Chapter 04
At the end of a very long night, Scott finally told Isaac and Stiles to release Bella and Malia from their bonds. While Malia had been uneven throughout the night, shifting in and out, Bella had, as promised, remained calm and collected and most importantly; in control. It had been a good evening, everyone eating pizza while watching reruns on TV to get their mind off things such as the full moon.
The moment she hit the bed at the Argent’s house, she had dozed off for a couple of hours, only to wake up because she could hear Charlie’s voice in the living room downstairs. Groaning, she checked to see the weather and it was sunny out, so at least he’d be alone.
Isaac was still asleep, unfortunately on the floor because she probably kicked him out of the bed again in her slumber, so she had to tiptoe around him to get to the shower to quickly freshen up. She smelled of sweat, sleep and iron, and she didn’t like it. A change of clothes wouldn’t hurt, either.
When she got out of the shower, Isaac was awake, sitting on the bed, scratching his head. “Your dad’s downstairs.”
“I know.”
“Are you going to tell him you’re a wolf?”
“No, why would I?” Bella said with a shrug as she softly kissed Isaac’s lips. “Go back to sleep or something, I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Want me to come with?”
“It’s my dad, Isaac,” she said with a smile in her voice. “I think I know how to handle my father.”
“Just saying,” he shrugged. “I’ll be here when you need me.”
Bella made her way downstairs as she put her hair in a ponytail, following the voices of the three men talking. “Hi Dad,” she greeted him happily and hugged him when he got to his feet. “Great to see you’re still in one piece!”
Charlie let out a sigh of relief as his daughter hugged him. “While I’m incredibly glad to see you’re still alive, Bella, why did you run like that? You had us all worried!”
“I’m all right,” she smiled at him as she let go of him. “More than fine, now.” She looked at Sheriff Stilinski for a moment and narrowed her eyes at him. Too bad he was one of the humans she couldn’t touch. She wanted to tear him to shreds for calling her father about her location, but then again, he was only doing his job.
“We were worried sick, you know,” Charlie said, eyeing his daughter. “Is it drugs?”
“What?” Bella blinked at him. “Have you been talking to Jake?”
“No, sweetheart, I’ve been talking to Dr. Cullen, seeing as they saw you more than I have over the last few years.” Bella didn’t like the patronizing sound in her father’s voice.
“Dr. Cullen is a grade A dickhead, and he can shove his pretentious attitude where the sun doesn’t sparkle,” she deadpanned, causing Argent to stifle a grin.
“That’s no way to speak about him like that,” Charlie said disapproving. “He’s been setting up search parties and filed a missing person’s report on you, even though I told him you’d surface eventually and that it wasn’t necessary.”
“He knew where I was the entire time,” she shot at him. “Don’t let them fool you, I’ve been using a bank card that Jasper set up for me all the damn time, when I was in Europe, anyway. They knew exactly where I was.”
“Bella, calm down,” Argent said calmly.
“No,” she said angrily. “The Cullens have been manipulating me for years and now they’ve done it to Charlie, I mean, come on. It’s obvious.”
Charlie sighed as he pulled his daughter into his arms again. It was obvious that Carlisle had been right, his daughter did seem to be a little unstable. “It’s okay, sweetheart, we’ll get you home and get you the right kind of help.”
With a growl, Bella pushed her father into the Sheriff and felt how her face changed into full wolf face, fangs and all. “I will not go back,” she growled, ready to fight her way out of this if needed. She let out a little yelp when Isaac grabbed her by the neck and pulled her backward, almost sending her flying.
“Calm down,” he said as he kept his hands on her shoulders. “No need to take it out on your father.”
“He wants me to go back with them,” she said as she met Isaac’s eyes and calmed down a little, temporarily forgetting that she was a free person and that the time that she had to listen to her father had long passed. “He wants me to be miserable.”
“Don’t be stupid,” he smiled at her and kissed her forehead. “You’re an adult, remember? He can’t make you do things you don’t want, not anymore.”
“What was that?” Charlie said shocked as he sat down on the couch, disbelief all across his face.
“What was what?” Bella smirked, her eyes narrowing as they flashed yellow again quickly.
“Your daughter is a werewolf,” Chris Argent said as he took a seat again, confident in Isaac keeping Bella from mauling her father. “She was bitten by one when she was 10 when she was spending time at the Indian Reservation.”
Charlie huffed. “There’s no such thing as werewolves.”
“Then how would you describe what you just witnessed?” Argent countered before looking over his shoulder to Bella. “He doesn’t know about the vampires and shifters either?”
“Nope.”
“Vampires? What?”
“And you were going to marry one?” Chris asked confused.
Bella shrugged. “It was better he didn’t know, he wouldn’t understand anyway.”
The hunter looked back at Charlie in thought, trying to piece together everything again before running a hand over his face. “And that vampire is in town now. How much of a threat is he going to be Bella?”
“Depends on if he came alone,” she turned to Charlie. “Charlie, did you and Edward come alone?”
“No, of course not,” Charlie huffed. “Everyone wanted to come along. They left Jasper behind as he wasn’t feeling too well. Something about a heat stroke.”
She looked at Argent. “See? He doesn’t even think that getting a heat stroke in Forks is weird. No bells are ringing. This is why I didn’t tell him. And to answer your question; I think we can probably take them.”
“Yeah, but you’re not trained.”
“True,” she said with a nod and thought for a moment. “We’re going to have a hard time, but I think we’ll be able to. I mean, Derek’s willing to help out.”
“I think the Twins would be more than happy to help too,” Isaac offered. “Sure, they can’t become one big ass wolf anymore, but they’re more than capable.”
“What do you mean?” she blinked at Isaac, tilting her head to the side in confusion. “Twins, one wolf?”
“Twins, two wolves and one big ass puppy. Like, huge. Hurts like hell, too.”
“Hmm,” she said as she tilted her head to the other side. “Sounds interesting, how does that work?”
“It was freaky. Like… they’d absorb each other and grow in size and strength. They beat the crap out of us on numerous of occasions when they were still in the Alpha pack – pack of Alphas.”
“And you can keep the vampires from getting into our heads?”
Bella looked at Argent and sighed. “Yes, but it won’t do any good when we all spread out to attack them. Not that I know of, anyway. I could try, but yeah.”
