Swans Don't Quit

The Hunt

 Thankfully a storm had rolled in during the night and soaked the water logged earth of La Push and Forks, erasing almost all evidence of wolf activity. The past couple of days have had no sightings of the wolves or anything other than squirrels and birds. There hadn't been any deaths or disappearances either. Even Isabella was almost staying out of trouble. She had taken a trip down to La Push to see Jake the day after her hike and had started some trouble, but had locked herself in her room since to sulk about Jake's rejection.

Sunday we didn't go into the trees till one, after the churches got out and everyone had the chance to get ready to return to the search. I was relaxing in the living room when there was a hard knock on the front door. Leah irritated toward the door before she gathered Alex in her arms and took him upstairs for a diaper change. I sighed and got up to answer the door. When I opened the door I was surprised to see Paul on the other side. He looked pissed. He was only in a pair of cut offs and there was a slight tremble that ran over his skin like an electric current.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I stepped out onto the porch and shut the door behind me.

"Bella knows." He growled out between gritted teeth. It took me a second to comprehend what he was talking about.

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

"How?" I demanded

"Jacob figured out a loop hole around Sam's order. Apparently, he told her about the legends last year when she came down on a beach trip with some of the kids from Forks. He helped jog her memory to help her piece what he wanted her to understand. Why he couldn't hang out, talk, and why he had been avoiding her." Paul muttered angrily.

"Damn it! Why'd he go and do that?" I seethed. It was bad enough she knew about vampires, but to know about the pack is like putting a target on her back. She knows too much and anyone can see she's a danger to the secret their keeping.

"He thought if she knew he would be able to spend time with her again and make her better like he thought he was before he wolfed out." Paul said as he glared out at the trees angrily. I stared off into the trees with him and could see where Jake stood with his decisions, but I also knew this would complicate things. Like hiding my knowledge from her, it would become harder with us hanging around with the same people. One slip of the tongue from any of the guys and the wolf would be out of the bag and hurricane Isabella would hit the shore hard.

"She can't know about me." I said as I stared at the old birch that stood crooked and half dead. Paul turned to look at me.

"She's not dating that blood sucker anymore. What's it matter if she knows or not?" Paul asked as he looked at me curiously.

"Because if one of them ever came back. She would pick them in a heartbeat and I refuse to put myself and my family in that position where she uses me as a go between for a couple years before they send out word of her 'death'. She is not to know." I said firmly. Paul nodded and laid his hand on my shoulder before standing up and running back into the forest. I stayed on the porch thinking for a few minutes before going back inside.

Today was gloomy and there was an odd feeling to the air. Something wasn't right and I feared it had something to do with Isabella. There was a storm moving in and we were going to head home early this afternoon to be out of the forest when the storm hit. I was hanging back bring up the rear of the group with Harry as we were coming to the end of today's search.

"Harry there's something I want to run by you." I said as we walked. He looked toward me and raised his eyebrow. I took a deep breath before continuing.

"I wanted to know your opinion on proposing to Leah. I wanted to know if you thought it was too soon and if I should wait." I said. Harry was quiet and I was starting to worry that he didn't agree with me marrying his daughter. After about a minute Harry laid his hand on my shoulder and with a proud smile nodded.