Chapter Thirty Eight

Jasper

We knew we were being watched although we saw no sign of Cheveyo and it made us all a little jumpy so Peter and Emmett decided that to burn off some stress we would have a physical contest.

"Hey we can't do anything until the Volturi turn up"

I hadn't been interested but seeing the others joining in the fun I allowed myself to be drawn in. First was of course Emmett's favourite, arm wrestling which he won but not as easily as he expected. Both Charlie and myself caused him a lot of sweat while Peter made things infinitely worse by baiting Em all along.

"Come on Emmett, my kid sister could do better than that."

"What's up? Forget to take your strong pills today."

"Hey Em you gonna let a little girl beat you? Shame on you."

It was noticeable to the rest of us that when it came to his turn he wasn't so vocal although he put up a good fight.

Next was a race, Emmett was never going to win this and we let the girls race first, fastest would go head to head with the fastest guy. Charlotte beat Bella by a whisker and I won, I knew I was the fastest although Charlie surprised us all by coming a close second.

As Charlotte and I lined up for the final I saw Bella looking most unhappy, she had never forgiven Charlotte for her actions when Sue Clearwater cut my throat and I wondered if she was going to say something but she just stood with Rose and Emmett watching. The course was through the trees, across the river, and then a big loop ending up back at the cabin and we set off neck and neck. I jumped the river just before her and heard a splash and an oath as she fell slightly short landing in the water. From then on she just couldn't catch up and I crossed the finishing line a good twenty seconds before her. Without thinking she threw her arms around me and kissed me in congratulation. We all heard the snarl that erupted from Bella who tore Char from me and threw her into the trees running after her. Peter looked at me and sighed theatrically,

"Well I guess we'd better go after them before someone gets their head ripped off."

He was right of course, we could still hear the fight although it sounded as if they had moved a long way from the cabin.

Bella

I didn't like the thought of Jazz being out of sight for so long with Charlotte, I didn't trust her, but I bit my tongue and watched with the others as they started the race.

"My money's on Jazz" Emmett said with a huge grin.

"I'll take you on, twenty bucks says Charlotte comes out ahead."

Em and Peter shook hands while Rose and I rolled our eyes then she said,

"You want a bet Bella?"

Before I could answer her Peter piped up,

"Cos if they're too long we might have another bet on"

"What's that?"

"How quick a quicky really is Em."

They both started laughing but I was furious, how could they joke about such things? If I found that bitch had touched my mate I'd pull all her hair out and choke her with it. It seemed a long time before I saw Jazz running towards me a smile on his face and everyone cheered as he crossed the finish line first but before I could go to congratulate him Char appeared and threw herself on him. At that point I saw red and the snarl that erupted from my chest startled even me. I hauled the bitch off my mate and threw her into the trees following and ready to make good on my promise. She lay in a tangle of briers and clothes struggling to free herself even harder when she saw me coming.

"Not so fast now, are you bitch."

I grabbed for her but she wriggled free just in time and ran off zigzagging through the trees trying to escape my wrath.

Jasper

Peter and I raced to catch up with the girls before someone got badly hurt, up ahead we could hear crashing and oaths as they forced their way through the thick undergrowth then there was silence followed by a single high-pitched scream which made us hesitate momentarily then renew our efforts to catch up. Now there were more snarls and screams and we broke through into a clearing to see Charlotte impaled on a tree branch struggling frantically to free herself while Bella ripped at a wire trap holding her fast by one leg. It must be an illegal bear trap to hold her for longer than a second so while Peter ran to help Charlotte I approached Bella slowly and warily. Her eyes had a hint of red in them which was a bad sign, it meant she was beyond reason and as I reached her the wire snapped setting her free. She didn't stop to examine her injury just threw herself at Charlotte who was in Peters arms. I grabbed her and tackled her to the ground covering her struggling body with my own and using my superior strength to keep her down until she stopped struggling.

"Why are you protecting her?"

"I'm not but when you calm down you'll feel bad about what you've done. It was only a friendly kiss Bella, nothing more. You are my mate and all I could ever want. Please darlin' calm down now before someone really gets hurt."

"Gets really hurt? What the fuck do you think has happened here? Charlotte has a huge fucking hole in her chest courtesy of Bella."

"Peter she's jealous that's all."

"All? She's a dangerous fucking lunatic. You keep her away from Charlotte or I will"

I tried to ignore Peters words, they were said in the heat of the moment but it was difficult, it was my mate he was talking about.

"Crazy bitch"

That was it, I got up still holding Bella by the hand when Garrett and Emmett appeared and separated us from Peter and Charlotte with great difficulty.

Garrett

We got there not a moment too soon, The Major looked ready to rip Peter a new one while Bella was more than happy to take Charlotte on again. While Emmett helped Peter take Charlotte back to the cabin I stopped Bella and The Major from following them,

"I think you all need time to chill out Major, why don't you take Bella to hunt, Peter will have calmed down by the time you get back."

I didn't want to get into a fight with him but there was no way he was going back to the cabin yet so I was relieved when Bella pulled him to her,

"It's OK Garrett the further we are from that cheap little tramp the better."

I groaned as they walked off in the opposite direction from the cabin, great just what we needed now, a split in the group. I had to find a way to repair the damage done by Charlotte's careless actions. Bella had been great up to now but she was very possessive and I guess it had to manifest itself at some point.

When I got back to the cabin Rose was sitting with Charlotte while Em and Peter were having words out back,

"He was bang out of order Em. Bella attacked Charlotte for no good reason and he comes down on her side."

"Peter enough"

He turned to scowl at me.

"Yeah I might have known you'd be on his side."

"Shut up and listen for a change. We're in deep shit Peter and we have to stand together. Bella overreacted but it's not the first time so maybe Char should have thought before she acted. We're all out of order and we need to stop squabbling. There was a difference of opinion, get over it."

Before he could reply Emmett nodded,

"Garrett's right. If we don't stick together we're dead, all of us."

Peter stood still angry but even so he saw the truth in our words and nodded before going back to Charlotte.

"Disaster avoided I think"

"For now Em, just for now. I doubt we've heard the last of this."