The Jaguar Versus the Wolf

Chapter 30 - Alice and Jasper Return

Orbiting Satellites Book Two, Chapter 30 - Answers Found companion


"Those are looking lovely Nahuel," Esme said from the doorway of my greenhouse.

"Just giving them a little pruning. These ones have grown so big I need to cut them back or they might start to choke the others around them. They're already depriving these ones," I pointed to some wilted babies hiding down the bottom, "of much needed sunlight." It had been over a month since I retook over the care of my flowers.

"I don't know how you do it," she told me. It was easy. Since Alice was still in the Amazon, with Jasper, she wasn't around to poison them and with a little love and care they had made a dramatic recovery. The two of them were the only ones that still hadn't returned. Hopefully that meant they were closing in on Joham. "They're amazing," she added.

What was she talking about? Her garden outside was twice as good as my little corner of the house. And everything in here was temperature controlled. Outside her roses were open to the elements, at the mercy of the cold, wind, predators, snow, drowning, drought, weeds, hell they could die from too much sun. "These are nothing compared to yours. Are you going out," I asked, noticing the purse in her hand.

"Just for a little while. I'm meeting some suppliers. The lawn chairs out back are looking a little worn. I was thinking of redoing them. I should be back in time to make you something for lunch, but if I'm not…"

"I'm sure I can handle it," I assured her.

Once she left I went back to my pruning, but wasn't more than an hour in when the front door flew open. Jasper and Alice ran in. There was a jumble of noises, as the two of them rearranged the living room furniture, dug out the dining room table, and sat down on chairs that were equally as quickly brought in by Carlisle, Edward, Bella, Emmett and Rosalie. Carlisle gestured to an empty chair for me and just as I sat down Renesmee and her dog ran in. What was going on?

"Should we wait for Esme?" Bella asked no one in particular.

She was the only one not here, but no one seemed to know where she was, until I spoke up, passing along what she had told me, which Alice confirmed after a vision check, adding "She won't be back until dark. Her source got in some new fabric and now she's thinking of redoing the couches in Bella and Edward's house, and the chairs in Carlisle's office, and the stool for Rosalie's vanity, and the…"

"I think we get it," Emmett cut her off.

"I'll fill her in when she comes home tonight," Alice added, looking a little sad that she didn't get to finish.

"So what's this news?" Rose asked. "What have Nahuel and the rest of his screwed up family done now to endanger our lives?" Argh, she still didn't like me. Why? I thought before it was to keep me away from Renesmee, but now we weren't together and never would be, so what was her problem?

"Yeah, when do we get to go find Joham and kick his butt?" Emmett for some reason was excited about that idea. I guess it wasn't that odd… for him at least. He seemed to love fighting.

"I don't think that will be needed," Jasper quickly shut him down.

"After searching for weeks, we finally came across Jennifer's scent and followed it until we found her and Maysun," Alice told us.

"Were Serena and Joham with them?" If they were it might mean my father wasn't behind the bodies. I know it was slim, but I really didn't like thinking my father was doing this to me. And Serena already told me it wasn't him.

"No," Alice said. "Jennifer and Maysun haven't heard from them in over a month. Last time Joham called they were still here. Or at least they were up until a little while ago."

"Here?!" a lot of us growled. Edward had clearly already heard it in his head before Alice spoke and didn't react, but Nessie and Carlisle gasped.

Everyone started talking over each other, asking question after question, all at once. People wanted to know why they were here, if they know if my family was behind the bodies, and if they were why the bodies stopped showing up, among other things. I wanted to know only one thing – why?

Jasper got everyone's attention, when he yelled "Joham was behind the bodies!" NO! That meant he was after me for some reason. I'd let my guard down, since staying with the Cullens, but that was a mistake. He was probably still around, just biding his time until he got me alone. I'd have to be more careful from now on.

Edward whispered to me, "I think you're going to want to pay attention to what Jasper says next."

