THESE ARE NOT TEN-FOOT CEILINGS. WE CANNOT ACCOMMODATE ANGRY YOU.

This Victoria was getting on Frankie's fucking nerves as she chased her around the woods. Of course, it made sense now, that she always seemed to get away. Bella explained that some vampires had powers and Victoria was gifted with enhanced self-preservation, which essentially meant she was really good at saving her own skin.

It didn't help that before learning about the pack, Bella told her father that giant wolves were out there killing hikers. So, every time they went after Victoria, they also had to make sure they were unseen by the hunters going out every day to try and kill them.

Evidently, staying out of sight as a ten-foot-tall wolf was hard, Frankie was learning.

It didn't help that Victoria was getting a little too close for comfort to the hunting party that included Charlie and Harry. Frankie and Jacob were going wide while Sam and Jared came after the vampire from behind, trying to cut her off before she could attack the humans — clearly, she recognized Charlie as Bella's father and had plans for him.

And as Frankie was running, her nose caught a new scent — one that the vampire certainly would as well. Bella was close by, wandering the reservation woods for whatever reason when she was meant to be home where Embry was watching the perimeter. But he must've been a little too far from the house, letting her get by without realizing.

'I'll get Bella out of here,' Frankie said while breaking off from the others.

She followed her nose all the way to the edge of the beach and up the cliffs. Unfortunately, she saw through Sam's eyes as Harry Clearwater was cornered by the vampire and had a heart attack from the sudden appearance. But Frankie couldn't focus on that because Bella was standing on the edge of a cliff and looking ready to jump.

Frankie pumped her legs harder, running as fast as she could. She let out a loud bark and lunged forward to catch the back of Bella's shirt, but the wolf was a second too late, and the human tumbled off the side of the cliff.

Shifting back quickly, Frankie fell to her knees and looked over, convinced that Bella had killed herself after promising to stay this time. Tears welled in her eyes as she screamed for her friend, only for the sound to die out as she saw Bella's head pop above the surface. She seemed to have a fucking smile on her face too.

Who the hell chose to go cliff jumping alone and in the rain from the highest point without anyone around to spot you?

"Bella!" Frankie called, getting her attention. She also reached down and grabbed the sundress to put on that she started to keep tied to her leg so she'd have something to change into when she shifted back and forth — Embry came up with the idea, tired of being naked all the time. "You dumbass!"

Bella pushed her wet hair back and squinted up at her. "That was a rush!"

"No shit—"

Suddenly a wave crashed into Bella, who wasn't expecting it, and it threw her underwater. Frankie could smell blood within seconds, telling her that Bella was hurt. Frankie cursed before diving into the water, the cold waves hitting her skin as she did so. It took a second for Frankie to spot her, but Bella was sinking fast, completely unmoving with blood coming from the back of her head.

Swimming as fast as she could, Frankie grabbed Bella and hauled her to the surface. Halfway there, another hand appeared and grabbed onto the both of them. It was Jacob, who was chasing Victoria when she disappeared into the ocean and then saw Bella get hit by the waves as well.

The two wolves dragged Bella to the sand, who was unmoving with blue lips.

"Shit, shit, shit," Frankie muttered before starting to do CPR. Except she didn't know how to do CPR. "What song is it the beat to?"

Jacob shoved her out of the way and quickly began chest compressions, terrified that Bella was already dead. "Breathe! Breathe! Come on, Bella."

"Breathe, or I swear to god," Frankie said, resting Bella's head on her lap.

Finally, Bella began to cough up some saltwater. Frankie sighed in relief and then turned her on her side, patting her back to help get all the water from her lungs.

"Bella? Bella, can you hear me?" Jacob asked worriedly until Bella finally opened her eyes and stopped coughing.

"Jake?" she breathed out, her voice raspy. "Frankie?"

"I'm gonna kill you myself," Frankie sighed, helping Bella sit up. She wrapped her arms around her, knowing she must've been freezing.

"What the hell were you thinking, huh?" Jacob asked angrily.

"I - I just needed to see something," she muttered.

Then Sam ran by and yelled at them. "Get her home! I'm gonna go help over at Harry's place."

"What happened at Harry's?" Bella asked.

"Harry Clearwater had a heart attack," Jacob informed her. Frankie looked at him, asking the silent question. She'd shifted and cut off the line of communication before seeing what happened to him. "Charlie and my Dad are at Harry's place with his family."

"Is he...?" Frankie trailed off, already fearing the answer.

"He's gone."

"Fuck," she whispered, eyes welling with tears. Leah and Seth had just lost their father all because she couldn't catch one stupid vampire.

"Come on, we'll give you something dry and drive you home," Jake told Bella, pulling her to stand.

Frankie stayed on the sand a moment longer and wiped her eyes before getting up as well, looking out at the ocean. And when she did, as clear as day, she could see a head full of red hair floating on top of the waves.

