And finally, the last giant part of my huge great massive Sam POV, which was originally supposed to be one single chapter. I'm sure you can all see why I needed to split it. Back to Bella in the next chapter.
Thank you all again for your wonderful and very kind reviews. We just passed the 300 mark, which considering I've only been writing the story for a smidge over 2 months is more than I'd hoped for, so thanks for your support. Keep it coming ;0p
Stephenie Meyer owns the Twilight Saga. I own twitchy fingers that enjoy writing for no profit.
Chapter 32: Tracking and Talking
Once we'd cleared away the broken table and other debris, there actually wasn't a huge amount of damage left to repair. A couple of broken cupboard doors, a shattered light fitting and a few of the floor tiles needed replacing. The painting I'd leave to Sue and I was fairly sure she'd have Seth and Leah doing the job once they'd both managed to phase back. After a quick trip to the hardware store for supplies, I made a start on the work, stopping every half hour to head outside and phase so that I could keep on top of progress with our two new wolves. About two hours after I'd started in on Sue's kitchen I got some good news from Jared who was over at my place with Seth. Seth had calmed down fairly easily once he was away from his sister and although the two attempts he'd made to phase back hadn't been successful, Jared was firmly convinced that he'd get it on his next try. The news wasn't quite so positive from Embry and Leah. Although she'd finally managed to get herself calm and quiet enough to make a first attempt, Leah had completely lost her temper when she failed to phase back, and was giving Embry a hard time as he worked at calming her back down. Now that she was over her initial shock, Leah had begun bitching about me and how I'd treated her, from our initial break-up, right up to the events of the day, and Embry had attempted to calm her by explaining why I'd had to leave her, the concept of imprinting, and had even showed her the shared memories we all had of Jared's imprinting on Kim and Paul's imprinting on Rachel. This of course had been a terrible mistake. Had I imprinted myself, or had I still not been dating anyone, his methods might've proved effective, but of course, Leah simply latched on to the fact that I had broken up with her because I hadn't imprinted on her, but was now dating someone else that I hadn't imprinted on. To her mind this was a gross injustice and as Embry didn't fully understand the arrangement Bella and I had, he couldn't explain it her well enough to make her drop it. The other's chiming in every now and then to try to explain things was just pissing her off even more as it seemed to her that it was Bella and the pack against her, and even Paul's pithy anti-Bella comments weren't any help as he was just as pithy towards Leah herself. And Leah and Embry were going around in circles, Leah wanting nothing more than to phase back so she could get away from the pack mind, Embry wanting her to do so too as he had had more than enough of her for one day, but every time Leah got close to calm enough, she'd lose her concentration and end up having a screaming fit over her failure. Both of them were close to their breaking point and I wondered briefly if Leah was ever going to manage to phase back. If Embry of all people couldn't get her to calm the fuck down, then who could? Sighing in frustration after the latest update, I was just about to phase back when Paul spoke up.
"We're about ten minutes away from the Clearwater's now, Boss. Harry is bouncing between pride and concern, Charlie is in a foul mood for some reason, especially with Billy, and has been all day, though he won't say why, and Billy is reaching breaking point trying to keep the two of them on an even keel." He reported in an irritated tone. "On the plus side, though, no sign of the red-head, so at least we should be vamp free while we try to sort our way through this mountain of shit we've landed in today."
"No sign of her on patrol either, Boss." Jacob added. "I've got one more loop to run, over behind the Cullen house and then I've covered everywhere." I thanked the spirits for at least that mercy – having to chase that red-head around would've just about been the icing on the cake.
"Good job guys." I told them. "Paul, once you get back, could you run over to my place and help Jared out? And Jake, I'm sorry to do this to you, but could you go spell Embry for a while after your last loop? I'll take the next patrol, but I'd be the worst possible person to try to help Leah, Paul coming in a close second." Jake sighed.
"Well ok, Boss. But if you end up with a three legged newbie, then I reserve the right to say I told you so." I snorted. I couldn't blame him for not wanting to go help Leah. As Bella' best friend he was livid about what Leah had done to her, and the intermittent anti-Bella rants she'd been spouting off the last couple of hours hadn't warmed him to her in the slightest. I spoke to the whole pack, feeling a little uncomfortable with the suddenly large numbers – less than a week ago, it'd just been the four of us, yet here we now were, a booming pack of seven.
"Look everyone. I know it's been a hell of a day, and that some of you have pulled double duty. I know that our nerves are strung tight and we're all just a few hairs from ripping into each other. But we can get through it if we back each other up. That's why we're all able to get into each other's heads like we do. So that we can understand each other and offer support where and when it's needed. So we all need to suck it up, quit sniping at each other and try our hardest to work through any issues. If we don't then a difficult lifestyle is going to rapidly become an impossible one and on top of that we'll start slipping in our duties to our tribe. If we're not functioning as a pack, we won't be able to protect ourselves, let alone anyone else." There was quiet as everyone digested what I'd said, and I could the feel determination coming from each of the others as they all set themselves to their tasks with a new sense of purpose. I phased back and pulled on my cut-offs. "I almost wish the red-headed bitch did show up this evening." I thought to myself as I walked back to the house. "At least we'd have something to work our frustrations out on." I was broken out of my thoughts just then as I heard Harry's truck coming down the road.
"Sue, Harry's back." I called out and I finished screwing in the light fitting, the last job on the list. We both went outside to meet the three men and I could see why Paul had sounded so irritated with the three of them. Harry was almost bouncing in his seat as he drove along, anxiety written across his features. Charlie was scowling out of the window, radiating a black mood that I could almost feel the edges of outside the truck, and billy was sat between the two of them, a look of resigned annoyance on his face. They'd obviously not had the best day, and I wondered what was eating Charlie.
Once they'd pulled up outside, Harry all but fell out of the truck in his urgency to hear all about what had happened. I filled him in as best I could, avoiding for the moment any mention of what Leah had done to Bella. There was no point on putting a match to the tinder keg that was the mood between the three men. Everyone now in the know about the day's events, I turned to Harry.
"Did you want me to drive Billy and Charlie back to Billy's house?" I offered. "I've got to go take over Patrol from Jake in a while, but I can drop your truck back off here in the morning, or one of the guys can." He nodded gratefully.
"Thanks, Sam. That'd be a real help." He said and raising his hand in farewell to his two friends, he walked inside with Sue. I climbed into the truck and looked across at a relieved and grateful Billy and a surly looking Charlie.
"Thanks, Sam. I don't think I could've taken another minute of Harry's anxiety." Billy said with a chuckle. "Don't get me wrong, I know how it feels when your kid phases for the first time, but being trapped in a truck cab with it for two hours is just not fun at all." I gave a chuckle of my own and pulled away, heading down the road to Billy's. When we pulled up at the Blacks' house, Charlie jumped right out and grabbed Billy's chair as usual, and helped his friend into it, but with none of their usual banter and mock sniping. I raised a querying brow at Billy and he shrugged back.
"Your guess is as good as mine at this point, Son." He told me. "He's been like this all day and I'm damned if I can work out what I've done o piss him off. Why don't you see if you can get it out of him?" He suggested, and as Charlie seemed to be waiting for a word with me, I nodded.
"I'll see what I can do" I said, pushing him the last few feet to his front door, and as Rachel opened the door to greet him I gave a little wave and trotted down the steps to talk to Charlie.
"Did Bella really stay at your place last night?" He demanded before I could so much as take a breath. "What the fuck is all this about?" I wondered.
"Yes. She came over straight from the drop-in centre and I was with her until I left her at the diner this morning. She was with my mom when I left." I told him and he looked surprised. "Yeah, Bella somehow managed to get my mom and me talking again." I said, again carefully avoiding the exact circumstances. Charlie's face softened a little.
