Author's Note: Okay, so I wasn't too sure that I liked how this chapter turned out, but here it is. Hope you guys enjoy it.

Chapter 9

Of course, Bella got yelled at by the elders the very next morning, not just for leaving the rez, but taking Jacob with her. And of course, the old fart Quil Sr made sure to rub her mistakes in Bella's face and suggest how she might not be real alpha material. Bella then told Quil Sr where he could shove his "true alpha" material and stormed out.

She didn't go far away, however. Instead, she snuck around to the back of the meeting hut, looking for a particular window.

"Bingo," Bella said with a grin. And whaddya know, but some stupid sap had even left it open, just for her. While it was too high for her to reach, all she did was have to use her superhuman wolfyness to jump, and she easily grabbed onto the window sill and lifted herself up and inside.

She landed in the musty old library, or "records room" without a sound, a taunting smirk on her lips, directed at the elders who had no idea that she was even there. The old fools hadn't even thought to install cameras, so as long as she didn't do anything stupid, she wasn't going to get caught.

"Now...where could those sacred document be…?" Bella sang softly to herself as she prowled along the shelves. At least the elders had been kind enough to label things for her.

The shelf that held all of the past wolves gave Bella pause, but she decided to skip it for now; she had to focus on finding out everything she could about imprints.

At last, Bella found it. She was nearly vibrating with excitement as she grabbed the first stack of papers she could. After all, in these texts and notes had to be the solution to her problem. She was going to find a way to break the imprint any second now.

Bella started reading almost desperately, muttering out loud, "Eyes meet, imprint forms, passing on genes...well that's fucking stupid, I'm a lesbian, and Leah got set up with a girl too. How's that going to pass on genes?" Shaking her head at how outdated the text sounded, she quickly got tired of the textbook explanation and grabbed the next manuscript.

At least this one was written better. It explained not just what the imprint was created for, but how the imprint is based on the soulmate principle, true love, how the wolf found themselves completely devoted to their imprint…

Damn. Just because it was all written to sound more appealing and less clinical didn't make Bella like it any more. It still sounded like a bunch of bullshit, and Bella wanted to spit on it. Who in their right minds, whether it be gods or whatever the fuck else existed, would think that Bella's match should be an ice bitch of a vampire?

Bella kept reading. She had no plans to stop, either. Not until she found the text that would tell her how a wolf could say "Nope, you fucked up on this one, now take my 'imprint' back and set me free."

The more she read, the more painful it got. Not because what Bella was reading had touched her in any way, but because her wolf was getting more and more upset the more determined Bella seemed to get. She was grimacing and rubbing at her chest, right over her heart, as her wolf raged inside of her. It wanted to be released, to go to their mate, and to prove that Rosalie was the one for them.

"Fucking hell," Bella muttered at one point, doubling over as her body shook with the force of her wolf. At this point, it would be a relief to give in. To just let her wolf go and get the pain to stop.

Fuck no. Bella wasn't some pussy. She wasn't about to let some dog tell her what to do, especially when said dog was using her body as it own personal chew toy.

Finding a strength inside of her she didn't even know she had, Bella straightened and magically shoved her wolf into a corner of her mind, telling it to shut the fuck up. The wolf wasn't happy, but at least Bella had control again.

Taking a deep breath, Bella set down what she was reading and reached out to pull the next book from the shelf, only to pause. Another book caught her eye, labeled "Broken Imprints."

Yes! This was it! The solution to all of Bella's problems! She was so happy she almost howled in joy, but instead, she simply bit her lower lip and snatched the book from the shelf.

Opening it up, her entire body tensed with excitement as her eyes eagerly devoured the words on the page. Just as quickly as she had tasted her salvation, it was horribly snatched away from her.

No. No, it couldn't be true. There's no way this could be fucking true. It just couldn't. If it was…

In the book, there was a few detailed stories about wolves who tried to break the imprint. Many simply gave up along the way, but others were determined to end it. That is, until their wolves went crazy, broke free, and ran to their imprint as soon as they could, sometimes again and again. It got to the point in one case where one was driven completely insane by their inner fight with their wolf, and while Bella would make one sexy crazed chick, it wasn't exactly a part of her future plans.

