𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗

𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩'𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙪𝙡𝙩

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╰┈˚ · ° .   It was raining heavily, the mood of the sky a nostalgic gray.

Amelia and I were in the Black household, hidden away in the girl's room finishing our last pieces of AP classes homeworks for the following week between too many brakes for snacks, gossiping about the girl in Forks High School that apparently got knocked up, Amelia's girl of the week, and so on and on.

A knock on the door was heard before Jacob's voice rang through, "I'm meeting the others." His steps got further away before the front door shut.

"God, what a fucking prick, not even a goodbye." Amelia rolled her eyes, dramatically throwing her pen to her door. "Can you believe him?"

"Mia." I called her name as I looked outside the window,

"I swear to god if he doesn't stop acting like we killed his entire family–"

"Mia."

"I'm going to strangle him to death. How can he be–"

"Amelia!" I snapped, cutting her off.

"What!"

"Bella is here."

"Are you kidding me?" She was suddenly next to me and the both of us couldn't peel our eyes away from the scene that was happening right outside Amelia's bedroom's window.

It was like a movie directly played for our entertainment. They were both soaking wet from the rain and Bella was running after him with dispersion. But from the look of hopelessness that passed through Jacob's features as he met her eyes for the first time after phasing, we knew that his fear came true.

"She is not his imprint." Amelia said, leaning her face closer to the window to get a better look, "I don't know if I should be happy or not."

"Oh this is getting interesting." I slapped my friend's arm as if she wasn't looking as entertained from the scene as I was. Bella had just grabbed Jacob's arm, not letting him go.

Things escalated dramatically, all of a sudden, even through the rain we could hear the word bloodsucker carelessly being thrown out as Jacob started to shake.

"Shit, shit, shit. Let's go." I was dragged away by Mia, and the water pelted us immediately as we stopped outside.

"Bella, hi, how are you?" I said far too cheerful—definitely a far cry from my usual self— as at the same time my best friend and I slapped our arms over Jacob's shoulders. "Aren't you a bit cold in the rain?"

"What did your brother do to him?" She suddenly yelled at me.

"My brother?" I asked, not understanding what she meant.

"Yes, Sam and his cult. What did they do to him?!"

"Go home, Bella, and don't come back or you're gonna get hurt." Jacob said sadly, rain falling from his drenched hair and onto his cheeks.

"That was rather dramatic, alright." Mia clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth, "Maybe a bit too on the nose for my liking."

"Not the time." I said, cutting her a glance. Fortunately, Sam and the pack had arrived. He called for Jacob, motioning with his hand for him to join them.

I sent reassuring words that everything was fine to them as I pushed Jacob in their direction, "Go, they are waiting for you."

Jacob didn't look back.

"You should go home Bella." Amelia told her, she as well already walking away.

"I'll find out what you and your little group did to him, I swear." The Swan girl promised with eyes full of tears, "You will not win this."

"There is no victory in this, Bella. This is life." I replied sadly. Honestly, all this heartache was making me sad.

Bella had been abandoned in the woods from the person she loved, and now that she had found a bit of solace, that too was ripped away from her in a heartbeat. And all of that without counting on the fact that the boy was the exact same that one of my closest friends— a sister— was in love with, and well, he loved his sister. It was all such a mess.

At least there was consolation in that dreadful afternoon. One of the cold ones had triggered the alarm spells that we had placed sporadically around the forest on the other side of the Treaty line— Cullen's territory or what had been theirs if they were here— and after guiding the pack to his closest location, they hunted the vampire down, and finally, after months, the pack had successfully killed their first enemy.

══════ 🜂🜁🜃🜄 ══════

╰┈˚ · ° .  March brought the sun, but we were still in Washington, the temperature didn't drop suddenly with the beginning of spring.

I was starting to regret ever coming to Amelia's house lately. It seemed that peace and quiet was foreign in her house as much as it was in mine. It looked like drama liked to follow us.

We had a test soon and the pack house was as loud as a kindergarten class all the time with the guys coming and going, so it didn't really make it the best place to study. So here we were, with books and more books sprawled on the tables and more highlighters and pens that we knew what to do with.

We thought that her house was bound to be quieter, well, we were wrong.

The rumble of a car motor was heard over the silence of the kitchen, and soon, from the kitchen windows, I was able to see the peeling red paint of Bella's truck as she parked it in front of the house.

"Oh shit, not this again." Amelia recognized the girl, her black silk hair covering her face as she groaned in her hands. "One day without drama, can we have that? Is it too much to ask?"

