Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Claws

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 07:

The Cullens sat in the dining room at the large table which had never seen use other than formal family discussions. The eldest Cullens were not happy.

“What part of leaving her alone was confusing?” Esme asked.

Edward shrugged his shoulders and looked at his siblings with a grin.

“Yes, Rose. Please tell Esme how you were confused by her…”

“I’m not a child!” Rose yelled. “I will do what I feel is best to protect my husband if this family cares so little about threats around us. She left home as dark fell wearing a tight black spandex suit with a gun attached to one leg and a knife to another. I followed her to Port Angeles to a private airfield and saw her enter a Blackhawk helicopter with five men in black, two of whom were our new history and gym teachers! How can none of you be concerned about this? Even after what I saw when she returned at nearly dawn? Limping, suit torn to shreds, blood on her body, blood smears on her face and her hair slicked… she smelt horrible! I’m not sure what type of blood or substance she was covered in but I have never smelt something so foul. Humans know about us. Whatever she is, she obviously knows about us. The girl was in a battle and came back beaten and cut and Charlie Swan didn’t freak out at the door! There were gashes on her face! I have a feeling they were much worse, probably open wounds not long before I saw her. She calls in sick the second day of the semester…”

“But Rose…” Carlisle started.

“No! If you don’t see the threat then my husband and I can leave. We can leave you with whatever monster Chief Swan has brought to this town.”

Rose stood up to leave until Emmett gently took her wrist.

“Please?” the man asked. Rose’s face did not soften but she did sit back down, ready to argue if anyone challenged her.

Jasper tapped his fingers on the table and looked up, meeting Carlisle and Esme’s eyes.

“You two have to admit she has a point. I still don’t think she is a danger, not to us anyway, but she is dangerous. A tight black spandex like suit, a gun on her, the knife, the Blackhawk helicopter, the team she has with her, definitely humans, definitely military. We need to know more.”

The table was silent while the Cullens were lost in their own thoughts.

“No.” Edward finally said, looking at Jasper, having heard his thoughts loudly.

“You are the only one of us who has a class with her where the two of you alone at a table. You have the best opportunity to talk to her.” Jasper pointed out. “Just ask her what she is?”

“That’s incredibly rude!” Edward pointed out. “Bella, my siblings were spying on you and wish to know what you are and why you looked like you had survived a massacre. That will go over well. I’m sure she will spill everything to me.”

“She might.” Emmett suggested. “You are the least threatening in appearance.”

“I am not… what do you mean, least threatening? How am I less threatening than Alice?”

Alice scowled at him. “I am very threatening. You should see what I look like in black leather.”

Edward cringed. “I just did in your husband’s head. Thank you for that Jasper. I am not the least threatening… maybe I am, but Rose is the one who is determined she is a threat. If someone is going to risk injury it should be her.”

Carlisle shook his head. “Rose is convinced she is a threat and that is why she can’t be involved. You are less biased Edward. Just talk to her.”

“Esme?” Edward suggested. “No one is less threatening than Esme. Perhaps you could bake her something.” the man suggested, looking at his pretend foster mother.

“You have access and a reason to talk to her Edward.” Carlisle pushed.

Edward shook his head and closed his eyes. The man truly wanted to stay out of this. The wild theories running through his family’s heads were entertaining but he hoped the novelty would wear off and Bella Swan and his family would tire of playing games with each other and leave the other alone.

“Fine.” he agreed, knowing he would be hounded regardless of his answer. “If she is in school tomorrow, I will ask her during lab to speak with me after class. If she is not in school or says no, we leave it alone. Do we have an agreement? If she says no, this is over. Spy all you want but leave me out of it.”

The family agreed, deciding that was as much of a concession as they would get from Edward.

While the Cullens met, Bella was with her team at Connolly’s house debriefing yesterdays battle. She had eaten when she woke in silence, Charlie leaving three steaks for her in the oven. He must have sensed her mood since he went upstairs to give her time alone.

