Surprise!
I kept my pace even with Sam's as we walked swiftly through the woods, Paul and Jared behind us. I should have been in bed, wrapped around Lily and watching a mind numbingly boring film. Instead I was stalking through the woods, on my way to see the people I had never wanted to see again.
"I can't believe they're back. There is no way Bella would be strong enough to interact with humans." Sam muttered as we walked. I nodded but said nothing. I wanted to get this over and done with and get home to Lily. Bella was nothing more than a bloodsucker to me now. She was not the girl I had loved. We finally came to a stop at the designated meeting spot, a strip of land between our territory and theirs. A group of four were waiting, Edward of course, along with his two brothers and one of the sisters. I felt my lip curl up in disgust as the sickly sweet stench became more and more potent the closer to them we got. They stood in a line facing us and we mirrored their action, Jared and Paul moving to either side of me and Sam.
"Sam, Jacob," Edward greeted us, nodding at Paul and Jared. "Thanks for meeting with us."
"What do you want?" Sam asked simply, his voice polite but cold.
"Its simple, I'm sure you know Charlie hasn't been well recently. He hasn't got long left and Bella wanted to come back and care for him and we all decided to join her. We just wanted to let you know that we were back for a short time and that there are a few more of us now." Edward's voice was smooth and as soon as the rage flared up in my I could feel a creeping calm descending and I glared at the tall blonde one.
"How many more?" Sam asked.
"Three."
"Are they under enough control to integrate with humans?" Sam asked sharply. Edward nodded but I noticed the slight strain in his eye as he did so. He was lying. I risked a glance at Jared and he nodded to show that he noticed too. Sam's lip curled up in disgust but he didn't show any signs of noticing.
"Fine. We cannot stop you from moving back to Forks, the treaty still stands but so does the boundary line. Do not come near La Push." Sam ordered. "And if any one gets bitten, we will fight you. Keep the new bloodsuckers well away from us or we can't be held responsible for our actions."
"Of course, we understand completely." The tall blonde replied, his voice dripping with disdain. Sam nodded once and turned to leave again.
"Jacob." Edward spoke softly. I turned my head to let him know I was listening. "Bella would love to see you again, to see that you're alright."
I turned to face him fully and curled my lip up in obvious disgust. "I don't think so."
He glared at me, his lips pulled back over his own teeth and his eyes cold. "She has worried about what she did to you every day since we left, you mongrel. The least you could do is acknowledge her."
"Not my problem." I hissed, taking a step towards him. A hand on my shoulder held me back and I scowled at Sam's interruption.
"Jacob, she's at my place waiting on you." He reminded me. "I don't think she needs to know that you've been fighting with leeches. She's had a hard enough time recently."
I growled at Edward before turning to face Sam, nodding at his statement.
"Let's go."
The house was still brightly lit as we approached, and Colin stood to greet us once we were close enough.
"Well?" He asked impatiently.
"They're back for a while and it seems they've brought a couple of new members." Sam growled in his general direction. He stormed into the kitchen, calling out for the rest of the pack and making his way outside again. The last few members of the pack strolled out, taking their place in a semi-circle around Sam.
"The Cullens are back for a while. And they've a few extra family members with them. That means we're going to have to pay a hell of a lot more attention than we've been playing recently. We know Bella wants to come and see Jacob and since she's never been good at doing what she's meant to, there's a chance she'll try to sneak on to our territory. If she does…" His eyes met mine and I nodded in understanding. Bella was nothing more than a memory to me now.
"We patrol more often, we stay completely alert and focused at all times. None of them get past the boundary line and get out again, got it? We have a lot more to loose than we did last time." His last sentence was softer and we all glanced back towards the house. Inside were the most precious things in all our lives… our girlfriend, wives, children… the people we had all sworn to protect. An image of a terrified Lily coming face to face with Bella or any of the other Cullens flashed through my mind and I growled unconsciously, mimicking the sound the others had each made as they thought of their own loved ones.
"They don't get beyond the boarders." Sam repeated. "We'll patrol in groups of three at night, keep a sharp eye during the day… and I guess we need to tell the girls."
I closed my eyes and sighed. I had been hoping to avoid the Bella conversation with Lily, knowing that I was going to sound completely heartless when I cast aside the girl I had been in love with. Now, I was going to have to tell her everything… tomorrow. First, I'd take her home and crawl into bed with her and content myself with the fact that she was with me, in my arms, now that she knew everything about me.
I followed Quil inside, my eyes scanning the crowded kitchen for Lily.