“I’ll round everyone up so we can come up with a plan,” he looked at Charlie and then back at Bella. “Maybe ask Deaton for something hallucinogenic, so Charlie believes he had a bad trip?”
Charlie rubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t think I need drugs for that, thanks.”
“Okay, Dad, crash course.” Bella moved passed Isaac and sat down on the table to face him. “The Cullens are vampires. They feed on animals which is why their eyes are golden. If they’re red, they’ve been sipping on humans.”
“Okay…”
“And vampires live long.”
“Got that…”
“Now, I’m a werewolf. Isaac,” she nodded towards the guy leaning against the wall behind her. “Is one too. He has friends who are werewolves, and he is part of a pack. Like… there’s one leader, the Alpha.”
“Oh!” Charlie smiled. “Like wild dogs!”
Isaac snorted. “Something like that. And our leader has red eyes while the rest of the pack has yellow…”
“Unless you’ve killed an innocent, then they’re blue.” Argent pointed out. “Like Derek.”
“Um…” Charlie started to look back at his daughter.
“And then you have shifters. Jake is a shifter, created by magic. He transforms into a big ass ugly wolf. If I hadn’t demolished my phone, I would have shown you, but the tribe’s wolves are there to fight the Cullens or any vampire who are a threat to humans.”
“Wait, what?”
“Native American tribes are known for their magic,” Argent started to explain. “It’s their magic that kept Bella from being a werewolf all these years after she was bitten.”
“Okay so who are the good guys and who are bad?” he asked confused.
“We’re the good guys. The Cullens are the bad. The Quileutes… Well… they’re supposed to be good, but they’re full of shit. And when we’re fighting the Cullens tonight, you’re going to stay with the sheriff, and you two keep away from everything because they will hurt you.”
“Now, hold on a second,” the sheriff said defensively. “I’ve assisted with the Wolves a few times.”
“Yes, you have,” Chris said without blinking as he got up and started taking out a few toys. “But he has no experience in this and you will need to help him here. He’s potential leverage for her if one gets past us, and you can help protect him.”
“Bullets won’t hurt them much.” Bella pointed out. “Molotov cocktails will do the trick just nicely. They need to burn. Grenades, anything that goes boom!”
“Now hold on a second,” Charlie said, causing Bella and Isaac to grin like idiots. “If they’re as dangerous as you say they are, I don’t want you out there.”
“Dad, I can take care of myself,” Bella assured him. “I’m a werewolf now. I have super strength, and I can heal faster.” She held up her hand and forced her claws out. “These babies are sharp as knives.”
“I’m impressed,” Argent said, apparently just that. “You survived your first full moon and you have control over yourself? That’s amazing.”
“Does it hurt?”
“I’m all right,” she smiled at him as she retracted her claws. “Seriously. And I’m sorry I didn’t call but the Cullens would have found out that I’m here.”
“Instead I brought them straight to you.”
Bella hugged him. “No worries, I expected law enforcement to meddle with things. It’s what you guys do best.”
“I’ve texted everyone to meet us here in 30 minutes, it would give us plenty of time to go over the basics.” Isaac said as he held up his phone. “Still hours to go til sundown.”
“So you ran because you realized Edward wasn’t good for you?” Charlie asked his daughter as she pulled away from him after her hug. “Why didn’t you do it sooner?”
“Because I was stupid and in love. Or at least I thought I was in love, I don’t know, let’s just stick with stupid, and I’ve learned my lesson.”
“You should have talked to me, sweetheart.”
“There’s nothing you could have done, Dad. Besides, the Cullens are the least of our worries.”
“There’s worse?”
“Oh yeah, their royalty. I made another stupid mistake because I thought I loved Edward, but don’t worry, you’ll be safely back in Forks when that happens.”
“You’re not coming back with me?”
She smiled at him and shook her head. “You know I never really liked Forks. Too cold,” she then nodded towards Isaac again. “Besides, I’m not leaving that hottie.”
Isaac blushed as he uncomfortably rubbed his neck. “You need to stop.”
Bella smirked as she glanced over to him before focussing back on her father. “He has these great hands, a wicked sense of humor and he’s sweet and caring. Oh, did I mention his hands?”
“Sweetheart, I don’t need to know about that,” Charlie shook his head.
“And the sex. Oh, man.”
“Bella!” All the adult men scold. Argent then added, “You need to remember a filter.”
“I will, but do you have any idea how freeing it is not to have to think about what you’re saying all the time because you’re afraid you’re stepping on some vampire toes, and they could actually kill you for not saying the words they want to hear? Don’t worry, the filter will come back, just… dad needs to know I’m happy.”
“Maybe a little too happy,” Stilinski mumbled as he sat stupefied.
“Sorry, my fault,” Isaac grinned.
~oOo~
Charlie watched on from behind the window to see his daughter with her new friends in the backyard, shocked to see what was happening. At first they had looked like regular teens, good looking, healthy teens and then they all changed, their faces, the hair on their bodies. The two adult wolves looked significantly too old to hang around with those teenagers who looked like they weren’t even out of high school. “You okay with all this?” Charlie asked Chris, seemingly the responsible adult.
“If you’d have asked me that a couple of years ago, I’d say ‘no’, seeing as the family business is hunting things that go bump in the night. But now? It’s alright. Scott’s a good leader.”
“And their parents, they all know?”
“Well, Scott’s mother knows. The Sheriff knows because his son is practically attached to Scott’s hip and got his ass dragged into it because of the supernatural. Kira’s mother is also a fox.”
“A fox?” Charlie looked over at the ordinary looking girl. “She didn’t change.”
“No, but she’s a Kitsune, a Japanese fox who can manipulate electricity,” Argent calmly explained. “The twins, well, they’re old enough and shouldn’t even be in high school anymore… Malia has spent nine years as a coyote. Then there’s Derek and Peter, there’s no explanation for them, really. Peter is an unhinged asshole and Derek… well. Never mind him. Isaac is an orphan. We’re all taking turns with him, with taking him in, making sure he’s being fed and all, but he’s a good kid, Charlie.” He assured him. “He came to me for help after running into your girl in France. Kept her safe and in line. Still does.”
