A/N: I'm so excited for the things I have coming over the next ten or so chapters and I'm frustrated that I don't have more time to give to working on this story right now. I have several scenes to add into the next few chapters, so that might slow me down a bit too, but I promise that I'm still getting them posted just as quickly as my busy schedule is allowing me. I hope you enjoy this one.

As always, the world and characters (minus Grammy Jo) belong to Stephenie Meyers.

Happy reading! :D

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CHAPTER 51

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~~BELLA POV~~

The Cullens didn't waste any time and were all back in Forks before I even got out of school the next day. Jake and Sam, along with their Seconds, Embry and Jared, met with them that evening to discuss the situation and figure out shifts to watch over me and Charlie. I was dying to see Esme, but Jake wasn't comfortable having me around them just yet, so I agreed to wait.

By then, the whole pack had seen through Jake's and Leah's thoughts the way the Cullens had saved me from James. It helped ease some of the tension, but they had also all seen what happened on my birthday, so it didn't take away all of their unease and they were especially wary of Jasper.

I returned to work on Wednesday after school. Jake only left my side while I was at school or work, and he stayed in the woods nearby wherever I was as much as possible when he couldn't be with me. We spent most afternoons in his garage so he could get work done and evenings were usually spent at Emily's house. Charlie came down to La Push as much as possible in the evenings as well, either joining us at Emily's or going over to Sue's house. Having him at least partially in the know was helpful in taking some of the strain off the pack.

"One more week done," Jake said as we were slowly walking away from Emily's house, down the long open strip past her backyard. It was Friday evening, and other than the Cullens returning, it had been uneventful since Monday. The light of the setting sun was barely filtering through the thick grey clouds at the opening in the trees to the west, far ahead of us. With the trees on either side and reaching out above us, it was quickly getting dark around us.

"Yep, just two more weeks until graduation. And then Florida! It will be good to get out of town for a while and see my mom. Are you still feeling okay about being gone?"

"Yeah, I'm actually excited about it. Getting you away from the danger for a few days will be a relief. I'm more nervous about the fact that we haven't seen anything from that new leech all week."

"Well, he had two close calls with the pack the last time he was here, so maybe he's decided to back off."

"Maybe, but for how long? Makes me think he's planning something and trying to get us to let our guard down. Of course, if that's what he thinks, he is sorely mistaken." Jake stopped and pulled me against him so we were facing each other. His fingers trailed over my cheek as he looked down at me intently. "I will most definitely not be letting us slack off on your protection."

A shiver went through me at the intensity in his eyes and I whispered his name as I reached up to caress his face. My love for him swelled in my chest, and the hum of the electricity between us began to grow as we looked at each other. He closed his eyes and pressed his cheek against my hand, tingles running over my skin. I moved to thread my fingers into his hair and gently pulled him closer. He bent willingly, his lips pressing to mine in a soft, controlled kiss, both of us working hard to not let ourselves become overwhelmed.

Though it had indeed become more tolerable to be apart overall, the draw to one another had become so powerful and seemed to be growing every day. It was both exhilarating and frustrating because we had to fight it so much more than ever before. Even though we had been together almost constantly all week, this was the first time we had been alone in several days.

I reveled in Jake's heat wrapped around me and the warmth unfurling in my belly, my heart racing and no longer able to take a full breath. We lingered there for as long as we dared, holding firmly to each other. When we finally broke away, we were both trembling and my every nerve ending was thrumming. We pressed our foreheads together as we waited for it to fade a little.

"Five more weeks," I said quietly. Just five weeks until we would be husband and wife and would no longer have to fight this. A small shiver of excitement went through me at the thought.

"Looking forward to making you mine, in more ways than one," Jake said with a playful grin, and I hummed in quiet agreement.

A howl cut through the evening air, interrupting our moment.

"Duty calls." Jake sighed as he scooped me up to run me quickly back to the house, depositing me on the back stoop. A quick kiss on the forehead, then he disappeared into the forest.

My emotions a jumble of love, desire, and concern, I took a deep cleansing breath before stepping through the back door. Emily, Angela, and Kim were seated around the living room, and we all exchanged nervous glances as I entered.

"So, Bella," Kim said with tempered cheerfulness as I sat down on the couch next to her, "how are the wedding plans coming?" I hadn't seen her all week, and the distraction was welcomed for all of us.

"Emily and Angela have been doing a lot of the planning, helping me figure out what needs to be done. For the big things, so far, we've been given permission from the council to have the ceremony at the beach and we've lined up the florist and then the baker for the cake. These two would be better at filling you in on what they've been up to."

Emily and Angela took over, discussing the small details that they had sorted out. Alice had called me earlier in the week and insisted on taking care of getting my dress, so I had very little that I could share about that. I think she and Emily had been talking over the phone about it though, so hopefully she wouldn't go overboard.

