Chapter 09

Bella growled as she looked at Scott. “Why do you see the best in people? Jasper’s an asshole, and I gave him the chance to leave because he helped me. And he didn’t leave. Consequences.”

“Look, I get it, you’re angry,” Scott said as he defensively held up his hands. “But we don’t just go around and killing people, even if they deserve it. That’s not how I do things.”

“So you believed him when he said he was going to hand himself over to the Volturi?” Bella huffed as she shook her head. If it hadn’t been for Isaac keeping a hand on her shoulder, she would have started to pace around. “They’re liars. The world is better off without them.”

“Maybe, but I appreciated his honesty.”

Bella blinked at Scott and looked at everyone else. It looked like they were all agreeing with Scott, except for Derek and Isaac and maybe Malia and the twins. She then looked back at Scott. “Okay. But if someone dies at their hands, it’s on you.”

It was unbelievable that they were okay with Emmett running off and Jasper and Alice ‘handing themselves in’. Didn’t they have a brain? Or at least a cunning one at that? It felt as if she was back in Forks with the Cullens with the way that Scott wanted to control her, to tell her what to do. No, this wasn’t going to happen again.

“You need to calm down,” Scott continued as he looked at her. “Promise me you won’t go after any of them on your own or with Isaac. Don’t chase them.”

“Or what?” She asked furiously. The fire that was currently burning next to them wasn’t revenge enough, it felt good, but knowing that there were still Cullens out there infuriated her. “You know what, never mind. Thank you for helping me. Isaac was right when he said that he had helpful friends,” she said, throwing up her hands in defense and took Isaac’s hand before she started to walk away, dragging him along with her.

When they were out of earshot and heading in the direction of somewhere that wasn’t the Argent house, Isaac stopped her and made her look at him. “What’s wrong with you?” She looked at him, angrily, before trying to walk off again. He took her by the arm and pulled her back to him, which made her even angrier than she already was and he then remembered their deal. “Right,” he said as he let go of her.

No strings. Just fun. No strings, just fun, he repeated in his head. It felt like something more, far more, what he and Bella shared, but he didn’t want to scare her off by telling her so. The look in her eyes told him that something had scared her off, and he probably knew the reason; Scott. Scott and the fact that he was an Alpha, and he could make her stop. Make her do things she didn’t want to do. “You don’t have to accept him as your Alpha, you know. Sure, you’ve accepted him, but you can just as well refuse him. He won’t have that much power over you anymore.” Besides, he had a feeling that it had been peer pressure for her to join Scott’s pack and mainly just to shut up everyone else.

She stopped and turned around to face Isaac, thinking about his words. Yeah, she knew she didn’t have to accept Scott as her Alpha, maybe it had been a bad idea to do it. She had rushed into it, thinking she’d be good with a group of strangers she had just met because Isaac knew them. Maybe, subconsciously, she had accepted Scott as her Alpha because she didn’t want to lose Isaac. “Being a werewolf fucking sucks,” she eventually said before turning around again and continued to walk away.

Isaac sighed as he followed her. Yeah, she definitely needed more time to get over things. He then whined. Sex was not going to happen with her in this mood of hers. Fuck.

Sure, Scott had a point, but after having heard Bella’s story, surely he would have been smarter about it? Or did he just think that she’d fit right in and do whatever he wanted while she had a hard time trusting people in the first place? Maybe the whole treating her no differently from everyone else was a good idea in Scott’s eyes, but Scott didn’t have to deal with an upset newbie werewolf.

Come to think of it, neither did he. No strings.

He was just about to walk in the other direction when he heard a loud bang against something metal. Isaac was still thinking about what to do; to go after her or not, when he heard a metal screech as if something got dragged and lifted off the ground before coming down with a bang again. His first thought was that it was a good thing it was dark. His second thought was to walk away, but when he heard Bella sobbing, he cursed himself and quickly made his way over to her.

He eyed the dumpster in the alley, looking severely beaten up – and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride that his girl had done that. Damnit. Isaac quickly made his way over to Bella and sat down next to her as he took her in his arms. “Shh, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” Bella sobbed as she curled into him and put her arms around his neck. “Why do guys keep saying that? Things are not okay!”

