The next morning came quickly and I was very relieved to have Jared fully healed and operational again, but we had to deal with the Cullens first, and both of them were pacing because of it.

I dressed in one of my flowy maternity tops, stretchy pants, and a jean jacket that Jared had taken me to Port Angeles to get when I'd started showing and looked in the mirror. My bump was most definitely noticeable, even with the flowy top on.

Both of my wolves loved when I wore more tight-fitting clothing because they loved seeing my rounded belly, but I didn't need them distracted while we met with the Cullens.

I walked out into the living room and looked directly at Paul, who was sitting next to Jake, Embry, and Quil. "Do I look okay?"

"You look great, B." Paul responded. "But you know my wolf prefers seeing those babies a little bit more." He winked at me.

"Why'd you ask him and not us?" Jared asked, almost looking offended.

"Because both of you are horribly biased. Paul is brutally honest." I told them with a laugh.

"Hell yeah, I tell B like it is." Paul said proudly.

"Are you absolutely sure you have to go today, Bella?" Sam asked me seriously as he came up to me and reached under my shirt to feel my belly.

"Yes. I'm going, and no, you're not going to change my mind about it." I told them adamantly.

"Then let's go and get this shit over with. Both our son and daughter have the wolf gene and the last thing we need is to expose them to leeches for too long. They're not going to phase in the womb, but I don't want this responsibility on our son's shoulders. We already know girls can phase now too, and none of us know how it would affect our daughter when she's old enough either. I know I don't want to risk activating any wolf genes for damn sure." Jared said, making me think about that for the first time.

I hadn't considered that before, but he was right. In the other timeline, the longer the Cullens stayed, the more kids phased and the younger they were. Collin and Brady had only been 12 when they phased. None of us knew how long someone needed to be exposed to vampires to activate the wolf gene. I then worried that my exposure to them before I'd gotten pregnant would somehow be passed to both of them. Now I understood a lot of their hesitation to let me go.

"Let's go and get it over with." I told them.

Sam would be driving me to the treaty line because he would be staying human to speak with them while the others would be going as wolves. I would be staying behind the wolves with Jared at my side at all times.

When we reached the treaty line, the Cullens were waiting for us in the woods next to the road. Sam parked the truck and we both got out and headed down to where the wolves were gathering.

He went to the front of them while I made my way over to Jared, who wrapped his body around me from behind protectively.

Paul stood extremely close to me as well as the others stood in front of us, but not blocking my view of the Cullens.

They all looked exactly the same as I'd remembered, though I knew they wouldn't ever change. They were stuck like that forever, and I couldn't believe I'd ever wanted to be like that as I felt my children kick at my ribs uncomfortably. They didn't like being there either, it seemed.

"Bella, it's so wonderful to see you." Esme started out. She was always nice and motherly, but I knew it wasn't really time for pleasantries. I didn't want to be there long. "You look so healthy and vibrant."

"I only came here today to tell you that all of you need to leave. We don't want any more vampires in this area, causing more children to phase younger and younger. You need to convince Edward that I'm fine, more than fine actually. I'm happy here. I chose to be here. This is my family now." I told them commandingly as all of them looked at me, still completely unmoving like statues.

"You're pregnant." Carlisle said, finally noticing. It would be the doctor who noticed my condition first. "Twins. Their heartbeats are nearly in sync but I can distinctly hear two."

Jared growled at them as he curled in front of my stomach protectively. Paul made his way over to me as well, growling protectively.

"Yes, Bella is pregnant. She's also engaged to be married." Sam told them, making me wonder why he hadn't said it was to him.

"That's so wonderful, Bella. I'm so glad that you've made the right choice to live and have a beautiful life." I heard Rosalie say from her place beside Emmett. "Something I wish I could've had for myself."

"Yes, I have chosen exactly that, and you need to convince Edward of it." I told them.

"Bella's and the babies' safety is our top priority. If Edward crosses onto our land, the treaty will be null, and we will take whatever action is necessary to protect Bella. She is an imprint, part of our pack, and the treaty applies to her as well." Sam told them with authority.

