Carlisle wasn't alone. An imposing figure stood behind him, a form that I would know anywhere. In a leather jacket rather than the gray cloak he still cut an intimidating silhouette.

"Demetri," I whispered, unable to keep myself from speaking. He was here! He was truly here! I was tempted to pinch myself just to be sure. But the cold expression on his face froze any hope before I could fully feel it. I pulled the blanket over my stomach and drew my knees up, trying to disguise the fact that I was pregnant. Thankfully I carried small enough that as hunched over as I was, my oversize t-shirt may have masked it before he noticed.

He stepped around Carlisle with a nod to the doctor to stand at the foot of my bed. Even in stillness, Demetri was so graceful and my heart ached at his beauty. The disparity between his elegance and my own roughness was so wide that, for a moment, I wondered why fate had decided that he was meant for me.

"I'll leave you two to talk," Carlisle said as he shut the door.

Demetri raised a black brow at the blanket and said, "It's a little late for modesty, don't you think?"

The total lack of emotion in his voice cut through me deeper than I could have imagined and I closed my eyes against the pain. A hint of shame raced down my spine at the way he spoke about the night we spent together. So I was right. I was nothing to him and this bond to me was something he would detest if he knew.

"What did you do to me?" He demanded. "And don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about. You did something to me. I know it. I felt it. I was just too distracted at finding a beautiful woman completely naked in the woods to question it further."

I looked down at my hands, unable to meet his scarlet gaze as I inhaled, trying to draw whatever strength I had left. I had to be honest with him, no matter what, I couldn't lie. "We call it imprinting." A moment's hesitation then I continued, "It's when a wolf finds their soulmate. I suppose it's something like love at first sight, only so much more, at least on the wolf's end. Everything that tied us to our lives, to the planet itself, is sliced away, like the weakest of threads and we are bound by a million steel cables to that person. This force is so strong that we feel as though it's not gravity holding us to the planet, it's that person. They're the center of our universe and everything else swirls around that one point. We would do anything, be anything that our imprint needs. Nothing else matters." I chanced a glance at him and watched as he put the pieces together.

"And how does the 'imprint' usually feel about all this?" The way he dragged out the word 'imprint' made me want to scream. This was what I was afraid of. I knew it. He didn't want me. He'd only wanted me that one night for sex.

"Though they may feel a pull towards the wolf, they get to choose whether to accept it, or walk away. Whatever they want. Their wishes become our commands, no matter what."

He walked over to the window, staring outside, his hands clasped behind his back. Why had fate given me this demon with an angel's face as an imprint, only to allow him to walk away?

"We can't control it and we can't pick our partner. It just happens." This was it, he was going to leave me. There were no tears as I had thought there would be when the moment came, because my pain was beyond tears. Once again, I wasn't enough, only this time the rejection was soul level. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the headboard, willing myself to stop feeling at all.

"You have absolutely no choice in the matter?" His voice drew me from my thoughts. There was no judgment now, only confusion and curiosity, which might have surprised me were I capable of feeling such an emotion.

I turned to look at him as I replied, "None whatsoever."

His brows furrowed and more of that disquieting blankness left his face. "So you weren't trying to force an alliance with the Volturi and decided that I would be a good choice."

"No." I looked out the other window. "I could never do that to someone, to force someone to be with me."

"I don't know whether to be relieved at this or insulted." The way he said it told me that he was talking to himself. "It wasn't a trick or a ploy." He exhaled sharply. "It was real. Every touch, every kiss. It was real."

He was beautiful, even his eyes, though they were red with human blood. A lock of his black hair fell across his forehead and he brushed it away before going completely still other than his breathing. I wanted to keep staring at him, but I forced myself to look back out the window

For a long moment after that there was no sound in the room other than our breathing and my heartbeat, which thankfully was enough to drown out the baby's. I wasn't going to tell him about the baby unless he wanted to stay. I wouldn't want him to think I was trying guilt him into choosing me just because he'd gotten me pregnant.

Finally I broke the silence, "If you're going to kill me, just do it already, please. This death by inches is more than I can bear."

"I came here for answers, not to kill you," he snapped. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he continued in a much softer voice, "I beg you to forgive me. I'm very much out of my depth at the moment and that is not something I'm accustomed to."

"I've told you what I know. I don't know what else you're looking for."