"I guess we are taking an average grade for this test." I muttered, aware that we had done little to no study at all once again.

"We can't!" Amelia all but recoiled at what I had said. She was a smart girl, and prided herself with having perfect grades. She might not look like it with her attitude—the thought that crossed everyone's mind when meeting her was that the stereotypical one of the bad girl with failing grades that did not care about academics— but in all my life, I hadn't known someone who studied as much as her. She was smart, yes, but all of that was the result of passing hours and hours with her head buried in books and homeworks. Bad grades weren't a thing that was meant for her in Amelia's mind.

When Bella knocked on the door, Billy, the twin's father, rolled in with his wheelchair. The man looked at us, and with a heavy sigh he said, "I'll take care of her, don't worry."

We waited with bated breath as the man opened the front door, "Bella." Billy didn't sound very hospitable by his tone, not like the girl cared.

"I need to see him."

"He is not in."

"I'm sorry, I really need to see him."

We heard steps and before we could blink, Bella had pushed over Billy and was stalking through the house with her sight set on Jacob's room. She passed by the kitchen, not even sparing us a fleeting glance.

Amelia snapped upright, glaring at the girl who had shown no manners and literally walked in without an invite, "What the hell!"

This was not ending well, and now Amelia was angry.

Bella was frozen in her steps as soon as she opened the boy's bedroom. Jacob was home, yes, but he was asleep.

"What do you think you are doing?" Amelia snapped, shoving the girl out of his brother's room, closing the door behind her. "What the hell is your problem?"

"You and your friends are my problem." Bella squared her shoulder, jaw clenching in anger as she glared. "What did you do to him? Uhh?"

"Listen girl, you need to fucking chill alright?" I said trying to stay calm as the other two girls continued to stay heated in their rage.

"Calm?" I guess that had been the wrong thing as her head snapped in my direction, "How can I be calm when this is all your fault?!"

"Okay what the hell did I do now?" I scoffed then "And lower your voice, Jacob is asleep."

"What did you do? How can you say that? You and your brother and your–"

"If you want to shout then do it outside." I cut her off, spitting the words with a warning.

"Yes, get the fuck out." Amelia stated, "Now, Bella."

The girl glared and stomped away slamming the front door behind her.

I exchanged a look with Amelia, and with an eye roll we followed after her, making sure that she got in her truck. But she didn't, as soon as we were outside, Bella turned around with narrowed eyes.

"Tell me." She commanded, "Tell me what your brother did to him."

"I have no idea what you are talking about." I simply said keeping my cool. As Paul said—something that he hated immensely—I was really good at acting unaffected by everything.

I had my suspicions at what Bella was referring to—the wolf thing—but Jacob was under an Alpha order, he couldn't have said anything to her. Right?

"You do, I know you do. Everyone know that your group is a—"

"Is what? A cult?" I snorted a laugh, "Please, Bella, don't tell me that you believe those rumors." She was shaking in her rage and I felt a pang of sympathy, "Listen, we didn't do anything to him, okay?"

"I don't believe you."

"And what exactly do you think we did, Isabella?" Amelia snarked, her top lip curled into a snarl and eyes narrowed into a menacing glare.

Bella stepped back, it looked like she was about to explode in her anger—if she had been a wolf I was sure she had already phased before our eyes—and then the laughs that reached our ears a second later were just fuel for the fire of her rage.

The pack stood there at the edge of the forest and the beginning of the Black's propriety, laughing and joking between them. I suddenly remember that they were on their way to patrol, and Jacob's house being the last one and closest to their first scheduled spot, meant that all of them now stood together.

Dressed only in cropped sweatpants and sneakers in the March weather, definitely wasn't normal. They should really start to dress up more, but in their defense, they hadn't meant to meet anyone that wasn't part of the pack or aware of them.

"You!" Bella exclaimed, eyes set on Sam. She was walking before I could blink, stalking through the backyard as a girl on a mission, "What did you do?"

"Bella stop!" I called, eyes widened as I ran after her.

"What did you do? What did you do?" She repeated heatedly, "What did you do to him!" Bella pushed Sam back and then I was sprinting to get to her.

Growls echoed as the pack's loyalty and instinct got triggered by their Alpha being shoved, the temperament of each wolf rising.

"Easy." Sam tried to calm them down, with little to no result.

Bella Swan was a problem for the pack, and not because it was exactly her fault, but Jacob couldn't leave her alone. It might have been admirable from him to not want to abandon his friend, but it made his loyalty null to the pack. And as a consequence, well, it made the stability of the group waver. The fact that they tried to make Jacob feel included even when they didn't like him much to begin with, only for the result to be more anger directed at them, wasn't helping in the slightest.

