Chapter 07
The gun hadn’t worked, werewolves were fast healers and god, maybe a sword had been better? It was only when she revealed herself to be an Alpha and roared so hard to make them back off, with the intent of telling them that this area was hers, that the omega’s left and she could go in and get Isaac back to the truck.
Oh, he had put up a good fight, alright, after the wolves didn’t want to listen to him. He really went beserk and for a while it seemed he could handle himself, but it had been an unfair fight. Ten to one. And he did this often? How often had it resulted in him getting knocked unconscious?
She managed to drag him closer to the truck before dropping him to the ground and headed inside to get some water and clean bandages to start cleaning him up. So besides being anal about his truck, he liked a good beating from now and then? What the hell was he doing to himself? Werewolf or not, this wasn’t acceptable behaviour. She could take the truck, she didn’t want to get used to him getting beaten up because he wants to… what? Punish himself? Be punished? She hoped it was just a ‘guy thing’ and one of Isaac’s other ways to deal with his aggression as a werewolf.
And she shouldn’t make assumptions just because she knew that Isaac showed signs of being a mess. No, she was going to talk to him about that.
She poured an entire bottle of water over his bloodied face, waking him up with a splutter before she leaned back against the truck with her arms crossed, watching him. “You might have a few broken bones there, buddy.”
He rubbed his face as he groaned and slowly got to his feet. “Yep… Uh… Sorry. I had underestimated the threat…” He had his head bowed as he scratched his hair, looking up at her, embarrassed. “But hey, you told them!” Isaac said a bit more excitedly.
Bella didn’t go along in his excitement, and instead raised a brow. “Did you really underestimate the situation?” she questioned him. “Or is this something you’d like to do?”
“What? Get beaten up?” Isaac huffed as he dried his face with his shirt. “No. Honestly, I thought these were the nice omega’s, but apparently the jerks are still around as well. The hunters can have them,” he said as he got into the truck and started to clean his face. He hurt, but he was healing. And yes, he’d been stupid and he understood why she felt like he might actually liked getting beaten up. “But again, your roar was majestic.”
“I’m surprised you even heard that,” Bella huffed, crossing her arms as she stood in the doorway, watching Isaac clean himself up and get a change of shirt. His torso was bruised and had Isaac been a human, he’d definitely had earned himself a trip to the hospital. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah. I’ve had worse,” he sighed. “Okay, I had kinda hoped that they’d be trouble. But I hadn’t expected them to be a lot stronger and with the ten of them. I like to win, you see. I don’t fight when I’m not certain I can win.”
“So your ego is bruised.” Bella stated simply. “And the gun didn’t work.”
“Ah, no that was for the hunters, you should have grabbed the silver mistletoe bullets, but you can’t really touch them without gloves,” Isaac replied as he quickly pulled his shirt over his head. “And it also depends on the werewolf type, there are three kinds the last time I checked. Seems like your roar attracted some attention,” he said in a hushed voice, grabbing one of his long kitchen knives from the compartment above his head. The movement was too quiet, too fluent to be the one of an ordinary human and after pulling Bella inside, he went outside.
“Oh, good thing you’re okay,” the woman said as she came to a halt in front of Isaac. “You’re hurt! Ah, sorry, we heard a wild animal and we knew we weren’t the only campers in the woods and—”
Isaac eyed the blonde vampire as she rambled. She was far too preppy and happy for this time of night. But she seemed harmless. He muffled his knife up his sleeve and stared at her blankly until she was done talking. She was lying through her teeth, much like he’d do in a situation like this. It was amusing. “Well,” he eventually said, cutting off the woman’s rambling. “I know for a fact that you’re lying. You made the mistake of not walking here like a normal human being and if I’m not mistaken, Mystic Falls has a vampire population of one – with the occasional friends dropping by, of course. You must be Caroline Salvatore-Forbes, you’re in charge of the magic school, aren’t you?”
