A/N So this is the new chapter. I was actually planning on updating this a few weeks ago, but as you all know, I live in San Diego so was unfortunately effected by the blackout. Even more unfortunately, I was working on this story and lost most of the chapter. If you read Goddess of War, if it's not posted today, it will be tomorrow; my poor fingers do get tired. I'm probably going to be updating on my stories either once a week or once every two weeks, depending on my schedule. So this is the meeting and perhaps a little more drama in the lives of Bella and Jake XD

Previously

Jacob was currently sitting in the seat next to her, stony in his silence. Her heart broke, not realizing that her behavior had been hurting him so much. She cursed Alice, and vowed to never listen to her again.

Seth and Embry were in the back seat. Everyone else was riding behind them in Sam's truck.

As they pulled into the driveway, Bella grimaced at the clearly unpleased expressions on her family's faces.

Jasper leveled her with an unconcealed scowl as he saw who was in the car with her.

Rose, on the other hand, was furious. Her silence made it clear that Bella would have to grovel on her knees for forgiveness.

Carlisle fixed his expression to something more neutral. "How can we help you?"

Car doors slammed as Sam and the rest of the pack marched over to them. Sam looked at him grimly. "I think a better question should be how we can help you."

Chapter Seven: Why Don't You Love Me?

Edward snorted. "I highly doubt that a couple of overgrown teenage boys can be of any help."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Says the century old virgin."

Esme's eyes widened. "Bella!"

Bella grinned. "I know, I was shocked too." She ignored the fact that Esme's exclamation wasn't due to surprise.

Emmett snickered and bounded over to her, high-fiving before lifting her up into a crushing hug. "Bellsy-boo, did they hurt you?" Holding her in the air, he looked her over before glaring in the pack's direction.

Bella snorted. "And risk the wrath of the invincible Emmy-bear, I think not."

Carlisle cleared his throat. "If my children are done fooling around, I would like to get down to the basis of this meeting?"

Emmett set Bella down sheepishly and Bella sighed. "The pack wants to help with our little problem."

Carlisle frowned. "You saw fit to inform them of our personal troubles?"

Jacob shook with anger. "She's my imprint! I believe I'm entitled to know if some crazy leech is out to kill her!"

Carlisle raised an eyebrow. "As she is my daughter, I did not see fit to inform a pack of wolves I barely know anything about."

Sam intervened. "We wish you no disrespect, rather to offer our services. As Jacob's imprint, Bella is, by extension, a member of the pack and therefore must be protected."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Oh Sam, ever the peace maker. Shouldn't I, the person who is in supposed danger, be allowed to say who I want protecting me?"

A resounding "No!" from both her family and the pack caused Bella to look at them in disbelief.

Alice reached out to place a condescending hand on Bella's shoulder. "No offense Bella, but you aren't known exactly for making the best choices for yourself. Look at what you're wearing, for instance."

Bella clenched her fists to stop herself from hitting Alice. "The only reason why I put up with you is because of Jasper, so I really wouldn't want to push it right now. And I've learned from experience to never listen to a word you say that involves me personally, as it usually doesn't end well for me. I wonder why."

Alice narrowed her eyes. "Are you insinuating that I've purposefully done things that weren't beneficial to you?"

Rosalie snorted. "Wouldn't put it past you."

Alice turned to Jasper pleadingly. "Jazzy…" She tilted her head in Bella's direction.

Jasper sighed. "Bella-"

Bella interrupted him. "When will you grow a pair and become the God of War I've heard so much about, but rarely see?"

Jasper glared at her, but remained silent.

She muttered under her breath. "Apparently not anytime soon…"

The pack were watching the spectacle in interest, having never seen vampires act as dysfunctional as a 'normal' family.

Sam cleared his throat. "Can you inform us of the exact details of James' motives so we can know what we're patrolling for?"

Jasper stepped up. "James is a tracker, and once he decides to track something, he does not quit until he gains what he desires. He is completely focused on who he is targeting and will do anything to get to them. Bella is particularly interesting to him because not only did she escape from his clutches, but she is so heavily protected. He sees her as a game that must be won at all costs."

Growls resonated around the pack. They were not used to killing a leech that actually had a plan in mind when it came to innocent humans. The vampires they normally killed were often confused, angry, or curious and to hear about a vampire who strategized in order to cause harm was new to them.

Bella rolled her eyes. "Will you all calm the fuck down? There's a sadistic vampire on the loose, big fucking whoop. Last time I counted, there were eighteen of us and only…one of him?"

