Bella.

I didn't wait for an explanation on Edward's horrified gasp before I darted forward, my legs kicking as fast as they could possibly go. As I neared the whimpering wolf, I could smell the distinct stench of blood, and stopped myself when her injured body came into view. I inhaled a sharp breath, and stopped breathing before I closed the gap and kneeled next the wolf.

"What's happened to you?" I whispered in shock. Gashes were aligned along the stomach, coating areas of grey fur in dark, matted blood. I reached a shaky hand out to touch the wound and assess the damage, but the painful moan that the wolf emitted halted my actions.

"It's Leah Clearwater," I heard Edward announce behind me. I swallowed my sadness, and kept my attention on her. "Her thoughts are hazy. She's on the verge of losing consciousness, but I think the others are injured as well."

I froze. An icy shock of horror moved from my head to my toes, and I had to fight to keep from falling on the ground. Jacob. Jacob was injured.

I opened my mouth to speak, but it came out in a speechless gurgle. Edward moved to stand next to me, giving Carlisle room as he huddled close to Leah to study the gashes. I was trembling, and I couldn't find it in my heart to be patient for Leah. I had to get to Jake.

"I have to find Jake."

"Bella, I don't think it's safe at the moment. We don't know what has happened. This could very well be a trap. Victoria probably has her army waiting and we're still short so many-" Jasper stopped trying to convince me once he saw the furious shaking of my head. I snapped my neck up to look at Edward.

"I don't care if it's a trap, Edward. I just ..I can't stand here while he's possibly in pain, or dying, or-"

Edward took my face in his hands, instantly calming me and shutting me up. I gulped, and locked onto his gaze. He smiled sadly, and nodded.

"I understand, Bella. I know he's important to you. Carlisle, when you finish tending to Leah's injuries, you can join us. The rest of us will go check things out."

Jasper gasped in disbelief. "Edward, this is extremely dangerous. We could all get killed!"

I lowered my head in shame. I knew the danger of the situation. I knew the trouble that probably awaited us, and though Jake was important to me, I didn't want to put that on any of my family's shoulders.

"Maybe I should go. After all, I'm the reason we're in the mess. I don't want anybody else getting hurt on my account. It's not fair," I spoke firmly. Edward tensed immediately, and his grip around my shoulder tightened dramatically.

"No. That is out of the question. We're all going, or none of us is going."

"But I don't-" I stopped, huffing in frustration as I tried to think of a way to word my rebuttal. My eyes unwillingly glanced towards Jasper, and even though he was the empath, I felt the guilt radiating off of him in heaps. He grimaced.

"Edward's right, Bella. I apologize for my rudeness. This is a delicate situation, so I hope you excuse my behavior. We really have no time to gather more help, so this is it," he announced sadly. A deep throb pulled at my chest, and I bit my lip to quiet my sob. He sounded as if it were a guarantee that we were going to die.

But we were going to war without any expectations. What else could we think?

I felt Edward's hand drop from my waist, and move lower until he laced his fingers with my own, and gripped my hand tightly. He pulled gently, and I followed him soundless into the forest entrance. I could hear the others moving silently behind us. It was unusually quiet, except for the rustle of bushes and twigs being stepped on. A bird would chirp every so often, but the silence swallowed us whole.

I let my mind wander over every single intimate moment that Edward and I shared, though there weren't that many. I lingered on the kisses, the embraces, the smiles .. everything. I hated that I was reminiscing as if I were about to die, but I didn't know what to expect, and it would be far better to let go with those memories in my head than otherwise.

We walked for about two miles, and with every step, I grew more terrified of what awaited us. The silence only increased intensely, and I silently wished that if there were ever a time that Emmett tell a lousy joke, it would be now. But as I threw a sided glance over my shoulder, I could see his tall, muscular frame huddled next to Rosalie, his face set in a permanent frown. The painful throb to my chest returned, and I turned away.

I prayed to whatever God was up there, that none of these couples would be split up. If anybody had to die, let it be me.

"I can hear them," Edward's voice brought me out of my reverie. I craned my neck to look at him, but he didn't return my gaze. He only tightened the hold on my hand, and pulled me along quicker.

"Are they okay? What are they thinking?" I begged desperately.

"They're hurt. They've been attacked. It's so .. painful to listen to this," he winced as closed his eyes tight. I bit my lip, hating that I wasn't able to help him. He couldn't turn it off, he was forced to listen to their agonized pleas for help.

"I can smell them," Jasper added, and as we turned around to look at him, we witnessed as he gasped loudly, and his steps faltered. Alice held her long arms around his waist, holding him up.

"What's wrong with Jasper?" I asked Edward frantically. Edward sighed.

"He's feeling their pain. We're not far now."

Not even minutes later, I saw the first wolf, lying in a crumpled heap on the ground. His body was moving slowly, up and down in rhythm with their labored breaths. Just like Leah, his dark brown fur was matted down with damp crimson blood. I clamped a hand over my mouth as my eyes moved up, and I surveyed the scene.

