The next morning, I woke up to someone shaking me.

"Bella?" the man whispered.

I groaned and pulled the covers over my head. It was too early and I was freakin tired.

"Bella, are you ok?" the man asked me.

I tried to ignore the mans pestering questions, but he wasn't having any of it.

He pulled the covers off my head and moved my hair out of my face.

"Bella." He said in a sterner voice this time.

I groaned and then my eyes fluttered open.

I then came face to face with a bright and awakened Sam.

"Hey." He said smiling at me.

I gave a small smile and the rolled over to go back to sleep.

"Heyy." He whined as my back faced him.

"Go away Sam. I'm tired. I need some sleep." I mumbled, now putting a pillow over my head.

"But its already 2pm. What time did you get to bed?" he asked concerned.

"'round 5" I muttered.

I laid there, with my eyes closed and then I jumped.

"Shit!" I yelled and jumped out of bed.

"What?" Sam asked panicked.

I ran out of my room and began to brush my teeth.

"I was supposed to meet Carlisle today at like noon!" I yelled to him.

I quickly spit out the minty foam from my mouth and grabbed some water. After I squished it all around, I brushed my hair a bit and then stuck it up into a high ponytail.

I rushed back to my room and took out a pair of skinny jeans.

"You're going with the bloodsuckers?" Sam growled.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed a black short sleeved shirt.

"He's not going to hurt me or anything. He is going to help me practice my stress levels and stuff…" like combat moves. I thought to myself.

"Nothing else?" Sam asked not truly believing me as I didn't look at him.

"Ummm…sure?" I squeaked.

"Bella." He growled as I tried to turn his body around so I could change.

He stood there; facing the window as I quickly stripped and put on some clothes.

"I will be fine. Don't worry. I just have to learn some things and then we will be fine. Actually, I was hoping we could talk." I said now grabbing my flip flops and rushing downstairs.

"About what?" he asked following me.

I gulped and took a breath. "Just about everything. James in particular." I whispered, hating myself. I should have told them sooner. I really need to work on keeping them up to date.

"What happened?" Sam asked, grabbing my arm to stop me from taking my pop tart out of the toaster to look at him.

"I just had an…interference with him. And I need to tell you what happened, and just fill you all in. But I can't do that right now, because I have to get going. I'm late as it is." I said giving him a quick kiss and grabbing my pop tart and heading out the door.

"Bella, I don't like this." He said holding me back from getting into my car.

I sighed and looked at him.

"Look Sam, I'm sorry for not keeping you guys filled in, it's just so hard…." I started but he stopped me.

"No, not that. We will get to that later." He said with a glare.

"I mean you going to a house full of vampires alone. I don't like it and I don't want it." He growled.

I rolled my eyes again, but sighed, knowing I should be patient and caring, just like he is for me.

"Look Sam. Its just Carlisle…and Jasper." I trailed off.

"But I will be fine. They are nice. And veggie vamps. If you would like, you can call me anytime. I promise to have my cell on me. And if I don't, I will be sure to give it to one of them so they can pick up your call and fill you in on whatever I seem to be doing." I compromised.

He sighed but still held on my arm. I thought he was going to give in, but he didn't.

"No, Bella I know you seem to trust them and all, but we don't. I don't. I'm not letting my girlfriend and the love of my life goes putting herself in danger while I sit back and twiddle my thumbs."

"Well technically you wouldn't be twiddling your thumbs since you are the Alpha of the pack…" I teased.

But when I looked up, he didn't seem to find it funny.

"Oookk. Look, if you want, then I will ask if you and the guys can come too. I'm sure that will be easier. That way I can fill all of you in at one time."

He nodded and kissed my head.

I got into the car and looked at him.

"You coming?" he asked.

He nodded and walked to the passenger side getting in.

We took off in no time and were on the way to the Cullens.

When we were halfway there I took out my phone and called them.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

"Hello?" Esme answered.

"Hey Esme. It's Bella." I said.

"Oh Bella dear. How are you? I'm guessing you are on your way here?" she predicted.

I smiled. "Yes, I'm doing great. How are you?"

"Oh I'm wonderful Bella, thank you for asking."

"Is Carlisle there?"

"Oh sure dear. Let me go get him. Sorry."

"It's no problem Esme. It was nice talking to you."

"Oh here he is. You too dear." She said sweetly and passed the phone to him.

"Bella." He said with relief.

