Chapter 1 - Mine

"Go away, Bella. You shouldn't be here."

Bella slowly tried to process the words that her best friend just said as he turned back into his house and shut the door in her face. She closed her eyes for a moment as the waves of sadness washed over her. She couldn't understand how Jacob, her Jacob, could turn her away. Dejected, she made her way down the steps and turned toward her truck.

A noise made her look up and she saw a group of men standing at the edge of the tree line. They were all shirtless and looked menacing, but Bella narrowed her eyes as she recognized Sam Uley. All at once, her sadness transformed into anger. How dare they force Jacob into their cult! Without thinking, she stormed towards the group, but her eyes never left Sam.

"What the hell have you done to him?" she yelled as she advanced.

"I didn't do anything to Jacob, Bella. You need to respect his wishes and go home." Sam said calmly.

Bella finally stopped a few steps in front of him and paused as she realized just how tall all of these men were. She glanced over to look at the others and was startled when she recognized another.

"Quil? What happened to you? You're a part of this too?" She demanded.

Quil didn't respond, he just looked away to avoid the betrayal he saw in his former friend's eyes. This only set the flame to Bella's anger again.

She zeroed back on Sam.

"I don't know what you've done to these guys, but it's got to stop. If you're giving them steroids or some other kind of drugs, I'll tell my dad. I won't let you mess with my friends."

From somewhere behind Sam, Bella heard a scoff.

"They'll survive without your friendship, leech lover, so why don't you listen to Black and get out of here."

Bella stopped short when she registered the insult.

"Leech lover?" she whispered.

Sam saw her face and then yelled to the guy standing behind him.

"Enough, Paul."

"Dammit Sam, you're being too nice. She obviously won't take a hint. Maybe she'll understand it if we put her scrawny ass back into her truck!" Paul said as he walked towards Bella with purpose.

Bella noticed that this guy was thinner than Jacob and Sam but looked just as powerful. No, lethal. She shivered as fear finally registered when she saw that he was standing right in front of her. He started talking again, hate dripping with every word.

"Well, are you actually going to make me move you myself?"

Bella forced herself to look at his face. She was surprised by how handsome he was, even as he was scowling. But the moment she looked him in the eye, his face changed completely. He looked stunned, even stumbled back a step.

She continued to watch him, confused and then Sam spoke up again, apparently unaware of his friend's condition.

"Leave it, Paul. Come on Bella, I'll walk you to your truck." Sam stepped forward and reached out toward Bella. Suddenly, a vicious growl tore through the air.

"MINE."

Faster than Bella could blink, Paul had pulled her behind him and turned to face off with Sam.

Confusion was apparent on all the other's faces. Sam looked at Paul, astonished to find his eyes glowing yellow as he continued to growl.

"Whoa, whoa…Paul, I don't know what's going on right now but you need to calm down." Sam said, infusing the words with his Alpha command.

"MINE." Was the only response that he received as Paul backed up further so that he was bumping into Bella. Bella was about to complain about his proximity when Paul stopped and looked over his shoulder towards the Black's house. Bella turned to see the door open and then Jacob stepped onto the porch. He took one look at Paul's stance in front of Bella and then yelled, "No!".

Bella thought she heard Quil mutter, "Oh shit." And then everything happened at once. She saw Jacob jump off of the porch and start running towards her but, most shocking, was the feeling that she no longer touched the ground. She whipped her face around and realized that Paul had lifted her into his arms and ran straight into the woods. Jacob was catching up quickly, with the remaining guys following behind.

Bella was so confused by what was happening that she couldn't even yell. They were moving much too fast for a human. The speed reminded her of when Edward would run with her on his back, but this was totally different. Paul was cradling her to his chest and panting as he ran.

Suddenly, he stopped. She was quickly put behind him once again. She realized that he stopped at an enormous tree. The trunk was the width of a car and there was a hollowed-out space, almost like a cave. Bella finally found her voice.

"What are you doing, Paul?" she demanded.

He turned around and looked at her with glowing yellow eyes. Bella caught her breath as she backed up but he immediately shot his hand out to her arm.

"MINE." Was his only response.

Jacob stopped a few feet in front of them but when he heard Paul's one word response, he made a terrifying sound and then burst into the largest wolf Bella had ever seen. She thought she must have been hallucinating but then Paul gently pushed her further into the tree, never taking his eyes off of the wolf in front of him. Bella heard him say "STAY," over his shoulder to her, before he took two giant steps forward and burst into a silver wolf almost as large as Jacob.

Bella slid to the ground and pulled her knees towards her, trying to stay away from the silver wolf. Jacob was pacing back and forth, trying to make his way around Paul. Paul stood his ground in front of Bella following Jacob with his yellow eyes and growling fiercely.

