A/N : God, you guys are just little bargainers, aren't you? Think you can bash the author in with guilt for the next chapter. Well, I'm posting this before bedtime, so be grateful! Like I said, if I get 8 reviews on this chapter (and not all from the same person, guys!) I'll post the next one tomorrow at 11AM.
So, I think we're about halfway through the story. I kind of time lined it out in chapters, and I think it's going to be just under 40. I think. We'll see. Might be longer.
Chapter 17 – The Treaty Stands
Edward's POV
I had carried Bella up to her room, keeping her close to my chest. I laid her out on her bed and she was already half passed out. The emotions of the day must have really taken it out of her. I brushed her hair back and tucked her in before pressing a kiss to her forehead. I heard a car pulling up outside and realized Charlie must be home.
The broken window came to the forefront of my thoughts. Shit.
I grabbed a piece of paper and pen off Bella's desk and quickly wrote in her chicken scratch hand writing.
Dad, I came home and the window was broken. Everything's fine, someone must have just thrown a rock or something. Really tired, see you tomorrow. Love, Bells.
I heard the door to Charlie's car slam shut and zipped down the stairs, placing the note by the couch with the broken window. He would surely see it there. I went back to Bella's room and eased the door shut as I heard him rummaging around by the mess. I went to Bella's window and glanced back at her, making sure she was still asleep.
"Jacob…" she whispered and I tried to block the sound out of my ears as I jumped out of her window, shutting it most of the way. I ran to my car and jumped in, taking off back to my house. I felt one thousand times better than on the car ride here. Bella would be mine once more. She would never see that ridiculous dog ever again. I would talk to Alice and have her tell me whenever Bella decided to go see him. There was a smile on my face.
Jake's POV
I was running towards the Cullen's, Sam's words still in my head. He had finally gotten me to relax enough to get into the forest. It had been the longest crawl I'd ever had to make. He chose to speak to me in his human form. I was sure it was because the pain I was experiencing was something Sam never wanted to feel again. It would immediately remind him of Emily and he would break.
"Jake, you're lucky no one saw you," he said, but this was not his alpha voice. This was the voice of a big brother, trying to comfort his broken hearted sibling. I felt his hand on my wolf shoulder. I didn't know if I would be able to change back for a while. There was so much pain, so much trauma. Surely I would just shift back anyways. I whimpered at the thought.
"Jacob, I need to know what you want to do. Technically, the treaty wasn't broken. He hasn't tasted her, he hasn't broken skin. I don't want to call off the treaty, but if you think we need to, I will," I heard him say. My eyes were pressed firmly shut. All I could think about was that Bella had left me. She had left when I begged her to stay. What was she doing now? Was that leech pressed on her? Was everything she said a lie?
I squashed that thought to pieces. If it had all been a lie, I wouldn't be crumbled here on the ground because I had imprinted on her. I would be upset, but I wouldn't be slowly becoming nonexistent. I didn't know how long I could last without Bella beside me, safe.
"Jacob," Sam called, bringing me out of my thoughts. I opened my eyes to look at him. He was staring at me, utterly concerned. His expression just made me want to roll off a cliff and die. Not only was I in pain, no one else who was around me would be without my pain. I felt ridiculous. I started to sit up, trying to look somewhat pulled together.
I thought about it a moment. He was right; the treaty had not been thrown out the window. As much as I wanted to say it was over, attack the leech, I had to think of my pack. If we attacked Edward, we attacked all the Cullen's. There was no doubt in my mind that every last one of them would come to the pasty asshole's defense. And there was no doubt in my mind that at least one of my pack mates would either get hurt or die.
I shook my head immediately. I felt I owed everything to Bella. I couldn't live without her. But she had put herself back into this position. If she felt it was safe enough to go home, I would respect her decision, no matter how much it hurt me. I wouldn't like it, I wouldn't agree with it, but I trusted she knew if the leech was a danger to her or not.
Sam gave a quick nod and got to his feet. I had never realized he was leaning down beside me.
"I'm going to go back and tell the guys what's going on. Jared was on patrol when you shifted, but he had to shift back because he couldn't handle your emotions. No one really knows what's going on," Sam said, patting me on my head. I began to slink back into the ground, upset that I had affected so many people with my mood.
"Just work on pulling yourself together," he said as he left. I rested my head on my paw, feeling my heart still trying to piece itself back together. But Bella held my glue in her hands. Even if I wanted to get past this all, I couldn't do it without her. She clouded my mind. I needed to run. And so I did.
