Lyra stood silently with the Cullens in the middle of a clearing, listening carefully for Victoria. "Are you sure this is where you saw her?" Carlisle asked Alice.
Jasper stepped towards Alice as she responded, "She's almost here." Lyra glanced up at Emmett, who linked his pinky with hers for a moment before looking back out at the forest. Silence was all that could be heard in the forest until suddenly Alice called, "On your left!"
Immediately, everyone took off running to the left. Lyra, being the fastest out of all of them, got closest to Victoria, grabbing the vampire's shoulder only to be flipped over and sent flying into a nearby tree. She grunted on impact but was quickly helped to her feet by Emmett. "Are you okay?" He asked.
"Fine." She responded before taking off running again.
They ran after her before sliding to a stop as Victoria jumped across a small ravine, Carlisle commanding, "Wait. She's in their territory."
Lyra looked at Emmett and told him, "Throw me across." He gave her a confused look but listened anyways, picking her up and throwing her across the ravine. She slid slightly onto her knee but quickly picked herself up and chased after Victoria with the Cullens following her from the other side of the ravine.
"She'll get away!" Esme exclaimed.
The growling and barking of wolves behind Lyra was enough for Jasper to yell, "No, she won't!"
Jared and Paul were growling and snapping at Victoria as they ran, the latter nearly taking a bite out of her before she jumped across the ravine again. Lyra huffed in frustration, thinking quickly on how to get herself across the ravine again. She noticed a small boulder nearby and floated it over to her with her telekinesis, stepping on it and floating herself over across the ravine as quickly as she could without falling. She jumped off and began to run again.
Jasper was the closest to Victoria at the moment, and as she jumped from tree to tree he did too, nearly catching her but just barely missing. Emmett was quickly following after Victoria with Lyra not far behind him and, as Victoria jumped across the ravine once more, Lyra saw everything that was about to happen. "Emmett, no!" She shouted, but he didn't listen. Her hand reached out to grab his hoodie, fingers barely grazing the fabric before he jumped after Victoria only to be intercepted by Paul. Emmett fell into the water and the pair growled at each other violently. Victoria looked back at them, meeting Lyra's eyes for a moment and smirking at the clearly conflicted look in her eyes. Lyra narrowed her eyes into a glare at Victoria, who blew her a mocking kiss and took off without any further trouble.
Lyra looked back at Paul and Emmett, who were still growling at one another, and sighed. She carefully slid down her side of the ravine, making her way to stand beside Emmett. She gently wrapped one arm behind his back to grasp his left arm while holding onto his right with her other hand and said, "Cut it out, you two, we have more important things to deal with than this petty rivalry." Paul merely barked at her in protest, but she merely rolled her eyes and responded, "Don't give me that. It's because of this stupid rivalry that Victoria got away." Paul opened his mouth to bark in protest again but Lyra cut him off telling him, "Paul, go report to Sam on what happened." Paul barked quietly before turning around and leaving with Jared not far behind. Lyra turned to Emmett, saying, "Come on, let's go." She pulled at his arms slightly before he picked her up and leapt out of the ravine to make his way back to the Cullen house with Lyra.
***
"So, have you told Bella what happened yet?" Lyra asked Edward as she sat in the back of Edward's Volvo, waiting for Bella to join them for the ride to school.
Edward looked back at her and then huffed, "No."
"Why not?" She demanded, "She deserves to know, Edward. If she finds out you kept this from her, you know she'll be angry."
"Don't tell her." He said quickly, glancing at her with pleading eyes as Bella made her way outside and got into the car beside Edward. She didn't have to respond to Edward for him to know her answer— she wasn't going to tell Bella, because she wanted Edward to do it himself.
The entire way to school, Bella and Lyra talked about her trip to see Renee, while Edward silently drove, brooding the entire time. Finally, as they pulled in, Lyra asked Bella, "Do you regret going?"