Finally, Sam and the rest of the guys arrived. Sam took one look at the scene and called out an order, "Jacob, Paul, stand down NOW."

Jacob's wolf immediately stopped pacing and lowered to the ground under the weight of the order. However, Paul's wolf never moved from his stance or stopped growling.

Sam's brow furrowed. He looked around the wolf to see Bella sitting against the tree.

"Bella, are you okay?" He asked gently.

Bella stood up, but Paul's wolf turned back to her and growled. She moved back as close to the tree as possible in fear.

"I'm…I'm okay Sam but what is going on? Are you all wolves? Why did Paul take me?" She asked desperately.

Sam wiped his hands over his face before answering.

"Yes, we are all wolves. You know some of our tribe's stories. We are the new protectors of our people."

"Protectors? Oh, Paul called me a leech lover…" she whispered as she realized just what they protected the tribe against.

Sam nodded when he saw her understanding. He took a step towards her, but Paul's wolf immediately began growling fiercely with spit flying from his jaws.

Sam put his hands out, trying to placate the wolf.

"Paul, you need to calm down. Phase back so that we can talk about this." Sam said imploringly.

The wolf showed no change and continued to stare and growl at Sam.

"What's going on Sam? Why won't Paul leave me alone?" Bella asked.

"Bella, I think that Paul imprinted on you. It's something that can happen to protectors when their wolf recognizes their perfect mate. It's a gift, actually." He said quietly.

"Gift? Mate? Are you serious? He looks like he wants to kill me!" She yelled.

Paul's wolf wined and turned to look at her. She could almost see the hurt in his yellow eyes. Seeing the wolf's distraction, Sam took a step forward. It was a big mistake. The wolf immediately turned his attention back to Sam and started backing up more until his tail was against Bella.

Sam sighed.

"Bella, we will work this out but, right now, Paul's wolf is consumed with thoughts of your safety. He's not going to let any of us near you and he won't let you go when he thinks that there's a threat to you. His wolf is so out of control that he didn't respond to any of my commands."

"What do I do then?" She asked.

"I think that it might be best for us to leave. Give him time to calm down and see that there is no threat to you. Then he can change back, and we can talk about this. I know it's asking a lot for you to be patient, but I think it might be the best way."

"You're going to leave me? Alone together…with this wolf?" She asked quietly.

"We will be keeping watch. I know he looks frightening right now but it's because he wants to keep you safe. He won't knowingly hurt you. My concern is that if we try to remove you from him right now, he will fight us, and you could get hurt. Once the perceived threat is gone, he should calm down."

"Okay, Sam. I guess I don't really have a choice." She said, resigned.

She watched as the group slowly walked away, straining her eyes to follow them until they finally disappeared from her sight. Paul's growling continued a little longer than that. She slowly slid down the tree again which brought the silver wolf's attention back to her. Once he realized that she wasn't trying to leave, he stopped growling. Bella sat on the ground, once again pulling her knees to her chest to put something between her and the wolf. He moved so that the side of his body was touching her legs and then laid down at her feet, like a giant dog wanting to be near his owner.

Bella gradually began to relax now that the wolf didn't appear like a killing machine. It started to rain after a while and she tried to listen to the raindrops and the sounds of the forest instead of thinking about this fucked up situation. When she couldn't handle the silence any longer, she started talking out loud to Paul. Sam had spoken to the wolf, expecting him to understand so Bella assumed that she could do the same.

"So…this is pretty fucked up Paul." She said quietly. As soon as the wolf heard her voice, he turned his head towards her. His eyes were still glowing yellow.

"This is crazy. I finally get all of the vampires out of my life and now this. I don't know what's wrong with me."

The wolf whined in response and rubbed his nose against her leg before setting his head back down on his front legs. His eyes never left her.

As she stared down at him, she started to think of his situation.

"Then again, this must be even crazier for you guys. I wonder if you even knew it would happen? Probably not, I mean, Jacob certainly didn't expect to turn into a wolf. He laughed at those stories when he first told them to me."

"It must have been scary when it first happened." She thought aloud.

She didn't know why but his eyes seemed sadder somehow now. Before she even knew what she was doing, she had reached out her hand and started to pet his fur.

"You're so soft. I wouldn't have expected it because you look so…well, I'm just surprised. Is it okay if I pet you like this?"

The wolf only responded by closing his eyes and moving his head closer towards her. Bella continued to stroke the wolf's coat while she looked out over the forest and wondered what would happen next. At least, for now, she felt more at peace. The wolf was calm, and Sam had said that that should allow Paul to change back. She only needed to wait. But how long?