And here I was, running at the Cullen's. I didn't know what I expected to do when I got there. My head was in over drive, and since none of my pack mates were wolves any more, they didn't know what was going on. They couldn't stop me.
I smelled blood sucker the next moment. I stopped and sniffed once, twice, before I took off after the scent. I found it coming from a little sports car, driving towards the Cullen's. I couldn't help myself. Whoever it was, I wanted a confrontation. The car started to slow even before I jumped out in front of it. I decided then that fate was just jerking me around and fucking with my head. Edward Cullen's eyes peered out at me. He turned off the car and stepped out. It took everything in me to keep from lunging at him and ripping out his throat.
"Well, well, mutt… I was actually hoping I'd run into you," he said, calmly. I didn't know what was going on. Why would he want to see me?
"To answer your question, Bella told me what happened between you two," he said, looking at his nails. I growled, not wanting him to read my mind. I wanted to speak for myself. I bounded to the edge of the forest and shifted. I couldn't believe I actually managed to do it. Apparently, my anger and frustration didn't outweigh my need to speak for myself. I was already shaking though. I peered at him, standing up behind a bush. I had never wanted a pair of pants more than this moment. I stayed behind the bush.
"What do you mean she told you?" I asked, tightening my hands into fists. He scoffed and I wanted to lunge at him still.
"She said she wanted to be with you," he said, as if it were simple. I felt a ripple crawl over my skin. Bella, what were you thinking?... He could have killed you I thought, feeling some weak form of bile rise in my stomach.
"I would never hurt Bella," he yelled then, stepping away from his car.
"Stay the fuck out of my head!" I yelled back, taking a step forward. "And what do you mean 'I would never hurt Bella?' She's got a bruise the size of your hand on her wrist!" I yelled again, feeling my anger getting the better part of me. I calmed it, even as the image of Bella's battered hand brought itself to the front of my mind. Apparently, the leech was still reading me, because his mouth dropped a little.
"I didn't realize…" he started. I snorted.
"What else have you done to her that you haven't realized?" I asked. I had meant it to be a smart ass remark, but now he looked as though he were thinking what else. I let out a snarl and felt like I was going to jump out of my skin.
"You did something else to her?!" I roared, still not stepping out from behind my bush. He glared towards me and I tried to take in deep breaths to calm myself.
"What did you do to her?" he asked me. I almost stepped backwards. What did I do to her? My thoughts raced back to that night in her room. The way she smelled, tasted. The way she looked, squirming around on the bed for me. Edward bellowed out, interrupting my thoughts. Oops. Apparently, he was still reading me.
"You disgusting, filthy, repulsive creature! How could you do that when you knew very well Bella was mine?!" he snarled. He was walking towards me, looking ready to attack. I was already in a near crouch, ready to pounce on him. I was just waiting for him to attack me. I needed this. I had to get rid of all this pent up frustration.
"I only gave her what you couldn't! She wanted it, leech. She loved it," I fought, feeling my skin tingling and ready. All he needed to do was take another step. I would attack him. Then he and his family would be ran out of the state. If he broke the treaty. He stopped. I continued to think about all the things I'd done to Bella. I concentrated mostly on what she sounded like when I had been giving her a hickie, when I had fingered her. He looked positively livid. But he didn't move. He saw what I was trying to do.
He took a step back.
"I won't be the one to break the treaty, here and now. I won't make myself out to be the bad guy, when you try to tell Bella how I attacked you," he said. I felt my heart sink. It was what I wanted all along. I wanted to assure myself she wouldn't go running back to him. He grinned then.
"It's too late, mongrel. She's already agreed to stay with me. She agreed to stay with me and see you every once in a while. I can live with that…. Only because you won't be able to handle it. You'll fuck up, and she'll come running back to me completely. She'll be mine again," he said. My breath caught in my throat. Bella had agreed to stay with him?... Bella still wanted to be with him? I felt myself start to cave in.
"I'll see you later, pooch. Don't expect Bella's phone call too soon. I'll be keeping her busy," he said, his eyebrow arching. Apparently, we were reversing rolls now. He got back into his car. I let the ripples across my skin finally take over as I slumped to the ground.