"We understand, and we will do whatever is necessary to keep that from happening. We did not know that Bella was with child." Carlisle responded. "Or children in this case."

"I had hoped that Bella would be willing to speak to me. We were such good friends before… When I noticed your future disappear, I feared the worst." Alice spoke up from her place next to Jasper.

"I'm sorry, Alice, but that's not going to happen. The children I'm carrying have the wolf gene, and none of us want to risk further exposure to them. As soon as this encounter with Edward is over, I'm asking all of you to leave the area before more damage is done." I told her and watched as she frowned.

"I understand that us leaving so suddenly must have been hard on you, but it was what Edward had requested of us, to keep you safe." Esme said to me, making me angry.

"To keep me safe? Edward left me stranded in the woods to die. I nearly did! If these wolves hadn't found me when they did, I would have caught hypothermia as I laid on the forest floor in the freezing cold rain. The police search party wouldn't ever have found me in time. The pack saved my life." I told them angrily.

"Bella, calm down." Sam told me from the front of the pack.

"No, Sam, they need to hear this." I said, turning my attention back to the Cullens. "Edward had this delusion that I was his mate, when my true destiny was here all along. I was only his singer, and his fascination that he couldn't read my mind made me an enigma to him. He controlled every one of my actions and that in itself is a form of abuse. It was toxic! You understand that I nearly gave up my life for him? I would've lost my parents, my ability to have children, my chance to age and mature, and grow old with the ones I love and die a peaceful death when it was my time. I can do that now. I have children now, regardless if they're born yet or not. They are my son and daughter, and I already love them both more than life itself. I love all of my pack. Every one of them." I stated, breathing heavily.

"We didn't know, Bella. We're truly sorry for all the pain we've caused you. We can see that your place is here, and we do not wish to disrupt that." Carlisle told me sadly. "We will take our own action against Edward if we must to keep you and your children safe. I am under the impression that he is not in his right mind at the moment."

"I'm not letting Eddie touch my Belly-bear. He'll have to go through me first." Emmett spoke up from beside Rosalie.

"If Edward makes any advances toward my wolves, they have my full consent to take care of it however they wish. I want nothing to do with him, now or ever again. Now that Victoria and Laurent are gone, we do not want any more vampire presence within range of the reservation or Forks, and preferably the entire Olympic Peninsula. Innocent children are phasing into giant wolves with huge responsibilities because of you, and more will phase because of you. Please pass my message along." I told them adamantly before turning to Jared. "Please take me home, Jared."

Jared didn't hesitate, quickly phasing human and pulling his shorts back on as Sam tossed him the keys to his truck. We walked back up to the truck without another glance backwards and Jared took me home while the rest of the pack finished the meeting.

"Well babe, you definitely gave them a piece of your mind. I'm sure the guys got sick of me chanting 'that's my girl' in my head the whole time." Jared told me laughing when we were out of their hearing range.

"It was only the truth. It felt good to finally get it out. The babies really didn't like me being there, though. I swear you two are rubbing off on them too much. They were killing my ribs the whole time." I told him with my hand on my stomach.

"That's right. They know our enemies too." He said, reaching over to place his hand next to mine.

"They always calm down for you guys though, they know you're safe and they love you already." I told him as they started to calm down. The inside of my ribs were sore from where they'd been kicking so hard. I didn't expect such forceful kicks until further in my pregnancy, but they were the children of an alpha wolf, so I didn't really know what to expect.

"We're their favorites." Jared told me proudly.

"Paul would disagree. He thinks he's their favorite because at least one of them always falls asleep when he's near me." I told him with a smirk and a giggle.

"Fuck Paul." He said with a playful attitude as we pulled into the driveway.

He turned off the truck and looked over to me. "I love you, you know?"

"I know, and I love you too. That was a bit random, though." I questioned, wondering why he'd said it out of the blue, not that I minded at all.

"Sometimes I feel like I don't tell you enough, but I love you and those babies more than anything else in the universe." He told me, leaning over to kiss me sweetly.


A/N- Uh oh, what do you think will happen when Eddie shows up?