Emmett leaned slightly towards Rosalie to loudly whisper in her ear. "I think after that big grizzly bear tried to attack her, she lost her sense of self preservation."

Rosalie narrowed her eyes and smacked him. "That was your fault, idiot."

Jacob growled. "You let my mate be attacked by a bear?"

Emmett waved him off. "Chill. She was what? Seven? She probably thought it was a dream." Jacob trembled more and Emmett looked concerned. "Calm down, man. I took care of the bear."

Jasper, however, seemed to be contemplating something before he spoke up. "Bella, you said eighteen. There are only fifteen of us, including the wolves."

Bella smiled with a twinkle in her eye. "I have a feeling Pete and Char will help out." Jasper acted as if he still wanted to cut her off. "Oh, and then there's me of course."

Naturally, this caused an immediate uproar.

"The hell you are!" -Rosalie

"Over my dead bod- uh, pile of ashes!" –Emmett

"Do you have a fucking death wish?" -Jacob

The angry shouts continued, but Carlisle was the first to be heard over the uproar. Everyone's protestations died down, but the fury could practically be felt through the air.

Carlisle pinched the bridge of his nose. "Bella, you do know you're human? You could not possibly fight a vampire."

Bella sighed. "I shouldn't have said anything."

Jasper walked over to her, his eyes black with anger. "Isabella, what are you not telling us? Did you see something else?"

Bella just continued to shake her head. "I really shouldn't have said anything."

Jasper snarled. "Isabella! If you have some information that could help us to protect you, then speak up now!"

She stiffened defensively. "I will tell you when it is the appropriate time and not a moment sooner. Unlike Alice, I know that some things have to be kept secret in order to not change the future."

Alice glared at her, but Bella ignored her.

Jasper could sense her honesty, but there was a hint of deception in her answer. "Isabella, if I find out that you hid information that could lead to you being in harm's way just to protect us, I'll kill you myself."

Bella nodded, but she knew that nothing could change the future that awaited her.

Jacob cleared his throat loudly, a little annoyed that they were being left out of the loop. "I don't know about the rest of the pack, but I want to know more about these 'visions' Bella gets, if you don't mind."

Rosalie huffed. "It's none of your business, mutts."

Bella sighed. "Chill, mom. They should know." She turned to face the pack. "Ever since I was a little girl, I've had these dreams. They seem so real and vivid to me. At first, it was little things. My mom would be looking for something she lost and I'd tell her where it was. Then it progressed to bigger things. One day, I warned my mom not to go to the store and the next day we heard on the news that it was robbed. Several people were killed."

Leah interrupted her. "If you can see the future, why didn't you save your mother?"

The Platts hissed at her, but the Pack said nothing, thinking the very same thing.

Pain shot through her and Jasper placed a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to tell them, darlin'."

Bella shook her head. "No, we need to have everything out in the open." Her eyes clouded over as she explained. "Sometimes my visions come too late, and sometimes there is nothing I can do to stop the events from happening. I had seen my mother dying so many ways. She would be trying to put in a light bulb and she'd fall, breaking her neck. Or she would fall asleep in the bathtub and drown. She would go out for groceries and get hit by a car. The list goes on and on. I stopped them from happening every time, but eventually I realized that my mother and my…brothers…were fated to die. And that's when I had my last vision, of my mother in the car that night. It was too late for me to stop it." Her eyes filled with tears and she couldn't stop the sobs that came out of her mouth.

Carlisle looked stunned and grief entered his eyes. This just proved how involved he was in his daughter's life to not know that she'd had these visions before.

Esme rushed over to her. "I'm so sorry, Isabella. You never told us!" She placed a comforting hand on her back.

Bella flinched and sniffled. Turning away, she went into the arms of her comforter. Jasper. She looked at the pack. "You should leave now."

Jacob's hurt eyes made contact with hers. To see his imprint in another's arms, especially another male's, caused him more pain than he thought it would.

Paul sneered. "Funny how you always go to him for comfort." He glanced in Jacob's direction. "You sure she's your imprint Jake?"

Bella turned around, eyes narrowed in fury. "You asshole! I feel the imprint just as much, if not more than Jacob!"

Paul glared at her. "You have a weird way of showing it. Maybe Jake should break the imprint, he doesn't deserve damaged goods."

Gasps were heard around them and Jasper futilely tried to calm Bella down, but her anger was reaching heights that even he couldn't control.

