The evening spun by softly as the cabin filled with a low buzz of intense conversation. Jacob it seemed had dropped his usual aggressive insistence that the girls required a constant vigilance and Bella was left alone to sit on the sofa, watching the unmoving door with expectation. She didn't need their words to tell her that Paul was still standing in the place where she'd left him; she could feel him out there, feel him tingling against her skin as she thoroughly considered everything she'd heard and been told.
In his own words he'd killed a girl, but in Leah's he'd only injured. At first it hadn't seemed like much of a difference, but if she was looking to a place of honesty, she knew that whether it was because she simply longed for it to so very much, it was. She wasn't willing to admit it to herself yet, but if she searched her conscience, she would find a certain amount of acceptance had already taken place. She could no longer trust her judgment, she'd known that for a while now, but it had never really affected anything beyond the boundaries of her life. Now she had to make sense of something that was bigger than her simple existence. Whether they'd considered it or not, her father was still investigating Emily's murder, and she was too aware of his acute drive for justice to sit back and relax with him on the case. He would find the truth, she knew it in the blood that ran through her veins and when he did, he would be knocking down their down, regardless of who and what they became in the depths of the forest.
Bella didn't know how close she was to the truth, how a hoard of men had gathered in the darkness of night on the boarders of La Push and Forks. Their leader was a man with a taut frown on his face, his irate commands landing on eager minds. After days of listening to his oldest friend, he had pushed aside his sentimentalities and was listening to that voice that had never steered him wrong before. Her letter had been a cry for help, he could see that now. His daughter was no fool and she knew he would contact her mother, follow up on her lead and find her missing. Billy had told him it was nothing more than a teenage girl gone a little wild, but not her, not his Bells.
Something in Billy's mannerism, perhaps the lack of surprise in his eyes when he'd told her of his loss told him he knew more. He'd been at his little house lamenting the disappearance of his daughter when Jacob had arrived with an injured girl on his arm and a look of guilt in his eyes. It had been the final straw and his conscience had been clear when he'd followed them back out into the forest, losing them less than two hundred feet later.
However, he wasn't going to be ignored, and he wasn't going to sit by idly any longer. That boy knew something of his daughter's whereabouts and tonight he was going to find him.
With a final rally they stepped over the boundaries onto the sacred lands, unknowingly already on the right path as they combed the forest in a wide arch. They were still two miles from the cabin, but their pace was steady and their leader focused, and with the moon held high in the sky they had all night to find their missing bounty.
"Jacob, do you hear that?"
Bella had been watching the boys ruffled demeanor for a whole five minutes now and with Paul still stoically placed outside, she wondered what the crisis could be now. Even she doubted that Edward would be stupid enough to start a self-imposed vigilante mission with four wolves surrounding her, and the way Jacob simply ignored Embry's question had piqued her interest.
Quil was rocking back and forth on his feet and Bella couldn't keep her eyes from fluttering in his direction. It was only a few hours earlier that Paul had lamented his lack of control, his lack of maturity to cope with the animal caged within, and with the tension rising and Quil's movements becoming more and more jagged, she wondered just how much apprehension was appropriate. She hated to admit it, but she was craving Paul and the security he unnaturally brought, and she doubted he would miss the pang in her emotions.
Paul didn't move an inch though, because unlike the rest of his pack, he knew who was coming and his arms were braced out in front of him, ready for the shackles he wore to thread themselves into something more physical.
"Go…" He said under his breath, knowing his Alpha would catch his words on the wind. "Go now and I'll tell the chief it was all me." There was no imploration in his tone, just a steady grip on reality. He needed to do now what he'd been unable to do before; above all keep the imprints safe.
But Jacob Black knew a misguided martyr when he saw one, and though he knew the response would be scathing, he took a deep breath and allowed the power of his pack to roll through him. It was now or never, the last moment when he could take the power of the land and use it as his ancestors had wished. He wasn't going to hide behind the excuses of age or readiness anymore and so he opened his mouth and felt the timbre of his words reach out to their unfocused minds.
"Paul, get in here and take Bella; take her anywhere you like, just keep her safe from them. Embry, take Leah, get as far away from here as you can; protect her. Quil, you're with me." Action turned into chaos as Paul slammed through the door, thunder on his face.