"She does have a way about her." He said affectionately, then his face hardened again. "So she was definitely with you last night?" He confirmed. "Ok this is officially the weirdest Father/daughter's date conversation ever. Isn't he supposed to not want his daughter staying overnight at a guy's house?" I was completely baffled.
"She was definitely with me last night." I told him firmly.
"Well then at least she didn't do whatever she's planning last night." He muttered angrily. "She won't be doing whatever it is at all if I have anything to say about it." I was at a total loss.
"Charlie?" I said carefully "Is there some kind of problem that I can help with?" He looked up at me, distracted.
"No no. I'll deal with it myself." He said gruffly.
"Well I don't know what Billy did to upset you, but you might want to go talk to him." I suggested gently. "He's as confused as I am, and worried about you, I think." Charlie looked a little guilty.
"I guess I should go have a word with him." He said. "It's not like he's done anything wrong. I was just taking my bad mood out on him cos he was closest." I nodded in understanding and he slapped me on the back. "Thanks for the ride, Son. And for talking a bit of sense into me. You're a good man." I felt a surge of pride at being called 'Son' by this man that I admired so much, and at being called 'a good man'. The pride was soured with an edge of guilt however, as I remembered what this 'good man' had nearly done to his daughter the night before after promising not to take advantage, and I wondered just how 'good' a man he'd think I was if he found out what I had done with his daughter just that morning. I gave him a weak smile and waved as he walked up the steps to Billy's door, and then I walked around back to strip and phase.
The pack mind seemed a little more peaceful as I phased in this time, but I could feel the tension behind the façade. Seth had managed to phase back and through Paul's and Jared's eyes I could see he was sitting on my back steps in a pair of my cut-offs drinking one of my beers.
"Sorry, Boss. But I figured he deserved something in celebration, and it's not like he can get drunk." Jared reasoned.
"It's ok, Jared. But just the one. I'm not getting busted for supplying alcohol to a minor, even if it is impossible for that minor to get drunk." We both grinned mentally. "Once he's done there, have him phase back, and then all three of you head over to the clearing where Leah and Embry are. I've got an idea." Jared sent a dose of confusion, but I refused to let him in to see my plan. "Embry? Leah? How's it going over there?" I asked, already knowing the answer. Leah was still struggling and knowing that her younger brother had managed to phase back before she had was pissing her off to no end.
"Erm… not brilliantly boss." Embry answered, sounding fried. "We keep getting close but not quite there." He was being very diplomatic, despite the hard time Leah had been giving him.
"Take a break from it for a bit. Run up to the old treaty line and back a few times or something." I told them. "I've had an idea that might actually work. And we'll be at the clearing before long. We'll meet you there." I turned my attention to Jake next. "How's it going with you, Jake?" I asked.
"Just getting close to the Cullen house." He answered. "I'll be round the back of their territory in about ten minutes."
"Ok. Finish your loop and then meet us over at the clearing." I told him. "I'm just heading there now."
I'd been running for a few minutes, thinking through my idea as I ran, but without letting any of the others into my head to see it. Tensions were running high and while having the red-headed leech make an appearance just then probably would be the worst thing for us, fragmented as we were, a little sparring might actually help us all work off some aggression and come together as a pack. Suddenly the last thing I'd wanted to hear came bursting through the pack mind.
"LEECH!" It was Jake. Through his eyes I could see him closing in on the scent, around the back of the Cullen house. I skidded to a halt, and in the pack mind I saw all the others do the same.
"Is it the red-head?"
"Is it the Cullens?"
"Are you sure? Maybe you're confused."
"Is it that red-headed bitch?"
The questions all came on top of each other, a milling mess of sound and feelings.
"SILENCE" I roared out in the Alpha tone. And everyone went still. "No-one is to speak until I say so."
"Jake." I said calmly. "You, and just you can speak. Can you tell if it's the Cullens back again?" There was a brief pause as he considered it.
"I don't think it's them." He said after a moment. "I can smell a very faint trace of them from the house and this smells different. Wilder, Stronger somehow."
"Ok. That probably means human drinker." I told him, still holding my calm. "Paul. You head towards Jake and sniff it out. See if it's the red-head. Jared. You take Seth and meet up with Embry and Leah wherever they are. Embry and Leah. Stay still and wait for Jared and Seth to join you. You can speak if you need to, but no fucking about, only business calls, ok?" I waited for everyone to voice their agreement, and then started running towards the Cullen house myself. If two noses were better than one, then three were better than two.
As I approached Jakes position, Paul closed in on one side and we ran on together, pressing forward as fast as we could. Jake was pacing up and down behind the house, nervously waiting for us to arrive and as we ran up I could feel the relief pouring off him.
"The trail's strongest over there." He said, pointing with his muzzle, and we all walked over to the spot. We could smell it immediately. Definitely not a Cullen and definitely not the red-head.
"A new one on me." Paul said and looked up at me. "How about you, Boss? Smelled it before?" Had I not been thinking about my first phase earlier that day, I might not have recognised it, but the scent tickled at a memory and as I focused on it I realised I had smelled it before. During my time alone in the forest after I first phased, I'd picked up this scent along with a couple of others, faint and nearly washed out, but definitely this scent. As I thought about it, I suddenly realised that one of the other scents had been that red-headed bitch. I couldn't believe I'd missed it before. If she, this other leech I was smelling now, and another had been in the area when I phased, maybe I'd been wrong to blame just the Cullens for my change. I didn't have the time to muse on that right then though. I lifted my nose from the ground and looked up at Paul and Jake, who were looking at me expectantly.
"I've scented this one before." I told them. "A long time ago – when I first phased. This scent was with the red-head's and one other."
"If the owner of this scent was with the red-head, then whoever it is is fair game." Paul said and I had to agree.
"Then let's track them down." I said and Jake bounced on his paws in nervous excitement. "Calmly, Jake. We mustn't make a mistake. We need to follow the scent's strongest direction and find the leech that left it." Jake nodded and the three of us set to following the scent along the ground. The leech, whoever it was, had approached the house from the back, which was why Jake had caught the trail. That didn't hint at someone who would've been a welcome guest, anyone the Cullens would've been happy to see would've come from the front. It was only good manners. The scent circled the house a few times and had then headed off up the drive and the three of us followed as quickly as we could without losing the trail. Down the road a little way, the scent veered off down a little track, a fresh set of tyre marks showing that it had been in use in the last few hours. At the end of the track, Jake and I stopped cold.
"OH FUCK!" we both said in synch and started forward again at a faster pace.
"Does that truck belong to who I think it belongs to?" Paul asked, carefully not riling either of us up in our current mood.
"Well that depends." Jake snapped back. "If you think it belongs to a certain brunette with tendencies toward the clumsy, then yes. It does." Paul wisely kept quiet, although I could feel a slight hint of irritation coming off him. I didn't waste my time asking him what his problem was. The leech scent was now following a slightly older Bella-trail, step for step, never wavering off course, and we sped up ourselves, finding it easier now there were two scents to follow, but Jake and I were getting more and more anxious by the minute.
After a few more tense minutes, Jake spoke up.
"Boss, Is it just me, or is this trail heading almost straight towards the clearing you had Embry and Leah at earlier? He was right. About three miles ahead lay a small clearing in the forest. The same clearing I'd had Embry and Leah at.
"He's right everyone. Jared, Embry. Lead Leah and Seth back towards the clearing. Bella will probably be there. Station yourselves under cover behind her position, split up a little, but not by more than twenty paces between each of you. Embry right behind her, Jared left flank, Leah and Seth right flank. Stay out of sight, keep silent and as there's no breeze tonight, hopefully you'll not be scented. Move." I told them, and was glad when they did so without comment, although I could feel both Leah and Paul's irritation at the orders. This time Paul did speak.