☽︎

Frankie's dress was only halfway dry by the time she and Jacob got Bella home. The human was squished between the two wolves, soaking up their warmth as they parked in front of the empty Swan house.

"Hundred and eight degrees over here," Jake said when he saw Bella still shivering.

Bella immediately slid in and let out a relieved gasp when she felt the warmth, still freezing from the ocean. "God! My hands are freezing. It must be nice, never getting cold."

"It's a wolf thing," Jacob said, making Frankie grin.

"It's not. It's a Jacob thing. You're just warm," she murmured, and Frankie suddenly felt like she was intruding. "You're like your own sun."

Jacob glanced at Frankie and then back at Bella. "This is better. Now that you know about me."

There was a long silence in the air, so Bella looked up at him with a frown. "But...?"

"You saw what happened to Emily," he said, studying her face. "Sam got angry, lost it for a split second — Em was standing too close. He will never be able to take that back. What if I get mad at you?"

Frankie bit the inside of her cheek and looked out the window, knowing Mike could've been seriously hurt the night she first shifted. If she had been more angry than confused by what was happening, he could've been dead all because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time with her.

Jacob sighed and looked away from Bella too. "Sometimes I feel like I'm gonna disappear."

"Okay, not that you need me to tell you something like this, but I always will. You're not gonna lose yourself," Bella told him. Then she looked at Frankie. "Neither of you. I wouldn't let that happen."

"How?" Jacob asked with a scoff.

"I'll tell you all the time how special you are," she promised.

"I don't know if I deserve it," Frankie told her friend. "I didn't keep you from losing yourself."

"Maybe, but you were busy losing yourself in a different way," Bella said, holding her hand. "Can you stay tonight?"

"You got it, Bell," she said with a small smile. Then Frankie opened the door only to pull it shut immediately when the stench of death hit her nose.

Jacob also smelled it and grabbed Bella tightly. "Wait! There's a vampire."

"How do you know?"

"We can smell it," Frankie said, her eyes scanning the woods behind Bella's house. "She usually waits before coming back."

"We're getting you out of here," Jacob declared while putting the car in reverse.

But then Bella looked out the back window and saw a familiar Mercedez parked on the street. "Frankie, that's Carlisle's car! They're here."

Frankie hated herself for freezing as Bella scrambled over her and out of the truck. But a second later, she was getting out with Jacob.

"Bella, it's a trick. Stop!" Jacob said, grabbing her arm to keep her from going into the house. "You gotta come with me."

"They won't hurt me," Bella insisted. "Frankie, come on. He's back!"

"If a Cullen is back here, this is their territory. The treaty says only La Bête can defend on their land. I can't protect you here."

"Okay, it's okay. You don't have to," Bella said, getting her hand free and heading to the door.

"You're about to cross a line."

"Then don't draw one," she begged. "Please."

Jacob shook his head and looked at Frankie for help. "I'll - I'll stay with her," Frankie promised, following after Bella. But the truth was, she didn't want to. Frankie was terrified that Emmett was in that house with the others.

She was half a step behind Bella as they entered the dark house, and as soon she turned the light on and then moved left, Frankie saw Alice standing in the foyer with wide, golden eyes. Bella let out a startled gasp before throwing herself at the vampire.

"Alice!"

"Bella?" Alice asked, sounding confused to be seeing her, which made no sense.

Frankie stayed by the door, uneasy and ready to run. Alice was her friend — at least, she had been. Now, she was the enemy. She was a monster, wasn't she?

"What are you — I'm sorry, I just, I can't believe you're here," Bella said, pulling back from the hug. "Is—"

"Would you like to explain to me how you're alive?" Alice cut her off loudly.

Bella and Frankie both peered at her, now also confused. "What?"

"I saw a vision of you. You jumped off a cliff. Why in the hell would you try and kill yourself? I mean, what about Charlie? What about—"

"I didn't try to kill myself," Bella quickly rushed out. "I was cliff jumping."

"Recreationally," Frankie added with a smirk, crossing her arms.

"It was f - fun," Bella said while wiping tears from her eyes.

Finally, Alice looked at Frankie, acknowledging her presence. She looked different — taller and more well-defined. But she didn't smell like she shifted — she still had that warm and inviting scent that drew Alice in until she was hugging her.

Frankie froze, not sure what to do. But then she gave in and wrapped her arms around the other girl. Before, she'd always found the Cullens to be hard and cold, but now that she was just as strong and durable, Alice's skin felt like skin for the first time.

How she hadn't figured out what they were earlier made her feel incredibly stupid now. It was so obvious.

"Bella, um," Frankie mumbled, pulling back from the hug, "Bella needs some blankets and coffee. The water was cold."

