Fearless

With or Without You

Chapter Twenty: With or Without You

Rebekah climbed into bed gingerly, trying not to wake me up. I turned over so that I could see her. "Why're you just now coming to bed? It's late Beck." I whispered. She froze in her movements.

"Sorry, did I wake you? I was just reading in the library. And waiting for my dad to call me back. I fell asleep on my book and decided I could just call him in the morning." she told me. I nodded in the darkness, even though I knew she couldn't hear me.

"Alright, goodnight Beck." I said quietly as I turned back over on the cold spot on my pillow. Rebekah bounced around a little more to get comfortable, but I could tell she wasn't satisfied.

"Michael?" she said into the darkness.

"Yeah?"

"Did you hear Aaron and Sam earlier? When they talked about changing Sam?" she asked me. I turned back over. Rebekah layed with her head on her hands, facing me.

"Yes I did. Why do you ask?" I asked her. She shook her head a little. "Do you not want him to change?"

"No, it's not that. I just, I was wondering. If we had met the way they had, with me not already bitten, would you offer that to me? Would you want me to spend eternity with you?" she asked. My heart pounded in my chest.

"Best not to ponder things that can't happen, love." I kissed her lightly on the forehead. "Goodnight, Beck." I turned back around and ignored the annoyed noise she made in the back of her throat.

***

"I bring burgers!" Actaeon shouted as he pulled himself through the door. "And lots of them." Aaron jumped up eagerly and helped him close the door behind himself. They deadbolted it and started down the black stairs.

"Alright, gimme." Aaron demanded as soon as they stepped foot in the front room. Actaeon rolled his eyes, but reached into the paper bag and pulled out a wrapped burger. He tossed it over his shoulder to Aaron and continued into the library. He tossed me one and then handed one to Charlie politely. Sam snatched two out of his hands and threw the one he wasn't going to eat to Rebekah. We all started to snarf down the meat deliciousness.

"So, now that we are all being fed, I'd like to discuss the issue at hand." he said. We all payed his half our available attention, as the other half was on our burger. "Clarence is still out there, and is most likely looking for revenge. I'm going to see if I can bring him back here and talk some sense into him. If not, I'll let you decide what happens to him." Actaeon told us.

"Sounds good to me," Aaron said through his stuffed mouth.

"What about the other wolves in the woods? The ones from Jared's pack?" Charlie asked him.

"I've already arranged it with them. They're going to help me track him down, but they will not interfere with me getting ahold of him." Actaeon told her. Charlie nodded, she was satisfied with her answer.

"Well, I'm going to get a move on." Actaeon grabbed his bag and started to head out. "Sam, before I forget, your sister has something she deemed, 'extremely fucking important' that she needs to tell you. You should meet up with her for coffee or something of that sort, so she can speak to you in person." Sam saluted him before he left the safe house.

Sam balled up his now empty hamburger wrapper and tossed it basketball style into the nearest trashcan. "Well, it seems like I've got to make some plans with Alice." he said as he brought out his phone and started to dial her number. "Hello, dear Alice. I got your message through Actaeon. Do you want to meet up for lunch?"

"You can't? What on earth is more important than seeing your only brother?" Sam asked her, only slightly joking. "So the thing that you're ditching me for is a part of what you have to tell me?"

"God, Alice. If it's that important you can just tell me right now. I'll believe anything you tell me, literally anything." Sam told her.

"Oh my god. Are you fucking kidding me?!" he nearly shouted into the phone. All eyes turned to Sam. "Why is it always werewolves?" he mumbled.

"Alright, we'll talk more about this later. I'll let you go back to your pack. Bye." Sam hung up and sighed a colossal sigh.

"Well, I'm guessing you heard that." he said. "Apparently Alice is in Jared's pack."

"Fucking hell guys. She fought yesterday along with Alex. She could have gotten seriously injured, she could have died! God, why. Why is it always werewolves." the last sentence was barely audible.

"FOR FUCK'S SAKE, MY SISTER, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" Sam shouted before he rested his head on his hand against the table. "I'm so done. I am so fucking done. Might as well fucking bite me now, Aaron. There's no point. Everyone I know is somehow connected to fucking werewolves."

"It doesn't look like he's taking this very well," Rebekah whispered to me.

"I think he's taking it extremely well. Imagine what a normal person would do if they found out their sister turns into a giant wolf. Besides, his boyfriend, best friend, and two acquaintances are giant wolves as well. He's doing fine." I pointed out.

"I can hear you, y'know." Sam grumbled.

"Sorry," Rebekah and I mumble. "Sam, I have reason to believe that this is a good thing." Rebekah told him.

"How the hell is this a good thing." he asked blankly.

"Well, Alice is in Jared's pack. Now, you have a connection to his pack. We can use that to our advantage. Y'know, in getting them to go back to their own territory." Rebekah mused.

"That's not a bad idea," Charlie supported. "We could also get his pack members to turn on him and rip his heart out." Charlie's excited smile fell when she realized we were all gaping at her. "Too harsh?" she asked sheepishly.

"A little," Rebekah admitted. "If we were wanting to grow our pack we could totally convince them to switch. Or we could just challenge Jared for his position as alpha."

"Who here would even be able to fight Jared and have a sliver of a chance to beat him?" I asked her.

"You," Charlie and Rebekah said at the same time.

"Oh, great." I murmured.

***

My head snapped up at the loud ringing noise. Charlie yawned before she picked up the phone. "Hello?" she said sleepily. Suddenly, she was alert and awake. My eyebrows knit together as I listened in.

"I thought I told you not to call me ever again." she said calmly into the phone.

"Well, since you're due any day now," the person on the other end said. Charlie put a hand on her overlarge stomach and rubbed a little circle. "I thought it would be appropriate for me to pay a visit, discuss custody of the child."

"There isn't a need to discuss custody," Charlie spat into the phone. "You're never going to see my child, I won't allow it." I could tell that the person she was talking to was getting on her nerves, and that the person was Jared.

"Now Chuck, don't get nasty with me." Charlie hissed lowly. "Who do you think is more capable of raising the child? You, without a mate. You, along with me. Or myself and my mate. Which option do you think would be better for the baby, hmm?"

"Just because I don't have a mate doesn't mean I'm alone, Jared. I have a whole pack, and every single one of them are willing to help me raise this baby right." Charlie retorted. "And, don't call me Chuck. You lost that right the first time you layed a hand on me."

"I don't care, Chuck." Jared said in a bored tone. "Once the baby is born, I'll come and collect it. If you resist, I'll kill you. I will raise it with or without you, Chuck. It's up to you. Goodbye, love. See you soon."

The line went dead, and everything was silent. Except for Charlie, who had begun to cry.

A/N oops.