PREVIOUSLY-
"You're my wife now." I told her, still not believing it.
"And you're my husband." She responded back in kind and I smiled the widest I ever had.
I noticed Bella start shivering from the cold, considering we were both wearing soaking wet clothing and I picked her up bridal style and began to head back to the house. We still had three hours until we met with the Cullens and I wasn't about to let it go to waste.
When we got back to the house, I carried her over the threshold because she was now my wife. Wife.
I was married to my imprint.
My mind was still having a hard time wrapping itself around the fact.
I completely stripped her of her white dress, careful not to ruin it in any way. I wanted her to be able to keep it. I took off my white button down and khaki pants as well.
Once we were completely undressed, I pulled her into me, kissing her.
This time, I truly took the time to make love to her. It wasn't just sex, it wasn't fucking, it was making love, slow and sweet to my new wife.
She deserved every single moment of it.
When we had finished, I carried her to the warm shower and I did the very same as I had done down at the beach, taking my time to wash every single part of her with the most love and care I could possibly show her, then she did the very same for me.
We got out and she dressed in the sweats she'd had me wear earlier in the day and I pulled on nothing but a pair of cutoff sweats.
Too soon, it was 11:30 and time to head over to Sam's.
I held Bella's hand as we walked.
"I still can't believe that happened tonight, babe. I can never thank you enough for it, ever." I told her honestly.
"You don't have to thank me at all. I've always wanted to be your wife in your culture and mine." She told me, squeezing my hand.
"One down, one to go." I replied with a smile.
"Why tonight?" I questioned her curiously.
"Because I wanted to be your wife before we met with the Cullens to prove to you and them that you are my eternity. Not to mention, I just didn't want to wait a whole month to be married to you and you told me that you'd be willing to marry me at the drop of a hat, so I wanted to surprise you and it worked." She explained to me.
"You didn't have to prove anything to me, but I'm so fucking glad you decided to. I've never been happier in my life and the fact that it was a tribal ceremony… I didn't expect that at all." I told her.
She didn't have a chance to say anything else before we came up on Sam's and walked inside.
"What's up, Swan? Trying to mark your territory?" Jared asked, wiggling his eyebrows as he motioned to me.
"Yeah, I am." She laughed. "And by the way, it's not Swan anymore. It's Lahote." She told them and I felt my heart jump at the words.
"Wait… you guys are married? When the hell did that happen?" Jared asked with his eyes wide open, looking at the both of us. Everyone in the house stopped moving to look at us except Quil.
"Yeah, bro. Old Quil married us about 2 and half hours ago… give or take." I replied with a huge smile on my face.
"Old Quil?" Sam asked, surprised. "You did a tribal ceremony?"
I nodded. "The whole thing. My wife surprised me with it." I told him proudly. Wife. I still couldn't get used to saying it.
"Damn, bro. That's deep. Like deep, deep." Jared replied, clearly surprised.
"You have no idea, man. No fucking idea." I told him honestly.
"Did I just hear someone say wife? Cus as of this morning, none of us were married that I know of." Jacob Black said, walking in the doorway.
"That's right, baby alpha. Bella's my wife now. We just got married in a tribal ceremony with Old Quil." I stated to him with pride, not caring if he had any issues with it at all.
"A tribal ceremony? Bella, really? You realize that joins your spirits together for eternity right? It's not just something that you just decide to do on a whim." Jacob decided to say and I growled at him in warning. Bella turned and put her hand on my chest, calming me.
"That was the point, Jacob Black. You need to officially get over whatever it is you have against Paul. I'm his wife whether you like it or not. Hell, whether anyone likes it or not. I wanted it, I set it up, I chose this. I chose him. Now be a supportive brother and either congratulate us or keep your words to yourself." Bella told him. I saw Jared's eyebrows raise at the confrontation and I was so proud of my wife, I didn't even have words for it. I leaned down and kissed the side of her head, pulling her into me.
"I'm sorry, Bella. I just figured he might have pressured you into doing a tribal ceremony." Jacob responded.
"If you haven't realized already, Paul hasn't ever and will never pressure me into doing anything. The sooner you recognize that, the better. I'm done with you two being at odds with each other." Bella said to him and it was true.
