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Chapter 3

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Bella moaned and cracked an eye open as the alarm on her bedside table sounded. She greeted the annoyance with a hard smack and told it to 'shut the hell up or else.' It retaliated five minutes later by once again blaring at her that it was time to wake up, yet again. She slammed her hand down on the snooze button muttered at it, going so far as to threaten harm if it sounded once more.

Charlie watched her from the doorway and shook his head in amusement. "Come on, Bells. It's Friday. You said you wanted to go see Jake today after school."

Bella rolled her eyes asking herself why she'd waited for a week after the fact to see her godfather instead of the day after her attack like she'd wanted. Then she remembered that she wanted to catch him off guard and a sadistic voice in her head giggled with glee at the thought of the tribal chief squirming in front of her. It would be harder for him to lie to her that way.

"I'm awake." She grumbled, glaring at her alarm clock again as it started to sound. She threatened more harm to the poor piece of technology in charge of her timely arrival to the prison known as school, and moved to start her morning.

Charlie smirked. "I know you're awake. Come get breakfast. I've got coffee ready."

"Oh, thank you!" Ten minutes later found her downstairs- without tripping- and throwing her hair into a high pony tail.

"You're gonna stay out of the trees this weekend, right?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Bella rolled her eyes. "You're not gonna let me live that down, are you?"

"Has Angela?"

Bella rolled her eyes. "She was like an old mother hen for three days after everything happened. I didn't expect some crazy guy to come after us! I didn't even know he was stalking us!"

"I know kiddo. I'm glad you took her with you. Heaven forbid you had gone on your own. I'd be visiting your grave or something." Charlie grizzled.

"Dad…" She huffed and shot him an exasperated frown.

"Just have a good day kiddo. I've got to head in early." Charlie said kissing the crown of her head.

Bella smiled. When she looked out of the window again, dark rain clouds had started to form in the sky. Good day, it might not be.

The age old saying, when it rains, it pours, was what Bella used to describe her day thus far. It had started fairly pleasant until her faithful truck broke down on the side of the road. She'd called Mike- the only other gear head she knew besides the boys in La Push- and together they'd gotten the thing started again. By the time they reached school, it had already started to rain. Bella forgot her umbrella at home, unfortunately.

As soon as she entered the school, she had bumped into Angela. She smiled and walked to her locker with her, Charlie's words rolling in her head. "Hey… Angela?"

"What's up Bella? You look upset."

She sighed. "Well, I kind of am. I can't stop thinking about what happened last weekend. You know I didn't intend to put you in harm's way, right? I didn't think anyone would follow us. I feel horrible about it… I never would have asked you to come with me… I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Bella… please… it's ok. No one asks for bad things to happen to them. I'm just thankful that my prayers were heard. Who knows what could have happened… Now… enough sad talk... let's get to class."

Before they could get too far, the two bumped into Jessica and Lauren. Bella mused that it was set up so Lauren could pretend to cry about it and cause a scene. Angela only rolled her eyes and walked away with Bella in tow behind her. Ever the antagonist, Lauren followed them and prodded at Bella about her encounter with the phantom serial killer in the woods. She was ignored however, only after Bella made a quip about Lauren's phantom modeling agent.

By lunch time, the rumors had gotten so ridiculous that all Bella could do was laugh. Ben even told her he'd heard that she and the boys from the reservation were involved in the plot to hold Bella for ransom against her own father. They shared a good laugh at that one right before Jessica asked Bella what she'd been doing in the forest. Angela came to her aide, telling them they wanted to enjoy the decent day on a hike. When Lauren tried to take a stab at Bella's clumsiness, Bella shrugged. She then asked Lauren how she liked her new haircut. It was dirty and underhanded, but Bella let it be known she wasn't going to take things lying down too easy. Lauren hushed up and left Bella be for the rest of the lunch hour, silently stewing that she'd not gotten the reaction from the girl that she wanted.

Now, at the end of the school day, Bella was not happy in the slightest. She'd left her window cracked and her seat was soaked. Even if it was leather interior- it still didn't mix well with rain. To make matters worse, the check engine light started blinking at her as she made her way to La Push. If she made it there in one piece, she'd kiss the ground.

