Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all the characters and plot from the Twilight Universe.
Bella POV.
I could not believe my own eyes when I woke up. I wasn't alone in this world after all. Three giant wolves were staring back at me. The intelligence they hold in their eyes were enough to tell me that they were just like me. The size of them was another proof of course.
No matter what I knew, my instincts took over. I was too exhausted to think clear I suppose.
In a split second I joined their word and I didn't know why but I attacked the beautiful silver black wolf.
The rational side of my brain was telling me to stop. I was to weak to fight. But the wolf instinct and the adrenaline already pumping through my veins were pushing me in the opposite direction.
All the sense of reason has temporarily left me.
The struggle was not long. The days of running without the food and sleep has taken its toll. I was pinned underneath the silver-black wolf in no time. I whimpered and relaxed showing my submission.
After few minutes three of them transformed back to human again. I was shocked and relived at the same time to see another female among them.
She threw a summer dress on with a warp speed.
I knew I could trust her no matter what. In that moment I realized that this bunch of oversized dogs could become my only family.
The girl finally send the others away so we could talk.
"Hey, I know it's difficult and scary the first time around," she started and as she spoke she run her hand through my fur. That calmed me enough that I found myself naked on the forest floor again.
"That's right honey, as you know now if you relaxed enough you will phase back," the girl said to me in a soothing voice. I sat up and tried to cover as much of my body as possible.
"I'm Leah by the way. Don't worry, you haven't got anything different to what I have," she chuckled and I settled for hugging my legs close to my body.
"Hi, I'm Isabella but I go by Bella," I answered her. I already liked Leah. "So to phase back I only have to calm down to a human emotions?"
"Yep, pretty much. On the other hand, extreme fear or anger will make you blow up, literally," she snorted and I chuckled.
"Yeah, tell me about it," and I put a stray hair behind my ear out of habit. I always did it when I was nervous. I could see Leah stiffen.
"What?" I asked her.
"Your neck," ah, she noticed my birth mark. It was an almost life size dog's paw print.
"Yeah, I was born with it," I explained.
"Do you know who your father is?" she asked.
"No, my mom died giving a birth to me. She was only fifteen. I have no clue," I whispered. Leah only nodded to herself.
"Hey. I won't ask you now about the story of your life, you can tell us all about it on the bon fire tonight. At the same time we will answer all your questions. So, are you ready?" she quirked her eyebrow at me.
"I-i..." I stuttered.
"Come on, just think what makes you pissed beyond ridiculous and just phase. That way you spare me some male fantasies."
"Huh?" I felt like an idiot now.
"Oh, sorry, when we are in a wolf form, our minds are linked, as soon as you accept the tribal invitation to our pack, your mind will be linked to us too, till then there will be only silence, so enjoy while you can," she laughed and stripped and phased in no time. I thought of that ruby eyed pale monster in my house and I exploded.
Leah barked at me and started running. I followed her. This was my chance to have a family for the first time in my life and I would be damned if I wasted it. I followed her immediately.
We were met by eight giant wolves. I realized that Leah must have been communicating through the mind link. I had peace and quiet in my head at the moment.
While we were running I noticed something. Though I was a girl I was bigger that Leah. In fact I resembled that pitch black huge wolf that seemed to be the boss. How strange. Well, never mind.
After about twenty minutes of jogging, the forest begun to thin. Leah signaled to me to wait and along with the rest of them she run a little further. Fifteen minutes passed and still no sight of her or anyone else for that matter.
I took my time to look around. The forest here was beautiful. It was greener that green. You would think that after being bitten by a very pissed off hornet at the age of six I would hate it. That was not the case. After all I disturbed the nest myself.
The forest has always a calming effect on me. I always felt at home there.
"Jeez, if I was a leech I could kill you already," Leah laughed at me. I whined and slumped my shoulders.
"Ok, I let you off this one time. Here, phase and put this on," she handed me an olive green summer dress. In my daydreaming state I didn't even realize that we were almost there, wherever there was.
I nodded my giant head thank you. I took it in my mouth and run behind a huge tree to transform. It took me about five minutes to calm my breathing and think human enough to find myself in my birthday suit again. I quickly put on the dress that Leah lend to me.
I knew that I needed to go shopping. Oh fuck, I suddenly realized something.
"Leah, I need to use an internet,"
"What for?" she asked.
"There is no time, I need it and I need it now," I shouted.
"All right, follow me to Sam's," she said and we took off running.
Please, let it work, I prayed. I wasn't about to let my seven million go to waste and to try explain why I suddenly ended up...
"Leah, where am I exactly?" I managed to ask her between panting.
"La Push, Quileute reservation in Washington State," I nodded my thanks. Honestly, if I didn't drink and eat soon I would pass out again.
We were near a small cabin and I could already hear all the guys inside.