"Have you thought what we'll do if it's one of the leech lover's little friends?" he snarked. "I know it's not a Cullen, but maybe she's got other bloodsucking BFFs we don't know about." As much as I wanted to tear a chunk out of him, he had a point.
"So we wait and see if the leech is a threat or not." I answered, and before Paul could protest, I added. "If they're not a threat, we escort them out of the area and tell them not to come back. If they are a threat." I growled a little under my breath. "Then we tear the thing to pieces." The quiet answering growls to this statement made it clear that Paul and Jake were in agreement, and we pressed forward, careful now to keep our movements silent as we followed the twin trails towards the clearing. We were about a mile out when Jared spoke.
"Boss. We're in position now. It's a black male leech with dreadlocks. He's chatting with Bella, and she doesn't seem at all fazed, even though he's definitely a human drinker." Paul swore under his breath.
"Fucking Leech lover! She's living in a deluded world where all the bloodsuckers are her little friends and everyone skips happily through the meadows. Stupid little bitch!" I glared at him, baring my teeth and knew that from the other side of me, Jake was doing the same.
"Enough, Paul. We all know your opinion of Bella, but now isn't the time to be arguing about it. Just you concentrate on your job. That's all you need to be doing right now." Thankfully he listened and kept any further comments to himself.
"Jared. Try to listen in on their conversation if you can without being noticed." I told him. "All the time they're just talking, hold your position. But if he makes a move to attack, you guys bring him down, ok?"
"Got it, Boss." Jared replied. "Wait and see, then jump and rip." Even in my tense state I had to fight back a grin at Jared's turn of phrase. Jake and Paul didn't bother to hide their amusement, giving mental snorts of laughter. We all fell quiet, trying to listen through Jared's ears to the conversation in the clearing. But it wasn't Jared we found we could hear best. Even though he was much further away, Seth was able to pick out every word of the conversation between Bella and the leech with perfect clarity, while the other three could only pick out one word in five or so.
"Whoa, check out the sonar on Seth" Jared said with amazement and I could feel Seth's pride flowing off him. We all trained our minds on Seth's hearing as Paul Jake and I edged forward, much closer to the tree line now, and the others held their positions.
"Oh it wasn't anything in particular, I was just passing through the area and wanted to have a little visit with them, that's all." We heard the leech say through Seth's ears and through Jared's eyes I saw the leech take a step forwards towards Bella. She held her ground, apparently completely unconcerned about his intentions and I wondered if all this stealth and stress had been for nothing, and that this leech was a friend of hers.
"So you talk to them a lot then?" The leech went on and I guessed he was talking about the Cullens. "I hope they're all doing well. What prompted them to move away and leave you behind, Bella?" The leech tilted his head slightly at Bella as she answered. A move I recognised as listening intently. She'd been lying to him I realised. I knew with certainty that she'd not had any contact with the Cullens at all since they left, much less been 'talking to them a lot'. She must know she was on shaky ground with him at the very least.
"She's faking the confidence." I said to the pack. "She knows she's not completely safe with this leech."
"You're right." Jake replied. "She's doing a fucking good job though. He's not sure he's safe either. If she can convince him the Cullens still check in with her regularly, he might leave Bella alone and then we can pick him off when he's safely out of her sight." Jake's idea was a good one.
"Yeah that'd be good. It'll depend on how good a liar she is though. I'm not willing to have her remain in danger any longer than absolutely necessary, so if he works out she's lying, we'll probably have to go in." I looked over at Jake. "How good is she at lying?" I asked.
"Fucking dreadful, unless she's playing poker." He answered with a mental grimace. "To be honest, I'm amazed she's held him off this long. She must be playing a poker hand in her head if she's got him this convinced. Normally she blushes and stammers her ass off when she tries to lie." I could feel Paul's reluctant admiration for Bella's cool and confident act, and I didn't blame him. She was doing well with the leech and all I could do was hope that she could keep it up.
She couldn't.
"Oh you know, the usual." We heard her answer in a breezy tone. "People were beginning to take note of the ever youthful Dr Cullen, and whenever that happens, they make a move as soon as they can without raising suspicion." I watched as he leech gave a toothy grin at her answer and the sight of his gross, overly white teeth made her falter a little. It wouldn't have been noticed by a human, but the leech had been listening out for it, and through Seth's ears we heard it too. Her heart sped for a couple of beats before she somehow regulated it again.
"How the fuck did she do that - Regulate her own heart beat?" I wondered through the pack mind, my question echoed by a few of the others, but it was too late. The leech's grin widened even further as he registered the tell-tale sign she was lying and I began to edge forward right to the very edge of the trees and carefully picked my way through the undergrowth around the edge of the clearing, working along to get myself placed right behind the leech who was standing with Bella on the other side of the clearing. Any minute now he'd attack. He knew he was safe. Somehow, Bella managed to hold herself still, maintaining her impressive fake calm.
"Yes I can see how that would be a problem with their lifestyle." The leech answered, edging closer still.
"I thought you were living with the Denali's now?" Bella asked him, maybe not realising that her ploy had failed. "How are you finding the diet? Is it a hard change to make?" The leech grinned again, tilting his head deliberately into the moonlight to show her his eyes which I knew would be blood red.
"Ah well as you can see, the new lifestyle hasn't really taken for me." He said with a careless shrug. "I take a little 'business trip' now and then and I'm afraid that when I'm on these trips I cheat a little on my diet." The whole pack snarled silently through the pack mind at his casual reference to wholesale murder. The leech gave a little chuckle and took another step towards Bella. He was now only about five paces from her. "On this latest trip I ran into an old friend, a mutual acquaintance." He went on. "Victoria. She's really not very happy with you, Bella. She asked me to swing by and see if you were still protected, and I think we both know the answer to that, don't we?"
"Who the fuck is Victoria?" I asked, not getting any reply from the pack. "I hope whoever it is takes the hint when her friend doesn't come back and stays well way from the area." Mumbles of agreement came from the others. Bella didn't react to old dreadlocks' taunt, so I guessed that whoever this Victoria woman was, she wasn't much of a threat.
"She's going to be quite angry with me I think." The leech went on. "She wanted to kill you herself; she's become quite boring with her petty vengeance, but you really do smell quite delicious and I really am quite thirsty."
"Ok, strike that. I hope this Vitoria bitch does pop by for a visit, so I can rip the bitch apart," I amended to the smirks of the others. "But this dreadlocked asshole first!" The leech licked his lips and began to tense his body, he was just seconds from attacking and so I gave the word.
"That's it. His time's up. He's going to attack any second." I told the others and sped up my movement through the edge of the tree line, wanting to centre our attack directly behind him. I was worried though that we were too far away to get to him before he got to her. What we needed was a way to sneak up on him but we had no time. Bella must've noticed him tensing and known what it meant, but amazingly, she still held her ground and continued chatting confidently.
"Well I guess I can understand that." She said calmly, which must've confused the fuck out of the leech, I knew that it had confused the fuck out of me. I pressed on, nearly in position.
"But I'm afraid there's something you haven't taken into account." Bella continued, and I wondered what she could be talking about. "Something that Victoria failed to inform you of." The bloodsucker stood a fraction straighter, obviously surprised and curious. Bella was unconsciously giving us a better and better chance to take him out and I just hoped that if she caught sight of us she wouldn't scream or run, or better yet that she wouldn't notice us at all until it was too late for the leech to escape, as he'd certainly notice her noticing us.
