Inevitability

9


Wren's Point of View

The day after that I was still bleeding.

Now, let me explain that as a hybrid, I never had to deal with the whole period stuff; the blood I ingested sustained me like food, and my body used all of it efficiently without the need for waste or anything else. So I was a little freaked out. Carlisle reasoned that the blood that had built up in the womb to sustain the baby(ies) had to go somewhere, so the body expelled it. Of course, all I'd been eating during captivity was raw meat, but I didn't question the doctor. I couldn't be put under the classification as other everyday pregnant human women.

They were easy to take care of. Jessie drank formula that Esme had concocted, and I was grateful – I wasn't sure about the whole breast-feeding thing. I mean, did I have the right…means to provide milk or whatever my little hybrids needed? Alex would only drink water and cow milk, so I simply had to provide the separate drinks every three or so hours – or whenever they cried for food. I didn't have to change them as many times as I had been led to believe either – maybe twice a day at most, and it was never a lot. That was probably the vampire genetics at work; use all nutrients with very little waste.

I did, however, have to make sure that I fed them the right things. Once, when I had accidentally swapped their bottles, Alex had vomited and cried for five straight hours. Jessie had only had to smell the concoction and reject it as her sister's, but she did give me a stare that could only be described as baleful.

Jessie was definitely dominantly vampire. Her golden eyes darkened when the third hour – for feeding – would come around and also when she was upset about something. Since she was not vocal in her complaints, I would have to watch her eyes to see if she needed anything. Having a mind-reading father helped too. She was as pale as me and glowed faintly whenever chance sunlight fell on her skin, though she would recoil from it as if burnt. This concerned me – I loved the sun and I was worried that my daughter would shun it – but I kept my doubts secret for now; perhaps I was in paranoid-first-mother mode. Her hair was coming in as wispy strands of black, like her father.

Alex, however, was as different as night to day. She possessed darker skin and already black hair covered her head. She was much bigger than Jessie and had large chocolate doe-eyes that Dad had described as 'Bella-eyes'.

She was also very vocal in her complaints, whenever she wanted holding or feeding or changing. Jacob was the one that primarily took care of her, because I had thought he was feeling left out over Jessie – her eyes would darken whenever he held her and she would squirm until he gave her up to me or a Cullen.

Alice, after discovering the sex and size of the babies, was down in Seattle, going crazy buying all sorts of infant paraphernalia, determined to be the 'fun Aunt Alice', though in reality she would be 'Great Aunt Alice'.

That was another worry of mine; would we be able to stay in Forks now? Our family was growing, and would most likely continue to grow, and…I knew why there were so many werewolves in La Push, and I couldn't stop the guilt that I felt when I thought that my family was the reason. I oftentimes thought that it would be just better if we left.

And what of my daughters? They had the werewolf gene, would being around vampires have any repercussions so far unseen? There was no way of telling the future – Alice was hazy as far as I was concerned and completely blank now that Jacob was here. I felt bad that, because Jacob was so firmly integrated into our lives, she could no longer see our future, but I would rather have her power stopped than lose Jacob.

"Nessie, can your father and I talk to you?" I was broken out of my reflections by my mother's voice, and I looked up. She was smiling faintly, looking as beautiful as ever, but there was worry in her eyes. I frowned, stood, making sure that the babies were okay, and then followed her upstairs to my parents' room. Edward was sat on the bed already, faint music playing in the background. I recognized this piece – he played it when he was thinking or trying to calm himself down.

He looked up when we entered, Mom closing the door behind me. I walked over and sat next to him on the bed as he moved to make room for me. We all shifted so that they were leaning against the headboard and I was sat, halfway down the bed, between their pairs of outstretched legs. I crossed my legs, slouching a little under their intense gazes. I felt like I was being screened for a lie-detector test or something. Of course, with my father, that was completely unnecessary.

"Nessie." I looked up. "We think it's time to leave Forks."

I sighed; I knew this was coming.

"I agree."

"No, Nessie, let us finish. You have to know some things first."

I felt silent, frowning at the restrained worry in my mother's voice, and tilted my head to one side as a silent signal to continue.

"You see…if we left…Jacob would have to come with us…But…"

"Spit it out, Mom."

"We don't know if he would stay…the same."

There was a pause, before I asked in a flat voice, "What do you mean?"

"Well, Nessie, Jacob is an Alpha of his pack, as you well know. A pack cannot exist without its Alpha, and the same works the other way. Would you force Seth, Leah, Quil and Embry to come with us, and to stay as wolves for the rest of their lives? Would you ask Quil to leave Claire?"

I winced at Quil's imprint's name, but I frowned. They had some flaws in their reasoning.

"They can all swap back to Sam's pack. They did it before and they can do it again."

"Sam plans on giving up his role soon to be with Emily."

"Then…someone else can be Alpha! It doesn't have to be Jacob!"

"I know you're now buying your own pitch, Nessie. Think about it. Let's say your theory happens. Jacob would be a packless Alpha, with no reason for the wolf side of him to stay in his body. He would stop fazing, and age, and die, and you would live forever."

"Now," Bella chimed in, "let's say that doesn't happen, and Seth, Leah, Quil and Embry follow. Quil would have to leave Claire, and you know how much that would hurt him. The others may well find their imprints, and never be able to be with them."

"They can give up being wolves."

"But would you force them to make that choice?"

Tears were building behind my eyes. "Why are you telling me this?"

"We think you need to know what you're risking here. This family will follow you wherever you go, Renesmee, until you feel you wish to break off on your own, and Jacob will follow you too. The other wolves under his command would follow their Alpha, unless they broke away as lone wolves. And what a lonely life that would be for a social being. Can you understand what we're saying?"