"What the fuck man? At least let her fucking decide, okay? Don't force her to be around me if that's not what she wants."
Bella felt grateful for his consideration, but it was also entirely unnecessary as she knew that neither of them would be at their best with the other to fear for. She stepped forward with deliberate steps and laid her hand down slowly on his shoulder. He turned sharply but she held her ground. "It's okay; I want to be with you."
He looked at her quizzically, wondering if she was trying to impart more than her simple meaning, but he found nothing on the surface. If he wanted to know what was going on in the depths of her mind, he would have to ask her outright.
He didn't need his Alpha to order him to keep her safe and though it angered him to do so, he gulped down his frustration knowing it was for the good of the pack as he grabbed her hand and entwined it with his. Paul could feel their eyes following his every move and he wanted to scream at them that he would never hurt her, that he would die before he did; but they were only words and actions, his actions, spoke much louder.
"Let's go." He growled and with one last hard look at the eyes scrutinizing them, he pulled her from the stuffy cabin that had been their awkward home for far too long.
"Where're we going?" She asked nervously, her legs jogging as he strode confidently out of the clearing on an unknown path into the night.
He didn't answer her at first, though he'd heard her question break through his senses, distracting him from listening to the voices echoing through the air around them. He wanted to turn around and stop this whole mess now before it began, but the strength of the order running through his head was too strong to ignore. It seemed the baby Alpha had finally grown up.
"I asked where we're going and I have a right to know you know!" She shouted, her voice raising to such a level that he stopped dead, his ears straining to hear whether they'd heard her impassioned plea.
"Stop yelling! I'm thinking, okay?"
"Well you said you had a place, right? Why don't you take me there?" He didn't know whether it was a foolish plan or otherwise, but it was the only location he knew like the back of his hand, the only thing that displeased him was its proximity to Sam's home. Lack of time made the decision for him and as he turned slightly to the east without permission he lifted her body from the ground, turning a slow jog into an uncatchable sprint.
The woods thinned slightly and his whole body welcomed the feel of home. He could taste the familiar air, vividly remember what it was like to wake up in a place where no-one ever stepped foot but him, and it brought a piece of tranquility to his mind. In his dreams, he had seen himself sharing this place with Bella, but there had been a little less fear in his imagination than the reality of the situation.
He sniffed the air cautiously before he allowed her out of his arms, but any scents in the area had blown away in the flora scented air, leaving behind nothing but the faded memories of rain and decay.
"Anything?" She asked quietly, drawing an appreciative look from her companion.
He didn't bother her with the words, telling her all she needed as he held her away from his body laid her feet carefully back on the floor.
"Thanks." She muttered and followed his silent steps into the dark home.
The first thing Bella understood when she walked into the shadowy living room was that she barely knew the man before her at all. Expecting something barren and disheveled, her mouth longed to drop open as he clicked on a table lamp which emitted a friendly yellow glow. The room was homely and neat, the deep chocolate sofa looking more inviting than anything she'd sat on in days. A thin layer of dust covered every available surface, but she could tell from the way everything seemed to have a place that this was only because he'd been otherwise occupied at the cabin in the woods.
"This is really nice." She said, unable to keep a little of the awe from her voice. But he only nodded in her direction, all too aware of the direction her mind had taken. He didn't know how to explain to her that his home was the only refuge he had and in turn he respected the space for the sanity it provided. Having her here with him had been beyond his hopes.
"So what're we running from this time?" She asked, trying to add an inflection of indifference into her tone.
Sighing, he didn't go to her, didn't offer her anything other than his assessing eyes. He didn't know how he would react when he told her, whether he would begin to feel more like her captor rather than her protector.
"Your father." He finally replied.
"Oh…."
Bella turned from his assessment and looked back the way they'd come. She didn't want him to see the guilt in her eyes, to misread something she couldn't control because he would never understand that her first reaction, her first thought, had been disappointment. She wasn't sure whether this meant that she didn't want to be discovered, but she did know that she didn't want Paul to be.
"Is he looking for me?" She asked, unable to ask what she really wanted to know.
"I don't know. You, me, Sam… maybe all of us." He responded, laying himself exposed with the weariness of his tone.
Without words she looked to him and patted the seat next to her. She had been thinking about what he'd told her, thinking about nothing else and there was a question she needed answering, a question he needed to answer for himself.
