Disclaimer: I do not own any character you recognize, all you don't though are mine.

Chapter 4:

Wolves and Police Cruisers

The wind whipped through my hair, and was hitting Jacob in the face. The motorcycle hummed underneath me and was making a loud roar that tuned everything else out. Zipping past trees at lightning speeds with a stop sign up ahead. I screeched to a halt and let out a huge sigh.

"I really needed this," I said to myself and put my foot on the ground.

"I was thinking you might have," Jacob said which made me jump, I had completely forgotten he was here. The pressure of his touch on my waist, to me, was not him. We had only driven a mile, but in that time, the person sitting behind me, clinging to me had turned from Jacob to Edward.

"Thank you Jacob," I said trying to sound as sincere as I could, not letting him know that he was just Edward in my mind.

"Your welcome Bells, but I think I should drive now," he said looking down at my foot. My eyes stayed forward, I knew what was there, and I knew he was right; I shouldn't be driving a motorcycle with that on my foot.

That's why Jacob and my relationship was so different then mine and Edward's. Jacob let me drive even though he knew I probably shouldn't, he was letting me do what I wanted and though he may be worried about what decisions I make, he will still give me the option of doing it. Edward was stubborn, he thinks he knows what is best for me and acts on those thoughts; sometimes without even consulting me.

"Oh, of course," I said and got up from the bike. He too got up and started to move for the front, but when he reached me I was going left and so was he. We did an awkward little dance around each other and didn't touch; he got on first and waited for me to get situated.

"So, where to?" He said beaming.

"Anywhere," I said and placed my arms around his waist.

"Excellent."

With that we were off down the lonely street, the only thing that stopped the trees from enveloping us. It was a beautiful day in forks which would be a horrible day anywhere else. The clouds shielded the city from what I had come to think of as the threatening sun, billowy and dense they filled the sky but did not stop the sun's heat from reaching me and all my senses. The air smelled clean and open as I rode with Jacob tasting, smelling, hearing, and feeling everything. I was elated and let myself smile genuinely for the first time since last night.

Jacob must have sensed that and accelerated to illegal and dangerous speeds. I threw my head back and closed my eyes, this was a mistake. As soon as my eyes were closed I saw Edward's face and my heart jumped. Being startled my grip on Jacob loosened; I promptly opened my eyes and regained my grip around Jacob's large waist, more tightly then before. One of his hands left the handlebar and met mine, he folded his fingers around both of my hands and held it there securing my grasp.

Though I didn't know where we were going, the fact that I let him choose, I should have guessed that we would end up over Emily's house. We pulled up to the quaint little house surrounded by trees and flowers of all colors and sizes. I loved Emily's house, it was so warm and inviting, like little red riding hood visiting her grandma in the woods, except the big bad wolf didn't eat the grandma, he was marrying her. Sam, Emily, and the rest of the wolf pack had been my family when the Cullens left me, seeing them again made my stomach flutter with excitement.

I walked in and it was just as I had left it. Emily was cooking immeasurable amounts of food while the boys sat at the table poking and prodding each other like kindergarteners on a sugar high. Sam was sitting on the couch ignoring them, much like Charlie when he watched his football games, but he wasn't alone, sitting next to him was someone I didn't recognize. They both must have noticed that I was looking at them; they turned quickly and looked at me. Sam reacted with excitement; he jumped off the back of the couch and ran over to me, picked me up and spun me till I was seeing stars.

"Sam! Jeez, let her breath," Emily said smiling and folding her arms.

He put me down gently and took a step back, I was surprised to see him so happy to see me. I knew Sam liked me, but after everything with Edward I assumed that elation at the sight of me was out of the question. "Sorry Bella, it just feels like forever since I have seen you, how are you?"

"Good," I said, this wasn't the absolute truth, not a lie either, I was very happy to see everyone again, but Edward was still very much lodged in my mind.

"Come sit down Bella," Emily said pointing at two open chairs, one for me, and one for Jacob.

As I sat there I noticed the boy, who was yet to be introduced to me, was staring at me intently, almost fiercely. I could see his face now, he had dark brown eyes, almost black, and short just-got-out-of-bed hair that sprung out in all different angles. His build was that of all the boys in the pack, tone and looked very, very strong. As he stared at me his gaze changed from curiosity to anger, he looked as though I had killed his mother years ago and this was the first time seeing me, he wanted revenge, but I was positive I had never met him before.

I caught Sam's eyes out of the corner of my own; he was looking from me to this new person back and forth. He wasn't smiling though, his face was concerned, worried even. Before anything could happen Sam spoke up, "Oh, Bella this Ayden, my cousin from my father's side. He's visiting us for a couple of weeks."