“So glad I’m not the new guy anymore,” Stilinski grinned as he handed the two men a mug of coffee to continue to observe the kids in the yard. “Isaac truly is a great kid. You shouldn’t be too worried about your daughter anymore.”
Charlie had been watching his daughter through the window; her head had turned up towards where they were as if she knew exactly where they were. She looked at them irritated before stomping off in annoyance and he looked at the men with raised eyebrows hoping they could explain his temperamental daughter’s actions.
“Also, the wolves have super hearing, it’s best not to discuss them while they’re in hearing range,” Argent grinned as he took a sip of his coffee.
“Well great. And just how far is this hearing range extend?”
“Depends on the wolf, how well they got things under control, if they’re an Alpha or not…”
“Bella?”
Argent shrugged. “Until she accepts Scott as her Alpha, she’s packless, so she’s an Omega, the lowest rank of the wolves,” he looked at her and Scott. “She’s in control, so her hearing range is alright, I suppose. Maybe several blocks in her wolf form.”
“Fuckers,” Bella muttered as she sighed and looked at Isaac, who had been listening in as well, with a big grin on his face.
“He’s right, you know.”
“Are the twins in your pack?” She asked Scott. They looked like bulldozers, quite scary if she had to be honest. She didn’t trust them, and she certainly didn’t like Aiden.
“No.”
“He doesn’t trust us enough, so feel flattered that he wants you,” Aiden remarked with a smirk. “Everyone wants you, don’t they? How does it feel to be so popular?”
“Aiden, shut up.” Ethan rolled his eyes at his brother.
She let out a groan as she looked at Scott. “What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing,” he said laughing. “It’s your choice. I mean, you probably will fight me on most decisions, but that’s good. I don’t always make the right choice and as much as Stiles hated Isaac’s input most of the time, it worked. So why not have you too?”
She let out a low growl and gave a slight nod, not wanting to say it out loud, mainly because now she would have something that would tie her down, again.
“And hey, if it doesn’t work out, you can leave whenever you want to. Be an omega or find a different Alpha. It’s all good but know that I’d be happy to have you.”
She nodded again as she turned to Isaac, grinning mischievously and set off her feet, jumping at him, flipping herself midair as she used his shoulders for stability before landing on her feet gracefully and kicked him in his back.
“Hey!”
“Hi,” she grinned.
“Well, I suppose that’s new.” Charlie said, blinking at his daughter’s agility. “She wasn’t even able to run without falling over her own feet.”
Bella grabbed a cushion from the chair and lobbed it towards the window where the three men were observing them from. “They need to stop.”
“Aw, Bella’s dad is proud of his little girl,” Aiden teased, causing Bella to fling herself at him, but he easily deflected her and pushed her away mid jump. “I like your new toy, Isaac.”
Isaac growled in response, moving in preparation to attack to defend her. “Don’t talk about her like that…”
“Aw, just harmless fun,” Aiden grinned as he looked at Bella. “She’s really hot too.”
He took a step up to him, snarling. “She’s off limits…”
“Why? Because you two make it clear that you’re not dating or a couple.”
Scott looked at the exchange, wondering if he should step in or not. He was pretty sure Aiden was trying to bait Isaac into a fight. Harmless fun, maybe, but something to seriously look out for.
“Hey Bella,” Aiden said as he pulled her closer to him. “Want to date me instead of Lahey?”
Bella let out a low growl as she kneed Aiden in the groin and stepped away from him, taking on a defensive stance. What was it with this guy? Isaac had said she was off-limits, she was off-limits, why keep going?
He licked his lips as he kept his eyes on her. “I’ve heard you like sex.”
“Aiden, stop,” Ethan told his brother as he had his eyes on Isaac, who had gotten closer to his brother. While Aiden could easily take on Isaac, bloodshed wasn’t part of this exercise. “This isn’t funny.”
Scott definitely had to step in. He quickly jumped between Aiden and Isaac and growled at him. “Stand down, Isaac.”
“Oh, come on, Scott.” Aiden whined before cowering when Scott turned around to face him. “Fine, fine. Sheez, she’s just a hot piece of ass, who cares?”
“No, no no,” Scott pushed against Isaac as he wanted to push passed Scott to do something to Aiden. “Isaac!” He hated to step on his stripes with Isaac, but that was the only way to get through to him. At least this was a verbal warning instead of his growl. Isaac physically relaxed and took a few steps back before tripping over something and landed on his ass in the grass.
Bella quickly made her way over to Isaac to make sure he was okay and scowled at Scott, so much for having some fun with Aiden. Surely, she and Isaac could take him. She sat down behind him and protectively put her arms around him as she ruffled Isaac’s hair.
“Well,” Peter said lightly. “Who wants take out? I’m buying.”
“Chinese?” Bella perked up. “I love Chinese!”
They had Charlie call Edward saying that Bella escaped to the woods to lure him there while all the wolves were waiting for the Cullens to show up once the sun went down. Bella was still annoyed by Aiden and had successfully thrown a chopstick at him during dinner and was surprised it actually pierced his skin, causing him to yelp and almost tear her apart. He would have, if it hadn’t been for Derek and Ethan holding him down.
She nearly vomited when an unpleasant smell wafted their way, and looking at Isaac, he wasn’t to happy about the smell either. They were well tucked away up in the trees, just to have an advantage, but she had to cling on to Isaac as not to fall off the branch.
“Bella, where are you?”
Bella blinked, this was so not the person she had expected it to be. She looked at Isaac and mouthed ‘Jasper’.
“Come on, I’m just here to talk, they’re on their way to get you.”
It took her a moment to realize the smell came from Jasper and shuddered against Isaac.
“They will kill you.”
Isaac let out a low growl and shifted a little to be able to jump off the branch. “Like hell…”
“Isaac, don’t,” she hissed but he had already jumped down to face Jasper, immediately rolling away because Jasper took a swing at him. Growling, Bella dropped down from the tree as well, surprising Jasper as she graciously landed on two feet. She moved herself between Isaac and Jasper and looked at him. “You need to go.”
“What was that?” Jasper said confused as he looked up to the tree and then back at Bella. “Did you just do what I think you did?”
