Lost and Found

Disclaimer; all characters and copyright belong to Stephanie Meyer.

A/N-thank you for the kind reviews!

Part Eighty Four-The Price of Recklessness

Bella slammed the brakes on as the headlights of her borrowed car illuminated a figure in the road ahead. The car swerved to a halt, with both her and Rebecca's hearts racing at a hundred miles an hour. Bella blinked a couple of times as she peered out into the dark night. It was only as the tall, shadowy figure came further into the bright beams of her headlights that she knew who it was, although deep down she had been expecting him. "Jacob." She whispered.

"Huh." Rebecca looked in confusion at the road ahead and her eyes widened as she finally saw what Bella had already seen. Her brother stood in the centre of the deserted road, his face stern and his body coiled with tension. She could actually see the muscles under his skin vibrating as he glared at the two girls. "Oh, shit." She muttered.

"Shit is right." Bella watched as Jacob loped around to her side of the car. Out of the trees lining the side of the road another shadowy figure appeared. It was only when it reached the passenger side that the two girls realised it was Jared, and he looked just as pissed off as Jacob.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jacob demanded as he yanked open the driver's door and confronted Bella. "Why are you out here in the middle of the night without protection?"

"I'm sorry." Bella apologised as it sunk in just how he had known she had left the house. He must have picked up on her anxiety and fear through the imprint bond and immediately come to find her.

Jacob heard the sincerity in her tone and hunkered down beside her. His dark eyes lost their anger and instead gazed at her with a deep concern. He ignored his sister and Jared, who were arguing quietly on the side of the road about her recklessness. "Bells, just tell me what's going on."

Bella had no choice but to tell him now. There was no point in hiding the truth. He would not let her continue on her journey and he would know if she was lying. She thought about her father and Billy, trapped in the house with the mad red head, and how she had let them both down. They were going to die and it was all her fault. She hung her head and began to cry. Jacob had no idea what was going on with her. He looked at her helplessly for a moment before reaching in and pulling her carefully out of the car so he could hold her. He wrapped his arms around her and stroked her sweaty hair back from her face until her sobs lessened and she calmed down a little.

"Can you talk now?" Jacob asked after a while.

Bella nodded dumbly as she wiped her tearstained face with the sleeve of her jacket. She fumbled in the back pocket of her jeans until her fingers connected with her cell phone. "This will explain it better than I can." She passed Jacob the phone with shaking fingers and told him to watch the video she had been sent. Jared and Rebecca came over to join them. Jacob held up the phone so his pack brother could watch the video too. All four of them remained silent as Billy's frightened face loomed large on the small screen of the phone. When Bella was forced to hear Charlie frantically calling her name, she became distressed again. Rebecca put her arms around Bella and the two girls clung to each other as they began to panic over their fathers' welfare.

Jacob felt rage building up inside him as he watched his father pleading for his life, begging for Bella to come and essentially sacrifice herself to save his pathetic ass. Billy had literally thrown Bella under the bus. He didn't care about anyone but himself. He had ratted Bella out to their mortal enemy. He was willing to watch Bella pay for crimes that weren't even hers. Billy had betrayed her, his family, even his best friend. Jacob knew that Charlie wasn't in the house. Bella's father was already on his way back to the Cullen's after his last call out was dealt with. Jacob and Jared had seen the cruiser heading to the mansion when they had come to stop Bella and Rebecca leaving. Victoria had played on Bella's compassionate nature in order to take her hostage and seek vengeance on him and the pack in the worst way possible.

"Jake, dude." Jared saw his Alpha's arm begin to shake and he snatched the cell phone out of Jacob's hand before he crushed it. "You should take a moment, Jake. I'll stay with the girls." Jared offered.

Jacob knew his brother was right. He needed to burn off some steam and try and stem the flow of his anger. He felt utterly betrayed by his father. He threw Bella a tormented look before he sprinted for the trees and disappeared out of sight. "Jake, come back." Bella called out to him desperately.

"He'll be back." Jared assured her. "He's just upset. Come on I'll drive you both back. He'll probably be at the Cullen's waiting by the time we get there."

"But my dad." Bella said in anguish.

"Your dad is fine, Bella." Jared suddenly realised she didn't know that he and Jacob had seen Charlie. "We saw him heading for the mansion on our way to stop you." He saw Bella's mouth drop open in surprise as it suddenly dawned on her that she had been duped. "Come on, get in the car." Jared ushered the two distraught girls in the back of the vehicle before slipping into the driver's seat. Before he turned on the engine he glanced back at Rebecca, who was huddled next to Bella. "You pull another stunt like this, Becks, and I swear I'll put you under house arrest forever." He warned her.

Rebecca nodded like a scolded child as she sagged in her seat and closed her eyes in despair as she thought about Billy.

