Author's notes: sorry I didn't posting very often because I was working this summer, but I promise not to abandon this story! I love it way too much. I am so proud of you guys for reading and commenting on the story, y'all are the best readers ever! New chap where I will explain the cliff hanger…
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.
Chapter Six: Bloodlines?
"Do you smell that?"
Suddenly the bon fire erupts into chaos…
Maybe it is just fear but in that second I swear I can smell the sickly sweet scent that the boys claim vampires give off, and its 100x worse than I imagined! The scent attacks my nostrils like a jackhammer to my senses. It is both disorienting and focusing, like a drug that forces you to notice the weird things.
"Bella!" Charlie calls nervously.
I glance back at the bon fire and see all the boys on alert, Paul and Jacob watching Lean and I intently, even Seth is on his feet and watching the forest warily.
The hair on the back of my neck stands at attention and my ears strain for the faintest sound. Instinct screaming to return to the pack and regroup, but fear of leading Victoria back to my family and letting her hurt them keeps my feet planted where they are.
Charlie jogs across the beach to where Leah and I are standing back to back. I didn't realize we had moved to this defensive position, so ready to fight whatever comes at us. Charlie grabs both Leah and my hands and pulls us back toward the group. Even Charlie, a human fairly new to the whole "monster" thing, knows that something is very wrong.
"Paul, Jacob, with me" Sam commands marching toward the forest.
Paul's eyes ask if I need him. I know that he is one of the better vampire hunters and that everyone will be safer if he goes with them. Before I can voice my opinion Paul nods and follows Sam into the trees. Jacob is less willing, his eyes watching Leah worriedly, but a glare from her sends him chasing after his alpha as well.
The Clearwaters have grouped together, Sue has her arms around Seth and holds him close in a protective embrace. People always say there is nothing more dangerous than a momma bear, but in that moment I would have rather faced a momma bear then Sue Clearwater.
"What's going on?" Leah asks.
I keep forgetting that they don't know.
"Is Jake gonna be alright?" Collin's voice is shaky.
"Um…"
My lie is cut short by a flash of white skin and red hair darting out of the forest.
Straight at us.
I know that vampires run fast, extremely fast! I know that it probably took Victoria approximately a second and a half to race across the beach towards the Clearwaters, Charlie, and I. I also know the human eye cannot travel that fast. Yet I watched in horror as the immortal woman who haunts my nightmares raced towards my father and my friends.
I got angry.
Angrier than when I punched Paul, angrier than when those guys tried to attack me in port angles, angrier than I have ever been ever in my entire life. This blood sucker has invaded my home and is trying to hurt my family, but she made one fatal error…
Faster than I knew was possible, I shove Charlie, Sue, and Harry behind me and the Clearwater children. I bare my teeth and let loose an animalistic snarl that is instantly echoed by Leah and then Seth.
My body catches fire. Everything burns. My bones break, my muscles twist and stretch, and my skin burns even hotter. I feel like I am burning only to be reborn from the ashes.
A moment of mental clarity.
The blood sucker is a threat. I must remove the threat to my pack, to my father, to my mate.
Suddenly I am lunging through the air straight at Victoria.
How dare she attack MY family!
My teeth are around her throat in seconds. Her arms latch onto my shoulder.
Two wolves I have never seen before flank me and yank her arms away from my body. They snap and snarl, just as ticked as I am.
Victoria's eyes grow wide as she realizes that there is no escape. She makes one last desperate attempt to free herself and I clamp my jaw. Her head hits the sand with a thud, it doesn't bounce and the beach is silent.
"Bella?" a voice that feels like Paul asks unbelieving.
"Leah!" Jacob?
"Seth too" Sam's alpha voice adds.
Only Sam and Jake are actually on the beach now.
I see an image in my head of what Sam is seeing, three wolves standing over the shredded body of the red headed killer. A pure white female, a sandy young male, and a light reddish female with a white face.
"What's happening?" Leah growls, confused and angry.
Sam takes a step towards our small huddle and Jake lunges between with his teeth bared aggressively.