"And what could that be, my dear? You're not going to try to convince me that one of the Cullens is around again are you? We both know that's a lie, and something as obvious as that isn't going to protect you." I was finally in position and the few seconds it took Paul and Jake to join me felt like an eternity. Miraculously, Bella was still managing to play the cool and confident card and had given us the time we needed to get into position. I wished we'd have time to sneak up on the bloodsucker at least a little, but that was a wish I knew wouldn't come true. A shifting cloud allowed the moon to shine on Paul's coat for a second and I hoped to hell that Bella hadn't seen it, or she'd accidentally give our position away to the dreadlocked asshole. Even from all the way across the clearing, I could make out Bella's expression. Suddenly a big, beaming smile crossed her face, directed at the leech, no trace of anxiousness in it whatsoever. She really was doing an amazing job at playing her confidence ruse, even though she must've realised by now that it wasn't working any longer.
"Say what you will, Paul. You have to admit that she's the bravest person you've ever seen." I told Paul, a hint of the massive pride I felt in my tone. I took the opportunity she'd unknowingly given us though, and began to creep forward silently. The other two flanking me followed my lead and we slunk forward in the shadows, silent death on twelve legs
"No Laurent, I wouldn't insult either of us by trying that lie again. But you know you really should've asked Victoria why she couldn't look in on me herself. It probably would've saved your life." Again I wondered what she was talking about. It was almost as if she knew us wolves were there and were going to protect her, impossible though that was. The leech looked shocked and a tiny thread of doubt edged into his expression. Behind him, we were still edging silently across the clearing, our paws not making a sound in the damp grass of the meadow. We were only a few yards behind him and still stalking closer, so close now that she must have spotted us, and yet she gave no hint at all, she was even keeping her heart-rate completely steady, though I couldn't work out how. She continued talking as we closed in.
"See she's been trying to get to me for months, but they've chased her off again and again. She's managed to evade them so far, but I'm sure they'll get her eventually."
"Holy FUCK! She does know about us!" I almost yelled through the pack mind, exclamations of stunned agreement coming from all around.
"She probably thinks we're some kind of wild animal." Leah sneered. I ignored her comment, concentrating on moving silently and felt myself almost shudder as Bella found the nerve to actually lean closer to the bloodsucker, making him lean in too to hear her.
"Of course," She said in a stage whisper, "I don't think she was ever stupid enough to let them get this close before making her escape. She may have managed to keep out of their grasp but I'm afraid that you, Laurent…." She gestured over his shoulder towards us. We stopped dead in our tracks and tensed to leap at the leech. "Are fucked"
His head spun around to see what she was gesturing at and his entire body froze for a second.
"No. I don't believe it." He whispered under his breath.
"You should believe it." She told him, a smug little smile on her face. "Like I said, Laurent." Her voice firmed with her final words and I was filled with pride for her courage as she virtually spat them out. "You. Are. Fucked."
The leech suddenly made a break for it, running past Bella so close that his clothes brushed against her as he ran. We were on his tail in an instant, driving him towards the others who were still holding their positions out of sight.
"Don't break cover yet guys. I told them firmly. "Wait until he's almost on top of you so there's no escape." A few seconds later the bloodsucker hit the treeline. "NOW!" I yelled and suddenly, four wolves blurred out of their hiding places, just as planned, trapping the leech in the middle of the pack. He tried to skid to a halt, but Jake and I slammed into him from behind, and Embry grabbed him from his side, and together we dragged him off into the trees, away from Bella. Without having to even think about it, the three of us tore into the bloodsucker, ripping off each limb with relish and leaving his head til last. When he was nothing more than a load of spare parts, wriggling and writhing on the forest floor. We finally stopped, our flanks heaving, and turned to grin at each other.
"That was fun." Jake said. "What shall we do next Saturday evening?" I couldn't help myself ad collapsed with laughter, Embry and Jake joining me.
Over our laughter I could hear Leah begin her sniping again.
"Oh sure. You boys play in the woods while we all baby-sit for your whore." I was about to tear into her verbally when Jared shocked the shit out of me.
"Leah, Paul. You will both mind your fucking manners. No more growling, no more snarling, and for fuck's sake no more sniping. I'm bored witless of it." He'd never tried out his nominal Beta authority like that before, and while I wasn't surprised that the commanding tone didn't take with Paul, I was amazed to find that it worked perfectly on Leah, and was proud that he'd taken a stand as my second in command finally.
"Nicely done, Jared." I congratulated him and I padded back out of the trees and into the clearing, Jake and Embry following close behind. The pack grouped together at the side of the clearing and I spoke to them all.
"Well done everyone. We all worked together as a team." I fixed Leah and Paul with a stern look. "And mostly without and sniping or fucking about. Now all we have to do is work out what the fuck to do about Bella." We all stood there trying to come up with a plan. She clearly knew we existed before she saw us, and had probably reasoned somehow that we'd been chasing of vampires, but whilst I didn't appreciate Leah's tone when she said it, her point about Bella not knowing we were human sometimes too was a good one. Maybe the best option was to just slink off and leave her there (with one of us shadowing her home of course, to keep her safe. My thoughts were interrupted by Bella speaking to us. Her voices made us all spin our heads round as one.
"Thank you. Thank you so much. I really can't tell you how grateful I am for your help. I don't know how much you can understand when you're in that form,"
"Well that closes the question of whether or not she knows that we're human sometimes too." Jared said matter-of-factly, and several of as flinched, Seth forgetting himself enough to yelp in surprise. "But I really do need to talk to you." Bella continued. "Please, if you can understand me, please can I talk to you? There are things you need to know." We all turned to each other again.
"I don't know what she can have to say that's important for us to hear, but at least maybe we can work out how much she knows and then decide what to do from there." Embry suggested and I had to agree that his thought held merit.
"Fuck that." Paul snarled. "That leech loving bitch hasn't got anything to say that I want to hear."
"I'm with Paul." Leah said, to absolutely no-one's surprise. "Anything she does say is bound to be a lie anyway. We all saw just how good a liar she is, no matter what little Jakey might think." Before Jake could respond, Paul cut in again.
"Do me a favour, Leah, and stop being on my side. You're making me look bad." He said in derision and I had to bite my tongue to hold back my laughter.
"Both of you shut up, would you?" Jared snapped at them. "I've already told you once this evening and I don't want to have to do it again." Before the sniping could start up again I spoke.
"Ok. Enough. Paul and Leah, You will both stop this bitching at Bella and everyone else." The Alpha tone was so strong that both of them dropped to their bellies, Leah looking like she was about to roll onto her back in the ultimate canine sign of submission. I towered over them, my hackles raised in anger. "I didn't want to have to do that; I hate having to do that. But you two will keep pushing me too far. Now get up, the pair of you." I looked over at Jared. "I'm sorry to do this to you, Jared, but will you please head back to La push and take these three with you." I looked at Seth. "You're not in trouble, Seth. You did an amazing job, and we're all in awe of your hearing. It helped us immensely. But I'd be happier if you went with the others back to the Rez. Embry and Jake are Bella's friends, and so they're the best choice to stay, more than three might be a little too intimidating for her." I told him, and he stood a little straighter, proud of himself. "Ok then, off you lot go and I'll check in on you when I get back. Jared, can you and Seth please try to help Leah phase back? Paul, for the most part you did a good job this evening, but for your little outburst a moment ago, you just won yourself patrol." Ignoring his muttered curses I told them all to head out and they did, melting into the tree line in silence. Jake, Embry and I all turned and walked slowly towards Bella, trying not to spook her by moving too fast.