Paul hesitated for just a moment, but her eyes opened wide, hope pulling his body forward and next to her against any will of his own. He kept a small sliver of distance between them as the cushion beneath him compressed down, dust swirling up and away from him into the air.
"If it had been me in place of Emily…" He grunted angrily as she spoke and began to rise from the seat before he felt a soft hand clamping down on his arm. "No… just let me say this, please?"
Sighing heavily he slumped back down, throwing his head back in distaste and closing his eyes. He would listen, but only because she had asked him to, he would listen and then leave.
"If it had been me… what would you have done?"
Paul's hands closed into white fists and opened again, repeating the action over and over as he struggled against the images in his mind. "If they killed you, I would hunt them down, hunt each and every last one."
Bella knew she was treading a thin line, and with a great deal of thought, she pressed her body into his side, warmth and fragility meeting and comforting somewhere in the middle.
"But what if I didn't die? What if they only paralyzed me, what would you do then?" She pressed and when he began to tremble she took his hand in hers.
"Would you kill me? Save me from suffering?" She forced and with no more to offer other than something she wasn't willing to give just yet, she waited from him to find his answer.
"I could never do that to you… never." He said firmly, still not seeing what she was offering to him.
"So you would kill them and save me, but Sam did neither of those things. In fact, he did the opposite." Bella stated and Paul's eyes flicked open.
"I know everyone's says he's crazy or whatever, but doesn't that strike you as a little weird. I bet if I asked Jake those questions about Leah, he would say the same. You can't take responsibility for something you didn't do. Feel bad for hurting her all you like, but don't ever let me hear you call yourself a murderer again." Bella found her voice rising with passion and he lowered his head to meet her fire filled gaze.
"She was his imprint, B. He felt her pain and he spared me at the time, I don't pretend to understand a single thought the fucker had. But he's not done; he'll never be done, not until we all pay…." Bella felt herself shudder at his prophetic words, wondering if they were the insight into Sam's mind that Leah had all but promised her would never come her way. Except Sam wasn't the only thing to fear anymore, and without any knowledge of his intent, they had more pressing things to worry about. Like a father with a gun; a father with a big gun, a hoard of angry sympathizers, and the Washington state police database at his disposal.
Bella thought maybe Paul had been so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't hear them coming, but he simply hadn't thought to warn her. So when a door slammed open and a pair of mud covered bare feet lefts tracks all over the wooden floor, Bella let out a fear pitched scream.
Quil was too young and instinctual in his new existence to do anything other than phase at the awareness of an imprint in danger and Paul only just had enough time to push him forcefully back out of the door with a loud crack.
Bella's heart beat out of her chest as she watched torn fabric and pieces of door swirl around her in the air, peacefully spinning to the ground. It was a marked contrast to the chaos barely contained just outside the door. Their movements were too fast for Bella, but a streak of red drew her eyes and as they slowed and finally stilled, she ran to Paul, his arm slashed right down to the bone.
"I'm fine…" Paul panted, glaring in warning at the wolf who was laying with his nose in the dirt a good thirty feet from them. Bella fussed at his arm, but he only shook her away. "Seriously, it'll heal before you even have time to clean it and anyway we don't have time for this, we need to go, now! They're on their way here." Paul nodded sharply to Quil's submissive state and lifted Bella from the ground, his blood falling over her skin and clothes as he tried to hide a brief grimace.
Bella didn't ask where they were going as she buried her head into his chest, but when his feet slowed and she took in their new surroundings, she looked at him with confusion in her eyes; it was the last place she had expected him to take her.
Mesmerized she took in the familiar sight of her home, her face ready to allow a small smile on her lips when the front door opened with a low creak. Her thoughts immediately ran to her father but as a shadowy figure emerged, she looked up to Paul only to find his face devoid of all emotion.
"What took you so long?" The shadow asked and a familiar voice ran like ice over her skin.
a/n: Eeek, I hope you rally Charlie to hunt me down after leaving this here, but it had to be done... sorry.
Thank you to my wonderful beta Twiticulate, I hope the last minute additions aren't too much of a shock!
And a big thank you to all you readers, I don't say it enough but writing does become all the more enjoyable knowing so many of you are reading along, so thank you.
xxx