“I’m not saying it again, Jasper. I’m giving you an out, because you’ve helped me get away from your family. Leave. Now.”
“What? You two, against them? Are you crazy?” he huffed, cocking his head a little as he couldn’t influence her emotions anymore. “What’s going on? Why can’t I—”
“Manipulate my emotions? Or one of my friends?” Bella smirked as her eyes flashed a golden yellow color. “You’d have to thank James for that. Or Edward, seeing as he was incompetent in sucking away all the venom.”
Jasper looked confused. Poor, little Jasper.
“Leave. If you’re not gone in three seconds, I will end you and make a nice cozy fire out of you to lead your family right to us,” Bella held up her hand with three fingers and started to count down. She wanted to spare him, she really did. He had helped her to get away from his family but, on the other hand, he had manipulated her emotions willingly. He deserved to die. She made the decision to kill him once the countdown was over and he hadn’t moved.
She knew it would be hard to go up against the Major with Isaac, she could hear the others in the trees, silently cursing her and Isaac for going after Jasper, but to be honest, this was too easy. Jasper had come alone and Bella was out for blood.
When she reached the end of her countdown, Jasper was still looking at her, confused and nailed to the ground. She let out a growl as she felt her features change and jumped him. Jasper quickly deflected her attack by grabbing her and throwing her far away before taking a swing at Isaac, who had followed her lead. “Bella, I don’t want to fight you.”
“Then you should have run,” she snarled as she advanced again, this time following Isaac and once Jasper had his hands on him, she jumped on Jasper’s back and started to rip his head off. With Isaac holding his arms, there wasn’t much he could do except for maybe jump in the hope to shake the two wolves off, but he didn’t. He couldn’t, as Malia had quietly followed them down and had dived for Jasper’s legs which she was holding firmly in place as she grinned up to Bella.
Bella now understood why werewolves were the vampire’s natural enemy. It was easy to bring down one vampire. She now understood the Quileute wolves’ bravado, but she also knew that one Cold One was a whole lot different than a handful.
She didn’t expect what happened next though, her cowering when Scott let out a low growl, causing her to fall off Jasper and scurry her way to the side, pretty much as Isaac and Malia did at the same time. Scott was angry with her, wasn’t he? That couldn’t be happening. Scott was a great Alpha. The Alpha was great. Holy shit, the Alpha was mighty.
“Thank you,” Jasper said with a polite nod towards Scott.
Scott nodded back. “She’s angry.”
“She has every right to,” he replied, rubbing his neck. Surprised by Bella’s strength. She had almost managed to tear his head off his torso. “So uhh… she’s a werewolf? When did that happen?”
“Not now. You do realize that we are going to kill at least one of your coven, don’t you?”
Jasper shrugged. “Fine by me, they ordered me to stay home because they had plans for Bella and found out about my betrayal. Hell, I’ll even help you, I want my own life back.”
“Can I trust you?”
“No, you can’t,” he answered honestly. “For one, you don’t know me. Two; I am partially responsible for Bella’s misfortune in the care of my family, which is why I helped her out to begin with. In doing so, I showed her good will. You can’t trust me because my family have ways to exert control over me, but I’m willing to fight on your side so that Bella can have a normal life, free from my family at least.”
“Good enough for me,” Scott said with a nod, appreciating Jasper’s honesty.
Isaac helped Bella to her feet and grinned. “You didn’t expect him to have that effect on you, huh?”
She shook her head as she looked at Jasper. She still wanted to tear off his head, but Scott had called her off. Was he going to do that with Edward too, if Edward would show remorse? If so, she was definitely going to try and fight it. Edward was hers. She shrugged off the stunned feeling and followed Isaac back up the tree, glad to feel his arm around her for safety. “Asshole.”
“Who? Scott or Jasper?” Isaac snorted.
“Both.”
“Well, no doubt the noise would have alerted them to our location, so that’s a plus.”
She snorted as a response and took a deep breath to remind herself to keep breathing.
“Can’t wait to see who you’ve been hanging around with,” Isaac whispered in her ear. “And to see you tear him to shreds because he deserves it.”
“He’s a douche,” she grinned and took another deep breath to get rid of Jasper’s awful scent in her nose. “Ugh, he smells bad.”
“Like rotten eggs.”
“Rotting corpse, more like.”
“You know I can hear you, right?” Jasper’s voice sounded, Bella could detect a smile in his voice though.
Bella huffed. “So?”
“If I can hear you, they can probably can too.”
“Good,” She shifted a little on her branch and saw some movement in the distance. “Heads up.”
The vampires came to a halt right in the spot where she had attacked Jasper, their scent being overwhelmingly terrible and she found herself once again fighting against the nausea. “I don’t smell her,” Emmett spoke as he looked around. “Jasper was here.”
“I thought you took care of him,” Edward remarked as he looked as if he was constipated, obviously trying to get a read on anything around them but Bella’s shield worked better than she expected.
“Not good enough.”
“Boring.” Bella yawned as she dropped out of the tree and rolled away from the Cullens to a safer distance.
“Bella,” Edward said surprised, almost as if nothing was going on, more in a way of ‘hey, we happen to be in the same spot at the same time’ kinda way. She waited for the ‘What are you doing here’ but it never came.
“I ran away for a reason,” she said as she focused on him, she was pretty sure that the others had eyes on the other vampires. “In case you don’t know, but running away usually means that it’s over.”
“You don’t mean that. Let’s go home, we’ll fix you up.”
“No.”
“Bella, come on, don’t be like this,” Edward pleaded and it was hard for her to keep a straight face. “Charlie’s with us as well, you’d like to see your dad again, right?”
“I’ve already spoken to him and you’re not going to do anything to hurt him.”
“Well, what about Jacob? He missed you a lot.”
“I don’t care about Jacob,” she growled as her eyes flashed yellow. “What I do care about is ripping out your throat and shove it up your ass, but I’ll settle for removing your head and set you on fire.”
“Oh my God,” Alice gasped upon seeing Bella’s eyes. “Bella! You’re sick! Let Carlisle have a look at you!”
She took a step back as Alice and Carlisle approached her, lowering herself somewhat to the ground as she could hear every wolf in the trees take shallow breaths, but she could feel their anticipation, their determination to hurt anyone who was going to hurt her. “I’m finally who I was supposed to be. Put your hands on me and you’ll regret it.”
