Chapter 18

A couple of days later, some of the Quileutes entered Beacon Hills; they were greeted by Argent, Isaac and a not too happy Bella. She had taken Isaac because Cora had decided to come back and help with the Cold Ones – to make up for the fact that she had been persuaded by one to look for Bella. Thankfully, Derek and Peter were taking care of Cora and giving her a hard time, but that meant that she had to be without Derek when laying down the law for the shifters.

Isaac was accommodating though; he was itching for a fight, and he couldn’t stop grinning on their way over to the forest to meet up with the wolves. He wanted to see how strong they truly were. Bella joked that if Seth was along with them, he could pick a fight with that one. She had always had a soft spot for the young werewolf; he was so enthusiastic and rambunctious.

She still vividly remembered how things ended after her ghostly visit to Forks and felt her anger rise when Jacob had indeed taken Seth with him. And Colin. And Leah. “Let me do the angry stuff,” Isaac grinned next to her. “You just relax and lay down the law.”

“Oh, I will,” she huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest, looking at the boys. “Oh, so now you decided to come to the aid of someone who needs it?”

“Bella, please,” Chris Argent quietly shushed her. “You agreed.”

“I agreed with if you thought it was necessary to bring them in, I would agree with reluctance,” she replied before she was bowled over by Seth, hugging her tightly. “Hello.”

“Jake had no choice to take me with him, Bella,” the boy spoke, still hugging her. “Don’t be mad at him for me being here. I can take care of myself.”

“Uhuh,” she said as she patted the boy on the back before pushing him away. “Isaac here has been wanting to let off some steam, want to play with a real werewolf?”

“I am a real werewolf!” Seth huffed, puffing up his chest before sizing up Isaac. “Sure, why not.”

“Don’t tear him in half,” she warned Seth as she watched the two walk off with a big grin on their faces. Bella could hear Seth mutter something to Isaac along the lines of her being ‘such a mom,’ but that was alright. The grown-ups were going to talk now. She turned her attention to Jacob, crossing her arms yet again over her chest. “Isaac will be your liaison with us. You will not show yourself in town, and I swear to God, if someone sees you in your wolf form, I will strip you from the magic that makes it so that you can shift.”

“Fine,” Jacob huffed. “The Cold Ones are on their way, how many good fighters do you have?”

“We have two small packs,” Argent spoke up. “And then there’s my daughter and I. However, only a handful of us are capable of killing but would need some pointers as for how to kill a Cold One.”

“You can’t kill a Cold One. You tear them apart and burn their remains.”

Argent smirked as he looked at Bella, wearing the same smile on her face. “We have this thing called C4.”

“It’ll make the prettiest of explosions, but it’s also harmful to our packs and ourselves, so we’d rather not use it,” Bella said kindly. “Unfortunately.”

“Bella will go for the strongest Cold One. As it’s still unclear who’s coming, we’ll have to make that decision when they’re here.”

Jacob looked unhappy with that. “No, Bella, we’re here. You don’t have to do anything, just leave it to us, okay?”

“You’re a chauvinistic pig, Jake. Just like Edward. And, on top of that, you want to protect me? Now? Please,” she rolled her eyes at him. “I can take on whomever. It just drains me so if I’m going to utilize my powers, and it’ll be on the most powerful of the group who’s coming. Derek or Peter, the werewolf, not the vampire, will have my back. Your duty is just to kill. And perhaps teach our proper werewolves some moves.” She then looked at her phone for the time. “They’ll be out of school shortly.”

She could hear a yelp not far from them and walked into the direction of the noise. Much to her surprise, Isaac was sitting on top of Seth as if he was a pony and had his arms around Seth’s neck as Seth tried to throw him off. Of course, with Isaac’s claws deeply dug into Seth’s fur and skin, Seth was in a little bit of pain. “Suck it up, Seth, it doesn’t hurt that bad!” Bella called out to him, causing the youngster to run to the nearest tree and flung himself, and Isaac, against the tree in the hope to rid himself of the werewolf.

Isaac let go with a grunt and rolled off of the shifter, rolling his shoulders to make sure nothing was permanently damaged. He then ran for Seth again, pushing the larger wolf onto his back, leaped onto his stomach and started to hit him. When it appeared that Isaac was losing track of himself, she called out to him to make him stop; most remarkably, he did just that.

Chris Argent watched as a stupefied Isaac changed back into his human self after disengaging from the shifter wolf. He’d seen the boy lose his cool before, he had heard the stories, and that only Scott could snap him out of it by yelling his name a few times. Bella only had to say it once. Say it. Not yell it. It was certainly something to look out for.

