The rest of the story will not be told as an Omniscient POV like the prologue. And no, the story will center around Bella & Reid. Just because I have romance listed doesn't necessarily mean it will be between the two.

Chapter Two

The next morning found Bella shooting her alarm clock dirty looks as she rushed from her closet to her en-suite. She was going to be late getting to the Reservation and it was all that stupid clocks fault.

Apparently Charlie had begun attending the weekly summer cook-out at Billy's with Sue and her two kids. Bella, of course, knew Sue fairly well seeing as she owned the Diner in Forks. She also remembered hanging out with her kids once or twice when she'd visit over the Summer or attend Fish Frys at the Res during her Senior year. She'd found Seth to be the most adorable teenager ever. Leah...well Bella could see how most people were put off by her bitter personality. It definitely took some getting used to, but Bella was nothing if not adaptable. The young witch had to be adaptable with wild child Reid Garwin and dare-devil Pogue Parry as two of her best friends.

Bella just hoped Sue's kids weren't upset about the marriage because, honestly, she wasn't. She'd always gotten along with Sue. She was very nice. Bella felt that the older woman would be good for Charlie... make him happy. Bella figured that if the two kids did turn out to be the step-siblings from hell then she'd just have to grin and bear it until the wedding. After that she could go back to her life on the East Coast knowing she gave it her all.

At eleven o'clock, a freshly showered Bella left her new bedroom and trotted downstairs. The brunette stopped to check her appearance in the mirror since she'd been in such a rush. She'd pulled her curls up into a pony-tail and dressed casually in cut-offs, an old Spencer swim team shirt, and flip-flops. A glance at the clock in the hallway told her that she only had about fifteen minutes to make a thirty minute drive to La Push.

"You guys sure you don't want to get out of bed and tag along?" Bella yelled, 'Using' just a tiny bit to make her voice loudly echo in everybody's ears.

A resounding chorus of "No" rang out from different areas of the house.

Bella shrugged her shoulders at their apparent desire for a lie in. She then grabbed her purse as well as the keys to Caleb's Mustang on her way out of the door. Normally she'd have taken Tyler's Hummer instead of the Mustang, because...well that's sort of what her and Reid did. Take Tyler's Hummer without asking just to see him get all flustered about it. But she decided not to take it during her shower since it would definitely fit more of her friends inside than the Mustang if they decided to go into town for lunch or something.

The familiar drive out to the reservation passed quickly. It wasn't long until she broke through the lining of the trees and the North Pacific Coastline appeared in a white capped roll of turmoil. Even angry and gray the area was just as beautiful as the New England coast line. Bella marveled at how the dark water seemed to bleed off to meet the slightly overcast gray skies at the horizon. She'd forgotten how beautiful it was at La Push, just as she'd forgotten how green Forks was.

Before Bella knew it, she was parking the 'Stang outside Billy Black's place. Loud laughter filled her ears as soon as she cut the rumbling engine. Tension that had been building between Bella's shoulder blades since she'd rolled out of bed slowly began to ease up. The laughter and playful banter she could hear occurring in the back yard was something that reminded her of home, of her Covenant. The noise was actually quite soothing to her semi-frayed nerves, even if it was loud enough to give the rowdiest bar in Boston a run for its money.

Once she rounded the final corner of old clapboard home, Bella stopped dead in her tracks. She was sure that she must have died on the drive over. Death, or perhaps a very vivid fantasy after having one too many of Kate's mixed drinks, was the only logical explanation for what her brown eyes were seeing.

The sharp pain from the quick pinch she administered to herself assured Bella that she wasn't dead. Nor dreaming. She was entirely lucid. Which meant... This was real.

Nine men built like brick shit-houses were spread out around the lawn either talking or tossing around a foot-ball. Even better? All of them were shirtless. Bella could literally see the thick, corded muscles on their shoulders and upper back flexing and contracting with their unnaturally graceful movements. Their ginormous biceps bulged in all the right places without any sort of prompting. Hell, she was even ninety-nine percent positive that their taut abs resembled an old fashioned wash board. Forget measly six packs, all of these men were sporting chiseled eight packs that caused the v of their hips to be one of the most eye catching sites on their bodies.

