I rolled over in bed, barely awake. Last night had been so much fun, and neither one of us really needed to sleep, so we had had our fun for many hours. I was happy no one else lived in the old Cullen house.

I glanced at the clock. It was already eleven o' clock. Great. I climbed out of bed, careful not to wake the sleeping man next to me. It was hard to believe that he was twenty-three years of age. But then again, who would believe that I was only five?

"Hmm? Nessie?" Jacob had woken after all. "What's the matter?" He yawned, his arms stretching behind him. His right hand hit my forehead gently. I gasped in surprise. Since when were his hands so cold?

Hearing my gasp, he stood up. He reached for my cheek, but dropped his hand as soon as it made contact. "Gosh, Nessie! You're burning up. Maybe you have a fever. You never feel warm to me." Both of our bodies ran at about 109 degrees, usually. Today, his hands seemed to be closer to 99 degrees.

"You feel cold. Maybe it's you." I turned to open my closet. Inside was more clothing than was in here the day before. I rolled my eyes. "Alice was here last night." I blushed, wondering what she had seen.

"What?" Jacob asked in disbelief. "No, she wasn't. I don't smell anything." He walked up next to me to look at the closet.

"Whoa. Someone was certainly here." He sniffed the air. "Not a vampire, though. I would smell that." He hated the supposed vampire smell that I was apparently immune to.

"Maybe it's your human nose. Try phasing to see if you can identify it." I didn't really care who it had been, but I knew Jake would want to know.

He shrugged, and slipped out of his clothes.

Out of habit, I shifted my eyes away. I heard him chuckle.

Jake took a deep breath, crouched down, and nothing happened. "Oh, well. Maybe I'm out of practice. Haven't phased in a while." He jumped back into his clothes.

"Wait a second. How long exactly has it been?" I started counting on my fingers, trying to remember the last time he had phased.

"I don't know. 'Bout a year." He walked out of the room into the kitchen.

I followed him. "The colder skin, can't smell if there was a vampire here, and can't phase." Experimentally, I sniffed the air. All I could smell was my half-human blood, and another human's blood. "Your spirit wolf. You gave it up by not phasing for a year. You're a human again."

Confusion crossed his face. "No. That's not possible. No. No." He shook his head. "No."

"We'll go to Carlisle's place. My parents are there. If they say you smell, then I'm wrong. If not, I'm right." The vampires thought that the shape-shifters smelled bad also.

"Fine. But we're taking the bikes." He had been teaching me how to ride my mom's old motorcycle for the past few weeks, and since I learned fast, he liked to ride around with me to actually travel. I kind of liked the thrill and the speed, so I didn't mind riding everywhere.

When we got to my parent's new house in Seattle, Bella greeted us at the door. "Ren! I was wondering when you were coming home. Oh, hey, Jake."

"Hello, Bella." He took a deep breath and frowned.

"Jacob, Ren, is everything okay?" She danced into the kitchen to bring us both sodas.

"Uh, we don't know." I shook my head. "Do you know if Rosalie's home?" I knew Rose hated the smell the most, and would be most likely to be able to smell it.

"Sure." She turned and walked up to the staircase. "Rose! Ren's here, with-"

I cut her off mid-sentence. "Shh. It's a test."

Rosalie appeared at the top of the stairs and saw Jacob. "Oh, you're here. Usually I can smell you before you arrive, but I wasn't really paying attention."

"Do you smell him now?" I asked.

She took a cautious whiff. "Huh. That's weird. I don't smell him. Is that really Jacob Black, the shape-shifter, and all that?"

Jake and I nodded in sync. "Yup."

Edward ran out of a nearby room. "Hello. Alice went out hunting with Jasper, but she's about to come home with very interesting news."

Sure enough, a moment later, Alice burst through the door. "Edward! You saw that! What happened?" She stopped, noticing the four other people around her. "Hi, everyone." She caught Jacob's eye and inhaled. She then met Edward's eyes again.

"Yes, I smell it, too."

Jacob smiled triumphantly at me.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Alice, what did you see?"

"Well, I saw Jacob. You know I can't see the shape-shifters. But I saw him. What was more interesting, though, was Jake wasn't a human either." She bit her lip, deep in thought.

It only took me a moment to realize what she meant. I looked at my dad in alarm. "No. Edward, that can't be."