Bella glanced back at her, responding, "No. It was really great seeing my mom. Just really hard saying goodbye." Lyra leaned forward and grasped Bella's shoulder for a moment, giving it a gentle squeeze before releasing it as she smiled at Bella softly.
"It doesn't have to be goodbye." Edward told Bella, turning to face her.
"Is that why you asked me to go?" Bella asked, "You thought I was going to change my mind?"
"I'm always hoping for that." Lyra rolled her eyes at Edward's response as he gave Bella a small smile before turning to look out the window, Bella still looking at him.
"What?" She asked.
"If I ask you to stay in the car, would you?" Both girls immediately got out of the vehicle, Lyra shrugging when Bella sent her confused look as to what was going on. Edward spared them a glance, sighing lightly. "Of course not." He muttered.
Lyra rolled her eyes, before noticing Paul leaning against one of Jacob's motorcycles with its owner right beside him. Lyra grinned and ran towards Paul, squealing his name and jumping into his arms, hugging him tightly as her way of showing him that she forgives him for the events of last night. Paul stumbled back in slight surprise but laughed at the banshee. Meanwhile, Jake watched her with a confused look on his face, "Lyra, you're acting like you haven't seen him in years when you literally saw him yesterday." Lyra smacked Jacob's arm as Paul set her down on the ground, the pair glaring at him, Jacob quickly raised his hands in surrender, finding Lyra and Paul to be a rather terrifying pair.
"Hey." Bella said once she and Edward reached them.
"Charlie said you left town." Jacob said as his gaze shifted to Bella.
"Yeah," Bella responded, "I went to see my mom. Why?"
Edward snorted, "He's checking to see if you are still human."
"Shut up, leech." Paul snapped, all traces of his happiness from earlier disappearing as he glared at Edward, "Stay out of his head."
"Paul." Lyra scolded, smacking his chest gently before moving to take her place beside Bella.
"What's going on here?" Emmett asked, trying to sound nonchalant as he moved to stand beside Lyra, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Lyra could feel how tense he truly was and could clearly see the tense looks that he and Paul were sharing. She tangled her fingers with his, causing him to look at her and share a soft smile rather than glares with Paul.
"That's what I'd like to know." Bella expressed.
"Look, we came to warn you." Jacob told Edward and Emmett tightly, "If your kind comes on out land again—"
"Wait, what?" Bella interrupted, looking between Edward and Jacob with confusion clear in her expression.
This caused Jake to pause. "You didn't tell her?" He asked Edward.
"Leave it alone, Jacob." Edward replied.
"Tell me what?"
"Emmett and Paul had a misunderstanding." Edward told her, causing Emmett and Paul to continue the glaring contest they were doing before, "It's nothing to worry about."
"It told you, Eddie, this would come and bite you in the ass—" Lyra began but Emmett cut her off.
"Now's not the time, kitten." Emmett squeezed her hand gently. She sighed, kissing his side through his shirt before turning back to the conversation as things grew more tense.
"Did you lie to get her out of town, too?" Jacob asked, his attention never deviating from Edward.
"You should just leave." Edward stepped closer to Jacob, "Now."
"She has a right to know." Jacob told the vampire, "She and Lyra are the ones the redhead wants."
Bella's eyes widened in fear. "Victoria?" Then she realized, "Alice's vision."
"I was trying to protect you." Edward told her.
"By lying to me."
Lyra gave Edward a look that clearly said 'I told you so' and Edward sighed, hissing, "Shut up, Lyra." She smirked slightly in reply.
Bella sighed, "Okay, we're gonna talk about this, but... You." She turned to Jacob accusingly, "Why haven't you called me back?"
He merely stared at her for a moment. "I had nothing to say." He told her as he turned to walk away.
"Well, I have tons. Hold on a sec—"
"Hey." Edward grabbed Bella's arm as she went to follow him, "Bella."
Bella huffed, "Edward, you have to trust me."
"I do trust you... It's him I don't trust."
Bella shook her head and got onto the motorcycle behind Jacob. "Hey, lose the grin, Jacob. We're just going for a ride." Bella told him as she put her helmet on.
