A/N: STOP! WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T READ PAST THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE UNLESS YOU HAVE DONE THE FOLLOWING: Please reread Chapter 16. You see, I didn't like only writing three pages for my last chapter, so I added a shit ton more to it. So, IF YOU DID NOT REREAD THE UPDATED CHAPTER 16 AND START READING THIS ONE, YOU WILL BE VERY CONFUSED. QUICK, SAVE YOURSELF FROM YOUR CONFUSION, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE. So, yeah, hope you enjoy the extra of the last chapter and enjoy this one too. Please, feed me my reviews, or I will CURSE YOU WITH MORE CONFUSION. I LOVE YOU ALL.

Chapter 17

Sugary bleach. Under it, two other scents; scents that Bella didn't fucking recognize.

Unknown vampires, here in Forks. Not just in Forks, but near her pack. Her incredibly human, fragile, packmates. Packmates that smelled of nerves and fear and worry, and who were currently all alone without any protection.

Again, it was a struggle to stay in control. To not turn into a wolf and rush across the parking lot, tearing into the two vampires, the two threats.

Humans, there's humans everywhere. Humans and cameras. Surely even the thirstiest of vampires wouldn't dare snatch someone right out of the parking lot. Not in front of so many mechanical and living witnesses.

Breathe, Bella. Just breathe. Stay in control, Bella told herself desperately. Her hands curled into fists, nails digging into her palms in an attempt to center herself. Despite how much she shook, despite how close she felt to changing, she kept moving forward. At a human pace, of course; no need to draw even more attention to the deadly situation.

Bella followed the scent to find her four girls crowded against the side of Emily's car. Only a few feet away, watching them curiously, were two female vampires. Blonde, golden eyed leeches.

Rosalie. Of course seeing blonde hair and golden eyes would trigger her desire for her imprint, even at a time like this. Thankfully, her stupid wolf side still knew of the dangers, still knew that this wasn't a time to get lost in selfish desires.

Even seeing the golden eyes, Bella didn't relax. They were still unknown vampires, still threats, and she wasn't about to let down her guard.

In all of this, Bella still took a moment to admire the pack's imprints. They were all human, this was their first time seeing vampires, and of course they were scared. Even then, none of them had run, none of them had panicked, and all appeared to have sharp minds and were thinking clearly. Bella couldn't have been prouder to have these girls in her pack.

The wind shifted, and now the two vampires were getting a lungful of Bella's scent. Both pairs of eyes snapped to Bella, followed by wrinkled noses and grimaces of disgust. You fucks smell like shit too. Of course, Bella noticed how they tensed as well, ready to fight Bella if need be. The taller of the two eyed her warily, suspiciously-good-but the shorter one, the one with straight blonde hair, looked way too excited about Bella's arrival-not so good.

"Bella," Emily breathed, relief shining in her eyes. Of course the girl had put herself in front of the others, mainly Kim, who was shaking in fear with wide eyes fixated on the vampires. It was clear Emily was trying to subtly protect them. It wouldn't have done shit if the leeches had actually tried to hurt them, but Bella had to admire the older girl's balls.

"Hey," Bella said as casually as she could. She didn't know how she managed it, but her shaking had stopped. She was able to almost pretend that she was unaware of the vampiric threat to her humans. "You guys didn't have to wait for me. It's been hours."

"Yeah, well, what can we say? We're stupid and stubborn," Rebecca said with a shrug. She was the only one to try to match Bella's casualness, but it was clear how shaken she was. She couldn't manage to take her eyes off the vampires for more than a second before her eyes flitted back to the blondes.

"About time you showed up," Rachel muttered. Unlike her twin, she kept her eyes on the two blondes, her stance almost aggressive. She couldn't be more obvious about knowing what they were if she had tried.

"Yeah, well, you know how I am. Always gotta make an entrance," Bella joked. She made sure to put herself between the humans and leeches, reaching out to put a hand on Emily's shoulder before giving it a squeeze. "I still have some stuff to do, papers to fill out. Why don't you go home without me?"

Despite their fear in front of the vampires, all four girls started to argue. They didn't want to leave Bella alone. With one sharp glance from Bella, they all immediately went silent, unable to hold themselves against the alpha.