Come on, this couldn't be it, right? There had to be one success story, just one. That's all Bella needed. Desperately, she started flipping through pages, trying to find a story that didn't end in insanity, the wolf giving up, or the imprint giving in. However, the title of one story stopped her cold.

It was another denial case. The woman didn't want to be with the wolf, and the wolf didn't want to be with the woman. It led to explosive fights, then explosive bouts of fucking, but the two always went back into denial. Then, one day, the woman's jealous ex husband killed her. The man was so wracked with grief that he murdered the woman's ex in revenge, only to soon after follow his imprint into oblivion. Apparently, it was impossible for a wolf to live long after his mate passed, whether they had given in to the imprint of not.

Never before had Bella felt so sick, not even in the days before her first time shifting. At this rate, she really was going to be screwed for the rest of eternity and beyond.

Unless...maybe there was still a way out? It wasn't like Bella had read even half of the imprint books, right? Surely one could give her a chance at a normal, happy, non-Rosalie infested life.

Immediately, her wolf surged to the surface, sensing Bella's weakness. It raged inside of her, furious at the idea of a life without Rosalie. Bella was so distracted that she nearly knocked over the entire shelf, only to right it at the last minute.

Even worse, she then heard the voices of Quil Sr and Billy closing in. They must be coming in to check or research something like they actually wanted to help. Fucking old buttfucks of a bitch.

Still, panic was surging, and she was a second away from shifting. Okay, okay, we'll talk with her! For fucks sake! Bella inwardly exclaimed.

Immediately, her wolf settled down. She could see it sit in her mind, a pleased look on its face. Bitch.

The elders were closing in fast-for them, anyways-and Bella knew she had to get out of there. She ran towards the window she had come in through, jumped into the air, used the window sill to propel her forward, and landed outside with a graceful ease.

Damn, am I badass, Bella thought with a grin. That grin fell off her face seconds later as she realized she was still holding something in her hand; the imprint book.

"Fuck. Fucking fuck. Somebody just fuck me already," Bella hissed out loud, only for her wolf to give her an image of a naked Rosalie writhing under her, making Bella flush, now ten times hornier than before. "Not helping," she growled at her wolf, which only seemed to make the wolf happier.

Desperately, she turned towards the window, wondering if she had time to jump back in and put the book back. Just as she thought it, she heard the door open, and Billy and Quil Sr came in.

"Quil, I love you like a brother, but this is getting ridiculous," Bella heard Billy complain. "We've looked through every single thing in here, from book to diary entry to letters. We're not going to find anything new."

Oh, what was this? Could something juicy be going on? Bella pressed herself against the wall as if one of them was actually athletic enough to somehow climb up the window to check if anyone was listening. It was a stupid move, seeing as Billy was disabled and Quil Sr was borderline obese, but Bella couldn't help it. She had long been trained to keep to the walls and shadows after having spent so long sneaking out of girls' houses when their dads got home.

"We need to," Quil Sr grumbled, sounding just as pissy as ever. "I need to know, Billy. I need to figure out what the hell is happening, and why Isabella of all wolves became alpha."

Oh, of course it's about me, Bella thought with disgust. Bet the old fucktard just couldn't imagine a woman, especially one that's such a corrupting influence, being in charge of anything other than the cooking. Damn it, Bella wanted to punch the man all over again. Make that ugly mug of his even uglier, if that was possible.

"Some mysteries aren't meant to be solved. And you should be a little easier on her, Quil. After all, she is-"

At that moment, Bella's phone started to ring. It wasn't on vibrate, and it wasn't a quiet ringtone either. Oh no, it was a full on blast of "I'm sexy and I know it" which Bella had only put as her ringtone as an inside joke between her and Jacob.

"What's that? Is someone here?" Quil Sr demanded, and Bella could hear he was trying to search the room, maybe even trying to run. At any other time, Bella would have cracked up at the idea of Quil Sr running, but now, all she could do was let out a low curse and take off as fast as she could.

As she ran, she answered Jake's call, saying, "This better be fucking good."

