A/N Hey! Sorry it took so long, I've just finished up Uni for the summer! This is a bombshell chapter so I hope you enjoy it. I'm thankful for the support this story in particular has received. Keep in mind, not everything about Bella's situation is going to be revealed in this chapter so it still might feel as though you don't have the full picture... patience is of the essence ;)

Chapter 21
"Three Worlds Combined"

Day after day, the catastrophes kept coming. I think we all assumed it couldn't get worse than attempted murder at the hands of your own father, but we were far wrong.

"What does this mean?" Rosalie asked, taking her place by Emmett's side.

They all seemed to do that naturally in the middle of a crisis; move towards their significant other. I almost laughed when I felt the need to sit by Bella, despite the fact that she was not mine in the way that they all were each other's. Nonetheless, I knew that her presence would relax me. I would be safe in the knowledge that unleashing rage would only frighten her.

"If her father is involved with them, the treaty is void," said Jasper, speaking up for the first time in a while. "They say they exist to protect humans, ironically from us. If they're in any way responsible for this..."

"Let's not be hasty," Carlisle said, his composure fully intact.

"Hasty?" I questioned, throwing my hands up in frustration. "Carlisle, the only thing that would be more dangerous than this is if the Volturi were sniffing around."

"We don't want to jeopardise what we have with the wolves. There is enough tension as it is. If we start throwing accusations around, it's going to make everything worse."

I understood where he was coming from, of course I did, but that didn't stop me from wanting to confront them instantly. Carlisle's calm composure was admirable but it didn't serve him well at times like this, not in my mind. Sometimes anger is a good thing.

"Why don't we just..." Rosalie shrugged, almost hesitant to finish the sentence. I knew where it was going without having to read her thoughts, "ask Bella if she knows anything about La Push?"

"That's a terrible idea," I snapped, shooting her a fierce glare. "If we go down that road, we're at risk of her finding out about us."

"Fair," she said, pursing her lips. "But if she knows about the wolves, there's a great chance she already knows about our kind. You said she's smarter than the average human, right?"

"Incredibly," I muttered, recalling each and every time that thought had passed through my head.

I had to take a moment to mull over everything we knew so far about Bella, in terms of her life rather than what I knew of her personally. We know that at least part of her life was spent in Phoenix, her mother saved her life, her father tried to kill her, and for some very strange reason it appears there are wolves somewhere in the picture. There are multiple things this could mean. Firstly, the wolves and her father could be linked and they may have been returning in search of a body. If this is the case Bella is in more danger than ever, for they now know she isn't dead. Another option is that the wolves and her father have no link whatsoever, and they were simply curious about the accumulation of our scents around that area. We'd avoided the meadow, until today, but that didn't mean we weren't keeping an eye on the area. Furthermore, the meadow is rather close to the treaty line.

"Edward, your face is doing that Einstein thing," Emmett said, laughing loudly.

"What?" I asked, trying not to smile in response to his weird comment.

"When you're so deep in thought that you're in another dimension, your face shows it."

"Thanks for that insight," I said wryly, causing him to laugh again. "There's another issue with your idea, Rosalie. The wolves might just be curious. We've been around the meadow a lot and it's close to their land."

"Edward is right," said Esme. "This is an impossible situation. If we ask her about La Push and she doesn't know anything, she's going to want to know why she's being interrogated. She's such a sweet, innocent girl... She shouldn't be dragged into this world more than she already has been."

"I have a feeling she's already right in the middle of it," Alice announced, strongly agreeing with Rosalie's idea. "We have no clue what Bella is thinking," she added, throwing me a grin. "If she really is as perceptive as Edward says she is, keeping in mind he's probably biased since he cares about her so much, she's probably already suspicious about us."

"Enough, Alice. I'd rather not find out—"

"Please stop arguing," a melodic, authoritative voice chimed from the doorway behind us. We all jumped simultaneously, having been so wrapped up in chaos that we didn't even hear her approaching. It was almost funny that she'd caught us off guard, but more horrifying than anything. How much exactly had she heard?

"Oh, honey," Esme said, clearing her throat habitually. "We were—"

"I meant that there's no point in arguing," she clarified, shooting me a knowing look.

There was something in her eyes that had me wanting to disappear. It suddenly felt as though she was about to confirm my worst nightmare. She seemed more composed than usual; more confident. Not so much like the innocent girl my mom had just described.

"What?" I blurted out, dumbfounded.

"I already know," she replied, ignoring my rude tone and the probable horrified expression on my face. "I already know about La Push, about the wolves, about you... I already know everything."

With Bella, we had learned to expect the unexpected. We hadn't mastered it but we were beginning to not be surprised by it. However, this revelation floored every single one of us, and just about shredded my unbeating heart. What does this mean for us? What does this mean for her?

"Let's all take a moment," Carlisle suggested, just as Jasper sent a wave of calm flooding through the living room where we'd all taken refuge after Bella dropped that bomb on us.

I had shamelessly taken this opportunity to sit right by her side on the sofa because, despite the current situation, I didn't want to be anywhere but next to her. It was pathetic really, when considering the length of time I've known she exists, but I didn't care. It didn't matter that she has no idea of the depth and suddenness of my feelings for her, nor that she will never return them; all that matters is her safety.

The future was all distorted and senseless in Alice's head, this had not brought any clarity at all. I knew we would have to return to the subject of the wolves fairly quickly and I had a sickening feeling it was bound to come up in the conversation about to happen.

"So, you know," Emmett said, nodding his head awkwardly. "I wouldn't have guessed."

