Love Bite

Chapter 26

I DO NOT OWN CHARACTERS OR TWILIGHT

As it turned out, even having a werewolf in a house full of vampires wasn't quite as awkward as sitting next to your girlfriend across from her ex husband of fifty years with no one else but the three of you in the room, and all of you refusing to look at each other.

It was almost a relief when said werewolf came bounding down the stairs after an unbelievably tense twenty minutes, looking frazzled with Esme right on her heels, fussing over her.

"Of course I understand that your kind have special healing abilities as well but I really would feel better if you would let my husband take a look at those lacerations-"

"I'm fine, woman! I mean-seriously, I'm okay, Miss. They're already fading," Leah whirled around, biting back exasperation.

Esme pursed her lips as Leah shifted awkwardly under her stare, and in any other circumstance Bella might have felt bad for her, having felt the heat of Esme's motherly gaze herself quite a few times, but as it was...

She was too busy quelling instincts she'd never even had before. Really, really strong instincts.

Like the instinct to kick the shit out of Jasper's face.

Like the instinct to crawl onto Alice's lap and hiss Mine! at him like some weird, demented snake.

She felt like a caveman, not some new, super evolved species with the way her thoughts were going.

Mine, mine, mine! Fuck you, mine!

She felt like she was a step away from peeing on Alice's leg to stake her claim, which was why she knew she was being possessive vampire crazy and not possessive irrational girlfriend crazy.

And yet underneath all that possessive bullshit, Bella was swallowing back all too human feelings of uncertainty, insecurity, hurt, and anger. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if Alice had said something since Jasper dropped that bomb, if she'd done anything, said anything at all to refute his claim, or justify it, but no, none of that happened. All that happened was that Alice let go of her waist and stalked into the house after him, expressionless, never even once glancing at Bella and that just made it so, so much worse.

Because that kind of reaction screamed that his words weren't harmless, that the implied weight behind them had a meaning that could make Alice act as if they were as heavy as they sounded.

It was more terrifying than Bella thought possible, and she had to tell herself to breathe, and calm down, not overreact. Actually, she hoped she was overreacting. She hoped she wasn't justifiably upset. She wanted to be told she was being as ridiculous as she felt, because the alternative was making her feel sick. She desperately tried to blame it all on her newborn instincts and not the fact that Alice refused to look at her.

Bella's knee bounced up and down rapidly as she sat next to Alice, arms folded tightly to her chest as her eyes cut across the room with nervous energy to see Leah warding off Esme's attempts to doctor her. Leah's hair was damp and pulled back in a ponytail, and her copper skin shone cleanly. She wore a plain black t-shirt that Bella recognized as one of her own, which didn't surprise her considering how much of her stuff was around the Cullen household. Leah was also wearing a pair of her shorts. Her left leg clearly sported a wicked set of bite marks that looked more befitting of a great white shark in size than any form of canine. She knew the wound was one of many that were making Esme worry in her characteristic way.

Again, under any other circumstance Bella would probably be more worried about her too. She was too busy trying to resist the urge to snarl like a feral animal in frustration. She could also feel a headache beginning at the back of her eyes, and a heavy feeling of tiredness was licking at the inside of her bones.