A/N : Alright, my adoring readers. My sub conscious is telling me you guys have suffered way too much, and I need to get you some material. I'm going to try and get a bunch of chapters pushed out, but be patient. I feel like I'm getting to the end of my story, but I know it's still at least 15 chapters away. I realize there is SO much potential for a sequel, and I can't wait to see what you guys think!
Haha, BTW, I just watched Twilight again, for the first time in like, 6 months. It's SO funny to watch it, knowing how I've portrayed Edward now. Seriously, you guys want a laugh? Go back and watch the movie, and just think about how crazy he is in my story. You'll see SO many things that support how I've portrayed him.
Chapter 31 – Redefining Lines
Jake's POV
I snapped my teeth at the oldest Cullen. He had already taken enough of my time. I growled as the blonde took another step forward, still peering around. Sam seemed to catch sight of her too.
"What are you looking for? We've left no opening for you to get to Bella, if that's what you're looking for," Sam gritted. He was shaking, so badly. I wondered if he would be able to handle this. Carlisle glanced at the fair-haired vampire and then back to Sam, opening his mouth to speak. She beat him to the punch.
"Where' s Bella? I can smell her-"
"I can, too. Please, Jacob, where is she?" the pixie vamp asked, looking at me as if I could give her the answer. I bared my teeth, taking two steps toward her. Sam stepped in front of me and put his hand out, signaling me to stop. I looked at him, drawing on his control. I wanted to attack them. How could they act so concerned for my Bella? How could they pretend they cared when they just sat by and let this happen?
"Bella is safe, on the reservation," Sam started, but Alice stepped forward, throwing all caution to the wind. I crouched, ready to pounce but Embry was at my side, yapping at my ear. I blew air out through my nose, trying to focus on the thought that Bella was at my home, in my bed. She wouldn't be harmed.
"Is she ok?" she asked, her voice shaking with what sounded like desperation, fear even. Rosalie was at her side, her hand on her arm. Apparently she still had the sense to fear a pack of wolves with their teeth lined for their necks. Alice was looking at Sam. "Please, Sam, this is entirely my fault. I need to know if Bella is ok."
For a moment, my heart lurched forward. She was so anxious, so afraid, I almost felt empathetic. Then she took the blame. I lunged forward. Carlisle, Esme, they went forward also, trying to protect Alice. Jared and Embry got before me and threw me back.
Jake, get a grip. We're all upset, but this isn't about us. It's about the treaty. We have to at least talk to them! Embry thought at me as I rolled over on the ground, preparing to attack again. I glanced past my brothers and saw the Cullens, all tense, yet not attacking. Something about that seemed to jar my sense of reality. I had attempted to attack them. Legally, they could do whatever they wanted now. Yet they stood their ground, only protecting their own.
I looked at Sam. He was turned to the side, trying to watch both me and the Cullens at the same time. He looked at me then, seeming to search my eyes, asking me what to do. I let out a large breath and shook my head a little. I turned hide and paced, then came back, feeling my body trembling. I needed to get this under control.
Trust me, Jake. You're not the only one who wants them dead for what's happened to Bella, Paul said in my head. The thought calmed me more than anything else. I returned with Embry and Jared, willing my body to relax. Sam turned back to the Cullens.
"He came after her. She flipped her truck and she has a bunch of scrapes and bruises, but nothing life threatening. You're lucky your son didn't attack Quil when Bella came to us. She just barely made it onto the reservation before he tried to bite her," Sam explained to Carlisle. Trying to take in all the Cullen's emotions was like trying to catch all the fireflies around a bonfire on a midsummer night. I glimpsed Esme, her eyes wide with horror. The other two male vampires glanced at each other, a knowing look in their eyes. I paid more attention to Rosalie and Alice. I needed to know what they felt. I needed to judge them. They were the biggest threat to Bella right now.
Alice put her hands over her mouth. The next moment, she was turned away from us, her shoulders hunched. Remorse, regret, relief. It all showed in her stance. Rosalie was livid. She had turned, stomping and running a frustrated hand through her hair. All of this seemed to be news to the family. It seemed none of them knew what Edward had planned.