“Okay,” he snorted and caressed her back, not saying another word as her body shook in his arms. She hadn’t been this vulnerable to him, this open, while conscious, yet. It was mainly in her dreams that she was dealing with things and working through it, but this was a good step, wasn’t it? Maybe now, with the death of that sorry excuse of a guy and most of his family, she could finally stop running, finally stop being scared and out for revenge.

“Would it be bad if I reject Scott as my alpha?” She was still sobbing. “I don’t want to, but I want to be in control over me and he just…”

“How about you get to know him better first? Then make your decision?”

“I don’t want to stay with someone can make me do things I don’t want to!” she wailed and pounded on his chest with her fist. “I don’t need him. I don’t need anyone. I don’t… I’m my person.”

“That you are,” he agreed as he kept caressing her back. It pained him a little to hear that she didn’t need anyone; he had hoped he had changed that a little, but he could understand where she was coming from.

“But you won’t ever do that, will you?” she asked with a little voice, looking up at him with hope in her eyes. “Make me do things I don’t want to do? Or try to change me?”

“Why would I? You’re perfect as you are.”

“No, I’m not perfect,” she shook her head as she started to cry again. “I don’t want to be perfect.”

“Okay, how about this? You’re fine the way you are. A nice, sloppy, mess,” He got to his knees as she still clung on to him and got up. He then lifted her off the ground as he got to his feet and started to walk towards the Argent house. They both needed some sleep, but at least she was sort of saying that she didn’t mind if he stuck around? “And a fun fuck.”

“Am I just a fun fuck to you, Isaac?”

“No, you’re not,” he planted a kiss on her head. “You’re so much more, but I don’t think you’re ready to hear that yet.”

She sniffed and wiped her face with her sleeve, suddenly feeling exhausted. “Try me.”

He sighed as he kept walking. “Maybe tomorrow, you’ve had a long day.”

She hummed a response as her breathing slowed, comfortable in his arms and on the move and she was on the verge of dozing off. He had to smile at that; it was adorable.

~oOo~

Upon their return to the house that night, he first got scolded at by Argent for not waiting until he was at the car and for walking back with Bella. He then had a worried Charlie threatening him that his daughter better be alright – or else. Sighing, Isaac had taken Bella upstairs and pulled off her shoes before tucking her in. He slept in a chair next to the bed, not fancying to be kicked out of bed again, but not wanting to leave her alone either.

The following morning, after they had both sufficiently woken up and had breakfast while trying to ignore the adults; especially Charlie, as they were asking questions and Argent politely answered, they went into town to escape. Despite it being the day that Charlie would leave, he was far too inquisitive and Bella’s mood soured again.

“I needed to get out of that house,” Bella muttered as she had shoved her hands in her pockets as she walked next to Isaac on the main street. “You and I are going to buy a house today.”

“What?” he impishly asked as he looked at her. “Already?”

“I told you. We’re not going to stay at Argent for that long. Unless you want to stay. That house is going to be bought with or without you,” she said with a shrug.

“You don’t want to leave then?” He had expected her to make a run for it after her admission that she didn’t want to be stuck with Scott as an Alpha. Or now that her vampire problem was over, she was truly free, why stick around?

“Apart from Scott, the jury’s still not convinced about that one. I like it here, and you’re here,” her eyes grew wide as they passed a bakery and instantly, her mood lifted. “Hang on,” Bella entered the bakery and got her and Isaac a beignet. When she offered him his, he shook his head. “Why not? These things are so good!”

“We just had breakfast; I’m not hungry.”

“Me neither,” she replied with a shrug. “But it’s good.” Bella then proceeded to take a bite out of it before they continued their walk. “So, let’s talk house. What kind of house do you prefer? Anything you want?”

“I think it’s more important for you to know what you want, it’s your house.”

“Our house. Yes, I’ll buy it but it’s our house.”

“Yeah, but that’s couple territory.”

“No, it’s not. It’s just two people who live in one house together,” she said as she took another bite of her pastry. “So, anything you don’t want in it?”

Sighing, Isaac ran his hand through his hair. “A basement with a freezer in it.”