Jake, where the fuck are you?! I shifted and I couldn't find you anywhere! Didn't you hear me calling for you? Embry asked, his thoughts scattered, frantic. He was already being affected by my own thoughts. He was silent, taking everything in. I concentrated on the thought of Bella running away from me, and nothing else. I needed to make sure the leech was really gone.
I raised my head to look around and didn't see him, but I wasn't sure how close he had to be to hear my thoughts. I scattered dirt all around me as I tried to get my ground and run back to the res. All the while, still trying to think about him and Bella. Bella staying with him. Bella at her house. Finally, I felt safe enough and slammed to a stop; finally letting the biggest thought I had been trying to suppress come forth.
The love of my life, the woman I imprinted on… My imprintee, my intended, my forever.
I rubbed my head against a tree, feeling Embry's thoughts in the back of my mind. I couldn't have let a thing slip while Edward was reading me. If he had known I had imprinted on her, I don't know what would have happened. Would he hurt her? Would he have attacked me and killed me, with something like that to put fuel to his fire? Would he tell her?
That was the thought that made my stomach fall into my tail. I needed to be the one to tell Bella. I didn't want her hearing it from that leech. And I definitely didn't want here hearing it right now, when she seemed to still be thinking about staying with the vampire. I finally let Embry's thoughts press into my mind.
Jake, what do we do?
I don't know yet. Just let me think. He won't hurt her. Even with everything he knows, if he was going to really hurt her, he would have done it when she told him about us.
And the red head?
We're still searching, but our main priority is to make sure Edward doesn't hurt Bella. I want someone as close to her house as we can get without violating the treaty at all times. I know we can't patrol her backyard. But as close as we dare go.
Jake… I'm afraid for Bella.
Stop, Embry. I can't handle the worry. She's safe, and I just can't think about her right now. It hurts too much. I felt myself trying to smother the thoughts. I really couldn't think about it, or I would break down and be of no use to anyone. I didn't know how long I could last without seeing Bella. But I think I was about to find out. Would she even be able to face me now?
I ran all the way back to the res and shifted, seeming to have a better control over myself. I jumped into my house via my window and searched for some pants. I yanked them on and then went into the kitchen. Sam and Billy were waiting for me. I sat down with them at the table.
"The Treaty?" Sam asked, eyeing me.
"Still intact," I said. Jared came over with several cups of coffee. I took one from him and downed it, needing something to take the edge off the pain creeping through my chest. Jesus, even when I wasn't thinking about her, it hurt. I hated imprinting. I don't know why I had ever wanted to imprint on Bella. Why had it happened? This, I don't care WHAT my dad said, was NOT the opportune time for me to imprint on Bella, if you asked me. It could have waited until it was a sure deal.
I found myself regretting that Bella had ever told me her plan. I regretted her words now, her saying she wanted me. I regretted not grabbing onto her truck and refusing to let go until she stopped. I regretted so much in that moment, I was only regret. It was the only thing I could feel.
"Jacob, are you listening?" my dad said, finally catching my attention by touching my hand. I glanced down, realizing the cup was in pieces in my fingers.
"Shit, I'm sorry, dad" I said, scooping the pieces into my hand. He put his hand on mine and I looked up at him.
"Don't worry about it, son," he said. I felt like crying again. The love shining through his eyes, the acceptance… Bella had just been looking at me like that, not two hours ago. I tried to suppress the thoughts. I nodded at my dad and let the pieces fall from my hand.
"We'll figure this out, Jake. I have to get home to Emily. She doesn't know what's going on," Sam said, standing from the table. I stood as he did. Sort of a respect for my alpha. He waved his hand at me, indicating I should sit again. I sat back down as I heard him shut the front door. Jared had followed him out.
My dad gripped my hand from across the table. I felt something fall on my chest like a semi truck. I couldn't breathe then, and put my head in my free hand, trying to rub the feelings away. Billy rolled over to me and wrapped his arms around me. I couldn't remember the last time my dad held me like this. Was it when my mother died? The thought made tears come to my eyes.
"Shh, son, it'll be fine… Bella will come back, don't worry…" he mumbled at me. I couldn't hold it back anymore. I let the tears fall. I needed her back. I didn't feel like I could last another hour without her.
"Isn't imprinting everything you wanted it to be?" Billy asked, quietly. There was a twisted, ironic, pissed off sound to his voice. I found a laugh weakly tickling the back of my throat.
Yeah… Imprinting was everything.
A/N : 8 Reviews by Saturday at 11AM and a new chapter for yoouuuuuu!