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Chapter Nineteen- "Stronger"

"And I am, stronger now

Since you crawled away

You're so far away

And I am, stronger now

Since you crawled away, since you crawled away

Never gonna save me

You just shut me out

And now it's over cause I'm stepping out, again

Never gonna break me

Just try and hold me down

I will escape you and I'll

I'll push you closer to the ground

Cause you're the one that's going down"

-TrustCompany- "Stronger"

Bella's POV

Helping Sam Uley find his imprint was not on my list of things to do before we moved to Alaska. When I thought about it, I'd be happy if I never had to see him again. I was thankful for him the time he found me in the woods after Edward left me, but after everything that had happened since then, I'd say we're pretty much even on that. Especially considering the fact that Edward had kidnapped me, turned me into a vampire, ultimately his plan was to kill me. Making me into an undead was an accident, I guessed.

When Sam walked through the door with Jacob, venom pooled in my mouth. All I could think was about how he'd kept Leah away from me when I needed her most, going so far as to order her not to see me until he deemed it safe. I know that Sam would never go out of his way to check on me, so it was probable I'd never see Leah again, had it been up to Sam.

Then he has the nerve to ask us for help to find Emily. My head and heart screamed 'NO!' I wanted to kill Sam for him even asking us for help. I had actually sat there and planned how I could leap across the room, tear out his throat and fight off Jared as well.

Something inside me wouldn't allow me to do that. I wasn't thinking about Sam and all the pain he was going through. If I was being honest, I wanted him to suffer. What had gotten to me was Claire and Kim. Claire was only a toddler, taken from her family in the middle of the night and locked up somewhere with vampires.

Kim had always been nice to me when I had seen her those few times. She was helplessly devoted to Jared, in somewhat of a sick way and I find myself praying that I wasn't like that to Leah, and she was in school studying to be a doctor. She was going to do so much good in the world and La Push definitely needed a doctor equipped to deal with the supernatural considering all the wolves running around there.

Emily had been sweet to me when we first met and I couldn't help but like her. Then after I learned about what had happened with her, Sam and Leah, my opinion of her significantly changed. Leah was important to me; Sam and Emily had caused her pain that was unforgivable.

I took a lot of pleasure seeing Rosalie put Sam in his place. Jasper gave me a few odd looks, wondering why I was so happy seeing Sam being knocked down a notch or two. He gave me a few sly smiles and let me enjoy it.

I could sense that Leah was agreeing with Rosalie, she didn't want to help Sam either, but something inside of me wouldn't let me say no to him. Mostly my brain conjured images of Claire; probably crying, definitely scared and most likely calling for Quil. My heart just wouldn't say no to my head, so I stepped in and convinced Rosalie to at least thing about helping him. I knew she was making no promises when we left the house for La Push.

Upon arriving at Sam's house, the wolves all seemed to have mixed reactions to our presence; glares from Paul, Quil seemed as depressed as Sam and Jared and Embry looked like he missed Jake. The younger wolves were the ones who pissed me off. Copying Paul's looks of contempt for Leah, though a few did look sympathetically at me. Their sympathy for me irked me more than the contempt for Leah.

I'd gotten used to the wet dog smell that Jake and Seth carried around with them, but having so many wolves around me at once was too much. They all smelled gross, except for Leah, of course.

When Carlisle announced to the rest of us that the scents in Emily's car were Tanya and Irina, the only words I could speak were, "Well fuck me."

Not one person moved for a whole minute after I'd spoken until Sam finally asked, very annoyed, "Who are Tanya and Irina and why do they have Emily?"

"And Claire and Kim," Quil said, glaring at Sam.

Sam ignored Quil's words and looked at Carlisle, who said, "Tanya and Irina are extended family of ours. They are a family of vegetarian vamps in Alaska. I have no idea why they would do this."

Sam took a few steps forward, getting into Carlisle's face. I tensed as he got an inch away from Carlisle and spat, "Well then you better find out, leech."

"Get away from my father, mutt," Rosalie commanded him. He didn't turn his head, but still spat in her direction.