"Oh gosh Carlisle. I'm so sorry. I fell asleep late last night and I forgot to set my alarm and it just slipped my mind." I gushed.

"Oh it's ok Bella. We were just worried something might have happened, but Alice saw you and said you were fine; you just slept in late."

"Oh. She saw me?" I said confused.

"Yes, I think she might have had a vision of you because you weren't with the wolves, or connected with them at the time." He explained.

"Oh ok. Well I should be there in like two minutes. But actually, I was wondering if the pack could join us? I have some things to explain to you guys and Sam was also a little protective of me coming." I explained this time.

"Sure thing Bella. We shall see you all soon." He said and then we hung up.

"All set." I said to Sam and then pulled into the Cullen's driveway.

Right when I got out of the car, I was brought into a breathtaking hug by Alice.

"Bella!" she shrieked in happiness.

I heard Sam growl behind me, but Ignored it.

"Hey Alice." I hugged her back.

"Bella Bean!" Emmett shouted from their front door. He and Rose were standing there, his arm wrapped around her waist.

He seemed happy to see me, waving and smiling, while Rose on the other had seemed angry and didn't seem to be happy.

"Hey Emmett! Rose." I said politely.

"Bella." Jasper said, nodding to me as he went over to stand by Alice.

"Welcome Bella." Carlisle said coming out of the house.

"Oh Bella, dear, it's so good to see you." Esme said hugging me as I walked up to their front door.

"Edward." I announced as he stood in the house, not really joining the crowd.

"Bella." He replied with a curt nod.

I knew he didn't hate me, and I didn't hate him, but I think we both couldn't decide if we liked each other as friends.

"Sam?" I asked, turning around as I stepped inside.

"Go ahead bells. I'm just going to go tell the guys to come." He reassured and then walked off to the woods.

I nodded and smiled.

He smiled back, but it didn't seem to reach his eyes.

You're not mad at me are you? - I asked him telepathically.

No baby. Don't worry. I just don't trust these bloodsuckers. - Sam

Sam- I warned.

Sorry. I meant Vamps. - Sam corrected.

Ok, well I will see you soon. I think we are going to be heading into the backyard. - Bella

Sam laughed and I knew he felt my confusion.

Bella, I think you should start practicing on watching what YOU are doing. - Sam

Huh?-Bella

The Cullen's have been trying to get your attention for a few minutes now- Sam

Oh! Why didn't you tell me sooner! Jack ass. - I mumbled and then disconnected the link as he laughed at me.

"Bella!" Alice shouted in my face.

"Woah, Alice." I said.

"Geez Bella, we have been calling your name for like a few minutes now." She huffed.

"Sorry I was with Sam…I mean…well I was talking with him…but…I mean…" I stuttered, trying to form the right words.

"Don't hurt yourself there Bella." Emmett said roaring with laughter.

I gave up and rolled my eyes.

"So what first?" I asked turning to Carlisle.

"How about we deal with your emotions?" he said bringing me to the back yard.

"Alright." I said trying to release my tension.

"Ok, so Bella, I am going to have Jasper send you a wave of emotion, and I want you try and stay as calm as possible."

"And what if I can't?" I said nervous.

"Its ok Bella, I will make sure to start off slow and easy." Jasper said.

"We can go from there then." Carlisle said.

He had a clipboard full of paper and a pen in his hand.

I took another breath and nodded. "Alright. Let's get this started."

I watched Jasper as he tried to send me some emotion.

I waited, watching him and he became increasingly focused.

"It won't work Carlisle. I even tried it the highest I could go." He huffed.

"Put down your shield Baby" Sam commanded.

My head snapped over to the back door and found the whole pack standing there.

My nerves immediately calmed and I nodded to them, smiling.

"You have a shield?" Carlisle asked me.

"yea." I blushed.

I let the tension out of my body and let my shield down. I nodded to Jasper and waited for the emotion to hit me.

Suddenly I felt annoyed. I focused on my breathing and made sure I didn't loose control. It wasn't that bad…until Jasper went higher and higher and I was so angry I thought I was going to explode.

My head started to throb and my nose started to bleed.

I could hear the pack growling, but they didn't move.

"Focus Bella." Carlisle said calmly.

I bit back a rude comment and tried to focus on his words.

Calm Down. Calm Down. Calm Down. I yelled at myself.

Then, it stopped. The anger lessened and then I was back to normal. I stood there, gathering myself again. There was only just a little bit of blood that ran out of my nose but my breathing labored.

