A/N: I really have nothing to say for myself today. So, the usual adoration and appreciation for my betas, Evelyn-Shaye and Munkee-Rajah, and all that copyright stuff about Stephenie Meyer.

Chapter 35 – One More Heartache

Leah POV

Seven years ago, when Sam first told me he'd imprinted on my cousin, I thought there would be no way I'd survive that pain. Even now, with time and my own imprinting dulling the heartbreak of that moment, I remembered in excruciating detail every agonizing nuance of hearing the man I loved tell me he belonged body and soul to another woman. In my self-involved misery, I'd thought at the time that no one in the history of the world ever had—or ever would—experience a betrayal to top that.

I was so fucking wrong.

As gut-wrenchingly, soul-shatteringly awful as my experience had felt at the time, now it seemed to me like nothing more than a sparkly grain of sand compared to the coal-black mountain of treachery that Anjali had just dropped on my baby brother.

A child … a child … I have a child.

Not "I'm pregnant."

I HAVE a child.

When had she had it? Where was it now? Who was the father?

One hundred percent guaranteed it wasn't Seth's, since Anjali clearly hadn't been pregnant in the short time they'd known each other. One hundred and ten percent certain from the shattered look on his face that he hadn't known about it. At all.

How many more times could this bitch rip Seth's heart out?

You could have heard a fly fart in the silence that crept over the room. It was the morbid, anticipatory stillness that fills a hospital waiting room when everyone looks up at the grim-faced doctor standing in the door. Except instead of a sick relative, the deceased was Seth's hopes and dreams for a happy future with his imprint.

Everyone loved Seth. Every one of us—Emmett, Jasper, Nahuel, even the Denalis—was bleeding inside for my brother. Yet we couldn't show it, because the last thing he needed on top of everything else was for the Volturi to realize that he and Anjali were also an imprinted pair. It was that compulsion to protect Seth in the last way possible that kept me from dismembering Demetri when he profaned the silence by tittering like a cheerleader who'd just discovered the quarterback's hand up her skirt.

"Well now, that is most interesting!" he chortled merrily. He turned to Jane again. "I am so very glad we came here. This is the most entertainment we've had in quite some time. Perhaps we should invite Aro to join us for the fun!"

I ground my teeth and focused my willpower on staying still. If I moved, I was going to phase and shred someone—the Volturi tracker or Seth's evil little imprint, I wasn't sure which. I kept my eyes glued on my brother, watching helplessly while the train wreck of his life unfolded before me.

Jane pursed her blood-tinted lips and studied Anjali with narrowed eyes. "Curiouser and curiouser," she murmured. "So many questions come to mind. For example, where is this offspring? And who … or what … is its sire?"

Seth wasn't breathing. I was pretty sure of that, and it scared the hell out of me. Even more terrifying was the wildness in his eyes. He was going to lose it at any second, and I had no idea what to do to protect him. Thankfully, Jasper's brain hadn't shut down like mine.

"Seth, would you do me a favor, buddy?"

My brother's eyes twitched spastically for a few seconds before settling on Jasper. "Yeah?" His voice was dry and hollow, with all the strength of a feather floating to the ground.

"Would you go check on Jake?" Jasper was projecting for all he was worth, but not the calm and tranquility I'd have expected. What I felt wafting past me toward Seth was wave after wave of numbness.

Tactician that he was, Jasper undoubtedly had loads of questions for Anjali—Jane sure did—but he knew Seth wouldn't be able to bear hearing the answers just now. Seth needed to shut down completely and get the hell away from the situation—or he'd unintentionally out himself and his imprint just as I had done. If he'd felt calm, my brother would have insisted on staying. But with his emotions numbed, he had no will to resist Jasper's polite request.

"Sure, Jazz," he replied placidly.

Carmen stepped to his side and gently cupped his elbow. "I'll show you the way," she murmured in her heavy Latin accent. Anjali didn't turn to watch them go as Carmen led Seth from the room.

The exchange took all of ten seconds, so it was hopefully short enough not to raise the suspicions of the Volturi—all of whom seemed too intrigued by Anjali's revelation to pay attention to one more odd werewolf. All four of them had moved to surround Nahuel's sister, and they weren't being the least bit subtle about it. Apparently, my imprint didn't like the implied threat of their positioning, because before I could register that he'd moved at all, he was beside Anjali.

