1Chapter 36

A/N I wanted to let my readers know that this story is going to go until Nahuel has a chance to meet the Cullens. I figure that everyone is curious as to how Alice and Jasper find them, and convince them to come be witnesses, right?

Don't forget: reviews are the air I breathe.

Huilen's POV

I could feel the depth of Nahuel's grief, it was as palpable as fog, and far easier for one to get lost in. He allowed me to guide him homeward, his feet dragging through the grasses that we passed. Lichuen and I led him through the jungle slowly, he was so unaware of his surroundings that he didn't even move to keep branches away from his face. Lichuen held each limb aside so Nahuel and I could pass through, though it made no difference, aside from making the journey take much longer then it usually would.

I had been shocked at the intensity of Nahuel's rage. I had underestimated the bond her had created with the human girl, but looking at Lichuen I realized that love could come in many forms, and not always when expected. Lichuen stayed so close to me since leaving the confrontation with Joham that I constantly brushed against him. He hadn't moved any further than necessary from my side since. We were all silent, each of us lost in our own thoughts about what had transpired back there.

When we finally arrived back at camp Nahuel had gone into the cave without a word and lain on his sleeping mat. He turned his back to us and lay there quiet and stoic. I turned with a sigh of frustration, and almost walked into Lichuen who was directly behind me. I glanced up into his crimson eyes as he opened his arms, and I allowed myself to be enveloped in their comforting embrace. "Poor Nahuel," I whispered too softly for anyone beside Lichuen to hear. "Losing something that you love is like losing a part of what makes you complete. I would feel like that if I lost you.." Lichuensaid simply. I looked into his face, looking to see his expression. His face was solemn, his eye clear. "You won't lose me," I said, "You're stuck with me forever." I wrapped my arms around him, and stood on my tip toes to place a kiss on his drawn lips.

"Why do you look so sullen?" I asked, worried that maybe he was feeling pain from someone's emotions. I knew that he had been in pain from Nahuel and his sisters, but it seemed to have faded during the confrontation. Lichuen did not reply , but he held me closer and a soft growl rumbled through his chest. I pushed myself back wanting to search his face for an answer, but his face was unreadable. "Lichuen?" I asked again, more insistently this time. He looked down, his eyes searching mine deeply, as if he could read my very spirit. "I don't know whose grief was greater..... Nahuel's or Joham's..." My mouth fell open. What did he mean? Why would Joham be grieving? "I don't understand?" I said, wondering what I had missed.

Lichuen pressed his lips against my brow. "You don't know, do you?" He asked me. I shook my head, and he tried to explain what he was talking about. "Back there," he said gesturing with his head towards the direction we had come, "I could feel Nahuel's anger, his grief. My pain got worse as his sisters' fear added into the mixture. I am thankful that I do not feel them with the same intensity that I feel human emotions. But Joham's feelings numbed me, quite unlike yours, with you I feel everything without any pain, and with Joham I felt what he felt, but it was numb, almost like shock. It actually kept the pain from his children further from my mind. But his grief set on quickly, he was full of hurt and despair,"Lichuen said quietly. "I don't see what he could have felt so upset about, he is the one always causing pain, maybe he is feeling some remorse for his action at last." I said feeling a bit smug that something may have finally caused him to feel some of the pain that he had caused so many.

"I see what caused him pain," Lichuen said as he used his had to tilt my face upwards so it looked evenly at his. "And the idea of it caused me to want to rip him to pieces." I looked into his eyes, still confused. "Do you not know what you have done to him?" Lichuen asked me, his mouth turning upwards into a half smile. "I have no idea what you are talking about." I answered truthfully. "You, he loves you, and he hates that you don't love him back. However he seems to loathe the fact that you have me now. The desire he felt as he looked at you, the hurt he experienced when you came to me - . I felt it, but it numbed me so that suddenly all I could feel were my own emotions, my own possessiveness over you, my own anger at him for desiring you."

I stared at him shocked, I thought back to the time I had spent with Joham. He had seemed so smooth, and after I had realized who he was, I had known that everything he had said to me was a lie. Everything he ever said was a lie, or was it? He had said that he had never had that kind of connection with anyone, and he had asked me to stay with him forever. I would have said yes...if it hadn't have been him. I looked up at Lichuen. He was watching me, and though I knew he could feel my emotions, he could not read my mind. "Love, you are making me dizzy," he said "you have so many emotions racing through your mind, it's hard to follow a single one." Lichuen told me that Joham was upset about me, the he had desired me, and I smiled. I was glad that I was the one who had brought him that pain, it might be the only true emotion that he had ever had, and I was not about to feel guilty about it.

I was aware of Lichuen's eyes gazing intently at me, and I felt momentarily guilty, I may have made Joham feel bad, but inadvertently I had made Lichuen feel badly as well. I wrapped my arm around his neck and leaned my lips in to kiss the curve of his throat. "You know don't you, that those feelings he had were not mutual......don't you?" I whispered against the smooth skin of his throat. I could feel his arms tighten around me. "Oh,"...he said, leaning into my touch. "I think that I am clear on that... but should I ask if there is someone that you do have mutual feelings for.....?

"That depends," I said as I running my lips along his jaw line. "I return the feelings of someone who will be with me forever. Someone who wants to be with me, and only me. Someone who will always be truthful with their feelings, do you know of such a person?" I finished my question by widening my eyes to look as innocent as possible. Lichuen groaned and pushed his lips forcibly against mine. "Only if by forever you mean until the end of eternity, or beyond that to the land of the spirits. For not even that would be long enough." Lichuen whispered against my lips as he kissed me repeatedly.

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Years passed and our small family fell into a routine, we hunted, we talked, we traveled. Nahuel had slowly come back to himself after Shara's death, but there was a part of him that was eternally changed. Lichuen and I were closer than I had ever thought possible for two beings to be. We quickly came to understand that he could not hunt humans, their thoughts rendered him incapacitated, and I had to step in to the situation to keep the humans from escaping with the knowledge of what we were. Lichuen took to hunting with Nahuel, since animals did not cause him any pain. He did not care for animal blood as much as human blood, but he didn't complain. Sometimes I brought him an unconscious human, just so he could enjoy the blood without the torment.

Nahuel's sisters had sought him out and they had formed a bond on their own, away from Joham's controlling ways. They were nice enough, but they were terrified little things, always watching me and Lichuen fearfully. Lichuen did not mind them, as their thoughts were less painful than human thoughts, and after the first few visits , they no longer feared being around us . The three siblings spent time together talking and getting to know one another, bonding closely from their sense of loss, and similar history. They were intrigued that Nahuel had me, and that we were blood relatives. They only had Joham, and he had raised them, so they knew nothing of a real family.

This new pattern of living continued for years, so many that we lost count. Lichuen and I would slip away occasionally to have a few days alone, knowing that Nahuel could take care of himself, but also knowing that he envied the closeness we had as mates. It was after one such excursion that we came home to a very livid Nahuel. He was pacing around our camp, which was now a larger place deeper in the jungle than before. I ran to his side. "Nahuel, what is the matter?" My voice filled with concern for my only nephew.

Nahuel ran his fingers through his hair in his agitation and said, "Joham: what else could make me this angry!" I glanced at Lichuen, who was at my side in the blink of an eye, his arms wrapped tightly around my waist possessively at the mention of Joham's name. His name was like a curse around our home, and no-one spoke it unless it was necessary. " He did it again!" Nahuel raged, "Joham has a new daughter........."