Rosalie let him off easy earlier when she only yelled at him for begging for our help, which he deserved. Now he wouldn't be so lucky, not only getting into our 'father's ' face and insulting him, but spitting at her as well. She moved quicker than I'd ever seen her before and punched Sam in the jaw, sending him tumbling backwards on the ground and landing face down a few feet from where he was before.

He jumps up as Paul lurches forward. Sam stops him from leaping on us, though. Emmett wraps both of his large hands around Rosalie's arms and pulls her pack against her. She's seething, but stays in his stronghold.

Sam squares his shoulders as he stands to his full height. I can see a couple of his teeth are in his hand and I can see that his jaw is broken and is beginning to heal.

"Sam, I should reset your jaw before it heals incorrectly," Carlisle said softly.

Sam snaps, "I don't need anything from you or your bloodsucking family! Get the hell out of La Push and stay in Forks if you know what's good for you!"

"And what are you going to do if we don't?" Rosalie demanded. "Stay around here until you need help then come crawling to us when you don't know what else to do? Did you ever think that maybe Emily and Kim weren't kidnapped? Maybe they planned this whole thing out. They got in touch with some of our family and set up this whole plan to make you think they were kidnapped." Her voice was low, and she was spitting venom.

Sam was shaking in anger and I didn't need Jasper's empathy to know the hatred was flowing openly between them. Rosalie wasn't quite finished with him. Her next sentence would be the most hurtful of all, "Did you ever think the imprints weren't happy about being forced into being your baby machines? Maybe they did set this whole plan up, and it was- all- to- get- away- from- YOU!"

Sam shifted into his wolf form and was ready to lunge at her. Rosalie crouched down to attack as well.

Suddenly, Leah ripped her hand from mine and stepped in front of Rosalie. "Sam, shift back," she demanded. He growled at her and I felt a little pang inside, wanting to defend her. Leah knows what she was doing though, so I stayed where I was and watched my woman.

Sam took a few minutes before shifting back into his human form. He didn't even look at Leah as he asked her, in a not-so nice way, what she wanted.

"I want you to listen to me, Sam Uley and listen good. You came to us and asked for our help to find your missing imprints, then you have the nerve to argue with Rosalie in her own home. You bring us down here, we accept your help and you still call my family bloodsucking leeches. Now you almost attack Rosalie, and while I admit she may have gone over the line just now, you still deserve every bit of it," she told him in a deadly calm voice. I felt a little turned on by how she was speaking to him. Suddenly, I couldn't wait to get her back to the house.

Leah continued, "Now I'm telling you this, we will find Emily, Kim and Claire, we don't need your help. You all can stay here."

"Not a chance in hell. I'm not leaving Emily with a bunch of bloodsuckers," he said firmly.

"That's not your decision anymore, Sam," Leah told him. What the hell is she doing? I started to wonder.

"You're too emotionally involved to handle this properly. You could get yourself killed by one slip up, I'm sure Emily would agree with that," she said.

Sam started to shake again. I started to have a mini panic attack because he was standing to close to Leah, so I darted over to stand behind her. Sam's eyes cut to me and he looked like he suddenly wanted to puke.

"If you only knew what your so called death did to Charlie. He's devastated about losing his only daughter but you're alive and well prancing around with Leah-" he started, but to my surprise, Jasper cut him off.

"That's enough, Uley," Jasper stepped around Leah and I to stand in front of us. "You know this wasn't Bella's decision. Edward did this to her and you know that she can't see Charlie because of it. I know Bella is as devastated about not seeing her father, I know that because I can feel it. None of this is anyone's choice. Now you've spoken to my father in a harsh way, however I can let that slide as Carlisle is his own man.

"But the way you talked to Rosalie, Leah and Bella is inexcusable. A man should never talk to a woman the way you have today. Maybe that's just my southern upbringing shining through, but you are not a man to me, Sam Uley. We will be leaving now and returning to our home. We will find your Emily," he looks at Jared, "we'll find your Kim," he looks at Quil, "and we'll find little Claire. When we do, that will be the end of our communication. We'll not be seeing you again."

He looks back at Sam, "After the way you treated my sisters today, I can only imagine there's a decent human being inside you somewhere, Leah had to have loved something about you. But after what I've seen, you're no better than Edward."