"Get in your car," Bella ordered softly as her eyes once again focused on the threat. "Now, girls."

Each girl reached out and touched Bella briefly, instinctively; both giving and receiving comfort. They all got in the car, but to Bella's annoyance, they didn't leave until Bella shot them another annoyed glare.

Really, I can shift into a huge ass wolf, I don't need to be babied. I'm the one meant to protect them, not the other way around. Bella almost grinned despite herself; every member of her pack was a pain in the ass, but she loved the fuck out of them.

It was only when the car left the parking lot that the blondes' silence was broken.

"So you're Bella," the shorter of the blondes said with a grin. She looked way too happy, eager, and it set Bella on edge.

"I am," Bella said with a nod. "You've heard of me?"

"Oh, for sure. We're the Cullens' cousins, you see." The shorter blonde seemed almost ready to start bouncing where she stood. "Never thought we'd be the first to meet you. Isn't this Cullen territory?"

"The hospital is an exception," Bella said shortly. "Now, what were you doing intimidating the humans?"

"We didn't mean to," the taller blonde said. "The scent that clung to them was...unique-"

"Unique?" the shorter blonde laughed. "The scent of wet dog and trash clung to every one of them."

"Kate," the taller blonde said sharply. "Manners." The shorter blonde just snorted in reply. "The scent got our attention, and when they saw us, it was clear they knew what we were-"

"Blonde bitches?" Bella interrupted snarkily, unable to help herself. A surprised laugh burst out of the shorter blonde-Kate-while the taller blonde scowled at the alpha.

"I'm trying to be polite here," the taller blonde said testily.

"Next time, how about you don't scare the shit out of a bunch of defenseless humans?" Bella shot back with a low snarl.

"Ooh, you want a fight, pup?" Kate asked. She grinned, hands flexing at her sides. "I'll be more than happy to give you one."

Why did that sound like such a good idea to Bella? Why did Bella want to fight them so much? It wasn't just aggression, it was a need. A need for her wolf to finally be free, to work off her energy, to be free.

"Kate!" the taller blonde hissed. "Can you not pick a fight for five minutes? We promised Tanya we wouldn't cause trouble when we left to explore. Potentially breaking their treaty with the wolves is causing trouble!"

"Yeah," Bella breathed, unable to help herself. Her heart was racing, her skin felt too tight, almost tingling. "I want to fight you." This would be her first fight with a vampire, but she wasn't scared, wasn't nervous...but she wasn't eager, either.

"The wolves are eager to break their own treaty? I wouldn't have guessed," the taller blonde said, while Kate let out an excited, "Hell yeah!"

"Fuck the treaty," Bella snapped. At the taller blonde's arched eyebrows, Bella shook her head, remembering saying that wasn't exactly her best idea. "This won't break the treaty," she said instead. "You're not the Cullens. Besides...we can just call it training." Bella met Kate's eyes, making a clear challenge. "Unless you changed your mind. Afraid of the big bad wolf, leech?"

"Bring it on, puppy," Kate said with a grin.

"This isn't a good-" the taller blonde started, but with a flick of Bella's eyes to the forest, she and Kate took off for the trees, needing cover and no witnesses around for the fight. "-idea." The taller blonde sighed as she was left behind. Sadly, she felt she had no choice but to follow, if only to make sure her sister didn't actually break the wolf. "I swear, I should get paid for this," she grumbled as she jogged after them. "Tanya is going to be furious when she finds out...why didn't we stay at the house?"

Bella couldn't hold back any longer. She knew she was safe from prying eyes, and the need to let loose was too powerful to try and fight. Mid run, Bella exploded out of her skin. Kate's eyes widened at the sight, almost as if in awe, and she let out a loud laugh of pure glee as she found a huge wolf running next to her.

"You're even bigger than I heard!" Kate exclaimed. "I wonder if your size wasn't the only thing underexaggerated."

Bella didn't know what Kate had been told about her, but her size might not have been exaggerated in the slightest. After all, last time Bella had shifted, she remembered being smaller than she was now. Was it just having spent so long out of wolf form?

