Chapter Ten

AN: Oh wow, so apparently it's been over six months. I apologize sincerely. Life happens and my writing just got pushed to the side.

Thank you to any and all that are still with me.

I included the last part of the last chapter at the beginning, in case anyone needs a refresher.

I know that it's a little short, but the next chapter is already in the works and hopefully will be done soon.

Disclaimer: SM happens to own this world, I'm just writing in it.

Enjoy.

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Previously:

Bella knew that she should be terrified. There was a murderous vampire after her, who was now bringing an army to kill her. The family that abandoned her and her new family was apparently going to work together and put themselves in harm's way to eliminate the threat. And she was practically sitting on a horse-sized wolf. She was honestly surprised how easy it was to be around Jacob's wolf. Not that he could ever intentionally hurt her. She guessed she really was just good with weird. He let loose a rumbling sound, almost like a contented purr as she stroked her fingers through his fur. The noise brought a small smile to her face and a warm feeling bloomed in her chest.

Another noise, a combination of disgust and surprise, drew her attention away from the wolf and to the crowd in the clearing. While she sat with Jacob, lost in her thoughts, it seemed as if a peaceful bubble had enveloped them. She couldn't have been more wrong, looking at the numerous eyes that were focused on her and the russet wolf she leaned against. The wolves looked on with an almost amused look. They had seen Bella and Jacob together, albeit while both human, and were used to it. Though the large black wolf was looking directly at Bella with something akin to surprise, and perhaps longing? Bella wasn't the best at reading lupine facial expressions, but it seemed that Sam was…sad about something. She made a mental note to ask him later. Glancing over the rest of the crowd, her gaze landed immediately on Edward, who seemed to be the origin of the noise that startled her out of her thoughts. His usually carefully blank gaze was marred with an incredulous look. Apparently he didn't approve her newfound comfort with Jacob's wolf. Bella would have more likely guessed that Jacob's thoughts bothered him, but that wouldn't explain why he was glaring so harshly at her. The rest of the Cullens were staring at her with a mix of surprise and wariness, all except Jasper. The blonde vampire happened to be smiling.

"Is there something wrong?" Bella asked to no one in particular, breaking the tense silence that permeated the air. Almost immediately, all of the supernaturals averted their eyes. Emmett and Rosalie, who had been practicing sparring under Jasper's watchful gaze, returned to their fight. The wolves fixed their attention back on the demonstration, absorbing fighting stances and techniques that would help them later when facing the newborns. Bella nearly shivered at the reminder of the looming threat. The russet wolf grumbled, taking back her attention. Smiling slightly, Bella resumed her task of trailing her hand through the fur behind his neck. The action quickly calmed her again, and Bella focused on her hand in his fur, and not the demonstration, not the vampires, not the other wolves, not the coming threat. Just her, and Jacob.

Chapter Ten

A horrifyingly familiar noise pulled her back to the present. Her phone was positively shrieking in her pocket, disturbing the bubble of calm she had felt around her and Jacob. The noise of the phone did not frighten her so much as the reasoning behind why it was ringing. Bella's eyes frantically clashed with those of the russet wolf and she uttered one whispered word. "Charlie."

It was late, much later than she anticipated being gone when she left her house. Daylight had bled into darkness and Bella had not noticed the passing hours. She knew that Charlie already expected her back, and had been overly protective recently. That was not to say he wasn't doing it with good intentions, which Bella knew he was. She also knew it was completely warranted. Between her erratic behavior after the Cullen's departure and the recent animal attacks that were viciously brutal and unsolved at the moment. Charlie Swan was clearly worried about his daughter's safety, and Bella knew that if she didn't answer the phone with a good reason for being gone so late without a note, she was about to get into a ridiculous amount of trouble. She could only pray that her dad hadn't called it in to the station yet and reported her as a missing person.

The phone was still ringing, and Bella scrambled to pull it out of her pocket and hold it in her hand. Her focus switched between it and Jacob as if one or the other held the answers to her current dilemma. Jacob's eyes widened as if to convey his helplessness in the situation.

"Just help me think of something Jake. You know he's going to freak if I don't have a good excuse for being out," Bella pleaded, ignoring the curious stares from around the clearing. It seemed she was destined to be the center of attention, whether she wanted to or not.

Wolf Jake rolled his eyes, and Bella immediately stiffened, "This is serious Jacob Black. You know how mad Charlie is going to be. Don't act like it's not a big deal."

Suddenly she thought of something, "Wait, what about Billy, I could say…" she trailed off when she saw his expression. "You're right. He's probably already called your house. Billy will say 'tribal business' and that will just rile Charlie up more." Jacob moved his large head up and down, nodding in agreement, then got at thoughtful look on his face before turning to the small grey wolf nearby at the edge of the trees. The phone went silent, then gave a quiet beep notifying her that she had a missed call. "What did Leah think of?" Bella eagerly asked, knowing Charlie would just call again. She glanced between Leah and Jake, who were having a conversation via pack mind, groaning when her phone started to ring shrilly again.

"How are you doing that?" The question startled Bella slightly, coming from the opposite side of the clearing. Edward was staring at her, again. Well, actually he was looking between her and Jacob, a confused expression on his face.

"I don't have time for this Edward, I've got to deal with Charlie," she replied to his cryptic question, then turned to Jake, "I'll just say we took a drive and lost track of time." At her words, Jake rolled his eyes and looked at her in a way that made her realize exactly what Charlie would think of such an excuse. "I know. But it's going to sound bad either way. If I don't answer he'll think I'm lost in the woods again and send out a search party again."