Sam swung his fist at Jasper, but his arm was caught in mid-swing. Jasper squeezed his wrist so hard we could hear the bones crunching. Jasper forced Sam to kneel on the ground in front of him and said, "I am over one-hundred-sixty years old, you are not even thirty, did you honestly think you would have the upper hand here?"

Jasper had a look on his face that scared even me at that moment. His eyes were cold and full of anger, his teeth were bared and when he spoke his voice was full of hatred. "As I said before, please allow me to repeat myself, we'll be leaving now and returning to our home. When we find your imprints, they will be safely returned to you and we never want to see any of you again for any reason whatsoever. Is my message getting through?"

Sam nodded and Jasper released him. We all turned as one and went into the woods. That was the most I'd ever heard Jasper speak in the whole two years I'd known him. I was surprised but also pleased, since he had been defending Leah, Rose and I. Alice always told me that Jasper was an overprotective fool, I guess now I'd just witnessed that.

When we got back to the house, we all went our separate ways. Jasper, Jacob, Seth, Carlisle and Emmett gathered together to map out a plan to find the imprints and what we were going to do when we found them. Alice, Rosalie and Esme went into the kitchen to start cooking for the wolves.

I pulled Leah up to our bedroom to talk to her. She sat down on the bed as I closed the door, then ran vampire speed to her side.

"What do you think Tanya and Irina want with the imprints?" I asked her, pulling her hand into my lap and enclosing both of mine around it.

She sighed slowly. "I don't know, it could be anything," she said honestly.

"I feel bad for Jared and Quil," I told her.

She was silent for a moment and then asked, "What about Sam?"

"Well, I feel bad that Emily is missing, but I just can't seem to make myself feel bad for Sam. He looked so sad when he first walked in here and my heart broke for him, but then the way he acted, I don't know. Maybe I feel like he deserves to have his imprint away from him so he can understand what you and I went through until Jake saved us," I said softly.

I'd never thought too hard about it until now, but Jake had done us a huge favor when he broke off from Sam's pack. He allowed Leah to see me again when she might be in danger of me. I would have to give him a hug later for it.

Leah looked at me and smiled, "I think you're kinda right. We'll find the girls, though."

I bit my lip and thought about what I'd asked her earlier. "You'll protect me from them right? Now that we know who it is that's kidnapping the imprints?" I asked her.

"Of course, Bells," she looked at me seriously, "I'm your wolf, your protector, nothing will happen to you. I swear it," she promised.

I could see the passion dancing in her eyes just before her eyelids slowly slid closed and she leaned toward me. I leaned toward her and our lips met in a soft, sweet kiss.

Leah's hands trailed up my body as her tongue entered my mouth. Suddenly, my shirt was gone and I was on my back, Leah hovering over me. Her hands ghosted over my stomach and pinched my nipples.

My back arched and I moaned into her mouth. When I was first turned into a vampire, I was anxious about having sex with Leah in a house full of vampires and shape-shifters, but I'm slowly getting over that.

Leah's right hand left my breast and travelled slowly down my stomach, her fingertips just barely grazing my skin in a feather light touch. She undid my button and pulled my pants off of me, she barely let my underwear stop her from reaching what she was really after and slipped a finger inside me.

Leah masterfully worked her fingers against my sex as my moans became louder. As I neared my orgasm, I pulled her face down to mine and kissed her with all the passion I could muster and came against her hand.

"Leah, I love you," I said to her, staring into her lust filled brown eyes.

"I love you, Bella," she responded.

I smirked, "Well, let me just show you how much I love you." I pushed her back onto the bed and for the next few hours, we showed each other just how much love there was between us.

A/N: Hope you guys had a nice Easter weekend! Special shout out to my lovely LovelessGurlsDoItBetter, she's working very hard at college and no time to tweet with me. :( Just for her, I threw in Jasper being a badass and telling off Sam. Really, who doesn't like a badass Jasper?

Thanks for reading and reviewing last chapter! I know I've been a little slow with my updates latley, but I'm working on it. ~LCM~