25 minutes later, Bella's truck spluttered after she pulled into The Black's driveway. She moaned and muttered obscenities under her breath, glaring at her truck. When it was over, she offered her apologies and told the beast how much she loved it, even went so far as to give the steering wheel a kiss and the dash board a small pat. She giggled and imagined the tank of a truck preening at the attention. It did, however, appear to stop smoking some.

She made her way to the opened front door where Jacob stood, watching her from behind the screen. He looked guilty when he didn't rush out to hug her like he had before his change. Instead, his hands moved to the pockets of his cut off shorts. He only eyed her, and she him, neither wanting to speak just yet. Her eyebrow raised after a minute of silence had passed between them.

"I told you not to come by, Bella." Jacob sighed. He wondered just why he had to have such stubborn friends.

Bella shrugged. "I know. I'm not here to see you. I need to talk to your dad."

"What? Why?" The shock was evident on his face and there was a slight pained expression in his eyes. It looked as if she'd finally stopped trying to save their friendship.

"Is he home?" She asked ignoring his questions.

Jacob blinked and pointed. He got over his stupor quick and followed Bella into the house. "He's in there... Harry and old Quil are in there too."

"That's fine." She said with a nod and not another word spared towards him.

Jacob shook his head. If he needed to know they'd call him in to talk to them too. He felt a slight jolt of pain that she didn't even turn back to look at him, but he couldn't blame her either. He had to distance himself to keep their secret safe. Until he could change their minds, his friendship with Bella had to become nonexistent.

"Bella?" Billy eyed his stubborn goddaughter and wondered how long she would continue to hurt herself.

"I know about the pack. I saw them in the woods."

"Bella, what do you mean to say?" Billy tried to play it off- to pretend she hadn't found out their secret.

"It's hard to forget seeing five oversized wolves gallivanting around the forest." She said with direct eye contact.

"Then you know why it's not safe here." Harry interrupted.

Bella rolled her eyes. "There are far greater dangers than a band of overgrown lap dogs, Harry." She snapped.

"Bella…"

Angry shouts brought their conversation to a halt; Sam, Jared and Paul had seen Bella's truck. Embry busied himself trying to break up another fight between Paul and Jacob when Bella walked outside followed by the elders.

Paul saw red when Bella stepped off of the porch. "You! You're not welcome here!" He growled.

"Until I'm sent away by the elders, I think I am." Bella growled back.

The wolves looked impressed, though they'd never admit it. Most humans ran from them, but here, this little waif of a female was standing up to the most volatile wolf in the pack.

Paul lunged forward only to be caught by Jared. "Come on Paul, don't do this."

Paul ignored him. "Go home, Swan! Jacob doesn't want you to pollute his air anymore!" He snapped.

"Tough words from a fur ball." She quipped with a small smirk.

Sam's eyes flashed to Jacob. "What did you say to her?!"

Jacob was stunned. "N-nothing! Don't blame me!"

"She's your friend..." Jared mused.

"So, just because Bella's my friend, that means I did something?! What about Embry? He's her friend too!" Jacob growled and glared all at the same time.

Embry moaned. "Leave me outta this… please?"

"I was your friend." Bella snapped. "We're not friends anymore… remember?"

Paul smirked. "Looks like she finally learned."

"I'll tell you what's fun to learn. The legends in these parts sound interesting, don't they, fluffy? I mean, it's not every day that regular teenage boys turn into overgrown, temperamental beasts. I bet you already auditioned for the part as big bad wolf!" Bella mused while staring at her nails- the picture of boredom painted across her face.

Paul's eyes flashed a molten gold as he turned to Jacob. "You told her?! The vampire wannabe knows about us?!" He hissed. He stood mere feet from Bella now, and his body shivered with tension.

"Paul, come on man... This isn't good for you." Jared tried. Paul's temper could be called volatile at best. Now, he stood on the verge of doing irrevocable damage.

"And if I do know? What're you gonna do about it- other than foam at the mouth and growl. If that's the best you got, I'm already over it, Rover. I'm not scared of you!" Bella hissed.