"What can't be? I'm a little confused right now. Did I, or did I not, lose my spirit wolf?" Jacob crossed his arms over his chest.

"You definitely did." Bella, who knew as many of the legends as I did, nodded.

"But I'm not human?" It only took him a few seconds longer than it took me. "No! That stuff's poison to me! No! How?"

Carlisle marched down the stairs, Esme and Emmett behind him. "I heard everything. That is supposedly poisonous to them, although if he no longer has his spirit wolf, he is no different from any other human."

I turned to Alice. "Who's going to do it?"

She paused and closed her eyes. "It's undecided. But it looks like you." She reopened them and tilted her head to the side. "But you're not venomous."

I rubbed the back of my neck nervously and giggled. "Yeah, about that." I looked around for something I could show them with. My arm would work.

I bit my arm gently, careful not to actually get any blood in my system. I didn't know how that would react.

"Renesmee, what are you doing?" Edward glared at me. "Stop."

"Relax." I slowly traced the pattern with my tongue, careful to get venom on every bit.

I held my arm up for everyone to see. A thin pink scar was forming. "Vampire venom is the only thing that leaves a scar. I can make venom, or I can choose to not make venom. It's not too difficult."

Jacob turned to me. "So, your venom is going to poison my system?" He seemed to get a certain satisfaction out of that.

I saw my mom stifle a smile. She had felt the same way about Edward changing her five years ago.

"Oh, yeah, Alice, did you come into my closet last night?"

Alice groaned. "No. Who wants to kill you now? Ugh, not again!" She wandered off in the opposite direction, mumbling to herself.

"Um, Rosalie?"

She shook her head. "Not me."

I looked around at everyone. They were all shaking their heads, although Bella was holding in a smile.

"Okay, it was me. I wanted to surprise you. So, while you were, um, sleeping, I restocked your closet. Everything was checked by Alice. They're my old clothes that I never wear." I noticed her little slip when she said "sleeping". I gave her a warning glare, and she smiled.

"Well, thanks. I needed something new to wear. We should probably be going now." I placed my hand in Jake's back pocket, and steered him towards the door.

"Ren? You're making your father nervous." Bella laughed.

I turned around to see my Edward's mouth in a tight line. "Sorry, Daddy."

"Not you, honey. Jacob, as usual, just has some nice thoughts." He looked at Jake and raised his eyebrows. "Oh. That's nice. What a pedophile."

We both blushed, and this time Jake hurried me out the door. "He's the pedophile, not me."

The next day, Jake and I decided to visit La Push. It had been a while since we had seen anyone there. We hadn't been there since Charlie and Sue's wedding over the summer. It was the only time vampires were ever allowed there.

First, we went to the Clearwater's place, where it was only Seth and Leah living. During Jacob's later years as a wolf, Leah had been his beta, and now she was Alpha. It was funny to see her as any authoritative figure.

Seth opened the door. "Ren! Jake! How are you?" He gave me a hug, and then went to hug Jake.

"Holy mackerel, Jake? What's wrong with you? You're freezing!"

Jacob smiled warmly. "No, I'm human. It's been a while since I've phased, and you know," he let the sentence go. Seth obviously knew what Jake meant.

"Oh. Okay. Well, Leah's upstairs. She's with the puppy. Poor girl. She can't even phase back to human, not with this baby. It's a freakin' dog. She says she has no clue who the father is. But I can narrow it down to about eight, six of whom are imprinted. So we're left with two. Collin and Brady. But they are way young to be fooling around with Leah. They're eighteen, and she's twenty-five. So somebody was cheating." He seemed to be directing this to Jacob.

"Maybe it wasn't one of us. Maybe it was a normal wolf or dog. Can that happen?" Jacob seemed to challenge Seth to a fight, one that all three of us knew he would lose.

Seth shrugged it off. "We don't know. They're a lot of things that we don't know. Like if a vampire and a human can have a baby. We didn't know the answer to that before. We don't know if a wolf and a vampire can have a baby." He frowned. "Or, whether they'd want to."

"That's not an issue," I cut in. "He's human now. Calm down. Are you Alpha at this time?" Maybe since Leah had to be home with the puppy, she wasn't and Seth took her place. I knew that I would require the permission of the Alpha in order to change Jacob.

"No. Leah is. She's developed the Alpha timbre recently. But there are still the two packs. I can't replace my sister, but she's unable to act as a true Alpha. Why do you need to know?"