"You know, this is silly. She's totally not scared of us." Jake said, and almost as if she'd heard him, Bella sat down cross-legged on the ground, not looking at all worried that we were approaching her. Jake and Embry snorted a little in amusement and I rolled my eyes at them, but we moved a little quicker over to her and at about five yards away from her we sat down and looked at her.
"So what now?" Embry asked. "We all just sit here and stare at each other?"
"I had to tell the Elders that we wouldn't tell anyone about us without their approval after Paul imprinted and just blurted the secret to Rachel without checking if it was ok." I told them both. "So until we know just how much she does know, or until the Elders give permission, we can't phase back in front of her." I could feel both of them fill with indignation and honestly I was completely I agreement. But I'd agreed to it with the Council of Elders and I wasn't going to break my word just a couple of days later.
"So we do just sit here and stare at each other then?" Jake asked. "Awkward!" Bella chose that moment to begin speaking
"I'm guessing that means you can understand us regular humans when you're in wolf form then?" She asked, surprising us all. So she definitely did know we had two forms, and didn't seem to find it at all unusual. This girl was very good with weird. With no other way to respond, I gave a slow and exaggerated nod. And she seemed to relax completely.
"Well thank fuck for that, or this would be a really awkward conversation to try." She muttered quietly and all three of us gave amused snorts. She gave a start of surprise.
"Crap. You guys can hear that?" She asked, and all three of us nodded. "Note to self then. No more muttering under my breath." She muttered under her breath making the three of us burst out laughing. Despite her blushing, she joined in the laughter, once again showing me that wonderful attitude she had towards embarrassment. After a moment she settled back down and made a start on whatever it was she felt we needed to hear.
"There's a female vampire, a red-head who's been taking out campers and hikers around here for a few months now." She began, and the three of us stilled and zeroed their attention on her.
"She knows about the re-head?" I said, echoed by the other two. "How the fuck?" I was cut off by Bella continuing. "I know what she's after." She told us, and I was amazed that she'd managed to work out for herself that the leech was after Charlie.
"We're going to have to find some way of telling her we won't let the leech get to Charlie." I said to the others.
"If we can't get the message across this evening, we could always leave her a note or something?" Embry suggested.
"Shhh. She's still talking." Jake told us, and we all edged forward a little to show that we were listening. She continued.
"She's after me."
Everything froze for a few seconds.
The three of us were suddenly paralysed by shock and fear for her, not even breathing, until suddenly my anger at Bella being threatened by a fucking leech completely overwhelmed me and I lost my grip on my wolf for the second time that day. I burst into action, a low rumbling growl being torn from my throat, my hackles rising in response to the threat and my wolf took over completely, spinning around, looking for the source of danger, but finding nothing to tear into.
"How the fuck dare she threaten her? She's MINE. She's fucking MINE! MINE, MINE, MINE!" The voice was coming from me, but it was my wolf speaking, not my human side. I was astonished at the level of attachment my wolf had to Bella. I'd know he liked her, and that he was obsessed by her scent, but I'd not realised he considered her as his.
"That fucking bitch, that shit breathed bloodsucker, that undead fucking whore." My rant continued, both mentally and apparently I was even trying to spit the words out of my wolf mouth too, I had lost it totally. Jake wasn't impressed with my wolf's display and he joined in with his own growl.
"Yours?" He snarled. "What the fuck do you mean, yours? She not fucking property, you asshole. She's a fucking person. And she's not even your imprint, so where the fuck do you get off claiming her as yours?"
It was completely the wrong thing to say to my wolf, despite the fact that I could see his point. My wolf, still acting without my control snarled back at him and took a swipe with my front paw, Jake returned the action and the whole thing began to deteriorated into a three way brawl; Jake versus my wolf, and my wolf versus me as I struggled to rein him back under my control again. Embry thankfully had the good sense to move and stand in front of Bella so that we wouldn't accidentally hurt her and behind him Bella jumped up to her feet, ready to make a run for it if it looked like the fight was going to make it past her furry grey barrier.
"STOP!" Embry yelled in our heads, and accentuated his yell with a single loud choking bark, trailing off into a menacing growl of his own. In surprise, Jake and I backed off and in the ensuing pause, I finally managed to get control over my wolf and shove it into the background where it belonged. Panting with exertion I spoke to Jake.
I'm sorry, Jake. My wolf totally got away from me for a moment, and you telling him that Bella wasn't his sent his temper into orbit." I looked over at him. "You have to know that none of that little rant was me – I don't think of Bella as a possession, and really neither does my wolf. He's got a bit of a Bella obsession and I didn't realise just how strong it was until just then when he went mental at the thought of someone threatening her." Jake seemed mollified and said.
"I didn't know our wolves could take over like that."
"Neither did I. I don't know why it happened, but maybe it's an Alpha thing. Being in charge means I have to be that much more dominant, and maybe that means my wolf is closer to the surface than yours." He gave a mental shrug.
"That actually makes sense." He replied and I sighed silently. It seemed the fight was over
"What the fuck was that about?" Bella murmured to herself, a slight tremor in her voice. Our head snapped round and I realised we'd really scared her. I felt like shit.
"Fuck. The woman's as brave as a lion, standing up to a human drinking vampire, knowing she was in danger and not even breaking a sweat or letting her heart-rate change – did you notice that by the way?" They both sent me mental nods to confirm they had. "And after all that, her amazing bravery when she must've know she could die at any moment, and I have to go and fucking terrify her."
"Boss. Dude. It wasn't your fault your wolf slipped loose. He took you by surprise." Embry consoled me. "If we all act very quiet and docile, I'm sure she'll be fine again in no time. Like you said. She's a fucking brave woman, this one." He added with pride for his friend. Following his suggestion, moving very slowly so as not to frighten her again I walked closer to her and when I was about three feet away, sank down to lie on my belly, my head now just a little lower than hers. It worked. She relaxed a little and slowly lowered herself back down into her previous seated position. Letting out a huge gusty sigh of relief, Jake and Embry also settled down to the ground and we looked at one another, waiting for her to speak again. The silence dragged out for a while, until finally she spoke.
"Well this is awkward." She said with a shaky laugh, and I let out an amused snort while Jake and Embry gave tongue lolling grins. Bella looked down at her scalded hand in her lap, seeming to be suddenly fascinated by the way the tightened, swollen skin picked up the moonlight. "I don't suppose you guys could change into your human forms for this? It would certainly be much easier to talk if the conversation was going two ways." She asked "I mean I know you're not linked to the Luna cycle like true werewolves, so I'm sure you can go back and forth between forms, but obviously I don't know the way it actually works, if there has to be a danger to make you shift from human to wolf, or if there's a timing issue, like you can only turn back once it's light or something, and then on top of that there might be some tribal law or something that you'd be breaking if you shifted in front to of me and will you listen to me ramble? It's like I've got no filter or control system at all so I'm going to just stop my mouth moving now."
As she finally came to a halt in her little ramble, Jake spoke up.
"What the fuck? Are we not werewolves? Are there other werewolves that are werewolves? How does she know so much about all this supernatural shit?" He asked. Embry gave a mental shrug.
"How the fuck should I know?" I asked in frustration. "I only know what the Elders choose to share with us, in their weird need to feel like that have some kind of control. But I can tell you something." I said, my tone firming. "That shit is going to stop. I mean it's just not right that someone else, not a wolf, or even a member of the tribe, knows more about us than we do!" They both gave mental nods of agreement. Bella looked up at us and I realised that we were all sitting there like slack jawed idiots, displaying our shock quite clearly. She took a deep breath and asked.