Jared frowned. "So not helping..."

"Of course, you're not scared. I bet you weren't scared of the walking corpse either. Tell me... What's it like fucking the walking dead?" Paul sneered eying her.

Bella's eyes flashed. Paul's assumptions always had a way to get under her skin like nothing else. She hadn't even been dating Edward, and the wolves still thought that she was in love with him. Before they knew it, her hand connected with the skin of his jaw. Her blood boiled enough to dull the throb of her abused flesh- and maybe a stray broken bone or two- as her eyes stayed trained on Paul.

"Oh, fuck me running… Come on Bella, now's the time to move." Jacob hissed.

"Paul! Stop!" Sam huffed when he charged at the girl.

Embry moved to guide her backwards as well. "Not smart, Bella. You need to get away from him. He's not… safe… right now."

Bella's temper flared and she moved away from Jacob and Embry, turning to face Paul again. "No! Of all the obnoxious, conceited, arrogant, egotistical asshat's, I'm not afraid of him!"

"Come on Paul, stop! You don't want to do this!" Jared grunted in an effort to move Paul back from her.

Paul smirked. "Yeah, I think I do! I'd love to put the little princess in her place. Now's the time to run, Bella." His taunt ended in a growl as the yellow around his eyes bled into his brown orbs.

Embry noticed the three elders watching. "Do something!"

Old Quil shook his head. "She provoked a wolf. This is her battle now."

Jacob rolled his eyes at that. "If he kills her, I'm going after the three of you!"

With another roar, a horse sized, silver furred wolf stood where Paul should have. Bella held her ground when Paul charged at her- even if her heart raced inside her chest from mixed amounts of fear and adrenaline; She didn't back down from him. She didn't even stumble away.

"I told you Paul," She sneered when he stopped in front of her, "I'm not afraid of you."

Paul stared into her eyes for five long seconds before nearly dropping to the ground. She was his forever?! Large eyes widened more as both the man and wolf stood in shock. How was it possible?

"Dude… did his wolf just…" Embry and Jacob were stunned.

"Did he just…" Jared was shocked.

Sam shook his head with a sigh. "Talk about complications."

Jacob growled then. "No! Not happening! She's not going to be a part of this! Not like this! She's too good for him!"

Paul turned and growled deep in his chest. Jacob took the time to phase and knock Paul into the woods. They needed to get calmed down- either by fighting or running. Though he preferred to run, Jacob was ready for a fight.

"Jared, Embry, take Bella to the house. I'm going to break this up before they hurt themselves." Sam bade the wolves before leaving to the woods.

Bella stared after Sam's retreating form before turning to Jared and Embry. "Will they be alright?"

Jared smiled and coaxed her to her truck which Embry checked and deemed drivable for the moment. "They'll be fine. Come on Bella." He helped her into the cab, tossed Embry the keys and hopped into the back. Now that it had cooled off some, her truck was happy to turn over and start for the quiet wolf. Bella only rolled her eyes at the traitor of a tank. It would be a long day indeed.

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Paul still hadn't calmed down completely when he walked into Sam's house, and finding Bella between Jared and Embry on the couch only set him growling again. Emily arched an eyebrow from her space in the recliner. They'd only given her enough information to know that Paul wasn't happy and Bella knew about the pack.

"Hi Paul." Emily greeted.

Paul grunted and leaned down to kiss Emily's cheek. He ignored Embry, cuffed Jared on the back of the head and sneered at Bella. It was all he could afford to do that the moment. If he tried to talk, he'd scream. It wasn't fair. He got the girl who'd befriended a coven of vampires.

Bella rolled her eyes at the display. Jared and Embry told her the basics of imprinting. She'd known about it already- though she didn't say anything. She just listened to them talking, pretending to mull things over in her head. What she didn't expect, was to feel such a strong urge to just be near Paul as soon as he walked through the door. She knew then and there, he'd imprinted on her. His wolf had, at least. The man still fought.

Oh, it was a lovely day.

Not.