I hesitated, and then decided to show him why I needed to talk to Leah. I rested my hand on his cheek. "Now, before I show you this, you have to promise to be calm about it."

"It's fine. Show me."

I showed him the picture of Jake with the vampire skin and golden eyes, complete with the smell.

"No! That's like poison to shape-shifters like us! No!" He spat at me.

Jacob stepped in front of me protectively. Despite his recent changes, he still towered over the younger man. "Correction. That's like poison to shape-shifters like you. I'm human. Will be forever. But Ren's gonna stop aging in a few years, and I intend to do the same. But I need Leah's permission."

Seth shook his head. "Not gonna happen. She's in pain. Listen in three, two," he pointed to the back of the house.

Leah howled and cursed at the puppy. It was really funny how the wolves cursed. You could hear every word they said.

"Oh, well, isn't he that? His mother is a dog." Jacob joked. "I guess we consult the other pack then. Do you mind telling Sam what we want so he doesn't freak out?"

"Sure thing, bro." Seth nodded, his expression filled with sadness. "Just go."

Before we even got close to Sam's place, a large black wolf padded towards us. He was eyeing me with the utmost hatred I had ever seen in his eyes.

"Sam, you can't blame her. I haven't phased in a while, so I became human. Alice was the first to know, because she saw me. She can't see the rest of you. But I don't want to age after Nessie stops. I want to stop, too."

Sam ran off into the woods. A moment later, he re-emerged in a pair of shorts. "Jacob, I understand why. But I don't understand what you want from me. I'm not in charge of you. I haven't been for six years. Why now do you care what I think?" His expression turned angry. "Just go have your perfect little Alfemale give you permission."

"You forget you love her." I looked into Sam's eyes. "Not like you love Emily, but you love her. Just like my mom loves Jacob. You two aren't meant to be, but you do love each other like very close friends."

Jacob's expression stiffened when I mentioned her name. I knew it was just another memory.

"And exactly like Jacob loves Bella," I added.

"I love Emily more with more than my life. Leah's just, well, Leah. She's more like my younger sister who likes staring at me naked."

Jacob smiled, fully aware of what Leah did. "Well, she has the puppy now. Shouldn't be an issue. Anyway, you know what we want. Can we have it?"

Sam stared at him in disbelief. "I still don't understand why you're asking me."

"Treaty. It states that no vampire is allowed to bite a human. Kind of necessary to bite Jake if I'm gonna change him." I nodded as if it were obvious.

Jacob turned his head and stared off into the distance, his eyes glazed over. A small smile formed on his lips.

I smacked the back of his head. "Idiot. You know what I mean." I rolled my eyes and looked meaningfully at Sam. "So?"

"Treaty's void. It's a per-incident basis. They kill someone for food, we kill them. But we know they're civil."

"Correction," I added, "we're civil. Despite my physical appearance, I am a vampire, with full ability to kill. I just, like my family, choose not to. And Jake will be the same way."

Sam nodded his head. "I know. And I don't care. He knows the rules."

"Sam, I know you pretty well. Even if your brother was about to turn into your enemy, you wouldn't be like this. What happened?" Jacob looked into Sam's conflicted expression.

"Emily's pregnant. With my son or daughter. Most likely my son. I had minimal reason to hate the Cullens before, sorry Ren, but it's true, but if they turn my son into what I am, I'll never forgive them. I can't stand making anything like myself exist. It's terrible, unnatural. I now know how Edward felt about changing Bella and allowing her to have his child." His voice trailed off as he trotted away, leaving us to do the same.

About a week later, I had a very strange dream. I was hunting, and there was a human corpse lying in the woods, having just bled to death. I could smell it. I wanted it more than anything else in the world. It was still warm, and I knew it would feel so good against my lips.

I slowly opened my eyes. The smell was still there. I sat up slowly, looking for the source. It was coming from the unconscious, snoring man next to me. His blood smelled like the best food in the world, and it was there, ready for me to drink. Yet I couldn't kill the one I loved. But the smell! I dressed in a hurry, and ran out the door at vampire speed.

Jacob followed me outside sleepily. "Where are we going? Is everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah, I'll be back in a little bit."

"I'm coming, too." He opened the car door.

I slammed it back into place. "No! Stay here. It's better for both of us if you do. Go back inside and to sleep. I'll be back soon."