“Bella…”
“Stop Bella-ing me!” She let out a roar as she felt how her hands turned into claws. “You have two options; one: You leave me alone. Not just me, but you’ll stay away from Charlie as well. Move to a different town, whatever. Two: If you decide you’re not leaving without me, you’ll be dead. Your choice.”
“Alright, that’s enough. You’re coming with me,” Edward said and before she knew it, he had his arms around her, squeezing her tightly, but only for a moment as he got pulled off of her by Isaac. The rest of them, Scott, Malia, Derek and the twins, were on the ground as well and Kira and Argent had gotten close to them. The wolves moved between Edward and the rest of the vampires as to isolate him just for Bella and she was thankful for that.
“What the hell, Bella!” Emmett cried out and focused his gaze on Aiden. “I can take you. Easily.”
“Calm down,” Carlisle spoke in his soothing doctor voice. “Let’s not get Bella’s new friends killed, I’m sure we can come to a peaceful solution that’s beneficial for all of us.”
Isaac watched Edward as the vampire returned to them. He couldn’t understand why Bella had fallen for him, really. He looked like a pompous ass, the way that he moved, the way that he looked at all of them, as if he was better than them. Maybe humans were more susceptible to some sort of charm that he had tucked away somewhere, but Isaac was glad that his Bella saw sense. What?
“She’s not going anywhere with you,” Scott spoke up. “We’ve all heard what you’ve done and how you’ve been treating her, she’s staying. Like Bella said, you have two options to choose from. What’s it going to be?”
“We can take them, Carlisle. They’re not the Quiletes,” Emmett said, already hyped up and ready for battle.
“No, they’re better,” Jasper’s voice sounded as he jumped out of the tree. “And you’ll have to fight me as well.”
“Jasper, don’t do this,” Alice breathed out. “Please, don’t.”
“Option two it is,” Bella growled as she lunged herself at Edward, knocking him down to the ground by force. She struggled a little to make sure he couldn’t push her off of him, but after realizing that his arms came right off, she removed them and chucked one of the arms at Carlisle’s head.
While Isaac held Edward down by pressing down on his shoulders, Bella shimmied down Edward’s body and started to open his pants, while keeping her eyes on Isaac. With a grin on her face, she felt around for Edward’s parts and tore off his cock with ease. “Aww, would you look at that, I was right,” she said as she held up the appendage. “A tiny little glitter weiner! Alice! Catch!”
“Bella, stop, please,” Edward pleaded as he tried to shake Isaac off of him.
She reached into his pants again and retrieved his balls. “And look! Mini glitter bombs! Rosalie, these are for you!”
“Remind me not to piss her off,” Derek said amused as he easily removed the head of what looked like Carlisle’s mate while everyone was distracted by her display.
“Jasper, stop!” Alice squealed in agony as Jasper lunged at her. “Please, please don’t. I love you. You know that, right?”
“We have to pay for what we’ve done to her,” Jasper said as he took his wife in a headlock. “Either you will come with me to Volterra after this is over or I will kill you right now.” He didn’t want to kill her but he also knew that he was probably going to Volterra on his own; she never wanted to be in Aro’s service. Neither did he, but it was punishment for breaking the rules.
“With you?” Alice asked as she looked at her mate. “Not without you?”
“With me, darlin’,” he assured her as he loosened his hold on her. “It’ll be over before you know it.”
“I don’t want to fight them.”
“Then don’t.” Jasper said as he let go of her and softly kissed her. “You’ll be alright.”
Bella, in the meantime, was oblivious to the others fighting the Cullens as she contemplated what to do next to Edward. There was venom everywhere, and she kept an eye on Isaac to make sure he wouldn’t get in touch with it. She could feel it burn, but it didn’t do much to her, maybe because of the residual venom in her system, she didn’t know. She didn’t want to break off too many little pieces because she’d scatter them as she’d throw them away and everything needed to be burned.
Grinning, she dug her claw into his chest and ripped out his heart. “Mr. Argent, do you happen to have flares on you?” She called out to him as she pushed Edward’s heart in his mouth and kept pushing until his mouth was clear but was obstructing the airway. It wasn’t as if he needed to breathe anyway, but it was the thought that count.
Argent tossed her an emergency flare while keeping his distance. He didn’t want to get caught up in the fighting as they seemed to have it under control. Bella certainly took her time with her ex-fiancé, and maybe that was good for her. Therapy. Yeah, he was going to stick to that word. Perhaps cleansing. That was a good word too.
Bella smirked as she looked at Edward, there were holes everywhere and venom still gushing out of his body. He deserved it. A part of her regretted doing this, but for the most part, she felt awesome. Empowered. Done. Finally done. She nodded towards Isaac to let Edward go as she got off of him and lit the flare. “Goodbye, Fuckward,” she said before planting the burning flare upside down into the heart shaped hole in his torso and saw how the flames started to consume him.
“Carlisle, help!” Edward managed to cry out and tried to get up. Bella stomped on his knees to make sure he wasn’t getting up and all he could do was flap around on the ground as if he was a fish out of water. “Bella, please, stop this.”
“Shut up,” she rolled her eyes at him as she put her arms around Isaac and looked up to him. “A shame that our cozy campfire has a big mouth.”
“Wouldn’t it have been better if you tore off his head first?”
“Why? He’d still be alive then too,” she said with a shrug. “He’d still have been crying for daddy, but…” she looked ahead of her and grinned. “He just got sliced in half by the kitten and her huge sword.”
“Rosalie!” Edward cried out, in hope to reach his sister, the flames were lapping at his face now and it looked spectacular.
“Shut up, Edward!” Rosalie spat as she tried to fight off the twins. “This is your mess! Your fault!”
Scott looked at Jasper and his mate, both having turned their backs to the fight and then at Rosalie, who made it quite hard on the twins to get her, but Scott had been stunned. The way Bella had spoken about the family was that Edward was their pride and joy, their special vamp, their everything and that the family had been extremely close knit, but this definitely proved otherwise.
