"Did Riley tell you why our eyes are gold and not red?" Rosalie asked me as we made our way back to the Cullen's house.

"He said it was because you're much older than us," I replied.

"Not quite true," she smirked. "It mostly has to do with our diet. We don't feed on humans. It's how we're able to stay in one place for so long."

I was surprised for a moment; I had never considered there could be a diet for vampires that wasn't strictly human blood. "What do you feed on?" I asked.

"Wildlife. There's a lot of it around here, and we're fast enough that we can hunt further away if we want different game. We usually go where there's an overabundance of predator animals, help keep their numbers under control."

The talk of hunting made my dry throat rage with irritation, which Edward picked up on. I briefly wondered how everyone else felt about having him in their heads all the time – it seemed like it would get really annoying, really quickly. "She needs to hunt before I let her anywhere near Bella. Or her scent."

"We can take her," Emmett offered, turning back towards the mountain. Rosalie and I ran after him, leaving everyone else behind.

We ran through the woods for a while before Emmett came to an abrupt stop. "Hear that?" he asked.

I listened. Birds were chirping in the trees above, and there was a squirrel foraging for something to eat nearby. Not anything that would make for a good meal.

And then I heard it – the footsteps of what I guessed was a herd of deer, just a little northeast of us. "Deer? Northeast."

"Good," Rose nodded. "Let's go."

We took off at a run again, straight into the herd of deer. We each landed on one before they knew what was happening, sending the others scattering.

I snapped the doe's neck quickly, so she wouldn't suffer more than she had to. The deer's blood was just as warm as a humans, but the taste of the blood was dull in comparison. While it quenched my thirst well enough, it never fully scratched the itch – the memory of human blood lingered too much to make it fully satisfying. I almost felt a twinge of guilt over leaving the animal laying in the woods to rot – it almost felt worse to prey on cute, innocent animals than it did on humans.

"It gets easier over time," Emmett told me. "You're doing really well, for a newborn. I gave everyone hell the first couple of years – my record is pretty bad." He grinned, remembering his wild newborn years.

Once we were done hunting we returned to the Cullens' home.

The house was more like a mansion. It was huge – three stories, painted white. The most stunning feature was the southern wall, which was almost entirely made of glass.

Edward stormed out of the house, muttering something about dogs on his way past. Carlisle followed after him at a run. "Emmett, will you come speak to your brother with me?"

Emmett took off, following Carlisle. "I wonder what that was about," I said as we got inside. The first floor was open and bright. A little office was tucked behind the wide staircase, but the obvious centerpiece of the floor was the raised platform with the massive grand piano to the right of the entryway.

"Bella's leaving the reservation," Alice said, though it didn't really explain why Edward was so upset. Rose's nose wrinkled and she shook her head.

"The reservation?"

"The Quileute people live on a reservation nearby," Alice explained. "Bella's friend, Jacob Black, who was one of the werewolves who helped us fight you, lives there. There's a bit of a, uh, history between them. And from what I just saw, their conversation just now didn't end up going so well."

"What do you mean?"

"Jacob has…very strong feelings for Bella," Alice said, frowning. "So there's a lot of conflict there, especially with Bella and Edward getting married. Bella had to shut it down once and for all, even though she's really upset about it. Edward was going to cross the boundary to go get her."

"The boundary?"

Okay, I felt kind of stupid asking all these questions, like an annoying little kid who had to ask 'why' about every little thing, but nothing she was saying made sense to me.

"Our coven made a pact with the wolves around 70 years ago when we first came to Forks – we stay off their territory, and don't kill humans, and they won't kill us. Crossing onto their land would break that treaty, and it would be open season on us."

"He'd do that?"

"He thought about it," Alice confirmed. "Carlisle and Emmett will be back in a few minutes."

Carlisle and Emmett returned shortly after, as she'd said. "Edward's going to stay close to the boundary," Carlisle said. "Very close."

"Inconsiderate fool," Rosalie spat, and stormed off to the garage uttering a litany of insults under her breath as she went. Emmett followed her out.

"Rose has problems with Bella," Alice explained as I watched after them. "She really struggles with what we are – there were a lot of things she wanted in her human life that she didn't get, and she hasn't really gotten over it. And having a human on the outside knowing everything, who's choosing to become one of us, instead of embracing those human things, feels like a personal insult to her."

"Isn't it hard for you all, having Bella around all the time?" I asked. "I mean, she smells good." Already I could feel the thirst beginning to burn my throat again.

"There have been some close calls," Alice admitted. "Edward almost killed her himself the first time they met."

"Wow, really?"

Alice nodded. "She's what they call a 'singer' for him – her scent and blood are even more powerful to him than any of us."

I cringed at the thought. If it burned this much just to think of her scent, I couldn't imagine the control needed in order to be around her. "Wow."

"Trust me, you'll know if it happens to you," Emmett said as he reappeared. "It doesn't happen very often – twice for me. Those two weren't as lucky as Bella." He frowned, but otherwise seemed unbothered by that fact. That was the risk vampires ran, I supposed.

Suddenly I was nervous, terrified, that I would mess up and end up hurting someone. If I did, would the Cullens kill me? Or send me away, leaving me to fend for myself? Surely they were too kind for that.

A wave of calm washed over me, erasing my worries just as fast as they had manifested. "Try not to worry about it too much," Jasper told me – it was nice to see that he was a little more friendly now, though there was still an edge to his voice. "We've all had our…transgressions. Of course, Edward would kill you if anything happened to Bella."

"You're overwhelming her," Esme scolded, walking over to my side. She smiled widely at me. "Come, Bree. Let me show you where your room is."

"My room?" I asked as I followed her upstairs.

She smiled again. "This house has plenty of space. We've got an extra room next to Rose and Emmett's," she said as we reached the second floor. She opened a door to the left of the stairwell, and I walked in nervously. "I haven't done anything with it yet, but we can pick out some paint and some decorations for it."

"Wow," I breathed, suddenly shocked. This room – my room – was bigger than any room I had ever had before. The last one I could remember, before I'd run away from home and been taken by Riley, had been barely larger than a closet, shoved behind the stairwell at the back of our run-down house.

"Thank you," I said as I turned to her. "I've never had a room like this before."

Sadness swept over her face, and she crossed the room to give me a hug. "You poor thing. You didn't have a good life before this, did you?" I shook my head, leaning into Esme. I suddenly felt like a little kid again, being comforted by my mom. It was a feeling I hadn't had since I was so young that I was surprised I could remember it at all.

"My dad – he wasn't a good man. He always beat me, from the time my mom left us to the time I managed to run away. We were always moving, dodging bookies and drug connections that he owed money to. I hated it." Esme frowned and squeezed me tightly.

"Well, you never have to worry about anything like that ever again," she said determinedly. "You're a Cullen now." "I am?" "Of course. We can even change your name and make it official, if you want to," she smiled.

"I'd like that," I admitted, smiling back. For the first time in a really long time, it felt like I belonged to a real family.