"You do not need to tell them anything or promise to aid them in any way," Nahuel said, his voice low and steady. I envied his calm in the face of chaos, and marveled at the strange workings of his mind. How was it that the idea of my being "allergic" to his venom could plunge him into an emotional free fall, but hearing he was an uncle barely caused a ripple?

Anjali studied him calmly for a moment before tentatively raising her hand and gently, awkwardly, patting him on the shoulder. "You are a good brother, Nahuel," she replied. "I appreciate all you've done to try to help me. But it's time for the truth. I think this is … the right thing."

Tired and barren, her pale eyes wandered past the circle of Volturi to Jasper. "I'm just not sure where to begin."

It was probably a combination of nerves and hormones, but I needed to sit down. I unceremoniously dropped my rump into the chair I'd sat in when we first entered the room. I thought Anjali looked like she needed to sit down, too, and I shocked the hell out of myself with my unexpected compassion for a woman who'd just destroyed my brother's life—again. Without consciously making the decision to speak, I heard myself piping up.

"For starters, why don't you sit before you fall down," I barked.

Nahuel and Anjali both favored me with matching expressions of surprise. I nodded toward the other end of the couch where Tanya still perched. Nahuel blinked at me, then took his sister by the arm and led her to the couch.

When she was seated, he crossed the room, parked his very fine ass on the arm of my chair, and rested his hand behind me on the back of the seat. His pose was both possessive and comforting, and while I appreciated the reassurance of his closeness, I thought his protectiveness was probably unnecessary. The Volturi were way past any interest in us; they were focused on milking every last gory drop of detail from Anjali.

She remained silent, her brow furrowed in deep thought, her eyes staring vacantly straight ahead. When it became clear she was lost somewhere far away, Jasper coughed subtly to draw her attention. "Anjali, perhaps you should just begin wherever you're comfortable," he suggested gently.

Her eyes blinked slowly and refocused, resting on Jasper. I wondered just how much fine tuning of emotions he was doing right now, and how broad his abilities were. Could he simultaneously project calm to Anjali and patience toward the Volturi? I couldn't see Jane sparing much more time for Anjali to get her story out, and wished—for the first time in my life—that Edward were here to just pull the information from her head.

"When I reached maturity, Father began looking for ways to incorporate me into his breeding program," Anjali began.

Beside me, Nahuel shifted uncomfortably. I could guess what he was thinking: that he could have easily ended up like Anjali, if not for the protection of his dead aunt. Or maybe he was as appalled as I was over how clinically and coolly his sister spoke of what amounted to sexual slavery.

"Unfortunately, it was very difficult to locate male vampires capable of the level of self-control required to achieve consummation."

Of course. Anjali had a heartbeat and blood, like a human. What red-blood-drinking vamp wouldn't prefer to sink his teeth into her rather than his dick? Where would Joham find a vampire more interested in fucking than feeding?

I could think of only two answers to that question, and I wasn't sure which option was more revolting. Clearly, Joham was capable of that level of self-control; the evidence was sitting on the chair beside me and the couch opposite us. The other answer was something only I knew, because I'd been the only awake, alert person in that goddam barn with the mind-molester.

Oh God ….

"When Father found Remy …"

I knew it. I fucking knew it.

"… he had the idea to allow Remy to practice his control on humans. Although they were more fragile, they were also expendable and easily replaced within the breeding plan."

"I got experience with you fragile types …"

"After some months of practice, Remy was able to successfully impregnate a human woman without killing her."

"I can control myself just fine … I know just what to do …."

Anjali was still speaking, but I could barely hear her calm, cold voice over the roaring rush of blood surging in my ears.

"We were successful on our first try, and my daughter was born six weeks later. She marked her first birthday shortly before we followed Nahuel to Forks."

"Obviously, you were better able to tolerate the pregnancy than a human woman," Jane observed.

"Yes," Anjali agreed, her beautiful face carefully blank. "Because I am half vampire, my body was perfectly compatible with a three-quarter vampire fetus. My daughter was delivered in the normal, human fashion."

A tiny part of me was relieved to hear that Anjali's delivery had been easy, because maybe that meant I'd be lucky, too. But that part was sinking fast beneath the overwhelming horror of hearing that fucking evil, wanna-be rapist vamp had procreated. Worse, that he'd done it with my brother's imprint.