"Jacob?" Leah sounds shocked.
I feel the ground drop from under Leah's feet. Everything zeros in on Jacob as he becomes the most important thing in her life. Leah has imprinted.
I feel the rush of relief from Jake.
The familiar dark gray of Paul lopes out of the forest, his dark eyes meet mine and I feel the world drop away. I hadn't imprinted on Paul until now, I couldn't. I wasn't a wolf yet and you can't imprint until you've shifted. I finally understand what he has been feeling this entire time, of course I love Paul how could I possibly love anyone else?
"Paul?" it's almost a whimper.
Paul shoves past Jake and Sam, ignoring their snarls, and rushes to my side. He rests his large head against mine and I lean my weight into his comfortable warmth.
"Bells?" Charlie asks timidly from behind me.
I turn and see my father watching me, not with the fear and disgust I expected but with the same love and worry he has had since I moved here. Charlie is good with weird.
"Bells are you ok?"
I nod.
"Am I a werewolf?" Seth asks almost a little too excited.
"Yes" Sam answers.
"Awesome!" way too excited.
Billy rolls forward and studies the scene before him.
"Sam take the cold one and dispose of her, the rest of you-" he pauses to decide "-find a spot around the fire. It looks as though we are gonna have to have a talk"
Sam trots off with my kill (weird thought) and we move towards the fire still in wolf form, not sure how to switch back. I lie down, made tired by both my first shift and first vampire kill. Paul lies down next to me and I rest my head on his paws (also weird thought), he rests his head on top of mine and sniffs me.
"Are you smelling me?" I ask with a wolfy grin.
"Yeah, deal with it" he retorts.
Leah picks a spot close to me and soon Seth squeezes between Leah and I. Jake sits as sentinel at Leah's side, as if he thinks that Victoria is gonna come for her. We probably look funny, five large wolves piled on top of each other like a litter of oversized puppies around a fire, but this is also the most content I've been in years.
"As most of you know, we say our ancestors came from wolves…" he lets that sink in "well, this is what that's all about. Our ancestors had the ability to shift into wolves to protect their people from attacks, especially the cold ones…"
"What about Bella?" Embry asks.
We all know the legends and don't particularly want to hear them again. What we don't know is why I am a wolf, or why Leah is a wolf.
"Yeah, what about me?" I snort.
"Charlie is a part of our tribe" Billy says simply "His great-grandmother was my great-grandfather's sister, so Bella is also of our bloodline… just diluted"
That explains Charlie's attachment to the Rez and why all his friends are Quiliets.
"Is that why she looks like a dog instead of a wolf?" Jared asks.
"Watch it" Paul growls.
Jared raises his hands in surrender, not understanding the words but clearly understanding the intent. The boys know better than to cross Paul.
"I do not know why Bella resembles a dog, maybe the dilution of the shapeshifting gene has made her more dog like…" Billy thinks aloud "But, Leah and she are also firsts in another way. We have never had female Wolves before"
"Hey Swan" Leah calls playfully "Even as a wolf you're still a pale face"
I realize she is referring to how my entire face is white.
"Says the entirely white wolf" I tease back.
Billy clears his throat and I realize that he caught us not paying attention.
I whimper out an apology and Paul chuckles.
"Things are changing" Billy says seriously "All the disappearances up in Seattle had to have been linked to the red witch"
"That makes sense… I guess" Charlie nods, still sounding unconvinced.
Charlie is right, Victoria is powerful and crazy, but that is a lot of missing people for just one vamp.
"There is nothing we can do tonight but celebrate the end of the red haired cold one, I suggest that you teach the girls and Seth how to be wolves" Harry says to Jake and Paul.
Paul jumps to his feet and spins to face me, a wolfy grin gracing his lips.
"Come on Swan, this is gonna be great!"
End notes: Another chap. What do y'all think? I decided to make Bella more like a Wolf-dog since she is kinda a mix, I almost went with the skinwalker/cougar idea but I really wanted she and Paul to be the same species.