"Hey, she ran upstairs to check on the kids." Claire told me as I passed her. I nodded and made my way towards the stairs. I heard Lily's quiet laugh and a soft, child's voice asking if her daddy was back yet.
I smiled as I watched her descend the stairs, Embry's daughter Lola held in her arms. Her eyes widened in shock as she clocked me standing at the bottom of the stairs and a smile brightened her tired looking face instantly.
"Hey." She greeted me quietly. I slid an arm around her waist quickly, dropping a soft, chaste kiss on her upturned cheek and rubbing the skin of her back underneath her shirt softly.
"Hi Jake." Lola greeted me sleepily. "Where daddy?"
I lifted her out of Lily's arms and held her in my own, keeping my other arm around her slim body and leading her towards the noisy kitchen. By the look on Emily's face, Sam had told everyone the news. I was glad Lily had missed the announcement; I wanted to break it to her in person tomorrow. Maybe with flowers. And chocolate.
"We're going to head home." Embry told me from his spot behind Alicia. I nodded and handed him Lola, who smiled sleepily and murmured daddy as she clung to his shirt.
"Yeah, we're going to head back as well." I told him. "Whose patrolling first?"
"Colin, Brady and Leah. Sam thought you might want to wait until tomorrow, so that you could explain everything…" Embry nodded his head at Lily, who was talking softly to Abby and Paul. I nodded and sighed.
"Just as we were getting back to normal." I muttered. Embry smacked my arm supportively and shrugged, calling goodbye and leaving quickly.
Colin, Brady and Leah called goodbye and left too and Kim and Jared didn't linger either, leaving with Quil and Claire, who had been given special permission to stay with Quil for the night. Sam usually had strict rules about their sleepovers, but he knew how much Quil needed to be near Claire tonight; how much we all needed to be near them. I tightened my own grip on Lily, dropping my head onto her shoulder and breathing in her scent as she chuckled at Abby. She unconsciously leaned back against me and I wrapped my arm around her stomach, closing my eyes happily. Here, in Sam's kitchen with Lily wrapped in my arms, it was so easy to pretend that the leeches weren't back. It was easy to pretend we were going home to have an easy night watching DVDs and getting lost in each other, not to have a conversation about vampires and ex-loves. I growled lightly as Lily made an attempt to move away, my grip tightening on its own.
"Jacob, I think we should get the girls and head back to the house. I'm dead on my feet here." She murmured. I nodded,
"Wait here, I'll go get them." I dropped a kiss on her lips, allowing my hands to slide over her hair briefly before I pulled away. She gazed up at me, slightly dazed and I smiled.
"I'm going to go get the kids and then we're going to head home." I told Sam and Emily as I passed them on the bottom of the stairs. Jogging lightly up to Jody's room, I heard sleepy voices from nearby. Pushing open the door softly, I was only slightly surprised to see Faye, Mia, Jody, Haley and Maria sitting in a semi circle, playing a card game. I leant against the door and watched as Maria ordered the others around, trying to teach them how to play poker with a smirk on my face. She was a little mixture of Paul and Abby in one small, dynamic package.
"Jacob!" Mia finally spotted me and was on her feet, hugging me around the waist.
"Hey sweetie." I greeted her, lifting her easily. I was quickly surrounded, getting hit with rapidly fired questions about my whereabouts and who I was with and what time was it and…
"Where is my daddy?" Maria demanded, her eyes squinting at me in a threatening manner.
"I'm right here, baby." Paul spoke from behind me. Maria's eyes lit up and she ran for him, squealing happily. Haley and Jody, realising that Sam would also be home, ran past us and towards the stairs.
"Did we wake them?" Paul asked me quietly as Maria yawned and tucked her head into his neck. I shook my head with a chuckle.
"No they were awake. And playing poker."
Paul laughed loudly, pushing a strand of Maria's hair out of her face and kissing her forehead. "That's my girl."
"Yeah." I chuckled. Lily was shrugging her coat over her shoulders as she Faye and Mia approached her, yawning loudly.
"Good luck." Paul offered before saying goodbye to Sam and Emily and making his way towards Abby. She smiled up at him and they left quickly, arm in arm.
I sighed and looked at Lily, knowing I couldn't put it off any longer.
"Sam, Emily, we'll see you in the morning." I called into the living room. They replied softly and I led Lily and the girls out to the Rabbit, opening the doors for them to crawl inside. Lily tried to hide a yawn behind her hand and failed miserably. I sighed and reached over to tug on her hand, pulling it onto my knee and holding it there with my own.
"So, what's going on?" She asked finally, her voice tense and wary.