Bile brewed in my gut and heaved up my throat. I clapped my hand over my mouth and swallowed hard. Glad I hadn't eaten much in the past several hours, I bent forward at the waist and put my head between my knees. I drew short, shallow breaths through my nose before forcefully expelling the air through my mouth.

"Ñi piuque?" Nahuel's lush voice was deep with alarm, and I felt his arm slip around my shaking shoulders.

"What is wrong with the shape-shifter?" Annoyance, mixed with a dash of curiosity, tinged Jane's high, shrill voice. "Is it sick?"

One of the other vampires—Jasper? Emmett? I couldn't tell—responded in that sub-vocalized way vamps use when they want to speak quickly. When they want to keep whatever they're saying hidden from human listeners. Probably explaining who the hell Remy was—and why his name had me freaking out—in a way that they hoped wouldn't send me any further over the edge.

You need to get your shit together! the wolf-bitch growled.

"I'm alright," I gasped, wrapping my arms around my knees and dropping my forehead onto them. "I just need a sec."

This was why Anjali had remained silent about the brain-rapist's talents. This was what … who … she'd been protecting. This—the desire to protect her child, and the fear of what her child's father and her own might do if she betrayed them—was probably the only thing that could make her voluntarily risk hurting Seth. This was the only excuse that could … possibly, maybe … be at least understandable, even if it wasn't actually forgivable.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," I wheezed into my arms. I want them dead. Joham. Remy. I want to kill them so fucking badly.

I felt Nahuel slide off the chair to kneel in front of me, enveloping me in his comforting warmth and scent. His long fingers stroked through my hair, and his sweet breath caressed my ear.

He whispered reassuringly: "We will be free of this, my heart. I promise."

"Halfling," Jane called, her voice clearly dismissing my little scene. "Continue with your explanation. Where is your offspring now?"

"She is with my father."

"Anjali …" Jasper interrupted. "Just how many mixed children does Joham have in his possession right now?"

She was silent for a moment, as if debating with herself whether to admit what she knew.

"Five. My daughter and four half-human females. Two of the half breeds are Father's and two are Remy's."

For the first time since we'd arrived in Denali, emotion crept into Anjali's flat voice. Her tone—fraught with anxiety and helplessness—drew my head out of my arms. I stared at her over Nahuel's shoulder.

She sat primly on the couch, feet side-by-side and flat on the floor, knees chastely locked together. Only her voice and the whiteness of the olive skin stretched over her tightly clenched fists, gave away her emotions. She stared at her own hands, as if some explanation for the fucked-upedness of all this might be written in the wrinkles of her knuckles.

The shit just kept getting deeper. Joham and Remy had murdered four other women, and created a veritable coven of half-breeds. After we'd dealt with Joham, what the fuck were we going to do with all those half-vamp children? No way would the Volturi just walk away from something that … "interesting."

"That is assuming, of course, he hasn't slain my child as punishment for my abandonment," Anjali murmured. "She has value to his breeding program, of course. And I don't think Remy would appreciate it if Father did kill her, but they can both be unpredictable when they are angry."

I swallowed another wave of nausea. I didn't know whether to detest her for lying to Seth and concealing all this from him … or for abandoning her child in order to be with my brother. I understood the power of the imprinting bond—of course I did—but I still couldn't imagine choosing my imprint over my child. What's more, I was certain Seth would never have asked Anjali to choose, if she'd told him the truth. He would have found a way to help her rescue her daughter from Joham.

Whatever her reasons for all the hurt she'd inflicted on my brother, Anjali was still an an evil whore, I decided. And I was a judgmental bitch. And Seth was still going to be devastated by all this.

"Fuck," Emmett whispered succinctly.

His voice seemed to break Anjali's reverie, and she finally lifted her eyes, shifting her gaze from Emmett to Jasper before settling on Nahuel and me.

"This is why I volunteered to be bait," she said, her voice gathering strength. "If she is alive, I want to take her from Father. If she is dead, I want to avenge her. If she still lives, and I fail, perhaps Father will kill me and leave her unharmed. And if she is already dead …"

She hesitated and her eyes wandered toward the doorway where Seth had left the room minutes ago. "… then I have no reason to live, either."

Jane snorted. "How touching."

"Really, dear girl, your motivations don't concern us at all," Demetri explained, his voice still lilting and revoltingly cheerful. "We don't care about any progeny that may have already resulted from your sire's breeding program."