In the background of her mind, Bella's wolf whined, reminding her of someone else that her wolf felt they needed to talk to so much more.

Soon, Bella assured the wolf, not wanting her to go haywire again. I'll call her as soon as this is over. I have the Cullens' number, okay? The elders had insisted on her putting it in her phone so she wouldn't be "blindsided" by the leeches calling her and accidentally give away any important information.

In response, her wolf howled triumphantly. Soon, Rosalie would be theirs. Whether Bella wanted it or not.

"Hey Rose, guess who called? And to think, it was even during dinner time. For shame," Emmett tutted, holding out their landline phone, despite the fact that the conversation had long ended.

"I'm not in the mood, Emmett," Rosalie snarled, having to state something that anybody could tell with just a glance. While still as gorgeous as always, Rosalie's eyes were pitch black despite having just fed-for the fourth time that week-and her hair, for once, wasn't one hundred percent perfect. To top it off, her entire body was strained, and she looked ready to murder anybody and everybody in a second.

"Yeah, I know. But I promised to talk to you; after all, the caller called just for you." With this, Emmett grinned and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Rosalie let out an irritated hiss. If this was another boy calling to ask her out, she really was going to slaughter someone. She really just wasn't in the mood, especially now that she was being driven crazy by her need to find Bella.

Violet, seeing just how close Rosalie was to snapping, moved a little closer to Emmett, taking his hand and giving it a warning squeeze. Usually she wouldn't care if her mate got a beating from his best friend, but with Rosalie so on edge, she doubted he'd get out of it with all of his limbs attached.

"Aw, you're no fun," Emmett complained with a pout as he set down the phone, but he quickly brightened again. "That was Bella. Y'know, the big alpha wolf?"

Rosalie's eyes widened, the quickly narrowed with fury as her heart gave a painful squeeze. "Go on. What did that mongrel want?"

"Why, she wanted to meet up with you, Rosie dear," Emmett replied, hugging his mate since he couldn't hug Rosalie. "At the border where we all met up with her and the pack for the first time. She says she wants to talk about everything that's going on between you two."

Rosalie scowled, her entire body freezing up as she fought off the urge to just run straight to the location at that very moment. "That's ridiculous," she snapped, whirling away from the happy couple. "What, does she think that I'm just going to come at her beck and call? That I'm just going to act like one of her eager little whores?" The image of what Bella had been doing with the redhead flashed through Rosalie's mind, which made Rosalie want to kill Bella all the more. But even as she felt the urge for murder, the other, more instinctive part of her was telling her to just suck it up and go. To find and please her mate, make it so that Bella would never think about so much as looking at another girl again.

"Rose, I really think you should go," Violet said, knowing exactly what path Rosalie's thoughts were going down.

"No. Hell no. There's no way in hell I'm going to run over at Bella Black's beck and call," Rosalie spat, then stormed right up to her room. The door slammed behind her, making the whole house shake with the force of it.

Everyone then wisely decided it would be best to leave Rosalie alone as the furious woman paced back and forth. She hated how much she wanted, needed, to go, hated how hard it was for her to stop herself from giving in. It was near painful for her to keep herself from even leaving her room.

Unknowingly to Rosalie, she had started pacing. Pacing and pacing and pacing...hours passed by as Rosalie struggled with her instinctive need to go to her mate and her stubborn bitchy nature telling her to stay away.

With each step she took back and forth across her room, it became harder and harder to simply not jump out of the window and race to the meeting place. And of course, it was beyond impossible for her to think about anything other than Bella. Bella, the stupid, cocky, impulsive brat of an alpha, who was also incredibly gorgeous. Gorgeous, and idiotic enough to attack one of her own wolves to protect her. Even though Bella hadn't been in her right mind and Rosalie didn't need protecting.

The fire in Bella's eyes...would she see it again if she went? A part of her craved to see that intense look on her face, whether it was because Bella's anger was focused on her, or if the look was on Bella's face for a different reason.

