Song: Anything Like Me by Brad Paisley
youtube dot com/watch?v=QCLz2H6g6sg
Chapter 36 – LIKE ME
"Yes Son, it is and it will be an honor to have you as part of the pack."
Asher closed his eyes, causing the tears to leak out, however others followed in a steady stream down each side of his face. "What about vampires? How do we find them to make this happen?"
"Your mother has gotten that taken care of." I smiled at Bella and she nodded her head back at me.
At that moment both Colin and Brady stiffened. "They are . . ." before they could finish speaking I saw Edward first, followed closely by Jasper and then Alice. Bella saw them as well and quickly got up from the ground and ran to them, hugging each of them quickly.
Asher's back was to them, but he immediately started sniffing. "What is that smell?"
I smiled. "That, for the first time ever, is the fantastic smell of vampire."
"Thank you so much, Jacob." Alice said, sticking out her tongue. "I can't say the same about the horrible stench of wet dog."
I rolled my eyes, shaking my head, not leaving Asher's side.
"So what do we do?" Jasper asked.
I looked around at all my friends and Colin and Brady both had slight tremors down their arms. They both had a major superhero complex and neither were interested in quitting their wolf anytime soon. They unofficially worked for the state in the missing person's unit and had a "special gift" of finding people, especially in the great outdoors. Instead of waiting for random vampires to come into the area they watched the news and occasionally went vampire hunting. They had taken out a few stray vampires over the years, but had not had any contact with the Cullens, outside of our short truce when we fought the newborn army.
"Colin and Brady do you want to show Asher what it will be like as wolves?" I asked, not completely sure if it would be easier for them to be in human or wolf form.
"Yes." They both said at the same time.
They walked in front of Asher and the Cullens were behind Asher, he hadn't seen them yet. Colin and Brady explained to Asher what they were going to do and then they took off their cut off shorts and attached them to the strap on their ankle. Asher closed his eyes, embarrassed by their nakedness.
"Hey buddy, it defeats the purpose of showing you if your eyes are closed." Brady said, smiling.
"Right." Asher said awkwardly, opening his eyes and looking at them. With one quick nod they both instantly became wolves. It has been close to ten years since I had seen them in wolf form and the years of phasing had strengthened their wolves and somehow they seemed even bigger than I remembered. It made me wonder if they were as large as me.
I heard Asher gasp at their size. "Holy crap," he mumbled.
"You won't be quite that large the first time, but still much larger than a traditional wolf." I told him.
They phased back to human and to their wolves again a few times, showing Asher. They told him about the mind link and that they would be able to hear each other and would help him as much as they could.
"Jacob?" Edward said, getting my attention. "I would like to feel and examine his back before we start, once he starts the rapid healing it will be important that the spine be aligned properly."
"That makes sense."
I told Asher about Edward coming and Edward spoke to Asher as he touched his back and felt along his neck and shoulders. By now large bruises where all along his upper back, slightly more on the right shoulder than the left.
"By the way, Jacob. Colin and Brady are not as tall as you, but both of them are broader and appear stronger." Edward answered.
"Stay out of my head!" I growled roughly, with a slight smirk, knowing that Edward would know that I was joking.
"Jake!" Bella scolded, smacking her hand against my shoulder and I heard Edward chuckling.
"Kidding, Bells."
"Asher, are you ready for this?" Seth came and knelt down next to him.
"I th-think so," he stuttered slightly.
I glanced at Edward. Is he really ready? I asked him.
"More or less, he is worried about it hurting to change forms." Edward said.
"You saw how quickly they changed from human to wolf, it will be that fast." I explained to Asher. It was getting him to that point that I was worried about, all the shaking and tremors that would go through his body.
"We will do what we can to make this as quick as possible." Jasper said.
"Bella, come with me." Embry reached out his hand for her.
Bella ran her fingers through Asher's hair, bent down, and kissed his forehead. "I love you, Ash." Then she took Embry's hand, staying close. He put his arm around her waist to be able to move her quickly.
"Thanks," I nodded to Embry, then turned to the Cullens. "Let's start with the three of you coming around him and see if simply your presence would do it. Just to be clear, we have never done anything like this and while Asher right now knows you are here to help, his wolf will forget. You will need to run and Colin and Brady will do what they can to try and control Asher before he can hurt you. Everyone understand?"
