The Phantom Wolf

Chapter 85 (Protective Instinct)

*3rd Person POV*

Jacob bowed his head instantly when Pearl growled. The alpha aura that the hybrid was emitting was far stronger than his own.

Bree took Pearl's hand and looked to her mate with clear confusion and concern in her eyes. Pear's growling ceased at her imprint's contact, but she kept a hardened glare directed at Jacob's now trembling form.

"Tell me you didn't." Pearl spoke coldly in an authoritative tone.

Jacob let out a strangled squeak as he struggled to find the courage to speak up against the clearly agitated alpha.

Catching on to what Pearl was talking about, Bella immediately started glaring at Jacob.

Seeing the position he was now in, Jacob's nerves sky rocketed. As his body trembled, he managed to stutter out, "You know... we have no control over it."

"Rose, take Renesmee out of the room." Bella ordered sternly.

Glancing at Bella, Pearl decided to allow her to take the lead on this. After all it was her daughter in question that was affected by Jacob's imprinting. But that didn't mean that the hybrid lessened her glare on the shifter at all.

Rosalie took the child from Bella's arms and left the living room through a side door. Edward walked up to his wife and placed a comforting hand on Bella's shoulder, hoping to calm her down.

"Edward, don't touch me right now I don't want to hurt you." Bella warned, as she struggled to control her own shaking.

Hearing the seriousness in his wife's voice, Edward complied with Bella's demand and removed his hand from her.

Witnessing the look in Bella's eyes and Pearl's obvious supportive stance for the new born vampire, Jacob mumbled a very fearful, "Oh no."

Bella immediately grabbed Jacob by the neck, forcing him down from his full height, and dragged him out of the house. Everyone else followed the scared shifter and angry new born, a few steps behind them.

Throwing him into the garden, Bella shouted, "You imprinted on my daughter?!"

"It wasn't my choice!" Jacob replied, finally locating his voice as he regained his footing and focused on Bella.

"She's a baby!" Bella yelled furiously.

"It's not like that." Jacob argued, the underlying fear was still detectable within his words.

Pearl stood next to Bree and Emmet as they watched the altercation. Her arms crossed, and a glare was fixed on her face that was directed towards the panicking shifter. 'That's messed up.' She thought.

"You think Edward would let me live if it was?" He continued to plead his case.

"I'm still debating it." Edward subtly added, very much enjoying watching his wife yell at the guy who had been head over heels for HIS mate.

"I've held her once! One time, Jacob! And already, you think that you have some moronic wolfy claim on her?" Bella said angrily.

"I take offence to that." Pearl stated dryly. Not appreciating Bella's description of imprinting. Bree squeezed Pearl's hand to remind her that Bella wasn't directing her statement towards their situation.

Bella ignored Pearl and continued her verbal attack on Jacob. "She's mine!" Then she turned the attack physical and punched the shifter in the stomach area, knocking him to the ground.

Edward chuckled as he watched the scene play out.

As Jacob stood back up, Leah and Seth's wolf forms emerged from the trees. Leah started growling at Bella upon seeing the interaction they were having.

Pearl stepped forwards, pulling away from Bree and let out her own growl towards her biological siblings, warning them not to interfere.

Noticing Pearl's presence, the two Clearwater's were completely silenced. They were not aware that Pearl had woken up, let alone that she was now strong enough to be standing up and threatening them.

Wanting to avoid anymore conflict, Jacob focused on Leah's wolf and told her to stand down.

With all her attention currently on Jacob, Bella didn't even notice the interaction between the shifters. "You're gonna stay away from her." She said.

"You know I can't do that." Jacob resisted the idea and immediately got struck by Bella again.

"Stop her, Edward." Esme pleaded with her son.

Edward stared at Bella with stars in his eyes. "She's amazing, right?" He said while smirking, totally ignoring his mother's plea.

Seeing that Edward wasn't going to do anything, Bree looked to Pearl's figure to see if she would stop this. But Pearl's eyes were purely fixated on Seth and Leah, she was no longer paying any mind to the new born fighting with the other shifter. Bree nudged her mate to get her to re-focus on the situation at hand.

"Do you remember how much you wanted to be around me three days ago? That's gone now, right?" Jacob questioned.

"Long gone." Bella instantly responded in a pissed off tone.

"Because it was her. From the beginning, it was Nessie who wanted me there."

'Oh, bad move.' Bree and Pearl simultaneously thought.

"Nessie? You nicknamed my daughter after the Loch Ness monster?!"

Regret swept over Jacob's face as Bella advanced upon him, consumed with rage.

Seth jumped between Bella and Jacob, this caused Bella to throw him at a tree in her blind attack. Before Seth's wolf could slam into the large trunk, he was caught and gently set down on the ground completely unharmed, by a now fairly pissed off Pearl.

The moment Seth had leaped between his alpha and the angry new born, Pearl had left her spot next to Bree and Emmet to stop him from getting hurt. The instinct to protect her sibling was far too powerful to ignore.

"I'm sorry." Bella quickly apologised to Seth and Pearl.

"He's okay." Jacob said, relief evident in his tone.

As Seth rose to his feet, Leah walked over to her younger siblings and stood beside them protectively, purposely placing herself between the younger two Clearwaters and Bella. Pearl rolled her eyes at Leah's actions and walked out from behind the she-wolf, to stand a distance away from them. Making it clear that she would not except the help right now. Folding her arms once again, she nodded towards Bella who still held a somewhat guilty expression on her face.

At Pearl's nod, Bella focused her attention back onto Jacob, now looking a lot calmer despite the lingering edge in her gaze.

"All I want, is to keep Renesmee safe. Nothing ever made sense before. You. Me. Any of it. But now I understand why. This was the reason." Jacob conveyed his thought process to Bella, in hopes that she would understand and trust him.

The hybrid gave Jacob a funny look as she took in his explanation.

Bella sighed and relented her her attack. Begrudgingly accepting the situation and recognising that the imprinting meant that he would be her daughter's protector, like Pearl was for Bree, when the girls first met.

'Okay, what? That doesn't even make sense. That's some messed up bullshit logic right there. If he loved Bella because of Renesmee, then that means that Jacob loved Edward too, at least to some extent. Since it takes two to tango and all." Pearl thought, pretty disgusted but also mildly intrigued and amused.

Edward looked at the hybrid, pure disgust riddled on his face as he heard her thought process.

Pearl saw his look and shrugged before concealing her thoughts from the mind reader. Not particularly wanting an eavesdropper to witness all of her private thoughts.