He raked his hands through his hair in a surprisingly human gesture. "For the last three weeks, all I could think about was you. I couldn't get you out of my head." He looked at me then, his eyes desperate. "You haunted me. Your voice echoed in my ears, the taste of your lips ever present on my tongue, the feel of your skin against mine, a ghost I could never capture. I could find no artifice in your touch, no hidden agenda in your responses to me. It tormented me that a girl who was supposed to be my enemy asked for nothing from me, expected nothing in exchange for a night with me."

"If you think everyone wants something from you in exchange for sex, you must have encountered some terrible people," I quipped in an effort to keep myself from hoping, and failing miserably. Was it possible that he'd suffered as I had?

"Terribly selfish people, more like it." His lips curled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes, as he crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed.

"I wanted you for you, not for what I might get from screwing a member of the Guard. If it was that, don't you think I'd have tried something when you were here months ago?" My heart leaped at his nearness as desperation flooded my entire being and it was a fight to keep my hands to myself. "I'm a wolf. I don't like forming alliances with vampires, and I definitely don't make it a habit of sleeping with them. You were the exception."

"I know." His face pinched just a little as he thought. "I don't know why, but I believe you."

"So, you're-you're not angry with me?"

"Not anymore." He sighed. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but decided against it "Your drink is going cold."

The cocoa. It had completely slipped my mind once I'd set it down and I moved to reach for it.

"Here." Demetri handed it to me.

I took a sip and found it to be lukewarm. Oh well, it still tasted good. I drank it quickly so that it wouldn't go to waste and he placed the cup back on the table.

Slowly, he reached out and brushed my lower lip with the tip of his finger before trailing his hand down my cheek to my neck, tracing the chain there. "You kept it."

"It-it was yours," I whispered. "It was the only proof that you were real and that for a moment, you wanted me."

His brows pulled together and he tilted his head as he studied me. "I've traveled this world for a thousand years. I thought my life was as it was going to be for the rest of my existence and I was content. Then, you blazed through my world like a wild fire, burning away everything I thought I cared about. Upon my return to Volterra, I discovered that my life felt hollow, empty. At first I thought it might have been the near battle and the newfound understanding that the Volturi were not all powerful that left me feeling that way. But about a week ago, I realized something." He laughed once, without humor. "Nothing had changed, nothing except me. And that unsettled me. So, two days ago I found the first plane heading to the US and hitched a ride in an effort to uncover the truth. When I got here though, I took out my frustration on the source of my disquiet, like an ogre and that was cruel, especially in light of what you've told me."

A week ago. That would have been a few days before I discovered that I was pregnant.

"You're not leaving me again?" I whispered. I hated how weak, how pathetic I sounded, but I couldn't help myself.

"I may not fully understand what this all means, but I would be a fool to walk away from someone who looked at me as though I hung the celestial bodies just for them." Demetri took one of my hand in both of his and pressed a kiss to my knuckles. "I never thought that I might be the recipient of such devotion. And I dare say you never, not even in your wildest dreams, imagined that you would be so dedicated to a vampire."

"No." I laughed shakily.

"Leah." He linked my fingers with his, studying our hands, as if to compare my copper skin with his own pale complexion. "How can this be? We are two different species that are supposed to be enemies, we were born centuries apart. And yet, Fate still brought us together."

"Maybe you weren't ready before now." What did Bella see in Edward when there was Demetri to look at? I blinked, trying to refocus my thoughts. I needed to get this straightened out before I allowed myself to become distracted by his face.

The baby began kicking just then, reminding me of its presence and I chewed on the inside of my cheek, trying to figure out how best to broach the subject of its existence. If he moved any closer to me, he might discover it on his own, but I wanted to tell him before that happened.

"If you keep staring at me like that, I'm liable to burst into flames," he joked, though his voice still sounded strained.

"I-I was wrong, about something I told you that night."

"Really?" He cocked his head, eyes curious. "What might that be?"

"I told you that I was incapable of-of having children. Turns out, it's not true." I paused, before continuing in a rush, "I'm pregnant."

"Pregnant?" Demetri repeated softly.

I nodded, frightened by his lack of emotional response, as I slowly straightened my legs and lowered the blanket. He froze at the sight of my belly. "I didn't know. I truly believed this was impossible. That I became a wolf just so that my genes didn't go to waste."

Almost hesitantly, he reached out and placed one hand on the swell of my belly. Like it always did when a vampire touched me, the baby began to kick. I rubbed along the side of my stomach and the kicking quieted to a less painful level. His lips moved, like he wanted to speak, but he remained silent. Then, he leaned over, so that his forehead rested just above my navel.

