Home
Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to Stephanie Meyer.
Chapter Twenty-The Little Brown Wolf
Bella lay awake worrying. She glanced to the side at Jacob and Ethan, who were sleeping peacefully. She wished she could do the same but she was fretting about Renee. Now that Jacob had revealed he had called the police, and that he thought her ex-husband had been hiding out at the neighbour's house the whole time, Bella couldn't shake the feeling that Edward might try and approach her mom. She recalled the last time she thought Renee had been in danger because of James. That time she had nearly lost her own life as she recklessly went to meet James, hoping to exchange her life for Renee's.
Now things were reversed. Edward had been her saviour that time, but now he who was the threat. Bella couldn't escape the irony of the situation. An hour passed and she still couldn't shake the feeling that her mother's life might be in danger. If Phil had truly left her like he had threatened, then Renee would be alone in the house, easy prey for a pissed off vampire.
Despite her protestations in the past, Bella knew that Edward had a dark side to his nature. He had admitted to her once how he had grown tired of the vegetarian lifestyle that Carlisle practised. He had set out on his own and hunted down murderers and rapists, or so he said, and drank their blood. He had been absent from his family for quite a few years before rejoining them again.
Bella felt sick when she remembered this. It had never occurred to her before but Edward must have been lying about pursuing bad people. How would he even know? Yes, he could read minds, but those sorts of people were not all gathered in one place and vampires needed to feed on blood every day. Had she been so blind to his faults that she had never questioned his motives before?
It made Bella even more panicky that Edward -who she knew hadn't hunted in a while- might relapse and go after her mother for sustenance. After all Renee might carry the same delectable blood that she did. Bella knew in her own mind that Mr Crabbs was probably dead. She pondered whether Alice would have seen Edward's intentions and if she would do anything about it. All these worries ran over in her mind on a loop and she became increasingly agitated.
Another hour passed and Bella couldn't take anymore. She checked to see that Jacob and Ethan were still asleep, then slipped out of the bed and grabbed her cell phone. She was going to ring Renee.
As quietly as she could, Bella tiptoed over to the door to their motel room and gently opened it. She winced when the door creaked. Jacob shifted about restlessly, but he didn't open his eyes. After waiting for a moment to make sure he didn't wake up, she stepped outside and shut the door softly behind her.
Bella emitted a relieved sigh as she walked a few metres away from her room so she wouldn't disturb Jacob and Ethan. She quickly dialled her mom's home phone. It rang and rang with no answer. Bella became desperate, she tried again, the result was the same. As a last resort she tried Renee's cell phone: still nothing. It went straight to voice mail. She clenched her hands into fists in frustration.
"Damn it!" She paced back and forth for a few seconds, trying to compose herself. She was so anxious she didn't know how to deal with it. After a while she decided her only recourse was to wake Jacob and ask him what to do. She couldn't leave Jacksonville without knowing whether her mother was alright.
Bella began to head back to her room when a hand shot out of the darkness behind her and clamped around her mouth. Bella tried to scream as she clawed at the hand, trying to get it off her. The cold, marble skin stole her breath, she knew it was Edward. She felt his chilled lips skim along the base of her throat as she heard him inhale deeply.
"We need to talk, my love." He whispered in her ear.
Bella tried her best to struggle against his hold, but her efforts were useless. He pulled her back against his hard body and retreated to an empty room a few doors down from her own. He edged backward into the room, making sure to keep his hand clamped firmly over her mouth so she couldn't cry out and alert Jacob.
It was quite dark inside the room. Only a single bedside lamp was lit. Bella's eyes were wide with fright as she looked around fearfully. She saw a shadowy shape lying on one of the twin beds, the figure had it's back to her so she couldn't quite see who it was, the dim light was making it hard to see anything clearly. Edward pushed her gently down into a chair and he quickly released his hold on her mouth. Bella tried to scream but his hand was swiftly replaced with a gag. Bella kicked out in frustration.
"Calm down, love." Edward suddenly appeared in her line of sight as he knelt before her. He reached out and touched her skin with his cold fingers, tracing the curve of her cheek with his thumb.
