Chapter Twenty-Two
I sit with Matthew on the bed we brought in, holding his hand as I mutter a small prayer to Taha Aki to protect him through this, while listening to Matthew's breathing become shallow. Carlisle has a needle prepped for the injection of the venom from Alice sitting on the bedside. Jasper stands behind me with his hands on my shoulders while Alice stands at the end of the bed with her eyes focused on the man that she loves dearly. Carlisle picks the needle up, gingerly lifts Matthew's arm and push the needle in to injection the venom into his body. I watch as my twin closes his eyes and his breathing stop completely. My hearts breaks at the sight of him dying, even just for this moment.
"Now we wait," I say softly. We remain quiet and then leave one at a time, with me being the last to leave. I kiss the palm of Matthew's hand before I leave the room. Jasper is waiting for me in the living room with some food and a sad smile on his face.
"He will survive," Jasper says once he has me in his arms. Alice and Esme sit on the couch together in silence with their eyes fixed on me.
"Marinna, are you going to be okay?" Esme asks once more.
"Yes, I will be fine," I sniffle against Jasper's chest. We wait for hours and soon become restless with having to wait this long. I get the never to go upstairs to check on him, only to find he is not in the bed anymore. My heart races as I quickly look for him and find the glass door open. Without thinking, I jump off the balcony while shifting to locate Matthew's scent to track him. The trail leads me towards the border between the Cullens' territory and La Push and I come to find Matthew feeding off a large buck. I walk over slowly and gingerly while keeping my eyes fixed on him.
'Mattie?' I ask softly. Matthew's head whips to me quickly and I see his red eyes staring at me like I am food. I let my head drop down a little in submission to show I am there to harm him, but he takes it as an attack and charges me into a tree. The blow makes me shift back into human form and a scream comes out of my mouth. Matthew pulls back he hears my scream and then looks at me in horror.
"Mari?" Matthew whimpers. I look at him with a weak smile and wink at him.
"In the flesh," I groan. Soon Alice and Jasper appear near us with worry on their faces. Jasper walks over to me to see how I am while Alice goes to inspect Matthew. I groan as I stand up with Jasper's assistance and then take his jacket from him without thinking or asking.
"Seems like you took the change well," Jasper notices.
"I guess, but I did just attack Marinna," Matthew says softly.
"That is because I snuck up on you while you were eating and in wolf form," I groan. "But, you survived and hunted on your own."
"I almost killed a human," Matthew notes. Alice places her hand on the side of her face with a smile before kissing his lips softly.
"Gross," I tease. "The key things is that you didn't kill a human and went for the buck first. Of which, I can take to someone to clean up and then the kids and I have dinner."
"Good use for my leftovers," Matthew taunts. Jasper turns to let me climb onto his back and I oblige with a smile.
"Let's go home so Carlisle can look at you," Alice suggests. "Plus, we also need to get you ready for the wedding."
I am laying on the couch with a pillow over my face while Jasper massages my feet and it is very relaxing. This man has fingers sent from heaven above for massages and many other naughty things. Emmett and Rosalie have arrived to help with the small wedding after a honeymoon of their own while Bella and Edward are due to arrive within the next day or so. I lift the pillow from my face, only to become nauseous again and have to cover it back up. Jasper moves closer to my waist to massage my stomach for a moment and then moves to my thighs. I am not sure if the nausea is from being rammed into the tree by Matthew or if there is something else happening to me.
"Could you two take that upstairs?" Emmett taunts. I growl at him and reach to throw whatever I can blindly grab. "You are so mean , Marinna."
"Shut up, Emmett," I groan.
"Emmett, you should be a little nicer to your sister in law," Jasper says with a smile. I can hear it in his voice and it makes me groan again.
"Stop talking about me," I grumble into the pillow. I remove the pillow to curl up in Jasper's lap and he holds me close. "Can we go to the beach?"
"After the wedding," Jasper says softly. "We are going to head out to the beach where I can get you in that skimpy piece of clothing you call a bathing suit."
"Hey, you like that bathing suit," I growl while reaching to poke his chest. Jasper chuckles as he kisses the top of my head and holds me closer.
"Alright, I want to see this bathing suit," Emmett taunts. I turn to glare at him to see he is smiling widely.
"You are not invited," I growl.
"Come on, you two always leave on a vacation without taking us with," Emmett pouts.
"That may be because every time they go on vacation they end up coming back expecting a baby," Rosalie joins in as she walks over.
"You love every single one of them," I say.
"True, but soon the world will be filled with your children," Rosalie teases. I groan as I get up to walk away from the conversation to find Matthew to help him as much as possible, even while knowing that Alice has this all planed out already. I smile when I walk outside to see Matthew trying to remember his vows. He is pacing in and out of the sunlight while reading off his note cards.
"Mattie, relax," I giggle while hopping up on the railing.
"How can I? I am about to get married and I plan on doing this only once," Matthew grumbles. "How did you do this? How did you get through the day without wanting to throw up."
"First off, you cannot throw up anymore. Lucky you. Secondly, I was scared out the butt on my wedding day. I did throw up, but then again I was pregnant with the twins at that time. Mattie, you are going to be okay," I tease.
"I am afraid that I am going to forget my vows," Matthew sighs.
"If you forget them, speak from your heart and tell her what you know she wants to hear," I say softly.
"This is why I love you," Matthew says with a small smile. He ruffles my hair, almost making me fall off, and then goes inside to get dressed. The wind picks up blowing behind me and I can feel Billy's presence with joy to see Matthew getting married. I walk inside to go get ready and notice Jasper and Emmett smiling widely.
"What?" I ask with a hint of fear.
"I have something that you might not like," Jasper says. I look around them to notice that Rosalie is behind them with a wide smile on her face.
"And what is it?" I ask.
"We are going to go with you on your trip," Emmett says widely.
"No, absolutely not," I say.
"Ah, but you see Jasper said we could if we left you two alone," Emmett says.
"Jazz," I whine. Jasper shrugs his shoulder before walking over to kiss my cheek and leave me to the puppy we call Emmett. "Em, I love you, but you cannot go on the trip with us."
"Why not?" Emmett asks with a small pout.
"Because it is the only time I get with Jasper," I grumble. Before we can say anything else, Alice rushes to get us all ready for her big moment and I laugh at how perky she is to be marrying my brother.