She hated that. Bella hated that he was there when she needed him and knew when to give her time to herself. It was almost like he knew her and that wasn’t possible. Only one person had ever really known her. She gave up her childish dream of having loving parents years ago.

Bella hated that a part of her wanted him to be her parent, that she enjoyed being taken care of for once.

Instead of dwelling on her thoughts about family, she drove to Connolly’s and found the team gathered.

“So let’s talk about what went down yesterday.” she told them by way of greeting and sat in an arm chair facing the men on the sofa and recliners.

“Wendigo, right? Ugly son of a bitch.” Ty agreed. “How you feelin Champ?”

Bella held in a growl.

“How I am feeling is irrelevant. I am built to withstand punishment.” she told them shortly.

“Anymore punishment and there wouldn’t have been much of you left standing.” Webb pointed out.

Bella glared at the man. “That does not matter. If I die, there are others to replace me. If you had retreated when I told you to, the Organization could have been informed and others would have come to take care of the problem. That is my purpose, my mission. You were all nearly killed!”

“You’re welcome bitch.” Hawk mumbled, half amused and half irritated.

“”I didn’t thank you. I realize we have some confusion when it comes to chain of command. You answer to your leader and I answer to my mission. I would think team leader…” Bella looked at Connolly…”that you would have more regard for the safety of your team. I nearly died regardless and if I was gone, so were all of you. You would have died for nothing.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Connolly told her.

Bella stood up immediately and the man followed suit.

“Chain of command?” he asked her, not backing down. “You think these guys need a chain of command to help you? Fuck your mission. We are a team, you are a part of that now and we don’t leave each other alone. Don’t you ever bother telling us to retreat again. We don’t retreat and we don’t leave men or women behind. Deal with it.”

“You are an idiot.” Bella hissed.

“You’re.” Ty told her.

“What?! Bella and Connolly asked together, turning towards Ty.

“You’re. Don’t start slipping again Bella. Its not you are, its you’re. You want to be pissed at us saving your life that’s your prerogative even if it is a fucked up way of thinking and making you look like a complete bitch, but don’t start talking like a damn robot again.”

The modern English lesson seemed to have lessened the tension between the Connolly and Bella and they backed away from each other returning to their seats.

Connolly took a breath when he realized Bella wasn’t going to say anymore.

“Okay… so Wendigo. Do they travel in packs? Could there be more?”

Bella shrugged her shoulders. “Creatures like that usually travel alone but not much is known about the species. I had never seen one until the battle. I am hoping the Organization will send me further information once they have reviewed the after action report.”

Webb looked at Connolly and cringed. Connolly took another breath, prepared to stand and argue with the girl once again.

“They won’t be sending any information on Wendigos because we told them we killed a Sasquatch.”

Bella bent over and put her hands in her head.

“Why would you do that?” she asked, trying to maintain her calm but suspecting the reason and not liking it.

The man shrugged his shoulders. “If they know there is a rare species in this area, they may send more people. The less they pay attention to us the better. We sure as hell don’t need more of them coming down. We gave them a Bigfoot in less than three weeks. That will keep them happy.”

Bella shook her head and clenched her fists.

“Why does it matter if they are here? They know where I am. They always know and they always will. This is my area and I need information.”

“We don’t need more of them here.” Connolly told her again.

Bella looked at the faces of the team and saw her suspicions confirmed.

“I don’t want out, I am not going to try and leave or hide or anything else you expect me to do. You know what that Wendigo did to the hiker. That is why I am here, why you are here. We stop threats like this permanently. This is important. I know what the Organization is and while I don’t like it, I am what I am. That means I kill as many of those bastards as I can. I told you I do not want your team to follow this idea you have in your head that I want out or I can have some normal life.”

Connolly stood up and walked to the kitchen, coming back in with a beer a minute later.

“Fine. You want to fight to the death, go for it. But if those guys come do you think they are going to be as lenient on your golden eyed vampires?”