I looked around at everyone and squeezed Asher's hand. "I'll stay here as long as I can, but when I think you are about to lose it, I will need to move."
"Thanks, Dad."
"I will do my best to help you know when to move." Edward promised as the three of them began to circle around him. They walked at a slow steady pace, circling around myself and Asher with Asher and I being the center of the circle. On one side of the circle was Embry, holding Bella, and Colin and Brady, standing next to them in wolf form, on the other side was everyone else, watching silently.
It was eerily quiet not a bird or squirrel, only my own heart thumping loudly behind my ears and Asher's labored breathing. Asher's eyes were closed and I could hear him groan slightly as they got within arms reach of him and the smell of all three of them was overwhelming. His palms began to sweat and I could literally feel his hand start to increase in temperature.
"It's working." I said in a loud whisper, nodding my head at Bella.
"Asher, open your eyes." Jasper instructed him.
It was clear that Asher was scared and his lips trembled as he opened his eyes, looking directly at Jasper. Asher's breathing increased and he squeezed my hand for a moment, his eyes wide with fear. Jasper crouched down in more of an attack mode, made eye contact with me and then leaped, lunging towards Asher.
A low growl rumbled through Asher's chest and immediately his body started shaking. However with his shaking came screams of pain as his body trembled. Had Asher not been injured he probably would have completely phased at this point and I let go of his hand, moving over to the side. Edward moved quickly in front of me, clearly protecting me in case Asher had phased. The pain caused Asher to lose his focus on Jasper and while the fake attack had gotten the process started, it seemed like it would take much more. Asher's screaming continued to fill the area and Bella's face was buried into Embry's chest, her whole body trembling with tears.
"Attack me instead." I insisted. Jasper looked at me confused. "Him being angry will help." I explained. Edward moved out of the way as Jasper pushed against my chest and I flew through the air about three feet, before landing on my side. "Oomph!" I groaned out.
"Leave my dad alone!" Asher growled, his body trembling.
I rolled over to my feet, standing with a slight limp. "Again!" Jasper picked me up and slammed me down in a controlled body slam into the ground. Or what he thought was controlled, knocking the wind out of me.
"Sorry," Jasper mumbled under his breath. "I'll give you a minute."
I was thankful for that, trying to catch my breath. While I was still on the ground with Jasper crouched over me, Edward darted over and grabbed Bella away from Embry. Embry growled at him, but let Bella go, so I assumed that Embry was playing along as Asher still shook and screamed in pain. I could tell that Edward was trying to be fierce and he was the scariest I had ever seen him, but Bella was a complete mess. She had been crying when she was with Embry and when Edward grabbed her she wrapped both her arms around his neck.
"Get away from her!" I yelled, hoping that Bella would understand that she was supposed to be scared of him, not clinging to him for dear life.
"I'm going to kill her," Edward hissed at me. If I didn't know Edward so well, I would have swore that he meant it and despite knowing that he wouldn't hurt her my heart leaped in my chest.
Bella's head snapped up as she wiped her eye with the back of her hand, one arm still around his neck. "You'll what?" She mumbled incoherently, most likely still too upset to understand that Edward was pretending to trigger the protectiveness in Asher.
I tried to get up from the ground and Jasper held me down, not letting me move. I groaned in frustration pushing my arms against Jasper, keeping my eyes on Edward, Bella, and Asher.
Edward had Bella by the shoulders and I saw his fingertips dig into her skin, causing Bella to squirm probably from him hurting her, but she didn't say anything. Edward leaned down and licked the side of her jaw, down across her neck.
"Edward, stop it!" Bella squirmed and leaned back from him confused.
"Stay away from my mother!" Asher growled.
I was still pushing against Jasper, my breathing labored and I caught Edward glance at me for a second. He looked conflicted for a moment, then he glanced back at Asher who was arching his back and screaming. Edward moved his hands from Bella's shoulders down her back and lifted her off the ground from the waist, bringing his lips to hers.
"AAHHHH!" Asher and I both yelled and suddenly I wasn't pretending to fight to get off the ground and I pushed against Jasper with everything I had. All hell broke loose as Edward continued to kiss Bella, she pushed against his chest and I pushed against Jasper and suddenly one scream turned into a ferocious roar from a massive white and brown wolf.