Bella felt nausea overwhelm her as she watched him lean in and run his nose along her neck, inhaling her scent. "You smell so sweet." He murmured. "Your blood has always called to me. Remember when Aro called you my singer? That was such an apt description."
Bella was unable to say anything, she flinched every time he touched her. Her eyes focused on the figure lying on the bed. There was something familiar about it. She strained her eyes harder and finally made out the ties binding the persons hands behind their back. Who was it? Were they even alive?
She came back into the moment as she heard Edward call her name softly. She was finding it hard to breathe through her nose, the panic making her heart beat too fast. Edward seemed to sense she was in some distress. He cupped her cheek again and looked directly into her eyes. "I hate putting you through this, Bella. When we are far from here, I can remove the gag."
Bella shuddered as he leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead, his lips ghosting down the side of her cheek and then all the way down her neck until they finally rested on her throat. She closed her eyes, unable to bear looking at him. In the dim light she could clearly see that the rims of his eyes had turned a deep red, a sure sign he had indeed given in to his blood lust.
A groan made Bella's eyes snap open again. It came from the person lying on the bed. Bella twisted her head around, vainly trying to see who it was. Finally, the person rolled over onto their back and glanced over in her direction. Bella gasped as she looked directly into the fearful eyes of her mother.
Ethan's eyes flared open and he began to shake, his body temperature rocketed alarmingly as he screamed in pain. Jacob woke with a jolt. He looked at his son in shock as Ethan thrashed about. He saw the rims of Ethan's eyes turn yellow. "NO, ETHAN NO. NOTAGAIN!"
Jacob picked his son up and cradled him in his arms. This couldn't be possible. Why was this happening again? He had thought his Alpha command had worked, but something had set Ethan's spirit wolf free once again. Jacob looked around wildly for Bella. Where was she?
"Bells? Where are you?" Jacob roared as he began to hunt around the room. He looked in the small en-suite bathroom, it was empty. She was nowhere in sight. A sick feeling entered his gut as he realised just what had sent his son spiralling back into the abyss. Cullen must have Bella, and in some strange way Ethan was tied to his mother, and when she was in danger, his spirit wolf tried to come to the surface to protect her. Why hadn't he known? How had Cullen got to Bella without his knowing about it? He had been exhausted but his natural instincts should have pre-warned him.
Jacob held his son up in front of him. Ethan was crying and shaking, his arms and legs drawn up to his chest as the ravages of the change took their toll on his body. Jacob closed his eyes and tried to connect with Ethan's wolf. A sharp pain shot through his head as an image began to form in his mind. A small brown wolf was running through the dewy grass. He had flecks of red in his fur, a halo of light was surrounding the tiny wolf as it sprinted frantically to and fro.
"Show me." Jacob commanded. "Where is mommy, Ethan?"
The tiny wolf stopped running and turned to face him directly. It's dark eyes, rimmed with yellow, stared into his. All at once everything went dark, the wolf disappeared and, in its place, stood Bella. Edward was in front of her, touching her face and daring to lay his lips on her soft skin. Rage tore through Jacob as he realised she was nearby. The image faded and the tiny brown wolf was in front of him again.
"Ethan, thank you. I'm going to get mommy now. Tell your wolf he has done well." Jacob ordered him.
Ethan's tiny body gave one last shudder and became still. His temperature returned to normal and when Jacob checked his son's eyes they were no longer rimmed with yellow. He carefully lay Ethan down on the bed and made sure he was comfortable. "I'll be back very soon, son. I just need to get mommy."
Ethan looked up at him with his intelligent dark eyes. Jacob could swear that his son, or maybe it was his inner spirit wolf, had understood everything he had just said.
Renee was making whimpering noises as she struggled to free her hands from their bindings. Edward had gagged her just like Bella. The two women stared desperately at each other as Edward continued to talk to Bella in a hypnotic tone. Bella felt sick every time that Edward kissed or caressed her skin, she couldn't believe that she had allowed him to do so freely at one time. She cursed the naïve teenager she had been. Renee was thrashing about as she wriggled her hands desperately, the bindings cutting into her skin. Bella tried to tell her mother with her eyes to be careful, but Renee was beyond reading anything.