Jacob didn't head for the Cullen's mansion like Jared had assumed, instead he headed straight for Forks, and the Swan's house. Despite Ephraim's many warnings not to let blind rage control his actions, Jacob couldn't help it. He was so angry and hurt by Billy. Despite how estranged they had become over the years and his frustration over his father's selfish attitude, he never in his life thought that Billy would betray him like that. It was unthinkable and it sent Jacob into an emotional tailspin. Ephraim and his brothers immediately picked up on his irrational anger. Jacob couldn't hide his anguish or control his thoughts, so all the ones who were phased shared in his pain. Ephraim cursed as he immediately called everyone to action, and as one the pack headed for Forks, apart from Jared who was with the girls, and Sam who was resting at the Cullen's.

Carlisle and his family, who had been keeping watch along with the pack, were alerted by Ephraim and the others to what was happening. They abandoned their posts and hurried to Forks to join the wolves as they sought to protect their anguished brother and seek vengeance on the redhead who sought to hurt one of their own. If Victoria was in the house, her army had to be close. The fight was on.

When Jared pulled up outside the mansion everything seemed deathly quiet. He frowned as he told the girls to wait inside the car while he checked things out. He loped around the outside and checked the gardens, but couldn't detect anything untoward, but still the uneasy feeling haunted him. He returned to the car and ushered the two exhausted girls inside the palatial mansion. In the kitchen they found Charlie and Sam talking quietly together. As soon as Bella saw her father she rushed over to him and flung her arms around him, before bursting into tears of relief. Charlie and Sam were astonished at her actions and it took a while before everything was explained.

"You went out alone." Sam couldn't keep his anger in check as he yelled at Bella. "You should have come straight to me. What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't. I had to save dad….." Bella's face turned red with shame as she realised how reckless she had been. She could have gotten not just herself killed but Rebecca as well. Her compassion to save others had gotten the better of her good judgement. She had been so scared that her dad would get hurt.

"Sam, cool it." Charlie warned him. "Bells is upset enough." He held his distraught daughter tightly as he tried to battle his own sense of hurt and betrayal at what Billy had done. Like Jacob he was filled with anger at the fact that Billy had nearly sacrificed his little girl in order to save himself. He couldn't understand how his friend could do this to him. He had blindly supported him for years, overlooked all his faults, but had never imagined the depths of Billy's selfishness.

"I'm sorry." Sam apologised. He couldn't bear to see Bella so upset and had been frightened at the very idea that she could have come to harm. He put his hand on her shoulder, just feeling the need to touch her in some small way to know that she was safe.

Bella raised her tear stained face and looked around the kitchen. "I thought you said Jake would be back by now." She said to Jared.

"I thought he would be." Jared felt his uneasiness creeping up on him again. He glanced worriedly out of the tall windows and into the dark night.

"What's wrong?" Sam picked up on his tension and he too looked around warily.

"I don't know, I just have an odd feeling." Jared muttered. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he went to the door leading out into the ornate gardens and opened it. Fresh air wafted into the kitchen, along with something else. Jared felt nausea well in his throat as he caught a look of dread cross Sam's face as he caught the same stultifying stench being brought to them by the breeze. "Vampire." He hissed.

The others froze at his words as they stared out into the dark. In the trees, one by one, they saw the flashes of dozens of pairs of reddened eyes blinking in the night. The newborn army wasn't in Forks. It was here, at the Cullen's. Victoria's plan had worked well. She had lured Jacob and the others away just as she had hoped. Billy's information about his son's imprint bond with Bella had worked in her favour. She knew full well that Jacob would stop Bella coming to Forks; she also guessed that his animosity toward his father, and the feeling of betrayal, would make him act recklessly and head straight to where he thought she was, at the Swan's. But no, she had already left. Her spies had told her the wolves had left their posts and gone on the attack. Now was her one chance.

Victoria stepped out into the light shining from inside the mansion. It made her red hair blaze. She licked her lips and laughed as she saw the frightened faces of the girls peering at her from the confines of the house, and the two remaining wolves who stood protectively in front of her and the older man, who had gathered the girls to his sides like a mamma bear. This was going to be fun. "You want fresh blood" She yelled loudly as she pointed toward the house. "Go and get it"

As one the newborn army surged forward like a sea of bobbing heads. Inside, Sam and Jared told Charlie to take the girls and Sarah, who was resting in her room, and go right to the top of the house and lock themselves inside one of the bedrooms. Then without waiting for a response they ran outside and phased on the fly. Sam howled loudly, his call echoing eerily in the night sky as he called for his brothers to come. In the distance his desperate call was answered. Sam exchanged one last anguished glance with Jared as the two of them got ready to defend themselves to the death.

A/N-thanks for reading!