Why is it that I have to splitthese chapters up to get them to post? On my MacBook this site freezes if I try to post anything over a few thousand words and this one is a whopper at nearly 6500,color me annoyed. Anyway, finally this chapter is done! It's the largest one yet.I hope you all enjoy this one at is the last besides the Epilogue. There is a scene that may make some unhappy but at the end of this chapter I will explain myself.


Chapter 32

"I was sitting at the coffee shop not far from here and suddenly he was there, sitting across from me."

"What did he say," Jake grit out his knuckles completely white, his knee bouncing an angry rhythm.

"He said hello, told me that he wasn't going to hurt me, that he would never hurt me. When I recovered from seeing him his eyes changed colors, they went black."

Paul's grip on her changed from warm and comforting to almost painful, in an attempt to get him to lighten up Angela patted his knee, "Paul too tight."

With a curse Paul dropped his arm from around her waist but picked her up and set her right in the middle of his lap.

"He said he was glad to see that Bella was happy."

"Is he coming back for her," Jake barked his eyes cutting toward Bella.

Angela jumped which made Paul snarl, Jake sat heavily on the bed his fingers gripping his hair so tight Angela was sure that he was going to make himself go bald.

"He didn't say anything about Bella other than he left because it was what was best for her and that he was happy that she was happy. He didn't say anything else, nothing about his family or why he was here, he didn't say if he'd seen me before, he didn't say anything else I swear."

"As soon as I was able to completely recover I excused myself and got back here as quickly as I could. Honestly I don't even remember getting back here, I just remember calling Paul."

With that admission Paul drew her in scented her hair and whispered to her that he was sorry, that he loved her. Angela smiled in return before turning back toward Jake, "What are we going to do? My classes aren't over until middle of next week, I can't leave, if I don't show up at the gallery I don't get a grade or credits for the program I've completed."

"You sure you haven't seen him any other time since you've been here? That he hasn't been here in this apartment?"

"I wouldn't lie about this," Angela nearly snarled at Jake grabbing the attention of the other wolves, "I wouldn't," she whispered quietly taking Bella's outstretched hand.

"According to the treaty we can't do anything to them unless we see them or know that they have taken a human life."

"Damn it Jacob she's not safe here!"

"Paul," Jake snarled coming to a stand; "You know the deal. If we break it they have every right to come after us."

"So we just what, sit here and wait until he comes around again, then what we have to sit back and watch as he harasses my imprint, he obviously knows she knows about us, about them."

"What else can we do?"

"Look for him, tell him to leave us alone." Bella suggested her ears turning pink.

Jake's eyes shot into his hairline as he took a step toward Bella and lightly gripped her shoulders, "Is that what you want Bells? To find him, talk to him, see him; is that why you wanted to come along?"

Bella's mouth hung ajar as her entire face and as far down as Angela could see down her neck turned bright red, "I can't believe you just asked me that question. NO, Jacob I didn't come along so I can see him, or talk to him, I came along because my friend was scared and unlike you I have answers that I can give her, that I can give all of you. But you just go ahead on thinking that I actually want something to do with him after what he did to me, after what I let happen to myself after he was gone. I'll just sit here until you come up with something better."

With Jakes hair firmly planted in his hairline he looked around dumbfounded then planted himself in the corner chair, "Bells I just don't get how us talking to him is going to change anything."

"We need to know why he approached her, he never talked to anyone in school so there has to be a reason."

"The reason is you Bella, that much is obvious. He doesn't give two shits about Angela, all he wanted to do was pick through her brain and see how you were doing."

"Well, now that he has maybe he will go away?" Bella meant for it to come out hopeful, but winced when it didn't.

"I really fucking doubt that."

~U~

"So the plan is that we are just going to hang around this coffee shop and hope that a vampire who clearly hates us just shows up?" Paul snorted as he stuffed a cookie into his mouth.

"Aside from leaving the girls here like a couple of sitting ducks I'm pretty sure that's our only option Paul."

"He'd be a fucking idiot to show up."

Just as the words left Paul's mouth the stench of rot seeped into his nostrils jerking his body up and out of the chair. The girl in the seat next to him gasped and clutched her chest when a low rumble worked out of Jake's mouth.

"Where the fuck is he," Paul snarled low as he looked around. He couldn't find him, not across the street or on the rooftops near by, he didn't see any sign of him in the cars that drove by.

"Fuck. Seth, get the girls out of the fucking bathroom already the leech is nearby."

Within seconds the front door of the shop banged open scaring the woman again, "Where is he," Seth snarled as he ushered the girls toward Paul and Jake.

"Don't know, lets get the girls back to the apartment and see if Jared has heard anything of him."

"Bella" The words floated out from behind them. The entire group as one unit jerked toward the sound.

~U~

"It's good to see you truly are well. Alice kept losing sight of you, I'm assuming this is why." Edward said as he waved his hand toward Jake, his face screwed in disgust.

Bella stood her mouth agape her fists clenched, "Edward," she grit as her jaw snapped closed, "what are you doing here, what do you want?"

Edward cocked his head to the side, his eyes boring into her own, they were deep swirling pools of black.

"When was the last time you fed?"

"It has been a while." Edward answered simply pulling snarls from the pack.

