Jacob's POV

I sat on Sam's couch with Bella in my arms until she fell asleep. It was only about ten minutes. She truly was exhausted. Once she was asleep, I carefully maneuvered myself off the couch and laid her down in my place.

I went into the kitchen and found the rest of the Pack sitting at the table looking very tense, not that I blamed them. This whole situation was freaky. "She's sleeping."

"That's good. What the hell are we going to do about this?" Embry asked.

"We still haven't figured out what 'this' is. Was anything else freaked out by that though? No one's spoken to me like that since my grandmother was alive," Jared said.

"I told you," I said before going over and taking the empty seat between Embry and Sam. "We've gotta figure out what to do. We can't just let whatever this is take over Bella's life."

"There's not much we can do until she wakes up," Sam said.

"What exactly do we do then? You're not pulling that thing to the surface again. You're not gonna put her through that again," I said through gritted teeth. Truthfully though, I couldn't stop him. He was Alpha. I couldn't overrule him unless I took Alpha from him, something I had absolutely no interest in.

"No, at least not until we know what we're dealing with. I want the upper hand before I talk to that thing again," Sam said. I could tell he was just as freaked out as the rest of us. It wasn't that the thing inside Bella had been particularly scary. It was just that things it said and the way it spoke was kind of unnerving. It spoke to them like a parent or a grandparent. It was just freaky.

"So what do you plan to do once Bella wakes up?" Embry asked.

"For now, just talk to her. She can at least tell us when this started and what if anything else has happened that's weird," Sam said.

"She could, but she may not be inclined to. Aside from Jake, we're all practical strangers to her, and we did basically kidnap her. I'm not sure she's gonna feel up to being helpful," Jared said.

"So we make her tell us. We're in charge here," Paul said.

I let out a growl and began to shake angrily. This was a common occurrence since I phased and any negative talk about Bella made it much worse. "Screw you, Paul! You're not going to make Bella do anything!"

"Both of you, stop it! Jacob's right. Bullying this terrified young woman is not the answer. She's had enough loss of control due to this thing and then me forcing her to come here. And the fact that we can't let her leave will only make it worse," Sam said.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What do you mean we can't let her leave?"

"We don't know what this thing is capable of, Jacob. Do you really want it around her Bella's father or friends, knowing that it could possibly hurt them? When that thing comes out, Bella has no control. She won't be able to stop herself from possibly hurting someone," Sam explained.

"But we can't just hold her hostage," I argued. Making Bella come here today was different, though I didn't even like that. Still, it was necessary to try to find out what was wrong with her. But now Sam was talking about holding her hostage for an extended period of time. We couldn't do that.

"Do you have another idea?" Sam asked.

Embry spoke up before I even had the chance. "We could watch her. One of us could be stationed outside her house and follow her."

"We can't do that every second of the day. We need her to be here where we can limit her contact with humans. She needs to stay with one of us," Sam said.

"Which one of us?" Jared asked.

"Well, I'd do it, but I won't risk Emily that way. Like I said, we don't know what this thing is capable of," Sam said.

"She can stay with us," I said. I didn't like this, but Sam had made his decision. He wasn't going to change his mind. The only thing I could really do was make sure Bella was more comfortable. If she stayed with my dad and me, it would seem less like a kidnapping, even if it really was kidnapping.

"You wanna risk your father like that?" Sam asked. He didn't seem to like this idea..

"I don't believe she'll hurt anyone, but either way, I'll be there. Look, you and I are the only ones who can do this, Sam. The others all still live with their parents. And my dad will be able to sell it better to Charlie. He can convince him to let Bella stay with us. This is the best option, Sam," I said.

"Yeah, and I'm sure it has nothing to do with you wanting to get her in your bed," Paul said sarcastically.

I glared at him. "Shut the hell up, Paul!

"Paul, knock it off! I'm tired of being unable to get through even one conversation without you provoking someone. It stops now!" Sam said irritably before turning back to me. "What about the possibility of you hurting her? That's still an issue."

"That's an issue with all of us," I argued.

"Yeah, but you're still new. With the exception of Paul, you're the most likely to phase out of anger," Jared said.

"I won't hurt Bella. Look, we don't really have a choice," I said.

"Um, speaking about the whole wolf thing, what are we going to tell her about that?" Embry asked.

"That's a good question. That thing knows what we are and mentioned it when we confronted it. At the very least, Bella will have heard that. She'll question it," Jared said.

"We have to tell her, Sam. It's the only way she'll trust us, and like they said, she already knows something," I said. It was taking everything in me to hide my happiness. I'd wanted to tell Bella since I'd phased. I'd been ordered by Sam not to say anything. Now it looked like I would be able to tell her.

Sam seemed to contemplate it for a minute, as if there was actually a choice. "Alright, fine. With what's going on here, we don't have a choice. We'll tell her when she wakes up."

"Great. I'm going to call my dad and talk to him about Bella staying with us," I said before heading outside so I could talk to my father semi-privately.