Page 68

"Really?" Pearl deadpanned.

"I'm serious! Bella's gonna die and you're just gonna let her!" Jacob yelled at the hybrid.

Pearl responded coldly, "It's not my place."

"What the hell do you mean?!" Jacob questioned angrily.

"I'm doing what I can to help, but as I said, it's not my place." Pearl answered bluntly, already tired of the conversation.

"You sure as hell don't look to be doing anything!" Jacob shouted furiously.

"Because it's not my choice. It's not my body. I have no right to voice my opinion on the subject, unless it's asked for." Pearl tried to explain to him.

"Well Bella clearly isn't thinking straight! So how could you let her make this decision!" Yelled Jacob.

"... what do you expect me to do? Strap her down and force her to get an abortion? You know if the supernatural wasn't a factor, that would not only be incredibly illegal, it would also be highly immoral." Pearl answered in a sarcastic, yet tired tone.

"I don't know! This is all that leeche's fault! He's ruined her! He's gonna destroy her!" The shifter screamed in Pearl's face.

Pearl stared at him with a blank look on her face. Not giving him the satisfaction of an answer, Pearl simply decided to ignore him and walk past the angry shifter, blatantly refusing to engage with him further.

Pearl's actions caused Jacob to reach his boiling point. As soon as his feet touched the driveway, he shifted into his wolf and took off running into the trees. Heading towards Quileute territory.

When the hybrid re-entered the house, Pearl went to stand next to Jasper.

The growing tensions in the family was quite hard on the empath.

So she offered him some silent support, through an anchor of indifference.

Due to her ability to block herself off from the outside world back when she was human, Pearl has a very good sense of control over her 'cold' emotions.

Indifference is a fairly strong emotion that isn't particularly good, but it isn't unpleasant to feel either.

So by standing in close proximity to the empath, Pearl was able to provide Jasper with a valid emotion that he could try to focus on without upsetting himself.

A little while later, Pearl's emotions spiked and changed. Feeling the difference, Jasper was prompted to ask about it. "You good?"

Pearl hummed and turned her head in the direction of the reservation. "I'm not sure."

"What's going on?" Jasper asked, caution and concern lacing his voice.

"I don't know. Something, just doesn't feel right." Pearl answered in an unsure tone.

Unbeknownst to the two of them and the rest of their coven. Jacob had just let Bella's predicament slip to the rest of his pack, and it wasn't being received very well.

"Our protection applies to Bella!" Jacob shouted through the mind link.

"She's practically dead anyway." Paul replied angrily.

"She loves a leech." Jared spoke up.

"She's still human though." Seth said quietly.

"It doesn't matter!" Leah yelled over top of Seth.

Jacob lunged at Leah, knocking her to the ground. Sam's bark broke them apart.

"We have real enemies to fight tonight." Sam said firmly.

"Tonight?" Jacob questioned in disbelief.

"What they've bred, won't be able to control its thirst. It must be destroyed as soon as possible. You will fight with us, Jacob." Sam ordered through the link.

Jacob tried to stand his ground, but the order was causing him a lot of pain. So he was slowly submitting to it.

Then suddenly, Seth's voice came through the link. "What about Pearl?" He asked fearfully.

"She has sided with them!" Sam shouted.

"But-" Seth tried to speak up but got silenced by the alpha's growl.

"She is a traitor to her kind! A traitor to her family! She'll be treated like any other bloodsucker." Sam ordered in a serious tone.

"I... won't... fight..." Jacob let out determinedly, as he fought Sam's order.

Sam focused all his attention on Jake's wolf and strengthened his original order. Forcing Jacob to lower his head. Jacob continued to fight against the order and was able to raise his head again.

Standing tall, Jacob spoke sternly. "I will not! I am the grandson of Ephraim Black. I am the grandson of a chief! I wasn't born to follow you, or anyone else." With that, he broke through Sam's command and severed his ties with the pack. Jacob pushed past Sam's wolf and retreated into the forest.

Jacob broke through the trees in his human form, fully clothed and gazed at the Cullen residence from a distance. A twig snaps behind him and he quickly turns around, expecting an attack. Only to be greeted by a smiling Seth Clearwater.

"What are you doing here?" Jacob asks bluntly.

"I left Sam's pack." Seth replies proudly.

"Get out of here Seth." Jacob retorts.

"I won't follow him." Seth argues.

"Yes you will." Jacob scoffs and reminds him.

"No I won't!" Seth shouts. "You heard what he said! He's gonna try and kill Pearl! How could you think I'd stand behind that!"

Jacob stopped walking and stared at Seth, having been taken aback by Seth shouting at him. Seth hardly ever shouted, so this obviously, was a big deal to him.

"Look. I haven't been the best brother to her.

I know that. I already majorly let her down when she was human.

And I can never make up for that. But no matter where she stands in this, she's still my sister.

Even if she no longer considers me her brother!

I won't sit by, and let them hurt her! Or her new family.

" Seth says in a serious tone, completely meaning every word he had just said.

Jacob looks away from him, and takes a minute before replying. "When they come for Bella. Are you really ready to fight your own brothers? Your other sister?" Jacob asks, wanting Seth to realise the severity of the situation they are in.

"If it's the right thing to do." Seth responds simply.

Jacob hesitantly nods. "I'm gonna give the Cullen's a heads-up. You, can do what you want." He says.

Seth smiles at him brightly and follows behind Jacob towards the Cullen's house.

Spotting Edward on the balcony when they got closer, Jacob speaks in a deadly calm tone of voice. "Get ready. They're coming for Bella."

"They won't touch her." Edward responds firmly.

"Agreed" Jacob replies seriously.