Amelia and I put ourselves between the wolves and the girl, "Bella calm down and then we can talk." I tried to talk to her.

"He didn't want this!" She shouted over our shoulders and I had to work to not winch at the loudness of her tone.

"What did we do? What did he do? What did he tell you?" I could feel Paul's anger a mile away as he stepped forward, and with his, Jared's followed suit.

"Did he tell you something?" The Cameron boy asked, shoulders tensed, the vein in his neck bulging as he stood next to his pack mate.

"Amelia." I hissed to my friend motioning for the two wolves. But she stood there with her glare and arms crossed over her chest. Amelia wasn't liking Bella very much at that moment, but the girl had literally just disrespected her father, and her home. I could understand her reasons.

It looked like Sam and I were the only calm ones here. Embry looked like he was actually enjoying the drama, or more so, he didn't know what to do.

"Nothing! He tells me nothing because he is afraid of you!" Bella shouted.

Oh, well that was actually funny. It made the tension slightly bleed out of all of us, and my shoulders sagged as a choir of chuckles and laughs followed the girl's statement.

The amusement wasn't shared by Bella who once again pushed someone, this time she chose the wrong target.

Paul froze, amusement bleeding out of him immediately as his shoulders started to shake starting his shifting.

"Hey!" I snapped, red flashing in my vision instantaneously. I was usually good at staying calm in critical situations, but now I was suddenly enraged. I reciprocated the shove, making her take a few steps back. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

I had not seen it coming. Bella slapped my cheek all of a sudden, strong enough for it to sting and burn. I widened my eyes keeping my hand pressed against it with a slack jaw.

"You fucking bitch." I snarled with venom, and I was ready to beat the shit out of her, because honestly, no one was raising their hands on me anymore. I wasn't going to keep letting this happen without consequences.

"Paul!"

I twisted around, and there he was, my boyfriend shaking, steaming coming off his tanned skin as he fought the wolf inside of him.

"Too late now." Jared chuckled, pulling Amelia with him to the side.

"Paul, calm down. Paul!" Sam commanded in his Alpha-tone.

"That's not going to work." The air witch shook her head. Not when Bella had hit his Imprint.

I caught Paul's eyes just before he shifted. Clothes were thorn, tan skin replaced by a coat of gray fur that blended with the white on his snout, around the eyes and belly. The only thing the same as his human form remained his mahogany eyes. I might have been biased, but I always loved how his wolf looked, he was my favorite.

He growled at Bella, lips pulled back into a snarl.

"Get back Bella!" Jacob shouted coming out of his house.

All of a sudden, it wasn't Bella Paul's target anymore, but Jacob.

Paul's wolf brushed his body against mine as he circled around me until he was standing between me and the girl. "Run, Bella." I chuckled with my stare set on Jacob. I threaded my fingers through Paul's fur before I stepped away from the line of fire.

Bella's face washed in fear as she started to run away, "Jake, run!" She shouted as she ran away.

Jacob was running too, but he was coming towards us, ready to attack.

"Move her out of the way, Mia." Sam said with a sigh, resignation crossing his features.

Amelia complied, and with a wave of her fingers, Bella was shoved away by a gust of wind that I was sure looked like she had just tripped.

Jacon shifted mid jump, and suddenly the two wolves were at each other with growls and snarls, tumbling through the forest still attached at each other's throats.

Sam turned to us, Embry now having joined our side. "Take Bella to Emily's." Then he ran after the two wolves.

"I guess the wolf is out of the bag." Embry commented as we looked at Bella, who still on the ground looked with wide eyes at the forest where Jacob and Paul had disappeared.

✎

˗ˏˋ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ˊˎ˗

Hello everyone!

Big chapter this one! Of course I had to make Bella slap Beatrice because I thought it was just more dramatic and yes maybe romantic for Paul to shift because of that.

I'm trying to push more on the loyalty of the pack, so I guess it made more sense for Paul to shift and reveal the secret without the other stopping him because Bella had slapped his imprint. More so because of Beatrice's backstory with her abusive parents.

 Honestly, I can totally see why Bella was so insistent with Jacob. She was left in the woods by her boyfriend and the first time that she felt good again was with Jacob, only for him to abandon her too. I guess I can understand her point of view with how she blamed the pack after Jacob had warned her about them before he shifted.

Thank you for reading this chapter, I'll see you on Thursday!

˚ · ° . 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞 . ° · ˚

𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞!

– 𝐋𝐨𝐥𝐚 ☾