Liar! Fucking bloodsucking liar! The wolf-bitch howled silently. I didn't believe for a minute that the Volturi were here to help us out of the goodness of their cold, dead hearts. Aro wanted to get his hands on a half-vamp or two. I was sure of that.

"Joham is our priority. All that's required is that you lead us to him."

"I can do that," Anjali said firmly, steadily holding my gaze.

I still hated her, even if I did understand her a bit better now, but I owed it to Seth to at least try to protect her by derailing this plan.

"So what? You think you'll just walk out the front door and your batshit crazy father will be there waiting for you?" I challenged harshly. "He got what he wanted out of you. He's got your daughter. What makes you think he'll care where you are now?"

Anjali studied me silently for a moment, clearly at a loss to understand why I wasn't already ushering her out the door. "I will return to the barn and wait there. Once Bella is no longer shielding me, Remy will be able to see where I am. They will come for me."

She glanced to her brother, who was still kneeling in front of me, obviously shaken by my mini freak-out. "Father is not done with me," she muttered. "He was planning to breed me again. After he'd recaptured Nahuel."

Only someone unaware of how truly insane Joham was would miss the implication of that statement. Sadly for me, I was totally clued in to the way the evil fucker's mind worked. The barest hint of my imprint in any kind of sexual situation with his half-sister churned my unsettled stomach all over again. I groaned and rubbed my hand over my dry lips.

"I need to see Jake," I muttered. "I really fucking need to see Jake."

Although I hadn't been addressing anyone in particular, Jasper responded to my whining. "He's going to be fine. Carlisle is done with him." For a stupefied second, I wondered how he knew Jake's condition, but then I heard the light rap of vampire footsteps approaching in the hallway.

Rosalie stepped into the room. "You heard," she said to Jasper.

He nodded. "Yes. I'm assuming you did, too."

The look Rosalie threw in Anjali's direction should have, by all rights, incinerated the little bitch where she sat. "Yes. Edward, Carlisle and I all heard, but someone will need to fill in Jacob and Seth."

She slid her cold stare to me. "Jacob's awake, and he's asking to see you."

"Jake's really okay?" I asked with as much civility as I could ever muster for Bloodsucker Barbie. We'd never be buds, but she was earning some points right now for her obvious desire to beat the ever-living shit out of Anjali.

Her flinty gaze softened a bit. "Yes, he's really fine. Apparently, it will take a lot more than some broken bones, scratches and a few traces of venom to put down the big dog."

I felt a surge of relief so intense it burned my eyes. I had no idea how Carlisle had gotten the venom out of Jake's system, and I didn't even care. All that mattered was that he would be alright.

I sighed and climbed clumsily to my feet. Nahuel rose fluidly and gracefully beside me, his big, warm hands ghosting repeatedly over my arms, shoulders and back. Touching me was always Nahuel's tell; he was more disturbed by the past hour than he cared to admit and needed the comfort of physical contact with me.

Without really looking at her, I snapped at Anjali over my shoulder.

"Stay put until we can discuss all this with Jake and Carlisle. No one should go anywhere until the entire group is on board with this bait idea." And by "the entire group," of course, I really meant Seth. I hoped the trollop was sharp enough to realize that without me having to spell it out.

"Of course," she whispered, her eyes once again fixated on her clenched fingers.

I started to move toward the door, but I was forced to stop short when Nahuel, who was gripping my hand tightly, didn't move with me. I turned to him questioningly, but his eyes were trained on his sister. My breath caught at the contemplative expression on his face. What was he thinking? His lush lips parted slightly.

"What is her name?"

Anjali blinked in surprise for a few seconds. A shy smile crept across her ashen face.

"Aliah," she murmured, her voice reverent and worshipful, as if she were sharing with her brother a life-altering, private secret.

What did it say that I was the only real human—or at least the closest thing to human—in the room, the only other mother (though no one else knew that), and I hadn't thought to ask the kid's name?

Yeah, you're going to be a great mother, the wolf-bitch snarked.

SSW/SSW/SSW

Bad news is like bad chili. It burns like hell going down, you know it's going to tear up your guts later, reheating it doesn't make it one damn bit more palatable, and it's sickening no matter how you serve it up. Regurgitating for Jake and Seth all that had gone down with Anjali felt exactly like trying to digest badly made five-alarm. Not even the soothing reality of Jake's rapid and steady recovery could ease the burn.

