The drive to Bella's was quiet as she shivered in her seat. The girl was basically sitting between two space heaters and she was still cold?

"Hundred and eight degrees over here," Jacob smirked as he glanced over from the wheel.

I rolled my eyes at him and leaned my head against the window, "You're so warm," she whispered..I held in a gag.

"It's a wolf thing," I saw the cocky smile on his face.

"It's a Jacob thing."

I picked my head up and looked at the two of them, "Nah, I'm pretty sure it's a wolf thing." He parked the truck in front of the Swan residence, and they had another moment. I tried to keep from vomiting, poor kid is only hurting himself. They were like *this* close to kissing before Bella pussied out. I'd finally had enough, and opened the door to leave. In the split second I'd opened the door, Jacob arched over the both of us and slammed it shut.

"Wait!" At first I was confused but then I caught it, a vampire's scent. Shit.

"Vampire," I got out while Jacob started the truck again, "Get her out of here."

Bella looked between the two of us, "How can you tell?"

Jacob looked behind him as he put the car in reverse, "We can smell it."

I looked around looking for any sign of danger. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, but if Victoria was so close I could smell her I could not afford to have my guard down. I scanned the area, but it was Bella who noticed the car.

"That's Carlisle's car!" She gasped. I turned and saw the familiar black Honda. My mind started racing, who was here? And why come now? I started walking to the door and Bella raced out to catch up with me.

"It's a trick! Stop!" Jacob grabbed her and tried to pull her back.

I stopped him, "If it's one of them she'll be fine Jacob, and I'm here. I got it," my optimism started overflowing; I'd missed them so much I was starting to get excited.

"You both gotta come with me!" He looked between the two of us.

I raised an eyebrow at him, "They won't hurt me," Bella stated.

"They're my family Jacob, I need to see them."

"If a Cullen is back here, this is their territory. I can't protect you here," he focused his words to Bella.

I waved my arms around, "Need I remind you I am a Cullen! Bella will be safe-"

Bella nodded, "Cate is here-"

"Cate!" Jake snapped at me, "Their kind killed your tribe! You're one of us now, you can't put yourself in more danger!" I started to feel this is where the divide started, my family versus my pack. Where do I stand? Jacob looked between the two of us sadly, "You're about to cross a line."

"Then don't draw one," Bella responded grabbing me with her hand as we ran up her steps and through the door.

As we went inside I heard Jacob slam the passenger door to the truck muttering, "Paul's gonna kill me."

I quickly disregarded his odd choice of words before entering the house where I quickly became more familiar with the vampire's scent. No way this one was a threat.

Bella flicked the light on and I saw her pixie cut right away, "Alice!" I jumped into her arms happily. Bella smiled brighter than I'd ever seen in the past few months as she joined in the hug. Alice looked between the two of us utterly perplexed, I wondered why she looked so confused.

"What's wrong?" I asked seeing she was less than enthused to see us.

First she zeroed in on Bella, "Would you like to explain to me how it is you're alive?"

I remembered not even an hour ago Bella decided it would be a fun idea to jump off a cliff, "Oh that..."

"You jumped off a cliff!" Alice screeched while Bella still looked like she was trying to process if she wasn't a hallucination, "Why in the hell would you try and kill yourself? What about Charlie?" Then she snapped her head over to me, "I thought you were supposed to be keeping an eye on her!"

"I didn't try to kill myself!" Bella told her, "I was cliff jumping. It was fun," she cleaned her face a bit with her sleeve.

Alice looked over at me sadly, "I've been here...I've been watching her," I nodded, to which she sighed and brought me in for another hug.

"I freaking missed my family."

I made Bella a tea while we caught Alice up on what's been going on for the past few months. Bella did the majority of the talking, I didn't really think I should tell her what I'd been up to...especially recently.

"I have never met someone so prone to life-threatening idiocy," Alice said as I joined them on the sofa.

The look on Bella's face said it all but her words only confirmed which Cullen she was thinking about, "Did...Did you tell..." she still couldn't say his name even after all this time.

Alice shook her head, "He only calls in once every few months. He said he wants to be alone," then she looked over at me, "You also stopped calling."

I nodded, "It's been hard. I missed you guys."

"We missed you too," she brought me closer before scrunching her nose up, "We've been separated too long, you stink, and you disappeared from my visions again," She paused, "Bella you smell like wet dog," she paused when she realized she'd forgotten Bella wasn't supposed to know about me.

Bella however she excused herself, removing her jacket and blaming it on Jacob, "Cate's been fine but I've been hanging out with Jacob more."

"Jacob who?" Alice looked between the two of us warily.

I sighed, "Jacob's like me."

"A werewolf! They are not good company to keep!" Alice snapped momentarily forgetting I was sitting right there.

I nodded, "I'll try not to take that too personally."

She sent me a look, "You know what I mean! They're dangerous!" She told us in a stern voice.

"Speak for yourself," A voice came from behind us. I turned and saw Jacob and surprisingly Paul standing by the doorway. Both looked angry but Paul especially looked like he was ready to pop at any moment, Jacob looked over at Bella sadly, "I had to make sure you were safe."

I snorted, "Thanks for the confidence in me bud!" I waved.

"Cate-" Paul started and I put my hand up silencing him, I wondered why he was even there considering we barely interacted with each other.

Alice stood up, "Well I'm not going to hurt either of them! Cate's my sister!" I saw Paul visibly tense.

