Chapter Nineteen

Good morning! Now, I have to warn you (if I haven't already) things start moving faster from here . . . just because my muse kind of left. Anyhow, thank you for the reviews/favourites/alerts – they mean the world to me! Oh, and Hetani is a bit all over the place, emotion wise, in this chapter. Try and understand – she's hurt, betrayed and confused.

Disclaimer – I do not own Twilight. All rights to Stephanie Meyer. I do own Hetani though.

7th September

"What do you mean . . . he left?" I stuttered out, feeling like the air had been squeezed from my lungs. Sam stood in front of me with an expression akin to sorrow but his body language indicated how angry he really was. Embry stood next to me with an arm around my shoulders, holding me into his warm side in an attempt to comfort me. For once in our relationship, it wasn't even close to working. I was upset and stressed and approaching hyperventilation.

"Jacob refused to follow my order and split off from the pack. He protects the Cullens now." The breath officially whooshed out from my lungs and I felt like I'd been punched in the gut by an angry Paul. Jacob left. Jacob had sided with the Cullens over his family . . .

"Why?" I suddenly demanded. I knew very well that Jake wouldn't just run off with no good reason. Sam had to have done something to annoy him so badly that he was able to embrace his true heritage as an alpha and scarper.

"I ordered everyone to kill Bella and the thing growing inside of her." My eyes went wide and I stumbled backwards out of Embry's grasp. I didn't like Bella, that was obvious and everyone knew that. But I did not want her dead because the baby within her MIGHT be evil.

"You ordered them to kill a human?" I gasped out, looking at Embry with fear-filled eyes. He looked away with a pained expression and I just knew that it was true.

"That thing is a monster, Hetani. I do not expect you to understand but our duty is to protect our pack and our people." My expression switched from shocked to furious. I had no way of knowing what was growing inside Bella but to accuse me of not understanding? That was completely unfair.

"No, Sam, you want to kill Bella because of something out of her control. You're the monster." My harsh tone did its job and I saw Sam's normally stoic face loosen with surprise. "I'll be in my room." And I walked off, leaving Embry with Sam, slamming my door behind me. I wondered vaguely what Rachel's reaction would be when Paul told her. Those two were grossly close since she'd accepted the secret. Word around the reservation was that they'd had a small conversation on the beach before Paul kissed my sister. I wasn't sure if it was true but didn't particularly care if it was. I picked up my phone and scrolled through the contacts, landing on Jake's name quickly. I just had to talk to him, hear him confirm it for himself. So I hit 'call' and pressed the phone to my ear, hoping he'd pick up. I convinced myself the phone call was as much for Leah as it was for me because her brother was over there too, protecting Bella.

"Hello?" Jake's voice eventually answered and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Jake, is it true?" I saw no point in beating around the bush and asked him directly. I heard him sigh that time and I knew what the answer would be.

"They were going to kill her, Hetani." Just like that, my mood switched. True, I didn't want Bella dead but he'd abandoned his FAMILY for her.

"So she's more important than us, right?" I asked in a cracked voice – indicating that I was about to burst into tears.

"This isn't what this is about." His tone was a bit condescending.

"Why does everyone keep talking to me like that!? I get that you love her, Jake, but you don't know what that child is going to grow up to be like!"

"I can't help it, Tani. I feel drawn to Bella right now, it's hard to explain." I stopped short. He sounded more in love than he ever had before – almost like he'd imprinted. I disregarded that thought as ridiculous. He'd been around Bella plenty of times – he wasn't suddenly going to imprint on her after all this time. A few tears spilled over as I realised he wasn't coming back. He'd chosen Bella and that was that.

"Alright then. I guess we're on different teams now."

"Tani, don't be like that," Jake pleaded and the tone sent the tears flowing down my face faster than I could even think to wipe them away. I sniffed loudly.

"I'll miss you, Jake," I croaked out before hanging up and collapsing on the ground, dropping the phone. Sobs shook my body and I wrapped my arms around myself in an attempt to soothe away the pain. It didn't work. The tears fell in staggering numbers and a puddle formed on the ground as I rocked back and forwards. Not five seconds later, Embry was in the room and clutching me to his chest as guttural sounds made their way from my mouth. Embry didn't whisper that it would be ok, that I would be alright. He didn't try and lie to me. He just held me and stroked my hair as I cried myself into a fitful sleep.

XXX

Jared POV

Never before had I felt so uncomfortable with passing on news. It didn't take a genius to know that Jake knew why Embry wasn't allowed to come. Sam didn't want to risk both Quil and Embry being near Jake and Quil was already torn up between his best mate and Claire. We didn't need Embry suffering even more than he already was. Hetani was in despair and Jake had only been gone a day – it was killing them both.

I walked through Sam's front door and into the living room where Rachel and Hetani were waiting with Paul and Embry. Hetani's eyes were bloodshot and staring into space whilst Embry's eyes never left her face. Rachel was looking downright pissed and I knew she would blow a fuse when I told her that I'd failed to bring Jake back. Of course, the fact that Paul would side with her made it more daunting.

"Well?" Rachel asked expectantly. I couldn't really tell if the venom in her voice was directed at me or at the situation. I took a deep breath of preparation, really needing Kim in that moment. But she wasn't supposed to show up for another ten minutes, which meant I was alone to deal with it.

"He told me to tell you and your dad that he loved you and that he was ok." Rachel's eyes sparked dangerously and Hetani sniffed extremely quietly – I wouldn't have heard it without my wolf hearing.

"And?" Rachel asked with her teeth grinding together. Why did she have to know that there was more? It couldn't be that she was reading me so easily. I attributed it to her knowing her brother well.

"He says that there isn't much time left." A distinct wince from Hetani, who was against killing Bella (at least, that's what we could gather as she wasn't really talkative) drew my attention briefly. But I returned to Rachel as she was less painful to look at. "He'll be taking to the forest when it's all over with. The Cullens will leave and there isn't room for two alphas in La Push." Rachel's eyebrows shot up and a tiny whimper sounded from Hetani. Embry gave a pained expression at his imprints discomfort and pulled her close as a couple of tears spilled from her eyes. According to a rushed conversation with Embry before I'd left, she'd barely stopped crying since she'd ended the phone call with Jake.

"He's just going to abandon all of us?" Rachel asked loudly, angrily and I stood my ground against every instinct telling me to back up. Paul was eyeing Rachel carefully, ready to soothe her if needed.

"He and Sam would kill each other if they both stayed here." Rachel snorted derisively at the most reasonable explanation I could come up with.

"He doesn't have to stay here! Just . . . stay close," she argued but I could see that she had nothing else left in her. She knew Jake would leave when Bella was dead and that was that. Quil chose that moment to walk in and look directly at Embry. I knew he'd talked to Jake – it didn't take a brainiac. He missed him and I wasn't about to stop him.

"He says he misses having the two of us on his flanks," Quil said quietly and I saw that Embry's expression had grown more pained when he looked up. He clearly missed his best friend too. It looked like Sam's plan to try and keep Embry stable wasn't working out so well.

"Leah?" Hetani suddenly rasped. Embry winced at her cracked voice.

"She refused to leave. I tried, but nothing," I said grudgingly. Sam really had told me to beg on my knees but I wasn't about to. Nothing was going to change Leah's mind and we all knew that – even Hetani. The younger girl looked heartbroken at the loss of the girl she'd become really close to. This would not end well.

And there you have it. Next chapter: more drama and Hetani meets Renesmee. I'll update Friday morning (British time). Love Bianca :) x