Bella sat back and closed her eyes, taking slow calming breaths.

“They are not my vampires. I don’t know them. I realize I am a predator, part animal, but I am also part human and the human side of me does not enjoy killing innocents. That is the only reason I haven’t gone after them but they are not my problem.”

“Maybe but we are. What do you think they would do if they came down and figured out we are letting seven vampires live in Forks and not only not reporting it but doing nothing about it? Think they may go after us? All of us? Like it or not Swan, we are in this together. You want to keep hunting then we are hunting and the less involvement with the Organization the better. As far as wanting out, try and take a look at the world around you and just try to imagine you could be a part of it. Either way though, I am bringing this Organization to its knees. I think you can agree that you don’t want to see anymore girls taken away as babies and have done what they did to you, right?”

Bella said nothing for a moment, warring emotions hitting her as he spoke. No, she didn’t want this to happen to other girls or boys for that matter. But there was nothing she could do. None of them could do anything.

This was supposed to be easy. Ignore her so called father, hunt in a very fertile area for supernatural creatures, win as many battles as she could until she fought the one she couldn’t. Then she would be with Julie. It was simple. It got her past the guilt she felt, surviving the Italian mission when her love and so many of her sisters died.

Bella was not supposed to be comforted by the man who gave her up. She was not supposed to wish that she could have heard her mother’s laugh one time or even taken one of the trips her mother had talked about. She was not supposed to have mercy on vampires, even if they were likely innocents who fed off animals. She was not supposed to be surrounded by five idiotically brave men who wanted to get her out, who had turned off her kill switch.

None of this was supposed to happen.

“Let’s focus on the fight. The flame thrower was a good idea.” Bella told them. “I expected it to be used in the disposal of bodies. I never suspected one of you was strong enough to use it in battle. Your weapons and ammunition can knock vampires back, perhaps even cause a bit of venom to be exposed. If that is the case and you are close enough, some sort of light weight short range flame burst may be enough to catch them on fire. I know the Organization has never looked into those weapons. They only give us handguns as a last resort.”

“Anymore knives like the one you gave me?” Connolly asked.

Bella shook her head. “That knife was a part of a femur from the first Lycan I killed. It took me months to whittle it down into a blade. I suppose if we run into another Lycan I can try to use its bones to make tools but they are more prominent in Europe than this area. Of course I didn’t expect a Wendigo so anything is possible.”

Connolly suspected as much. The ideas for the weapons modifications on the rifles was a good one and if his plan went to hell, they would need someway to fight off a shitload of vampires.

“Let’s talk strategy.” Dante suggested. “I don’t think scouting at night is the best idea. If we could have tracked together in the daytime, we would have realized the creature went into the trees and was not what we were expecting. If we have to hunt at night, that is fine but night vision can only get us so far. We jumped into this, thinking it would be easy. When possible, we are going to scout beforehand.”

“Fine.” Bella agreed though every part of her animal nature screamed that the most effective manner of hunting involved silent stalking and fast take downs for the kill in the dark. The idea of using military tactics bothered her but she admitted the men had a lot of experience and did not exactly follow conventual military tactics either. She supposed the two entities would blend their styles after a few more hunts and there would be more hunts.

“Since you have been practically shoving your scars in the Cullens’ faces, you may as well let them know what’s going on.” Connolly told her.

Bella actually snorted. “And why the hell would I do that?”

“Because they know you are different, you haven’t tried to hide it and they probably followed you to Port Angeles and saw you with us. If we aren’t going to kill them, we may as well be on the same page.” Connolly reasoned.

“On the same page?” she asked.

“You never know when we might need backup.” the man told her.

“I will never take back up from a vampire!” Bella shouted. “You are my back up! I am the damn hunter and this is my territory now! They may have friends who have red eyes. Just because they aren’t a threat now doesn’t mean they will never be. They know enough to be cautious of me and stay out of my way. That’s all they need to know.”