It wasn't quite 30 minutes later when Jake came back, his hair dripping and his bare chest glistening from the rain that had started not long after he'd left. The look of him took my breath away.

"Bella, we need you. Two new kids phase while they were fighting, and they hurt each other pretty bad."

"Two of them?" Emily exclaimed. "Who are they?"

He grabbed my jacket from the hook by the door and looked at Emily with a sadness in his eyes I hadn't seen for some time. "Brady Fuller and Collin Littlesea."

Emily gasped. "They're only 13!"

"Yep." Jake shook his head. "I was afraid this might happen with all of the Cullens returning and this new bloodsucker running around." He held my jacket out to me. "Here, put this on. It's really started coming down out there."

I slipped my arms into the coat and put my hood up. Jake swung me into his arms and looked back at Emily. "We'll be back soon."

As Jake ran through the rain with me cradled against him, the electricity grew between us again, though it was thankfully dampened some due to the seriousness of the situation. The desire to nibble on his ear or kiss his neck was strong, but I restrained myself. I couldn't keep from staring at his beautiful face though.

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and gave me a small lopsided smirk. "Behave yourself Miss Swan." It's like he could read my mind… well, maybe he did? Sometimes I let my thoughts and emotions through without meaning too.

"I'm trying, Mr. Black, but it's not always an easy task." I closed my eyes and took a deep shaky breath, deciding that focusing on something else would help distract me. "Do you know these two kids very well?"

His smirk faded a bit. "Yeah, pretty well. Collin is my cousin. His mom is my Aunt Connie, Dad's sister."

"Oh, wow Jake. I didn't know you had any cousins."

He laughed lightly. "He's the only one. Dad has three other sisters as well, but none of them ever married or had any kids. Did you ever meet them when we were kids? I can't remember."

I shook my head thoughtfully. "I'm not sure. I don't think I did. At least, if I did, I don't remember them."

"Well, I guess it's about time that you met them. Sorry I haven't thought about it sooner. There has always been so much going on, it never really crossed my mind. Collin's mom, Connie, has a twin, Jennie, then there is Nora, the oldest, and Emmie is the youngest. Rachel will be home from college next week, so between that and our engagement, it might be a good time to have a little family reunion."

"I would like that. Are they all pretty close?"

"Yeah, the girls all are. They used to be closer with Dad, but after Mom died, he kinda pushed them away… kept them at arms-length, so to speak. And then when he had to go into the wheelchair, I think he was embarrassed because he couldn't be the helper and protector he'd always been before, so he distanced himself even more. They still try to keep in touch, but it's hard for him. Maybe now that he's out of the wheelchair he can work on mending things. This might be a good excuse to help him take that first step."

The rain seemed to be letting up a little, less water hitting against my jacket even at the speed Jake was running. I had to marvel a little at his ability to run so fast over the muddy, uneven ground with my extra weight and carrying on a conversation. He never missed a step and wasn't even winded. I never forgot how strong he was, but whenever I saw evidence of it like this, it still always awed me a little.

"What about Brady?" I asked.

"Well, he's a little bit of a mystery. His grandmother is Harry Clearwater's aunt, but no one knows who his parents are. The grandmother, Lucy is her name, if I remember correctly. Anyway, she left when she was like eighteen or nineteen, and when she returned twenty-five years later, she had Brady with her. He was just a baby and as far as I know she has never told anyone about his parents. Brady and Collin have been best friends for as long as I can remember."

"They're best friends? But you said they were fighting."

"Yeah, the anger in us flares majorly right before we phase for the first time, as you know. Remember how I flipped out on that Mike guy?" I nodded then he continued. "Neither of them even remembers what started the argument that led to the fight. They were throwing punches when they phased, so they got each other in the face. Brady's eye is pretty bad, and Collin has some wicked gashes across his face. That's why I came to get you. Even though we heal quickly, I'm hoping that you're healing can keep them from having any permanent damage. Plus, the sooner they're healed the sooner they can calm down and try to phase back to human. Sometimes it takes days, or even longer, for us to calm down enough."

"How long did it take you the first time?"

He gave me a small smile and looked a little embarrassed. "Just a little more than an hour."

"What!? That's incredible Jake." I felt a swell of pride for my beautiful Alpha man. The other guys have always talked about the amount of control Jake has. I don't know why he would be embarrassed about that.

"That's why I thought I might be less human… because everything came to me so much more easily than the others."

I frowned at him and traced a finger along his jaw. "You don't still feel that way, do you?"

"No baby, you helped me overcome that. The way you look at me when I'm in wolf form, I know that you still see me, and not some mindless monster. That made all the difference."

I smiled and pressed my forehead to his temple. "Good, I'm glad."

"We're getting close." Jake picked up his pace a little.