"So can you shift back for this chat?" In unison, we all regretfully shook our heads. "Ok. Well that's going to make this whole thing a little trickier, but I'll try to stick to yes or no questions and if I say something that you need more explanation on, just give me a sign and I'll try to make it clearer. That work for you?" This time just I nodded. "Alright then. So where to start." she mused. "I figure you know who I am?" We all nodded and I wondered if she had even the slightest inkling that she might know us too. I was glad she didn't ask. "Right. Well if you know who I am, then you'll know who my dad is too?" Again, we nodded. "The red-head is after me, but she's threatening Charlie too, she basically told me that if I don't give myself up to her then she'll get me anyway, but she'll kill him first. My wolf made another attempt to snatch control, but this time I was ready for it and all that came out was one loud growl, which made her lean as far back as she could in alarm, before I managed to swallow it back with a great deal of effort. I looked at her, hoping she could read the apology in my face and Embry said
"How does she know what the red-head wants? She said 'she basically told me', that means the leech is communicating with her somehow. Fuck! How the fuck am I supposed to ask her a fucking question?" He ground out frustrated, and let out a little whine, tilting his head to one side in a questioning way.
"You need me to explain something?" She asked and he nodded.
"Clever girl, Bella!" He said, happily. "Maybe this won't be quite so hard after all, if she's this quick off the mark." Bella sat thoughtfully for a moment, obviously trying to work out what she'd said that led to a question. After a moment she asked.
"You want to know how she spoke to me, is that it?" Embry nodded quickly.
"She's pretty good at this Dr Dolittle shit." Jake chuckled and I had to smile mentally at the thought. Bella began to explain
"I was out on my motorcycle and had a little accident. So after a little concussion, a lot of self-humiliation due to said concussion," Jake and I snorted in amusement at the memory. "and a short stay at the Rez clinic, I went to collect my bike, only to find a letter addressed to me from the vampire. Her name is Victoria by the way. I'm sure you don't really care, but just in case you do….." At hearing that the leech had dared to leave a threatening letter for Bella, all three of us were emitting a low growl, but she didn't react with fear this time. Instead she gave us a stern look and I almost yelped.
"Fuck. My mom uses that look." I said on reflex and regretted it a little when Jake and Embry grinned. Bella continued once again.
"So anyway, that's how I know what she's planning. And the vampire you just kept from turning me into a human sippy cup was Laurent, an old friend of hers." The phrase 'human sippy cup' had us all snorting in amusement again and she gave a wry grin before continuing. "She asked him to come see if the Cullens were still around and didn't warn him about you guys, so as she obviously knows the Cullens aren't here anymore, I'm guessing that she really wanted to see if another Vampire would be able to get past you and get to me. You should probably be ready for her to try that again; if she can't find another friend to make the next attempt, she'll probably make one." We sat in silence for a moment, digesting that thought.
"Shit. She's right. We're going to have to start in on some real training, and get our patrols doubled up to make sure we're completely covered." I said, proud that Bella had come to such an intelligent conclusion.
"Back to my story then." Bella continued, marshalling her thoughts. "I'm sure you're aware of who I was dating before they all left, but what you're probably not aware of was what happened about a year ago. I went to watch the Cullens playing baseball one evening and we were interrupted by three nomad vampires, human drinkers." She shuddered a little at the memory and I realised that these must've been the three scents that I'd picked up on when I first phased. By the looks of it, the three of them must've passed through our area quite a lot before us wolves had made our reappearance. "They were Laurent, Victoria, and Victoria's mate, James." She went on. "James was a really sick fuck, he was obsessed with the hunt, and the greater the challenge, the more he enjoyed it, he was into making his prey suffer too, so when he got a whiff of me in the baseball clearing, his hunting instincts were put on high alert – hunting a human who was protected by a whole family of vampires, what could be a greater challenge than that?" Her story was now being told with a constant background sound of growling coming from all three of us this time, but she ignore it and went on as if she hadn't noticed, which was just as well as I wasn't sure any of us would've been able to knock it off just then. Her next sentence made Jake almost yelp in surprise, and I made a mental note to ask him why later on, but I didn't want to miss any of what Bella was saying, so I let it go for the moment. "Edward got me out of there, but James had already begun the hunt and I was worried Charlie wold get caught in the crossfire, so I picked a fight with him while I knew James was listening, and Alice, Jasper and I drove off to Phoenix while the rest of the family tried to lead James off on a wild goose chase elsewhere and kill him. He took the bait for a while, but then worked out the ruse and came for me. He managed to convince me that he had my mom hostage and would kill her unless I gave myself up to him. So of course I went. Turned out it was a trick and he nearly killed me, but Edward and the other Cullens got there in time and killed him instead. Now Victoria's on a mad bid for revenge and she's not going to stop until she gets what she wants; me dead. And probably in as painful a way as she can manage." She came to a halt in her story, breathing fast and I guessed that she was trying to get a hold on her fear again. I wasn't surprised she was finding it hard to share all of this – She'd had no-one to tell about it all since the Cullens left and it must've been eating at her insides all this time. It must've felt good to finally let it all out though, to have no more secrets and not to need to hold anything back., and I was glad we were able to do that for her.
"Proof if proof were needed that she is the single bravest person on the planet." I breathed to the other two and they nodded in awed agreement.
"She's been through some serious shit, and then not been able to share a word of it with anyone. It must've been almost harder to keep all that inside and be forced to lie to her dad and her friends, than it was to actually live through it." Embry added thoughtfully, echoing my own thoughts. "I mean, yeah we can't tell certain people about us, and for Sam and me it's tough to not have our moms know, but at least we've got each other to talk to, and the Elders if need be. Imagine not being able to tell a single soul. No wonder she was so fucked up when the Cullens left."
"Jake, before I forget, what had you so surprise a few minutes ago, when Bella was talking about her ex getting her away from the mad sadist leech?" I asked, and Jake looked stunned again.
"Yeah well to be honest, 'surprised' doesn't really cover it. Shocked senseless would be closer." He gave a mental head shake and continued. Ever since the Cullens left she has never once said any of the Cullens names. Not even the family name. If anyone else said it, or even hinted it, she'd fold over double, grabbing her chest like someone was ripping into it with a rusty chainsaw, and sometimes she'd go into a huge panic attack." I remembered the strange turn she'd taken when I first ran into her and Charlie on the beach and Charlie had accidentally mentioned me finding her that night in the forest. Watching the memory as it played in my head, Jake nodded. "Yeah. Just like that. Now as she started to get better, the panic attacks lessened, and she was gradually able to talk about things that skirted around the memories of the Cullens, but one thing she would never, ever do was use Edward's name. It was always 'Him', emphasis on the capital H. I honestly think that if any of us would've said 'His' name in the beginning, she would've just fallen right back into her depression again and maybe never come back out." He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment and then continued. "Maybe something, or someone has gotten her past it finally." I couldn't help the mental smirk that crept over me at the thought, but a part of me was still reeling in horror at finally understanding just how much the Cullens, and Edward in particular, had fucked her up when they left her all alone to deal with this epic shit storm. On the edge of my awareness, I noticed that Bella's heart-rate had suddenly dropped and my head snapped up to look at her. She wasn't asleep, and didn't seem to be meditating, like the only time I could recall her heart-rate being so slow (apart from this particular evening).
"She's doing it again." I said, drawing Jake and Embry's attention to her heart. "How the fuck is she doing that? It's bizarre. Like she can switch it back and forth at will."
"I really have no clue." Embry said, "but look at how much calmer she is now. She must do it to calm herself when she's stressed."
"Cool." Jake murmured, and I just continued listening to her heart and watching her thoughtfully. Noticing me watching, she nodded calmly at me and continued talking now that she had our attention once more.