"Good Bella. Good." Carlisle said, almost sounding relieved. He marked some things on his clipboard and then we went again.

We tried fear and then sadness, which I both passed, but had some trouble.

I didn't know if it was because I was overly weak, or because the emotions were actually really taking a toll on me.

"Give her a break." The pack growled.

Carlisle was hesitant.

"No, its fine. Let go. What's next?" I huffed with my hands on my knees.

"Are you sure Bella?" Leah asked me coming up to me.

"Yea, I'm ok." I said giving her a slight smile.

"Well Bella, if you are up to it, I would like to do some combat training."

The pack growled and startled us all.

"Combat training?" Sam spoke up.

I gulped and his eyes narrowed at me.

Carlisle looked from me to Sam and back.

"How about I explain some things?" I offered, breaking the tension.

Everyone relaxed and nodded.

We all huddled into the living room and I didn't know where to sit. Of course I laughed.

The vamps were huddled on one side of the room while the pack was huddled on the other. So I decided to sit in the middle, making it the neutral side.

"Well, I guess I will start at the part when Catie called me."

I looked over at the Cullen's. "Catie is Embry's imprint and a close friend from back when I lived with Renee."

They nodded, understanding.

"So Catie called a few days ago. She was with Nate and Elizabeth."

I looked over to the Cullen's again. "Nate is my other close friend from back then, and Elizabeth is his fiancée" I said smiling at that word. It was weird to think they were going to be husband and wife.

"Bella." Jake interrupted my thoughts.

"Oh, right sorry." I blushed and everyone chuckled.

"So they were all together, and James found them. Usually that isn't a problem. We could always find a way to run if we needed to, but Elizabeth was there…and she is human. A normal human and she doesn't know about us."

"So your friends….They are like you?" Carlisle clarified.

I nodded. "Yes, Catie and Nate are. That's probably how we got so close. Around high school we all pitched in and got a place together. Of course, I was still living with Renee, but Catie and Nate stayed there because they both had some parent trouble."

I didn't even want to get into that. It was so dramatic and complicated.

"So James was there, but Catie was also telling me a vampire was with him. He was Jamaican and had dreadlocks."

"Do you know him?" Paul growled, interrupting. I looked over at Sam and gave him a look saying 'don't let him be rude!'

"Paul." Sam growled, silently telling him to back down.

"No, I'm sorry to say he doesn't seem familiar. Of course, we have run into our kind from time to time, but I would think that we would find his characteristics familiar." Carlisle said.

"His name is Laurent." I said.

"He is working with James for heavens knows what." I said frustrated.

"So what happened?" Jasper asked picking up on my frustration.

I looked at Edward and saw him grimacing. I found it strange because I hadn't said what happened, but then I realized my shield was still down.

Crap.

Edward's head popped up and he smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes and quickly made sure it was up again.

"Well, Elizabeth ended up getting hurt pretty bad. She has a pretty nasty scar because…" I ran my hand through my hair.

Gosh there was so much to explain.

"Alright, well Catie is ranked the lowest of the three of us. Then it was me and Nate was the most powerful."

"But…" Alice said.

"But it changed slightly. Nate and I seemed to have switched places. My powers have grown faster than his, and since we all have a different variety of powers, mine have become stronger or more useful."

"So let me get this straight. You have surpassed Nate, and the three of you don't have the same powers?" Emmett said amazed.

"Yes, well kind of. I mean we have the same basic powers. Like teleportation, telekinesis, the shield, healing, controlling the four elements, and more I guess. But other than that, yea; we all differentiate."

"So like I was saying, Elizabeth got hurt. She was scared and mad that Nate hadn't told her about her powers. Long story short, she ran and then I found her and told her what she needed to know and what I was there to tell her. I didn't convince her to go back to him or to accept us. That was her. She did it all on her own."

"But how does she have a big scar?" Quil asked.

"When Elizabeth got hurt, Nate went to go heal her but Catie isn't as strong as us, so she had some trouble fighting off a vampire and James." I took a breath.

"Truthfully we would all have trouble fighting off the two all alone. It doesn't matter how strong you are, James can mess with your head and doesn't even need his powers to do it.

So if she was to mess up, the vamp would be there to catch it and make most likely hurt or even kill her."

"Which is why she called Nate. So she would have more protection."

"What happened next?" Jared asked.

