The Bonds Between Us • E.Cullen x Fem oc x B. Swan

Chapter 76

The next morning, Cori was woken up by pounding on her front door. "I'm coming!" Cori shouted, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she threw on a pair of sunglasses as she caught the vibrant color of her eyes in the mirror in her room.

"Bella?" Cori asked as she laid her eyes upon the brunette who looked to be stressed out more than normal. "You know Sam Uley, right?" Bella asked, a look on her face that Cori hadn't seen on her before, almost accusatory. "You know he's been looking at Jacob, recruiting him for something." "Bella, how much sleep have you had?" Cori asked, nervousness crawling into her voice. "What did he get Jacob into? Huh Lia? Because the second Sam comes back into your life, is the same time Jacob walks out of mine." Bella hissed.

Cori blinked before anger started to swell with in her. "You think I had something to do with Jacob leaving? I don't like him, you know that much, but I wouldn't do something like that to you. And if you think I did, even for a moment, then it's just cementing my words from yesterday." Cori told Bella, her words cold and calculated, something Bella had only heard once before.

When they left.

"I'm confronting Jacob today." Bella blurted out, and Cori looked at her, the redheads face basically blank of emotion, except for the smallest bit of panic in her eyes. "Don't do anything stupid." Cori said as she stepped inside of the house, closing the door on Bella who still stood on the other side.

When she heard the brunette walk away, Cori sighed. Grabbing her phone she sent a single text. "Bella's coming to confront Jacob. Be ready."

Rushing up the stairs, Cori grabbed a sweater along with a pair of jeans. Slipping on a pair of socks and eventually her sneakers, she grabbed her purse and keys as she headed out the door.

Was she upset with the girl currently, yes. Was she going to let her die by some wolf people she just happened to call friends, no. She couldn't. And as much as she wanted the girl to experience the hurtful actions of her words towards her, Cori knew that the danger to Bella would just draw her in anyway.

By the time Cori's Jeep pulled in behind Bella's truck, she could see the pack out at the tree line, and Bella running out from the house towards them.

Having her power conceal her, her figure hidden, she watched from the sidelines as Sam stood in front of his pack, as Bella pushed on his chest demanding answers.

She could see Paul's temper rising rapidly, and how he was about to phase. Before Cori could move in their direction, the tearing of clothes was heard as instead of a young man, there stood a large wolf, one of the ones Bella had seen just the day before.

The brunette's eyes were wide as her instincts kicked in, and she was running the other direction. The sound of Paul's turning alerted Jacob, and him and Cori seemed to have the same idea in mind.

Protect Bella.

Jacob got to him faster, jumping over the brunette as she yelled at him to run, he shifted into his wolf as the two collided. Snarles and growls were heard as the two barreled through the woods, taking a boat down in their wake of destruction.

Seeing that Bella was fine, she was more worried about what the two wolves would do to each other. Following them into the woods, her figure still concealed, she heard the commotion before she got to it.

The two were still going at it, tearing at each other's throats. Letting herself be seen, she huffed. "Would you two knock it off!" Cori yelled at the two wolves, who eventually looked at her. Paul had backed off, yet Jacob's russet colored fur seemed to be directed at her now.

"Jacob, don't make me hurt you. I'm gonna be pissed if Bella's mad I had to put her dog in its place." She huffed as she glared at the wolf in front of her. She was trying not to hurt Jacob, as she knew he was still in his protective headspace, but before she had time to react, Jacob rushed forward, Paul, trying to protect the girl, barreled into the russet wolf, but his clawed paw extended just enough to make deep slashes across her abdomen.

Cori gasped as her hand immediately went to her torn sweater, blood seeping out and through her fingers. Not risking a glance at her injuries, she looked up to now a clothed human Paul whose eyes were wide as saucers. "Cori?" He asked as he took a step forward, but as if her name brought her back to what was happening, her legs buckled as her body fell to the ground.

"SAM!" Paul screamed as he ran over to her, lifting her head onto his legs as he tried to keep pressure on the wounds, but just as it was with her own hands, the blood was seeping through at an impressive rate.

"What the hell happened?" Sam asked as he barreled through the surrounding brush. His breath caught as he saw Cori on the ground, a puddle of crimson surrounding her. "Bring her to Emily. I'll get Sue." Sam instructed as Paul lifted Cori into his arms. "What about Jake?" Paul barked out. "He can figure it out on his own this once." Sam hissed as he turned, running the way he came, Paul not far behind.

Making his way to Emily, Paul kept shaking her. "Cori, you with me?" He asked one out of several times, and was met with a whine or grunt of pain.

Seeing the beaten shutters and white flower boxes of the home, Paul yelled. "Emily! Clear the table."

The boys all rushed out to see what was going on, only to make way for Paul as he barreled through. Jared grabbed the containers of food that was just sat down as Emily, with one swipe of her hand, knocked everything to the floor, not caring if anything broke, as it was replaceable.

"What happened?" Emily asked frantically as she took in the once grey sweater that was turning more and more red by the minute. "Jake happened." Paul replied as Emily paused, her hands stilling over the bloodied sweater, a chill running across her skin. "He did this?" She asked as another female voice came through. "What's going on?" Bella asked as she realized who was on the table, her heart pounded. "Lia?"

A/N: How do you like my changes to New Moon so far? What do you think will happen to Cori? Will she be alright? Will this drive a further wedge between Bella and Cori, or will this bring them back together? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. I love reading them!