"Vampires mate for… well I was going to say life, but I guess eternity would be the better word to use. Killing one mate creates a rabid, vengeance obsessed monster in the form of the other mate, and to be honest, I'm not sure that Victoria was entirely sane even when James was alive, so you guys should be aware of the fact that she will do anything, anything to get to me, and she won't care if she dies in the process, as long as I die too." She a breath before continuing, and when she went on I saw why she'd needed to make herself so calm.
"I accepted a while ago that she'd probably kill me. I don't want to die. But if it wouldn't destroy my dad to lose me, then I'd hand myself over with a smile on my face and a song in my heart to keep him safe. As it is, it might come to that anyway, my life for his and if that's the price I'll pay it, but I've put him through so much already, if it can be avoided, I don't want him to have to suffer through losing me too, especially as I'm pretty sure that after Victoria's through with me, there's no way anyone should be allowed to find my body. I came out here today hoping to lure Victoria out and hoping even more that you wolves would track her in time to keep her from killing me, although if you'd only got here in time to kill her after she killed me, that would've been enough to keep Charlie safe so I wouldn't have blamed you for not saving me." None of us could keep from growling as the idea of her being killed was brought up. I myself might've been impressed with the cool, calm way she discussed it, as if she was talking about adding something to a shopping list – emotion free. But I was filled with anger that she'd found herself in a position where she'd felt that her only options involved putting herself in such danger. She might not have blamed us if we'd not saved her, But none of us would've ever forgive ourselves. I honestly believed that even Paul, and probably Leah too would've taken her death due to our failure very badly, and Jake, Embry and I, and probably Jared would've been devastated by her loss.
"So here's the thing then." She went on. "Will you please keep Charlie safe? Will you keep the vindictive bitch away from him?" There was no decision to make – we were already committed to keeping Charlie safe and be happy to continue to do so. We all nodded solemnly and she let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I know that you're there to protect your tribe," Again I was surprised; she apparently also knew that we were Quileute and knew what our duty was, "but I was hoping you'd be able to help him too. I know it's selfish of me to ask. I don't want you to risk your own lives, or to neglect other duties in the process, but for Charlie's sake I have to at least put it out there; will you keep Victoria away from me too?" She was looking down at her hand again and so was missing our eager, almost frantic nodding as we all confirmed that we'd keep her safe from this Victoria leech. She went on, still not looking up, and the three of us just kept our nodding up, looking like retarded nodding dogs in our eagerness to assure her. "I know I have no right to ask, I know that I'm the one that brought this on myself, that by associating with your natural enemy I probably negated any right I might've had to ask, and if it wasn't for Charlie, I wouldn't be asking, but for Charlie's sake I will ask. Please. Can you keep me alive?" Paul would've completely agreed with her on that point, but luckily he didn't have a say here, and I was firmly convinced that even he wouldn't have let her die just because of who her ex was. She finally looked up to find us all nodding enthusiastically and repeatedly and I saw her shoulders relax a little – she really hadn't been at all sure we'd help her, and yet had still had the guts to come out here and risk everything to try to keep her dad safe. Amazing.
"There's one more thing too." She added, and I wondered what that could be – we'd agreed to keep her and Charlie safe, what on earth else was there? "I've been very selfish and I've managed to drag someone else into my shit storm. He's a good man and doesn't deserve to get hurt because of me." She shrugged her shoulders, and I suddenly had an inkling where she was going with this, I was torn. On the one hand she might say something very embarrassing for me, on the other, I was getting a rare opportunity to maybe hear exactly how she felt about me. I hesitated. On a third hand, did I want to hear exactly how she felt about me? "I've done what I can to make sure he's not hurt emotionally if something happens to me – for as long as I've known Victoria was after me I've known I can't afford to let anyone else get too close to me; it would be bad enough to have my dad destroyed by my death without adding more people in, so I made it clear I wasn't looking for anything long-term or serious, not that he's interested in that with me anyway, so we're all ok there, but even though I've only really spent time with him on the Rez, where it would be harder for Victoria to pick up on any connection between us, I'm still worried that he'll end up as collateral damage so I wanted to make sure that you'd keep him safe just like Charlie." Yep it was definitely about me, and I was amazed to discover that the real reason that she hadn't wanted to commit to anything serious or long term had nothing to do with going away to college, but everything to do with protecting me in case she would up vampire fodder. I was struck yet again by how brave and selfless she was. There was just one thing that confused me; how could she be so insightful, so sharp, so quick to notice the slightest thing and intelligent enough to put all of this together, and yet so dense that she hadn't realised that I was interested in more with her, even though I knew I really, really shouldn't be?
"It's Sam Uley, the guy I'm seeing, so he comes under your protection anyway, he's not just part of your tribe, but the new chief, isn't he? But it's better if you know that he might be a target thanks to me." Jake and Embry were finding this whole thing hilarious and were grinning widely at the situation, though they had thankfully restrained themselves so far from commenting. When Bella raised a brow at us, we realised we'd not responded and, feeling a little ridiculous, we nodded, just for her peace of mind. She let out a relieved sigh and leaned back with her hands behind me, signalling that she was finished. She'd obviously forgotten her sore hand though, and the second it touched the ground she snatched it back and put it in her lap, leaning back on just her good hand this time.
The silence that began to draw out was a little awkward.
"Aaaand we're back to sitting and staring at each other again." Jake said sarcastically, Embry and I turning to look at him as he spoke. "How are we supposed to ask the questions we need to ask? Like, oh I don't know, how the fuck she knows about us?" He had a good point. We really couldn't let this all wrap up without knowing where she'd got her information from. Charlie had promised not to tell her, and I didn't think he was the sort to break that promise, but the question would be raised by the Elders (or more specifically by Old Quil) if I didn't have an answer ready to give them.
"You're right, Jake. We do need to know how she knows, but I just thought; we also need to get her to hang around the Rez as much as possible. With three new wolves to train, and yes I do include you in that – you may be taking to the life incredibly well, but you're still green and inexperienced and we need to train you properly just like the others, we don't need to be spreading ourselves too thin if we don't need to. If we have Charlie and Bella on the Rez as much as possible, we don't need to be so concerned. But how do we tell her that? Morse fucking code?" I nearly growled again in frustration as I turned back to Bella.
"Pissed because you can't ask me the questions you need to?" She asked with a little smirk, and I snorted and nodded, not at all surprised that once again she'd seen to the heart of the problem. "Well I thought of a couple of things you might've wanted to ask, and if there's anything else, I'll just have to start making guesses until I hit on the right question." She told me, sitting back upright again. "I guessed you'd want to know how I knew about you shape-shifters?" She asked and we grew very still all of a sudden, the tension pouring from us.
"Clever, clever Bella. Right on the money with her first shot again." I said, nodding slowly.
"Well I'd heard Carlisle Cullen talk about an extinct clan of wolf shape-shifters in the Quileute tribe, which was my starting out point." She began, and I guessed I could understand why Dr Vamp had thought we were extinct, but I was still a little pissed that he'd talked about us with a human. Bella went on. "A friend of mine told me a few of your old stories, not believing them to be anything more than spooky stories to scare the kids with, and certainly not realising that he'd basically just outed the Cullens as vampires, bearing in mind my weird ability to notice and connect little details"
"Oh SHIT!" Jake burst out. "That was me. Fuck. I really didn't believe any of it back then, obviously, but technically I broke the treaty. If they'd known, the Cullens could've attacked us. I'm so sorry, Sam" the shame washing off him was almost stifling, and we needed to concentrate on Bella so I just told him
"We'll handle it later, Jake." And gave my full attention back to Bella.
