Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight, I just enjoy borrowing her characters for a while.

AN:

If anyone has come to this chapter from a link they received in their e-mail about this story updating, I'm so grateful you haven't given up on it. I have so many reasons for it being so long and I'm very sorry. Thank you for giving me another chance.

No beta again I'm afraid, so all mistakes are mine.

Stop

"What do you mean?" Bella was horrified.

"She never stopped attempting to get through us even after you disappeared," Jake told her grimly.

"But why?" Bella asked, seeming to be mystified and horrified in equal measure. "Victoria knew better than anyone that I wasn't there. Has she been waiting to see if I'd go back?"

"Possibly," Jake allowed but I could tell that wasn't the whole truth.

"Why else, Jake?" Bella almost whispered.

"She's been trying to get to Charlie," he told her reluctantly.

"What?! No, No…Oh my God!" Bella's voice was almost a shout now, vibrating with desperate panic. I pulled Bella close to me, hoping that she wasn't about to hear terrible news. Even though she hadn't spoken much about her father, I could tell how much she cared for him. That she had worried about how he was.

"It's okay Bella, don't panic! He's alive," Jake attempted to reassure her.

"You couldn't have led with that?" I growled. I could quite happily of strangled Jake in that moment. Hurting Bella, even inadvertently, was unacceptable to me. This time it was only Bella who recognised he was still holding something back. "Who isn't alive, Jake?" She pressed, despite her obvious trepidation.

A tangible wave of grief and anger hit me from all the wolves. "Brady. Brady didn't make it," Jake answered her reluctantly as if he still wished it wasn't true.

"No!" Bella's voice was a barely audible exhalation. "But he's just a little boy! How?"

"He was trying to protect Charlie." Jake's voice was strained and he seemed somehow younger and older at the same time. "It's been very difficult to protect everyone we need to and Charlie was hardest of all. He didn't know about the danger and it was quite unpredictable where he would go when he was working. At that point we didn't realise that Charlie was Victoria's primary target. Brady died the first time we were attacked by a larger group of vampires. Most of the pack were fighting them, we weren't overwhelmed but we were disturbed by the unexpected number of them. The younger ones had been left behind to protect some key people but we never expected them to be needed. We were too arrogant and thought no one would get past us. But the vampires were the diversion and Victoria went after Charlie. Brady fought her and as soon as we realised, we tried to get to them but we weren't quick enough. He saved Charlie's life."

Bella had no words. Her hand was over her mouth and I knew she would be crying if she was capable. "It's my fault!"

"No," I almost shouted and was relieved that the wolves all echoed their own sounds of denial without hesitation. "No, Bella. You are not to blame for this and there's nothing you could have done differently." I knew who I blamed. Of course Victoria, but there was also a large coven of vampires who should have seen this coming and had the power to prevent it.

"I should have died. Really died. She would have stopped if I were gone. She is doing this to punish me and she'll never stop." My heart hurt at the thought of never meeting Bella and I held her even closer to me, pressing her back against my chest, breathing in her scent. I no longer needed oxygen to survive but Bella's scent I wasn't sure I could live without.

"You don't know that Bella," I said holding her close to me and wishing I was looking into her eyes, but not willing to allow either of us to turn our backs on the wolves. It was the truth and I needed her to believe it. "She has always been deranged. Even if you'd died, she probably would've tried to hurt the people she knew you loved."

"It's just too awful. Poor Brady. Charlie would be devastated to know that Brady dies to protect him. He'd rather have died himself…"

"Charlie does know," Jake told her. "He saw everything that night and finally realised that all the legends were true. We told him everything."

Bella gaped at him, completely lost for words.

"There was no choice, Bella. If we had any chance of keeping him safe, he had to be told. It would've been impossible to keep it from him anyway and he already knew the legends. After he saw Victoria and Brady fight, he knew straight away the legends were true."

"What does he think happened to me?" Bella asked.

"Victoria told him she had killed you. We all believed her," Jake replied solemnly.

"I have to see him," Bella said instantly.

"Absolutely, Bella," Jacob agreed, "But we'll have to think it through. You can't come onto the Rez, it's too dangerous all round. Everyone there is so wary of vampires and Sam's pack would never agree to it."

"Sam's pack?" Bella echoed.