With Edward having been reduced to a smouldering heap, Scott decided that they should end this. He had to admit, he had seen tougher fights, he had been worrying about nothing. Derek seemed to have the same idea as they both ran to Rosalie and the twins and pulled her apart. They then collected all parts of the remaining vampires that hadn’t surrendered and threw them on top of Edward’s burning corpse and watched in silence as the fire consumed them all.
“Where the fuck is Emmett?” Bella piped up as she had noticed that there was one body missing. “Big, tall guy.” When everyone just looked sheepishly, she turned her attention to Alice. “Where the fuck is he?”
“Bella, you’ve killed the majority of our family. You got your revenge, just let him go,” Alice said as she held on to Jasper, probably for safety. But just because Scott allowed this to happen, didn’t mean Bella had to like it. “It’s over. He’d be crazy to come back.”
“Where is he?”
“I promise we’ll make it right for you,” Jasper spoke quietly as he looked at Bella. “We’re going to make sure you won’t be bothered by the Volturi and we’ll leave you in peace. Just let him go, Bella. He used to be your favourite.”
Bella huffed. “Why do you think I want him back? To show that I can beat him.” No, Alice and Jasper were right, she’s had her revenge, but she couldn’t help but want more. Just a little bit. Since Alice was now just as off limits as Jasper, the only one she could still go after was Emmett.
“What will you do next?” Scott asked Jasper and Alice as he looked at Bella to take a step back, and she begrudgingly walked back to Isaac. “Can I have your word that you will not bother Bella or any of her family?”
“You can,” Jasper replied. “Alice and I will be going to Volterra and seek an audience with the Volturi. I can’t promise you we’ll be in time for them to call off their lackeys, but we will inform the Volturi about Bella’s new status as a supernatural being. And we will tell them the truth about what we’ve done and shall accept whatever punishment they seem fit.”
“Be well, Bella,” Alice spoke to her. “I am incredibly sorry for what we’ve put you through.” Bella rolled her eyes at that. Alice didn’t sound even close to being remorseful. “Have a good life. You truly are special and just how special you are you will find out in about six months.”
“Wuh?” She responded confused before looking up to Isaac, who shrugged. When she wanted to ask Alice to elaborate, the two Cold Ones had disappeared. Bella growled as she looked at Scott. “Why do you see the best in people? Jasper’s an asshole, and I gave him the chance to leave because he helped me. And he didn’t leave. Consequences.”
“Look, I get it, you’re angry,” Scott said as he defensively held up his hands. “But we don’t just go around and killing people, even if they deserve it. That’s not how I do things.”
“So you believed him when he said he was going to hand himself over to the Volturi?” Bella huffed as she shook her head. If it hadn’t been for Isaac keeping a hand on her shoulder, she would have started to pace around. “They’re liars. The world is better off without them.”
“Maybe, but I appreciated his honesty.”
Bella blinked at Scott and looked at everyone else. It looked like they were all agreeing with Scott, except for Derek and Isaac and maybe Malia and the twins. She then looked back at Scott. “Okay. But if someone dies at their hands, it’s on you.”
It was unbelievable that they were okay with Emmett running off and Jasper and Alice ‘handing themselves in’. Didn’t they have a brain? Or at least a cunning one at that? It felt as if she was back in Forks with the Cullens with the way that Scott wanted to control her, to tell her what to do. No, this wasn’t going to happen again.
“You need to calm down,” Scott continued as he looked at her. “Promise me you won’t go after any of them on your own or with Isaac. Don’t chase them.”
“Or what?” She asked furiously. The fire that was currently burning next to them wasn’t revenge enough, it felt good, but knowing that there were still Cullens out there infuriated her. “You know what, never mind. Thank you for helping me. Isaac was right when he said that he had helpful friends,” she said, throwing up her hands in defense and took Isaac’s hand before she started to walk away, dragging him along with her.
When they were out of earshot and heading in the direction of somewhere that wasn’t the Argent house, Isaac stopped her and made her look at him. “What’s wrong with you?” She looked at him, angrily, before trying to walk off again. He took her by the arm and pulled her back to him, which made her even angrier than she already was and he then remembered their deal. “Right,” he said as he let go of her.
No strings. Just fun. No strings, just fun, he repeated in his head. It felt like something more, far more, what he and Bella shared, but he didn’t want to scare her off by telling her so. The look in her eyes told him that something had scared her off, and he probably knew the reason; Scott. Scott and the fact that he was an Alpha, and he could make her stop. Make her do things she didn’t want to do. “You don’t have to accept him as your Alpha, you know. Sure, you’ve accepted him, but you can just as well refuse him. He won’t have that much power over you anymore.” Besides, he had a feeling that it had been peer pressure for her to join Scott’s pack and mainly just to shut up everyone else.
She stopped and turned around to face Isaac, thinking about his words. Yeah, she knew she didn’t have to accept Scott as her Alpha, maybe it had been a bad idea to do it. She had rushed into it, thinking she’d be good with a group of strangers she had just met because Isaac knew them. Maybe, subconsciously, she had accepted Scott as her Alpha because she didn’t want to lose Isaac. “Being a werewolf fucking sucks,” she eventually said before turning around again and continued to walk away.
Isaac sighed as he followed her. Yeah, she definitely needed more time to get over things. He then whined. Sex was not going to happen with her in this mood of hers. Fuck.
Sure, Scott had a point, but after having heard Bella’s story, surely he would have been smarter about it? Or did he just think that she’d fit right in and do whatever he wanted while she had a hard time trusting people in the first place? Maybe the whole treating her no differently from everyone else was a good idea in Scott’s eyes, but Scott didn’t have to deal with an upset newbie werewolf.
Come to think of it, neither did he. No strings.
He was just about to walk in the other direction when he heard a loud bang against something metal. Isaac was still thinking about what to do; to go after her or not, when he heard a metal screech as if something got dragged and lifted off the ground before coming down with a bang again. His first thought was that it was a good thing it was dark. His second thought was to walk away, but when he heard Bella sobbing, he cursed himself and quickly made his way over to her.
He eyed the dumpster in the alley, looking severely beaten up – and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride that his girl had done that. Damnit. Isaac quickly made his way over to Bella and sat down next to her as he took her in his arms. “Shh, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not,” Bella sobbed as she curled into him and put her arms around his neck. “Why do guys keep saying that? Things are not okay!”