Bella checked the time on her watch, moving to stand and leave when Sam and Jacob walked into the house. Sam took one look at her and shook his head, not yet trusting himself to voice his thoughts. For her part, Bella arched an eyebrow in challenge at him bringing a grin to his lips. Jacob cleared his throat and looked at her. No words were needed. She got up and walked to him, wrapping her hand around his, giving him a gentle squeeze.

"Some secret huh." She teased.

Jacob's grin was small. "I wanted to tell you."

"It wasn't yours to tell. I get it."

Paul scoffed in the corner. "Because we all know you have your secrets, don't you?"

Bella rolled her eyes. "It's getting old, Paul. Just shut the hell up if you can't control that tongue of yours. No one wants to hear it, much less see you foam at the mouth again. You'd think being wolves, you'd have gotten checked for rabies. Eat any rancid meat lately?"

Behind them, Emily sucked in a sharp breath. No one had ever dared talk to Paul that way. He was too angry- too volatile, and if she were honest, she was more apprehensive of Paul than any of the other wolves she had in and out of her house on a daily basis.

Bella turned and gave Emily a small smile of apology. "Sorry, Emily, that was kind of rude."

"It's alright." She said. Her eyes were still on Paul, who started to shake again.

Bella saw it as well and rolled her eyes. "Here we go again." She muttered.

Jared shook his head. "I get that you're fearless, but it doesn't help that you get kind of mouthy when you're mad. Your anger sets off his anger… and he wolfs out…"

"You wolf out in my house, you'll be the one fixing it, Paul. Go run." Sam snapped.

Paul huffed. "Gladly!"

"Come have a seat Bella. Don't be fooled by him. He cares in his own way." Emily called.

"Yeah... He cares enough to throw me over a cliff." She bit out with a sneer.

Paul's poked into the doorway then. "Is that an option?!"

"Go choke on a stick. No one asked you to bark, Fido." Bella snapped.

Jacob and Embry fell into stitches of laughter from their spots on the couch. They'd forgotten how sarcastic she could get when upset. Sam even choked on his laughter as he watched Paul's face contort with rage. He'd need to watch the two of them together to ensure they didn't kill one another.

He didn't need that headache- not yet at least.

Jared managed to pull Paul away from the house and into the trees before he phased. Emily merely chuckled. It wouldn't be so bad to have Bella around after all.

"Should I have called him Cujo instead?" The amused glint in her eye offset the innocent look on her face- only just so.

A roar in the trees was her answer. They'd been close enough that Paul had still heard what she said, and he sounded none too pleased. Bella merely shrugged. She'd vowed when she woke up that she wouldn't be the meek little girl she had seen herself as in her dreams. Even if it meant she had to face off against her own wolf.

She nodded. "Cujo it is then."

"You shouldn't antagonize him, Bella. He's… difficult." Sam finally sighed.

Bella shrugged. "I think I can handle it, I'm not afraid of him. He won't hurt me."

"Bells, you don't know that." Jacob sighed.

She gave them all a small smile. "No, I don't. But his wolf won't let him. Sam even said it himself, Jake. He told me you're all protectors of your tribe, and you can't harm humans. That's what I am, last time I checked, at least."

Embry huffed. "Yeah, but Bella… he's not like the rest of us… he's… angry."

She only shrugged again. "Well, from what you guys have said, you can't voluntarily harm a human since your wolves or whatever don't like it… so as long as I don't go past a certain point, I should be fine."

Sam didn't have the heart to tell her that it could be done- at the extreme guilt of the wolf afterwards. He only shook his head and sighed. He'd watch her and Paul for now. It was all he could do.

"Smart ass." Jacob snorted.

She smirked. "You know me well."

"She's got you there, Jake." Embry grinned.

Bella smirked. "Besides… all Paul needs is a collar and a leash, some obedience classes- maybe a bone or two to gnaw on- and he'll be fine."

Jacob shook his head, just happy to have her back. Anything else could wait. Even Paul's indignant fury couldn't keep his good mood from shining through at the moment. He looked around the living room at all of his friends- new and old- then to Emily and Bella who were beside themselves with laughter. He thanked the spirits for a small respite in his new life. He had his best friend back, and he couldn't be happier about the fact.