"We had to split the pack. It was getting too large to be manageable. Too many voices. This is my pack. We take it in turns. One pack stays on the Rez, one pack hunts Victoria."

"She would be difficult to track…I think she has a gift that's difficult to quantify but essentially it's evasion and self-preservation. She has sense when she's in danger and takes the appropriate action to avoid it." I had been almost obsessing over Victoria since Bella told me that she was responsible for turning her. I'd carefully analysed the few interactions I'd had with her and James, comparing it with things I had heard about them in passing. Their interactions with others of our kind had often been memorable and stories of their escapades were gossip-worthy even amongst us nomads. I had tended to ignore or dismiss such tales as exaggerations and they hadn't held any interest to me when I initially heard them. Now I was almost certain that it was true that she had a self-protective gift and that she and James had relied on it while playing their sadistic games. I had been hoping that's why they had never attacked me, meaning that her gift had told them I was dangerous to them. I had been wondering how that gift had failed them with the Cullens.

"That would explain so much" Jake replied thoughtfully. "Sometimes we find her hideouts and it's clear we've missed her by a few hours at most. When she first started attacking us, there was only a few of us and we were inexperienced fighters. As our numbers grew and our training improved, she stopped attacking alone and started bringing other vampires with her and then, after the attack on Charlie, she stopped coming at all. We were confident the next time she attacked, we would kill her but she never came back. Instead she sends other vampires at us. Sometimes they are alone, sometimes it's a small coven and sometimes it's a larger group of half crazed vampires. Once it was someone we knew. Victoria had deliberately turned her and then sent her to attack us. Most of our people are very concerned that someone they love will be taken and turned and the pack will be forced to kill them."

"I think it's very unlikely that would happen," I reassured him. "When we're changed, we retain our personalities. If it was someone who was fully aware of vampires and your packs and cared about you, nothing Victoria said could convince them to purposefully turn on you."

"Many of us understand that but the fear and paranoia is difficult to get rid of completely," Jake responded with a hint of dejection.

Bella had been watching this exchange of information uneasily. She had pulled away from me and I was concerned. I tugged gently on her hand to silently tell her I was here and wanted her to stay close by but I could tell something was wrong.

"This has been a huge shock for you and for us," I addressed the wolves again. "I would like to talk to Bella privately." It was a command veiled in a request. The wolves shifted uneasily. I could tell they were reluctant to let her out of their sight but I wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"We can't just let you disappear," Jake said without rancour. "If you go back to Forks without us, and I know Bella well enough to know that she will want to go back, it won't be safe for her. Between Victoria and Sam's pack…"

"You can't stop me from seeing Charlie," Bella said firmly.

"I know that Bella and I know he'll want to see you too, but there are safer ways than going back. We could bring Charlie to meet you somewhere neutral where the rest of the wolves won't feel threatened by you. You could stay in touch with Charlie in the longer term by phone, or e-mail or even skype. It might be safer for everyone if you stayed away from Forks. At least for now."

Bella's eyes lit with fury and I knew she was about to tell him exactly what she thought about that restriction. Somehow she held back.

"I am going home to see Charlie," Bella spoke as calmly as she could but couldn't disguise how difficult it was for her to hold onto her temper in that moment. Bella's wolf friends couldn't possibly understand how volatile a new vampires emotions were or how amazing it was that Bella managed to maintain a semblance of calm under such stress.

"We need to have some time to talk without having to worry about your reaction to everything we say," I interjected. "There is still a lot for us to discuss but I think it will go badly for everyone one if we don't have a chance to process everything you've told us."

Jacob addressed me directly "I want you to know that I care about Bella and I always will. Even now. I want her to be safe. Forks will never be safe for her or you. If you fight with Sam's pack, someone I care about will get hurt. Bella is stubborn but if you care about her like I do, you'll convince her to stay away." It was difficult to be as angry with Jake as his arrogant statement demanded when I could tell how genuinely worried he was.

"Bella and I will decide together how to proceed," I bit out. Jake's jaw clenched and we stared at each other for a long time. Bella regarded the wolves with warring emotions. I could tell she was furious that they wanted to stop her going to Forks despite her relief at seeing them again. Without warning, Jake turned back into his wolf form as he spun and stalked away. The others fell in behind him without hesitation, following his silent command with disciplined efficiency.