"No." Despite what he said, he walked back into the house and closed the door.

I started the car and raced to the other house, trying not to think about it. I did have my own human blood running through my veins, and I didn't want Jasper or my mom to lose control.

I knocked fervently on the front door.

Alice answered happily. "Hey, Ren. Come on in." She peered outside. "Where's Jacob?"

"Uh, not here. Can you get the rest of your family to come downstairs? I need to talk to them."

"No need, little pinky." Emmett jumped over the edge of the staircase. Little pinky was his favorite nickname for me. "We're here."

The rest of his family came down the stairs in their own fashion, either riding the rail, walking, or jumping over like Emmett had.

When I was sure I had everyone's attention, I spoke. "Okay, something really weird happened earlier this morning." I hesitated. "Jasper, hold your breath."

He scowled. "Bella, you too."

My mom giggled, and held her breath dramatically, cheeks inflated.

I recalled for them my memory.

Edward stiffened, and Emmett burst out laughing. Oops, too far. I showed them the correct thought with the smell. Even Esme and Edward drew a sharp breath.

"La tua cantante," Edward stated. Your singer. He had taught me enough Latin when I was younger to understand that.

"Huh?" Just because I understood the words didn't mean I understood the meaning behind them.

"His blood sings for you, the same way your mother's did for me. You can change him now, or suffer."

Bella looked at him apologetically. "Still sorry for that. But you shouldn't say that to her."

I bit my lip. "I'm not ready for that. It smells so good. I'm afraid I'll kill him. I can't even do what you did. I have to breathe. But I don't want to change him just yet."

Everyone in the room paused.

"You know, some things are better as vampires, and you and Jacob should experience these things when he's a vampire." Emmett would always be Emmett. I didn't need to be my father to understand that little comment.

Apparently I didn't want to be, either. Edward coughed. "That's my daughter. She's five and he's twenty-two. Disgusting."

I shrugged. "He doesn't think much higher of you. She was eighteen, you were ninety-one. He thinks that's worse."

Bella jumped. "I was eighteen and a legal adult. I was allowed to do whatever I wanted. So can you. Do whatever you want to do."

"Do whatever is right," Emmett mumbled.

I turned to him. "Do you want to arm wrestle?"

"I'd break off your arm. No."

"Ha, funny. Outside, big rock. Now." I pointed towards the door. I didn't know what brought this on, except for the fact that it was a family tradition to arm wrestle Emmett whenever his comments got too rowdy.

Smiling in amusement, Emmett followed me out to the rock where my mom had once arm wrestled him. I was only a few weeks old at the time, but I remember that Bella won. She won that time, and the time after that, and the time after that, and so on. By now, her original strength had dissolved a little, so Emmett beat her.

We got into the starting position. I pondered my options. I would make it look like he was winning, and then slam him down in defeat.

He had me about an inch from the boulder. "I win, I make worse jokes than I did with your mother. You win, it stops. Agreed?" His voice would have cracked under the force I was applying to his stone arm if he hadn't been a vampire.

"Agreed," I repeated, allowing him another half inch. I giggled and slammed his arm in the other direction. "Ha! You just got owned by a human."

Rosalie stared at me in awe. "How did you do that?"

"I haven't eaten in three days. I'm human and a vampire, so I need to eat a few times a day. If I don't, my body does to me what I did to Bella so many years back. I'm strong with human blood in me. So a half-vampire girl on human blood is stronger than a full-vampire man on animal blood. Isn't that comforting?"

"Um, Renesmee? Jacob's on his way. What do you wanna do?" Alice came in handy at times like this.

"Well, I know this sounds crazy, but I would be most comfortable if we were in a certain, um, arrangement? 'Cause I know I'm gonna project my thoughts all over the place."

Carlisle nodded. "Sure. How do you want us?"

"Well, my parents behind me to restrain me. Carlisle behind Bella, and Rosalie behind Edward. I'm a little scared of the two of them right now, but it's all right as long as Carlisle and Rosalie are there. Um, can Alice and Emmett hold Jasper back?"

Jasper scowled at me playfully. "You underestimate me."

"And can Esme stay with Jake? When he walks in, if you can kinda warn him, too?"

Esme smiled warmly. "Of course."

I followed my family back to the house, where we positioned ourselves for Jake.

Not a moment later, there was a knock at the door.