He felt for the boy, not belonging anywhere. He had been ousted from Derek’s pack even after Derek creating him, for his protection. Isaac then drifted to Scott’s pack, but now he had drifted back to Derek, mainly because of Alison. Whatever was going on between his daughter and Isaac, he didn’t want to know. Bella took a friendly interest in Isaac from the moment they met, and Chris liked that. Isaac could use someone he could trust entirely.

But to respond to her like he had after she called out for him? To Chris, it looked like the wolf had found his new alpha. It was unheard of for a wolf to bond his allegiance to a non-wolf like that, even though in the non-supernatural world, dogs saw their humans as their alpha’s. Could it be that Bella had successfully managed to domesticate a werewolf with no effort at all?

“That was fun,” Seth said as he ran towards Bella. “Can we do that again?”

“No,” she smiled at him. “I’m afraid that he’ll break you.”

“No he won’t,” Seth said stubbornly before moving to rejoin the others. “Real werewolves are so cool!” He gushed to his sister. “So incredibly cool!”

“We are real werewolves, you loon,” Leah scowled and hit her brother over her head.

“So, now that’s taken care of, any questions?” Bella demanded as she looked at the group of wolves. “I’ll shoot a message to the wolves who need a bit more training to meet you here.” When no one spoke up, she turned to Isaac. “Argent’s in charge. If he’s not here, you’re in charge, and you’re going to behave, right?”

“Of course,” Isaac shrugged. “I’ll even arrange some food.”

“Thanks,” she flashed him a smile before walking off. She needed to see if her Derek hadn’t killed his sister yet. While Cora had done some incredible thing by allowing herself to be lured by Edward, she didn’t deserve that much shit. Bella had fallen for it too, and Cora had shown some remorse. Having her here to help fight against whatever Cold One was only good.

~o.O.o~

When Bella arrived back at the loft, she was surprised to see Cora and Derek sit on opposite sides of the room and Peter standing in the middle. Cora was scowling, and Derek seemed to be internally brooding on some complicated math equation. Raising an eyebrow, she stood in the doorway, silently questioning Derek’s uncle.

“They were at it like dogs,” Peter shrugged. “I gave them a time out. How was meeting with the shifters? Did you tell them what’s what?”

Bella let out a sigh as she made her way over to Derek, a small smile on her face as she laid her small hands on his shoulders and gave them a squeeze of reassurance. He quickly pulled her around, to hold on his lap as he tucked his face into her neck. “It went as well as expected. Jacob is just as chauvinistic as the Cullens were and didn’t seem to believe in my abilities. He’ll learn in time. I left Isaac and Mr. Argent to deal with them. You know, dealing with them would probably be a lot smoother for me if I knew that you all were playing along here.”

“It’s only your boy toy not wanting to let me participate in helping the fight against the Cold Ones,” Cora growled.

Bella turned on Derek’s lap, raising a brow. “Why wouldn’t you let her fight? She deserves a chance to get revenge for their manipulations. She’s capable.”

“She’s my sister,” Derek responded, stubborn and defiant in his objections of his only living sibling being involved in a dangerous fight that had the chances of getting them all killed. “I don’t need to justify my decisions.”

She nodded, understanding where he was coming from. “I get it, I do,” she sighed, then looked around. Focusing on Peter for the moment, she let out a breath. “Hey, maybe you two could go help the Wolves training or something? Just so that we can talk.”

Peter shrugged a shoulder, tossing his niece her jacket before pulling his own on. “Sure thing. Have fun,” he winked as he grabbed Cora by her neck and pulled her out with him. Bella could hear him mutter something in the girl’s ear, but not make out what was said. All she knew is that Derek did hear and started to growl in his upset.

“Calm the hell down,” she warned him, moving to stand. “I didn’t do anything to you, and they certainly have a right to be in the planning and everything. You don’t have to be the one calling the shots all the time.”

“She’s my sister,” Derek repeated, his eyes flashing up at her.

Shaking her head, Bella pointed her finger at him. “No. You don’t get to play that Alpha crap with me. I’m not one of the wolves running around here for you to boss around. It’s bad enough you got Puppy Chow that’s leading his band of merry idiots that think his way is the only right way.”

He rose to his feet, starting to take a step towards her but she held her ground. “I never said that my way was right. Only that if you agreed to work with me, it was by my way and that you might not be happy about it.”