Asher's wolf growled fiercely and sprung to his feet, yelping when his body crouched down. Edward pushed Bella back into Embry with a mumbled apology and moved away from her. In another second Asher lunged at Edward, I wasn't sure if he was healed or ignoring the pain. Edward was able to move easily out of the way and then began to run with Asher right behind him.
"You alright?" Jasper asked as he reached out a hand to help me off the ground.
"Yes, go." I nodded my head towards the trees and Jasper and Alice both ran after them. Three distinct howls could be heard in the distance. I had several bruises across my chest and arms from Jasper holding me down and more on my back from him pushing me into the ground. I limped over to Bella and she looked like she had been through a tornado, her hair was wild and crazy, her eyes still wide with shock, her body trembling, and her breathing rapid and erratic.
"Hey . . ." I mumbled, taking her into my arms. Bella clung to me, sobbing into my chest and I took several slow, deep breaths. It felt like an eternity had passed but it really had been just over 20 minutes from when the Cullens started circling him, to him phasing.
"You going to make it?" I asked her.
"What, the hell, was that?" She said slowly between her panting.
"That, was turning our son into a wolf." I took a deep breath and so did Bella as my arm dropped limply around her waist. "So, you still think that was a good idea?"
"I have no idea," Bella shook her head, placing her hand over her lips, "however, I can tell you that was not what I was expecting."
I looked down, nodding my head. "I can imagine."
"If Ash doesn't beat me to it, I might be killing a vamp."
Bella shook her head, it still leaning on my chest. "No you won't."
I sighed. "Yeah you are right. What the hell was he thinking?"
"That you are both horrible actors." Paul interrupted.
"Why are you defending him?" Quil asked.
"I'm not, it just . . . nevermind. What do we do now?" Paul asked, changing the subject.
We all glanced at each other none of us really sure. On their way here Quil had stopped by the cafe for sandwiches and so we paused to eat. I wasn't really hungry and Bella sat in my lap nibbling on hers, until she flinched, surprised when her cell phone went off.
"Edward?" She questioned, using the caller id to know who it was. I leaned my head down to hear what he was saying. "I'm going to put you on speaker."
"Alright," I heard and then Bella switched her phone and everyone was paying attention, also curious what was going on.
"Is everyone safe?" I asked.
"Yes. It took Asher a little bit to finish healing and I was worried that he would hurt himself when he started chasing me before it finished. It took longer for him to phase because his body was growing which stretched his spine and that was extremely painful for him." There was a short pause. "Jacob, I'm sorry for kissing Bella. Asher was close, but he still knew that Jasper and I wouldn't really hurt you or Bella otherwise Colin, Brady, and everyone would have stepped in. I knew that you and Bella would both react to it and you would no longer be pretending."
"You are forgiven." Bella answered and I rolled my eyes. It wasn't worth fighting over and while I didn't like it I decided to let it go.
Through the phone I could hear a low rumble and a short bark. "Where are you at?" I asked him.
"In a tree with Jasper and Alice. Asher is still pretty upset down there, but has finally stopped trying to knock over the tree."
I smiled. "Yeah, that is my son."
"Colin and Brady are talking to him, giving him the history."
"Edward, do you think you can stay as an interpreter until Asher is able to phase back?" Bella asked.
"Yes, however if he would stop trying to kill me that would be helpful."
"You know that you deserve that." I reminded him.
"Sure, sure."
Bella and I looked at each other surprised and she had her hand over her mouth. "Edward, you did not just say that to me!"
"That I did." I could hear the laughter in his voice.
"Good grief," I mumbled to myself. I could hear others around me chuckle, I think they all loved it when my phrase was used against me.
"Jasper wants to know if there is anything else that you need from us."
Bella and I glanced at each other and I shook my head. "Thank you so much for coming. I love you all." Bella said.
"We love you too." Alice told her.
About an hour later everyone had gone home except for Bella and me, and Colin, Brady, and Asher that were still wolves and Edward. It was a warm evening, but we were thankful for our jackets and for the fire that was going strong in the fire pit on the campground. Edward either called or came by giving us updates on how things were going, therefore I was surprised when I heard the soft thump of large paws coming out from the trees.
Bella followed my gaze. "Hey baby," she said to the large wolf. She got out of my lap and walked towards him and I followed her.
