The White Feather

Disclaimer; all characters and copyright belong to SM.

Chapter Six

Jacob's body was maturing faster than this his mind and he was left floundering in a sea of confusion. He had acted on instinct when he ran away from home to go and rescue his angel. He was fast now, very fast. His legs were longer, his body strong. He could cover vast distances in a short space of time. But just because his physical strength was greater, that didn't mean he wasn't scared. He was still a young boy. His little heart had been hammering with fear when he pulled Bella out of the smoking vehicle. It was his instincts that had guided him again. There was a tiny voice in the back of his mind telling him what to do. Jacob had manged to drag his angel out of the car before the whole thing went up in flames.

He was moving now, carrying Bella in his arms. His long legs stretched out in front of him as he bounded through the forest. He just wanted to get away from all the noise and confusion. Bella was unconscious. Her head lolled on his shoulder as he ran. Jacob wasn't sure what to do, or where to go. If he went home his dad might be angry. He had already warned Jacob not to run away again. Jacob stopped when he reached a clearing. He breathed shallowly, dark eyes filling with tears as he tried to work out what to do. Bella Angel would know. But she was asleep. He decided he needed to wake her up.

Carefully depositing her on the mossy ground, Jacob looked at her sleeping face. Her pale skin was marred with black grime. Her luxuriant hair was tangled and slick with perspiration. Jacob used his fingers to wipe the dirt from her cheeks but he only ended up smearing more across her soft skin with his fingers. His tears splotched onto Bella's face. "Bella Angel." He whispered.

Bella moaned softly but she didn't open her eyes. Her small body trembled with the cold. There was a chill in the air. Jacob didn't feel it but she did. He prodded her again, saying her name louder this time. "Bella Angel. Wake up."

All Jacob got was the same response as before. He began to panic. When he touched her face again her skin felt clammy. She was getting colder and colder. Jacob hated the cold. His mommy had been cold. He didn't want his angel to be cold too. Cold meant death. Jacob took Bella's small shoulders and shook her.

"Bella Angel. Wake up. Please." His tears dissolved on his hot cheeks as he continued to cry. "Help me. Bella Angel. Help me."

Bella's lips parted as she moaned again. Her small hands curled into fists. She raised them, rubbing furiously at her sore eyes. It was an effort to open them. Jacob's worried face swam into view as he hovered above her. He looked petrified and was crying profusely. "Jake?"

"Bella Angel." Jacob scooped her up and hugged her, crushing her against his chest in his relief. He didn't realise his own strength.

"Can't breathe." Bella gasped. She tried to push on his shoulders to get him to let her go. But Jacob just held her tighter. Black spots burst in Bella's vision and she became limp in his arms. It was only when she sagged against him that Jacob let go. Bella breathed in sharply, filling her lungs with fresh air.

"Bella Angel." Jacob was very distressed. He didn't understand what he had just done. His angel was struggling to breathe. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He cried. He sucked in his lower lip as more tears brimmed in his eyes.

Bella rolled onto her side. It was easier to breathe that way. She closed her eyes momentarily before opening them again. She couldn't bear Jacob distress as well as her own. "I'm so cold." She whispered, shaking violently, partly from the cold and partly from the trauma she had just suffered.

Jacob wasn't sure what to do. He had hoped his angel would have the answers, but she looked like she was going to sleep again. Her eyes were closing. He begged her to stay awake, but she was beyond hearing him. Jacob's chest tightened as he gave into his panic. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly to block out his surroundings. He wanted his mommy to help him but she was gone, he wanted his daddy, but worried that he would be angry at him for running off again. The more panicked he became, the more his temperature rose. He was burning from the inside out. Jacob opened his eyes again and huddled next to his angel. He pulled her into his arms again, shielding with her his body. It was the best thing he could have done. His heat chased away the cold and soon Bella was sweltering hot.

Perspiration coated her skin; her clothes clung to her body. Bella forced her weary eyes to open. Something was calling to her. Something was trying to make itself known. Jacob was rocking her now. He was staring around wildly, possessed by fear. Bella hated seeing him so distressed. She longed to comfort him like she had before, but something else captured her attention. Bella tried to look beyond her surroundings. She tried to see beyond the frightened boy holding her in a death grip. Slowly everything else faded into the background and she was faced with a monster.

Bella wanted to scream, but it was it caught in her throat. It stayed suspended there as she stared up into the large dark eyes of the russet wolf. In her disorientated state it took Bella a few moments to realise this was the same wolf that haunted her dreams. It was so much larger in reality, bigger than a shire horse. His reddish brown fur shimmered in the flickering light that seemed to surround him. He was all powerful. One strike from his paw could kill her. But now she recognised him she wasn't afraid. Bella gazed into his solemn eyes; they were at once familiar and strange. She knew the man inside the wolf. But the man was still a boy. This was the boy's future. This was Jacob Black's wolf.