After a moment's pause, I brushed my fingers through his hair and he moaned softly, pressing his cheek against my stomach, his eyes closed as a small smile played around the corners of his mouth

"I can hear it," he murmured, sounding dazed. "It's heart beats so fast, faster than a hummingbird's wing." He brought his other hand up so that he was framing my belly. "I never dreamed that this would be something I would want. But now, everything has changed."

"I'm still having trouble believing this child is real." I laughed a little, but the sound cut off as a lump formed in my throat. "It's something I never thought I would be able to experience. I thought I was destined to watch others have this while I was denied it."

Demetri sat up and moved closer to me, so close that his breath stirred my hair. "I'd like to kill whoever made you believe that you were good for naught but the life of a shapeshifter if you couldn't have children. That's a load of rubbish. The ability to have a child doesn't make a woman worth more than her barren counterparts." His voice turned fierce in the end, but still somehow gentle. "Even if you couldn't have children, that doesn't detract from how incredible you are. Anyone who says, thinks, or acts otherwise isn't worth your time."

I felt tears well up in my eyes and I inhaled sharply, trying to draw them back in. Even though I was pregnant, hearing him say that healed a wound inside me that, in light of my pregnancy, I had forgotten I possessed.

"What is it?" His brows furrowed.

"Nothing." I waved away his concern. "Haven't you heard? Pregnant women get emotional over stupid crap." I rubbed my face roughly, irritated at myself for my reactions.

But the look in his eyes told me he saw through my flimsy excuse and his next words confirmed it, "People who've been broken by those they should trust also cry when they finally believe that they've done nothing to deserve the way they were treated."

"Damn you," I said without any venom as a fresh bout of tears sprang up.

"Oh, Leah, I will find out who broke you. And when I do, they will regret every tear they've caused you to shed," he said as he brushed his fingertips against my cheek, but he didn't seem to be talking to me. When he spoke again, it was to change the subject entirely. "Have you thought of any names?"

The chill of his skin calmed me and I replied, "Alice says it's a girl. So, my father died the day that I phased. Anyway, I was thinking about giving her a name close to his, which is Harry, and I found the name Haylla." Suddenly, I felt much less certain of my choice. "If you want another name, we can talk about it. I mean, I like the name, but I don't know if-"

He smiled as he placed his finger over my lips to silence me. "That's Swahili for 'Unexpected gift.' It fits her and I think it's lovely that you want to pass a part of your father on to our daughter."

"So, you're okay with it?" I covered my mouth and yawned heavily. The emotional toll wore me down and now that some of it was resolved, all I wanted was to sleep for a while, but my imprint was with me, I was afraid to close my eyes, so I didn't miss another moment with him.

"I'm more than okay with it."

"What about a middle name? Do you want to pick that?"

"I'll think about it." He studied me, his scarlet eyes thoughtful. "You blame yourself for your father's death, don't you?"

"He had a heart attack brought on by shock, because he wasn't expecting me to turn."

He frowned briefly before saying, "I might not be a doctor, but I do know that heart attacks aren't brought on just by fright or shock. There has to be underlying factors to exacerbate the issue. Your father died due to poor health, not because you became a wolf." He tapped the end of my nose and said, "You should sleep."

I shook my head. My mind was buzzing too much for me to think about relaxing. How was it that my imprint managed to heal wounds that had nothing to do with him? I thought I was supposed to be whatever he needed, and yet, here he was, being what I needed. It made no sense.

"At least lie down. From what I've gathered, you've been under a lot of stress, most of your recent problems caused by me," he frowned briefly at that as though the thought brought him some measure of discomfort. "So you need to rest." Kicking off his shoes, he laid his head on the other pillow and looked up at me, an impish smile on his lips. "Now you have no excuse."

With a resigned groaned, I followed his example, facing him. He traced my eyebrows, down my nose, then over my lips, as if trying to memorize me, not that he needed to with his perfect recall.

"You are so beautiful. Not the perfection of a vampire," he gestured to his face, "but natural, unaltered beauty. There's no way our child will be anything but stunning." Demetri murmured. "Speaking of which, what about Rosalin?"

"Why Rosalin?"

"It seems only fair that at least one of the children Rosalie has worked to bring into the world carry a part of her."

"Haylla Rosalin. I like that."

"Good." He pulled the blanket back over me and started to sing softly in a language I wasn't familiar with. That ring in his voice that I found so annoying in other vampires sounded so beautiful coming from him and my eyes drifted shut as I listened.