Six wolves lay scattered amongst the forest floor, heaving breaths and dripping blood. It was obvious that they were fighting for their lives. Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, Esme and Tanya spread out to individually examine each wolf, as Edward and I stayed near the dark brown one by our feet. As Edward kneeled down and began murmuring words of comfort to the wolf, I caught a glimpse of a shaking, russet colored wolf to the left of me. Jacob.

I sprinted to his side immediately, and found myself on my knees beside him. My hands were running through his fur, which was bloodied up just like the others. I opened my mouth to say something, but my bottom lip trembled and I couldn't speak.

"J-Jake?"

He opened his eye, and a bright white stare gazed back at me. I sobbed, and hunched over him, holding onto his enormous frame. I didn't care that I was possibly drenching myself in wolf blood, I didn't care about anything except for that my best friend was badly injured.

"His injuries aren't as bad as the others. He wants me to tell you that as soon as you get off of his tail, he'll get up," I heard Edward chuckle behind me. I gasped, and quickly moved away from him. As promised, Jacob rose on all fours.

"What the hell, Jacob?" I spat angrily.

"He only did it to keep himself alive, Bella. It was, as we suspected, Victoria and her army that did this. All of them are actually quite fine, but they would've been killed if they hadn't of faked near death," he explained. I sighed heavily in relief.

"So what happened to Victoria and the others?"

"When the wolves began to embellish their injuries, she left in hopes that they'd have a slow, painful death. They couldn't take down the vampires because there was far too many of them, and they didn't want to risk anything."

That didn't explain why Leah had limped her way into the clearing. If they weren't seriously injured, why would she risk running into Victoria's army elsewhere while looking for help?

"And Leah?" I asked.

"Leah was the only one that was seriously injured. She was the first one they attacked. They actually ambushed her, and before any of the others could help her, she was dragged into the forest. I'm guessing once they believed she was dying as well, they left her, and she dragged herself to us."

Everything pieced together, and I had never felt more relief in my entire life. The fear that had been pounding through my entire body had dulled, but I still trembled at the thought. If I had reacted this badly to a fake situation, how out of control would I be during the real battle?

"This was .. it was horrible, Edward. If something really happened to Jacob, I don't know what I would've done," I whispered, wincing at the thought. Edward sighed softly, and moved closer to take me in his arms, when I heard a voice from behind me speak.

"What do you take me for, a porcelain doll? Give me some credit, Bells. I know how to take down a reeking blood-sucker," Jacob boomed from behind me. I couldn't help but grin, and without hesitation, turned around and jumped into his arms. He laughed and held me closer to him.

"You asshole. Why did you let me sit there and grieve like that?"

"It was nice. A big reassurance that you really do care about me," he retorted, following it with a low chuckle. I punched him hard in the shoulder, and he hissed in pain, dropping his grip and cradling his forearm.

"God damnit, Bella. I liked you better when you were weak!"

I laughed, and stepped backward, leaning into Edward's chest. For the second time, I took in the scene before me. Every wolf that had been sprawled across the ground was now up and moving in their human forms. I recognized Leah's naked body wrapped in a heavy blanket on the ground, while Sam held her head in his lap and Seth rocked frantically as Carlisle attended to her wounds.

As I stared at Sam, Seth and Leah, I began to feel remorse. I truly was the cause of all of this. Victoria wanted to kill me, because Edward had killed James. And Edward had killed James because of me. For me. This entire battle was unnecessary. I knew what Victoria wanted, and my family and the lives of the Quilete's didn't need to be risked to stop her.

I just had to give her what she wanted.

I gulped as a small plan formulated in my head. As I took another glance at Sam, Seth and Leah, I knew I had to do something. I wouldn't be the cause of families being destroyed, of love being destroyed. I couldn't do that to anybody.

Alice coughed loudly from her stance at a tree stump, swinging the length of her legs that didn't touch the ground back and fourth. I turned to look at her curiously, and was surprised at the glare that she threw me. I turned around to ask Edward what her problem was, but he was discussing something heatedly with Paul and Emmett.

I raised my eyebrows at Alice, and she jumped off of the stump, dancing merrily to where I stood. She leaned in, and her lips were inches away from my ear. I could feel her icy breath on my neck, but I stayed rigid.

"You've already done enough noble things in your life, Bella. Don't even think about it," she warned me harshly. I opened my mouth to speak, but when she pulled her head away from my ear, I saw her usual golden eyes darkened to a pitch black.

"Alice, I-"

"I don't particularly enjoy seeing visions of my best friend being ripped to shreds by a group of vengeful vampires. I'd appreciate it if I didn't receive another one," she demanded, before turning on her heel and walking away.

I'M SORRY. 4 months is an unacceptable delay on a story, and I know that. But if any of you that read this are writers yourself, you know that sometimes you write yourself into a wall, and you have to stop and think about what way you're going to go. Unfortunately, my thinking process took an extremely long time. I won't lie and say I was extremely busy, because I made time to update my other story, but I have attempted this many, many times. But I'm the kind of person that won't just write to update. I'd rather you all wait and get a good chapter than just force myself to write a crappy chapter so you'll get an update. But anyway, I hope this was worth the wait. Let me know what you think about the comeback chapter & review please! I kind of lost motivating after the last chapter, but I'm hoping you guys will bring it back. :D