Connolly grinned. “This is our territory now. Tell them or I will. What are you going to do? Report me to the Organization? We both know you won’t do that. You want to keep doing what you say you were built to do, fine. Its better that the Cullens know instead of constantly wondering if you are a threat and attack out of self-preservation. You and I both know how cornered animals fight.”

Bella left the house in a blur, the door coming slightly off the hinges behind her.

The remaining five men looked towards their leader.

“I gotta agree with her Jay.” Ty told him. “Why in the hell should we tell them everything? They ain’t gonna attack her or they already would have. I seen those kids in school. They don’t exactly scream out evil. Hell I think they are scared of her.”

Connolly didn’t care about that. He knew they wouldn’t attack her or they would have already.

“We are going to need a doctor one day, Ty. More specifically, a surgeon. A surgeon who has a lot of experience, probably over a hundred years and would never inform or be bought off by the Organization. A surgeon who can take a hunk of metal out of a girl’s brain and do it secretly. Any idea where to find a guy like that? Because I do.”

Bella did not go home right away, speeding her bike through the deserted streets of Forks. It was near midnight and despite the sleep she had gotten in the past 16 hours, the girl was still tired but to keyed up to go home… her residence she reminded herself. Finally having enough of the same streets at high speed she returned to her house. Bella thought of using the window to enter her bedroom but decided against it. She reasoned that she needed to be normal as much as possible around the town and jumping into her second story window from the ground would not be something a nosy neighbor needed to see.

Charlie was in the living room watching television.

He looked her way when she arrived and offered a smile then turned back to the television.

Bella walked towards the stairs but stopped before the first step. She slowly walked into the living room, next to Charlie’s recliner. The man did his best to appear relaxed but Bella could tell he was tense.

“Feeling better?” he asked almost cautiously.

“Yes, thank you. I…”

Charlie waited for her to speak, desperate not to step on a landmine himself.

“I just wanted to say good night.”

“Good night, Bella.”

Bella thought of something else to say but found herself out of words. Instead she nodded and moved quickly up the stairs to shower and sleep, while Charlie sat in his chair on the first with a grin feeling content with such a small thing. It wasn’t much in his mind, but it was progress.

The entire Forks’ high parking lot once again stared at Bella when she arrived on her Harley. Her black leather jacket and matching pants did make them hesitant to approach her. Bella of course knew why.

She had been hunting. She had won and they now recognized subconsciously that a top level predator was in their midst. The first day, she had been unsure, out of place, and cautious. The second day she was gone, had let her animal loose, let it take control. Even when she was losing, the Jaguar felt joy in the battle though the human was only focused on the pain.

The girl was unmolested, unapproachable almost for the first half of the day. She was offered smiles and nods, but as Bella suspected the children of Forks had indeed sensed a change. It wasn’t her dress, or her facial expression that unnerved them, or what they had learned about her the first day of class. Something was off today. She seemed to have a confidence and even a bit of danger around her that set the others on edge.

The blonde girl Lauren had attempted to start rumors about Bella yesterday while she was out. Today the blonde prayed the girl in leather would not find out about them.

Bella didn’t bother eating at a table, not wanting to be stared at by the Cullens or having to deal with the humans. Instead she got three dry burgers, tossed the bread in the trash and walked outside to eat the patties under the grey sky.

She ignored Jasper Hale’s glances in History and had almost forgotten she would be sitting next to Edward Cullen in biology.

But there he was at their assigned seat, unavoidable.

The girl sat down next to Edward who immediately covered his nose.

“You think you have it bad?” Bella asked him. “I washed my hair for an hour last night and it will probably still stink for days. Don’t be a little bitch. You can deal with it for one class. I have to smell it constantly.”

Edward shook his head, not having expected her to say anything.

“Okay… little bitch?”

Bella shrugged her shoulders. “Is that not right? A friend of mine called another friend little bitch because he was complaining about something. I thought that was a thing?”