“Then that makes you no better than Edward Cullen or Jacob Black. Another chauvinist! Don’t you think I’ve seen enough of that over the years? Keeping your sister from a fight that she is more than capable of holding her own in. They apparently believed her to be useful enough to them to pull her into this, and it’s by their actions she’s a victim like me, and deserves to serve up some of her revenge,” Bella argued, trying to understand the man and his hot/cold tendencies toward the upcoming threat. He wasn’t like that with her on most days, and then others, he wants to keep inside and safe from the world. “What is your problem?!”

He paced the floor, leaving her staring at him, baffled by his lack of response. Running his hands through his hair, he thought about why he was so worked up by everything that when Bella was suddenly there, behind him when he turned, he just stood there staring down at her. Blinking his eyes for a moment, Derek didn’t think before he grabbed her by the sides of her face and pulled her to him.

Bella was surprised by his actions, letting out a small squeak until his lips were on hers. It was so easy to melt into his kisses now that they’ve gotten plenty of practice of making out, out of their way. There was just the rest of their physical attraction to one another that they’d been dancing around and mostly avoiding since they admitted their attraction to one another.

His tongue traced her lips, begging for entrance that she willingly granted. It was at that moment, it seemed that the floodgates opened and he pulled her even closer to him, picking her up until he had her trapped between his body and the nearest wall. His hands gripped the side of her body as he moved his kisses down to her neck. Blinking through the haze of the sudden rage of hormones overcoming her, she managed to recognize part of their problem. The sexual tension between them was no longer contained, and they’d begun releasing their frustrations out on those around them. Derek with his sister, and Bella with the Quileute wolves.

Pulling his face back up to hers, she kissed him, arching her back into him. “Upstairs,” she whispers in a short breath against his mouth. “Now.”

Derek paused at her words, regaining focus at the moment as he stared at her for her confirmation of what she was saying. What she was offering him. All he could feel was her hands moving over his body, and rational thought was like a roller coaster. He heard her clearly, and she was confident in her choice of words. Growling, he grabbed her under her rear and hurriedly made his way up the spiral steps to the sleeping area of his loft.

He nearly dropped her onto the bed, one leg kneeling beside her as she held tightly onto his shirt so that he could not move far. Before he could regain any control, he felt her hands under the hem, pushing it up. Helping her along, he pulled it over his head, tossing it aside. Feeling her hands exploring his chest, made him near delirious as he lowered his head to her shoulder to catch his breath.

Bella lightly licked and nipped at his neck and ear, chuckling as she noticed his attempts to maintain control. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she realized she felt more than she had anticipated when he pressed himself into her center. Letting out a gasp, she let her head fall back to the bed.

Pushing himself up, Derek brushed her hair from her face. “Are you sure about this? There is no turning back,” he warned.

She smirked in response, running her hands down the sides of his body until she reached the waistband of his pants. “I don’t want to turn back,” she murmured, lifting her head so that she lips brushed his with her answer. One brush across, then a second. On the third pass, he met her mouth with eager intensity.

His hand that hadn’t been holding him made its way to her hip, gripping the tender flesh exposed from her shirt riding up from her writhing beneath him. He kept his fingers light on her skin, feeling her body shiver with his touch as he pushed her shirt upwards. Bending down, he trailed kisses over her throat until the fabric was bunched between him and the rest of her skin.

Glancing up at her face, he found her watching him with anticipation. At her nod, he repositioned himself, kneeling between her legs and pushed her shirt over her head. It found its way wherever his shirt disappeared to before his lips found the skin above her breasts.

Bella drew in short breaths as her hands roamed over his shoulders and up into his hair. Feeling his hand slip under her back, she sat up, holding his face to hers as they shared a hungry kiss, he skillfully unhooked her bra and let it fall.

Derek broke off the kiss for the need of oxygen. Sharing a quiet smile with her, he continued his exploration of her body, pushing her back down as they maintained their lust-ridden gaze. Once she was laying on the bed again, he lowered his head trailing kisses between her breasts. As he moved to lick and pull her nipple into his mouth, his hand came back up to massage and play with the other.

Soon, he continued down her body until he was met with her pants. Pulling everything off, his hand slowly slid back up her legs, fingers tenderly getting familiar with every inch and curve. He could sense her anxiety beginning to increase the closer he returned, and he wouldn’t allow her to wait.