"Seriously Bella, are you reading his mind or something?" Edward interrupted again, still looking perplexed.

"No, you're reading his mind. I'm having a conversation, which is now over so that I can let Charlie yell at me," she replied exasperated.

"Wait!" he cried, and Bella's finger paused over the phone screen, "The female, Leah, is it? She said to use her as an excuse. Something about Charlie won't dig too deeply into her emotional issues," he continued, apparently reading more into the situation as his golden eyes flickered to the large black wolf and then back to Leah. "That's…ah…complicated. My deepest apologies," he said before returning his gaze to Bella. Leah's only response was to growl lowly and then glance back over to Bella.

Bella looked pleadingly at Leah and asked, "Are you sure? I can handle Charlie without dragging you into this."

Snorting, the small grey wolf merely rolled her eyes before looking expectantly at Bella, waiting on her to answer the call.

Bella steeled her nerves and then answered, holding the phone away from her ear.

"ISABELLA MARIE SWAN! Do you have any idea how worried I have been? I don't care what kind of crap excuse you have made up, you get home right this instance!"

"Char-Dad, I'm sorry. I forgot to leave a note…"

"Damn right you did. You also forgot to call me or let me know that you were alive! There is some kind of wild animal loose in this town and you don't even have the decency to tell people who care about you where you are. Then I call Billy to see if he knows where you've wandered off to and he starts spitting out about 'tribal business' and you and Jake. So you tell that boy to bring you home and do it now!"

"Dad, I'm not with Jake," technically that wasn't a complete lie, she was with a wolf, "I'm with Leah." Conscious that no amount of distance could give her privacy from all the nosey supernaturals in the clearing that were listening in, she still stepped away from Jake and towards the woods to gain a modicum of privacy.

Shooting one last apologetic glance at Leah, Bella continued talking, "She called while I was at Jake's. She's been having a rough day and needed a friend. I'm sorry, I didn't expect to be gone so long."

"Oh, so you're with Leah?" From spending time at the reservation, and even more time with Sue recently, Charlie had a basic understanding of the love triangle debacle that existed between Leah, Sam, and Emily. And nothing made Charlie want to escape a room like emotional talk.

"Yeah Dad. I'm really sorry I didn't call and check in sooner, but we were talking and I lost track of time."

Bella saw movement in her peripheral and turned just as Leah stepped from behind a tree, tugging on an oversized t-shirt. Her mouth set in a firm line, Leah held out her hand for the phone.

"Uh, Dad. Leah wants to talk to you. Here she is," Bella said, handing over the phone.

Thank you, she mouthed silently.

Leah rolled her eyes with a smirk and put the phone to her ear.

"Charlie?" Leah spoke in a tremulous tone. Had Bella not been looking directly at her face, she would have believed the girl was crying.

Leah sniffed and wiped at her face before continuing, "I'm sorry that we didn't call you. I just… I spoke with Emily today for the first time… since you know. And I really needed a friend and so I called Bella to pick me up."

Bella heard Charlie's faint reply, which sounded gruff and irritable.

"I know," Leah replied, still sniffling, "we should have left a note or called but Bella thought I was hurt and she came to see about me. We've just been talking and it's really helping. W...We'll head home straight awa…." and at that Leah broke down into Oscar-worthy sobs. Bella watched in open-mouthed shock at the display.

Charlie's gruff voice once more came through the phone, this time a little more soothing, though definitely uncomfortable.

"Really?" Leah responded, sniffling some more, "Oh Charlie that will be great. Thank you! I can get my mom to call you if that helps."

Apparently Charlie agreed and then quickly got off the phone. Leah pressed the end button and then turned to Bella. She wiped the few tears off of her cheeks and then smiled broadly. "I just got you out of trouble for not calling, permission to stay at my house tonight, and I got you out of school tomorrow if I still need you," Leah stated proudly.

"I don't even… How did you do that Leah?" Bella asked bewilderedly.

"Oh, everyone is always so uncomfortable about the whole mess. I figured if they are going to stare at me like I've got three heads and whisper behind my back, I might as well use it to my advantage. No offense to your dad, but people will do anything to avoid talking to me about it directly," Leah explained, still grinning, "Isn't that right Sam?" she asked cheekily, turning to the audience they had accumulated.

Bella looked in time to see the large black wolf snort without amusement and turn his focus back to the clearing. The others all looked away as if they hadn't been watching and turned back.

"I'm sorry and thank you again," Bella said sincerely.

"Anytime," Leah responded before turning back to the large tree and stripping off her shirt out of sight before phasing back.

Bella walked back over to Jake, and the large wolf opened his mouth and lolled his tongue out. She smiled at the comical display and jokingly shoved at his shoulder.

"Stop it Jake, that was serious," she said, "you know how worried Charlie is about me with everything going on."

The wolf lowered his head and gently nudged her stomach where her arms had wrapped around her again from the cold. She gathered that he thought she was trying to hold herself together again.

"Not just that Jake. He's worried that they can't solve all the mysterious disappearances and animal attacks."

"Okay, can you please explain to me how you are reading his mind?" a voice interrupted.

Bella glanced up to see Edward still staring at the pair of them.

"What are you talking about?" Bella asked warily.

"I'm talking about the fact that your mutt has not spoken a word out loud since you have arrived and yet you are carrying on a conversation with him as if you can hear the thoughts in his head," Edward explained.

Bella thought back over the time since they had entered the clearing.

"Oh, I guess so," she said in wonder. The expressions on his lupine face seemed so natural to her, it was as if he were speaking aloud. Bella turned to Jake with a smile, "I guess I just know what he's thinking."

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AN: Thoughts?