"-I wouldn't be unprotected, I have..." Bella trails off, looking up at Edward. The last thing she wants to do is bring Jacob right back to Mackenzie, but with her and their father at risk, she decides it's for the best. Jacob would help protect them.
"Absolutely not." Edward says, but when the sun rises he finds himself standing at the foot of Bella's driveway as the dog in question sniffed his way around.
Bella and the wolf make their way down the steps toward him, Jacob cutting right to business. "Whoever it was, he left his stink behind. It'll be hard to miss when we cross it again. We'll handle it from here."
On edge as always, standing face to face with his natural enemy, Edward is quick to disagree. "We don't need you to handle anything. Or anyone."
"I could care less what you need." Jacob's voice is low. His imprint is a part of all of this, the leech had been in her room, had his hands all over her things. He'll be damned if he trusts the leeches to protect her and her family.
"We're done here." Edward says, but he's having none of it. This is beyond the Cullens now.
"No, you're done here." He growls, stepping forward, "An imprint's involved!"
Edward also makes a move forward, only to be separated by Bella. "Stop! I'm tired of this! From now on, we're Switzerland, okay?!"
Seconds after, Mackenzie skips down the steps, dressed in jeans and a polka-dot sweater. Jacob turns toward her instinctively, as if yanked by an invisible cord. She stops next to him, her sister, and Edward; all who seem stiff.
"What's up?" She asks, but no one responds. "Go ahead to the car," Jacob says, finally showing a smile. There's an order in his tone, something in his voice that makes her want to obey. So she nods, even though she can see Bella beginning to shake her head in protest. Mackenzie skips off towards the rabbit before she can hear what Bella has to say, wondering just what her sister's problem is lately.
"No way!" Bella hisses, when her Mackenzie is out of ear shot. "She's not going anywhere with you!" No way in hell is her little sister going off with him.
An animalistic growl rumbles from Jacob's chest and it's the first time he's ever reacted that way towards Bella. "Well, she's not going with you." Jacob tells her, "I won't trust your leeches with my imprint, not on my life." The raw possessiveness in his voice concerns her.
"She's safer with us." Bella tries, but Jacob's face becomes cold, threatening. Edward moves her behind him a bit, "No one is safer with them." With that he marches over to the rabbit where Mackenzie sits waiting and they speed off.
During the ride to La Push she watches him focus on the road. Neither of them say anything for the first fifteen minutes, but as they're narrowing in on La Push, Mackenzie finally turns to him. "I take it you and my sister didn't make up then?"
Jacob seems to snap out of his trance, smiling over at her, but it seems a little forced. She wonders what really happened between them. "We just had a disagreement is all. I'm over it, seems like Bella isn't though." He doesn't know why it sounds like he's explaining himself.
"Bells tends to hold grudges," Mackenzie laughs, but it doesn't sound as full and melodic as it normally does. Jacob leans over and takes her hand in his. "Yeah, I'm beginning to see that."
When they pull up at Sam and Emily's house, he isn't expecting Leah and Seth to be there. But, he can smell them as soon as he and Mackenzie are coming up the stairs. When they enter the the living room Seth is on the couch next to Jared and Paul (both of whom, she'd already met). He's laughing, sitting there as equally shirtless as the rest of the boys.
He seems to be doing fine, she concludes, wondering why the hell he hasn't spoken to her in almost four weeks. She'd given him time, like his mother had asked, but it seems he'd went on ahead and replaced her. "Seth Clearwater," she starts, her voice shaking, sounding equally as betrayed as she feels.
The smile on Seth's face falls and the laughter surrounding them comes to a complete silence. "Mackenzie?" Seth starts, rising off the couch, "What are you doing here?"
Jacob stands rigid behind her, worried that she might rouse Seth's temper. It'd only been a couple weeks since he'd first phased and though he'd handled it well, he also wasn't a person who was easily angered. There hadn't really been a time that Seth had gotten riled up yet.
"What am I doing here?" Mackenzie grumbles, crossing her arms. "What about you?! You don't haven't spoken to me in weeks, but you're here laughing it up like everything's just fine!" Tears begin gathering at the corner of her eyes, "Why haven't you answered my texts or my calls?"
Seth gets up (causing Jacob to step forward in case he needs to protect her) and goes around her, not answering her at all as he makes his way out of the front door. Mackenzie marches out after him, even more furious that he would try to ignore her.
Jacob darts out after her as she grabs Seth by the arm and turns him around. "You owe me an explanation!" She cries. He's supposed to be her best friend, why is he being like this?
"I don't owe you anything!" He yells in reply, shaking now. And, in fury and hurt Mackenzie slaps him square in the face. The others are instantly on the porch, surrounding them and separating her from Seth, who's shaking unnaturally at this point.
Jacob's arms wrap around her, trying to shield her. At this rate she was going to find them out, or worse get hurt. But, it seemed she was already caught in the crossfire of this whole thing thanks to Bella and the Cullens. Seth notices his arms around her, the protective stance. "You imprinted on her?" He grounds out.
This seems to be the last straw. He'd been forbidden to see his best friend because he'd turned into a wolf and could accidentally hurt her, but Jacob is one too and now he'd imprinted on her. How exactly is that 'keeping her safe'?
Mackenzie flinches at the sound of something shredding, Seth's form lunging forward and then being knocked off of the porch. Sam is yelling and the others are jumping off the porch. Jacob puts her behind him and she can't see anything, Emily is told to bring her inside.
Then the whole of reality changes. Sam isn't Sam, and Seth isn't Seth anymore. Instead the wolf that was Seth (is Seth?) is snarling and aiming straight for Jacob. Mackenzie shakes free of Emily's grip. Why would he attack Jake?
"Mackenzie get inside!" "Emily get her out of here!" Everyone's yelling and pushing then Jacob isn't himself anymore either. Instead there's a wolf in his place, one that's much larger than Seth's and even slightly larger than the black wolf that Mackenzie assumes is Sam.
With this new reality overloading her system, she can barely process the rest of everything going on around her, as Seth charges Jacob and Sam howls. Leah and Jared change too, jumping in to separate the two fighting wolves.
What the hell is going on here?! Mackenzie blacks out.
Well, well, well; what's happening here? So yes, Mackenzie is finally going to learn about the wolves and the Cullens. I've posted a second Jacob/OC story that has a Medieval/Red Riding Hood theme called Beyond The Trees. Please check it out, if you get the chance! I'd like to thank everyone who's commented so far, keep 'em comin! I love a little input here and there, it motivates me to update. On another site the readers never seemed to comment and that lessened by motivation to continue writing, so thank you everyone that's commented.