Chapter Ten

It had been a couple of weeks since we ran into Jasper and I finally started to relax again. I didn't want any vampires in my life, they've caused enough turmoil. It's not that I had a problem with Jasper. He never did anything wrong. I didn't even blame him for my birthday incident, anyone with a brain could see he was lunging at Edward and quite frankly they should have restrained Edward considering I'm his singer.

A lot of things changed in the past couple of weeks. I actually quit both of my jobs and decided to go ahead and get my masters. The clinic made sure I knew that I was welcome back after I finished school. I was doing a program through UDub and they would assign me clinical sites via email.

I was leaving my gym in Forks and decided to go get lunch from my favorite coffee shop. I walked in and ran right into Mike Newton. Why me? Hopefully he's not as annoying as he was in high school. Mike looked me up and down like I was a piece of meat. I had on a black matching workout set that consisted of shorts and a halter style sports bra.

"Bella hey it's nice to see you." He beamed at me.

"Hey Mike." I greeted him politely and continued to wait for my food.

"You look great. Are you back home?" He asked, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah I am."

"Me too. I'm taking over Newton's Outfitters. We should catch up sometime. I'm sure Chief Swan won't mind if I come over and hang out?"

"My dad lives on the reservation now, Mike."

"Oh so you live at the house in Forks alone. That's even better." He assumed with a gleam his eye, getting the wrong idea.

"I live on the reservation as well." He was seriously starting to annoy me. I was trying to be nice but he's impossible.

"Well that's an easy fix you can just come to mine."

"I don't think my boyfriend would like that." I stated hoping he'd back off.

"He doesn't let you have guy friends? Sounds a little controlling." He smirked after he said thinking he had the upper hand. What he didn't realize is that I'm not the same Bella from high school and I don't back down.

"He doesn't when they wanna fuck me." Mike's eyes got about three sizes bigger and started sputtering. I ignored him and asked for my order to be made to go instead then walked to my car only to see Jasper leaning against it. Oh for the love of Taha Aki. Why?

"What do you want Jasper?" I was irritated. I just wanted to get home so I could eat and shower.

"I wanted to see you. I went by your dads but no one has been there for a couple of days." He said with a soft smile.

"Well I'm here now. What do you need?" I asked. Maybe if I talked to him he would leave me alone.

"I need to talk to you about something important-"

I interrupted him before he could finish, "If it's about Edward unless he's dead I don't care."

"No it's not about him. Can we please just talk in private?" He pleaded.

"I would prefer to speak in public." I stood my ground. I don't let anyone railroad me anymore. My phone rang and it was Paul.

"Hey baby." I answered.

"What's gorgeous?" He asked.

"Nothing leaving Forks Coffee Co."

"How was your workout?"

"It was good. The gym was empty so I didn't have to deal with any creeps."

He chuckled and it made me smile, "I'll be done in about an hour. Meet me at the house."

"I can do that."

"Naked."

I blushed and told him goodbye. I unlocked my car and got in. When I went to shut the door Jasper grabbed it.

"Bella, we really need to talk."

"We don't have anything to talk about Jasper. Let go." I tried to close the door again but he was still holding it. Finally he let it go and I shut the door only for him to get into the passenger seat.

"I'm not going to leave until you listen to me. So we can talk or we can go to the reservation. Although I don't think your puppy would like me being there very much so it's probably better to go to your old house." He gave me a cocky smirk and lifted his eyebrow to challenge me.

For the second time today I was going to have to show someone that I'm not to be fucked with. Without saying a word I pulled onto the highway and started to drive towards La Push. Jasper sat in the passenger seat thinking he won. When we passed my old house he looked confused.

"Where are we going Bella?" He questioned. I didn't respond and kept driving. A look of realization crossed his ethereal features as he realized I was going towards La Push.

"Bella we both know you're not going to cross the treaty line so just turn around." I still didn't respond and kept driving. How dare he try to force me to talk to him. He will learn I am not the same weak teenage girl. I am a grown ass woman and no one orders me around or forces me to do anything I don't want to do.

We were approaching the treaty line and Jasper looked at me in panic, "Bella you can't be serious right now."

Right before we crossed the border Jasper threw himself out of my car and stood on the other side with a look of shock. I pulled over, got out of my car, and walked to the boundary line but stayed on my side.

"I told you to leave me alone. I don't want to talk to you or any blood sucking demon. Stay the fuck away from me or I'll set you on fire my god damn self and have the pack piss on your ashes. Fuck you Jasper!" I yelled as I threw my coffee and lunch at him. I was livid. I'm tired of these fucking parasites trying to control me and what I do.