Bella closed her eyes and pictured her son, Ethan. She was crying inside, desperately unhappy that she would never get to see him grow up. The vision she had of him and his little sister must have been false. Bella began to talk to Ethan in her head, begging him to forgive her, that she was sorry she had been so stupid.
An image of a little brown wolf, red flecks scattered throughout its fur appeared in her mind's eye. Bella forced herself to focus on the tiny wolf. She looked into his eyes and some innate instinct told her that she was seeing Ethan's spirit wolf. She begged the little wolf to help her, to go and warn Jacob that she was in danger. The wolf's intelligent dark eyes, rimmed with yellow, seemed to understand her pleas. It suddenly turned around abruptly and disappeared into darkness.
Bella opened her eyes and saw that Edward was staring directly at her. He leaned close one last time before the door to the room suddenly burst open and Jacob appeared. Within seconds Jacob had pulled Edward from her and was dragging him out of the room and away into the dark night.
Bella took a few seconds to gather herself together. When she was more composed, she tore off the gag and stood up, her hands and legs shaking. She carefully made her way to her mother. Renee had become still; her eyes were wide and staring. Bella could see that she was in shock. As gently as she could, Bella untied her mother's wrists and took off the gag. Renee immediately burst into tears and began mumbling Bella's name. Taking her by the hand, Bella led her mother out of the room and back to her own. She found Ethan lying where Jacob had left him.
Bella let go of Renee's hand and cuddled Ethan to her chest. "Thank you, Ethan. I love you." Tears poured down her face as she rocked him gently in her arms.
It took a long time for Bella to get Renee to calm down. Her mother kept babbling that Edward had reappeared after they and Phil had left. She had been shocked and disgusted to see that he had only one arm. Renee had tried to run but Edward had caught her easily and tied her up. He had waited until the night had fallen before carrying her out to a waiting car and dumping her on the back seat. She had passed out with fright and only came round when he had captured Bella too.
"What is he? He's not natural." Renee sat on the bed, rocking back and forth in fear.
"You need to calm down." Bella finally snapped. She had reached the end of her tether. Her mind was full of worry about Jacob, he had been gone for over two hours.
She kept glancing at Ethan, her son was fast asleep and seemed calm. She hoped that this was a good sign and that Jacob was okay. Ethan had sensed her distress; she could only assume he would know whether his father was in danger too.
"What was he?" Renee wailed again, her wild eyes staring into space.
"Mom, please, will you shut up for one minute." Bella finally cried in frustration.
Renee looked at her miserably and then lay on her side, curling up into a foetal position. When Bella checked on her after ten minutes, she saw with relief that her mother had fallen into a fitful sleep. Bella retreated to the only chair in the room and lay a sleeping Ethan on her lap. She kept a vigil on the door to the room, praying for Jacob to come back in one piece.
Four more tense hours passed before Jacob finally returned. Bella stared wide eyed as the door opened and he came stumbling inside. He was only partially clothed, a pair of shorts hung low on his hips. She gasped as she saw blood spatters along his torso and his face.
"Oh, Jake!" Bella whispered in distress as she gently lifted Ethan and placed him on the bed next to Renee, before running over to Jacob.
Jacob collapsed onto his knees, pure exhaustion making him unable to remain upright. Bella made sure he was comfortable, then quickly fled to the bathroom, returning with a wash cloth so she could start to tend to his wounds.
"What happened?" She whispered as she gently dabbed at the oozing blood. Some of his cuts were already scabbing over, they would be healed completely soon.
Jacob leaned his head back against the wall as he gazed at her with tired eyes. "He's dead, Bells. I killed him. He won't ever harm you or our family ever again."
Bella felt a sense of relief wash over her. She leaned across and kissed him on the lips. "I love you, Jake. I am so sorry that I..."
Jacob put a finger over her lips. "Doesn't matter. I love you, too."
Bella felt a lone tear slip out of her eye as she finished cleaning him up. With Renee and Ethan taking up the only bed, Bella pulled the duvet onto the floor and made up a temporary bed. Jacob lay down and Bella nestled next to him. Despite the trauma they had so recently suffered, they were both asleep within minutes.
A/N-thanks for reading!