at Leah , saying, "Why, hello dear. You must be the precious Leah Kai has told us about. My, you are as pretty as he said you were."

Leah blushed at the statement, hearing Kai groan in embarrassment next to her. She lifted her hand to rub the back of her neck, only to realize that Kai was still holding it. She shook their hands a bit before the man finally let it go, a blush on his face as well.

Turning back to Kai's mother, she said, "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Whitfield."

"Oh please, call me Julie. I would have Owen introduce himself as well, but he got called into work some time after Kai left to go get you," Julie said.

"Dad works too much," Kai said.

"Well, he helps to pay the bills, so it's alright," Julie replied before telling Leah to make herself at home. When Julie walked back into the kitchen, Kai lead Leah to his room where they sat on his bed in what should have been an awkward silence, but instead was rather comfortable. Leah wasn't sure what to say, but she really wanted to say something. But what would she tell Kai? There were so many things she could tell him about herself, but was afraid to open up that much, especially considering she just met him yesterday, but it just felt right being with him. It was like there was some sort of connection between them that was more than attraction, but she couldn't place what it could be. Was something wrong with her for feeling like she was moving too fast?

Suddenly Kai's voice called her out of her thoughts, causing her to look at him. Brown eyes met grey and the two of them sat and stared at each other. The next thing Leah knew, her chin was being held between a strong finger and thumb, and soft lips were pressing against hers.