A/N: Hello all! This chapter comes with a trigger warning for mentions of physical assault and almost death. I will not be going into details, but I will still mark the section with another trigger warning just in case.

"He sounds horrible if he left you in a forest alone" Hazel said with a sad look on her face.

"He had his flaws, I truly believe that he needs to spend time in therapy, but he is in my past and I hopefully won't have to talk to him ever again." I said strongly. In the back of my mind, however, I knew the likelihood was high if I let Alice and Jasper stay in my life. "The time in the forest was the last I've seen him, and this is the first time since that I am speaking about it or even thinking about him. Though it is also the beginning of a very dark time in my life." Hazel jumped onto the couch with Jake and I and laid her head across my feet, making Jake move his tail to wrap around my calves. "After he left, I tried to get back to my house, but ended up getting lost. It was during this time that I ran into a black bear. I was just going to accept my fate of being a bear's meal when it shifted into a human."

"Wait, some bears can change into humans? Can I do that? Is that why you can talk to me?" Hazel said, perking up.

"Some bears can yes, however, they are shapeshifters. For them, they are born human and when they reach puberty, they have the potential to shift, though not every generation can do it, and they don't always turn into bears either. Jake here is named after a wolf shapeshifter I know." Hazel noticeably lost her excitement at that statement. "As for being able to talk to you, its just another weird thing about me. Some vampires have gifts, and even though I'm not a vampire, I have two gifts, controlling the elements, and talking to animals."

"Have you always had these gifts?" Hazel asked, always curious.

"If you let her get back to the story you'd know" Jake hissed towards Hazel, causing Hazel to flinch.

"Sorry Bella" Hazel said, putting her head down. "I'll stop asking questions."

"No Hazel, you're fine. Jake, I know you are probably as anxious as I am when it comes to this story, but you need to be nice. We can't teach Hazel how to watch out for danger if she doesn't know what the danger is!" I scolded Jake.

"You're right, sorry Hazel. I'm just antsy because I saved Bella, and the risk of it happening again is something I didn't think I'd have to face again." With that Jake wrapped himself around Hazel in his version of a hug and they both settled back on the couch again.

"I forgive you Jake. So, Bella, what happened next"

Beginning of Trigger Warning

I took another deep breath, this was the hard part. "Well, after the bear shifted into a human boy, he asked if I needed help. The only interaction I've had with shapeshifters has been the wolves of La Push, so I was naive and said yes. The boy said he'd help me get back to the road so I could find my way home, but instead he took me back to his pack." Slowly I found myself bringing my knees to my chest, this was going to be harder than I thought. "It was there that I found out that their alpha had been looking for a girl who looked like me, rumored to be his mate. Only, when he looked him my eyes he realized that I wasn't who they thought I was, they attacked me. They told me that they couldn't let me live because I now know where their land is. First they attacked me in their human forms, but eventually their alpha grew bored and attacked me in his bear form. It was at this point that I also learned the bears had connections to vampires, because the alpha called for them after he attacked, telling them to finish me off. Before the vampires showed up, I heard Jake telling me I was going to be okay, then I lost consciousness. I honestly thought I was dead until I woke up in the hospital." My voice broke at the end and I started crying.

"I had been following Bella since she was found by the bear," Jake said, taking over the story telling. "I knew that the boy was taking Bella away from the road, but no matter how much I yelled, it was obvious she couldn't hear me. So, I followed, hoping the boy meant no harm, but knowing that I wanted to be there just in case because something told me to. When they attacked, I waited until they turned their backs then I used all of my strength to help her run. This is when I found out she could hear me too, because she helped to scoot away when I told her to come with me. As we were leaving, I saw one vampire show up, but they couldn't seem to find us, which was good, because Bella couldn't run anymore. I thought I was going to lose her until the scouting party showed up. When I heard them approach, I hid, afraid they would think I was the one who attacked her. Then I patrolled the forest, hoping she made it, and the day I heard her voice was the day I knew I couldn't leave her side again."

End of Trigger Warning

Hearing Jake's side of the story again made everything more real. I never got to see the vampires that were helping the bears, and Jake only saw one, which means Peter could be one of them, and I have no easy way of knowing. Hazel was trying not to cry, but it was obvious the story was affecting her. "Hey," I said, trying to mask my own cracking voice, "why don't we have a sleep over in my room tonight? And I'll skip classes tomorrow so that we can talk further about our game plan and how we want to go about finding out if Peter is connected?" Jake and Hazel both nodded and with that, we went to my room to go to sleep.