Bella had no choice but to meet with Scott. The time had come to get this over with. It was now or never.
The rest of the day went by fast with nothing out of the ordinary. Other than the nerves taking over. By morning, Peter was prepared to meet Scott McCall. Bella was still hesitant about the whole ordeal but she knew she had no choice in the matter. Scott agreed to meet the Hales at the loft.
Once they arrived, Bella followed Peter from behind as they walked upstairs towards the loft. Scott was already there with Derek. They were talking. Peter and Bella walked inside and saw Scott and Derek waiting on them.
"How are you feeling?" Scott asked Bella
Bella glared at him "I think you know the answer to that."
The four of them just stood around looking at each other awkwardly, unsure of what to say or do. Then Scott had a thought.
"Okay, Bella. I want you to shift." Scott told her
"Why?"
"Just do it."
Bella stood straight, closed her eyes and took a breath. But everytime she thought she was about to shift, nothing happened. Only her golden eyes shone.
"Why can't I shift?" Bella growls in frustration.
Peter looks at her worriedly as Scott whispers something to Derek. Derek nods at Scott. Just then, Derek runs at Bella to attack her. She didn't get the chance to defend herself when Derek knocked her to the ground. Her wolf instincts didn't kick in.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Peter demanded as he looked ready to pounce on Derek to stop him from hurting his daughter.
Bella tries to push Derek off of her but couldn't gather the strength to do so. "Get off!"
"Come on, Bella." Derek said "Fight me!"
"Get off of me!" Bella yelled as she punched Derek in the jaw.
Derek lets go. Out of anger, she pushed herself up and sloppily launched herself towards Derek, only for Derek to dodge her move. She then threw an arm at Derek, only for him to grab her arm and hold it behind her back. Bella groans in pain as she wrestles to get free. She stomps on Derek's foot but that didn't help much. All of her training, all of the muscle memory didn't work. Everything she once knew didn't have any effect at all. She wasn't strong anymore.
"Come on, Bella. Use your strength." Derek told her
"I'm trying!" she cried as she continued to wrestle from Derek's arms. "Please, stop! You're hurting me!"
"Derek, let her go!" Peter cried
Derek lets go and Bella drops to the floor and she clutches her arm.
"Are you out of your mind?!" Peter said as he rushed to her side. "What were you thinking?!"
"It was a test to see what sort of strength she had." Scott reveals
"Some test! You allowed her to get hurt!"
"It was necessary." Derek said "That was only the first part."
"Oh? And pray tell, what is the second?"
"Healing."
Bella looked up at Peter worriedly, unsure of what to do. Her arm was still throbbing and had shown no sign of healing yet. But of course, that was nothing. Nothing compared to any sort of major injury. But how would this be accomplished?
"What are you gonna do, stab me?" Bella asked
Scott looked at her for a moment "No. But a simple cut would suffice. Enough to try and trigger the healing process."
The three werewolves could sense her worry. Peter put his hand in hers, causing Bella to look up at him. He smiled at her but it was a smile of worry. Just then, Bella felt a sharp pain radiate through her hand.
"God dammit!" Bella cried as she pulled back as blood was oozing. There was a small deep mark as if a claw had punctured it. "Are you crazy!?"
"I'm sorry, sweetheart." Peter said apologetically "I had to be the one to do it."
"Why?!"
"Would you rather you'd have Scott or Derek do something?"
"No! But that doesn't give you the right to do that!"
"It was necessary." Peter stated
"Easy for you to say!" Bella cried as she looked down at her hand. Blood was still oozing through.
Everyone waited nervously to see if she would heal. Minutes had passed. The bleeding slowed but the wound wasn't healing. Bella allowed her trembling frustration to show.
"I guess there's only one thing left to do." Scott said
"And what's that?" Bella glares at Scott.
Peter and Derek turn to look at Scott as his eyes glow red. Bella's eyes widened as she was frightened by what was coming. Scott moved his way over towards her, only for Bella to move back in fear. Bella shouldn't be scared but she is. Scared to see what would happen if this plan failed.
"Dad...what is he doing?" Bella asked fearfully
Peter said nothing as Bella continued to back away until she hit the pillar behind her. As she leaned against it, Scott got closer. Peter and Derek watched nervously as Scott did this. As he stood two feet away, Scott closed his eyes, took a deep breath and Alpha roared directly in Bella's face.
Bella gasped in fright but not before her eyes shone bright gold and she had a tingling sensation radiate throughout. It was as if someone slapped her across the face in a fight and she mustered the courage to gather the strength to fight back. Slowly, she started feeling stronger. Bella didn't know how to explain it. She and Scott looked down and saw her bloody hand now healing. Fast too. Nothing but dry blood was left on her hand.
Scott sighed in relief seeing this and looked over towards Peter and Derek, nodding at them with a smile.
Peter lets out a deep breath that he was holding in, almost as if he were relieved.
Bella's breathing shuddered as she could feel her werewolf strength coming back. She looked down at her formerly cut hand and drove her thumb over it, as if she were checking to see if she had really healed.
"There's the answer." Derek stated
Bella looked up at Derek
"All you needed was an Alpha to help jumpstart your abilities."
Bella said nothing as she stood there stunned. Almost paralyzed. She should be thrilled to have her powers back but she wasn't thrilled of what she just became. Scott McCall's Beta. Bella said nothing as she took off up the stairs towards her old room.
"What happened?" Scott asked, looking confused. "I thought she would be happy to know she's still a werewolf."
"Believe me Scott, she is." Derek said
"Then what is it?"
"It's becoming your beta she isn't thrilled with." Peter said as he went for the stairs.
When Peter got upstairs, Bella wasn't in her old room. He sniffed the air, and followed her scent, it went out the window.
"What the hell?" he said aloud, climbing out the window.
He followed it all the way from the fire escape to the roof where he found Bella, sitting against a wall, legs against her chest as she hid her face.
He didn't say anything, he just walked over and sat down beside her. He knew that when she was ready she would talk to him, so he waited. Peter could smell her tears and hear the sobs wanting to break out.
Finally after almost ten minutes, she spoke. "Am I a bad person?"
Peter couldn't tell what she was saying as the words mumbled against her knees. "What was that?"
"Am I a bad person?" Bella asked, looking up a bit without looking over.
Peter looked at her in shock, "No.you are not a bad person. Why would you think that?"
"I...I should be grateful that I have my abilities back. But I'm not."
"I thought that's what you wanted?"
"It was. Until..."
"Scott officially made you his beta." Peter finished "I told you this; you don't have to be his beta."
"But he could still have some control over me, right?" Bella questioned
"Not if I can help it."
"I mean, even though he is an ass, it doesn't change the fact that he took you away from me twice, you know?"
"I do know that. I understand, honey." Peter told her "But it's over and done with now. We can move forward."
"How do you know he won't stab me in the back and break me like when he sent us to Eichen?"
"I don't. He won't be able to trust you. Hell, he doesn't even trust me. I promise you, it won't be like that when you refuse to be a part of his pack. You'll become an Omega, like me."
"That's all I want, right now." Bella confessed
"Then tell him that."
"He won't listen."
"Oh, he will." Peter stated "And if he doesn't, well, let's just say that I can be very persuasive."
Bella gritted her teeth
"What do you want me to do?" she asked, looking up at Peter
Peter plants a kiss on the top of her head "Just be honest. Brutally."