"It wasn't easy," Jasper quietly said to me, "but with a little... persuasion I got Maysun to tell me the truth. Jennifer knew nothing about it." That was something at least. Maysun knowing wasn't that big of a surprise, but if Jennifer had known and didn't tell me I would have completely lost faith in everything I once believed.

"Joham was upset to learn of Nahuel's change in diet," Jasper then explained to everyone. "He was dropping off the women's bodies in a misguided effort to try and get him to revert back to human blood. He hoped that just the mere smell of blood on a fresh young body would prompt Nahuel to relapse back to his true self."

That's why he was doing it? He wasn't trying to get the Volturi to come after me? He didn't want me dead for sending the Volturi after him, resulting in them preventing him from fathering anymore hybrids?

"What about the ones Carlisle found at the hospital?" Bella then asked, but neither of my sisters knew anything about them.

The more I thought about it the more I realized just how different those bodies were from the ones left for me. The biggest difference being that the hospital bodies had been fed from. The ones in my motel rooms hadn't been.

"Also she doesn't seem too happy about it, but Jennifer seems to be under the impression that they will be returning home soon," Alice added.

"Not that I would want to see him, but why would Joham not just come talk to me?"

"And why would he leave?" Emmett added.

"Would that have worked? Really?" Edward asked. "Nahuel, you changed your diet for a reason. For Renesmee. Would anything he said to you have convinced you to change back?"

No, I shook my head.

"He must have figured that out and could be why he left. On the other hand since you're no longer with Renesmee he may have assumed, just as we had, that you'd give up your new diet eventually on your own."

"How can you be sure of either thing?" Renesmee asked her father.

"I'm not." Edward said to her. "It may have just been that Rosalie and Emmett completely ignored the plan and came back too soon, but when we left you and Jake here with Nahuel alone, Joham never took the bait and came after Nahuel, or dumped another body."

WHAT! "You used me as bait, assuming… hoping, Joham would attack me?"

"Not exactly," Carlisle tried to calm me down. "We thought if he was still in the area that your father would have made some sort of move. We assumed that Joham would not see you and Renesmee as a threat to him." This was NOT making me feel better. In fact it made me feel a lot worse. "But I assure you, you were never in any danger. Joham would have no knowledge of the Wolves, ignoring a stray animal in the forest, which we used to our advantage. Jacob was constantly patrolling the area. And while Alice and Jasper, Edward and Bella, and Esme and I really were searching where we said we were, Emmett and Rosalie were also keeping an eye on you, never ventured too far from the vicinity. I apologize for the deception, but we only kept the truth from you in an attempt to ease some of your worry."

"So since he didn't try to kill, or pin another murder on me, you concluded that he gave up and left?" I huffed.

"Essentially. And Maysun's account seems to confirm it." Edward told me.

"So it's over?" That was hard to believe. "I'm safe?" No way. But if it were true, if they were right I wouldn't be trapped in this house anymore. I wouldn't be stuck living with the Cullens. Not that they were that bad, but I really hated Rosalie and the dog, and things were just awkward between me and Renesmee, no matter how civilized we tried to be with each other. And while they were lovely and nice to me, the materialism of Alice and even Esme was so trivial and annoying at times it was hard to put up with. Then there was Edward's music and superiority complex that I…

"Do you really think that that's it?" Renesmee asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. "That it could be that easy?" She didn't seem to believe them any more than I did.

"Perhaps. It's still only a theory, but if no new bodies show up, or anything else happens, all we can do for now is wait and see," Jasper told everyone.

"I found Jennifer and Maysun because they were relatively stationary," Alice then explained, "just like when I originally located Nahuel and Huilen. Joham and Serena must be constantly moving around because I cannot get a fix on their blank spot."

"Alright, well for the immediate future I suggest we carry on as usual," Carlisle told us. "Nahuel, you should still keep to the house, just in case. No need to put yourself in danger if we are wrong." My heart sank. Apparently I wasn't getting out of here. He started talking about school or something, but I stopped listening. I needed to get back to my flowers. Apparently they were as close as I was going to get to my Jungle home for a while.