Not surprisingly, he found himself being smacked against the side of his truck by the vampire. “Easy,” he groaned, his bones still healing from the fight he had only moments before. “We’re friendly… My boss Peter Whitlock has likely called you to inform you that there’d be two werewolves in town, working for him? That’s us. I’m Isaac Argent,” he said before nodding to Bella who was now standing in the door opening. “That’s Bella Swan, and it’s her roar that you’ve heard to scare the omega’s away and claiming this town as hers.”
“And I’d appreciate it if you’d let go of him, he’s still healing from those omegas attacking him,” Bella said pointedly as she got out of the truck and took a few steps closer to the vampire holding Isaac. “We’re on your side, it’s the whole reason why he wanted those werewolves out of here.”
Caroline huffed as she let go of Isaac and dusted her hands off. “You should have come to the school and introduced yourselves,” she said as she eyed the two werewolves. “Your boss did call me, telling me that he was going to help rebuild the town and create a safehouse of some sort for supernaturals being hunted by those hunters. Which is a great idea, with the children at our school we simply can’t be that for adults. Anyway, very nice to meet you. Why won’t you come over for breakfast? I’m sure Alaric would love to meet you. Let’s get to know each other if we’re going to be in the same little town, huh?”
Bella looked at Isaac and saw that he was hesitating. He was all for being on his own, but Bella wanted friends. She had left them all behind in Forks and if she was going to stay here, she wanted to be more social. Do stuff. Not just work. “Oh, that’s a great idea!” Caroline seemed nice, normal and not psychotic. She was a vampire but not a Cold One, and while Isaac had told her about this kind of vampire, she was still curious. Besides, Isaac would likely insist on making them breakfast and she wasn’t going to let him.
“Good, you know where it is, right? Wouldn’t want to leave this awesome truck here in the woods, you never know what might walk around in here.”
“Yeah, we’ll be there in like ten minutes,” Bella said excitedly and watched the blonde vampire speed off before she was going to deal with with the sour looking werewolf next to her. “Suck it up. If we’re going to stay here, we’re going to need friends. Or at least friendlies,” she said as she pulled him along with her to get inside the truck. “And put that knife back, we’re going to a school.”
“Bella, I’m not in the mood to—”
“Suck it up. You decided to fight with wolves and sidelining me. Guess what? I saved your ass, so now we’re going to have breakfast with that vampire and her human friend, or isn’t he a human?”
“Peter wasn’t sure.”
“And another thing, you said they didn’t know about us, but you told her Peter called them? Isaac, you need to communicate more,” she said as she watched him put the knife back before she crawled behind the wheel. Oh hell yeah, she was going to drive. She felt empowered, stronger. It was as if her proper roar had unlocked something inside of her and it was fantastic.
It was almost as if she could smell Isaac’s anxiety and all she wanted to do was to tell him everything was going to be alright. It was going to take some time, but he was going to be alright. However, she could also sense his unwillingness to accept her as his friend and as his Alpha. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to be his Alpha, but she did want him as her friend and it hurt. It was going to take everything to assure him that she wasn’t going anywhere. It didn’t help that she had hurt him in her anger, but he was truly fine with it. Idiot.
Her idiot. Her lovable idiot. Her lovable oaf with a great sense of humor, a great smile, great cooking skills and he smelled great. He made her feel safe.
Fuck. Was she falling for him?
After he closed the door and got into the passenger seat, she looked up the school on her phone’s navigation system and started to drive there. “I can’t wait to learn more about the type of vampire she is, or about the magic! It’s likely going to be an infodump again but you know what? That’s fine,” she started after Isaac remained quiet. “She seems like a nice person too.”
“She shoved me against the truck. I’ll have to inspect it for dents. Again.”
Bella let out a snort. “Relax, I would likely have done the same thing if I had been in her shoes. You know, in small towns like these it’s best to be friendly with the neighbors, it’s the only way for them to accept you as a new resident, despite the fact that we’re working for the person who’s made a generous donation to the town to rebuild. And seeing that she’s a supernatural, and likely a force to be reckoned with, we’re going to be friendly. Help each other out and shit. They might have resources we could use, and vice versa, especially once we’re established and all that. Also, they’re potential customers to the restaurant.”
