A/N: It's Wednesday so another update! Sorry in advance, this chapter is kinda boring and was a pain to write which was why it's so short, but it was necessary. Also thanks to all of you awesome reviewers, you guys got me past a bit of a block later on in this fic, and now I'm on a roll and upcoming chapters are so much longer. I officially have another two weeks worth of updates. I love you all so much for this. Keep being awesome.

P.S. I swear I thought I uploaded this hours ago I have no idea what happened.

Chapter 14

Riley didn't even have to wait until next day's dinner to come face to face with the Cullens. Instead, a short phone call between Leah and Sam later had Riley at the pack house discussing everything. One more phone call after that then had the pack and the Cullens agreeing to meet at the border where Riley had been traded off hours earlier. Something about needing to "discuss the threat" and "trade possibilities" and all of that bullshit. Riley tried to claim she was traumatized so she could go do something more worthwhile, but that only led to Jared throwing Riley over his shoulder and carrying her all the way to the meeting place.

"For the last time, Riley, we know you're not traumatized from meeting them," Embry said with a sigh when Riley tried to argue her case once again. "And we need you here. You're the one who has all of those scary ideas in your head."

"Your face is scary," Riley grumbled, earning a surprised bark of laughter from Quil and a quiet chuckle from Jared. Everyone else, however, was way too on edge to even pretend to smile.

"They should have called us about the leech first, not her," Jacob muttered. Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned against a tree, seconds away from looking like a sulky child. "We're the ones running patrols, training to fight vampires. I can't believe they found out Bella was in danger and didn't think to tell us! We didn't even get a phone call from them!"

Leah slapped her hand over Riley's mouth before Riley could say something that might make Jacob flip. Not that she would have done it on purpose, she understood he was acting like this because he was scared for Bella, just like Edward was. That didn't mean she wouldn't accidentally say the worst thing she could by complete and utter accident.

Sam was thankfully there to do his alpha shit, so Riley didn't have time to potentially fuck things up anyway. "We'll talk about this later, Jacob. Right now, we need to prepare a united front. There is a threat against our territory, our people, and even against one of our own. We need to be prepared."

"One of our own? The second those leeches came back, she left us in the trash and threw herself at them again. She was always the vampire chick. We were just the stand-ins," Paul muttered. He quickly moved away from Riley when she shot him a glare so she couldn't try to hit him. Riley almost went after him to get at least one good smack in, but then Jared muttered his agreement and Riley had a new target. She tried lunging after him, but Leah wrapped her arms around Riley in a tight grip to stop her.

"Ooh, hold me tighter, lover, you know how I like it rough," Riley purred, delighting in the way Leah immediately blushed and told her to fuck off even under the circumstances. It made Riley feel a little better, even though her arm started to ache a little more and her head was starting to hurt as Jacob yelled in the background.

"She is one of us! She's always going to be a part of the pack, just as much as Riley is!" Jacob protested heatedly, but only Seth appeared to agree. While Sam and Jared were paying attention to him, the others were all busy wolf whistling and teasing Leah, who didn't loosen her grip on Riley-save for Paul, who was still watching Riley warily. He knew she wouldn't forget what he had said that easily, and with the way things were now, she'd probably be a dumbass again and lash out with her fucked up arm.

"Enough," Sam said at last, holding up one hand. Immediately, silence fell over the entire pack, and everyone became serious except for Riley. "They're here."

As if they were waiting for their arrival to be announced, the Cullens all emerged from the trees with serious looks on their faces. Riley seriously wished they would walk in slow mo, because it was the only thing missing from such an overly dramatic moment. The only thing that didn't fit was Bella, who was clinging to Edward's back with a look on her face that said she was probably going to puke at any second.

"Bella!" Riley greeted her friend enthusiastically as Bella dropped off of Edward's back onto her ass and put her head between her knees. The shorter girl tried to run to her friend, but Leah's grip on her didn't relent, which meant Riley wasn't going anywhere. She gazed up at Leah with exasperation, and the woman stoically stared back down at her. "Oh, come on, Leah, I'll be fine; I was literally at their mercy just a few hours ago. You don't need to be such an adorably protective bitch even if it makes you sexier than usual."