The reaction that struck me most was Carlisle's. If anything could have put me at ease in the presence of vampires, it was his response. His eyes darted to the ground, he swallowed. His head kind of weaved through the air as he brought his hand up to his forehead, muttering incoherently beneath his breath. A second later, he was slightly more composed, trying to bring his eyes to Sam's. He didn't succeed. He cleared his voice but it didn't help much.
"Is there anything I can do, I can see her, make sure she's tended to-"
"We have already taken care of her, you don't need to worry," Sam said, very lightly. He was as in tune to the cult of vampire's feelings as I was. He could sense their worry, and their compassion for Bella. This family was of no threat to my mate. The thought made my whole body relax, and I knew my thought flittered across each of my brothers around me. This was suddenly a more lax meeting.
Carlisle finally looked up at Sam and something passed between them. The next moment, he was looking at me. If I had been human, I would have staggered backwards. The look in his eyes portrayed more than he ever could have with words. Then his words made me want to crumple.
"I am so sorry for what a member of my family has caused. We will take full responsibility for him. Though I want it understood, not one of us truly knew what he was doing. None of us would have let him do this if we'd known," he said, addressing me. He looked to Sam then. "I will not die for him, or let any harm fall on the rest of my family, but if you want us to leave, we shall."
Sam glanced back at me. My head was still spinning. If I had been expecting anything from the Cullens, it had been lies, or a fight. It hadn't been resolution to their fate. It hadn't been responsibility. It hadn't been all the emotions and the regret swirling through the air. I swallowed and then shook my head to Sam.
I need pants. Anyone's. I said, already walking to the same bush Sam had transformed behind. I turned as Quil was gnawing the draw strings of the bag around his ankle to get them to me. I ducked behind the bush and shifted, breathing in. No matter how I felt towards the Cullens right now, it didn't keep the wolf in me from wanting to shift in the presence of a vampire. A pair of pants flew over my bush and I slipped them on, trying to form my thoughts into intelligent sentences, while still trying not to puke from the wretched smell of the vamps.
I stepped out and stopped at Sam's side. I looked at Carlisle, glanced over at the whole family. Alice and Rosalie had joined their significant others. Esme was tucked under Carlisle's arm now, looking as resigned as ever, ready to accept whatever we dealt them. By the hard expression on her face, she was taking Edward's attack on Bella the hardest.
"We will reinstate the treaty with your family. Excluding Edward," I said, my eyes coming back to Carlisle. I was negotiating with him now. No one else was there. This was between me and him. This was about Bella.
"All our earlier terms apply, but the moment I see Edward… If he ever comes here again, if he ever calls Bella, I will hunt him down. Make no mistake, your son will die, Carlisle," I said, looking deep into his eyes so he knew I meant business. He gave a very curt nod.
"He is no longer a son of mine," he said, staring back at me, meaningfully. I nodded back at him and then looked at Sam. I knew I wanted to present several more ideas, but I really wanted to discuss them with him first. He was the alpha. He should be the one doing all this. I felt like I was imposing. He shook his head, indicating I should go on. I turned, glancing at the ground for a moment to collect my thoughts. I looked up to Carlisle again.
"I want the rights to patrol Bella's home, and anyone else she thinks is in danger. I want the right to step over any boundary that may occur, as long as it's what she wants," I said. There was a look in his eyes. A look of a father, surveying a boy who was coming to pick up his daughter for a date. The back of my neck suddenly felt hot. I looked away, as if I was that teenage boy, picking up his daughter.
"I agree with your demand. Anything Bella needs. We only ask that our secret be kept, and that we have the right to hunt outside of Forks and La Push, in the nearby forests," he said. I looked up at him and nodded. He had a knowing look in his eyes. I felt an odd feeling coursing through me. It was sort of like acceptance, though I didn't know why I felt it. It's not like Carlisle was Charlie. I didn't need his permission. A high voice broke the quick silence that had slipped between us.
"I want to see Bella," Alice demanded, stepping away from her mate.
"Alice," he said quickly, reaching out for her, but she stepped out of his grasp. She was in front of Carlisle now, looking at me. I felt my body tense, realizing for the first time I had actually been pretty relaxed.