“I get it,” he said as he pulled his sleeves over his hands. “Doesn’t mean that I’m happy about it.”
Bella thought for a moment and then shook her head. “You know what? You’re ubersocial on a job, and likely when you’re doing food truck business. Get that guy out to play and ignore all that negativity,” she shot at him. “I might just buy a nerf gun and shoot you with it whenever you say something negative, until you say something positive. Some therapists use that method, it’s a good method. Cognitive Behavioural therapy. Yes. Totally going to buy that nerf gun. Should be fun!”
“There’s nothing fun about getting hit by tiny foam darts!”
“Nope, so you’d better get working on that negativity of yours,” she mused as she pulled up on the driveway of The Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted. She wondered if there was an old, bald man in a wheelchair inside that house or see people walk through walls or something. But then again, from what she knew it was a school for the supernatural kids, werewolves, witches… So what if this Alaric guy was an old guy with a very luscious beard with a preference to Gryffindor?
The sun had only started to rise, and most of the house was still darkened, but there was a porch light on and a little light in front of one of the windows. Parking the car and pocketing the keys – Isaac was not going to get to drive today, nope, she got out and waited for Isaac to make his way out. At least he moved better and his face looked less blue, so if they’d encounter children, they wouldn’t be that scared off by him. No doubt his face would improve over breakfast.
“Hi!” Caroline came out of the house, greeting them. “For a moment there I thought you wouldn’t come by!”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Bella smiled at her. “I always keep my word, besides, it’s not as if it’s hard to track where we are, I’m sure you would have come to us instead.”
She grinned then as she looped her arm through Bella’s. “I think you and I are going to be great friends! God, I missed hanging out with friends! Oh, I hope you don’t mind, but we’re actually having breakfast with most of the staff before the kids wake up and have their breakfast.”
“The more the merrier,” Isaac replied, some lightness having returned in his voice which came as a relief to Bella. “This house is amazing!”
“Yeah, it used to have seven bedrooms, a large den, and a kitchen, and we’ve rebuilt it all so we made some room for classrooms and offices. Still, we’re small time. Especially after the hunters came out of the woodwork, parents don’t trust us to keep their children safe. But this house is spelled by witches against any intruders, I’m a vampire, we have a former hunter, a witch and two very resourceful humans on staff. There’s no place safer for the kids than here,” Caroline said proudly as she led them to the small kitchen. “And on occasion we get guest lecturers over from New Orleans. That’s always quite interesting.”
Bella let out a chuckle. “Up until a month ago all I knew about the supernatural community were Cold Ones and shifter wolves. Maybe I should attend your school.”
“You’re a little old for that, aren’t you?” Caroline replied playfully. “Guys, this is Bella, and that’s Isaac. They’re the ones knocking down the Grill and I’ve been promised something beautiful is coming in their place by their boss.”
“It’s about time you two show your face here,” a man said as he approached them, hand extended. “Alaric Saltzman, History and Occult teacher, good to meet you.”
“Jeremy Gilbert,” a younger boy said as he was stuffing his face with a sandwich. “Gym teacher, amongst other things.”
The other human introduced himself as Dorian and the witch introduced herself as Jeri. The only other person in the room was someone who was dressed quite colorful. “Myriam Jenkins. Here to give a few lectures about voodoo before I go back to New Orleans to the ol’ ball and chain,” Myriam then approached Bella and Isaac and blinked at them. “You’re one of those other werewolves, aren’t you? You’re not like any of the packs we know of… no transforming into wolves or ponies, do you?”
Isaac didn’t like this. He hated not knowing what he had gotten himself into and this time it had been Bella’s fault. He tugged on his sweater so he had something to hold onto.
“No, from what I have learned is that our type of werewolf can only turn into a real wolf when they’re evolved. My birth mother was one of those.”