They were russet skinned gods.

As she gazed upon their sexy visage, Bella had to squash down a very, very strong urge to grab the water hose and spray them with it. The way individual droplets would travel the planes of their hairless chests, across their abs, and into the waistband of their cut-offs would be exquisite. She just knew the sight of these men soaking wet would be the hottest thing she would ever witness in her life.

"Bella!"

Her dad's excited shout and happy grin pulled the young witch out of an eye-candy induced coma.

"Hey, Daddy," Bella greeted as she pushed open the rusted gate that lead to the Black's backyard.

She smiled softly at the approaching salt and peppered police chief. Bella had genuinely missed the comfortable routine they had formed during her short stay with him. Weekly phone calls really hadn't quelled the longing she'd felt for his presence in her life.

Bella wrapped her lean arms around her father in an affectionate hug. It only lasted a few moments before Charlie pulled away from her. A light rosy hue tinted his cheeks, visible evidence of his embarrassment in regards to public displays of affection.

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Right...err... well common and say hi to Sue and the kids."

With a light shrug, Bella followed her father further into the yard. Almost everyone, save a few of the russett gods in conversation with ol' Billy, turned in unison to watch her entrance. A small smile tilted her lips as she gave them all a jaunty little wave of greeting.

They stopped next to the long picnic tables where two beautiful Native American women- one just a much younger, taller, and muscular version of the other- were setting out a few casserole dishes.

"Bella!" The older (and shorter) of the two, Sue Clearwater, exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around the young witch and pulled her into a hug. "It's great to see you again. My haven't you grown up to be a pretty little thing!"

Bella's eyes got progressively wider as Sue spent a good portion of the following five minutes alternating between hugging her and waxing poetic about her good looks. Luckily, it seemed that the younger of the two must have been just as uncomfortable with the bout of verbal diarrhea as Bella.

"MOM!"

The shout brought an end to the smother Bella fest that Sue seemed to be having. The older woman backed away with an embarrassed grin.

"Sorry, dear."

"It's fine." Bella assured her soon to be step-mother.

"If you say so. Now, Leah, why don't you take Bella to go say hi to Seth and introduce her to the others?"

Leah rolled her pretty brown eyes at her mother as she grabbed ahold of Bella's arm and led her away. "Sorry about her. She's been wound up like the Energizer Bunny ever since Charlie told her you were coming for the Summer."

"At least she didn't go so far as to pinch my cheeks and call me 'Pooky'. That may have been unforgivable."

Leah's dark eyes filled with mirth as she cracked a grin at the playful jab towards her mother's melodramatic mother henning. Bella surreptitiously studied the woman beside her. This was definitely not the Leah she'd been expecting. Nor was she the Leah Bella'd met years previous. And it wasn't because she'd gotten both taller and more muscular. It was because the young Native seemed to be a bit less of a frigid-bitch and more easy-going than she remembered. The bitterness surrounding the young woman didn't seem to be quite as poignant as it had been a few years ago.

"So, how do you feel about my dad and your mom tying the knot?" Bella asked, hoping to get a feel for whether or not she'd be doing her best to avoid her future step-siblings.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Leah shrug.

"It's cool, I guess. Charlie's a good man and he makes mom happy, so I don't see a problem with it."

Bella hummed her agreement as she glanced around the yard for Seth's familiar boyish features. "So... where's Seth?"

"Right there. He just got tackled by the twins," Leah nodded towards three of the russet gods wrestling around on the ground.

Bella's jaw dropped. A nauseous feeling settled in the young witch's stomach as she got a good look at her boy-turned-man step-brother-to-be. He was no longer tall and lanky. He'd put at least seventy-five pounds of pure muscle on his six-foot five frame. His shoulders were incredibly broad. His cheeks were no longer round and chubby. They'd become all sharp planes and angles which highlighted his strong, square jaw. In four years, fifteen year old Seth had become a man she didn't recognize.

Sweet baby Jesus... I ogled Seth. Sure it was more of a group ogling thing...but I still did it. Fuck! In some countries that's considered incest... Bella groaned to herself with a mental face-palm.