She looped her arm through his and smiled up at him. “Don’t worry, that was never the plan,” she assured him. Isaac had told her about his father and what he did to him, the root of Isaac’s claustrophobia. “I was thinking wide open spaces. Maybe have walls made out of glass so you can see everything.”

“Not a good idea,” he snorted. “It needs to be werewolf proof in case someone decides to throw someone across the house.”

“Big spaces then,” she said with a nod as she took another bite of her favorite treat. “Thick walls. Would be wise anyway,” she added with a giggle.

~oOo~

Bella had asked the realtor whose property had been on sale the longest; she thought those people deserved to move if they were this persistent. Isaac knew the house; it was in his old neighborhood, and he didn’t particularly liked the idea of living there. He let out a sigh of relief when Bella discarded the house for it having a basement. He was quite certain that she was going all wrong about this. He couldn’t say for sure as he’d never bought a house, but she didn’t even want to view the property, trusting the realtor on the information he gave her.

Then again, Isaac wasn’t too worried. If the realtor screwed Bella over, he’d have an angry girl to deal with.

Eventually, Bella just settled for a house that had been abandoned by their previous owners after they bought a new house. Even though it had a basement, she assured him that she’d just get a cement truck in to fill it up with cement if she had to. She wanted to move in as fast as she could while she knew that she’d probably have to clean a lot first.

The realtor was flabbergasted when Bella said that she wanted to pay for the house in full, making it her own for sure without a mortgage and had to show her ID because he thought it was a prank. After calls to the bank, confirming that she indeed had the money to pay for the house, she signed the papers and the realtor handed her the keys.

Just like that. People with money had it easy.

He didn’t envy Bella with her money; she had deserved it, and he appreciated it that she wasn’t flaunting about it. It was a means to an end, and that’s exactly how she saw it. She had money to buy a house; she wanted a house. Knowing her, she’d end up ordering everything she needed online. She kept wanting to hear his input about this, but they weren’t a couple.

It frustrated him that they weren’t a couple. He wanted to be a couple, and he suspected she wanted too but was it too soon for the both of them? It wasn’t, they were doing things couples would do, like sex. Like… buying a house. Like… taking revenge on previous boyfriends.

She had him wrapped all around her little finger and he actually kinda liked it.

Visiting Deaton was next on the agenda; he had texted him that the results were in and that they needed to have a proper talk about things. Isaac feared the worst; what if the broken spell that turned Bella into a werewolf had altered her form? Had altered her body in ways that could not be fixed? Was he going to lose her?

“You’re both adults, so this is going to be fun,” Deaton said as he looked at the two people in his practice. “In all sense of the word, you’re a hundred percent healthy, Bella. If you had physical ailments or a viral infection, you turning into a werewolf cured you of it.”

Isaac let out a sigh of relief. Healthy meant good. It meant that she wasn’t suddenly going to die on him. “That’s good.”

“Extremely, I was a little worried there for a moment that after having been contained for this long, the spell would have caused a major disruption in Bella’s cellular makeup. But it didn’t. It’s also a relief to know that you survived the attack and turned into a wolf. It could have gone extremely wrong once the spell broke.”

“How so?” Bella asked as she polished off the remaining pastry. She had saved that one to celebrate that she bought a house.

“Well, a few years ago, Peter attacked Lydia and she turned into a Banshee. Derek tried to turn Jackson twice, but as Derek was under the influence of wolfsbane the first time, Jackson turned into something far more dangerous than a werewolf. Eventually, he got cured and became a wolf, but for a while, he terrorized Beacon Hills. Then there’s, of course, the chance of death.”

“Jackson wasn’t fun,” Isaac scrunched up his nose. “He was an okay guy but not as the Kanima.”

“No, he wasn’t indeed,” Deaton said with a nod. “But, back to you, Bella. I discovered that the vampire venom has indeed altered your body, but I think it’s nothing to worry about. If anything, you probably have some added agility and it might be a little bit harder to hurt you.”

“You should have seen her fight the vampires yesterday,” Isaac smiled proudly. “It was awesome.”

“Oh, yes, I’ve heard the stories,” Deaton said happily as he kept his eyes on Bella. “Something about a shield and what not?”