"After the Cullens left I spent a lot of time wishing there were still wolves around so that I could ask for help with the Victoria stuff, and then after the bear sightings started, and then I got the letter from Victoria, telling me that hiding behind the guard dogs wouldn't protect me," We all growled again at that, but she ignored it and continued, "I connected the dots and realised that the extinct clan of wolf shape-shifters weren't so extinct after all. That's when I came up with my plan to find you and ask for help." She said. She gave a little shrug and blushed. "I was going to come on Wednesday, but something tempted me to risk at least one more day," She smiled a little, and I suddenly realised what she'd meant when she'd muttered 'worth risking an extra day for' just before we'd left on our date. I felt a little smug that she'd been attracted enough to me that she'd put such an important matter on hold to go out with me. She continued.
"and then I was weak and managed to justify another day after that, and then another, but then I had a dream that freaked me out and reminded me just how selfish I was being, and how many people might be put at risk if I kept stalling, so I bit the bullet and got it over with. So anyway that's pretty much how I know." I wondered if the dream she was talking about was the nightmare I'd overheard that morning. It'd certainly sounded bad enough to freak her out. I noticed she hadn't made any mention of Taha Aki, who I knew for a fact ha featured in at least one of her dreams and the desire to know how she knew about him burned in me. So far my only possibility was that Jake had told her – the Dr Leech couldn't have done, and that was the other place she'd gotten her information on us. I'd have to have a serious conversation with Jake. And soon.
Apparently finished with telling us how she'd worked out we existed, Bella moved on to another subject. Once again hitting the nail on the head in terms of knowing what we'd need to ask her.
"I'm also guessing you wanted to ask me to stay on the Rez as much as I can, and to encourage Charlie to do the same thing so you guys don't have to spread yourselves too thin. Was that one of the things you needed to say?" I nodded again. "Ok, I can do that and so can Charlie, although I'll have to find some way to encourage him to do it without telling him about you guys I'm guessing." We all burst into barking laughter. Charlie was always searching for ways to encourage Bella to spend more time on the Rez. If she began returning the favour, they'd pretty much never leave. Which was actually fine with me.
"So was there anything else?" She asked, then she froze suddenly. "Oh fuck, do you want me to stop seeing Sam so he can be safer?" She asked in a slightly panicked voice, her eyes filling with tears. "I mean if it's best for his safety then of course I'd do it, but otherwise, I'd really like to keep seeing him as long as I can." I was thrilled that she hated the idea of not seeing me anymore upsetting, but I didn't want her to be unnecessarily upset so I immediately shook my head, o. In her distress though, she wasn't noticing, and continued rambling. "I've already got the emotional worries covered, even if I was the sort of girl he could be interested in long-term, which I'm not, we've both agreed that we're not to let things get too serious, so if I have to stop seeing him because of Victoria, or if she does manage to get me, I've kept him far enough away emotionally speaking that he'd not be too hurt." I continued my emphatic head shaking as she spoke, but I was astounded at her opinion that she wasn't the sort of girl I could be interested in long-term.
"So intelligent and insightful in everything else, so dense when it comes to her own worth." I thought as I still shook my head at her. Behind me, Jake and Embry were almost pissing themselves laughing but I ignored them and focused on calming Bella down. After everything she'd been through that evening, she'd never looked closer to losing her grip than she did at that moment. It was very gratifying to know how important I was becoming to her. Just about as important as she was becoming to me, however unwise that might be. Still, once the Elders gave permission to tell her our identities, I'd be able to explain about imprinting and let her decide for herself if she wanted to run the risk. I knew what my vote would be. She finally seemed to register my shaking head, and she took a few deep breaths in relief. Her heart-rate abruptly dropped once again and I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes, making it clear to her this time that I'd noticed what she was doing. As soon as I had the Elders permission to tell her who I was, I was going to get her to spill on how she did that.
"So unless there's anything else," She suddenly said, "I need to head home. I left a note for Charlie giving a very, very vague explanation of why I'd gone just in case things went badly, and I want to get back before him so that he never gets a chance to read it." I had a sudden bad feeling that maybe that note had something to do with Charlie's black mood earlier. It certainly fitted some of the things he'd said. I wished I was able to warn her of what she might be walking into when she got back, but there was no way to do it. She stood and dusted off her damp clothes, looking about in the dark to try to work out which direction she'd come from. She turned back to us.
"I don't suppose that your wolf bodies come equipped with night vision do they?" She asked. "I could use a point in the right direction." We all grinned, amused, at her for a moment before turning to each other.
"You guys head back to the Rez and I'll lead her back. Phase back as soon as you're home – I don't want certain people knowing exactly what was said here tonight until I can be there to head off the inevitable shit fits." I told them
"Got it, Boss." They replied in unison and I rolled my eyes at them. They gave Bella a quick nod to say goodbye and melted into the forest behind us, leaving Bella and I alone. I jerked my head over to my left, inviting her to follow and we slowly walked across the clearing together.
"So I'm gonna guess that you're in charge of the pack?" She asked and I turned to look at her, tilting my head quizzically. "Well you're a lot bigger than any of the others, except for that russet coloured guy, you're only a couple of inches bigger than him." She explained. "Also it's the way you hold yourself around them and the way they hold themselves around you." She shrugged a little when I looked at her again. "I've always been good at reading how people interact with each other." She stated simply.
"Yeah. Except when you're involved in the equation." I mentally snorted. But I was impressed once again by her perception and how quickly she'd worked out the pack order. She really was her father's daughter. Her and Charlie working together could probably solve any mystery with their eyes closed. I'd have to watch myself around the pair of them.
We walked in silence through the forest, with me stopping to give her something to lean on whenever she tripped, which was very, very often. I was struggling not to laugh at her endearing clumsiness and by the fifth trip, my shoulders were shaking with repressed laughter and I had to turn my head to hide my grins. By the tenth trip I'd given up and was letting out loud choking barks of laughter. True to form, she couldn't help joining in, despite her embarrassment.
"Ok I know. I'm a clumsy person. I can't help it, I always have been and no doubt I always will be. Next time I'll talk you into letting me ride you. "She said through her laughter and my own suddenly cut off and I stopped dead in my tracks as the graphic image she'd managed to put in my head played out. Me on my back, my hands firmly on Bella's hips, pulling her up and down on my cock as she rode me naked, her glorious hair flying as she threw her head back in her ecstasy. Bella had walked on a few more paces alone before I was able to fight back the image and come back to my senses.
"You ok?" She asked as I shook my head clear of my fantasy and looked around for her. I gave her a sheepish look, embarrassed that I'd zoned out like that, then caught up and walked a little ahead of her, not wanting the temptation of staring at her ass as we walked and falling back into another little fantasy. Once we got back to her truck, I sat and watched her as she fished the keys out of her pocket, unlocked the door and climbed in. Before she closed the door she asked me.
"Am I right in guessing that you're going to follow me home to make sure I get there safely?" I nodded. "Well I would say that I'll go slowly so you can keep up, but judging by how fast you guys moved when you took out Laurent, I guess it would be pointless." I gave her another grin in answer and she closed the door. "See you there then." she said and started the engine with a loud roar and headed to her house.
I trailed her back and as she parked, I slipped around the back of her place to get out of sight of the neighbours and to check for any vampire scents. Now we knew that Bella was the target, I was taking no chances. One of us was going to be patrolling in the area of the Swan's house every night from now on.
Bella let herself in her front door and then immediately walked right through the house and opened the back door, stepping outside and looking around for me.
"Thank you." She said. "For seeing me home safely, for agreeing to protect Charlie, Sam and for me too, and thank you so much for not letting that dreadlocked dick kill me this evening." I snorted with amusement at her description of the leech, and she smiled. "Well I'm going to go in and grab that letter before Charlie gets home, so goodnight. I'll be seeing you soon, no doubt. And thanks again."
She went back in and closed the door.