"That's Jake." It was a redundant statement, but I felt I had to say it.

Esme opened the door. "Jacob. Hi. Um, Renesmee's not feeling great. It's not such a great time for you two to be together right now."

"Esme, let him in and tell him the truth." I couldn't help but be impatient.

"Ren? You're here?" He stepped past Esme. I could feel Edward and Bella's firm grips on each of my shoulders.

"Yeah. Do you remember my dad ever telling you how my mom's blood smelled to him?"

"Sure, I guess. He said it irresistible."

"Well, it's the same way with me and you. I woke up this morning and was about to kill you. But I ran away. I ran here. They all support me and are ready to protect you from me." Great, I was out of breathe. I inhaled, the white-hot rod piercing my lungs with the sweet aroma.

"I don't think I need protection."

Esme laid a hand on his arm. "Jake, you're not a wolf. She actually is stronger than you. She beat Emmett in arm wrestling. She could kill you."

"Esme's right. I could kill you. I don't want to, though."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alice elbow my mom in the ribs, and my mom nodded. "Ren, can Bella and I talk to you in the other room please?"

"Um, sure."

They beckoned me in and closed the door.

"Ren, um, I don't know how to tell you this, but, um, you're pregnant." Alice looked up into my eyes.

"What? But I've only-" I cut myself off, blushing.

"Ren, I'll protect you from Edward. He won't know until you decide to tell him or they do." Bella's voice was calm, but I could still hear her excitement.

"They?" How did my mom know all of this?

"Alice told me three days ago. I've learned how to protect only certain parts and memories, so Edward doesn't get suspicious. Anyway, you're having two children. A girl and a boy. There's another boy there that's not yours, but he looks just like Jacob. It might be Seth's kid or something though. Seth and Jake do look a lot alike."

It suddenly dawned on me. "Jacob Black! Get in here right now!" I would stand his scent long enough to yell at him.

He opened the door meekly. "Yes, my darling Renesmee?"

"Why'd you do it? You cheated on me with your cousin!"

Bella and Alice stifled giggles.

"Leah. That's yours, isn't it?" I was so mad at him. But being angry wouldn't help the way he smelled. I wished I could electrify him like Jane could.

Jacob groaned. "Yes. It's a long story," he said before he and Alice sunk to their knees. "Ow!"

I knelt down. "What's wrong?"

"I feel like a stepped into a puddle with a down power line. Or like that Kate person was around." Jake stood up cautiously with Alice.

Alice laughed nervously. "Weird. Not here."

"I was wishing I could do what Kate does, but I can't." I gestured for Jake to leave as I noticed Bella holding her breathe. I must've been telling her my thoughts.

Jacob trudged through the door, Bella behind him.

Alice only closed the door to a crack, making sure we could see out. "Ren, I think you can use other people's powers by remembering how they feel to you. Like, make everyone in that room sad about something. Remember how Jasper makes you feel when he does that." She put her hand on my shoulder.

I bit my lip and obeyed.

Jacob burst out in loud sobs. "I can't leave her! It hurts for her not to be in the same room as me!" He threw himself at the door, almost closing it.

"Edward left me!" Bella whined.

"I'm sorry. That was so painful for me, too." Edward was rested his head on Bella's hair.

"Okay, now get them back to normal. Same way."

I giggled. "Okay."

Jacob backed away from the door. "Whoa. That was weird."

"Jasper, are you okay? That felt like one of your weird flukes that you never have but I for some reason expect." Carlisle ran his hand through his hair.

Alice and I walked out of the room. "Ren did that. She can use other people's gifts by remembering how they feel to her. Like, she could use Jasper's, Kate's, Alec's probably, and any other one where the recipient feels the action."

"Pretty much," I agreed. "I could even make illusions of flying rocks and water if I study Ben for long enough." Ben was one of the many vampires who had supported the Cullens when they needed to protect me from the Volturi. "Maybe."

Jacob just stared at me in confusion. I had gone through three moods in the past five minutes. It must've been the pregnancy.

"Jacob, as I said, I'm not ready to change you. Waiting's painful, but it really is what I need to do."

He nodded solemnly. "I don't want to put you in pain. If you'd like, I can leave for a while." He was completely serious. He really would do anything for me.

"Jacob Black, you are a part of me, and a part of you is growing inside of me. I need you most right now. Don't go."

Edward gasped at this statement. "What? You're serious?" He turned towards Bella. "You knew."