"I want to see Bella. I need to talk to her," she said again, less of a demand this time and more of a plea. I looked at her, assessing her. I knew Bella loved this vampire as a dear friend. I knew if I made this decision for her, she would hate me.
But I would not put her life in their hands. She would no longer be put in danger because of them.
"No," I said. Alice's jaw nearly dropped in shock. I continued. "I can't take that risk with her life. I won't let you-" I started, but Sam's hand was on my shoulder. I turned my head to look at him and he was looking at Alice.
"I'll talk to Bella. I'll see what she wants to do," Sam told her. The wolf sprung up inside me, making me snarl. What right did he have, overruling my protection of my imprint? His head whipped around and he glared at me, sending a command through to me, without any thoughts or words. I was to shut up. I was furious. Boiling point irritation popped through me.
"That is more than we can ask. Thank you, Sam," Carlisle said, bringing my attention back to them. He had his hand on Alice's arm, pulling her backwards. "I think we've robbed you all of enough of your time. Please, feel free to call if you need anything. Especially if Bella needs anything," he said. Jasper was grabbing Alice now, as she was starting to struggle. Apparently she was as livid about seeing Bella as I was of her not seeing her. Carlisle and Sam were our parents. Parents of two very angry, upset children.
I opened my mouth to say something.
"Jacob, turn around and walk away," Sam said to me, growling under his breath. I felt my breath coming out of me in huffs. I wanted to shift. I wanted to attack. All my earlier emotions came flooding back through me. Sam had turned me around, pushed me forward, but I turned back around. The Cullens were already gone and the knowledge frustrated me. I needed to attack.
"Jacob Black, we need to talk," Sam said, grabbing my arm and yanking me away from the direction the Cullens had fled. I shook him off after we started walking towards the forest. The pack of wolves was trailing behind us, no doubt watching our backs from the quick retreat of the Cullens. Sam turned to them as I kept walking.
"Embry, Quil and Paul, patrol. Seth, Jared, get some rest. You guys will switch off at dawn, I'll join you," he said. I heard them all disperse and hit a tree with my fist.
"Chill out!" Sam yelled at me, and I turned on him.
"You had no right to tell them that! Bella is my mate, I need to protect her! She can't ever see them-"
"You're right. Bella is your imprint. But you cannot take every decision away from her. She'll hate you for being so over protective, so overbearing," he said, looking at me with furious eyes. I was shaking, trying to badly not to shift and take all my anger out on him.
"I have to protect her!"
"Then you protect her! But you can't keep her closed up in a box! Bella is still a person, Jacob. If you take everything away from her, she's going to be miserable!" he said, grabbing me by the shoulders. I opened my mouth to speak but I was losing words. My anger was dying, it was just being replaced with fear. My Bella. I couldn't protect her. I wasn't good enough to protect her.
"I know what it's like to have an imprint, Jake. Trust me, you don't think I've just wanted to keep Emily in the house, keep her from going to the store, from the bon fires? Just so she won't get hurt. We can't protect them from everything, and that's not our fault. You need to let Bella breathe," he said, keeping his grip on my shoulders and looking into my eyes. He was trying to make sure I understood. Deep down, I did. On some superficial layer, I didn't. I was petrified. If Bella ever got hurt…
I tried to force the thought from my mind. Sam was right and I knew it. I couldn't keep her in a glass bubble. I couldn't take everything away from her. I let out a breath and Sam's grip relaxed. I felt weak, strained. I felt incompetent. I needed to see Bella…
"We both need to get home," Sam said aloud, looking at me. I gave a brief nod, realizing that I still wore Quil's pants. Hopefully he wouldn't mind running buck naked back to his house from the forest. I laughed at the thought, feeling the tension start to disperse.
The Cullens had agreed to our demands. They had agreed to kicking Edward out. The treaty was still intact and we would not have a group of angry vampires on our hands. I slipped the pants off that I was wearing and both Sam and I shifted and began running home.