Jacob didn't know what was wrong with his angel. Her beautiful brown eyes were open, but they weren't focusing on him. He was talking to her but she wasn't answering. He struggled to keep it together. What was he supposed to do? His fingers were in Bella's thick hair, he stroked it, pushing it away from her face as he tried to get her to see him again. But she remained unfocused, her brow furrowing and lips parting as if forming silent words to someone he just couldn't see.

Then suddenly he saw a white feather float down in front of him. Jacob captured it in his open palm and stared at it in horror. He was deathly afraid of these things now. They were a bad omen. Each time he had come across a white feather someone had died. Dread filled his chest as he looked down at his angel's sweet face. "Bella Angel." He pleaded. "Don' go away."

Bella broke out of her trance. Her eyes snapped back into focus. "Follow the wolf, Jake. You have to follow the wolf."

Charlie was dying inside. He stared at the wreckage of Renee's hire car. It was just a burnt out shell. The acrid smell of smoke still rent the air as the firemen put out the last of the blaze. Charlie was standing by one of the fire trucks, an ambulance parked beside it. The paramedics were attending to the occupants of the other car. Thankfully they had escaped relatively unscathed. Renee was dead, that was obvious. What was left of her was strapped into the driver's seat. Her remains were the only ones that had been found so far. There was no sign of Bella's. Charlie didn't know what to think. Had Bella been thrown from the vehicle? If so, where was she? His deputies had searched the immediate area with no luck. Charlie had followed them, frantically calling his daughter's name, until he had been pulled back by his colleagues. None of them could understand the depths of his distress.

"Please be okay." Charlie prayed in his head. "Please, baby." He raised his head to the sky. The clouds were dark and heavy with rain. "I'll do anything, God." He pleaded. "Just let my little girl be okay. Please, please…"

"Chief." Mac, his deputy, face caked in grime, touched his shoulder. "We can't find any evidence that Bella was in the car. We're thinking your wife may have dropped her off somewhere beforehand."

Charlie snapped to attention. He ran his fingers through his hair as he considered this possibility. Renee had no friends in the area that she would have been able to leave Bella with. He just couldn't accept that his ex-wife would have abandoned their daughter by the side of the road. Not after going to all the effort of kidnapping her. His head ached as he tried to sort through his chaotic thoughts. Nothing was adding up here.

Then his attention was caught by something else. A loud howl rent the air, followed by another, then another. Charlie's blood ran cold as another possibility popped up in his head. What if Bella had somehow got out of the car before it caught fire? What if she had wandered into the forest and was right now in danger from a pack of wolves? If she was injured they would have smelt her blood, they would have been attracted by it. Charlie suddenly wrestled with Mac and grabbed his gun.

"What the hell, Chief?" Mac cried as he saw the crazy light in the older man's eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Bells is in the forest." Charlie waved the gun in Mac's face. "Can't you hear them? The damn wolves are gonna eat her alive if I don't get to her."

Mac stared at him in confusion. His chief was insane with grief and was clearly losing it. "That's just a coincidence. Let me get one of the paramedics. Just wait there, Chief." He sped off, hailing for his colleagues to help him.

Jacob was running, carrying Bella in his arms. Five wolves surrounded him on all sides. These were no supernatural creatures. They were ordinary sentient beings attracted to the supernatural wolf burning inside him. They had come when he called. They weaved and bobbed around Jacob as they led him toward the edge of the forest, toward safety. Jacob's eyes were blazing. They were no longer the eyes of a frightened child, but something else altogether. His bare feet hit the dirt, tearing it up behind him as he ran.

Charlie could still hear the wolves howling. He followed the direction of their calls. The gun was half cocked in his hand, ready to be fired at a second's notice. He would blow the wolves apart if they had laid one paw on his precious daughter. They were getting closer, he could hear them. Charlie paused, swallowing thickly as he raised his gun. He could hear movement just to the left of him. He kept his aim steady, his eyes narrowing as he got ready to shoot. The ground began to shake in front of him as if many paws were pounding on the earth. Charlie took a deep breath, his finger pressing on the trigger, and then Jacob burst out of the undergrowth carrying Bella in his arms. The boy was surrounded by a pack of wolves. They swarmed around him and Bella, howling in unison.

The gun clattered to the ground. Charlie just stared and stared. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was hallucinating. This wasn't real. It was a dream. His grief had driven him crazy. The wolves had fallen silent. They became still, dark eyes locked on Jacob, as if waiting for his command. Charlie saw Jacob bob his head as if releasing them. As one the wolves retreated back into the depths of the forest, melting into the shadows as if they had never been there.

A/N-thanks for reading!