Edward looked at her dumbfounded. He wasn’t expecting that and the smell was truly horrible.

“I will do my best not to be a… little bitch. Can I ask what has been in your hair that would cause it to smell like that?”

“The humans may pick up the smell of butane and oil a bit but what you are smelling is a mix of my blood and Wendigo blood.” she told him in a casual tone as if discussing the weather.

“I see… did you say Wendigo?” he asked. “Your hair was drenched in Wendigo blood?”

“Its not as bad as Lycan blood. Okay, it is as bad. Maybe worse. Besides the point. I have to live with it for a few days, so you can handle an hour. Just keep your coven on the other side of the gym. They shouldn’t have to smell this. No one should. Disgusting.”

Edward looked closely at her, wishing she would look at him so he could get some sort of read on her. Instead she looked at her lab book with unconcealed boredom.

“Do you guys do this often? Repeat High School over and over again? I thought it would be fun but I learned this stuff when I was 4. This must the what human children feel like when they are sat in a corner as punishment. That’s a punishment, right? Sitting in a corner? How old are you anyway?”

Edward considered answering her but that would mean taking a breath.

“Can we speak alone after class?” he finally asked, taking a quick breath of foul air.

Bella shook her head.

“I’m bored. Let’s do this now so your coven can stop staring at me and being unsuccessful at covertly watching my residence.”

Bella stood up and walked to the front. She turned and saw Edward still seated.

“We doing this now or what?” she asked him across the room.

“Bella?” the teacher asked. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes, menstrual cycle pains. I am in urgent use of a restroom. Edward is about to give you another excuse. Probably not menstrual cycle.”

Bella walked out of the room, down the hall and out the backdoor, not stopping until she reached the trees behind the school then waited for Edward to arrive.

She didn’t wait long.

“So what excuse did you use?”

The boy shrugged his shoulders. “I just walked out. I couldn’t think of an excuse that could compare to yours.”

Bella gave him credit. She didn’t see any of his coven around so he must have felt comfortable enough to come alone.

“So ask away, Edward. I’m an open book.” Bella offered. She tensed when Edward began moving, almost circling her, but relaxed when she realized he just wanted to position himself upwind.

“Stop being a baby.” she challenged. “You act like you have never smelt Wendigo blood before.”

“What are you?” he asked quietly.

Bella smirked and crossed her arms. “You know what I am. Say it Edward.”

“You’re a shifter?”

Bella nodded her head. “That’s right. I’m glad you know about shifters. Do you know what shifters eat?”

Her eyes turned yellow, feral, and she grinned. Edward took two steps back.

“Vampires?” he guessed.

Bella stepped towards him, glad to see him flinch for a second, and laughed.

“God no. Vampires are too crunchy and the venom tastes bitter. I prefer meat. If you want the truth, the bloodier the better. Caiman, Anaconda, Deer, sometimes crocodile if it is cooked right. It tastes horrible raw but boiled for a couple days and it is edible. I’ve recently discovered cheese but cannot stand green vegetables. I also like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers. French fries are okay but not my favorite. Meat lovers’ pizzas though, they are amazing. I haven’t tried ice cream yet, but unless anymore Wendigos pop up that’s on the menu for Saturday.”

Bella’s eyes returned to their normal deep brown shade.

“So you can turn into a… what?”

“I can’t completely shift into any animal. I was genetically modified shortly after birth, a mixture of Jaguar shifter DNA and my own human DNA. I have been given vampire venom injections since I was a child to make me even stronger. It also has a benefit of making me immune to vampire bites. They hurt like hell but won’t turn me or kill me. Now, I told you my secrets so tell me yours. Your eyes, they mean you hunt from animals, right? Every vampire I have killed had red eyes. I was marking my territory in the forest when I came upon Emmett feeding on a deer. I didn’t notice his eyes until I followed him back to your mansion. Do you feed only from animals or mix in an occasional human?”