I looked down at my clenched fists. I didn't need this right now. I had been through too much to even think about this sort of thing.

But then again…my mind wandered to the deal at hand anyway. Could I be that selfish? To force others to follow Jacob and I just so that I could have them forever?

"Can I leave now?" I asked, in barely more than a whisper.

"We're sorry for making you think about this, honey, but it's for the best." I took that for a dismissal and shoved myself from the bed. I ran out of the room without a backward glance, out through the door and into the forest, forcing my limbs – tired from disuse – to their limit, making the trees speed by at dizzying rates until breathing was a struggle and my heartbeat was uneven, painful thumping in my chest. Still I ran, without sense of or care for direction. Even when the tears in my eyes caused blindness and I stumbled, I kept running, wiping my dirtied hands on my jeans.

I ran for many hours, slowly angling West, across the peninsula. I ran until I would die if I took another step and I collapsed, weeping into the hard ground. I felt darkness and cold descend as night fell, and still my crying didn't stop. I tried for deep shuddering breaths, but all could accomplish were shallow, rasping gasps that felt as if oxygen was iron wool inside my lungs. My pain was unbearable, worse than any I could have suffered at the hands of the Volturi. I could just die here now and not care. End all of my pain and all of the world's torturous ultimatums.

Why did things have to be so complicated? Why can't it be like in stories? Boy meets girl. They fall in Love. They live happily ever after, without insane vampires and hybrids and pain. Why -?

A branch snapped to my right, and I froze on the ground. It was too heavy of a snap to be an animal that I had encountered before. The sound of it had given the impression of a large branch, indicating a heavy weight on it. I cast out my awareness, listening, and heard deep breathing from the direction of the sound. I pushed myself to my knees, uncaring if what I saw was friend, foe, family or beast. I looked up to see…

The largest wolf I had ever laid eyes on. Easily bigger than any Quilettes, perhaps twice over, even. Its fur was shaggy and black, matted with dirt, leaves and bracken. It seemed ancient to have grown that big, yet not a single strand of grey marred the pitch black surface. It was staring at me silently, not a hair moving. I dared not make a move, or sound, for sudden fear of being attacked. Death by vampires I could handle, but now death by wolves...

My thoughts were interrupted by a deep voice.

"Why are you here and who are you?"

I looked up again, and there stood a man, naked from having just fazed. I stood up slowly. He was very tall, easily eight foot as he towered over me. His bronzed skin was marked many times with scars and other wounds, some recent, and his long black hair flowed past his shoulders. I stood dumb, struck with awe at this man, before looking into his eyes.

They were black as a vampire's unnatural hue, and filled with so many things…emotions that were indecipherable, coldness, intrigue…memories and shadows in his eyes that told of dark things not meant to be seen by mortals. They were shocking, and I was snapped back to awareness.

"My name is Nessie Cullen, and I ran away."

My voice sounded pitifully small after his booming tone. Even so, I forced myself not to look away as he continued to stare at me in silence.

Finally, I asked, "Who are you?"

"My name is not important. Why is a half-breed like you out here in the open like this?"

His words were not disdainful, mocking, or even resentful. Curiosity was the only emotion I detected.

"I ran away," I repeated. "My family has given me a choice, a hard choice, and I couldn't stand it, so I ran away."

"But what of your imprint?"

"My…what?"

"You smell of werewolf. Strongly. And you have just borne young. I assume that you have an imprint?"

"Well…yes, I do." Strange. He knows so much about me, but only from ordinary observations. Who was this man-wolf? "Are…you a shape shifter?"

"Obviously," he said, rolling his eyes with a slight smile, one that seemed familiar to me. I blushed.

"Right. Sorry."

"Don't be. You are the first company I have had in a while that wasn't dinner."

"Why is that?" I blurted without thinking, immediately regretting my words. It was his business, not mine.

He paused for a moment, and then answered slowly. "I…am one of few among my kind. One who found the troublesome life of humans weary, and decided to leave. After my imprint died…" Pain passed like a fleeting shadow across his face. "I went wolf for a while. Embraced the inner animal, and left my pack. I have wandered out here ever since."

"But…why? If your imprint died, then why fight age and continue to be a wolf?"

"Because…it is just simpler this way." He turned as if to go, but I didn't want the conversation to end right there. This didn't make sense; why would he stay like this in constant pain when a simple death separated him and his love?

"But why?"

"Enough questions! I have answered more than enough, youngling, to a stranger. Now, Nessie, you had best be getting to your family. I am sure that they are worried about you."

"But who are you?"

He stopped, turning around and smiling again. I definitely knew that smile; it was one I had seen many times before. Different, but definitely similar in many ways.

"Go look after Jacob, Renesmee; I'm sure my great-grandson is missing his imprint."


Author's Note: Now before you kill me, I can't remember the legends very well. If this is actually possible then I will continued as the story, because answers are coming in the next chapter, but if not then I'll simply make this wolf a helpful stranger. He does help Renesmee later.

I'm sorry if my reasoning for having to abandon Jacob is weird and flawed, but work with me on this; she needs to meet this wolf.

It's really weird writing Jacob as the good guy here and the bad guy in Losing Grip at the same time, you know? Just weird, so sorry for the oddity. This actually wasn't intended plot, but I decided to toy around with the idea for a while. Also, I'm feeling a bit weird and I keep seeing, hearing and thinking weird things. Don't know why, but it might explain this sudden twist.

Love you all and I think this deserves a Review!

HigherMagic x