"Out of the way boys. Sam, we need your computer," Leah said to the older looking man. He just nodded.
We entered a small office like room. The computer itself was decent, nothing fancy. It would be enough for what I needed to do anyway.
After I turned it on and went on line I worked on the encrypting code so this IP address would be hidden. I cracked my knuckles and took a deep breath. The moment of truth arrived.
Bingo, my account was still open.
"Sam right?" I asked the leader.
"Yeah, that's me,"
"I need your bank account number,"
"Huh?"
"Listen, I have no time for this. To cut a long story short, my house went up in flame so I need to transfer my seven million before they freeze my account. Don't worry, nobody will know it was done from this computer," I said.
"O-ok," he stuttered and gave me the numbers and I completed the transaction.
I turned around in the chair and I saw all their jaws polishing the floor. I rolled my eyes.
"So, during my first week of freedom from adopting agency I bought a lottery ticket and I guess I got lucky. By the way, I'm Bella," I stood up and reached my hand to Sam. He shook it.
"Hi, welcome to La Push," he said and then my eyes trailed to the left side of his neck and I gasped. Traitor tears fell down my cheeks. Could it really be? It seems that after all those years I did have a family.
"What's the matter Bella?" he asked me, concern evident in his voice.
Instead of answering him I scooped my hair up and shown him the left side of my neck. There was a collective gasp at that.
"It looks big brother that we have a little sister here. I'm Embry by the way. Our bastard of a father liked to live his mark everywhere he could," I shook his hand. He was slightly younger that Sam but still older than me I thought.
"So what happened to you?" he asked and on cue my stomach growled. Yeah, you would think I kept a dragon in there from the sound it made.
"Stop it, can't you see she is on her last legs? When was the last time you ate?" God bless Leah, I thought.
"Um, Friday lunch?" and to prove my point I swayed involuntary on my legs. Someone caught me before I met the floor. I mumbled my thanks.
"You sit on the couch, I will make a dinner for all of us, but first I will get you a sandwich and something to drink. Does orange juice sound good?" Leah asked me.
"Perfect," I smiled at her.
"Ok, Paul, come here," and the man who saved me from the floor followed Leah to the kitchen. He emerged few minutes later with a pint glass of OJ and a plate with three sandwiches on it.
"Leah, how did you know that cheese and pickles is my favorite?" I shouted.
"I didn't but since you are Sam's and Embry's sister I figured it would be," she shouted back and winked at me from the kitchen door.
When the initial hunger was satisfied I started to talk.
"Ok guys, I know you are not being rude on purpose, but I really would like to know your names. I don't want to call you 'hey you' all the time," I winked at them.
"Sorry, my bad," Sam chuckled, "you already know Leah, Embry and myself. The jerk who has you pinned to the forest floor is Paul. Then there is Quil, Jake, Jared and Seth. Him and Leah are siblings. The two youngest ones, Brady and Collin are on patrol at the moment," Sam finished. One by one the boys were waving at me when their name was called.
One of them, Paul I thought was his name, was watching me like a hawk. The desire was evident in his eyes. All right pretty boy, catch me if you can, I thought... Not that I wasn't drawn to him.
After another half an hour of random chattering Leah called us out to the kitchen. Luckily the dinning part of it was way bigger than the living room and you could see some extension job done.
They had to fit in somewhere. When I stood next to Leah I was relieved that I was shorter than her. I let out a breath.
I know it's silly to worry about the inches when you turn into a monster every now and then, but I was happy none the less.
"What?" she cocked her eyebrow at me.
"Nothing, I'm shorter than you," I was grinning like a Cheshire cat now. At least they knew I was crazy. She just shook her head at me and laughed.
"Hell, you are shorter than everybody," Jake said and ruffled my hair.
"All right little sister," Embry wrapped his arm around my shoulder and Paul growled.
"How do you know I'm your little sister, brother?" I teased him.
"Well, you are shorter, as we can tell and um, Joshua, our father didn't leave those parts till I was about two, so..." he trailed off, the topic was still touchy for him.
"Well I celebrated my eighteenth birthday a couple of months ago, so how old are you?" I asked all of them actually. This time Sam answered for all of them again.
"I'm at the ripe old age of twenty five, Embry is twenty. Leah, Paul and Jared are all twenty one, Jake and Quil are twenty as well. Seth is nineteen and our absent brothers, Brady and Collin are both seventeen,"
"Oh, thanks God for that. I thought I was gonna be a baby of this group," I laughed.
"So what is your last name? I don't suppose that my father gave you his?"
"Nope. The only thing they got from my mom before she passed out was her age and the request to look after her baby. She knew she was gonna die," my voice broke at the end, but after few deep breaths I was able to continue. "She was only fifteen and was meant to start her life. She was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a swan on it, so this is me, Isabella Marie Swan. Then I was moved from agency to agency, never cute enough to be loved until I became a part of the furniture and gave up all hope for a family.