By the time I was done talking, I'd realized there was only one small advantage to my being the bearer of this particular bit of distasteful information: it was easier for Seth to get it from me, someone he loved and trusted, than to have to hear it straight from the mouth of his duplicitous imprint.

I watched my baby brother process the shitty news that the woman he loved not only had a child with another man ... uh, being … but that she'd callously abandoned that child and made one bad, deceptive decision after another. Jake, propped up in bed with bandages on his hands and feet, couldn't seem to lift his jaw out of his lap. Seated beside him on the bed, Renesmee was, for once, completely beyond words. Seth's normally open, happy face wore an expression of resigned isolation. Nahuel was so traumatized that he was all but glued to my ass.

And I was floundering in a welter of hormone-hyped emotions that made me want to scream and laugh, cry and curse, hug Seth, kiss Nahuel, beat the crap out of Anjali for lying to my brother, and punch Jake in the nuts again for scaring everyone.

Mostly, though, I just wanted to take a nap. I was exhausted, physically and emotionally.

So was Seth, and it echoed pathetically in his voice.

"What should I do, Jake?"

His pleading tone reminded me of how lost and desperate he'd sounded the one and only time he'd gotten into real trouble at school. Seth and a friend had argued, things had escalated to a fist-fight, and for some reason, the principal came down harder on Seth's buddy than on my brother. Seth got suspended, but the other kid got expelled. Seth had felt like it was his fault—it had been—and he'd begged my father to tell him how to fix things. Jake's answer now was much the same as my father's had been.

"You do whatever it takes to make this better," he said, gently and kindly. His voice was raspy and weak, but I knew in just a few more hours, the strong, assured Jake that we all depended on would be back in action. "You talk to her."

Seth's dark eyes clung desperately to our Alpha. "I want to," he whispered. "But if I do, the Volturi …"

"Fuck the Volturi," Jake cut him off. "Don't even worry about them. We'll deal with them if we have to. Do what you need to do to get through this together."

When the hell had Jake become the Dr. Phil of the supernatural set?

Nahuel cleared his throat. "Do you agree with the plan to bait my sire?"

Jake sighed and glanced at Renesmee, who was sitting on the edge of his bed. "It's a decent plan," he hedged.

"But …" I prompted.

He shook his head. "I wouldn't want my imprint doing it." He met Seth's eyes. "But I'd also know she'd need to make such an important decision herself, with all my support and none of my over-protective bullshit."

Not what I was hoping he'd say. Probably not what Seth was hoping for, either.

I was acutely aware of Nahuel's stiff silence beside me. There was no missing the fact that I had not done for him what Jake was saying he would have done—what Seth should do. I'd shamelessly forced Nahuel to submit to my will and refused him the right to decide for himself whether or not he'd be bait for his father.

"Talk to her, man," Jake urged gently after a few moments.

Seth nodded and turned toward the door. "Thanks, Jake. I'm really glad you're okay."

Jake grinned like a male model in a toothpaste ad. "Me, too, kid." Then, more seriously, "It will be okay Seth. You're not alone, and we'll make everything okay together."

Unshed tears glistened in my brother's eyes. He said nothing more, only nodded and closed the door quietly behind him.

Jake turned his attention to me.

"So, I think you owe me an apology," he challenged.

He only meant to bust my chops. I knew that. But instead of the snide comment that I should have tossed back at him, my hormone-soaked brain veered off in a different direction. I felt my chin quiver humiliatingly for several seconds, and then I burst into stupid, heaving sobs. Jake's innocuous jibe had ripped out the tiny, dried-out cork that had been plugging the widening hole in my emotional dam.

Jake looked like I'd pinched his testicles.

I knew what was wrong with me, even if no one else did, but that didn't make it any easier to get myself under control.

After enduring just a few stupefied seconds of my sloppy sobbing, Nahuel wrapped me protectively in his arms and glared at my Alpha.

"She has been torturing herself with remorse and worry," he growled accusingly, his big, warm hands stroking almost frantically over my back and shoulders. "I will not tolerate you punishing her further for doing something that you also would have done had you been in her position."

Jake raised his bandaged hands placatingly.

"Whoa! Ease up, man. I was kidding." He peered at me worriedly. "You do know I was kidding, right, Leah?"