Carlisle's POV
"I need to see Bella!" Alice yelled. She was still frantic, and Jasper was doing his best to contain her. We all knew how she was feeling. It made sense. She had been the one tipping Edward off. To find out that he had attacked her, made her flip her truck… She was lucky she hadn't been killed, or worse, turned into one of us. I ran my hand over my forehead, trying to calm the pounding from Alice's high pitched voice. I had never witnessed a headache as a vampire before.
"Enough, Alice," I said, closing the front door behind my family and leaning against it. Her tantrum stopped this time. She stood, staring at me. There was so much to shift through. So many jumbled up thoughts. Esme jumped to my defense.
"Alice, you need to give Bella time. With everything that has happened, she might not want to see any of us right away," she said. I smiled inwardly. Good job, darling. If she had said Bella wouldn't want to see Alice personally, she might have lost it again. Alice still looked crushed.
"What if she never wants to see me again? What if I've done this? If she refuses to see any of us again, I don't think I could bare it! I need to make things right with her!" she cried out. Jasper's hand was stroking up and down her back. No doubt he was still trying to reign in Alice's emotions. He'd never had to deal with her like this before this last week. She had always been bright, cheery. Finally, something had cracked Alice's outer shell.
Bella.
She made a fool of us all. We were all in love with her. She was just an amazing person, period. We all loved her so much, before, because she had been the one to finally make Edward happy. Now, she was just part of the family. She was one of my own. It was as if she really was my daughter. And I hated my son for what he had done, for what he had become.
Esme squeezed my arm. I hadn't even realized she had placed herself back at my side. I gave her a reassuring little smile and then looked back at Alice.
"Just give it a day, Alice. I'm sure we'll hear back from the pack. I think Sam is aware of our feelings," I said, looking at her intently. I had as much power over my family as the alpha leader had over his pack. I just hoped Alice was sane enough to listen to me. Rosalie caught my attention now.
"Why do you think they're letting us stay, Carlisle? I expected the pack to be livid. They started out that way. Why wouldn't they run us out?" she asked, her perfectly arched eyebrows furrowed.
"I think that pack loves and cares for Bella just as much as we do. I think when they realized we had nothing to do with Edward's actions, they no longer thought of us as a threat. We're still just as harmless as the first time we made the treaty with their ancestors. They don't want a war any more than we do," I said, glancing at Emmett and Jasper. They gave brisk nods. They understood just as well as I did that if there was a war, everyone would lose.
"That pack doesn't want to hurt Bella. And I think they all know that by hurting us, they hurt her. Just as we know if we hurt anyone of them, she'll be devastated," I said, looking at Rose once more. She gave a little nod, appearing in deep thought. I was curious, to say the least.
"Rose?" She looked up, her mouth already open to ask her next question.
"Why was that mutt such an ass? He could have easily just said no to Alice's request and left it alone, but he was furious that she even asked. He looked like he was going to attack her," she said, deeply curious. I smiled a little.
The pack's odd behavior had indeed intrigued me. Sam had been bowing down to every one of Jacob's whims. When I had mentioned in the beginning that we would need a mediator, he had looked to Jacob. When Jacob looked as if he was going to attack us, Sam looked to Jacob. At first, I had thought they had switched alphas. Then I knew.
Once Jake started asking about patrolling extra land, about what Bella wanted, what Bella needed. I knew then what had happened.
"I've only heard it mentioned briefly. It's an intriguing concept actually. It seems Jacob has imprinted on Bella," I said. Esme tensed a little besides me. I had mentioned it to her in passing once. She hadn't been fond of the idea until I had mentioned it was just like us. We find our soul mates, wolves found their imprints. I knew I'd have to clarify to the others.
"Werewolves idea of soul mates is imprinting. Apparently, from what I've read in ancient tribes journals, a werewolf will imprint on its mate, making them the most important person alive to them. There's a lot more detail, but I think that's what's happened. It's why he's so protective," I explained, looking at Rose.
There was a sort of stunned silence shifting through the air. It was odd. Every one of us thought of Bella as a family remember. Knowing that she was in love with a werewolf, imprinted on by a werewolf… It was strange that we were interconnected in such a way. All I could do was smile.
He was very befitting for her. If there was anything that could protect Bella from herself, and from Edward, it was an overly possessive werewolf.
A/N : What do you guys think of Carlisle's POV? Love you all!