"That...that giant is little Seth?"

"Yep. Our little Sethy's all grown up and wearing his big boy pants," Leah told her just loud enough for others to hear.

Before Bella could form any sort of response other than to snicker at the affronted look Seth shot them, her future step-brother ran up to them with five of his friends trailing behind him. A huge grin spread across his face once he got a good look at who Leah had been talking to.

"Long time no see, Bella."

"Tell me about it," The young witch murmured as she once more marveled over how much he'd changed.

One of the bigger guys towards the back jogged around Seth with a grin that just radiated happiness. "Bells! You made it!" He laughed as he scooped the petite brunette up with his bulging arms, squeezed the life out of her, and then twirled her around.

Bella's brown eyes shot open in shock. Partly in response to his enthusiastic greeting and partly in response to the overwhelming heat coming from the stranger's skin. Sure, Leah's skin felt hot, but she had nothing on this guy. Once he set her back down, she got a better look at him. Her jaw dropped as soon as she realized that the man before her was none other than her awkward and gangly mechanic from Senior Year.

"Jacob?"

"Who else?"

"Geeze, you're huge. And hot!" She blurted in her ruffled state.

"I know... this bod is a work of art," he playfully leered over the boisterous laughter of Leah, Seth, and their nameless friends.

"Th...that so isn't what I meant," Bella groaned. "Not that you aren't huge or attractive because you are. I mean, seriously, you have big, bulging muscles in places I've never seen before..."Bella trailed off as she heard a whispered 'That's what she said' from the back of the peanut gallery. A bright blush stained her pale cheeks. "OK...I'm just going to shut up about you because it sounds seriously perverted when all I meant was that your skin feels hot enough to fry an egg on."

"Oh, that was priceless," Jacob managed to get out through a bout of lunatic sounding cackles. He looked at his friends with a snort. "Did you see how flustered she got talking about my big, bulging muscles?"

The young witch huffed in annoyance. Way to put your foot in your mouth, Bella. You even had an audience of strangers this time!

"It's a genetic thing here on the Res. All of us run a bit warmer than normal."

Bella raised a skeptic brow at Leah's amused answer to her observation. She'd never heard of any sort of genetic disorder that caused a group of people to have such a high body temperature. But, odd as it was, their body temperature wasn't her secret to pry into so she accepted the answer without further comment.

"Introductions?"

Leah took the liberty to answer since the other six were still laughing like a bunch of loons if they even glanced at Bella. She pointed to each of the four boys behind Seth and Jacob. "The two idiots behind Seth are the twins, Collin and Brady. The two idiots behind Jacob are Embry and Jared."

"Pleasure," she muttered dryly once their laugh at her expense ended. They all gave her nearly identical blinding white grins.

The call for everyone to start making plates went out, so Leah and the boys led the way over to the buffet style table piled with mountains of food. Bella could only look from her plate of perfectly proportioned servings to theirs in shock. Each of the giant men, plus Leah, loaded their plates with as much as possible before grabbing another and repeating the process.

It was like a train wreck. Bella just couldn't look away no matter how hard she told herself that she was being rude. She finally snapped out of it when Leah nudged her towards the big table where the younger generation were seated. At her approach Jacob stopped inhaling his food long enough to point at the empty space in front of him with a pointed look towards her. Bella walked around Leah and sat in the spot indicated.

Seth sat on Bella's right with the twins beside him. Jared plopped down a few seats to her left next to a fairly pretty girl he introduced as his fiance Kim. Bella also met Sam and his beautiful but scarred wife Emily. The pair was sat on the other side of Kim trying to help a man named Quil convince Emily's niece, Claire, to eat her vegetables. Embry sat his three plates of food next to Jacob's older sister Rachel whom he was obviously dating if one were to judge by the kiss he planted on her lips.

After it seemed like all introductions had been made, Bella concentrated on eating her lunch before it went cold. Five bites in and her plans to eat her meal without looking up so that she wouldn't rudely stare at how much the others consumed were ruined.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own or have any rights to the Twilight Saga or the characters from the Covenant.

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