I sniffled, sucked in a snorting breath and used the hem of my T-shirt to wipe my nose and eyes—which wasn't an easy move to make, considering Nahuel was holding me so tightly I could barely lift my arms. I forced myself to respond in a more typically Leah-like fashion.

"Yeah, yeah, asshole, I know you didn't mean anything by it," I sniped weakly. "I'm just dealing with a lot of shit right now. I really am sorry for punching you in the 'nads, but I won't apologize for going after Nahuel. I really had no choice."

Jake swallowed hard and, without looking at her, clutched Renesmee's hand in his. "I know that now," he said softly, earnestly. "I understand now …" he glanced up at his imprint. "… more than I ever did before."

Huh. Something's up with those two. Do I want to know what?

Nah. Probably not.

"I was wrong to try to stop you," Jake continued, his dark eyes settling on Nahuel. "And I'm really sorry you were hurt, man."

Nahuel tipped his head in acknowledgement, but said nothing. I could forgive Jake easily, but it looked like my imprint was still miffed that my Alpha had made me cry. Part of me wished I could tell him to get used to the tears and emotional whiplash, because we were probably in for six more months of it. Soon, I promised myself.

"So we're good?" I asked brusquely.

He chuckled before favoring me with the kind of grin a frat boy would give the buddy who's just offered him a hit off the communal blunt. "We're good. And as soon as Carlisle says you can start phasing again, we'll get you back into the pack."

A soft knock drew our attention seconds before the door opened. Carlisle stepped into the room.

"Pardon my interruption, but I thought you might want to know the Volturi have gone hunting."

There was no good response to that statement, and we all knew it. It meant four innocent humans—at least four—were going to die. But it also meant we'd have a modicum of privacy for a little while.

"They've agreed to hunt far outside the Denali's home area, so they'll be away from the house for a few hours," Carlisle continued meaningfully. "Seth is taking the opportunity to speak privately with Anjali."

His golden eyes cut to me. "Leah, I think now would be a good time for a follow-up exam."

I nodded and sucked on my lower lip, wondering how I'd convince Nahuel to give me some privacy with Carlisle, but the doc took care of the situation for me.

"Nahuel, the rest of the family and the Denalis are discussing strategy, and Jasper has asked that you join them."

Nahuel was still fondling me like a businessman squeezing a stress ball, and I knew it was as much for my comfort as his. He lowered his long-lashed eyes and contemplated his shoes for a moment, before looking at me questioningly.

"I'm okay, baby," I murmured encouragingly. "Really. Go talk with the others. I'll join you in a little while."

He smiled slightly and, before I could protest or move, swooped in, kissed me with a loud smack full on the lips and disappeared out the door.

Jake had the balls to actually snicker. I rounded on him, annoyed.

"One word out of you, Black, and I'll finish the job that venomous half-vamp started," I threatened.

That earned me an outright guffaw from Jake and pleasant chuckles from Renesmee and Carlisle. Which made me think of something I hadn't thought to ask earlier because I'd been distracted by the whole Seth-Anjali drama.

"Was that venom in your wounds?"

Jake smirked, leaned back against the headboard and slipped his bandaged hands behind his head.

"Yeah, it was."

He sounded inordinately pleased to be the only wolf in living memory to survive vampire venom.

"Shit," I breathed. "That means Nahuel's not the only venomous half-vampire. There could be even more than him and the one you killed."

Jake nodded wordlessly, letting the full import of that realization sink into my brain without comment. The reality of how close we'd all come to losing him burned away my ire. I felt hot moisture surge behind my eyes again and swallowed down the emotion—before anyone saw it, I hoped.

I glanced at Carlisle. "Thanks, doc. For whatever you did to save him."

An odd sequence of emotion played across Carlisle's elegant features—surprise that I'd thanked him, followed quickly by what looked like embarrassment. It piqued my curiosity.

"What did you do?" I asked. "To get rid of the venom?"

Carlisle's vague embarrassment gelled to obvious chagrin, and his eyes darted to Jake for help.

"You don't want to know," my Alpha said sheepishly.

What the hell? They were both embarrassed?

"Okay …" I replied, drawing out the word questioningly.

Jake sighed, wrinkled his nose, and scrubbed one bandaged hand through his shaggy hair. "Let's just say the experience sucked."

Oh? Oh! Ewwww ….

"For both of us," Carlisle agreed.