"I gave up hope until the strange things started happening and led me here where for the first time in my life I felt like I belonged. And if you'll have me I want to stay," I looked at each and every one of them looking for the signs of rejection in their eyes. My own were filled with tears.
Leah rushed to my side and hugged me tightly.
"Of course you are staying here. You can have the guest room until you decide to get a place on your own."
"Thanks," I mumbled. I looked up and I could see Sam and Embry shaking.
"If I ever see that son of a bitch-" I cut Sam off.
"No, don't, I forgave him long ago..." I trailed off and a yawn escaped me. It was only four in the afternoon but I was exhausted.
"All right Bella, I show you to the guest room and I get you before the bonfire so you can have a time to freshen up a little," Leah took my hand and towed me to now my bedroom.
I think I was asleep before I hit the pillow so I didn't have a chance to look around the room. Honestly, Leah could put me in a shed and I wouldn't notice.
A blink of an eye later I could hear knock on the door. It seemed like it anyway. The clock on the dresser said it was half past six in the evening.
"Come in," I croaked, my voice still heavy with sleep.
"Oh hi, sorry, but the bonfire starts at eight but we always go there a little earlier. Here, I went for a little shopping trip. I thought you would like some clothes on your own. It's not much, because I didn't know what you like. You know, just some underwear, jeans and t-shirts for now. I hope that's ok with you. Oh, and Sam has got you that," she handed me the bags and a new debit card to his bank account.
"Thanks, that was very thoughtful, both of you."
"No problem, bathroom is the second one on the left. There is a small bag with new toiletries for you on the counter."
"Thanks Leah, you are really the best."
I made my way to the bathroom and the towels and other bathroom necessities were waiting for me there.
I took my time in the shower. The hot water felt divine against my skin and the feeling of cleanliness was like a first spring rain on the mountain meadow. I actually didn't remember when was the last time I showered. Yeah, back in the days when I was oblivious to the world.
While I showered I remembered one small detail. I turned off the water quickly and started to dry myself.
"Leah, do you mind if I use a computer again?" I shouted.
"No problem, you don't have to ask. Just use it when you need it," she answered.
I wrapped my body in a towel, I would dress when I finished with this.
I looked at the police files from Denali. Everything was destroyed, few missing people and some bodies found.
I was on a missing person's file.
Thank God for my computer skills. I was able to hack into one of the coach companies in no time and get myself a bus ticket for five days ago. I made sure to choose a cheaper coach company without a CCTV in their buses.
Faking a plane ticket would be to risky.
Again with the encryption nobody would be able to find out the truth. When the Police will trace it I will be erased from that file. I could always make up a story and a lack of friends would explain why I didn't say anything to anybody.
I was shutting the computer down when I heard the movement in the hall. I quickly left the office to go to my room but I wasn't fast enough. Instead I bumped into Paul and nearly lost my towel in the process.
Even my russet skin could not hide the blush that formed there. Paul only gave me a smirk in return. This guy made me nervous in a sexy kind of way but I swore to myself that I wouldn't be an easy catch.
He would have to work for it and work hard. First he would have to prove to me that I could trust him, that he was different...
I shook my head as I entered my room. When I was there I looked through the clothes that Leah has bought me. I must admit she had a very good sense of fashion.
I've chosen a carefully ripped light blue faded jeans and a loose blue tank top with a tiger stripes motive on the side. The colors accentuated my russet skin nicely. I put my hair up in a neat ponytail. Even with that hairdo it hanged well below my shoulder blades. Last I decided on a pair of snickers and a light jacket.
I noticed that with my new body temperature I didn't feel the cold any more.
I took a deep breath before I left the room. Soon there would be no secrets but I would be damned if I wouldn't try to hide mine. For as long as possible. Skeletons are never pretty. Mine certainly weren't.
I stepped out to the corridor and I could hear the boys in the living room. My new dysfunctional family, I smiled to myself.
When I entered the living room the guys that were facing me suddenly fell into a shocked silence which caused the rest to turn back. They all looked at me like they've never seen a female in their life, Paul especially. Well all of them, except Sam and Embry of course.
Boys will be boys I suppose. But then I expected the familiar feeling of dread, but it never came...
"Shut your traps, dribble on your chests is not the sexiest look you know," I said ant they closed their mouths with the audible pop. Leah and I burst into hysterics.
Now it was the time to face the music and join the pack, my new family.
A/N So this is chapter no 2. Did you like it?
The hornet accident is real. I was bitten in the ear (the beast was huge, lol) and like Bella I still like the forest.
As you know Bella hasn't got the mind link with the pack yet. Every new wolf has got a chance to accept or reject the pack invitation.