"That's it. It was fine. Nate went from being a wreck without Elizabeth to having her and being the happiest man alive. And Catie went from being annoyed and in pain from Nate, to being happy she could be in peace." I chuckled, along with everyone else in the room.

"What aren't you telling us?" Sam asked, squinting at me.

Gosh darn it. He knows me too well.

I sighed and whispered ever so softly, I hoped they wouldn't hear me. "James found me."

"WHAT?" The pack asked standing up.

"I was in the woods. I was going to find Sam." I explained, not looking at anyone or anything anymore except my hands.

"And they both just popped up." I whispered.

"BOTH!" Everyone shouted, including the Cullen's.

"At first it was ok. James was just being his usual self by trying to convince me to be with him. Then it got a little physical."

I heard Sam growl and I bit my lip.

"He just shoved me up against a tree and saw my wrist. He smirked, enjoying his handy work. At first, I was fine but he knew you guys." I said to the pack.

They looked shocked, except for Sam who was ready to pop a vessel.

"He said he knew what you looked like, even in wolf form." I whispered shakily.

"Bella…" Jake started with a kind voice.

"H-he…." I sobbed.

Then, in that moment Rosalie came up to me and wrapped me in a hug.

When she let go of me, I could tell she had tearless sobs.

"I c-cant let you guys…..-" I choked on a sob. Rosalie brushed my hair out of my face and tried to get me to look at her, but I just looked away and down at my hands.

"Its not fair. I'm not going to let this happen." I said with a tad bit more of determination. I looked at everyone and took a breath.

"Y-you guys cant-….I need to-…." I tried, but my head wasn't forming words. Rosalie sat next to me and rubbed comforting circles on my back.

"This is about me. Not you. I need to do this. I'm going to do this." I said stronger.

"I'm not going to let you be apart of this. Especially now that he knows what you all look like." I said wiping my tears.

I stood up, and walked away from everyone. I needed air. I needed time to think, and with everyone there, crowding around in such a manner made me feel trapped and out of air.

"Bella." Sam said grabbing my wrist.

"Don't Sam." I said and pulled it out of his grasp. I felt a pang in my heart but I needed to get out of here and breathe.

"Bella please." Alice said while blocking the door. "Just let us help. I bet we could beat them Bella. Just have a little faith in us!" she pleaded.

I didn't dare look at her eyes, knowing how much my self preservation was already crumbling.

"Move Alice." I spoke softly. When she didn't I whispered in a desperate voice. "Please Alice."

She looked at me one more time before moving at vampire speed into Jaspers arms.

I looked over to them and saw Jasper giving me a sympathetic look. I gave him a small nod and walked out the door.

I quickly walked out of the door and away from the house. I needed to think. My legs moved faster and I ran my fingers though my hair.

I passed the green trees and felt the wet, muddy soil against my feet.

I stopped running when I got to the meadow, and slid down against the middle of the rock that looked like a 'U'.

I put my head in my hands and propped my elbows on my knees.

How did this happen?

They are my family…my friends. I will protect them.

No, its more than that.

Not, I need to keep them safe. I need to keep them away from the war and away from James.

What about Nate? And Catie? And Elizabeth?

Keep them safe.

And what if I cant?

No, I can. I will.

My mind bickered back and forth. I felt like there was a ping pong game going on in my head and I was just the bystander watching the ball go back and forth; watching the game unfold.

I sighed and tried to think of something else. But all my mind could do was go to James.

The scenarios of everything unfolded in my head. It was like I was going crazy.

My fears were overwhelming me and I felt like I was slowly drowning.

"Stop!" I shouted out loud. I accidentally let out a huge gust of wind out to everything around me.

I breathed heavily and listened.

Everything was quite. All I could hear was my heavy panting. I leaned my hands against the rock and bowed my head. What was I doing? I'm losing it.

"Stop pushing us away Bella." A voice said.

I snapped my head around to find Jake standing there with only his short on.

He started walking towards me, but I took steps back.

"Stop Jake. Please. I don't want to hurt you." I said putting hand up as he walked closer.

"You're not going to hurt me Bella." He said walking closer and closer towards me.

"Jake." I cried as he was only a few feet away from me.

"Come here." He said and pulled his arms around me.

I cried, feeling as if I was loosing grip on my life.

"Just let us in Bells," Jake whispered while kissing my head.

"Just let us in." he repeated again before I blacked out.