I patted her head down and she squirmed to get under the covers. "Stay right here, honey. I'll be right back. I just have to go give Paul a beating for getting turned on by watching you. Don't worry, I won't kill the guy, but I sure do want to. Go to sleep. I'll be back in a few." With that, I kissed her lightly on the head and walked out the door before hearing her say, "Love you, Jake."

I ran back to the bonfire where the rest of the guys were staying at, talking about the 'surprise.' Quil sensed my presence and ran up to me patting me on the back. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Jakey, man, you sure do have a kick ass girl." If it wasn't due to the fact that I was wearing one of my good shirts and how close Quil was, I would have phased and kicked his wolfy ass. I growled and punched him in the shoulder.

"Quil, you're lucky that I'm wearing one of my good shirts." I replied harshly. I didn't care, he was talking about my girl. The guys laughed and I noticed Leah had stayed behind and was cuddled up in Embry's lap. Wow, that went fast.

I pulled Jared from my chair and flung him to the ground. "That's my seat." Jared got up quickly and moved to the open log next to me.

"Jeez, Jake, ease up on the roughness, will ya?" He whined as he rubbed his arm. I rolled my eyes and looked at Sam who was coughing to get everyone's attention.

"Okay, girls, pay attention," he started. We all grimaced at his insult, but shook it off. "We need to strategize our attack. I'm not sure, but I'm starting to worry that Victoria isn't coming alone." Sam stared at me in particular.

Paul spoke up. "So you think she's bringing other leeches with her? How many?" He asked eagerly. Sam shook his head.

"I'm not sure, but Colin and Brady, the two boys down a few house from Seth are starting to show a few signs of the transformation so this must mean that she has a lot of help." I snarled.

"Do you think we have enough to hold them off?" Little Seth asked. Leah huffed and threw a twig at him. Seth, gracefully dodged it before it hit him.

"Hey, what was that for!" he complained. Leah rolled her eyes.

"You obviously doubt the pack, so I had to set you straight, lil' bro." Seth groaned.

"Leah, focus, please." I said flatly to her. She narrowed her eyes at me, but fell farther back into Embry's chest. Sam looked sort of pleased that she'd finally moved on. Damn it, Jake, focus. A leech is trying to kill your one and only. I mentally slapped myself for not concentrating. As if Sam had read my thoughts, he nodded and continued on.

"With that in mind, we need to consider if we want Bella to fight or not." I growled, but it was only to me. Of course Bella wanted to fight, she said it in her sleep.

"Yes, she wants to fight. I heard her say it in her sleep last night," I mentally kicked myself for admitting to everyone that I slept with her, "She kept on going on and on about Victoria, muttering 'She's mine. My kill.'" My lips pulled into a frown as the vision of Bella fighting Victoria appeared in my mind.

"Jake, are you out here?" I heard Bella call out from my front porch steps. I got up from my seat and ran to her.

"I'm right here, honey." I called out when I was a few feet from the steps. Her eyes narrowed and then she ran into my arms and I wrapped my arms around her waist, almost protectively.

"I thought you said you would be back soon? It's been about 30 minutes or so. I got worried." She whispered into my chest. I rubbed her back soothingly.

"Sorry, honey, I was with the pack. We're having a council meeting actually. Do you want to come and join us?" I pulled away to look into her eyes. The fire from earlier was still there, but it was fading slowly. My volatile, sexy little woman of mine, I thought. She nodded her head and confirmation and we walked back quickly to the meeting. Bella sat on my lap and I pulled her to my chest.

BPOV

I noticed that Leah was snuggling in close with Embry over next to Sam. I smiled happily at her and she grinned back, winking at me. Jake held me close to him and I adjusted myself so that I was in between his legs in his lap. His chin was on top of my head and I rolled my head back onto his shoulder, sighing deeply.

"Bella, that was a, uh, nice surprise earlier." Paul commented, careful not to make Jacob upset. I laughed, reaching over to pat him on the arm.

"I did it for all of you guys." I told him. I glanced at Leah who was smiling. Jacob squeezed my waist tighter.

"Yeah, she sure is letting her animalistic side out of her." She laughed and I joined in with her. In all my life, Leah was the one I least expected I thought I was going to get close to, but now we were closer than ever.

The fire crackled and in some way, it told us all to get back to business. "So, what's the update on Victoria?" I broke the silence. I felt Jacob pull me closer to his body in a protective manner. Sam was the one that spoke.

"We've all come to conclude that she's not alone, Bella. We all assume that it's not just a few extra leeches that it's more than a few, like 10 or 20 others." My heart fell, and my breathing started to accelerate as I looked at the faces around me. The fight was coming soon and the thought of losing anyone here at the bonfire shattered my heart to pieces.

"Bella, what's wrong?" Jake asked, sitting up and turning me around so he could face me. A lone tear fell from my face and Jake immediately brought my face to his and kissed me before holding me tight against him.

"It's just…I-I-I can't lose any of you guys. W-what if someone…h-happened t-to get h-hurt? I would put the blame on me no matter whose real fault it was." I sighed deeply into his chest, trying to calm my tears. All these emotions were confusing and alarming me. Today, I had tried to get everyone's mind off of Victoria and the danger and throw a special surprise, but now the danger had floated to the surface and I had to face it.

The pain of losing or Jake getting hurt stabbed at my heart and my body shook. I tried to calm myself by taking deep breaths. I turned to face the pack. "I want to fight Victoria-

"No." Jake said flatly. I turned to touch his face lightly with my fingers. He sighed.

"I want Jacob and Leah beside me when I fight her. If what you say is true, Sam, about the numbers she is bringing then we are going to have to find help, too." I thought of my tribe that I was banished from. I so deeply wished that Kan Lee was here to help. Sam looked at me seriously for a moment.

"Colin and Brady, two other boys down a few ways from Seth's are showing signs of the transformation. It's probably not going to be enough, though. Bella, do you think-? No, that wouldn't work." I knew what Sam was about to imply. He was going to ask if my brothers would help out, too. I looked down at the ground. They would never help me after what I had done to my real dad. I winced as I remembered what I had done.

"It's not going to be enough. It'll make for a close fight, but I don't want to make it close. I want to make this fight quick with no losses." I said firmly. Everyone stared at me with wide eyes.

"I think…I think I need to call the Cullens." I whispered.

A silence filled the area and I felt my phone go off in my back pocket. I pulled it out and read the caller ID. Speak of the Devil.

It was Alice.