Why did Rosalie feel this way? It's because she wanted a challenge, wanted to fight that stupid mutt, because...because she felt like it, that's why. That's right, Rosalie Hale had no reason she had to explain herself. She could hate whoever she wanted, with or without reason. Even if that person was her imprint.

Pausing in her pacing, Rosalie walked over to the large mirror she had hanging from her wall. Bella's comment about not being attracted to blondes rose to her mind, and she couldn't help staring at herself. After a moment of examining her flawless looks, a bitter laugh almost escaped her throat.

She could count on one hand the people that hadn't been attracted to her looks, did one of them have to be her mate?

No. Bella wasn't her mate, no matter what her instincts screamed at her. And Rosalie didn't care if Bella thought she was gorgeous or not; she simply would feel delighted if Rosalie had been able to taunt Bella with her looks. She'd do anything to fuck with the tall brunette.

The need to go to her mate almost doubled as an image of Bella waiting for her crossed Rosalie's mind. Letting out a snarl of frustration, she muttered, "Fine. But I'm only going so I can tell that mongrel off in person."

With that in mind, Rosalie launched herself out of her window, hit the ground, and started running towards the treaty line, and she was running fast. Not because she didn't want Bella to wait, but because, in her mind, she believed the sooner Rosalie got this over with, the better.

As she thought this, she came to a realization that it was dark out and started to slow, about to change her mind. It had been at least four hours since Emmett had taken Bella's call, and there was no way that Bella would still be waiting-

Right at that moment, right before Rosalie considered turning back-despite the fact that her instincts were insisting she go to her mate no matter what-Rosalie caught a very familiar scent. She was immediately irritated, like she always reacted when she sensed Bella, but strangely enough, she was excited too.

"No way. No way could she have actually waited for me to get here," Rosalie muttered to herself, once again picking up the pace as she followed the scent to its scent. As she neared the treaty line, she all but burst out of the trees, her eyes immediately landing on a tall figure slouched against a tree, her hands shoved deep into her pockets.

Catching sight of Rosalie, not to mention having heard her arrival, Bella lifted her head and gave the vampire a sheepish grin. "Hey."

Rosalie's mouth opened, but not a single word came out; the girl had actually left her speechless. It took her a few minutes, but she finally managed to say something. And that something was; "What are you doing here?"

Arching her eyebrows, Bella gave Rosalie her signature troublemaker smirk. "Waiting for you, obviously." Rosalie started to speak, and just by the look in the vampire's eyes, Bella could see Rosalie was ready to start trouble. "It's up to you, Rose. Do you wanna talk, or do you just want to trade insults until we try to kill each other?"

For a long moment, Rosalie examined the alpha. She took note of the way she looked, the fact that there was not even a challenge in Bella's eyes, her stance, her body...which she might have taken more time to check out then the rest of the wolf, but she didn't care. The girl was gorgeous and, as always, wasn't wearing much; only a pair of shorts and a tight shirt that barely covered her breasts.

Rosalie couldn't help it; she was intrigued. And, in all honesty, she didn't think she was capable of leaving Bella, not after she got to see her again. While it had only been a day since they last saw each other, it felt like an eternity to her instincts, which was what had her rooted to the spot, refusing to leave until she fully drank in Bella's appearance.

Here. Mate. Need. Take. Those were just a few words being tossed around in Rosalie's head, and there were quite a few more that weren't anywhere near PG appropriate.

Damn it, why couldn't her body just leave her alone? Why couldn't she spend a single day without being drawn to Bella's side?

"So? It's your choice, Rose. Talk or fight," Bella said, taking a step towards the vampire, dangerously close to the treaty line. Neither noticed, or cared; for some reason, both of them were completely entranced by the other's gaze, unable to look away.

Something inside of Rosalie tightened at the nickname, which made her nearly hiss out loud with irritation. "Only my friends call me Rose," she said after a moment, when she felt she had gained enough control of herself. This time, she was the one to interrupt Bella, who had clearly been about to reply with a sarcastic comment. "Let's talk."

Letting out a huff of surprise, Bella sat down on her side of the border, getting as close to the border as she dared, her eyes burning with an intensity that would have taken Rosalie's breath away had she needed it.

"Yeah. Let's."