"Don't get to excited mutts." Roaslie's voice caused Bella to shiver as she turned on her heal and saw her standing behind them all.

"Maybe we should take this somewhere less crowded, you know incase the dogs attack," Emmett said flipping his hat backwards as he stepped out of the alley behind Edward.

"They're like cockroaches," Seth whispered to Angela.

Jake looked at Paul his skin itching to phase, sharing a look they both nodded their heads, "By all means lead the way, just star far enough a head that you stink doesn't gag us."

Rosalie hissed but didn't make a move.

Edward and Emmett walked across the street then back across to join Rosalie keeping a wide berth.

~U~

"Text Jared, tell him to get his ass down here, follow the stink, he'll find us, at least then our numbers will be even."

"As if even numbers would make your odds any better" Rosalie spit loud enough so everyone could hear.

~U~

When they came upon a small empty park the pack stopped making sure to create a wall around Bella and Angela and waited. Jared and texted Angela back they he was following the stench and would be there in seconds. As they waited Paul watched Edward for any sign that he would make a move, his body shaking almost violently as he tried to keep his wolf at bay.

Edward's eyes never strayed from where Bella stood which was no surprise, it only pissed him off more that his imprint had been dragged into this shit because of her. Paul fought the urge to shift to the side so Bella would be exposed, he couldn't physically do that the her though, Jake's command to protect her and Angela still rang in his ears. As if he'd need to be told to fucking protect Angela.

Paul's shoulders relaxed slightly when he caught Jared's scent, even more so when his friend stepped to his left and bumped his shoulder, "We gonna stare at em all day, my gag reflex is about to kick in already."

"Oh Bella"

Bella's gasp sent Paul ram rod straight again, sent the entire pack shuffling backward to keep her from surging forward as Alice stepped out of the woods.

"You've been playing hide and seek from me, not fair Bella, not fair, you've had us worried about you."

Paul watched as she took another step forward slowly, the other vamps hanging on her heels.

"I'm surprised you still care," the venom in Bella's voice surprised Paul.

"With the way you left it didn't seem to me like you could give a shit about me. You left me to fend for myself, did you know that."

Paul felt Angela shift behind him, felt her hand fall on the small of his back.

Alice hung her head and looked back at Edward, "I didn't want to leave you."

"Yet you still did."

"Bella, we didn't know that she would come for you."

Bella pushed her way through the wall somehow and stomped out into the middle of the two groups her finger pointing right at Edward, "She almost killed me, she almost killed one of us, you didn't give a shit!"

"Bella" Jake barked. She didn't even bother to look back.

"She hurt all of them because they were protecting me, when you should have been doing it because you put me in that situation!"

"Paul," Angela whispered her hand now gripping the back of his shirt.

"Shhh Angel it's fine now, everyone is ok."

"She went after Angela too!" Bella screeched again.

"What is she talking about Paul?"

Paul grit his teeth as he felt Angela's hand start to shake, muttering a curse under his breath he turned to embrace her. "She didn't get anywhere fucking near you Angel, I killed her before she came even close. It's done now."

"We are truly sorry for that Angela."

"That's it, you're truly sorry! Is it going to happen again? Are there anymore out there that want to kill me because of you?"

"The other threats have been eliminated, you're welcome," Rosalie hissed.

"Why are you even here?"

"I've been staying here since I left you. It wasn't until the beginning of the month that I ran across Angela," Edward stated.

"I meant her no harm, I had no plans of approaching her until she thought about you, I'm sorry that you reacted the way you did to my leaving Bella. It pains me to think that I did that to you."

"I've recovered," Bella muttered as she turned on her heal and made her way back toward Jake.

"She's only here for another week, you are not to approach her, none of you, after that you have the run of the city I could give two fucks less. Stay away from her, stay away from her apartment, leave her the fuck alone." Paul snarled as he pulled Angela closer to his side.

Alice turned toward Edward then back toward the group, "We will make sure of it."

"You do that," he snarled again.

"He was just worried about you Bella, we all were."

Bella's quite sigh cut through the park, "You don't need to worry about me anymore Alice, as much as you dislike them, they can protect me better than anyone."

~U~

"Is it me or was that fucking surreal?"

Seth's use of the word fuck caught everyone off guard, Paul sucked half of the cheeseburger he was eating down his throat, Angela chuckled as she beat on his back.

"What!" Seth screeched as all eyes stayed glued to him, "I mean honestly if you guys test me anymore after that it'll piss me off pretty good, my wolf was about to blow up the entire time we stood there."

"Do you really think they are going to leave her alone?"

"I can't believe we're leaving here without a fight," Jared all but snarled pounding his fist against the table.

"We didn't come here to pick a damn fight Jared, we came here to protect Angela. I'm not sure if we can trust them and thank fuck she only has a little bit of time left in this shit hole of a city but we will not provoke, the treaty stands as much as we fucking hate it. No one in this pack will be risked as long as they don't break the treaty." Jake's eyes roamed from one man to the next pausing on both Paul and Jared until they nodded their agreement.

Standing from the table Jake knocked on it with his fist, "I need to get back to the rez, Bella is coming with me just in case they don't keep their word. I'd appreciate it if you and Seth stay here until Angela comes back."

Jared nodded, "No problem man."

"Good, Bella and I have a flight tomorrow night."