Jacob swallowed nervously and then finally responded, "Well then, congratulations." I knew he didn't fully mean it, but I was glad it placated my wife either way.
"Yeah, bro and sis. Congrats. I'm happy for the both of you." Jared replied happily.
"Congratulations, Paul and Bella." Sam said, walking up to shake my hand and hug Bella.
"This is great! A tribal ceremony means more to us than any traditional ceremony ever could, Bella." Embry said to her.
"I know." She replied, looking up at me with a smile.
"Well I've already said my congratulations, so…" Quil said and Bella laughed. Everyone else's eyes went to him. "What? Bella had me set it up with Grandfather."
"I'm so happy for you, Bella. I was wondering when you were going to surprise him with it." Emily said, walking up to hug the both of us.
"So that's what you two were talking about the other day?" I asked Bella who started laughing.
"Yeah, it was. Emily told me I could ask Quil about setting it up." She told me. So she'd had this planned for longer than I knew.
"Maybe you two should huddle up with the radio playing more often if things like this come from it. Though I'm not sure anything will really top getting to marry my imprint in a sacred tribal ceremony out of the blue." I told them with a laugh.
"So dude, did Old Quil do the whole thing with the paints and stuff?" Jared asked curiously.
"Yeah man. The paints, the ancestors, the ocean and everything. It was the full ceremony. I can feel it, all of it." I explained to him seriously.
"Wow. I can only imagine having that one day…" Jared said, shaking his head.
"I hope all of you get to experience it one day, dude. There's nothing like it." I told all of them.
After a few minutes, we all stopped talking about the fact that Bella and I were now married and focused on what was about to happen.
"Alright, Paul and Bella will drive up to the line and the rest of us will go phased. Paul, you're going to stay human with Bella on the sidelines unless we need you to phase." Sam told us and I nodded, already knowing that would be the plan. Bella seemed surprised though.
Once we were finished discussing the plan, Bella and I went and got her truck, driving up and parking at the edge of the woods where the treaty line was. I could smell the leeches already and see Sam and the others in the trees phased as we climbed out of the truck.
I walked out into the woods with Bella and she held my hand the whole way as I looked at the leeches who all seemed surprised, most likely at her scent, or more accurately my scent on her.
"Oh." The pixie said, looking surprised at the two of us.
"Well I can definitely say that makes your scent a lot less… appealing, Bella." The cowboy looking one said in a deep southern draw, looking in our direction. Good. I didn't want her to smell appealing to any of them.
Douchward was curling his lip in clear disgust in my direction, probably from the fact that he could hear in all of my brother's minds that Bella and I were now married.
"It's so good to see you again, Bella." The motherly one said as we walked up.
"It's good to see you too, Esme." Bella said to the motherly one.
"Bella, if I may say something?" The barbie looking one asked in Bella's direction.
"Yeah, of course, Rosalie." My wife said to her.
"I can't begin to tell you how happy it makes me to see that you've chosen this path in life, Bella. No matter if it is with a mutt, you'll still be able to have a mostly normal life, be able to get married, grow old, have children and grandchildren…" Barbie told her and I laughed.
"Actually, we're already married, Rose." Bella told her proudly.
"I thought Edward said that you were only engaged this morning?" Pixie asked curiously and Bella laughed.
"Because we were only engaged this morning. We got married at sunset tonight in a tribal ceremony." Bella explained to them.
"And they're definitely already working on the whole kid thing." The big one said, laughing before Barbie hit him in the chest with her elbow.
I just smirked at them because intentional or not, it was true.
"Let's just move on to the reason we're all here, shall we?" Fuckward said through gritted teeth. I was so glad that it was all grating on his nerves.
We talked strategy for about 30 minutes until we all had decided on several possible attack plans.
After it was done, Sam and the others left, as did sparkle boy and the other male vamps. The women of the group stayed though. I knew the pack was still nearby.
I had Bella attached to my side with my arm wrapped around her, keeping her warm as they approached us, careful to stay on their side of the treaty line.
"I must say, Bella, that while I was surprised to hear of your bond and subsequent marriage to a wolf, I can see that it suits you well." The motherly one said to Bella before turning to me. "I can tell how much you truly love her. It is a precious thing to have a bond such as yours."