I had paid no attention to where we were going, distracted as I was by looking at Jake, so I had no idea where we were. I began to hear some pitiful sounding whines and quiet howls still a little way off. My heart immediately started to ache for them, they sounded like they were in a lot of pain and frightened.

"Poor kids," I whispered, "this has got to be so scary for them."

"Yeah, they're pretty freaked out. If Sam hasn't been able to calm them down, I may have to give them an Alpha command to make it safe enough for you to get close to them."

I could hear the distaste in Jake's voice. He hated giving those commands and taking away someone's free will. So far, he'd only had to do it twice, that I knew of, and this would be less of an intrusion on their will than those instances, but he still wouldn't like it.

The rain had stopped for the moment, and there were a few breaks in the clouds… enough to allow the bright moon to shine intermittently through the trees. The moonlight allowed me to see through the darkness much better as we came out into a rather large clearing, and there were wolves everywhere. I had never been around so many of them at once and it was quite an awe inspiring, and somewhat intimidating, sight.

I immediately recognized Sam, Seth, Leah, and Embry. There was one other wolf, and I wasn't sure who he was. I knew it wasn't Quil… the coat color was a similar brown, but he wasn't stocky enough to be Quil.

Is that Paul or Jared? I thought to Jake, a little embarrassed that I didn't recognize him.

Don't be embarrassed. That's Jared. Paul is a dark silver color. He and Quil are still running patrols to make sure our border stays secure while we deal with this.

Jake set me down a safe distance from the two smaller, more gangly wolves lying on the ground, squirming in obvious pain. I turned my full attention to them, smiling at them softly. I wished that I could communicate telepathically with these two like I could with Jake.

"I'll be right back Bella. I think I need to be in wolf form for this."

I grabbed Jake's hand before he could run off, sensing that wouldn't be necessary as my power pushed in my chest, trying to get to the injured wolves. I held the gaze of the wolf who must be Brady, his left eye swollen shut. His dark ashy brown coat was nearly black around his eye, covered in both crusty dried blood and still oozing fresh blood. It looked pretty nasty, and I silently hoped he wouldn't lose his sight.

"Hold on Jake. I want to try like this first." Brady was still whining softly, but under my gaze he had stilled. I could feel the tension in Jake but seeing how much calmer Brady had gotten since we arrived, he agreed.

"Just, go slow Bella and be ready for me to pull you back."

I nodded in agreement.

"Hey there Brady," I started, kneeling down on the wet ground where I stood. Brady was laying mostly on his side, but his head was lifted, and I saw something flicker in his good eye… surprise, I think. "My name is Bella, and I can help you. I know you're scared, and I'm sure that eye hurts, but I have a special magic inside of me and if you lay really still, I can make your eye better. Can you do that? Blink your good eye twice if you can do that for me."

Brady glanced nervously at Jake then over to Sam in his wolf form, who I assumed assured Brady to trust me. He finally looked back to me and blinked his good eye two times.

"That's great Brady. Very good job. I need you to lay on your right side with your head down and then I'll need to go behind you. You won't be able to see me, but I'll keep talking to you and tell you everything I'm doing, okay? Blink two more times if you understand and are okay with that."

He didn't look away from me this time and blinked two more times.

"Okay, great. One more thing," I took Jake's hand again, "Jake will have to come with me, but he won't touch you, only I'll touch you, okay?"

He blinked two more times.

"That's really good. Okay, I'm going to move behind you now." I continued to speak softly to Brady as I stood and slowly went to kneel right behind his shoulder, Jake right behind me. I noticed that Collin had also quieted and was watching me with interest. The gashes crossing diagonally across his face glistened in the moonlight from the blood still seeping out of them. His eyes were spared, but his nose was a mangled mess.

"Alright Brady, I'm going to put my hands on your shoulder. You might see a soft golden light and feel some warmth, but don't be afraid, that's my healing magic. The first thing it will do is take away your pain before it fixes your injuries."

I told Brady again just as I placed my hands, the warmth and light pulsing eagerly in my chest. When I released it, the power shot through me faster than ever before, and the pull from me seemed to be greater than any other time I had used it. Jake's replenishing power kept pace with it though.

I closed my eyes and watched the light flow to Brady's eye and weave it back together. I don't know that I would ever get used to the beauty of it. Seeing fullness of the damage, I felt certain that he would have lost that eye if it weren't for my healing, but I was equally certain that my magic would heal it completely, just as it did for Paul's shoulder and Emily's scars… and Billy's diabetes, which the doctor had confirmed at his appointment on Thursday.

When the injuries were healed, I opened my eyes and the wolf still lying on his side before me blinked up at me, watching me intently out of his perfectly reformed eye. The light didn't immediately retreat as it usually did however, and I felt the magic doing something new. I closed my eyes again and watched as the light showed Brady something that I didn't quite understand. It was communicating with him, and I felt tension leave his body. After that, the warmth and light returned to me, and I moved my hands away from Brady. Jake immediately lifted me to my feet and pulled me back several steps while still continuing to refill my energy, which seemed to be taking longer than usual.

