Love Bite

Chapter 31

I DO NOT OWN CHARACTER OR TWILIGHT

As it turned out, all those red eyes were friendly eyes.

But they were going to have a hell of a time trying to convince Leah of that.

"What the fuck?" Leah hissed, her voice low and rugged.

"Down, girl," Alice warned, stepping past an alarmed Bella and drifting down into the yard. "These are friends. They're here to help."

"Then why the fuck are their eyes red?" Leah snarled. Loudly.

All the vampires standing in the yard glanced at her and Bella knew she needed to intervene when Leah's skin rippled and she inhaled a huge breath, as if she were about to explode.

"Leah, calm down," Bella murmured, turning to face Leah and sliding in front of her friend to block her sight of the yard.

She knew now who these people were. It seemed Carlisle's cries for help had finally been heard. Bella was actually excited to see that the cavalry had arrived, though all those red eyes were making her decidedly uncomfortable as well. And it seemed as much as Leah had come to support the Cullens, she was still a born and bred werewolf who had sworn to protect mankind from vampires that would kill and feed from them.

"Don't tell me to calm down. You told me only vampires that feed from humans have red eyes!" Leah ground out with her jaw clenched tightly, her eyes flashing yellow. Her shoulders were bowed up and she was breathing hard through her nose.

Okay. Let's not scare off the only help we're going to get by turning into a werewolf, please, Leah, Bella thought worriedly, glancing over her shoulder as the people in the yard stirred, clearly still able to hear Leah's voice.

"They do," Bella admitted. Leah growled from low in her stomach and took a step forward. Bella pushed her back gently with two hands on her shoulders and tried desperately to calm her down.

"Then what are they doing here?" Leah demanded, her voice rising. She shoved Bella's arms away, chest rising and falling rapidly.

Don't shift, dear God, please do not shift, Bella internally panicked.

"Shh, Leah! I don't get it either but you have got to keep your voice down! You can't go scaring off the people who are here to help us!" Bella hissed.

"You don't want their help! They're murderers!" Leah yelled. Bella heard the muttering in the yard grow in volume and she was seconds away from forcibly dragging Leah away and be damned if she shifted in the process.

If these people decided not to fight alongside them, they would have no hope of defeating the

Volturi. It would mean certain death.

Esme came to the rescue.

"Leah, sweetie," Esme broke in, sliding between her and Bella. Bella had to take a step back and she blinked, surprised.

"Honey, listen to me. These people aren't evil. They're not the vampires you've sworn to fight," Esme murmured soothingly and Leah sent her a scathing look of disbelief.

"They eat people. They suck them dry like leeches! How can you defend them? That makes you no better than the damned Volturi!"

That was where Leah made her mistake.

Esme's eyes flashed and she bristled in a way Bella had never seen her do before.

"Is that what you think of me, of my family?" she demanded Leah, who glared back defiantly. "After we took you in, fed you, clothed you, and gave you a place to stay? Do you really think that low of me, Leah?"