“Okay,” he snorted and caressed her back, not saying another word as her body shook in his arms. She hadn’t been this vulnerable to him, this open, while conscious, yet. It was mainly in her dreams that she was dealing with things and working through it, but this was a good step, wasn’t it? Maybe now, with the death of that sorry excuse of a guy and most of his family, she could finally stop running, finally stop being scared and out for revenge.
“Would it be bad if I reject Scott as my alpha?” She was still sobbing. “I don’t want to, but I want to be in control over me and he just…”
“How about you get to know him better first? Then make your decision?”
“I don’t want to stay with someone can make me do things I don’t want to!” she wailed and pounded on his chest with her fist. “I don’t need him. I don’t need anyone. I don’t… I’m my person.”
“That you are,” he agreed as he kept caressing her back. It pained him a little to hear that she didn’t need anyone; he had hoped he had changed that a little, but he could understand where she was coming from.
“But you won’t ever do that, will you?” she asked with a little voice, looking up at him with hope in her eyes. “Make me do things I don’t want to do? Or try to change me?”
“Why would I? You’re perfect as you are.”
“No, I’m not perfect,” she shook her head as she started to cry again. “I don’t want to be perfect.”
“Okay, how about this? You’re fine the way you are. A nice, sloppy, mess,” He got to his knees as she still clung on to him and got up. He then lifted her off the ground as he got to his feet and started to walk towards the Argent house. They both needed some sleep, but at least she was sort of saying that she didn’t mind if he stuck around? “And a fun fuck.”
“Am I just a fun fuck to you, Isaac?”
“No, you’re not,” he planted a kiss on her head. “You’re so much more, but I don’t think you’re ready to hear that yet.”
She sniffed and wiped her face with her sleeve, suddenly feeling exhausted. “Try me.”
He sighed as he kept walking. “Maybe tomorrow, you’ve had a long day.”
She hummed a response as her breathing slowed, comfortable in his arms and on the move and she was on the verge of dozing off. He had to smile at that; it was adorable.
~oOo~
Upon their return to the house that night, he first got scolded at by Argent for not waiting until he was at the car and for walking back with Bella. He then had a worried Charlie threatening him that his daughter better be alright – or else. Sighing, Isaac had taken Bella upstairs and pulled off her shoes before tucking her in. He slept in a chair next to the bed, not fancying to be kicked out of bed again, but not wanting to leave her alone either.
The following morning, after they had both sufficiently woken up and had breakfast while trying to ignore the adults; especially Charlie, as they were asking questions and Argent politely answered, they went into town to escape. Despite it being the day that Charlie would leave, he was far too inquisitive and Bella’s mood soured again.
“I needed to get out of that house,” Bella muttered as she had shoved her hands in her pockets as she walked next to Isaac on the main street. “You and I are going to buy a house today.”
“What?” he impishly asked as he looked at her. “Already?”
“I told you. We’re not going to stay at Argent for that long. Unless you want to stay. That house is going to be bought with or without you,” she said with a shrug.
“You don’t want to leave then?” He had expected her to make a run for it after her admission that she didn’t want to be stuck with Scott as an Alpha. Or now that her vampire problem was over, she was truly free, why stick around?
“Apart from Scott, the jury’s still not convinced about that one. I like it here, and you’re here,” her eyes grew wide as they passed a bakery and instantly, her mood lifted. “Hang on,” Bella entered the bakery and got her and Isaac a beignet. When she offered him his, he shook his head. “Why not? These things are so good!”
“We just had breakfast; I’m not hungry.”
“Me neither,” she replied with a shrug. “But it’s good.” Bella then proceeded to take a bite out of it before they continued their walk. “So, let’s talk house. What kind of house do you prefer? Anything you want?”
“I think it’s more important for you to know what you want, it’s your house.”
“Our house. Yes, I’ll buy it but it’s our house.”
“Yeah, but that’s couple territory.”
“No, it’s not. It’s just two people who live in one house together,” she said as she took another bite of her pastry. “So, anything you don’t want in it?”
Sighing, Isaac ran his hand through his hair. “A basement with a freezer in it.”
She looped her arm through his and smiled up at him. “Don’t worry, that was never the plan,” she assured him. Isaac had told her about his father and what he did to him, the root of Isaac’s claustrophobia. “I was thinking wide open spaces. Maybe have walls made out of glass so you can see everything.”
“Not a good idea,” he snorted. “It needs to be werewolf proof in case someone decides to throw someone across the house.”
“Big spaces then,” she said with a nod as she took another bite of her favorite treat. “Thick walls. Would be wise anyway,” she added with a giggle.
~oOo~
Bella had asked the realtor whose property had been on sale the longest; she thought those people deserved to move if they were this persistent. Isaac knew the house; it was in his old neighborhood, and he didn’t particularly liked the idea of living there. He let out a sigh of relief when Bella discarded the house for it having a basement. He was quite certain that she was going all wrong about this. He couldn’t say for sure as he’d never bought a house, but she didn’t even want to view the property, trusting the realtor on the information he gave her.
Then again, Isaac wasn’t too worried. If the realtor screwed Bella over, he’d have an angry girl to deal with.
Eventually, Bella just settled for a house that had been abandoned by their previous owners after they bought a new house. Even though it had a basement, she assured him that she’d just get a cement truck in to fill it up with cement if she had to. She wanted to move in as fast as she could while she knew that she’d probably have to clean a lot first.
The realtor was flabbergasted when Bella said that she wanted to pay for the house in full, making it her own for sure without a mortgage and had to show her ID because he thought it was a prank. After calls to the bank, confirming that she indeed had the money to pay for the house, she signed the papers and the realtor handed her the keys.
Just like that. People with money had it easy.
He didn’t envy Bella with her money; she had deserved it, and he appreciated it that she wasn’t flaunting about it. It was a means to an end, and that’s exactly how she saw it. She had money to buy a house; she wanted a house. Knowing her, she’d end up ordering everything she needed online. She kept wanting to hear his input about this, but they weren’t a couple.
It frustrated him that they weren’t a couple. He wanted to be a couple, and he suspected she wanted too but was it too soon for the both of them? It wasn’t, they were doing things couples would do, like sex. Like… buying a house. Like… taking revenge on previous boyfriends.