Edward’s eyes widened, watching her fingers mutate, transform into pearl like claws. He suspected those claws would have no difficulty ripping through him.

“No. We only feed from animals. Our entire family does. No humans.” he assured her, then relaxed when her claws retracted.

“That’s good to know. My purpose, the reason I was built is to kill supernatural creatures that kill humans. I suspected your family did not so I didn’t attack. Plus… there were too many of you. Do you have friends with red eyes that visit?”

This isn’t good, Edward thought, hoping the claws would not make a reappearance. “Carlisle and Jasper know of vampires who feed from humans. I wouldn’t call them friends. They don’t visit.”

Bella believed he was telling the truth. Vampires were not social creatures. They tended to keep to smaller covens but it was natural for them to run across their own kind.

Bella tried to pat the guy on the shoulder but he jumped back.

“I’m not going to hurt you Edward.” she told him.

The man looked sheepish. “I just don’t want the smell on me. Sorry but… I’ve never met a real Wendigo or had any reason to believe they existed.”

“You’ve never met a lot of the things I kill. Be thankful. So, you know I mean your coven no harm, you know I’m not a threat. Can we just get on with our screwed up… no wait, our fucked up lives… sorry, I am working on cursing… can we go on with our fucked up lives? I do my thing, you guys stop staring, watching, asking to compare scars.”

Edward’s eyes widened. “Are you serious? They are going to have more questions than ever now! You can’t tell me that much and not tell me everything! They will never leave me alone and never leave you alone. You said it yourself, going to high school is boring. You are the most exciting thing to happen to them in decades! Either tell me more or tell them but please say something or they will never give me any peace!”

Bella took a deep breath and admitted to herself that he had a point.

“Here is something you can tell your blonde sister. If she looks at me with anything less than a pleasant smile from this point on, I will claw her eyes out and scar her face.”

Edward stared at her for a moment then nodded. “I think that is fair. So… nothing else?”

“Edward if you wanted to know every detail of my life it would take a lot longer than a biology period. Just tell them I’m not a threat to them, I know you aren’t a threat to me and let it go. Privacy. Its a thing. Tell them what it means.”

Bella walked back to the school in time for the next bell. She had that done with and her mind was on other things. The Cullens did sit on the other side of the gym, though she wasn’t sure if it was Edward’s advice or the smell of her hair. She knew they were talking about her obviously, as everyone in the school did, but didn’t have it in her to care.

Despite her best efforts not to, she thought of Charlie, of Connolly’s determination to get her out, to take down the Organization and what life could be life if she were free. She wondered if the animal part of her would ever let her have peace or always feel the need to hunt and kill. Connolly seemed to believe it was simple. He believed she wanted freedom and why wouldn’t he? Bella knew it wasn’t that simple. As much as she hated the Organization, it was all she ever knew. They built her to be a killer. Without that part of herself, she had no idea who she was.

Not wanting to spend time after school in her room or running the forest for once, she decided to go to the small grocery store in Forks.

She bought four large steaks, placed them in her backpack and headed toward her bike.

“Bella?”

Bella slowly turned around to see a tall bronze skinned man with dark long hair coming out of the store. She had noticed him before but paid him no mind.

“Are you Bella Swan? Charlie’s daughter?”

“Do I know you?” she asked, taking him in. He was Quileute obviously but the only ones of the tribe she had met were the Blacks.

“No you don’t. I’m Sam Uley. I’ve known your Dad for years. I heard you moved to Forks. Jake was at a bonfire Sunday telling his friends about the Chief’s daughter and her motorcycle. I saw the bike and realized it must be you. Not a lot of Harley’s around the area. Its a pleasure to meet you. You are Bella, right?

Bella took his hand.

“Yes I am. Pleasure to meet you Sam. So you live on the Reservation?”

The man nodded. “For now. Next fall I’m off to Seattle for college. Just between me and you, I think Jake has a little crush on you.”