"Alice told me a few days ago. Ren didn't seem ready to tell you." Bella's voice was chipper despite her apology.

"Actually, I have a better idea. I need to be with you, but I can't be around your blood. So I can use Renata's ability, maybe, to keep you a safe distance." I wasn't sure if I could keep the control, but I would certainly try.

Jasper shared a rapid glance with Carlisle. "Okay. But if you lose any control over that little trick, you could allow him closer than is safe. You do realize this, I assume."

"Of course she does, Jasper. I'm sure Ren will be fine." Esme had been quiet, but she now spoke up.

Alice gasped and Edward followed suit. Their eyes locked. Edward spoke first, his voice calm yet firm. "Jasper, make sure she doesn't feel too thirsty ever. Rosalie and Emmett, make sure Jasper doesn't take a bite out of my daughter."

Alice's eyes darted around the room. "I saw something very scary. I'm going to tell all of you so we can all watch out. You know how when Jasper feels a certain way, other people do because of who he is? Well, imagine that plus having his thoughts about how thirsty he is. You feel his thirst and know of it. We're all blood thirsty, and if Ren gets like that, Jacob's in trouble. Jasper can control it, but he's been known to be defeated by his thirst before. So we all have to make sure he's okay, too."

Carlisle spoke in a very official voice. "I will take Jasper and Ren hunting this afternoon. I trust Jasper, and so does Ren."

I smiled.

Carlisle continued. "Bella should come as well. The three of them are the weakest, I believe, but anyone that wants to take extra precautions can come as well."

"No. It's not needed. He'll be a vampire in a day or so. I still can't see who's biting him, but it'll be sometime tomorrow." Alice's calm voice reassured me somehow.

Carlisle, however, wasn't as at ease. "Well, if anyone still wants to go hunting, I'd be happy to go with them."

"Maybe we should decide who needs to go. You know, who's going to need the resistance against my blood." Jacob's voice was quiet.

"Yeah." I nodded. I looked around the room at my family. "Jasper."

He looked into my eyes. "Yes?" I didn't know why I had chosen him, but I had.

"I want you to do it. I trust you."

Edward glared at me. "What about the rest of us with slightly more control?" His tone was bitter. He truly didn't trust his brother.

"No. I'll give reasons. Carlisle, I know you'd be able to, but I don't want you to have to. Esme, you care too much. Dad, you'd hear his thoughts about me and kill him. Mom, you love him and, like Esme, would not be able to put him through pain. Rosalie, you hate him. Emmett, I'd be afraid that you'd crush him with your super strength. Alice, it's between you and Jasper, and I trust him. I want to give him a chance to prove to the rest of you that he's just as strong."

Jasper smiled warmly. "Yes. And I am very sorry for not being so strong earlier." He looked directly at Bella. "I apologize for my actions at your birthday. I realize that they caused much anxiety, and I can never truly make up for that."

"Jasper, I forgave you for almost killing me right after it happened. As for the other part, I'm just glad everyone's here. So, you can do it?" Bella flipped her dark hair over her shoulder.

"Yeah. I'll still hunt before, just as an extra precaution, but I can do it."

Jacob shifted his weight from foot to foot, anxious. He was trying to meet Edward's gaze, as if trying to tell him something.

"Oh." Edward said suddenly. "Well, I suppose that makes sense."

"What? Is something wrong?" Esme's expression turned worried.

"It's just that Jacob doesn't truly know if this is what he wants. His son, Brennar, will grow up without him, and he doesn't want to make his son his enemy."

"Yeah, pretty much. I want to spend the rest of an existence with Ren, but it's just so backwards. Everyone else that imprinted would live longer than who they imprinted on. With us, it's backwards. But I can't ever see myself as my own son's enemy."

Carlisle laid a gentle hand on Jacob's shoulder. "You don't have to do this. There are other ways." He turned to Alice. "If Renesmee were to bite Jake, would he turn full vampire?"

Alice tilted her head toward Jake. "Venom is venom, so yeah. There's no way around it. Either grow old without her and suffer the risks of her losing control or change. I wish I could say that Brennar wouldn't have to know you were his father, but he undoubtedly will know. It's your choice. None of us can make it for you."

"Not even me." I rested my arm around his waist, a full six inches higher than my own. If I didn't think about the warm scent, it might not haunt me.