I barely spent any time in the house the next day. Woke up, changed into workout gear, grabbed a piece of toast on my way out the door and ran to La Plush. I made it to Emily's house and, after a quick shower, I helped the other scarred woman make muffins. We were talking between ourselves when the door opened and a couple footsteps walked in. "You guys hungry?" Emily asked. I turned around with a smile.

"Muffins fresh out of the...oven…" I trailed off, the smile falling off my face when I saw Bella between Embry and Jared.

"Oh, who's this?" Emily looked in between Bella and I.

"Emily, this is my younger sister, Bella. Bella, this is Sam's fiancee, Emily." I introduced, gesturing in between the two."

"Did you tell her?" Emily asked as we set the muffins on the table. She sighed when I shook my head. "Leave it to Jacob to find a way around." She muttered. "So, you're the Vampire girl."

"Yes." Bella said when she found her voice. "Are you the Wolf girl?"

"I guess I am." Emily laughed.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked, looking around and noticing the absence of Sam, Paul and Jacob."

"Bella, uh, surprised Paul this morning." Jared admitted.

"Seriously?" I put my hands on my hip. "They're more like children than men."

"Ah, Paul." Emily sighed. "Do you think they'll be long? We were just about to start the eggs."

"Don't worry." Embry said. "If they're late, we won't let anything go to waste."

"No doubt, Bella, are you hungry? Go ahead and help yourself to a muffin."

"Thanks." Bella muttered as she took a muffin. "Aspen...you knew about all this?" I turned to her with a nod.

"Yeah, I did." I told her softly. "I loved hearing the stories of the Quileute when I was growing up, and Billy told me the truth after he learned what I was. After a...particularly bad dream, one I won't tell you, Billy told Dad and I told them what the dream was. Believe me, I wanted them to tell you, but I couldn't. It wasn't my secret to share, like the Cullen's isn't." Bella nodded slowly in understanding. "Hey, Bella, look at me." Bella looked up at me. I walked up to her and gently took her cheeks in my hands and tilted her head up to look to me. "I, Aspen Swan, swar on the River Styx that all I do is to protect you." There was a rumble of thunder as the decloration was made. "My methods may not make sense, but you have to trust me, ok?" Bella nodded again. "Are we good?"

"Yeah, we're good." Bella said. I smiled, pulling her into a tight hug. We separated when the door opened again.

"Emily." Sam said, his voice filled with love. He walked up to Emily and after gently kissing her scars, gently kissed her on the lips.

"Hey, none of that, I'm eating." Jared complained.

"Then shut up and eat." Sam suggested before kissing Emily again.

"Eugh." Embry groaned. There was a duo of laughter as Jake and Paul walked into the house, playfully fighting. Jacob scanned the room and his eyes fell on Bella and I.

"Hey Bells." He greeted, strolling up to us. "Aspen." He grabbed two muffins as he walked. "Sorry about before. How are you holding up?"

"Don't worry, I'm ok." Bella said. "Good muffins." She picked hers up again and started to nibble at it.

"Oh man!" Jared wailed, causing us to turn to him. He was inspecing a fading pink line on Paul's arm.

"Fifteen dollars!" Embry crowed happily.

"You boys have to be more careful." I scolded, walking up to them. "One day you might loose a limb.

"We're fine, Aspen." Paul assured.

"Hey, everyone." Sam called, stopping the chatter and causing all of us to turn to address the literal Alpha of the room. "Jacob has some information for us." I turned my gaze back to Jacob.

"I know what the redhead wants." Jacob announced. "That's what I was trying to tell you before."

"And?" Jared prompted.

"She is trying to avenge her mte, only it wasnt the black-haired leech Aspen killed. The Cullens got her mate last year, and she's after Bella." My eyes widened as I rounded on Bella.

"You have a Vampire after you!?" I demanded. "You didn't think to tell me or dad about that? Bella!"

"I didn't know she was here." Bella told me, her eyes falling. "I only found out today."

"But she's just a girl." Embry protested.

"I didn't say it made sense." Jacob continued. "But that's why the blood sucker's trying to get past us. She's been heading for Forks." The group stared at Bella for a couple more seconds.

"Excelent, we've got bait." Jared said. Jacob's hand snapped out, throwing a can opener at Jared's head who caught it before it snacked him in the head.

"Bella is not bait."

"You know what I mean."

"So we'll be changing our patterns." Sam announced. "We'll be leaving a few holes and see if she falls for it. We'll have to split up, and I don't like that. But if she's really going after Bella, she probably won't try to take advantage of our divided numbers.

"Quill's got to be close to joining us." Embry muttered. "Then we'll be able to split evenly"

"Well, we won't count on that. Paul, Jared and Embry will take the outer perimeter, and Jacob and I will take the inner. We'll collapse in when we've got her trapped." Sam then turned to Bella and I. "Jacob thinks it would be best if you both spent as much time as possible here in La Plush. She won't know where to find you so easily, and with Aspen's skills, it's the safest place." I nodded in agreement,

"What about Charlie?" Bella demanded.

"Bella, not only is Dad a cop, but he's a son of Ares." I reminded her. "He may be getting up there in years but you don't forget all that. Besides, to keep him out of the loop I'm sure Harry and Billy are able to distract him with enough March Madness when he's not at work." Sam nodded.

"However." Sam interrupted. "That's what Jacob thinks is best, but you need to decide for yourself. You should weigh the risks of both options seriously. You saw this morning jow easily things can get dangerous here, how quickly they get out of hand. If you chose to stay with us, I can't make any guarantees about your safety."

"I won't hurt her." Jacob muttered.

"If there was somewhere else you felt safe."

"I don't want to lead Victoria anywhere else." Bella muttered. Sam took that as a confirmation and nodded.

"That's true, it's better to have her here where we can end this."

"You'll be careful right?" Bella asked, turning to look at each of us. The boys laughed, and I myself let out a small snicker.

TIMESKIP

That night, Bella, Jake and I returned to Billy's house for dinner where we met up with Charlie. On the way home, I rode with Bella."Listen, Bells, I know you're worried about us, but...we're trained to fight." I turned to look at Bella as she drove. "I spent my summers training to fight monsters that are far deadlier than Vampires. I fought in a war, Bella, and survived. You can trust that I can look after our family, ok?"

"I've never seen you fight before." Bella told me softly. "You promise that you'll be ok?"

"I can only do so much. I swore on the River Styx that I'd do anything in my power to protect you, if that means death, I would have died with honour."