His Wolf Pup - a Jasper Hale Story

56- Victoria

When we arrived home, everyone was gathered in the living room. As we made our way into the room, I could tell everyone was tense and stressed about something, and I was worried about what had caused it.

"What did Sam say?" Carlisle asked me as I sat on the couch with Jasper.

As Jasper wrapped his arm around me, I replied, "He told us to tell him when and where and the pack will be there."

"What's going on?" Jasper asked the family, obviously feeling something off about their moods.

I looked around at everyone once again and realized something important. "And where is Edward?" I asked everyone. "I thought he would be home by now."

"He went out hunting," Esme told me.

"What's going on?" Jasper asked once again, this time more urgently.

"Why did you all make a plan without talking to me first?" Carlisle asked, looking around at everyone. "While I appreciate your enthusiasm to save Bella, a family conversation would have been helpful before you started putting your plan in place."

"I thought it was better to get ahead of the problem," Alice said quietly, taking the fall for the plan. "Now I understand that that is never the case when dealing with Edward."

"What did he do?" I asked.

Esme took Carlisle's hand in hers before he spoke. "He's decided to go with Bella to Florida and not help us stop Victoria."

I could tell this was what was really bothering everyone, and it bothered me too. He chose Bella over the rest of us, once again—just as I was starting to think he was doing a good job of not doing that.

"Oh," was all I could say as Jasper tightened his arms around me, sensing my emotions. "Well, we all know there's no changing Edward's mind, so we just have to figure out how to stop her with the wolves and without him."

"We can handle her," Emmet said, trying to bring a positive note to the conversation.

"Of course, we can," Rosalie told him, grabbing his hand in hers.

I didn't speak to Edward that night or the following two days at school. He decided to spend lunches with Bella again, meaning we did not cross paths at all. Then, Friday came, and Edward and Bella flew to Florida after school.

Saturday afternoon, we got ready for a fight.

The entire pack gathered at Sam's house, where we passed time. Leah and Seth were there, and it was the first intimidating thing they were a part of, but neither showed fear.

The plan was simple. We would give the Cullen's space so Alice could clearly see Victoria in her visions without our interference. As soon as she showed up, we would join in the chase and stop Victoria once and for all.

As the sun began to set, we phased and headed over near the treaty line and waited for Victoria or a signal from Alice, whichever came first.

We saw Victoria first. She sprinted toward us as fast as she could, outrunning the Cullens without Edward. But she didn't see us right away. She was too busy trying to get away from the Cullens; she didn't pay enough attention to see us waiting for her to cross the treaty line. The second her feet crossed over the imaginary line that we all had memorized, the chase was on.

Sam sprung out at her, with us following just a second later. Our sudden appearance shocked her and forced her to turn and run parallel with the treaty line instead of running deeper into the Rez like she seemed to want to do. This pause in her running gave all of us the edge we needed. As we took off after her, the Cullens caught up and ran parallel with us on their side of the line.

Realizing there was a line we weren't crossing, Victoria started running back and forth so we couldn't track her properly. However, as soon as I realized what she was doing, I started following her perfectly.

I was not the fastest runner by far, but by shadowing her moves exactly, I slowly gained ground on her. While both the wolves and the Cullens were trying to get her, they were not crossing the treaty line in fear of making the other side mad, but I don't think either side realized I was switching over the line. Both were so used to me being on their side of the line that it wasn't weird that I was running with them.

Then we got to the part of the treaty line where the creek turns into the treaty line. The creek was my least favorite part of the treaty line to pass through because the creek itself was like 15 feet into the ground, and there was a considerable gap you had to jump over to get to the other side. This didn't even phase Victoria and actually made her escape easier because there was a clear line for her to jump over.

As she jumped from the vampire side to the wolf side, I followed her with ease. I saw a few of the Cullens turn their heads and watch me as I did, but I did not have time to worry about that. I chased after Victoria with the wolves. I could tell Leah, Sam, and Jacob were near me, but I focused on the redhead in front of me.

Victoria looked back at me as she jumped over the creek back onto the vampire's side. As I gained ground on her from crossing the treaty line again, she snarled at me in anger. She could tell I would get her if this continued for much longer. As I got within five feet of her, with Jasper and Emmet just behind, she jumped over the treaty line once again to the wolf's side. As I landed behind her, she suddenly turned and jumped at me, ready to attack.

Jasper called out suddenly, "Emma!" as he ran faster to stop her. He jumped over the treaty line without a second thought, Emmet just behind him.

I jumped out of Victoria's way, letting Jasper have a clear shot at her. As he and Emmet landed, Jasper got one good punch in, sending Victoria to the ground. I got ready to pounce on her when Leah suddenly jumped into attack mode.

Except she was attacking Jasper and Emmet, not Victoria.

She put her front paws on Jasper, pushing him back into Emmet, and sending both over the edge of the gap and down into the creek. I felt my heart sink, afraid that either had been hurt, and I turned my attention from Victoria to the creek. I made my way to the edge and looked down to see Jasper and Emmet sitting in the water down below.

"Sam! She's getting away!" Carlisle called out.

His words should have snapped me out of what I was doing, but I didn't care about Victoria anymore. I cared about the two boys sitting in the creek.

I jumped down without a second thought, landing next to the two boys. I phased back the second my feet hit the ground, and I ran to Jasper. "Are you okay?" I asked him, wrapping him in a hug.

"I'm fine," he told me, wrapping his arms around me. "It's just a scratch."

"She got you?" I asked, outraged. I pulled away from him, wanting to see what Leah had done. As I did, I could see a large scratch running down the length of his left forearm that wasn't there before. It looked raw and red and really painful. "Why does it look like that?" I asked him, gently placing my hand next to the cut.

When Jasper didn't answer my question, Emmet did. "Wolves are our natural enemy, Emma. Small cuts from them can cause serious problems. More so than any other vampire caused injury could."

It was then that the howling started.

"Emma, do you know what that means?" Carlisle asked, looking down at us.

"They lost Victoria."