A/N: Sorry it took so long to write this chapter, I took a short break to brainstorm the last chapter. I want to make this as action packed and full of drama as I can, since this is the last chapter. Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck by me through this story, Shadowcub, pureangeleyes, verseseven…. Everyone. I love you all!
Chapter Twenty: New additions and fight conclusions
Jake slowed down his sprint as he reached the boundary lines, he could hear the distant howls of his old pack. Jake shut the noise out and pushed forward, sprinting as fast as he could to his father's house. As Jake reached his old house he saw the porch light on, jogging up to the front door he pushed it open and walked in, seeing his father and Sue sat talking. They both looked up to see Jake standing in front of them; Billy turned his wheelchair and opened his arms for a hug "Jake, good to see you've come home". Jake walked into his father's arms and hugged him "dad, I haven't come back for good. I still have to go back and protect Bella… I came back to tell you that you need to call off Sam's attack". Sue stepped forward and looked shocked that Jake would even say such a thing "Sam knows what he's doing, he's assured us that this is the best thing for all of us and the humans you are all supposed to protect". Jake shook his head "If you believe that then there's something you should know…. Seth and Leah have imprinted". Sue covered her mouth with her hand as she gasped "really? Oh please tell me it isn't one of….them", Jake felt a growl building up in his chest but swallowed it down knowing it would only do more damage than good. "No Sue…. But the werewolf, Bracken, has adopted her new born niece and nephew….they imprinted on them", Billy and Sue both felt their jaws drop nearly to the floor at the news. Nobody expected that to happen and sue was less than happy to hear it, she felt as if her whole world was spinning out of control and she was powerless to change it. First her husband is cruelly taken from her by a heart attack and now her children had imprinted on the werewolf children of their sworn enemies, how was any of this fair?
Billy helped Sue to sit on the sofa and turned back to look at his son, the young man standing before him was not the little boy who once looked so carefree and happy. He looked older and worn out, his shoulders hung low and his clothes looked so worn and ill-fitting now. He looked like he hadn't slept in a year and hadn't smiled in even longer, his hair was shaggy now, and the sight broke Billy's heart. "Son, is there any way to get the babies away from the Cullens? We could bring them here where they could be raised by their own kind" Billy suggested, Jake looked at his father in shock; he couldn't believe what he was suggesting "dad, they're not our kind. They're a different kind of werewolf; the twins belong with the Cullens. Just call off the attack" Jake pleaded. He needed to make his dad see what a big mistake this was, he had to for Bella, Seth and Leah's sakes. Billy looked like he was going to argue for the attack once again, Jake tried one more thing "dad, if the attack goes ahead Seth and Leah will fight with the Cullen's…. and I'll have no choice but the stand with them". Billy looked at the determination set firmly in Jake's eyes and knew that his son had made up his mind; no one was going to stop Jake from sticking to his word. Billy sighed and cast a quick glance to Sue, who looked like she was going into shock "I'll see what I can do son, but it's not just my decision". Jake nodded "thank you dad, I have to go now, but I'll come by as soon as Bella has had her baby… once I know she's OK".
Billy nodded and hugged Jake good bye, he watched as his son jogged off into the night and sighed. None of this was going to end well, that much was obvious to Billy. He just hoped he didn't lose his son over it all. Jake took long strides as he ran towards the boundary lines, just as he neared the end of Quileute land, Jake was tackled by a large wolf. Shifting mid roll he turned to see Embry stood growling and panting at him, Sam walked slowly out of the trees, flanked by Paul and Quil, and stopped in front of Jake what are you doing back here Jake, your one of them now Sam's thoughts were clear in Jake's mind. Jake growled you need to call off the attack Sam… things have changed, Sam let out a gruff laugh oh really? What things? Jake looked around, wondering if he should say anything or not, Embry saw the silence and growled loudly. Jake sighed and phased back just as everyone else did as well, Paul looked at Jake impatiently "so tell us Jake, why should we call off the attack?" Quil laughed "you joining the blood suckers? You wanna have fangs too?" Jake growled "it's not like that Quil, things are different now. It's not that simple anymore". Jake knew he was going way too far to stop now; none of them were going to let it go now so he may as well carry on. As if his thoughts were answered, Embry growled "so what is different Jake? You keep saying things are different but I don't see it". Jake sighed "Seth and Leah have imprinted".
Everything went quiet for what seemed like forever, the only sound was a faint growling coming from Sam. Jacob saw him shaking and rolled his eyes "there is no way you should be mad at Leah imprinting, you imprinted on Emily", Sam snarled at Jacob as he turned around and ran back into the woods, phasing as he ran. The rest of the pack took one last look at Jake, anger blazing, before phasing back and running off after Sam. Jake sighed and ran his hand through his short hair; none of this was going well. Their only hope now was that his father could get the rest of the council to call off the attack… for everyone's sake. Jake sighed and took off running back to the Cullen compound, phasing as he ran. He'd already spent too much time away from Bella as it was, he needed to get back to her and make sure she was OK. Jake couldn't understand why he felt this unknown pull to Bella, why for some reason he suddenly couldn't imagine being away from Bella ever. Jacob ran faster as he neared the compound, a feeling of dread running though his veins, making him push himself past his limit. As Jake reached the edge of Cullen land he heard an ear piercing scream from the house, Jake Phased back on the edge of the treeline and pulled on a pair of cut-off jeans he had stashed. Jake ran across the grounds and burst through the back door, Alice stood up quickly and pointed upstairs "oh Jake, Bella went into labour. Edward and Bracken rushed her upstairs". Jake nodded and ran upstairs as fast as his legs would move; he burst through the door of Carlisle's study and stopped in shock at what he saw.
