The silence descended over the room once more as Kiara processed what she'd just seen. She almost felt numb as the reality sank in - stunned into silence despite having so many questions racing through her mind.
It didn't take long for Kiara to realise what it meant; Bella was pregnant with a vampire baby. A little baby leech. Her initial shock quickly gave way to a mixture of emotions; fear, worry and anger all seemed to fill up inside of Kiara as she processed this information. Everything suddenly made sense - Rosalie's random protectiveness towards Bella, Edward's reluctance in telling her anything when she arrived, the entire family suddenly dropping off the radar... they had all known about this secret pregnancy for almost a week now, and none of them wanted Kiara or her pack to find out about it.
Bree and Jasper stood deadly still in a corner of the room, both furthest away from Bella. She'd been bleeding more often than usual, and while they'd both not had any incidents, they wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.
Kiara's eyes darted around the room, trying to make sense of everything. She wanted to scream, to lash out at the Cullens for keeping such a life-altering secret from her. She was the one who had negotiated Bella's transformation, after all - why had they kept this from her? Her head was spinning with emotions as she took a step towards Bella. Just as Kiara got a little bit closer, Beverly stepped in front of her, her eyes narrowed a little.
"Stay back," the blonde warned, her voice low and dangerous. "It's not safe for you to be near her right now."
Kiara slowly nodded, her eyes narrowed as she took a step back from Beverly and squeezed her hands into fists for a moment as she tried to calm the flare up of anger that hummed through her body at the blonde vampire's initial reaction. It wasn't just Rosalie that was worried Kiara would hurt Bella, it seemed.
Bella looked scared, her eyes darting from one person to another as she clutched the blanket tightly around her. She had known Kiara would be annoyed, but she'd hoped her imprint with Rosalie would make her want to agree with Rosalie's wish to keep the child safe. It was selfish of her to think so - but when it came to her child... she'd do anything for them.
"What the hell is going on?" Kiara finally spoke up, her voice low and dangerous. "How long have you known about this?" She looked at Edward accusingly, knowing that he had been keeping something from her. The other Cullens remained silent, each of them avoiding her gaze. Kiara's eyes rested on Bree for a moment longer, internally noting that if she had been human she'd have thought she was about to start crying with nerves.
Edward sighed heavily, his eyes flickering to Bella before returning to Kiara. "We found out about the pregnancy a little over a week ago," he began, his voice barely above a whisper.
Kiara felt the anger rise within her once again, her fists clenching at her sides once again.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, her voice laced with hurt. "I thought we were supposed to trust each other."
"We didn't want to put you in danger," Esme spoke up suddenly, her voice soft.
"Danger? Holy shit, she's pregnant with some leech spawn!" Kiara snapped back, ignoring as Bella and Rosalie both flinched at her words. "How the hell did you think this was going to work, huh? One day you'd all come holding hands and skipping towards our land with a little baby human-killing machine and expect us to just move on?"
"It's just a BABY!" Beverly snapped back at Kiara, her teeth bared a little. Kiara scoffed, almost squaring up to the taller vampire as she took a threatening step towards her. She could see Emmett tense from the other side of the room, and Kiara knew regardless of his feelings about Bella's pregnancy that Emmett wouldn't hesitate to send her out the glass window wall if she even laid a finger on his mate.
"It's a fucking abomination!"
The tension in the room grew as Kiara's words hung in the air. Bella looked like she was about to cry, but Rosalie's protective arm around her kept her steady. Kiara could feel her wolf instincts taking over, telling her to protect her pack at all costs. Telling her to shift right there, ignoring Bella and rip it out -
Before she could finish the thought, Edward had a hand wrapped around her neck and her pressed up against the concrete wall behind her. The rest of the Cullens yelled out at the action, not having heard the thought that Kiara had briefly allowed to cross her mind. Edward's eyes were glazed over as he held her above the ground, Kiara gasping as she clawed at the hand that was wrapped around her neck.
"Stop!" Rosalie yelled, attempting to pull Edward away from Kiara. "You're hurting her!"
Edward let go of Kiara, stepping back and looking down at his hands in shock. "I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice hoarse with emotion. "I don't know what came over me."
Kiara rubbed her neck, glaring at Edward. "You're damn right you don't," she hissed, her eyes flashing with anger. All of them could see the shake that was beginning to settle into her bones - a mix of the situation and Edward's reaction to her thoughts. "You better back the hell up right now, Edward."
"I'm sorry," Edward repeated. "I just couldn't let you hurt Bella."
Kiara shook his hand off her shoulder, stepping away from him. Her heart rate was spiked now, and she was working hard to control her tremors as she clenched her fists once more.