Five minutes later, Bella was on the couch and warming up. She was still pressed against Frankie's side, her head tucked in the crook of her neck. But Bella wouldn't take her eyes off Alice, too terrified she was going to leave.

"I have never met anyone more prone to life-threatening idiocy," Alice said as Bella explained what the vision really was.

"Did you... did you tell him?" she asked quietly, wondering how Edward would react to thinking she was suicidal. Would he come back?

"No. He only calls once in a few months. He said he wants to be alone."

Frankie was tempted to ask how Emmett was but stopped herself. If he wasn't coming back, it didn't matter how he was.

Then Alice finally paid attention to her surroundings and cringed. "Bella, what is that God-awful wet dog smell?"

With a big eye roll, Frankie got off the couch while Bella awkwardly pulled Jacob's coat off. "Um, that's probably me," she said, moving to stand next to Frankie. "Or... it's Jacob."

"Jacob who?"

"Jacob Black," Frankei said, crossing her arms.

"Jacob's kind of a werewolf," Bella told her awkwardly.

Alice groaned and got off the couch. "Ugh! Bella! Werewolves are not good company to keep!"

"Well, fuck you too, Al," Frankie said, glaring at her.

"And speak for yourself," Jacob said, coming into the living room, having caught what Alice said. Alice looked between him and Frankie while Jacob just looked at Bella. "I had to see if you were safe."

"I thought you couldn't protect me here," Bella said, tyring to not show how happy she was. "Only Frankie could protect me here."

"Guess, I don't care," he admitted. "And Frankie can kick anyone's ass, especially Sam's if he has a problem with it."

"Well, I'm not gonna hurt her," Alice insisted, annoyed that they'd think so.

Jacob rolled his eyes. "No, you're just a harmless Cullen. We're talking about the other bloodsucker who tried to kill Bella because of you."

"Victoria?" Alice asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, you'd think after hundreds of years, you guys would be a bit more thorough," Frankie told her in a snide tone.

"I didn't see her. I didn't see you getting pulled out of the water either," Alice said, frowning deeply. Then she glared at Jacob. "I can't see past you and your pack of mutts!"

"Don't call us that!" Frankie snapped, stepping threateningly toward Alice.

And for the first time since she transitioned, Alice flinched, feeling an overwhelming amount of fear as Frankie's eyes glowed red for half a second.

"Guys, stop!" Bella said, getting between them. "Frankie, this is Alice! Stop. These are not ten-foot ceilings. We cannot accommodate angry you. Take it outside."

"Yeah, I wanna take it outside," Frankie said, glaring down at Alice. "Jake, stay with Bella."

Alice swallowed thickly as she followed Frankie outside, quietly promising Bella she wouldn't be running away without a goodbye again. It was cold outside, but neither girl felt it. The silence that hung over them was heavy, but Alice was the first to speak up, eying the girl she once knew so well.

"When did you shift?"

"Day after my birthday," she muttered, taking in a deep breath. "Where did he go?"

"To Alaska with our cousins. Even after, he didn't want to be more than a few hours from you," she told her in a soft tone. "Frankie, Emmett... he didn't mean to hurt you — to leave you."

"But he did," she said, clenching her fist. "He's evidently a grown-ass man, Alice. None of you had to leave with Edward."

"But he misses you, Frankie. He's on the way with the others—"

"Well, I don't want to see him," she said, the lie feeling like something she could choke on. "I don't want anything to do with him."

"That's not true, Frankie. I know you still love him."

"Really?" she scoffed. "What, did you see a vision? Oh, wait — you can't see mutts like me."

Alice sighed and stepped closer. "Frankie, we've always known who you are, but that doesn't matter. You're Emmett's entire world—"

"Well, he's not mine!" she snapped. "I have a pack to lead, land to protect from your kind. So trust that my personal feelings won't get in the way if one of you fucks up. Be sure to warn Jasper for me — he seems to have some trouble not eating people."

Unshed tears filled Alice's eyes as she took a step back, hating the angry version of Frankie that stood before her now. She blamed it on the Spirit Shifter gene, but deep down, she knew it was her family's fault.

"I'm sorry, Frankie," Alice whispered. "We're all so sorry we did this to you."

Frankie just shook her head and backed toward the house, not believing her. "Don't worry, you will be."

Then she spun on her heel and reentered the house, following her nose to the kitchen where Jacob was just hanging up the phone. Before he could tell Bella who was on the other end, Alice was zooming in as well, forgetting all about the disagreement with Frankie.

"Bella, it's Edward. He thinks you're dead," she said with a horrified expression. The visions were still flashing in her mind. "Rosalie told him why I came here."

In an instant, Bella was looking accusingly at Jacob, realizing it had been Edward on the phone, which was why Jacob was so mad. "Why would you...? Why didn't you let me speak to him?"