"Goddamn it Riley, now isn't the time for you to be…" Leah trailed off, struggling to come up with a word that would properly describe her friend.

"Me?" Riley suggested helpfully, and Paul had to hold back a snort.

"At least now we know why she dislikes us so much. She's not just their friend of some sort, she's actually shacking up with one of them," Rosalie muttered. "Who knows what they've filled her head with?"

"She's not-"

"Hey, I made it very clear that I liked you and Muscles McGee over there!" Riley retorted before Bella could try to defend her friend. "I'm not an equal opportunity hater like you, okay?" Emmett let out a booming laugh as Rosalie glared at Riley, but everyone else did their best to stay serious. "Also, I'll have you know, I haven't shacked up with everyone. I've been cruelly sex starved for months! I wish I was lucky enough to get down and dirty with-"

"That's enough of that," Leah snapped, covering Riley's mouth before she could go any further. Leah really didn't want to feel even more flustered and ready to crawl into a hole and die than she already did, and she knew hearing Riley specifically mentioning Leah as the one she wanted to have sex with would do just that.

"You can shut her up all you want, Leah, but everyone here knows that she was going to say your name," Paul snickered. He loved when Riley fucked with someone other than him. "I mean, just look at Seth." He pointed to the kid in question, who had quickly covered his ears with his hands in an effort to not hear what Riley would say about his sister next. The troublemaker in question looked up at Leah with wide, innocent eyes-right before licking Leah's palm. It took more than Leah would admit not to react.

"Can we get on with this? Bella is still in danger!" Edward snapped. His voice immediately soured the mood, and everyone save for Riley, who was being Riley, and Bella, who was still trying not to puke, grew serious and somber once more.

"Perhaps we can start with you telling us what you know?" Carlisle suggested. He was clearly trying to smooth things over, but Riley noticed how he didn't scold his son. Ah, yup, that definitely explains part of Edward's ongoing behavior.

"Right," Sam grunted, trying his best not to snap in response to Edward's tone. "Ever since you all left, we had taken over running patrol around the entirety of Forks as well as the reservation. During that time, we've run into a redheaded leech multiple times. It was hard to tell if she was trying to get into Forks or if she was just testing us."

"Victoria," Edward snarled, hands clenching at his sides. He wasn't alone in his reaction either; both the Cullens and the wolves seemed equally furious at the mention of the vampire. Riley idly wondered how much of that anger stemmed from wanting to protect Bella.

"Yes. During this time, we also came across another vampire's scent, although we were never able to find the vampire behind it." Sam really didn't seem to like admitting to that, and it didn't help when Rosalie decided she had something to say.

"Incompetent mutts," she muttered with a scoff, just loud enough for the wolves to hear her. Many started to growl and shake, Paul included, and had Leah not been holding on to Riley, she most likely would have had a similar reaction. Sam let out a snarl of his own before holding up his hand to quiet the rest of the pack.

"There's a lot of land and only so many of us. We were stretched way too thin and run way too ragged to be able to properly keep Forks under watch at all times. If you leeches hadn't ever left, then maybe you could have helped us." Sam sneered when the Cullens didn't have anything to say in return. "Actually, maybe not. You're all back, and a leech still managed to slip right into Bella's room."

This time, multiple Cullens growled and hissed, and Riley grimaced. Shit, here it is. The start of an even deeper divide that would continue to cause the "us vs them" mentality, even when they were on the same side. Shit, Riley really had to do something. She didn't want it to happen like it did in the books.

Riley met Bella's eyes and could see the worry in them. Bella wanted to intervene but clearly had no idea how or where to begin. Luckily, Riley had at least two things going for her; she was great at directing hostility away from other people and toward herself, and amazing at causing general chaos.