"I would never hurt Bella," she said, her voice hard as she looked around at the rest of the Cullens. They all looked ashamed that they'd even have thought that Kiara would just attack Bella here and there. "I care about her too much to do something like that. But what you've done, this is going to fucking kill her."
Rosalie moved forward as Kiara started breathing heavily, rubbing her face with her hands as she started muttering about how the pack wasn't going to handle this. She placed her hands on either side of her mate's face, trying to get her to calm down and just focus on her imprint, instead of the outcome of it all.
Kiara almost melted into Rosalie's touch, feeling the warmth of her calming presence wash over her. However, she quickly remembered the situation at hand and pushed her off, stepping away from her. Rosalie's eyes flashed with desperation as she watched Kiara raise a hand, silently telling her not to come near her again.
"This is wrong," Kiara said firmly.
Rosalie took a deep breath before speaking again. "It isn't so bad," she replied softly. "It's only a baby after all."
Kiara shook her head in disbelief. "It's not just a baby," she argued back. "Is it? If it was just a baby, you wouldn't all be standing here as if you're planning a funeral. If it was just a baby, you'd have told Charlie. You'd have told me and Seth. You have happily told anyone. But you haven't - cause it isn't 'just a baby', Rose, is it?!"
"It's a foetus that will slowly drain Bella of her life until there is nothing left." Alice stepped forward then, agreeing with Kiara. Kiara's eyes flickered over to the short vampire, glad that not all of them seemed on-board with Bella becoming an incubator for a human-killing machine.
"Kiara, please," Bella said, her eyes breaking as she looked across the room at one of her childhood friends. She needed her to support her, she needed a friend to be with her. She had the Cullens, she'd always have the Cullens, but Bella needed Kiara to hold her hand and tell her it was going to be okay. If she didn't have Jake, she at least hoped she had Kiara.
"It's not me you need to be worried about," Kiara said, her voice stoic and void of all anger as she tilted her head slightly in the direction of the front of the house. The rest had been so focused on her, they hadn't picked up the noise she could almost hear from miles away.
Carlisle stepped forward then, eyes cautious at the sudden change in her voice. His body was now tense, not liking how the shifter had suddenly changed her entire attitude in less than a second.
"What do you mean, Kiara? What are you suggesting?"
Kiara sighed wearily before responding. "My brother has just pulled up outside on his motorbike," she said, her voice low and steady. "You've got less than twenty seconds to figure out how to break the news to Jacob."
_____
Kiara leaned against the balcony railing as she closed her eyes, trying to calm down her heart rate as she listed to Jacob discover the scene that she had just walked into. She didn't want to be in the room as he saw Bella, but she knew that he knew she was outside.
She didn't look over her shoulder as she heard soft footsteps and the door to the inside of the house closing. Her eyes had been too focused on where Jacob and Edward were having a deep chat downstairs, Jacob taking bitter shots at Edward who seemed to deflated to even counter them for a change.
"Kie."
Kiara refused to even acknowledge the voice as she stared out into the forest trees. She wondered who was on patrol today - who would be the first to see the flashes of anger and pain in her mind when she inevitably shifted and ran far, far away from this hellish nightmare. Her body was screaming at her to just run and not stop. To run, and never come back.
"Please look at me."
There she was - the one reason that Kiara couldn't just leave and never return. The Quileute hated that she was genetically programmed to want to just turn around and gather Rosalie into her arms, holding her tight and telling her that everything was going to be okay. She loved Rosalie, but she swore that she'd never hated her more than she did than in this moment.
"I have nothing to say to you," Kiara replied, her voice cold as she tried to not show Rosalie the internal battle that she was having with herself. It was almost painful to be this angry at Rosalie - like she was ripping herself into two again. It wasn't quite the same agony as it had been as when she tried to reject the imprint, but it certainly still felt like a weight was crushing her chest. "Please just go back to Bella."
"Kiara, you have to understand -" Rosalie stepped forward, her voice desperate and pleading as she stared at her girlfriend.
Kiara finally turned to look at Rosalie, her eyes seething with anger. "No! I don't understand," she spat out, her fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. Her body tremors were back as she felt her temperature spike. "What Bella decides to do with her body is her choice, but that thing is NOT a baby. How could you do this to me, Rosalie? You know what this means for the treaty... and you didn't even think about me."
"Kiara, I know you're angry. I should have told you about Bella's baby," Rosalie said softly, her voice full of emotion. "Please understand that I was only trying to protect her."