Spreading her legs apart to make room for himself, Derek ran his tongue along her folds, grinning at the gasps he drew from her on each pass. The more moans he heard from her, the more he continued his ministrations until her breathing reached a peak. He had every intention of savoring the moment, just as she did in the experience.

~o.O.o~

In the woods, Peter Hale was enjoying himself as he watched the local wolves practice fighting along with the shifters. Often, he would focus on one in particular that appeared to be offended by nearly all recommendations and was rather full of himself. He thought he put himself to shame in the department of conceit.

While Bella admitted there was no love lost between her and the shifter boy, Peter also knew she’d be upset if he brought unnecessary harm to the pathetic creature. If only he knew just how fast his nephew would be on him if he tried his moves on her when he’s around. The thought had him smiling as his eyes followed the Quileute as he sparred with Scott McCall.

The experience in him, knew that he would continue to breed trouble for his young, new family member and despite her being a unique entity in comparison to the rest, he felt oddly protective of the girl.

Ignoring the suspicious stares, he felt from the local hunter. Peter forced out a sigh when he felt him move to stand beside him. “I would have thought that Bella would want to be here for as much of this as possible,” Argent commented.

Peter shrugged a shoulder. “My guess, by now, she and Derek are well on their way to getting themselves quite acquainted with one another. I’m not interested in going back there and interrupting them. You’re more than welcome to if you so dare,” he smirked.

Chris looked back at him, surprised. “Haven’t they been seeing one another for some time now?”

“Occasional dates, when she’s comfortable enough to venture out, sure. Make out sessions that I’ve walked in on more than I’d like to see, obviously. If you came past the loft to get to know this girl more, then you would understand the need to run out of there for escape as much as possible with the amount of sexual tension between them,” the werewolf sighed. “Hopefully they both will be more cooperative going forward in this fight.”

He couldn’t help but grin when the leader of the shifters, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation, let out a growl. His distraction allowed for Scott to get a solid hit on him, sending him flying across the sparring area. “And if that one doesn’t recognize his place soon, I know a short tempered Alpha will remind him of it quickly.”

As Jacob walked off his defeat, a sickly sweet scent soon began reaching each of the supernatural in the area. Everyone was staring in the direction that it was coming from, Peter taking point as it wasn’t the particular scent of the one Cold One he was personally familiar with.

It was but moments when a blond female, one that the shifters recognized, entered the clearing. She stopped short, staring back at the growling faces. “Please – I come here in peace,” she softly pleaded, holding her hands up and lowering herself to a knee. “I’ve spent the last few weeks tracking down your kind in hopes of finding Bella.”

Peter rubbed a hand over his jaw, glancing at the concerned Argent. “She did warn and help the girl at the house when we went to rescue her,” he muttered. Turning back to the Cold One, he gave a short nod. “You stay here until I get back. It’ll be up to Bella what we do with you.”

He was not too happy about having to return to his nephew’s loft. Stretching out his senses, he scratched the back of his neck as he debated in how he would approach the two. He certainly had no intention of entering the room, having his suspicions from what he picked up on the increased scents coming down from the open windows. He only hoped they were near finished as he started up the stairs.

Slipping through the door, he grimaced. Derek and Bella were enjoying themselves, and he was about to be the villain.

“Heads up, surprise visitor in town,” Peter called out, making himself comfortable on the couch until the two got themselves decent.

Upstairs, Derek froze above Bella at hearing his uncle’s voice, growling at the intrusion. His mind was clouded from everything except the girl he was currently buried deep inside. “Shh,” Bella whispered, pressing kisses along his shoulder before pulling him down. “We will finish here then we can find out what is wrong.”

It was all he needed to continue, taking their time before they were dressed and down the stairs nearly thirty minutes later. Peter stood from the couch after turning the television off and stretched his back, waggling his eyebrows at the young couple. “I hope you two feel helluva better after your romp because you mood just might be shot down,” he warned.

Bella raised an eyebrow at him, fighting the blush from taking over her cheeks, glancing curiously at Derek who attempted to appear more annoyed by his uncle’s presence than for the interruption. “Anything coming from you is bound to ruin anyone’s day.”

Peter shrugged, not arguing his point. “Well, anyway, a familiar face showed up in the woods while the kids were playing. That blondie girl from the house that we rescued you from, Bella.”

She stared at him confused. “Um, there were a few blond female vampires there that I remember shortly before Edward did me over. You’d have to be more specific.”

“She seemed to approve of our coming to help you,” Peter mentioned. “Didn’t fight and coughed up some details about who all were around before she took off. Seemed like she cared about your wellbeing.”