The wolf and the vampire nod to each other in agreement. Before Edward retreats back inside to warn his family of the impending danger.

Leah appears from the tree line moments later, surprising both Jacob and Seth.

"Man, I can smell them from all the way out here." She comments, not quite in disgust, but certainly in distaste.

"What on earth are you doing here Leah?" Jacob asks pointedly.

"Good question." Pearl says coldly as she appears in front of the shifters, turning off her gift. Her sudden appearance, startling them all.

After letting out a high pitched screech, Jacob was quick to try and cover it up. He shouted in surprise, "Where the hell did you come from?!"

Pearl answers him in a bored tone, "I've been next to you since you came within 100 metres of my home. You just didn't notice me."

Seth stares at his middle sister, amazement shining in his eyes. That quickly turns to embarrassment and worry, as he realised that Pearl was likely there watching as he caught up to Jacob. Meaning that she had heard everything he had said.

Pearl gave her little brother a quick glance and a very small ghost of a smile appeared on her face for a moment.

She appreciated what he had said, and his reasoning for following Jake.

And although she hasn't forgiven him for what happened in the past, maybe it's time to consider trying to re-build a relationship with her younger brother.

Turning away from Pearl, Jacob focused his attention on Leah, and asked her accusingly, "Did Sam send you?"

"Sam doesn't even know I left." Leah quickly retorts.

A large amount of howling sounds out in the distance.

"Well he knows now." Pearl comments dryly.

"Look, I don't know why you care for those lee-, vampires." She corrects herself after Pearl sends her a glare. "But I'm not gonna let my little brother get himself killed." Leah says.

"Tsk" Pearl makes a sound of disapproval, not at all happy with the new development.

"I get it. You don't like me. But I know his plan." Leah argues. Trying to convince Jacob to let her stay.

Jacob hesitates, then looks at Pearl, silently asking for her opinion since this was technically, her turf.

Pearl narrows her eyes at her used to be friend and her biological siblings. And let out a small growl, that emanated from her chest. The growl was deep, and although it wasn't very loud, the tone was clear. She was the alpha here. And what she says, goes.

"To be honest, I'd prefer it if you all got lost." Pearl remarked coldly.

Seth flinched at her tone and Leah, at least had enough decency to look somewhat ashamed.

Jacob silently stared at the hybrid. He knew that she didn't like him, but they were on the same wavelength.

She knew that he wanted to protect Bella.

So, Jacob was well aware that she wouldn't send him away just because of personal reasons.

Plus, she at least knew him well enough to know that even if she had told him to leave, he wouldn't listen to her.

Looking to Jacob, Pearl spoke with a tone of indifference, "We don't get along. We view things differently, and that causes us to butt heads. And although, I dislike you strongly at the moment, frankly, I don't think Bella would let me throw you out, even if I tried."

Jacob smirked at her wordlessly, upon her last statement. Pearl huffed in annoyance, then turned her attention to her siblings. Who were both staring at her. One looked apologetic, the other looked mainly annoyed, but there was a hint of regret in their eyes.

"What I said to you, the night we fought." Pearl spoke harshly towards Leah. "It still applies."

Leah looked down at the ground, residing herself to the fact that she would be sent away.

Pearl stared at her with cold hardened eyes, then she turned and made eye contact with Seth. Her face softened ever so slightly, when her faded golden eyes met his warm brown ones. She realised, that no matter what happens, she'll always have a soft spot for her younger brother.

Pearl sighed defeatedly, then spoke up again.

This time, her voice was calm and composed, there was a hint of rigidness within it, but it was covered up well.

"Fine... You can stay... both of you... But whilst you're here, we're strangers.

Your goal, is to protect Bella. My goal, is to protect my family.

As long as no one here, is going to hinder those goals, you can stick around for a while. "

Leah and Seth both looked at Pearl in surprise, relief evident on their faces. Seth let a sad smile spread across his face and nodded towards his middle sister.

"I'll help however I can." Seth announced.

Pearl nodded at him and looked at Leah. Wanting confirmation from her as well.

Leah met her eyes and mumbled, "I'll stay out of the way."

Humming in acknowledgement, Pearl turned to leave and return back inside her home. But Jacob called out to her, stopping the hybrid in her tracks.

"Are you the alpha of this pack?" He questioned warily.

"Excuse me?" Pearl responded in confusion.

"We both know that you won when we fought each other.

If we're staying, does that mean we are apart of your pack?

" Jacob asked. He didn't want to follow anyone, but even he, had to respect the customs of a fight for alpha or a rank within a pack.

He had lost his fight with Pearl. That meant that she was stronger than him, the alpha of this territory.

And the fact that her alpha growl earlier had an affect on him, said it all.

If staying to protect Bella, meant that he would have to follow her, he would do so for Bella's sake.

Seth and Leah turned to Pearl expectantly, awaiting her response.

The hybrid stared at the three shifters in disbelief. And thought, 'Me? An alpha? That sounds like the start of a bad joke. I barely even want them here to begin with. Why on earth would I want them inside my head? Absolutely not.'

"No" Pearl bluntly replied.

All of the shifters looked quite shocked by her blunt response.

Before they could say anything, Pearl added, "I have no interest in being apart of a pack.

I've been a lone Wolf since I shifted for the first time.

That, will not be changing anytime soon.

Jacob, to my understanding, you've got the blood of an alpha, running through your veins.

You take on the responsibility... but leave me out of it.

" With that, Pearl sped back into the house, leaving the shifters behind in the yard.

Leah and Seth turned to Jacob, and Jacob opened up his own pack link, accepting both Leah and Seth into his own pack. Making Leah his beta, and Seth, his gamma.

The Black Pack, was formed.