Bella cursed under her breath before slowly nodding. “Edward thought it was interesting that he couldn’t hear my thoughts before, I suppose with me turning and the added venom, the shield decided to fully deploy. It doesn’t just stop mind probing; it also stops other kinds of energy.”

“What about physical energy?”

“No, it doesn’t do that. Which is alright.”

“Interesting,” he said as he looked at his notes. “Well, it shouldn’t give you any problems with your blood at all, the little bit of venom that was still left has been absorbed and there wasn’t any trace of it at all. I only found some cells that were strengthened because I was looking for it.”

“That’s good. Was that it?”

“No,” Deaton said as he put his notes down on the table next to him and looked at the two. “I believe that you two have subconsciously bonded the first time you met and had sex.”

“Uhh… we bonded alright, we had sex,” Bella huffed. “What’s it to you?”

“You don’t understand,” Deaton tiredly ran his hand over his head, trying to think of a better way to say this. “You know swans? They mate for life.”

“I’m a Swan,” Bella said with a shrug.

“The animals, Bella. The animals.”

“Yes, they mate for life. It’s cute. The not so cute part is when one mate dies, the other will die of heartbreak,” Bella quipped as she sighed. “But that’s their thing, it’s cute.”

“Some wolves are known to mate for life as well,” he continued. “Although when one mate dies, it’s not as dramatic as when a Swan dies, and the wolf will simply find another. It’s unheard of in werewolves, to be honest, mainly because humans don’t mate for life. However,” he said with a small smile. “The information I’ve gathered from the tests and your friends, tells me that you two are quite something. It’s almost as if the wolf inside Bella got drawn to you, Isaac, and the other way around. Even before the spell was broken. You claim not to be in a relationship and…”

“We’re not,” they chorused and crossed their arms over their chest in one fluid movement.

“Maybe not, but everything you do and say tells me otherwise. You two subconsciously mated that night, whether you meant to or not. Even now, I can tell that there’s something special between you two that hasn’t been seen before. At least not that I know of. And when the spell got broken, the pull between you only got stronger.”

Isaac scoffed, and Bella rolled her eyes at the man.

“I know you don’t believe me, and that’s alright. I still need to do more research on werewolf bonding, but trust me when I say that you two are in for one hell of a ride together.”

“That was the idea, yes,” Bella muttered.

“Which brings me to the next item on the list,” Deaton said, concern laced in his voice. “While I understand that the situation was a lot different when you two first met, especially with Bella thinking she was going to get killed soon, you two now have to consider your future together.”

“We just bought a house,” Bella said with a shrug.

“She did. I’m just moving in. I can’t camp out at Argent’s or Scott’s. That gets irritating after awhile,” Isaac quickly said as Deaton questioningly looked at him.

“I didn’t mean that, but I suppose it’s a step in the right direction,” the Druid slowly said as he kept an eye on both of them. He was a little worried about how Bella would respond to the news, she was still a new werewolf and maybe not that much in control as others had lead him to believe. “You’re pregnant. You’re going to have a baby. I’m not sure when, but my guess is in six or seven months.”

“What?” Bella stammered. “That’s impossible.”

“Is it? You’ve already confessed to not having used protection during your time in Europe together, and you’ve bonded together on your first night,” Deaton pointed out. “Magic has its way.” A panicked look appeared on Bella’s face that mirrored the one on Isaac’s face. “You will be fine.”

“We can’t keep it,” Bella squeaked as she shook her head. “No.”

“Don’t make any rash decisions. Take some days to think this over, but not too long because then I won’t be able to do anything about it,” Deaton said calmly. “This is not something to be taken lightly. Talk to each other about this, decide what you want. Think of your future.”

“Get rid of it.”

“No,” Isaac said calmly, despite his heart racing, as he put his hand on Bella’s back and gently held it there. “Deaton’s right, we need to talk about this. Together. You and I and no one else.” Right now, he wasn’t sure if he could be a father. Not now or ever, afraid that he’d turn into his father, and that scared the shit out of him. But with Bella, maybe things would turn out to be different. It was certainly something to discuss with her.

And yes, cross into couple territory. It wasn’t as if they had a choice in the matter now.

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