PREVIOUSLY-

"Of course. I'd feel safer like that anyways. Jared, I trust both of your judgment, so I won't ever think you're trying to be controlling when you ask me to do something like that, I promise." I told him honestly and I could feel his relief over my words.

"You two better go ahead and sit back down because there's something I've been wanting the three of us to talk about." Paul stated.

I looked at him worriedly, but Jared led me to the recliner with him. He sat and pulled me down to sit on his lap.

"What is it?" I asked him curiously, biting my lip in anticipation.

"This whole Cullen thing. Tell me what happened? I only caught some of it in Jake's thoughts when I phased in and heard what I did when she was begging you to go with her at the border." Paul replied, needing to know.

"Well apparently she had a vision of me, you know, jumping off the cliff," I cringed, "and she figured out that she can't see you guys, so she couldn't see me being pulled out of the water by Jake, so she thought I'd killed myself. She came to see if it was true and while she was at my house, Edward called and asked to speak to Charlie. Jake answered the phone and told him that Charlie was making funeral arrangements, so I guess he thought it was for me instead of Harry and decided he wanted to kill himself because of it. That's when Alice asked me to go rush off to Italy to save him and out of nowhere, I had this amazingly strong need to be on the res. I needed to be with you guys. I told her no and begged Jake to run me to the border. You both know the rest." I explained out for them.

"So, if she goes to Italy and manages to save the fucker, do you think he might come back? I mean, we've already determined that they were all brainwashing you. If he reads her mind and finds out that you're not under their fucking spell anymore and that you're here with us, do you think he'll become a threat? Or if she doesn't make it in time and he offs himself, you think the rest will come for revenge?" Paul asked me seriously.

I had to admit that I hadn't thought about that. I'd been so caught up in the imprints that I hadn't really taken the time to process anything else.

Jared must've felt my worry over the thought and put his face into my neck, whispering to me, "You know we'll protect you no matter what. They can't get to you now."

"I know." I whispered back to him before looking at Paul. "And I don't know, to be honest. It would be in his character to do something like that. He was always so controlling and if he is alive and realizes that he's not in control of me anymore, he might come back. I don't necessarily think the rest would come for revenge. Maybe Alice and her husband Jasper, because they're so close with Edward, but definitely not Carlisle."

Paul nodded and looked at Jared. "We need to update Sam and keep our guard up for that too." He then turned back to me. "Now what about the redhead? We already know she's after you, but why?"

I took a deep breath and ran my fingers over the bitemark on my arm, which didn't go unnoticed by both of them. "Last spring when I was playing baseball with the Cullens, we had a run in with a group of nomads. It was the redhead, Victoria, Laurent, the one with the dreads that you guys killed, and James, a hunter. He kind of got obsessed with me and started hunting me. The Cullens took me all the way down to Arizona, but he followed. He blackmailed me into thinking he had my mom and made me meet him by myself to ensure her safety. Obviously it was a trap. He didn't have her, he just wanted me on my own. He broke my leg before they got there and…" I trailed off, unsure of how they would react to the rest.

"And?" Jared asked. I could already feel his anger at the subject.

I stood up out of his lap. "Please don't phase?" I uncovered my arm to show them the silvery bitemark of my wrist.

"The fucker bit you?!" Paul shouted angrily. I was definitely worried he might phase. I could feel Jared's anger, but he seemed to be keeping himself under control much better than Paul was.

"Carlisle had Edward suck out the venom before I could change. He almost couldn't stop, and I lost a lot of blood… not to mention my femoral artery was hemorrhaging because I got stabbed by a piece of broken mirror." I told them truthfully.

I watched as Paul stood up, started pacing back and forth with his eyes closed, muttering to himself, "Don't phase, need to calm down. Bella's alive. She's safe. Calm the fuck down."

I felt the urge to go to him, so I did. As soon as I was close, he breathed in and opened his eyes, looking directly at me.

"B, you need to—"

I cut him off by hugging him tightly. "I'm here, Paul. I'm alive, I'm safe. It happened before I met the both of you."

He took a few deep breaths and his shaking stopped. I let go of him and stepped backward to where Jared was standing guard and leaned into him, knowing that would relax him too.

"Better?" I asked Paul.

"Scenting you is like a fucking chill drug or something. It's like I immediately know you're safe and it just completely chilled me out." He responded.

"Good, now we can get to the reason why Victoria is after me." I replied, wincing. "Which might actually piss you both off to where I won't be able to calm you down…"

They both looked down at me in worry.

"Do we need to take this outside, Bella?" Jared asked me seriously.

I took a deep breath, weighing my options. "I think that might be for the best, just in case."

"Lovely." Paul muttered under his breath as all three of us walked outside.

Once we were in the backyard, away from any possibility of them being seen, they stood a good ways away from me.

"The reason she wants to kill me… James was her mate. Edward and his family killed him. She thinks that I'm Edward's mate… a mate for a mate." I spoke and I saw Paul shake immediately. I knew Jared was trying hard to control himself, but he was losing the battle.

Paul muttered, "Fuck it," and stepped further away before phasing and growling.

"You were never his mate. You're mine." Jared growled before he, too, phased.

I walked up to my dark brown wolf and reached out my hand, running it through his fur as he sniffed at my neck and whined.

"You know I'm yours, Jared. It was always meant to be this way." I promised him. He leaned down to where he could press his forehead against mine and within moments, the wolf turned back into the man.

His forehead stayed resting against mine for a long while as he breathed in deeply, calming himself.

I heard Paul yip and Jared kissed my forehead before he broke away from me, motioning for Paul to go run a circuit. When Jared had phased, he had shredded his clothes and I knew Paul did too. I didn't even remotely care about Jared's nakedness in front of me.

Without saying anything, I grabbed his hand and pulled him back inside.

I knew exactly what I needed to do, what he needed. I didn't even have a second thought in my mind. It was the strangest sensation, but I didn't need any words to know exactly what needed to be done.

I pulled him back to the bedroom and closed the door. He went to reach for a new set of shorts, but I placed my hand on his and shook my head no. He looked at me confusingly and his eyes turned to shock as I began to take my shirt off. I threw it down on the floor and unbuttoned my pants, pulling them off as well.

I stood there in front of Jared in only my bra and panties and reached for his hands. He was still in shock as he watched me bring his hands up to the back of my bra, letting him unhook it. The straps slowly slid down my arms and it fell to the floor as he gazed down at my bareness. I then moved his hands down to my panties and he hooked his thumbs in either side, beginning to push them downward until they just fell.

I stepped out of them and reached forward to wrap myself around Jared. It wasn't a sexual act. It was the intimacy that he needed. The skin on skin. He needed this. I backed him up to the bed and pushed him down on it, climbing in beside him. I wrapped my leg around one of his and held onto him with my head on his shoulder.

"I'm yours, Jared." I murmured into his skin, placing soft kisses on his collarbone.

"You're my everything." He replied quietly as he reached over to kiss the top of my head.

I don't even know how long we stayed like that. I'd never felt such peace in my life.

A/N- Well, was that what you were expecting? Sorry my posting has been sporadic. Between doctors appointments and Hogwarts Legacy, I've been pretty consumed.