"You're just a harmless Cullen. I'm talking about the other bloodsucker who tried to kill Bella because of you," Jacob's voice was void of any emotion.

"Victoria?" Alice looked over at us.

I nodded, "I took care of Laurent a while back. She decided to come herself."

Alice was starting to get agitated with Jake and Paul there, "I didn't see her. I didn't see you get pulled out of the water either but I assumed it was Cate who-"

I stopped her, "Jake got her out."

She ignored me as she scowled at the two of them, "I can't see you and your pack of mutts!"

I bolted to my feet as both Jacob and Paul took threatening steps forward, "Stop it!" I directed my exclamation to the trio of them, stepping between them.

"Do NOT get me upset!" Jake threatened.

"This is going to get very ugly," Paul agreed while I put my hand on his chest forcing him to take a step back. He was shaking but at my touch I saw him visibly calm down a notch. The anger in his eye seemed to deteriorate when we locked eyes but I quickly looked away still trying to diffuse the situation.

Bella came and stood in front of Jacob, Alice looked between them and stepped outside giving us some privacy with the wolves, "You're coming back right?" Bella asked.

Alice nodded, "As soon as you take the dogs out," I snapped my head back at her angrily. She realized what she said and gave me an apologetic look before going outside.

Bella and Jacob went into the kitchen while I stayed with Paul in the living room. I wasn't sure what to say, I didn't even know why he would show up, he had no reason to considering he'd been avoiding me for weeks.

I crossed my arms and the pair of us just stood there looking at each other, "What are you even doing here?" I asked, finally breaking the silence.

Paul looked right into my eyes and I noticed immediately how my heartbeat seemed to pick up speed, "Jacob called me and told me where you were. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

I scoffed, "Sure because since I joined the pack you've been the poster wolf for welcoming me. Why is it you care all of a sudden?"

He froze, it looked like what I'd said actually hurt him. He walked right in front of me and I could feel his breath on my face, "The day I first saw you, I knew. I never wanted to be apart from you. I feel terrible for the way I treated you before. But you're my-" We were interrupted as the landline started obnoxiously ringing in the middle of his sentence.

I was frozen when the phone stopped ringing -someone answered it- but I wasn't focused on that. I was looking right into those chestnut brown eyes wondering what the hell was going on. When I'd first turned he wanted nothing to do with me, then we met and I felt like something had changed within me, and now he's telling me he can't be apart from me? What's even weirder was....it felt...right. I could hear his emotion, his sincerity and I believed him. However I wasn't given an opportunity to respond before Alice raced in and grabbed my arm, pulling me away from Paul and into the kitchen where Jacob and Bella were.

"Bella, it's Edward!" Alice breathed, the look of shock and alarm clear in her flawless features. Paul followed us in and immediately stood by Jacob's side and watched the exchange. I looked between my sister and Bella confused, what was going on now? "He thinks you're dead. Rosalie told him why I came here."

I quickly realized what happened, Edward called the house and Jacob must have answered...oh no.

Bella snapped to Jake, "Why would you....Why didn't you let me speak to him?!" She yelled.

"He didn't ask for you!" He yelled back.

I knew right then that whatever Jacob told him on the phone was enough to make Edward think Bella was dead.

"He's going to the Volturi. He wants to die too," Alice told her. I stood there with tears threatening to spill. I couldn't loose another family member to the damn Volturi.

It was less than a minute that Alice, Bella and I were leaving the house. This was a suicide mission but we were going to get my brother out of there. Jacob was yelling at Bella trying to get her to stay while Paul was trying to do the same to me.

"Those are the same people who killed your family!" He reminded me as I sped to the car.

"And these people took me in! I can't let my brother die!" I yelled as I tried to open the passenger door only to see it was locked with Bella and Alice already inside, "Alice open the door," I told her as I fumbled with the handle.

She sent me a sad look, "You can't come Cate."

I looked at her utterly shocked, "Alice stop wasting time and open the damn door!"

"I can't believe I'm saying this but the mutt's right. You'd be in danger coming with us, we need to keep you as far away from the Volturi as possible. Besides, I can't see anything if you're there. So you have to stay here," Tears started rolling down my cheeks, "I'm sorry. We'll be back soon. All of us, I promise," and with that Bella and Alice sped away.

I started screaming trying to run after the car but a pair of strong arms held be back. I cried for Alice to come back, not to leave me behind again. I started thrashing around, not even feeling angry enough to phase, as devastation was the dominant emotion. I slowly gave up and started crying louder and louder. The arms holding on to me brought me into his chest where I instinctively wrapped my arms around their waist and clutched them desperately. As I cried I brought in the scent of pine and what could only be described as the air after a spring shower. Taking deep breaths and inhaling the scent calmed me down enough to look up at who was holding me. Paul. He watched me with sad eyes, as if my sorrow hurt him too.

I felt a bit better just being there in his arms. There's a feeling of protection. But I couldn't be there, in front of Bella's house, anymore. I released myself from his hold and started walking away.

"Where are you going?" Paul asked trying to follow me.

I sighed, "I'm going home."

He paused, "You don't mean Billy's, do you?" I shook my head, and kept walking, "Are you still going to come round the reservation?" He asked sadly. The look in his eyes...it hurt to see.

I paused, unsure of how to answer, "I'll try to."

"If the bloodsuckers let you," he snapped.

"Stop it," I snapped, "It will be my choice if I go back or not. But if they're going to come back I need to be with them. They're my family."

I turned back around and kept walking, I heard him softly, "So are we."