No, definitely not. Bella could feel the truth in her very soul, in every muscle and bone in her body. She was bigger, stronger, faster than ever before. At another time, she would wonder and experiment, but for now…

Without a word of warning, Bella whirled on the blonde vampire with a snarl, tackling her to the ground. Kate only laughed, somehow hooking her arms around Bella's neck and using her moment to flip out of the way to escape damage. By the time Bella's eyes found her again, the vampire was standing in a tree.

"You went with a surprise attack," Kate said with a nod in approval. "Nice." A sudden grin came over her features, one that filled Bella with apprehension. "Now let me show you how a warrior fights."

With insane speed, Kate launched herself at Bella, and the wolf had only seconds to dodge out of the way. Before she could regain her balance, Kate did a leg sweep with such strength Bella felt her front leg break, knocking Bella onto her side.

Fuck, that hurt. Letting out a snarl of pain and anger, Bella managed to roll out of the way as Kate lunged forward for a grapple, and then continued to roll until she could jump to her feet. A shot of pain up her broken leg made her stumble, but Kate didn't use the chance to take Bella down. Instead, she stayed back, eyes dancing with amusement.

She's playing with me, Bella realized. Anger and frustration made her shake, and without thinking it through, she rushed forward, wanting nothing more than to wipe that smug smile off of Kate's face with a snap of her jaws. The vampire dodged with too much ease, and it only added to Bella's anger as, with a shove, Bella was sent sprawling.

"You're too slow with that broken leg as it is. Want to give up?" Kate taunted. She let out a theatrical sigh when Bella's only answer was to stand on steady herself on her paws, pain be damned. "Really, I had thought this would be fun. The Cullens hyped you all up too much. If the alpha is this easy, the other wolves must be pathetic."

"Kate, enough," the tall blonde said from somewhere behind Bella, noticing how the alpha had started to shake. "You know how the shifters have trouble controlling their anger. There's no reason to rile them up." To Bella, the blonde added in an almost gentle manner, "Kate was a warrior even in her human life, and has been alive for over a thousand years. No one would expect you to win this. I'm sure you would be fine facing against less experienced vampires."

The other blonde might have been meaning to console Bella, but all it did was make Bella more frustrated. Being so easily beaten by one leech was bad enough, to have another pity her made everything so much worse. The worst of it all, however, was the glaring truth; Bella was weak. She had spent too much time stupidly obeying the Elders, focusing on controlling her emotions and helping her wolves and doing patrols, and not nearly enough training in wolf form; in fact, she had spent almost all of her time training focusing on how to make sure the wolves could all control their shifts more than anything. They had spent their time play wrestling, never taking things seriously enough, and it definitely showed. All of the strength and speed in the world was meaningless if she had no idea how to use it.

Had this been a real fight, Bella would be dead. Hell, her entire pack would easily be killed by this vampire, and it was so damn frustrating. It didn't matter if she would be fine against a different, less experienced vampire; she didn't get to choose which vampires she could fight, not when it was on her shoulders to protect so many. It wasn't just her against the world anymore.

Bella wasn't going to let this go. She would use this vampire for everything she was worth, and come out stronger than ever. For the humans. For her pack.

Kate watched her in disbelief as Bella started to charge her again. "Really, have you learned nothing? This is over."

Bella opened her jaws, preparing to go in for a bite just like before. Kate dodged, same as last time, but this time Bella was ready, lashing out with her claws as Kate went for her flank. This time, Kate had to dodge back again, at the last second, Bella whirled, using her still broken leg as a pivot point despite the pain. Her tail whipped hard against Kate, sending her skidding back a few feet. The vampire was still focused on going easy on her and had also expected Bella to only use her fangs and claws while fighting. She didn't expect the inexperienced shifter to realize her entire body was a weapon.

For a second, Kate stood there in surprise. "Well that was unexpected."

Instead of responding in any wolfy way she could, Bella launched herself into the air. The fight wasn't over, and she wasn't about to give Kate more breathing room than she absolutely had to.

Kate caught her before Bella could do any damage, flinging Bella against a tree. At impact, Bella gasped, the air forced from her lungs. Okay, yeah, that definitely was not a good idea.

"I'm going to beat that cockiness out of you, pup," Kate swore. This time, Kate was the one who didn't let up, coming in with blackened eyes, teeth bared, looking every inch a dangerous predator.

Something in Bella snapped. No longer did this feel like a mock battle or training, it felt like a true fight to the death.