"You're damn right, I do. I love my wife more than the universe, which is why we're still standing here talking to you, because I knew she needed it." I told them honestly. I still didn't like the leeches, but I would tolerate them for a few minutes longer for Bella.
"Spoken as a true mate." She replied. Bella looked up at at them and started speaking.
"I'm truly happy. Happier than I ever thought was possible. You're right, Paul and I can have a family, which we're already planning on. Then we'll grow old together and eventually die together as well. I don't have to live forever to know what we'll be together for eternity. Our spirits are merged together and that would've never happened with anyone but Paul. I do appreciate all of what you did for me before you left, but I hope you understand that I meant what I told Edward about your family leaving after Victoria is dealt with." Bella told them as she held onto my middle.
"We understand. We do not wish any difficulties with your family, Bella. We also understand that any children you may have will carry the wolf gene and our presence here will almost certainly cause that gene to be activated, most likely at a younger age than even the current pack. We will be moving back to Alaska with our cousins as soon as the threat against you is taken care of." The woman, Esme, said to my wife.
"Thank you." Bella told them.
"Maybe, if you're willing, Rose and I could still email you from time to time?" the pixie suggested and I looked to Bella for a response.
"I think I'd like that, Alice." Bella told them with a nod.
"You'll be sure to send me pictures of your family?" Barbie asked, sounding hopeful. I almost felt bad for the leech.
"Yeah, Rose. I'll send you pictures of our family. We can email. Just no visits, please?" Bella made sure.
"We can do that. I do hope to see you once more before we depart so that we can say our goodbyes." Esme told Bella.
"I hope so too." Bella responded and they all flashed away.
I knew my imprint was tired. I could feel it, but I could also see it in her eyes. It was closing in on 1am and it had been a long day. Bella was also supposed to have school in about 7 hours.
We walked back up to the truck and I held the door open for her to climb in before I got inside myself.
"Thank you for doing that, Paul. Vampires or not, they were good to me before they all left." Bella told me.
"I know what you need, Bella, and I knew you needed it whether I liked them or not." I told her honestly as we pulled into the driveway.
"So when are we going to tell Charlie?" She asked me with a laugh. "I think he should know he has a son-in-law now."
"We can tell him tomorrow if you want to, babe. Or technically today. After school." I responded to her as we got out of the truck.
"Do I have to go to school? Can't I have like a honeymoon day off?" She asked with a frown.
"You had today off, Bella. I'm not about to go tell your dad that you skipped school again so that we could have sex all day, no matter how appealing that idea sounds. I think it'll be enough to tell him we got married on a school night." I told her, laughing.
"Does that mean we're not going to have sex tomorrow?" She asked me, pouting purposefully.
"Fuck no, babe. I never said that. Just not all day. Your dad did make me promise you'd get to school and he won't be happy if he knew you skipped today." I said, walking inside and closing the door. "Trust me, I want you home more than anyone, but I need to stay on your dad's good side."
"Fine, if you insist. You know it would be so much easier to explain if Charlie knew about the pack. I wish we could tell him." Bella sighed, falling into our bed.
"I know, babe." I told her, falling in next to her.
"Hey Paul?" Bella asked.
"Yeah?"
"Something Esme said has had me thinking." She replied. I wondered where she was going with it.
"What is it?" I questioned.
"Do you think our kids will phase?" She asked me and I thought about it.
"I don't know, Bella. Even if the Cullens aren't here, nomads pass through all the time." I said to her honestly. "I love being a wolf, but a big part of me hopes that our kids won't have to have the type of responsibilities that we do, especially so young. At the same time, if I wasn't a wolf, I wouldn't have ever imprinted on you and I would never trade that for the world. If our kids could have a chance at this kind of happiness…"
"At least if they do eventually phase, they'll have their dad to help them." She muttered to me and I smiled. I never had my dad help me with anything, so I knew for a fact that I would be there to help my children with anything, no matter what it was. I kissed the side of her head in response.
I snuggled up with my wife and together we fell asleep within minutes.
A/N- Yay they met with the Cullens!
Did it go how you expected?
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