The blonde vampires showed up during my rant and watched me rip Jasper a new one with a look of awe. The male spoke up, "Damn Major, your mate is a firecracker."

Instant nausea consumed me. The world started spinning and I felt like I couldn't breathe. There's no way I'm Jasper's mate. I'm Paul's imprint and he marked me. We're it for each other. I took a few calming breaths and swallowed down the bile threatening to come up.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I said menacingly.

"You and the major are mates sugar tits. See I just know shit and I knew we needed to go to the bar we were at a few weeks ago to meet Jasper's mate. That's why you and Jasper felt sparks when he saved you from falling. Unlike the pixie, my power isn't subjective." He explained.

"Listen you pasty, blonde, blood sucking fuck I don't know what fucking sparks you're talking about and I have a mate. I'm an imprint and the first marked mate in the pack. I am not nor will I ever be mated to a fucking vampire. Your kind has ruined my life enough. Stay the fuck away from me." I was screaming by the end of my rant and I got right in the vampire's face. I felt warm hands grab me my arm and I turned around to see Jake. I hurried into his arms, shaking like a leaf.

"He's almost here, Bells." He answered before I could even ask. I noticed Quil and Seth walk out of the forest and flank Jacob. Seth kissed my head and pulled me behind. I looked to the trees and noticed Jared, Embry, Brady, and Collin in wolf form ready to attack if needed. Not even a minute later I heard the engine of Paul's GTO. He was driving like a bat out of hell. Him and Sam must have been leaving a job site when he got the call. They got out of the car and Paul took me into his arms.

"Isabella Swan is a marked mate. She is pack. We will not tolerate any harassment towards her. This is the first and final warning. Next time we won't be so forgiving." Jacob told them.

"Bella deserves to know she has a choice. She is my mate." Jasper stated.

Paul growled so loud the forest quieted. He was shaking where he stood, "She is my imprint and marked mate."

"You're right I do deserve to have a choice." I spoke up and everyone's head snapped to me, "It's Paul and it's always going to be Paul. Leave Jasper. Please."

I walked to my car and drove home. Mom was sitting on the couch reading when I got home. She asked what's wrong and I burst into tears. I explained everything and she held me until the tears subsided.

"Oh Bells. It's going to be okay. Nothing will happen. You have a whole pack of wolves who will protect you."

"They've interfered with my life enough! Why can't they just leave me alone?" I sobbed.

"I don't know sweetheart, they are selfish creatures. I don't think they're capable of having regard for human life. How about you go upstairs and shower and I'll whip something up for lunch?" I nodded and made my way upstairs.

In the shower I told myself I wasn't going to cry anymore and I wasn't going to worry about Jasper. I refused to live my life in fear and I washed away the events of today. After I got dressed I went downstairs to eat what Mom made me. After eating we decided to watch a movie. I felt myself getting tired and at some point I dozed off.

"Charlie calm down." The sound of Sam's voice woke me up.

"NO THAT IS MY BABY IN THERE AND I WON'T FUCKING TOLERATE HER BEING STALKED BY A GOD DAMN BLOODSUCKER." My dad screamed, causing me to jump.

"Shh it's okay baby." Paul whispered in my ear. I wrapped my arms around his neck and just held him. This is what I needed after today.

"Babe, can you tell us what happened? We all can assume but we'd like to know exactly what went down."

I took a deep breath and started to speak, "I was walking out of the coffee shop and Jasper was leaning against my car. He said he had gone by my old house but no one had been there for a few days and he wanted to talk to me about something important. I thought it was about Edward so I told him I didn't care but he told me it wasn't and he wanted to speak in private. I said no, of course, then he got in my car and told me he wasn't leaving until I talked to him so I started driving towards the reservation. He thought I was bluffing but I kept driving then right when I was about to cross the treaty line he jumped out of my car. I got out to rip him a new one and then the other blonde vampire said something about me being Jasper's mate. I told them I was a marked imprint and I would never be mated to a fucking vampire then Jacob showed up."

Everyone started talking about what we were going to do. I tuned everything out because I was exhausted and tired of dealing with this shit. Idea after idea was brought up then turned down. Sam suggested I postpone grad school and stay on the reservation until we can get the situation handled.

"If they approach her again they're dead. That's what we're going to do. Bella isn't going to stop her life because of a delusional bloodsucker. We'll work out a guard schedule later but her not going to grad school is out of the fucking question Uley." Paul growled.

They started to discuss who was going to guard me and I sat there hating the fact that I had ever got involved with a fucking vampire.