Something flashed in her eyes, and in a split second, Paul was flying backwards, into a tree. They were all shocked silent, mouths open.

Bella fixed her gaze on the rest of the pack. "If that's the way you feel, stay the hell away from me."

With that, she turned her back on them and left.

As soon as they were walking back to La Push, Jacob blindsided Paul into a tree and proceeded to fight him, both of them phasing simultaneously.

If you've lost me my imprint, I will kill you!

Relax, man. I was just making sure she actually had feelings for you.

She said that she'd never talk to any of us again.

Dude, now that you know that she likes you, just use that knowledge to your benefit.

What do you mean?

Make her jealous. If there is one thing that makes a girl possessive, it's when she sees the man she likes with someone else.

I'm not sure about this…

Jake, I got your back. If it doesn't work, we'll try something else.

Desperate for his imprint to like him, Jacob phased back and agreed to the plan.

Bella cried herself to sleep that night. She felt as if everyone, her family, her imprint, was attacking her. That, piled on top of the memories of her mother, was just too much.

As she woke up, she felt slightly better. Staring up at her ceiling, she resolved to not let anyone influence her own decisions. From now on, she wasn't listening to other's advice when it came to her love life. She wasn't going to listen to the negative comments about the pack. And she most definitely wasn't going to allow Jasper to stop her from being happy, no matter how much she loved him.

With a sigh, she rolled out of bed and onto her feet. Looking through her closet, she chose a dark pair of skinny jeans and a red halter top. She paired this with a pair of leather boots with a wedged heel along with a leather jacket. She put on smoky eye shadow and nearly blood red lipstick.

Bella smirked at her reflection in the mirror, grabbed her bag, and walked downstairs.

Emmett was the first to greet her. "Day-um, Bells. You look hot!"

She winked at him and went over to eat the breakfast Esme had made for her, slightly frowning to see that it was bacon and eggs. The bacon she was fine with, but no matter how many times she told Esme that she hated eggs, she still insisted that Bella eat them because they had "protein."

Jasper looked at her attire and frowned, but said nothing. Her emotions told him that she was not one to be messed with that day.

As Bella finished her breakfast, he headed for the garage. "You coming?"

She shook her head. "I'll take my bike."

Alice tsked loudly. "Bella, you know Carlisle doesn't like you riding it."

Rosalie sighed exasperatedly in Alice's direction. "Oh shut up, Alice. She's ridden it a thousand times, and your own husband did teach her how. She'll be fine."

Alice sniffed. "You're lucky Esme isn't here and that Edward decided to hunt before school. Neither of them would allow this."

Bella glared at her. "Esme is NOT my mother, and Edward is certainly not my father. Mind your own damned business for once."

Alice huffed and stormed off.

Jasper grimaced. "Did you really have to.." He trailed off as he saw the look on Bella's face.

Bella stood up, placing her plate in the sink before going to the garage and unearthing her beauty. It was a dark red Ducati, all in its shining, gleaming glory. Jasper had given it to her for her birthday and she had loved it ever since.

Fixing the strap of her bag to go around her, she straddled the bike and revved the engine before taking off towards the school.

Jacob stood, leaning against his truck along with Quil, Embry, Seth, Jared, and Paul.

Seth was clearly impatient. His feet wouldn't stop moving and his eyes were trained in the direction he knew Bella would come from.

Jared shook his head in disbelief. "It seems you're more excited about Bella coming to school than Jacob."

Seth shrugged. "I was texting Bella last night and-"

Jacob narrowed his eyes at him. "How did you get my Bella's number before I did?"

Seth looked sheepish. "I came back to her house later that night to apologize for our behavior and she gave me her number. She said it would be nice to talk to someone from the pack who actually had manners."

Jacob could have slapped himself for his stupidity. Of course, bringing up those memories would be hard for his imprint. It seemed that Seth knew more about this imprint stuff than he did. He was just reconsidering the plan he had made with Paul when someone sped into the parking lot on a beautiful red Ducati before getting out and taking their helmet off.

They all gasped when they saw that it was Bella, her thick, chocolate locks unmistakable. She waved at Seth and then flipped the rest of them off, before heading towards her first class.

Jacob steeled himself. If she wanted to pretend that she didn't have feelings for him, two could play that game. He nodded his head in Paul's direction. "Let's do this."

Lunch time arrived and after much contemplation, Bella realized that she was probably being too hard on the pack. Though they definitely went about it the wrong way, they really were sorry for what they had done to her so many years ago.