Bella laughed. “Yeah, I may have noticed when he tried to sit in my lap on Char… my Dad’s couch.”

“Ouch. You must have not let him down too hard. He wouldn’t stop talking about you.”

“Great.” Bella mumbled. “I should be going. Get this meat out of my backpack before it starts to thaw.”

“Of course. Tell your Dad I said hello…”

“And who is this?” a female asked, walking up behind Sam.

“Hey Leah, this is Charlie’s daughter. Bella, this is my girlfriend, Leah. Her Dad and yours hunt together often…

Bella had stopped listening the second she met Leah’s eyes. The tall thin gorgeous girl Quileute had been smiling but the moment they locked eyes both were frozen in place simply gaping at each other.

Bella felt something inside her, a warmth and pain, a sense of protectiveness, lust, then a sudden desire to rip the throat of the nice man she just met when he put an arm around the woman’s waist.

Realizing her incisors were about to drop she turned away quickly and came to her senses.

What the hell was that?

Bella had never felt anything that intense in her life and had no idea why.

“Bella, you okay?” she heard Uley ask.

Bella shook her head and turned back to Uley. Leah was still beside him and seemed as dazed as she was.

“Yeah… sorry. Had a stomach cramp for a second. I… I need to get home. It was nice meeting both of you.”

Not wanting to chance a second look at the strange girl, Bella got onto her bike and drove off quickly.

Once she reached the house, she put the meat packages on the counter and raced to her room.

“What the fuck?” Bella whispered.

Leah. Her name was Leah, right? Sam’s girlfriend? She didn’t smell supernatural. Neither of them did. Even if they were Bella should have been protected against a psychic attack. She had felt like her whole self was invaded.

Could the girl have been a witch of some sort? Bella had never heard of actual witches but if she learned anything in life it was that anything was possible.

But why would she attack Bella? Or was it him? What kind of attack was it? Something happened. Something was still happening.

She wanted to kill the man for touching his own girlfriend?

“What the hell is wrong with me?” she asked herself. Bella never lost control. She had spoken to a vampire at length today and only showed her eyes and teeth to screw with him. Not once had she felt the urge to attack. Yet she took a look at this Leah girl and was ready to kill a man for touching her. That wasn’t her.

Bella was always in control outside of battle. In a fight she could give into her Jaguar side and let go but until that moment she always remained calm. She wasn’t a mindless killer.

“Take a deep breath. Whatever happened to you, maybe it wasn’t them. Maybe it is… maybe you have just been through a lot recently and its all catching up and causing you to have a breakdown. Yeah, that must be it. Breakdowns I can deal with.”

The girl got control of her breathing and walked into the shower, spending the next hour, well after the hot water had run out, washing her hair and thinking of anything other than what had occurred in the grocery store parking lot.

Once out of the shower and dressed in sweat pants and white tee she felt a bit better.

Charlie had returned from work.

“Screw it.” she muttered and walked downstairs into the kitchen. She was hungry and had planned to eat when she first arrived home. The meat was still thawing but she hoped it would have been soft enough for her teeth to tear through.

The idea of eating raw meat in front of her father bothered her. It shouldn’t. Bella ate raw meat often, especially in the days before and after a battle. Why should she change now? He agreed to let the animal live with him. He shouldn’t be surprised by the animal’s eating habits.

Bella walked slowly into the living room.

“I bought some steaks. I was going to… would you like one?” she asked him quietly.

“You okay?” the man asked. “You look a little off. You still hurting?”

Bella shook her head quickly. She was fine. Whatever reaction she had was temporary. She would just make sure to stay clear of those two again should she ever see them accidentally.

“No, I am fine.”

The man wasn’t convinced but let it go. “I would love a steak. I can fire up the grill in the back. Or would you rather have it some other way? Fried maybe?”

Bella fought back a smile. She wouldn’t smile.

“Yeah, grilled sounds great.” she told him. She hated that she liked the smile on his face.