"Okay, bloodsuckers and pups, that's enough!" Riley announced with a few claps of her hands, letting out a curse when her injured hand burned in protest. At least Riley's pain was effective in turning all attention to her. She let out some grunts as she wiggled in Leah's grasp, hoping Leah would get the point and drop her, but apparently Leah wasn't letting Riley go anywhere. Damn it. As she couldn't just break Leah's hold with any attention outside of Paul and Leah on her, Riley gave up for the moment and continued to speak. "It's about time you sorry shit sticks get in line, stop blaming each other, and act like the badass supernatural army you guys could totally be if you stopped playing the blame game like a bunch of babies." Everyone was so stunned by Riley's outburst, they didn't even try to speak as Riley let out a huff of frustration at their behavior. "Leah, put me down."

"I don't think that's a good…" Leah trailed off as she looked into Riley's eyes, and realized just how serious she was. She actually let go of Riley, which was a shock to everyone, even Riley herself.

Well that went better than planned. Now, onto the collective ass reaming!

Riley purposefully stomped to the middle of the clearing, standing right on the border. She made sure to glare at the wolves and vampires before continuing. "For fucks sake, this is a serious situation, and you all have the same goals, I don't know why you guys are fighting. It's clear Victoria is planning something big, she's got that whole devious evil villain thing going on for her, and she's obviously working with the other vamp. For all you know, she could have even more vampires she's working with who just haven't popped up yet. Do you want to protect humans, protect Bella, or not? Because you sure aren't acting like it. You're all behaving like the size of your supernatural schlongs are more important."

Bella had to hide her snort behind her hand, the only girl who seemed to find what Riley said funny. On the other hand, Rosalie scowled, Alice wrinkled her nose in distaste, Leah grimaced, and Esme winced, all because of Riley's word choice. Edward didn't look too happy either, to put it mildly, while Carlisle seemed amused, Jasper had to hide a smirk, and Emmett outright laughed along with some of the wolves. The wolves who didn't laugh were at least smiling, and for some reason, the atmosphere felt a little warmer and accepting. As if they were starting to open up to each other, regardless of species.

Who would've guessed vampires and shifters would bond over dicks of all things?

"Alright, since I'm clearly the mature one here, I think it's best for me to lead this meeting thingamajig. Hey! I heard you fuckers snort, don't make me come after you, I'm not the one bumping boobs over every little thing. Yes, you big manly men also have boobs. Get over it." Riley turned to the Cullens, crossing her arms over her chest. "Now, unlike some of you, me and Bella need sleep. I already got traumatized by you bitches once today-" that earned some more snorts and mutters that were basically all variants of "Traumatized my ass" but Riley decided to be the bigger person and ignore them, "-and I'm fucking tired. So let's finish this shit up so I can sneak into Leah's bed already."

"Like hell you will," Leah snapped, and with that and some extra chuckles, the tension was broken even further.

From there, everyone seemed to relax as much as they could given the current situation, and the discussions from there went well. That is, until they got around to how everyone would be protecting Bella.

"My family is more than capable of protecting Bella. I say she should stay with us and only be delivered to you to be watched when we need to go hunting."

At Edward's words, the wolves erupted into anger, and even his family seemed conflicted on whether to back Edward up or not.

"We're just as capable of protecting her, leech!" Jacob snarled.

"You're also young, quick tempered shifters. You're more likely to hurt her than help her," Edward snapped back.

"Edward, will you cut it out?" Bella's voice silenced everyone, and all eyes turned to Bella. Despite the blush creeping up her neck at having so much attention on her, she didn't back down. "Look, I get that you're trying to keep me safe, but you can't dictate my life! I'm still working on forgiving you for leaving in the first place, and now you're trying to act like it's your job to decide for me? The wolves and Riley have done an amazing job protecting me while you were gone, they made me feel included, and they helped me heal. Nothing bad happened to me the last few months, specifically because of them. If you want me to keep working on forgiving you and moving past everything that has happened, then you'll stop trying to decide what I'm going to do and let me make my own choices."

"That's my bitch!" Riley cheered, happy to see Bella's fire. It made Bella blush even more, but she didn't move her eyes from Edward.

Finally, the boy in question nodded his head, trying not to show how shocked and hurt he really was. "Of course. My apologies, Bella."

And that was that.