With this thought on her mind, she bought her lunch and walked over to the pack's table. What she saw had her dropping her lunch, her pizza flopping on the ground and her apple rolling away.

A beach-blonde tramp was dragging her fake nails up and down Jacob's biceps, while fluttering her fake eyelashes. She was clad in an extremely short skirt and a white top with a plunging neckline and brushing up against way too much of Jacob.

Now, Bella would have easily laughed this off if Jacob had been clearly ignoring the girl. But he was laughing back at whatever the slut was saying, clearly enjoying himself.

She glared in his direction before muttering, "Fuck this," and storming out of the cafeteria. She saw her family jump up to follow her, but she waved them off. Securing her bag around her, she slung her leg over her motorcycle, revved it up, and took off towards nowhere in particular.

There was something oddly calming about speeding with no direction in mind. Green trees flying past her until it merged into a pattern of green and brown in the corners of her eyes. No one else really on the road as everyone was either at work or in school at this time. Just her and the road, going on for seemingly forever. Or until she decided to stop, of course. Which was highly unlikely in her current frame of mind.

Sure, she hadn't been outwardly enthusiastic about the imprint, but she had been waiting for it to happen since she was a little girl. She didn't like her visions to influence her behavior too much, so had decided to accept the imprint, but to not let it cloud her judgment. And she wasn't going to jump right into it after the history she'd had with Jacob. But she had accepted it nonetheless. And since she was apparently not moving fast enough for Jacob, he decides to grab the first girl he met and flirt with her and expect for Bella to be okay with that. Hell no! Imprint or not, he was going to pay for this.

In her frustration, she pressed down on the gas even harder, her speed synonymous with her anger.

Which is why she didn't see the immobile white form that stood in the middle of the street until it was too late.

With a screech of tires and metal, she swerved away from the form and hit a tree head-on.

As blood streamed down her face, almost clouding her eyes, and the pain of what was sure to be a couple of fractured ribs as well as broken bones, she fought to stay conscious.

Blinking rapidly, her eyes caught the form of a man standing above her. He bent down and roughly removed her helmet, causing her to cry out from the blinding pain.

His red eyes met hers and gently swiped his fingers across her bloody cheek before licking it appreciatively. "I told you I'd be back, Isabella."

Jasper and the rest of the Cullens stormed over to the pack's table.

Rosalie sneered at the girl who was still practically wrapped around Jacob. "Get lost."

The girl turned around slowly and was about to make a smart retort, when she saw the look on Rose's face and scampered off.

Jasper was clenching and unclenching his fists, clearly wanting them to be wrapped around Jacob's throat. "What-the-hell-do-you-think-you're-doing?" Each word was ripped from his throat in a quiet snarl.

Paul stood up for Jacob. "Chill, dude. I've done the same thing to other girls who play hard to get. Trust me, by the end of the week, Bella will be eating out of the palm of his hand."

Emmett snorted. "In case you haven't noticed, Bella is not like other girls, you dumb fuck. She's not going to give it up in the back seat of your car. She's the type who wants it to be meaningful. She's not playing hard to get, despite what most of you think. This is her way of getting to know you and see what type of person you are. And clearly, you're failing the test."

The shocked look of the Cullens towards him was slightly insulting to Emmett. "What? I listen sometimes."

Jacob looked remorseful, but was still stubborn. "Not that I need advice from a leech, but I really didn't mean to hurt her. I couldn't think of anything else to do."

Rosalie started to feel slightly bad for him. Jacob was definitely nowhere near who she would choose for Bella, but she could see that they were soul mates and decided to help him out. "Have you tried actually getting to know her? Figuring out what her hobbies and interests are? I swear, have you ever even dated someone before?"

He shook his head.

Rosalie sighed. "Well, at least show some manners. And apologize to her, you're certainly not scoring points the way you're going."

Jacob nodded grudgingly. "You're right, maybe after school and when she's calmed down a bit, I can-" He suddenly stopped speaking, his hands clutching the table so hard that it was starting to bend.

Embry looked at him in concern. "What's wrong man?"

His eyes seemed unfocused. "Bella…"

No sooner were those words out of his lips than Alice slipped into a vision. "We have to go now! Bella's been in an accident!"

The pack and the Cullens left the cafeteria in a rush to save the one person that connected them to each other.

A/N Yes, we all know that Jacob is a clueless douche, but with a little house training he'll get better ;) Next chapter we'll find out if James does anything more to Bella and if the pack and Cullens can save her in time. Now review review review! Please?