“Holy shit, you’re another of Tatia Hale?” Alaric blinked at Bella, interest piqued. “No offense, but your siblings are kinda a bunch of dicks.”
“I know,” Bella nodded. “You knew my mother?”
“I know of her, and what she did for your community. It’s kinda hard not to have stumbled on her during my research on the occult and supernatural, she made big waves.”
“Please, sit,” Caroline let go of Bella at an empty chair. “So you’re basically werewolf royalty, huh?”
“I guess?” Bella said as she sat down and looked at Isaac long enough to have him sit down between Alaric and Myriam. “I don’t know. I met them a few weeks ago, but I felt safer with Isaac so I went with him and joined his cause. He saved me from a bunch of Cold Ones after his boss sent him to me.”
While Isaac understood that Bella wanted to give cliffnotes, he found it annoying that she was already so open about herself towards these strangers. They didn’t have to know this. He and Bella were merely the new supernaturals in town, trying to do some good and that’s it. And it sucked that he was sitting with his back towards the door. It made it harder to get to an exit this way.
“Meredith told us about the donation your boss Peter made to the town. It’s really going to make a difference,” Alaric was appreciative. “Just to have the old center restored again would do so much for the community. We could hold parades again, movies on the square… Everything that makes a small town great.”
“Yeah, we can’t wait to tear down the Mystic Grill and the accompanying building and build something everyone can use. Like a bowling alley, a party place, you know.”
“And a bed and breakfast, and a restaurant,” Bella added with a nod. “Isaac’s a trained chef.”
“Really? Oh my God, that’s amazing!” Caroline said excitedly. “Are you any good? We should definitely come to dinner then! Hey, what about you cook for us some time before construction is complete?”
“Yeah, sure,” Isaac replied casually. “Could be fun.”
Myriam hummed a little. “So if you’re going to be running all of that, with just the two of you… that’s a lot of work. Will you hire people to help you out?”
“Yeah, we likely will have to. Peter will leave the running business to us and while I have some experience with the food truck, I have no idea how to run a business. I’m a cook, I don’t do books… although that’s not the most important thing. The business will be a front so we can help supernaturals.”
“So you’ll just have to hire competent people to run your day to day business,” Myriam mused. “Back in the day I ran a brothel, shouldn’t be any different from taking bookings for a bed and breakfast. I could help you out until you find someone better?”
Caroline rolled her eyes. “Myr, Klaus will want to have you back eventually, you know.”
“I’ll go home in the school holidays. With Hope,” she smirked. “You always complain about having not enough friends anymore.”
Bella thought for a moment as she observed Isaac’s face, there had been a slight scrunch of the nose, he didn’t like the idea, but Bella did. “I was thinking about doing some online management courses and shit, all the help is welcome. That is, if it’s not having an impact on your relationship.”
Myriam huffed then. “Klaus and I have been together for centuries, and sometimes we take a break. It doesn’t mean that the love isn’t there, or the sex any less. In fact, it gets better.”
She blinked then. “I thought you were a voodoo priestess?”
“I was when I was human and I still am as a vampire. Just differently, because the natural magic is gone. But I stand by my faith and find my ways to make it work. There are objects that can help you do magic even if you don’t possess it yourself,” Myriam shrugged. “And it’s really not a bother. I like to keep busy anyway and I don’t need to get paid, either. I won’t let you down.”
“But no prostitutes.”
“Please,” Myriam huffed. “Those days are far behind me, I’ve got class now!”
It was nice to have breakfast with people who were nice and kind. Open. Bella could see them become friends quite easily and was certain that if Peter believed it to be a bad idea, he’d say something about it. But until then, Bella was happy to have found people to hang around with other than Isaac.
After breakfast, she and Isaac were shown around and then the kids started to wake up and heading to the breakfast hall and Isaac and Bella left. After she had parked the car back in the parking spot near their hotel, she headed into the kitchen and got out a knife, stabbing herself in the hand, much to Isaac’s surprise. “What? You told me we’d test it today after we got back… fuck, it hurts like a mother fucker!” She said as she pulled the knife out and miraculously watched her hand heal. The blood was disgusting, but she managed not to vomit. “See? I heal now, so no more putting me aside when things get dangerous!”
