Jacob pushed open the door to Emily and Sam's house with a very pale and fragile Bella laying in his arms. His wolf hearing immediately heard the conversation stop as he gently placed her down on the sofa, not a moment later Paul rushed into the living room. His eyes flickering from Jacob to Bella an instant.

"What did you do Black?" Paul snarled

Jacob rolled his eyes, "Chill Paul, I didn't do anything to her. I just explained the truth and her weak human stomach couldn't handle it. She threw up all over my shoes" His nose wrinkled in disgust

"Jacob Black! You better not be wearing those shoes in my living room" Emily warned as she appeared in the door way

"Don't worry Emily, I know better than that" Jacob chuckled and gestured to his bare feet

Paul glanced worriedly at Bella, she had gotten even paler if that was possible and looked like she could heave at any given moment. "Are you okay Bella?"

Bella looked up at Paul, shock evident on her face before her eyebrows furrowed. "I'm fine, thanks. Why do you care though? You don't even know me"

Paul blanched, not entirely sure how to tell her about the imprinting just yet, the poor girl looked like she was ready to pass out at any moment, so he just shrugged at her. "Just because I don't know you doesn't mean I can't be worried for you"

Bella shook her head, immediately regretting that decision as she felt her stomach rolling again. "Sorry" She blushed, realising that all eyes were on her. "I'm not usually like this. It's just..." she trailed off, not even knowing if she could speak about Vampires again, not when it made her think of...them and him. Bella glanced at Jake, silently asking him to tell them for her.

Jacob nodded and turned to his pack mates. "It's the red headed leech. I know what's she after"

"And what's that?" Sam questioned

"Bella" Jacob sighed

"What?!" Paul roared, his body beginning to vibrate with anger at the thought of one of those blood suckers touching Bella. He really needed to get a grip on himself, he hadn't even imprinted on the girl more than a day and he already felt so...protective over her.

"Calm down Paul" Sam ordered, his eyes focusing on him for a moment before glancing at Bella. "Bella, why do you think she's after you?"

Bella sighed, "She had a mate called James, they came across me and the Cullens playing baseball out in the woods. They were apparently hunting in the area when they came across us, at first they wanted to join in on a game but then the wind changed" She gulped, visions of James attacking her in the ballet studio and how she could feel his venom flowing through her veins as it threatened to change her. "James was a tracker, apparently one of the best, when the wind changed he caught me scent. He thought it was a game and wouldn't stop until I was dead"

Paul growled through his teeth, Bella had sat up from where she had been laying and without thinking he took the seat next to her, his arm draping behind her back as he tried to offer some form of comfort to her.

"The Cullens tried to lead him away. Ed-He could read minds, he knew where James was going and thought if they could lay a fake trail and get me out of Forks that they would be able to trap him. But he caught onto it, when he had I was already in Arizona with Alice and Jasper. James went to Forks and stole my records, he found out where I originally lived and he went there, he found this old tape of my Mom and I talking while I was at a ballet lesson. He used it to trick me into meeting him at my old ballet studio. When I got there and realised it was a trap, it was too late. He had me where he wanted" Bella shivered, not from the cold but from the warmth that was radiating from Paul's body.

"What happened Bella?" Jacob asked, his own stomach churning at the thought of Bella being injured by the leeches.

Bella laughed bitterly. "Well, he broke my leg for starters. Threw me into a glass mirror, a piece of the mirror shattered my artery and then..." She trailed off, her body beginning to shake at the memories flooding through her mind. How she had wanted Edward to leave the venom in her, she wanted to be turned, she wanted to be like him. But now, after everything he had put her through and abandoning her in the forest, that idea seemed like a fate worse then death.

"What is it Bella?" Paul asked gently, his body gravitating towards her and it took every ounce of strength he had to fight against the notion of lifting her from her spot on the couch and placing her in his lap so he could hold her and comfort her.

"James bit me" She whispered timidly as she avoided the gaze of the werewolves in the room.

The silence was deafening for a moment, and then the outbreak happened.

"He bit you?!"

"That no good..."

"Son of a bitch..."

"He's lucky he's dead otherwise I would enjoy nothing more than ripping him limb from limb"

"Quiet!" Sam roared, the Alpha in him rising to calm the situation, he didn't want any phasing happening in his house. They had already learnt their lesson after Jared phased unexpectedly in their living room, effectively destroying the whole room. When the room went quiet again, Sam nodded at Bella to continue.

Bella rolled up her sleeve and flashed the crescent moon shaped scare on her rest, "Obviously I'm still human. Ed..." She took a breath, she needed to stop being afraid of his name, sure saying it out loud was only going to hurt and cause her more pain, but she needed to be strong. She wanted to get better and at least start feeling like herself again. "Edward managed to suck the venom out before it turned me. It's funny..."

"Funny?" Paul's eyes narrowed at her, "You think what you went through is funny?"

Bella rolled her eyes, "If you would let me finish you ass" She glared at him, eliciting a chuckle from the group. "I was going to say, it's funny because that scar is ice cold compared to the rest of my body, Carlisle told me once that there must a tiny bit of venom left there, only enough to effect the temperature there"

Paul huffed, she had a point calling him an ass, didn't mean he liked it though. He knew she already had a bad impression of him and he was going to have a hell of a time trying to change it. But he would try, and in the end if all she wanted was to be his friend then he would accept that, he could live with that...for a while probably. As long he got to be around her he would be okay.

"Anyway" Bella sighed before continuing. "They managed to destroy James, Victoria obviously found out and isn't too happy about that so she's after me. For revenge"

Sam nodded, "Well this changes things. Bella, for your and Charlie's protection we'll do a nightly patrol by your house, the rest of us will then circle the reservation and keep an eye on her scent, we have it now and it'll be easy to track once we catch it again. It's probably best if you and Charlie try spend some more time down here though, makes it a bit easier for us to protect you"

Bella nodded, "Okay, that should be easy to do. Charlie loves going fishing with Billy and Harry whenever he can. Sam?"

"Yeah Bella"

"I'm sorry"

Sam raised a questioning eyebrow, "What for?"

"For bringing this on you. All of you" Bella looked round at all of the faces in the room, trying not to linger on Emily's scarred one or on Paul. "If I had never met the Cullen's then none of you would have had to phase. You's wouldn't have to be hunting down Vampires, or protecting me and my Dad. Maybe if I had stayed in Phoenix none of this would have ever happened"

Emily shuffled over to the younger Paul and embraced her tightly, "Oh Bella, you don't need to be sorry"

Sam saw Bella about to respond and cut her off. "Emily's right Bella, this isn't your fault. Even if you hadn't met the Cullens or came to Forks to be with Charlie, that doesn't mean we wouldn't have phased. There are a lot of Vampires out there and any of them could have crossed onto our land, once that happens you can't stop the change from happening"

Bella nodded, "I just hate that I have to take you all away from protecting La Push, it's your home. That should be most important"

Paul snorted, "You really have a death wish don't you? Ow!" He turned to find Jacob shaking his head. "What did you do that for?"

"If you have to ask that's how you know you were being a douche"

Paul rolled his eyes and gave him a slap on the back of the head in retaliation.

"Bella, I know you probably feel like you're being a nuisance but you're not. This is our job. Our job isn't just to protect La Push, it's to protect everyone, so just let us do our job okay?"

Bella sighed, knowing she had lost this particular fight. Although secretly she was grateful that she had the wolves here to help, and she knew that they would be able to catch Victoria no matter how long it took. She had her best friend back and a new group of friends it seemed too. Maybe this was starting to work out for the best.