I smiled at him, but his stare didn't change. He just kept looking at me and I was starting to get scared.

"Ayden, this is Bella, she is a friend." Emily said noticing the lack of emotional change in his face.

"Chill out Ayden, she knows," Jacob stepped in at last, taking a step forward placing himself in between Ayden and myself.

"If she knows, why does she smell like that," his voice was rough, old sounding, but he looked no older than 17 in the face.

"That's not something you have to worry about," Jacob was getting tense, this situation was turning volatile.

"Ever since I've been here all my senses have been on red alert, and all of you refuse to tell me what's really going on. Now you bring in this girl who reeks of leeches and you tell me to chill out. No I won't chill out; maybe you guys need to be less chilled out!" He screamed and stormed off. Sam ran after him followed by Emily, the rest stayed put motionless and speechless.

"What did I do?" I said sitting down at the table. My presence seemed to be causing too many strong emotions for everyone I encountered, Jessica, Edward, Alice even seemed a little awkward around me. Maybe I should just let myself be grounded and never leave the house.

"It's not your fault Bella, Ayden is from a different tribe. The Hoh are…less understanding then we are about the vampires," Jacob said as he sat down next to me.

"You're not very understanding though, so they must be…" I couldn't finish, if the Hoh were less tolerant of vampires than Sam's pack what would Ayden have to say about my relationship with Edward?

"You're right, Ayden and his clan would not like the treaty we have made with the Cullens, that's why I we haven't told him yet."

"Well he can't do anything to them, can he; I mean this is your territory."

"That's not entirely true, Ayden's people had a lot more interaction with vampire's than we have had, they're both skilled and ruthless. The Hoh live in a place that used to be overrun with vampire's, they cleared them out before settling there but the vampires treasure that place and always come back, and they are not the vampires the Cullens are. These are horrible bloodsuckers who have not only killed thousands but lost all remaining sympathy for humans, Bella the vampire's Ayden are used to are more than just monsters, they're a plague. If they wanted to come here and clean house for us, they would Bella, and we couldn't stop them" Jacob said looking out the open door. Sam, Ayden and Emily could not longer be seen, but Jacob kept looking, waiting for them to come back.

"I'm sorry Jacob, this must complicate things for you," I said and reached out for the hand on his lap.

"There's nothing we can do now, the cat's out of the bag, if Sam tells Ayden about the Cullens it could be really bad for both of us," Jacob took his other hand from off the table and put it on top of mine. His warm skin sent shivers down my spine and gave me goose bumps everywhere. I knew this feeling, but it scared me, only Edward gave me this feeling. I gave him a smile but quickly looked down when he gave me one back.

"Oh just kiss already," Quil said from the other end of the table rolling his eyes. This comment startled me and I pulled my hand away from Jacob's familiar grip. As soon as my hand was gone Jacob sent a very loud growl in Quil's direction.

"I need some air," I said getting up from the table.

I walked outside and a warm breeze caught my hair. Nothing seemed to get any better, no matter who I was with or which monster they were, my presence caused them pain and annoyance. I was so used to being invisible before I met Edward and before Jacob was a wolf, that all this malice centered on me made me queasy. Jacob came out after me, to make sure I was ok, but I couldn't look at him, tears were running down my face with no end in sight and I couldn't let him see me like this.

He reached my position in the front lawn and placed his hand on my shoulder. There is no way he knew what was going on in my mind, but Jacob always seemed to do the right thing at the right time to make me feel better. His other arm reached out and took my waist from behind, the first extended out across both of my shoulders. I let my head fall back into his chest and he kissed my hair. I was safe, no matter what happened I knew that in his arms I was safe.

His arms froze then jerked out of position as a car screeched to a halt in front of Emily's house. It was Charlie in his very intimidating police cruiser, and Charlie stepped out in his even more intimidating police uniform.

"Bella, what the hell are you doing here," He said as he walked up to me and Jacob. His tone was furious; I had almost forgotten the fact that I was supposed to be in school right now.

"Dad…I'm sorry, I…"

"Don't tell me you're sorry, you run off for three days with no word on where you're going, you slam your car into a tree and tear your ankle all up, and now I'm getting calls from school saying you never showed up today! Get in the car Bella, you are going back to school, then you are coming home and never leaving again." He said as he grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the car.

"Fine, but can I say goodbye at least," I said trying to yank my arm back from Charlie's grasp.

"No, I'll do it for you," he snorted putting me in the passenger's side of the cruiser, "Hi Jacob, Bella says goodbye."

"Sorry Charlie," Jacob yelled as Charlie got into the car and drove away.

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