“Couldn’t you at least have waited until I was prepared?” Isaac was slightly panicked as he grabbed a damp towel and cleaned off her hand. “Jesus fuck, Bella, I don’t like seeing you get hurt. The sparring that we do is to make sure you don’t get hurt and now you hurt yourself!”
“To prove a point and test a theory,” she pointed out. “Ease up, Isaac. I’m not fragile anymore. I know my way around guns, although I might be slightly rusty so we’ll have to practise that, and likely find a place to do that far out of town where nobody can hear us in case people freak out or something. Now, about the nerf gun… I’m really thinking I should buy one.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Isaac rolled his eyes at her and after making sure her hand was fully healed, he dumped the cloth in the bin. “And I understand how you’re feeling, Bella, all that power and stuff, it’s great. But please do remind yourself that you’re not indestructible. We can be killed, you know. All it takes is one unaware moment and it’s lights out. I don’t plan on seeing you die because it’s not what you deserve.”
“Damn straight, but the same goes for you. So, you’re going to teach me everything you know.”
“We’re kinda busy with—”
“We’re not busy, I mean, we have to wait for the demolition vampires to come, right? And we won’t have to help them tear it all down. Nor do we have to help with building things because we’ll only be in the way,” she pointed out. “You’re going to train me. Every spare moment that we have. Teach me the code you and Chris Argent live by.”
“Is that what you truly want?”
“Yes. And don’t hold back, either.”
It took three months for the vampires to demolish the building, dig out the long maze-like tunnel that Peter had requested in the direction of Mason Neck, a long 24 miles away from Mystic Falls and to build the entire new buildings on top of them. And, before they could truly open, Peter said he’d come by to show them what exactly was at the end of the tunnels and that excited Bella to no end.
For the last three months, Isaac had taught Bella everything he knew about the use of weapons, what weapons to use in what kind of situation, to become a fighter and get more strength. He helped her focus her werewolf strength into something she could use to her advantage in fights. Isaac told her about the history of the hunter’s code, especially the one from Beacon Hills and how it had changed after certain family members didn’t stick to the code and because Chris and Allison Argent didn’t agree with the code anymore due to their friends being supernaturals. How it changed from ‘we hunt those who hunt us’ to ‘we protect those who can’t protect themselves’ and how it was all inclusive. Humans and supernatural.
He told her everything about how the hunters came to be that were now hunting supernaturals. How yes, technically they were still abiding by the first, original, code, they were deluded and influenced by some of the Argents, still a powerful family amongst the hunters. The world was black and white to them, there weren’t any good supernaturals. Everyone had to die. He also said that the mess in Beacon Hills was partially responsible for this new group of hunters, mostly innocent victims and bystanders from what had gone down there. There was revenge involved now.
Isaac had left the hunters in France because he didn’t want to become a hunter, but a chef, and also because the whole atmosphere changed within the community – and towards him. Chris’ ward or not, Isaac was still a well-behaved werewolf. He’d been disappointed when he hadn’t been contacted by Scott to help him out four years ago and only found out that Scott was now trying to help others to protect them from the hunters from Peter Whitlock.
And Peter, with his big ass ego, decided that they could do better. And they could. They had more resources, more safehouses, more of everything, and they weren’t as careless as Scott and his pack.
During the three months of construction and planning things out, Isaac also took Bella to a handful of food truck festivals in the region, and it was so much fun to attend! The whole atmosphere was amazing, buzzing, a lot of talented people with their trucks, people who came to get food, and the amount of people coming to get food, too… it was crazy. Isaac seemed to thrive under pressure, and his food was spectacular now that he had started to relax somewhat after their visit to that small restaurant in the city nearby Mystic Falls.