Brady quickly lept to his feet, stopping for a minute to watch me, then scampered off to the woods, Seth and Jared right on his heels.

Sam was staring at me, a strange look in his wolf eyes, though I couldn't figure out quite what it was. I smiled at him then turned my attention to Collin and went through the same process as I had with Brady. I felt the same stronger pull and the magic again showed Collin what it had shown Brady after I had healed his face, his nose once more whole and unmarred. Once Collin had retreated into the woods in the same direction as Brady, the remaining wolves all followed.

I turned to Jake and laid my head on his chest, feeling mentally drained. He was still glowing, and his replenishing magic was still flowing into me.

"You were awesome as always, Bella." He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head, the golden light illuminating a small area around us. "It was like you tamed the beasts. I can't believe how calm they both were for you."

"Thanks. I don't feel like I did anything special. I just talked to them. The magic did most of the work."

"Maybe, but some of that calm came before you ever touched them. You spoke to them as frightened boys, not as freaky monsters. You weren't scared of them, and you helped them realize that they're still human inside. I'm sure that made a big difference. It's similar to what you did for me, and you didn't have any magic then." Jake put a finger under my chin to lift my face toward him, the golden light still reflecting softly on his face. "You helped me be more at peace with my shapeshifting side and made me realize that it didn't make me any less of who I am."

His voice was soft, and I became aware of the electric charge between us again. It was something that was always there, just sometimes we were less aware of it, or able to distract ourselves from it. The desire that flared in my belly was mirrored back to me in Jake's eyes… much stronger this time. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a ragged breath as Jake kissed me on the forehead and pulled me against his chest again. Sometimes we indulged a little and sometimes it was better to resist completely.

"The pack is returning," Jake said quietly, and the light finally faded from us.

I realized I was hearing voices and when I turned toward the approaching figures, I was surprised to see all of them emerge in human form… including Collin and Brady. Judging from the soft exhale of breath beside me, Jake was just as surprised.

Both boys were extremely tall for 13… had to be nearing 6 ft. They were both long and lean and had the beginning of the sinewy muscles that all the wolves developed. Their faces still showed the roundness of youth though. I suddenly felt a twinge of sadness for those two boys. They were going to lose so much of their childhoods as they grew to men over the next few months.

"How in the world?" Jake asked in wonder at the sight of the boys.

"Bella showed us how," Collin said.

My eyes went wide as I looked from Collin to Brady to Sam. "Showed you how to do what, exactly?"

Sam answered for them. "You showed them how to access their transformation power. But they were only able to make it work because you had calmed them down. Bella, from the moment you arrived they began to calm down. While you were healing them, it also took away their fear and allowed me to better communicate with them. You've made this transition a hundred times easier for these two than it was for any of the rest of us… except maybe Jake."

"Thanks for helping us, Bella," Collin said.

"Yeah, thanks Hadós," Brady added.

"Hadós?" I wrinkled my brow at the unfamiliar word.

"It means 'elder sister' in Quileute," Jake informed me. "It's a sign of respect."

I smiled at them warmly. "You're both very welcome. I didn't even know I could do that."

The trees around us suddenly began to move and sway, and the ground began to shift, the forest surrounding me going blurry. I reached out a hand toward Jake, but I missed. He caught me before I could fall and cradled me in his arms.

"Let's get you home baby," Jake said. "That took a greater toll on you than normal."

"Yeah, my brain feels fuzzy." My voice didn't sound quite right either.

The dark of the night engulfed us and all I could see was Jake. The moonlight that had shown in the clearing was now hidden by cloud cover once more. At least it hadn't started raining again.

We were quiet on the way back, Embry staying with us. I wasn't sure where the others had gone. I rested my head on Jake's shoulder, my arms wrapped around his neck, and relaxed in his arms. Breathing in the scent of him, I sighed in contentment.

I think I dozed a little… maybe dreamed of Charlie.

"Is she okay?" Charlie sounded so concerned.

"I'm fine, Dad," I told him, but he didn't seem to hear me, then Jake answered.

"Yes, she's fine. She healed a couple of kids and it drained more from her than usual. I can't wake her, but her mind is calm, so she should be fine after a good night's sleep."

More words were spoken, but they became increasingly garbled and distant. The dream finally faded, and a peaceful darkness overtook me.

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A/N: The information about Brady and Collin and Billy's sisters was taken from "The Official Illustrated Guide" with only a few additions for my story.

Also, there isn't a lot of info on the internet for the Quileute language, but I've found a couple of sights that have lists of some words and phrases, and that is where I got the word for elder sister. Please let me know if you know that I have used that incorrectly.

Don't forget to leave a comment :)