Bella stroked his fur with her hand and he leaned into her. Asher really was a striking wolf with a tan face except for white on his snout that arched over his eyes accenting his dark brown eyes. His ears and around his neck was close to my russet-brown fur but slightly darker and his body was a mixture of white and brown fur. It took Asher two days to be able to phase back to human. His neck and shoulders were completely healed, luckily he was close to being full grown and already muscular from playing football, so he only increased another three inches after phasing.
Unfortunately there was quite a crowd on the beach the day he got injured and so it did not take long for everyone in town to know that he had been significantly hurt. Bella and I decided to go ahead and pull him out of school the last two months and tell everyone that we were taking him to a specialist for treatment and therapy. Quil and Tommy ran the shop while I stayed out of town with Colin, Brady, and Asher, and Bella stayed in La Push with the kids. Asher really wanted to return to school, not for academics but for sports, so we thought it was best if we could get him to quit phasing immediately and then be close to normal by the time school started.
It wasn't easy but by the end of the summer we felt confident that he could go back. Once returning he imprinted on a classmate, Treanna, who he already had a huge crush on. Asher had always been popular because of being so athletic and so she was honored when he asked her out. Similar to Kim and Jared's relationship, Asher and Treanna's relationship was fairly drama free. She was told about him being a wolf, but because he was not active it didn't really affect her much. After high school Asher played college football and then went professional. After 15 years, Treanna and Asher returned to La Push to finish raising their children.
Seth remained married to Amber and maintained a close "uncle" relationship to Cindy. I carried over the same rule, that if anyone wanted to date my daughters they had to ask me personally, over from Dani to Cindy. It was a pleasant surprise when Luke, Seth's son, asked me if he could date her. Seth raised Luke to be a gentleman and we both felt confident that Luke would love and respect Cindy. Luke was one year older than Cindy and worked in La Push until he felt like he could support her on his own. The day they were married, everyone was happy. Cindy and Luke were never told about Seth's imprinting and romantic feelings were never developed between Cindy and Seth.
After High School Zeke started working at Jared and Paul's construction company. After finishing college Britney, Leah's adopted daughter, returned to La Push and her and Zeke began dating. They were married a few years later, however jobs were hard to find so when she was offered a fantastic job, they moved and were not able to return to La Push. Though we typically kept the Cullens away from our kids, once on a family vacation we decided that Bella would visit the Cullens. When waiting for Bella, Edward mentioned that he could not hear Zeke, something we all assumed that he got from Bella.
Tommy and Danielle were married after she finished High School. As an added bonus, I was finally an official father (in law) to Tommy. When Bella and I eventually retired we passed on the shop-cafe-bookstore to them. Danielle couldn't cook to save her life however Stacy, Tommy's half sister, was a fantastic cook and Bella passed on most of her recipes to her.
Edward, Alice, and Jasper all returned to the Volturi, but kept me posted on the wolves that they were making. Cloning was successful, and they were able to create 25 wolves. Carlisle handled creating them in batches of three every three years. Esme and Rose took care of them until age 12-13 when they would phase. Once wolves they were trained by Jasper and Emmett. It was very good that they could be put back together because they both lost a lot of arms and legs. They found that Jane was very helpful, similar to a shock collar she would shock those that did wrong, often zapping one after the other very quickly.
Once they were wolves they rarely ever phased back to human and so their thoughts were very animalistic and they often fought among each other. Edward reported directly to Caius about the wolves' development and was mostly used to monitor the thoughts of the wolves. Alice rarely had contact with the wolves and was present for all Volturi business. They really liked that once they decided something Alice could instantly tell them if that was a good plan. She refused to wear the black robes even though it was offered several times, preferring her own clothing style.
All of these events took place within the Volturi lair and the Cullens rarely left unless it was to hunt. Between the Guard and the Volturi there was a large gathering of vampires who remained at the lair that the Cullens spent their free time with. Despite differing in diet, strong friendships were developed. The Cullens stayed close to Bella and me, communicating often and would visit randomly. We got our passports so that it could could be legal. Sometimes Bella visited them alone and sometimes they would fly us both to some place we had never been before.
Author's Note: Hopefully you can tell that this story is coming to a close. There is one more chapter, it has been amazing going on the journey through Jacob and Bella's life. I have tried to wrap up all loose ends in this chapter, if there is something that I haven't explained that you are curious about, please ask. I'll either just answer it or explain it better in the next chapter.