And in every town they went, they helped out some supernaturals. Things got particularly hairy in Roanoke. The festival was crawling with hunters letting their hair down. Isaac believed he recognized at least two of them from his time in France, which caused some more anxiety in him. It didn’t help, of course, that they had stumbled upon a flutter of fairies that needed their help in staying safe.
Yes. Fairies. Who knew they existed? And that they were called a flutter?! They looked like ordinary humans, but with magical abilities. What set them apart from ‘regular’ witches was that their abilities were different. More subtle. It was strange to find fairies in America, but their ancestors once came from Ireland. But like most supernatural species, they had moved on from their malignant ways, and all they wanted now was to live in peace. It didn’t mean that all fairies were now benign and/or using their powers for good, but at least these were.
Isaac managed to get them transport to a wooded area in Arkansas where more fairies lived and almost got caught by a group of hunters who had found the fairies’ location. He was fairly sure that they had seen him, so they left without riding out the festival.
It was strange to run through the 24-mile tunnel, there were some lights, sure, but it was mostly darkness. There was enough room for a golf cart, which Isaac said that would come because most supernaturals didn’t have their speed or perhaps their stamina to make the journey on foot. The beginning of the tunnel was a maze. Peter had told them that it would lead underneath the entire town with no way out, with a handful of boobytraps for hunters should they overrun the B&B or something. There was also a connection to a tunnel that headed straight to the Salvatore School, protected by magic.
At the end of the tunnel, they found a farm, a huge farm with cows, horses, sheep… and a lot of forest around the property. It was sitting close to Belmont Bay with a handful of speedboats at the small harbor they had created. There were several buildings on site, small houses where supernaturals could live in peace, hideout, and one major building and that’s where Bella got the surprise of her life.
Inside the house was Jasper Whitlock.
Bella wasn’t quite sure how to react to that. She felt rage flare up inside of her, and if it hadn’t been for Isaac’s hand on her arm, she’d likely have attacked the vampire without hearing what he had to say. What the hell he was doing here. The Cullens couldn’t possibly be involved, could they? She turned to Peter instead, rage still burning inside of her. Well, it was a good thing that Jasper didn’t try to influence her. “What the hell! What is this, Peter? Are you working for them?!”
“Calm down, peaches,” Peter said as he held up his hands and made sure to move between the werewolf and his brother. “Jasper needed our help, too. It took him a bit longer than it took you as I didn’t have a werewolf at hand to wean him off without any side effects. Seems like the charm also works on other Cold Ones.”
“The fuck?!”
“It was time to get him out too, I couldn’t see him with those squirrell munchers for longer, Bella,” Peter said calmly. “Believe me, he has the same urges you have towards the Cullens now that he’s free of them. Don’t hurt him. He’s a great asset to our cause.”
Bella shrugged Isaac’s hand off of her arm and punched Peter instead. It was definitely worth having her bones break in her hand, and she felt a lot better. “He’s not going anywhere near me!”
“No, he and I will be staying here at the farm, the animals need to be taken care of, anyway. I’ll be the only one who will occasionally show his face in Mystic Falls. That’s all you two,” Peter said kindly. “I’ve heard you’ve made some friends?”
They had been having regular dinner dates with the people at the Salvatore school, Bella even went to Richmond a few times with Caroline for a girl’s day out which involved shopping and a spa day. She liked hearing the stories Caroline told her about living in Mystic Falls. The good and the bad. Isaac’s information about the town had been enough for them to settle, but to hear everything? It was a miracle that the town was still inhabited. They really did persevere. And Myriam was going to come back somewhere the following week, Caroline assured her that the older vampire was good people.
“You’re not going to mess with them,” Bella replied eventually as she gently massaged her broken hand. “Don’t ruin them.”
“I promise we’ll stay well clear of them,” Peter said with a knowing smile. “I take it that everything is built and placed to your satisfaction?” He looked at Isaac then, who nodded in return. “Good, then I hope you’ll enjoy yourselves! Because that’s what it’s about. Enjoyment and helping others, right? I’ll let you know when I hear something about trouble, but you’ll likely find it yourself first.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m really so—-”
“Save it,” Bella snapped at Jasper before looking back at Peter. “That’s it?”