"He didn't ask for you," Jacob said stubbornly.

"I don't care!" she shouted.

Alice grabbed Bella's arm urgently. "Bella! Bella, he's going to the Volturi. He wants to die too."

Frankie just scoffed and shook her head. "Let him."

Bella turned to Frankie with wide, tear-filled eyes. "How could you say that?"

"How could he leave you in the woods to freeze to death in September?" she countered. "Clearly, he doesn't care about you as much as he says he does."

"Stop it!" Alice exclaimed. "Bella, we have to go!"

"Bella, if you go after him, you'll throw away everything — our friends, your dad, your human life."

Bella just shook her head, tears falling. "I don't want any of that. I just want Edward."

☽︎

Frankie hadn't been in her human form for seven days, too angry at Edward to shift back. She wouldn't go to school or even Harry's funeral. She just watched the borders for Victoria, ready to tear her apart for killing Harry. Jacob and the others tried to get Frankie to shift back, but she just couldn't.

Besides, what was the point when Leah and Seth were both clearly showing the signs of joining the pack?

When Sam howled, Frankie knew it was time. Suddenly, her mental link was full of the confused and chaotic thoughts of Seth Clearwater, followed a second later by Leah's hate-filled ones.

Frankie broke off into a run, going deep into the woods to find the siblings that Sam and Paul were trying to corral. But given that Leah hated Sam, it wasn't going too great. They needed Frankie to roar and help them regain control.

The first to sense her coming was a small gray wolf, and Leah bared her teeth, not letting herself be intimidated by Frankie's imposing size. But then she roared in her face, shaking her to her very core and reminding her who she was — she wasn't an animal.

Leah was soon standing on shaking legs, and Sue Clearwater came from behind a tree with some clothes for her. She'd been following since the moment her two angry children ran off.

Seth was still running around in confusion and crashing into trees, too disoriented to really know what was happening. So, Frankie huffed and went over to him, knocking her head into him to get his attention — if he wasn't paying attention to her, roaring wouldn't help with intimidating him into shifting back.

Seeing that the other wolf was twice his size, Seth let out a whimper and backed up in fear, slowly looking up at the beast. But then when he saw red eyes, all that fear washed away. The fifteen-year-old let out a whine and dropped to the ground, staring up at her with stars in his eyes.

"Shit," Sam muttered, recognizing the look the newest wolf was sporting.

'Damn, that was fast,' Jared thought, coming to join them.

"What?" Sue asked, worried that something was wrong with Seth since he wasn't turning back. "What's wrong?"

"Seth imprinted on Frankie," Sam told her. "And Frankie didn't imprint on him."

☽︎

"This game is so cool," Seth said, playing through Pokémon on Frankie's GameBoy.

"Yeah, it's one of my favorites," Frankie told him with a smile.

The pair were sitting in the living room of her trailer, and while Frankie was watching a soccer match, Seth was just spending time with his imprint. Frankie was the one to take over Seth and Leah's training — Leah couldn't stand to be around Sam anyway.

Given that Seth wasn't a particularly angry boy, he was struggling with shifting back and forth naturally, but Frankie was helping him.

They'd had a long talk about what imprinting was while Sam and Jared were there as well since they'd been through it. Seth didn't seem to mind at all that he'd imprinted, wanting to do anything and everything to make sure Frankie was happy and safe.

No romantic feelings ever arose between them — though Seth didn't doubt that he loved Frankie and vice versa. But they were still growing closer than even siblings. It was a bond that even Frankie could feel without having imprinted back on him.

The Elders were unsure if it was because she had a different imprint or because girls couldn't imprint. Aside from the Mekko bloodline, Leah was the first documented female Spirit Warrior, so no one was sure if it was possible.

Frankie's phone ringing interrupted their time together. She reached for it, not even thinking to check the caller ID as she answered.

"Hello?"

There was a long pause before, "Frankie?"

She froze, hearing his deep voice that sent chills down her spine. Frankie sat pin straight, and Seth looked at her, worried something was wrong.

"Em - Emmett?" she asked, hating herself for stuttering. "Is this really you?"

"Yeah, it's me, Roman," he said softly. "Thought I might come over. Catch the game with you."

Frankie couldn't help but scoff, blinking repeatedly. "You wanna catch the game? You leave without a goodbye after telling me you're a vampire, and now you just wanna catch the game?"

"Frankie, I know I fucked up—"

"Yeah, you fucked up!" she snapped, her eyes watering. "But I guess I should say thanks for respecting my wishes. I said I never want to see you again and you got the hell out of town for me."

"I didn't want to go. None of us did," he insisted. "Can we just talk about it all."

"No, we can't," she decided. "Don't come by my place. Don't call me. Don't you dare go back to coaching either. You lied and you left — you're old enough to know you have to deal with the consequences."