Kiara's eyes were still wild with rage, but a part of her screamed in pain when it saw the sorrowful look on Rosalie's face. She gritted her teeth, words falling from her lips before she even had a chance to process what she was saying.
"Protect her? Or protect it?" Kiara exclaimed, anger coursing through every vein as she tried to keep herself from shifting and screaming into the afternoon sky. "Don't you dare try to tell me that this is some kind of protection! How could you be so selfish?"
Rosalie stepped forward then and reached out a hand to touch Kiara's shoulder, but Kiara pulled away before she could make contact. She didn't want sympathy - all she wanted was for Rosalie to understand why she was so angry. In response, all Rosalie could do was silently plead with eyes for Kiara to forgive her. But no amount of begging could reverse the damage that had been done between them now - Kiara's trust had been shattered beyond repair.
"It doesn't matter now," Rosalie said slowly, her voice heavy with sadness as she took a step back from Kiara. "It's Bella's choice to have this baby, and I won't stand in her way."
"She can't consent to being killed by something none of us understand - no one can." Kiara snapped. She was seething with rage, feeling like she was going to explode from the raw emotion that was coursing through her body. She wanted to scream and yell until the forest around them crumbled into dust, but instead all she could do was stare at Rosalie in disbelief. It wasn't fair that she could do this, yet her body still screamed out for her to hold Rosalie - none of this had never been fair - but Kiara had accepted it a long time ago.
"You almost killed yourself over the imprint, you have no right to say what is and isn't right," Rosalie snapped, instant regret washing over her face as she let the words fall from her lips. Kiara was sure that if her heart hadn't been breaking on the spot, she'd have heard the intakes of breath from the rest of the family at the argument that was happening between the two girls.
Kiara felt her entire body shake as Rosalie's words echoed in her mind. She couldn't believe that she had heard her correctly, and yet there was no mistaking the truth of what she had said. Kiara felt like she couldn't breathe, like the air had been stolen from her lungs. She felt her eyes burning as tears threatened to spill over, and she knew that if this argument went on any longer it would be impossible for her to keep herself from completely falling apart.
Tears finally streaming down her face, Kiara shakily took a step back from Rosalie, not wanting to be near any longer. She could see the pain in Rosalie's eyes as her anger had gotten the better of her, but there was no going back now.
"I can't... I can't believe you just said that," Kiara stammered, her voice desperate and pleading as she shook from the onslaught of emotions that were hitting her like a tidal wave. Her chest felt like it was going to implode as she felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room - how could Rosalie even throw around such a thing after everything they'd been through together?
Rosalie's face twisted with pain as she watched Kiara step away from her, her heart breaking at the sight of Kiara's tears.
"Kie... I'm sorry... I didn't mean...," Rosalie said softly, her voice filled with regret as she tried to take a step towards Kiara once more. But Kiara shook her head, her eyes still filled with tears as she backed away even further.
"No... I can't do this right now," Kiara said, her voice barely above a whisper as she turned to leave. "I need to be far away from this - from you and that fucking parasite."
And with that, Kiara fled from the balcony and the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm her. She didn't hear the yells of Rosalie begging her to come back, didn't hear the yells of Jacob as he confronted Rosalie, she didn't hear anything. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew that she couldn't stay there any longer. Her heart was aching with pain as she ran, her feet pounding against the forest floor as she pushed herself harder and harder, eventually turning into thudding paws as she tried to outrun the thoughts and emotions that were chasing her down.
She howled into the crisp air, so piercing that even the Cullens flinched from their house at hearing it. Jacob had reacted instantly, anger at Bella and the situation taking over him as he too rushed out of the house and shifted into the forest.
Images of Bella's stomach flashed through their pack link, Jacob sending out the image to everyone in a fit of uncontrollable anger. Kiara was knocked to the ground as Jacob collided with her, both of them not realising the other was so close. He snapped his teeth at her before noticing how silent she was while the rest of the pack yelled in their heads, seeing how deflated she looked.
He grabbed at the scruff of her neck fur with his own teeth, moving her as Sam ordered them all to gather at the logging depot on the outskirts of the forest. She stumbled for a second before doing into autopilot, running alongside Jacob as she listened to the rest of her pack mates scream out in anger as they listened to Jacob's thoughts.
"Unnatural!"
"Dangerous!
"Monstrosity!"
"An abomination!"
As they reached the logging depot, Kiara's rage had turned into a numbness that she couldn't shake. She knew that she was supposed to be angry too, but all she could feel was a deep sadness that made it hard to breathe and all she could think about was Rosalie's words. The pain of hearing them was still fresh, and it felt like a physical ache in her chest.