Peter let out a breath and shrugged. “You and Isaac run the show, Bella. All I’m here for is funding and giving your saved supernaturals whose lives are in critical danger a safe place to stay. All I want is to work together. Live your own life. You haven’t been bothered in the last few months, have you?”
Bella sighed and shook her head. “Thank you.”
After Bella and Isaac had left and were well out of earshot, Jasper smacked Peter up on his head. “Are you insane?”
“What?”
“Tell me the truth, were ya dropped on your head as a baby? Did Char cause some permanent brain damage?” He questioned his brother. “Ya mean well, and I can feel potential between them, but seriously?”
Peter sighed as he looked at his partner in crime. “What?”
“That boy ain’t equipped to deal with Bella’s rage! He likely rolls over for her to scratch his belly when she’s being a spitfire!”
“They’ve been fine so far, Jazz,” Peter replied calmly. “I wouldn’t have sent him in if I didn’t think it was a good idea. In fact, he seemed to be doing a lot better than he was before. Bella’s slowly breaking down the walls he’s put up, and he seems to be able to balance her out. She could have dismembered you, but she didn’t.”
“And what about him actively rejecting her?”
“Walls. He’s afraid that once he lets her in, she’ll hurt him like they had done to him in the past. And she’s an Alpha without a pack, and he’s an omega without a pack. He always said he was fine without a pack. I can understand his reluctance and his rejection, but he’s working through it. I wouldn’t worry about them, Jazz.”
“That’s a nuclear bomb waiting to go off,” he said as he pointed in the direction of the tunnel. “Whatever happens, the fall out is on you and your smart ass brain. You might be wrong this time.”
“I’m never wrong,” Peter said smugly before turning on his heel and going back to feed the horses.
~o.O.o~
It was the grand opening of the Mystic Night Owl, and Caroline had made sure to make a party out of it for the entire town, and about 100 people showed up for the festivities. Isaac wasn’t freaked out by it. As Bella showed them around and brought them to the entertainment area, he was cooking up a storm; making tiny sandwiches, cutting the lasagnas he made into bite-sized pieces and adjusted more meals that he had planned on making because, in all honesty, they hadn’t expected this kind of a turnout.
But by the end of the night, after everyone went home, Bella couldn’t help but smile widely after locking up and walking into Isaac’s domain – the kitchen and helped him clean up. “All in all, everyone’s really positive about this. Especially the young people, the teenagers, who still live here. They have some entertainment again!”
“Maybe we should add an extra room set up with like game consoles,” Isaac responded as he refilled the industrial dishwasher. His clothes were drenched in sweat, and his hair was sticking to his forehead. “But to tell you the truth, I’m quite happy that our restaurant only seats 50, that we have a set menu and shit like that. I don’t think I can handle 100 at the same time.”
Bella huffed. “You do food truck festivals. You can do more than 100 at once, but did you at least have fun?”
“Yeah,” he smiled at her. “So positivity all around?”
“They loved it,” she went over to hug him, sweaty or not, he deserved a hug. “And the food was amazing, but I wouldn’t have expected anything else. Your improvisation skills are the best!”
“Good,” he let out a breath as he let go of her to continue cleaning up the last bits. “Glad this is out of the way. Who knew so many people would come? This is a town of 500 citizens!”
“Yep, a good 1/5th of the population. We should be proud!”
“How can you be sure that Caroline didn’t just compel them all?”
“Oh, party pooper,” Bella rolled her eyes at him. “I trust her enough not to have done that, she wants to have this town rebuild as much as everyone else, why mess with people’s minds to do so? Have a little faith, will you? Stop thinking so negatively about people. This was a huge success, Isaac, and you ruined a perfectly good day with that remark,” she said a little bit hurt. “You can be such a jerk! But have fun cleaning up, I’m going to bed.”