A strange heat unfurled in her limbs, spreading throughout her body. Bella felt stronger, faster, her senses sharper, and she somehow knew just how to fight back. This time, Kate didn't go in for a grapple, she went in for a punch focused right at Bella's head. Bella waited until the last possible second before dodging, grabbing Kate's arm as she passed and using Kate's own momentum to slam the vampire into the ground. Then Bella was on top of her, pressing a huge, clawed paw into Kate's back before taking Kate's neck in her teeth from behind to show the vampire it was really over.

"No!" the taller blonde snarled at seeing Bella go in for the kill. She lunged forward, but before she could get very far, Bella stiffened as she felt a powerful jolt go through her body. She suddenly couldn't control any of her limbs, and let out a screech of pain as she collapsed on top of Kate. Bella felt panic cut through the pain. She couldn't move like she wanted, couldn't even stand, electricity crippling her, making her useless, which was even more terrifying than the pain itself.

Bella was rolled off of Kate, and as the blonde jumped to her feet with a huge grin, the pain suddenly ended as quickly as it began.

"You actually had me for a second there," Kate said. Bella had never felt more pathetic, especially as her body still felt more like noodles than the strong muscles of the predator she was supposed to be. Yet the vampire's eyes shone with respect as she gazed at Bella, and even though it was a leech, even though Bella had lost so pathetically, she felt strangely proud of herself. Strangely enough, despite it being clear that Kate wasn't going to attack her anymore, she only felt her panic mounting. "I didn't think you'd make me use my gift to get away. You're a lot tougher than I thought."

"Are you okay?" the taller blonde demanded of Kate, looking Kate over frantically. "How can you be so calm after you nearly died? She was going to kill you!"

"Nah, she wasn't," Kate said, waving off the other blonde's fear. "Seriously, Irina, look." Kate showed off her unblemished arm, the very arm that Bella had grabbed with her teeth. "She wasn't serious at all. If she was, she would've bitten me harder. The pup never had an intent to even hurt me."

It was true; even in Bella's more instinctive state, Bella could tell how much Kate was still holding back. That Kate had no plan of actually killing her, even with her eyes turning black or the way she suddenly appeared to be a lot more hostile. It would've been fucked of Bella to purposely try to maim or kill the vampire when the vampire was only helping her.

Suddenly, her mostly silent head was filled with worried and terrified voices. First calling her name, then asking if she was okay, asking who did this to her and what was happening. So many voices blending together, fearful for Bella, able to sense her pain and helplessness. They were running, coming toward Bella as fast as their paws could take them, determined to get to their Alpha's side. Determined to fight to protect their Alpha regardless of the danger.

"I'm fine. Don't engage. Stay on our side of the border!" Bella ordered, soothing and controlling her wolves. She didn't bother telling them to stay where they were, knowing it was an order they would fight to their last breath, given that they could feel all the pain she was still in and needed to be there for her. Now that the powerful voltage was no longer making her body sing in pain, she was much more aware of how her front leg ached, even worse than before. She had totally fucked it up. The worst part, however, was the panic that still appeared to be mounting inside of her, the panic Bella's wolves could feel, the panic that Bella for some reason couldn't fucking control.

"Hey, puppy, you good? I didn't melt your brain, did I?" Kate asked, putting her hand on Bella's giant head.

Suddenly, among the panic, Bella felt a burst of something else; white hot, uncontrollable rage. Her eyes widened in realization; these emotions didn't belong to her. She let out a yelp, trying to warn the vampire. But it was too late.

The sound of a vampire approaching fast made Kate and Irina turn.

"Oh, hey. Someone is looking mightily pissed-" Kate greeted the new arrival, but she didn't finish as Rosalie Hale slammed into her with all of her strength, letting out a roar of unbridled fury.

Kate shoved the girl off and jumped to her feet, putting her hands in the air. "I swear I can explain."

The infuriated vampire saw the sign of surrender, recognized Kate as a friend, but she didn't care. Rosalie Hale only had one purpose, one desire, in her mind; she was going to rip the vampire who hurt her mate limb from limb.

Kate could see the look in the Cullen's obsidian eyes, feel the intent radiating from Rosalie's body, and let out a sigh.

"Ah, shit."