Chapter 8

Rising Tempers

BPOV

"Oh just great Bella now your imaginations are able to knock you to the ground." I mumbled to myself as I tried to untangle the arms and legs of the phantom my insanity had come up with to help the Edward phantom catch up to me.

"Bella I am not an hallucination, I am Alice you know your best friend!" Alice demanded as I picked myself off the ground to turn on the image. "Of course your Alice! You're the best friend that left me all alone for 32 damn years!" I was shouting now as if that was going to help after all I was only yelling at myself. That's when the phantom's hand drew back and smacked me as hard as she could across the face. There was a sound like two boulders crashing together at the contact. The sound reverberated off the tree echoing the sound back to me. "How could you say something so mean to me when I have missed you so much!" Alice said as she latched on to me and started to dry sob.

I felt like a complete ass even though I was sure I was sure I was imagining everything but I had still made Alice cry. I had never seen her cry before and now I was the one making her cry. I would never be able to live with myself if I didn't make things right. Even if I was imaging this, after all if in my head this was the only way to see them again then I was damn sure not to let them getting away from me again, "Alice? Alice please I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you cry. Oh Alice please forgive me" I was on the verge of sobbing myself and probably would if she didn't forgive me. I heard the other phantom stop a few steps away. I clung to Alice tightly letting her dry sobbed on to the front of my chest with no tears to stain my shirt. I sighed in defeat, "I guess your going to tell me that your really here to aren't you?" I asked not turning around to see Edward. I just started to rub small circles on Alice's back as I gazed at the little pixie that I was holding on to for dear life..

"Of course I'm real and I would do anything to make you believe me" Edward declared. I sighed again of course that is what my mind would tell me too. But as I sat there holding a very solid Alice who was now shaking less I realized that for a crazy person I was thinking rather clearly. In fact I was thinking so clearly I was sure I smelled the wolf pack coming this way right now. Edward turned in time to catch a red brown wolf as it lunged for his throat. The wolf knocked Edward to the ground as the rest of the small pack surround the three of us. I instinctively pushed out my shield to hear what the wolves were thinking.

"Get away from her bloodsucker!" Jacob demanded growling low in his throat.

"Jake cool it man, we don't know what's going on yet" Sam Uley thought he was the pack leader I remembered.

"Sam just let him kill the bloodsucker already" Leah sighed already bored and bitchy after being forced to come to my rescue. Sam growled at Leah no doubt wanting her to shut up. I forgot that none of them knew I could hear them and I lightly hissed at Leah. Now I understood what Jake had meant when he said that there was no privacy in the pack's joined mind. I felt like I was swimming in all of heir thoughts and memories. I had never monitored so many minds at once. It was unnerving to think that any time Jake was a wolf that this is the same experience he had. Alice was now pulling out of my arms as she stared at the wolves and hissed at them scrunching her face in disgust.

"We finally find Bella after all this time and they have to come and ruin mine and my sister's reunion damn self important wolves!"

Alice's thoughts tough bitter were very sweet at heart. After all I was the one scared to let her go afraid she would disappear now that I was willing to believe even a little that she was here with me. I forgot not to laugh. And as my peal of laughter sounded Edward looked at me in shock. "You can hear their thoughts?" he asked. I could only nod as I started to rock back and forth at how interesting my mind must really be in this is what I came up with after all this time with so much room in my head after becoming a vampire. I was ready to be fitted for a strait jacket if there was once made strong enough to hold a vampire. Which I highly doubted there ever would be. Sam the big black wolf that he was came over in front of me even after hearing Alice's hiss in protest at being so close to her and touched his big wet nose to my forehead. Probably trying to figure out what was wrong with me.

"Are you sure that you are ok with them Jake told us what happened around the same time we picked up their scent while on patrol." Sam was taking this rather well I only nodded turning to watch Edward and Jake almost in a daze, unfortunately Jacob and Edward were not taking this so well and didn't even seem to pick up on mine and Sam's silent exchange.

"Damn you bloodsucker why don't you just go back to wherever the hell you've been! Bella just came back to us and your going to make her run away again." Jake's fur was standing on end as he stood almost nose-to-nose with Edward growling the whole time.

"Because mutt if I were to do that it would only be if I was taking my Bella with me." Edward glared at the russet color wolf not the least bit intimidated at Jacobs teeth being so close to his face, or that a large part of the pack was here to back Jake up if things got ugly. I had listened with minor interest as Edward put emphasis on the words my Bella.

"Screw you suck head you're the reason she died in the first place!" Jake had just made a very underhanded tactic by remembering what I had looked like after Edward had left me and even recalling the headline of the newspaper where it stated I drowned myself on purpose.

The growl I heard this time was not from either Edward or Jacob though Edward was hissing at Jake. Both of them turned to look at me. "Oh so that's where the growl had come from" I thought to myself. I had only just realized that I was the one that had growled at them. "You can both stop fighting over me like I am some type of toy. I can think for myself. And right now I don't want to be near either of you. Lets go Alice I want to see Esme and Carlisle so that this crazy fantasy is complete." I stood up and dragged almost forcibly Alice along with me walking toward the house. "Emmett is here to I'm sure you have missed him cause he sure has missed you!" Alice finally responded now that she realized she was coming with me one way or the other. "I'm sure I can handle him at least now I can't blush." I stated broadly. Even though I mentally prepared myself for all of Emmett's jokes at least I told myself I will be seeing Esme I had missed her so much. Alice chuckled "I am sure that wont stop him from trying to tease you all the same". I groaned wanting to get over this strange fantasy yet at the same time dreading coming out of it in case I was somehow dreaming.