She had him wrapped all around her little finger and he actually kinda liked it.
Visiting Deaton was next on the agenda; he had texted him that the results were in and that they needed to have a proper talk about things. Isaac feared the worst; what if the broken spell that turned Bella into a werewolf had altered her form? Had altered her body in ways that could not be fixed? Was he going to lose her?
“You’re both adults, so this is going to be fun,” Deaton said as he looked at the two people in his practice. “In all sense of the word, you’re a hundred percent healthy, Bella. If you had physical ailments or a viral infection, you turning into a werewolf cured you of it.”
Isaac let out a sigh of relief. Healthy meant good. It meant that she wasn’t suddenly going to die on him. “That’s good.”
“Extremely, I was a little worried there for a moment that after having been contained for this long, the spell would have caused a major disruption in Bella’s cellular makeup. But it didn’t. It’s also a relief to know that you survived the attack and turned into a wolf. It could have gone extremely wrong once the spell broke.”
“How so?” Bella asked as she polished off the remaining pastry. She had saved that one to celebrate that she bought a house.
“Well, a few years ago, Peter attacked Lydia and she turned into a Banshee. Derek tried to turn Jackson twice, but as Derek was under the influence of wolfsbane the first time, Jackson turned into something far more dangerous than a werewolf. Eventually, he got cured and became a wolf, but for a while, he terrorized Beacon Hills. Then there’s, of course, the chance of death.”
“Jackson wasn’t fun,” Isaac scrunched up his nose. “He was an okay guy but not as the Kanima.”
“No, he wasn’t indeed,” Deaton said with a nod. “But, back to you, Bella. I discovered that the vampire venom has indeed altered your body, but I think it’s nothing to worry about. If anything, you probably have some added agility and it might be a little bit harder to hurt you.”
“You should have seen her fight the vampires yesterday,” Isaac smiled proudly. “It was awesome.”
“Oh, yes, I’ve heard the stories,” Deaton said happily as he kept his eyes on Bella. “Something about a shield and what not?”
Bella cursed under her breath before slowly nodding. “Edward thought it was interesting that he couldn’t hear my thoughts before, I suppose with me turning and the added venom, the shield decided to fully deploy. It doesn’t just stop mind probing; it also stops other kinds of energy.”
“What about physical energy?”
“No, it doesn’t do that. Which is alright.”
“Interesting,” he said as he looked at his notes. “Well, it shouldn’t give you any problems with your blood at all, the little bit of venom that was still left has been absorbed and there wasn’t any trace of it at all. I only found some cells that were strengthened because I was looking for it.”
“That’s good. Was that it?”
“No,” Deaton said as he put his notes down on the table next to him and looked at the two. “I believe that you two have subconsciously bonded the first time you met and had sex.”
“Uhh… we bonded alright, we had sex,” Bella huffed. “What’s it to you?”
“You don’t understand,” Deaton tiredly ran his hand over his head, trying to think of a better way to say this. “You know swans? They mate for life.”
“I’m a Swan,” Bella said with a shrug.
“The animals, Bella. The animals.”
“Yes, they mate for life. It’s cute. The not so cute part is when one mate dies, the other will die of heartbreak,” Bella quipped as she sighed. “But that’s their thing, it’s cute.”
“Some wolves are known to mate for life as well,” he continued. “Although when one mate dies, it’s not as dramatic as when a Swan dies, and the wolf will simply find another. It’s unheard of in werewolves, to be honest, mainly because humans don’t mate for life. However,” he said with a small smile. “The information I’ve gathered from the tests and your friends, tells me that you two are quite something. It’s almost as if the wolf inside Bella got drawn to you, Isaac, and the other way around. Even before the spell was broken. You claim not to be in a relationship and…”
“We’re not,” they chorused and crossed their arms over their chest in one fluid movement.
“Maybe not, but everything you do and say tells me otherwise. You two subconsciously mated that night, whether you meant to or not. Even now, I can tell that there’s something special between you two that hasn’t been seen before. At least not that I know of. And when the spell got broken, the pull between you only got stronger.”
Isaac scoffed, and Bella rolled her eyes at the man.
“I know you don’t believe me, and that’s alright. I still need to do more research on werewolf bonding, but trust me when I say that you two are in for one hell of a ride together.”
“That was the idea, yes,” Bella muttered.
“Which brings me to the next item on the list,” Deaton said, concern laced in his voice. “While I understand that the situation was a lot different when you two first met, especially with Bella thinking she was going to get killed soon, you two now have to consider your future together.”
“We just bought a house,” Bella said with a shrug.
“She did. I’m just moving in. I can’t camp out at Argent’s or Scott’s. That gets irritating after awhile,” Isaac quickly said as Deaton questioningly looked at him.
“I didn’t mean that, but I suppose it’s a step in the right direction,” the Druid slowly said as he kept an eye on both of them. He was a little worried about how Bella would respond to the news, she was still a new werewolf and maybe not that much in control as others had lead him to believe. “You’re pregnant. You’re going to have a baby. I’m not sure when, but my guess is in six or seven months.”
“What?” Bella stammered. “That’s impossible.”
“Is it? You’ve already confessed to not having used protection during your time in Europe together, and you’ve bonded together on your first night,” Deaton pointed out. “Magic has its way.” A panicked look appeared on Bella’s face that mirrored the one on Isaac’s face. “You will be fine.”
“We can’t keep it,” Bella squeaked as she shook her head. “No.”
“Don’t make any rash decisions. Take some days to think this over, but not too long because then I won’t be able to do anything about it,” Deaton said calmly. “This is not something to be taken lightly. Talk to each other about this, decide what you want. Think of your future.”
“Get rid of it.”
“No,” Isaac said calmly, despite his heart racing, as he put his hand on Bella’s back and gently held it there. “Deaton’s right, we need to talk about this. Together. You and I and no one else.” Right now, he wasn’t sure if he could be a father. Not now or ever, afraid that he’d turn into his father, and that scared the shit out of him. But with Bella, maybe things would turn out to be different. It was certainly something to discuss with her.
And yes, cross into couple territory. It wasn’t as if they had a choice in the matter now.