"That was sort of the idea," she said, and I felt her arm brush mine as she fidgeted in place. It was such a casual action, yet my affection for her had intensified the feelings that arised because of it by tenfold.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Jasper asked, frowning in confusion. He glanced at me out of habit, then looked quickly away when he realised that I couldn't jump into her head for the answer as I would any other person.

"I figured I'm not supposed to know about... your kind... but I found out by accident a very long time ago. I didn't know if I could trust you, or if you would hurt me if you knew that I knew, so I didn't say anything."

"Did she actually dupe us?" Emmett asked, guffawing loudly. "That is one smart little human."

Bella laughed along with him and I couldn't help, for one moment, smile. "Besides, I couldn't really bring it up in casual conversation."

"I don't understand how..." I trailed off when her eyes met mine, giving me a look that said she would explain everything.

"This is where La Push comes into it," she said, offering me a timid smile. For some reason, it was clear that this was the part she didn't want to talk about. "I spent every summer on the reservation up until two years ago."

"Which is when we moved here," I informed her, internally begging for her to make sense of all of this for me. "But I've never seen your face in anyone's thoughts, not in town."

"You what?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise. "Did you just say—"

"I'll explain that later," I promised, realising she wouldn't have any idea about that. What a moron I am. "Why doesn't anyone in town know of you?"

"Whenever I was here, I wasn't allowed to leave the reservation. I guess none of them told anyone about me. I heard you mention a treaty and if you haven't been around them recently, that'll be why you haven't... seen me in anyone's thoughts."

I laughed because she tried her hardest to say it casually, she truly did, but I didn't miss the small, confused pause she took before the words left her lips. "Sorry," I said when she frowned at my amusement.

"I, uh, I," she looked away from me, a blush suddenly spreading across her cheeks. The sight didn't appeal to me in any way other than the realisation that it set off her pale skin beautifully. I couldn't understand her sudden embarrassment. "Anyway, the last time I was there, there was a bit of a situation."

"What sort of situation?" Carlisle asked, reminding me that it wasn't just Bella and I in the room.

"There was this guy," she said and the start of the sentence had me on edge instantly, for there were multiple directions this could go. If I found out any of those dogs had hurt her, even touched her, there would be hell to pay. "Um, I got into a bit of an altercation with him. He said something about my mom; that she should have saved herself rather than me. I punched him. He phased. I saw the whole thing."

"You..." I shook my head, utterly horrified. "You punched a..."

Emmett's booming laughter echoed around the room and she jumped this time because of the volume, subconsciously leaning into me. Rosalie smacked him in the chest, hard enough that it would have killed a human, and he covered his mouth. He wasn't the only one amused, however, and I realised that I in fact was the only one who didn't find one thing about it funny.

"Okay, before Edward has a heart attack, what happened next?" Jasper asked, raising a single brow at me. Calm down, idiot, she's fine. Clearly.

"I started reading about the Quiliete legends and learned everything I could," she explained, shrugging. "It wasn't until my last ever night there that I heard about your kind. My dad was having an argument with Billy Black down on the beach. They didn't know I'd followed them. It ended up being one of the worst nights of my life."

Her tone, combined with the look on her face when she said this, had me reaching for her hand. It was an action based purely on instinct and I realised, along with my family, that we all had become much more human as a result of having her here. It now felt natural to reach for her; to try to comfort her.

"I don't know exactly how wrapped up in your world my dad is but I know he wasn't happy when Billy told him that a new vampire family had moved to town," she added, only when her hand was in mine. "I didn't know it then but I'm assuming that was you guys."

"Jesus," Rosalie said, her eyes wider than saucers. "We were literally so close to you and we had no idea."

"Yeah," she whispered, clearing her throat. "They were shouting at each other and I knew it was serious, I knew it was real, because they've been friends for most of their lives. I didn't know what to do but I didn't have to think about it too long because one of the wolves caught me there and... I was in lots of trouble that night."

I didn't even want her to expand on that. I didn't want to know what lots of trouble meant for her. My brain felt like it was about to explode because of all the information she was giving us; so far beyond what any of us could have predicted.

"We never went back again," she continued. "And everything just got worse back in Phoenix. My curiosity piqued, however, because something about your kind triggered a rage in my dad I hadn't seen before. I researched, I read, I did everything I could to find out as much as possible, but not much of it made sense. All I really knew for sure was that you existed."

"You say things got worse," Jasper said. "How so?"

"Bella, don't answer that," I told her, shooting daggers into his skull.

"No, it's okay," she said, looking up to meet my gaze again. "It's okay. What he did to me isn't any worse than what you've seen since you met me, and by no means worse than attempted murder. I just meant that he hurt me more often than he did before. Besides, I think the emotional impact was worse than the physical. I felt so alone."

She coughed then, her voice becoming increasingly hoarse because she'd talked so much in the last ten minutes. I hadn't heard her speak more than a sentence at a time at most but this, this was different. She was trusting us with this information and most importantly, I was comforted by the knowledge that she believes we won't harm her.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that on your own, Bella," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "I have to ask... Weren't you frightened, when you found out about our kind? When you realised you were in a house with seven monsters?"

She shook her head. "My definition of the word monster is not your family, nor your kind. You've all shown me more humanity than any human ever has."

Her words were sincere, pure, and they touched all of us. One could only imagine the horror she had endured for her to see us as the silver lining. However, I realised quickly that all of my family's thoughts were in the same place as mine. There was still so much we didn't know and this girl is in incredible danger, from every direction it could possibly come. This fact had me holding her hand a little tighter.