Kiara could see the rest of her pack gathered, their eyes blazing with fury. As one, the pack members began to speak over each other, their words garbled and incomprehensible in Kiara's mind. She tried to focus as they all talked, but the words just seemed to blend together into a jumbled mess.
Jacob was pacing back and forth, a low growl constantly emanating from his throat. Kiara could feel his anger, his frustration, his sadness - they were all emotions she was experiencing herself. Seth was whimpering, a similar feeling of betrayal like her own coming from his direction. It was different though - he and Bree didn't have the same bond that her and Rosalie did.
Then, out of nowhere, Sam's voice broke through the chaos, his words clear and concise.
"We have to protect the tribe. What they've bred won't be able to control its thirst. Every human will be in danger!" He snarled, standing on top of one of the stacks of logs as the rest of the pack danced anxiously around the base. Kiara barely noticed that Collin and Brady were darting around at the back, both very confused and anxious about the situation. They'd shifted after the vampire army had been, and had no fighting experience whatsoever.
"Now?" Jacob snarled back, seeing the plan forming in Sam's mind. He clenched his muscles, not liking that Sam would be willing to kill the love of his life instead of just waiting until the... baby was born.
"We must destroy it before it's born!"
"You mean, kill Bella?" Seth whimpered, causing some of the other wolves to snap their jaws towards his sympathetic tone. Kiara snapped out of her depressive state, her tail flicking as she growled straight back in Jared's face, causing him to step back from Seth.
"Her choice affects us all!" Sam snapped back at Jacob, his heckles rising as he sensed that Jacob and Kiara weren't on board with the plan like he expected everyone to be.
"Bella's human. Our protection applies to her."
"She's dying anyway!" Leah snarled at Jacob, causing the russet wolf to launch himself at her and start grappling with each other. Kiara snarled loudly, throwing herself into the mix and managing to separate the two of them for a moment before Sam re-demanded their attention.
"We have real enemies to fight tonight," Sam snapped, causing Kiara to turn to him with her heckles raised. Leah backed down as she noticed the change in her friend, realising what Sam's words had just proposed. Seth growled a little too, coming to the same conclusion as Kiara.
Sam had just implied they would be fighting their imprints.
"You will fight with us, Jake," Sam continued, not paying attention to Kiara's frustration as he focused on Jacob's vocal outcry at the idea. He slunked down the logs, coming to stand in front of Jacob and pushing his snout against his. Kiara watched as Sam towered above her brother, both Seth and Jacob slowly folding under the orders of their alpha.
Fuck no.
Kiara growled loudly, the heckles on her back raised higher than ever as she moved in between Sam and Jacob, her eyes burning with an anger Sam had never seen before on the wolf as her tail flicked against Jacob's feet.
"We will NOT!" Kiara snarled, watching with a sense of triumph as Sam backed down a little. Kiara's words gave Jacob a new motivation, the larger wolf standing up firmly shoulder-to-shoulder with his twin sister as he also stared back at Sam with fire in his eyes.
"I am the grandson of Ephraim Black!" Jacob snarled, feeling overwhelmed with everything that was happening. "I am the grandson of a chief! I wasn't born to follow you, or anyone else."
The rest of the pack snarled as Jacob barged past Sam with no warning, darting off into the forest before anyone else had the chance to even blink. The snarls continued as Kiara snapped at Paul, the grey wolf snapping his jaw towards her in annoyance at his best friend turning on them to protect the vampires. He'd been considering of her imprint, but this was a step that he couldn't overlook. As long as that thing was growing inside of Bella, Rachel was in danger. They all were.
"I won't fight against my own imprints," she said firmly, her voice shaking with the intensity of her emotions. "Not for anyone or anything."
"Then don't," Sam snarled, his heckles raised as he rounded on her. "Stay with your sister and father, and protect them from the monster that they're using Bella as a human incubator for!"
Kiara felt a shiver run down her spine at Sam's words, knowing that he wasn't bluffing - they had no idea what the thing in Bella's stomach would do once it was breathing their air. The tension in the air was thick as the pack members remained in their wolf forms, watching as Sam and Kiara continued to stare each other down. It was clear that the rift between them had grown, the trust that once existed now shattered.
Kiara pawed the dirt, tilting her head round to look at Seth for a moment before she lunged. Unlike Jacob, Kiara didn't take off and lunge into the tree line.
She lunged for Sam.
____
Hey y'all, hope you're doing well! I hadn't realised how many of you love commenting on these chapters until recently and I've been loving reading all of your reactions! Keep it up buddies, it encourages me to write more often for sure!
If you want to see any edits for this book (+my other books), you can find some at my TikTok over at @hoechlin72! 😅