At that, Bella’s eyes filled with recognition. “Rosalie. She patched me up whenever Edward got too rough. I can’t imagine why she’d be here or how she found us.”

“She hasn’t said why she’s here yet, or at least that I know of. We were gonna wait for you two and let you decide how we should go forward regarding things,” he explained, eyeing the girl with concern. “But you are right to be worried about her being able to track you to Beacon Hills.”

Sighing, she threw her hands up. “Sure. Let’s see the vampire and argue with the shifters. This will be tons of fun!”

“That’s the spirit!” Peter clapped before wrapping an arm around her shoulders as Derek silently grabbed their coats. “And you know, it’s a good thing that you two didn’t shower. I’m eager to see how that one dog’s reaction will be when he gets a whiff of you two!”

Bella said nothing, only letting out a sigh as she caught the smirk on Derek’s face to his uncle’s words. She didn’t want to go, but she knew she must. Still, the question of how Rosalie found her location rolled around in her head when other vampires had yet to discover them. She wasn’t going to the scrimmage zone feeling very optimistic that they would have a long wait before coming face to face with the very beings hunting her down.

~o.O.o~

As the trio arrived at the section of the woods, far hidden from regular foot traffic, Bella was more apprehensive the closer they got. Once her eyes set on Rosalie, confirming her suspicions of who found her, she released a drawn out sigh.

“How did you find me?” Was the first thing out of her mouth as her allies began to move beside or behind her, displaying their allegiance.

Rosalie paused, blinking as she realized what her arrival meant to the girl and her friends. The low growling coming from the male that led her rescue warned her to keep her distance. Swallowing, she nodded the wordless warning. “It wasn’t easy finding you, and I sincerely doubt that Edward and Alice are close to learning where you are either…” she began. “I’ve been running from them, trying to keep away from making any decisions because of her. I ran into some wolves along the way that are like your friends here. They – were friendly enough after I managed to tell them enough to let me live. They pointed me in this direction as a possibility of where you might be as they said they’ve sensed some supernatural ripple and were staying the hell away from it.”

Bella nodded slowly, accepting what she was saying, but it still left her uncomfortable as Alice would have seen her decision to follow their recommendation. Almost as if she knew what she was thinking, Rosalie quickly shook her head. “I’m confident that they don’t know. The dogs gave me a vial of their blood with some hair to keep on me. She can’t see shifters or these wolves; otherwise, she would have known that they were coming for you at the house that day.”

“Why didn’t you go find Jasper’s friends?” Bella questioned, curiosity and suspicion filling her. She did believe what the vampire was telling her, however, the time that she spent in captivity with the ones that had been once called her family left her at odds with their race. “Peter here told me about them, how they came to help as well.”

“I don’t know where they are. The last thing I heard about the Whitlocks, they were heading towards Italy and gathering what gifted allies they could get to break Jasper out if he’s still alive,” Rose answered, looking saddened and annoyed. “Believe me. I’d like to help get him out. Edward set him up to be captured all because he defended and tried to protect you.”

Bella was aware of the truth in that statement as she heard it from his mouth when she investigated the Volturi castle. The ending result was nearly her own human life as she still feared their skilled and gifted guard would harm her new friends and family. Sighing, she looked up at Derek, who remained silent except for his subtle growls. It was clear that the wolves wouldn’t believe the vampire, and she wasn’t entirely certain she could trust that she wasn’t found by the rest of the Cullens that survived the raid.

Drawing in a breath, the girl smirked as she glanced towards the shifters. Because of the attitude that Jacob had been having since he arrived toward Derek and their type of wolves, she nodded. “Until we decide what to do, you’ll camp with them,” she grinned. The smile turned mischievous as the dogs began protesting and she held up her hand. “Any further objections will be dealt with me. And trust that you don’t want to piss me off right now if you don’t want to find yourselves neutered. In the meanwhile, I want to know how training has been going.”

Rosalie relaxed as she moved to linger on the sidelines, watching Bella just as the girl watched her out of the corner of her eye. The vampire knew she had to earn everyone’s trust and was too accommodating to their demands. While she was eager to prove herself, it only raised their suspicions of her. Still, even if she was sent away, she knew she’d be leaving after getting a decent show, seeing as the Quileute mutt was butting heads with Bella’s new, and very sexy, a man of a beast. She couldn’t help but smile at thinking that the human girl’s taste had gotten a huge upgrade from Edward Cullen.