Was he truly a jerk for doubting Caroline’s intentions? She had the ability to influence so many people, why shouldn’t she do it to make Bella and him feel more welcomed into the town? Or maybe Caroline didn’t do anything, and all those people came out of curiosity. Because they had hope.
He had almost forgotten what that felt like; hope. If it weren’t for Bella, he would have given up on it. Because while he didn’t want to let her in completely, he still had hope that she wouldn’t leave. And she’d been around him for four months now, and no matter how much of an asshole he’d been, she was still here. She wasn’t like the others; she was different, and he knew this. He felt it. She had managed to get some control out of him and made it her own project, simply because she’d wanted to do something.
And not because she was an Alpha, but he truly felt that she wouldn’t intentionally hurt him. She wouldn’t accept him as her beta anyway, but the least he could do was to accept the fact that she was staying.
Looking around the kitchen, there were still a few things that needed cleaning, but nothing that couldn’t wait until the next day. He needed to go and have a talk with Bella. And apologize. Because today had been a good day. Something good had happened to them. He threw the towel into a corner and bounded up the stairs to the shared apartment they had on the third floor where he found Bella in their kitchenette, pouring herself a glass of wine. “Hey, uhm… I’m sorry for what I said.”
“What? For blaming Caroline for the great turn out today? Yeah, you should be sorry,” she said as she took a big gulp of her wine. “Caroline is a strong, smart and amazing friend. Pure,” Bella let out a snort as she took both the glass and bottle to the couch with her. Werewolves couldn’t get drunk, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying her best to get drunk anyway. “She’s a majestic unicorn, and sure, at first I thought she was pretending, but fuck, Isaac, she’s pure of heart, they don’t make people like her anymore. She’s loyal to a fault and has a big heart. To accuse her – not even in her face – to do something like that? That’s ridiculous, and you should be ashamed of yourself.”
“I am,” he said as he sat down on the table in front of her. “I am. Because I realized that all of this is likely giving people hope again for this town and that they were curious. For them to be positive… is the best compliment someone could get, I suppose. And I’m sorry that I made this day end on a sour note for you.”
Bella smiled then. “You truly mean it, huh?”
“I do,” he nodded. “And I’m sorry for being an asshole to you from time to time. I… uh… did that to protect me… sort of… you see, uh…” he ran a hand through his damp hair and averted his gaze. “I thought you’d leave. By trying to create some distance between us… at least from my point of view… I wanted to make sure that it wouldn’t hurt if you’d left…”
“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not going anywhere?” He looked at her with his beautiful blue eyes, and Bella could tell something had changed. Had he honestly seen the light?
“I see that now. So I’m sorry for that. I promise to be more… open about… stuff. Less of the pushing away.”
She placed a hand on his cheek and gently caressed it. “I like being with you, Isaac. I want to be with you and have all these adventures and fun. I mean, we’re running this B&B together. We’re making some great friends! Why would I want to leave you? You’re funny, you’re wickedly talented at cooking, and you work hard. You’re patient and kind. And you can be a lot of a jerk, which sucks.”
“I promise, I’ll be less of a jerk. At least to you.”
Bella let out a snort as she gently tapped his cheek before nursing her glass of wine again. “You smell.”
“Ah, so would you if you’d been in the kitchen all day,” he said with a grin, but getting the message. He got to his feet and started to pull off his shirt as he headed to his bedroom. “Save me some wine.”
“We have plenty downstairs!”
“That’s for our guests… unless you stole that one from downstairs?”
“We didn’t go for groceries yet!” Well, they had, to stock the kitchen for the bed and breakfast as the suppliers hadn’t been able to get to them in time due to roadworks. But for their personal shopping? No, they had completely forgotten in the excitement to finally open to the public.
Isaac let out a groan. Luckily, Peter didn’t care much for the books, and neither should he. Peter had enough money, even if the Owl wouldn’t make a profit or break even. “Save me some wine anyway!”