"Hold on tight." He responded, grinning still.
Lyra rolled her eyes before Paul caught her attention by asking, "You coming?"
She glanced at Emmett for a moment before responding, "Yeah, sure. Why not?" Paul smirked and tossed her a helmet that she caught with ease.
She turned to stand in front of Emmett, her free hand now resting on his chest. "Have fun, kitten, just not too much fun." She laughed lightly before he leaned down and kissed her gently.
She pulled away with a grin, "See you after school, sweetie." She put the helmet on and climbed onto the motorcycle with ease, her arms wrapping around Paul's waist for stability before they were zipping out of the parking lot.
***
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lyra heard Bella ask as she and Paul pulled up in front of Emily's house. Paul quickly parked and shut off the motorcycle, Lyra quickly taking her helmet off and getting off, leaving Paul to get it steady. "I am the vampire girl, remember?" Bella added.
Ever the hyper boys, Embry, Jared, and Quil rushed out of the door to meet them in all of their shirtless glory. "Hey, look who's back!" Embry exclaimed.
"What's up, Bella?" Quil greeted.
"Quil? You too?" Bella questioned.
"Yep. Finally made the pack." Quil said with a grin.
"I'm glad you're here, Bella." Embry told her, "Maybe we can get a break from Jake's obsessive inner monologue.
"'I wish Bella would call.'" Paul speaks up from beside Lyra, making a jab at Jake.
"'I wish Bella wouldn't call.'" Jared adds with his mouth full of chicken.
"'Maybe I should call Bella.'" Embry mocks.
"'Maybe I should call Bella and hang up.'" Quil finishes before they all burst into laughter, Lyra quickly joining them in her amused guffaws.
"All right, you can shut up now." Jacob tells them as Bella grins.
Leah comes outside looking as upset as ever. "Hey, Leah!" Lyra exclaims with a grin and waves energetically, Leah gives her a slight smile before scowling again. Lyra doesn't take it to heart, knowing this is how Leah has been ever since Sam broke up with her, it only getting worse since Harry died. Instead, Lyra turned to Bella and said, "Bella, this is Leah Clearwater, Harry's daughter."
"Hey." Bella greeted before offering her condolences, "I'm really sorry about your father."
"If you're here to torture Jacob some more, feel free to leave." Leah told her rather harshly before storming off.
"Fun, isn't she?" Jacob says sarcastically, earning him a smack on the arm from Lyra.
"Don't be rude." Lyra scolds.
"Bella, hi!" Emily greets, coming outside with Sam right behind her like always.
"Hey."
"I was wondering when we'd see your face around here again." Emily told her as she gave her a hug of greeting.
"Yeah. Same here." Bella replied.
"Sam, we good?" Jacob asked.
"We're good." Sam replied, "She won't be getting through our line any time soon." There was a series of excited exclamations from the boys at those words as they took off running, causing Lyra to laugh lightly.
While Bella and Jake left with the motorcycles to Jake's house, Lyra followed Sam and Emily inside, where Seth was studying. Lyra grinned and made her way over to him. She ruffled his hair gently, saying, "Hey, kid, it's been awhile."
"Hey, Lyra, I've—" He began with a grin looking up at her until he met her eyes and everything slowed, Lyra becoming the only thing in the room. It was like instead of being tethered to the earth, he was tethered to her.
"Seth?" She asked in confusion before she realized what had happened, "Oh, no. Oh, nonononono. You did not just imprint on me." She turned to Emily and Sam, who were staring at them in slight shock, "He did not imprint on me."
"It seems like he did." Sam told her.
"I'm with Emmett." Lyra told him, "And, I'm a legal adult, while he's a minor. That's not okay."
"Imprint doesn't mean romance, Lyra." Sam reminded her, "He'll be whatever you want him to be."
"Oh, right." She turned back to Seth and poked his cheek, breaking him out of the little spell he was under, "You are going to be my protector and little brother."
Seth just grinned at her, "Okay!"