Bella, laid on the hospital bed in the middle of the room, Bracken and Edward stood on either side of her. Jake came to his senses and rushed to the bed "how long has she been in labour?" he demanded, Bracken handed Edward the scalpel "not long, she's had her spine snapped so she can't feel any pain and the baby can't breathe so we have to rush him or her out". Bracken looked up at Edward and it looked like the two of them had a mental conversation, Edward nodded and Bracken left the room just as Rosalie came into the room. Bracken walked back into the living room and took Anastasia from Seth; everyone stood and listened to the sounds above them. The tension in the room was unbearable and holding the twins was doing nothing to keep Bracken and Alice calm. Emmett paced the living room so much that everyone thought he was going to wear a trench from one side of the room to the other. Finally Emmett let out a frustrated roar and ran out of the house, no one went after him as they all knew exactly why he did what he did. The frustration of his baby sister and her baby nearly dying was too much for him to take, he had to do something.
Emmett ran north towards Canada, he ran until he was in the middle of the wilderness and away from any civilisation. As Emmett reached a large redwood tree and punched it, he kept punching it until the tree split all the way up the middle of the tree. As the tree fell over in two halves Emmett heard a noise, a quiet, distant noise. A noise he couldn't quite figure out, Emmett stood as still as a statue, listening. Emmett took off running as fast as he could in the direction, he didn't even notice the three feet of snow he was running though, not that he would anyway. After a short run across an area the size of Forks through the Canadian wilderness, Emmett stopped at the most disturbing sight he had seen since becoming a vampire. The body of a young woman laid on the ground, blood soaking into the snow and a baby, not even an hour old was biting the top of her thigh. Emmett edged forward slowly as he watched the baby, finally he realised that the baby was feeding off his dead mother. Emmett reached down and picked up the baby, who snapped at his hands. The baby boy looked into Emmett's eyes and Emmett felt warmth he had never felt before spread through his body, for the first time in his vampire life he felt warm. Emmett knew he had to take the child and protect him, as he took of his t-shirt and wrapped the baby. He laid the baby on the floor and went about digging a hole to bury the mother, he made sure he covered all signs that she was ever there. He picked the baby up and cradled him into his chest as if the baby was the most important parcel in the world.
Emmett walked back into the house carrying the wrapped up bundle in his arms, everyone was now in the living room with exception of Edward and they all turned to face him. Esme saw how bad Emmett looked and rushed to his side "Emmett, what's wrong? What's happened to you?" she asked in a worried tone, "I ran all the way to Canada, I hit a tree and I heard a noise" he cut himself off as he couldn't think of how to explain it, Emmett moved the quiet bundle slightly so Esme could see "he was all alone, I had to bring him here" he finished as Esme gasped. Everyone was suddenly focused on Emmett as he explained what had happened, his voice constantly shaking. Rosalie handed Renesmee to Jacob and slowly approached Emmett, she held her hands out and Emmett passed the wrapped baby to her. Rosalie looked down at the sleeping boy and smiled "hello little man" she whispered, the baby woke and looked up at Rosalie with a smile. Emmett explained how the baby was a half vampire and how the mother had no ID on her when she died. Carlisle nodded "well the baby seems to have bonded with the two of you, if you both want; I think it'd be a good idea if the two of you adopted him".
With that one sentence Rosalie looked like all her birthdays and Christmases had come together in one moment, she looked at Emmett and he had a bigger smile than she did. He stood next to Rosalie and put his arm around her shoulder "we finally have it Rose, we've finally got our own family", as everyone congratulated the couple, Bracken was the first one to ask "what are you going to name him?" Rose thought for a few seconds before smiling "I like Skyler, Skyler Emmett Cullen", Emmett smiled and nodded "Skyler it is then". Bracken scratched the back of her neck "2 half vampires babies and 2 werewolf babies, this will be…interesting", at that moment everyone started laughing, Bracken was right and they all knew it. With 3 imprinted werewolves as well, things were going to get very complicated indeed. Rosalie held Skyler closer to her chest "If any wolf imprints on him, I'm going to be ripping them to pieces" she warned, Bracken laughed "your welcome to have Seth or Leah imprint on Skyler, I could do with one child not imprinted". Alice playfully slapped Bracken on the arm and tried to look angry, Seth looked worried again "you're… you're not going to stop me seeing Anastasia are you?" he half whined, Alice turned and smiled at Seth in a comforting way "of course not Seth, we'd never do that to you". Seth breathed out a sigh of relief and visibly relaxed, no one had noticed Leah who had tensed at bracken's comment and had now relaxed along with Seth.
Carlisle looked thoughtful for a second "I wonder how Jacob got on with the pack", everyone went quiet in an instant and a sense of dread fell down upon the room. Alice and Rosalie went off upstairs to find some of Cadoc's clothes for Skyler to wear, while everyone else went off to find other things to do. Bella was in the back of everyone's minds all through her transformation, everyone worried for her and wondered what would become of her once she woke up. Renesmee constantly asked about her mom, Jake nearly gave in to her demands on more than one occasion. Edward never left her side and was joined by different members of the house at different times, everyone wanted to see Bella for themselves and make sure she was ok. At different times during Bella's transformation; Carlisle and Esme would come in and sit with Bella so that Edward could go downstairs and spend time with Renesmee. Alice, Rosalie and Esme spent the three days getting everything needed for Skyler. Shopping for a new wardrobe, furniture and decoration shopping, and drawing up plans for his nursery. The boys had the responsibility of building an extension for all the new children, as well as Renesmee's nursery in the cottage. Even with the excitement of Bella waking up and learning to be a new born, bonding with Renesmee and the worry of Renesmee's rapid growth and development, Jake was constantly nervous about the wolves' plans.
"If they start on us then we sort them out" Seth said, Leah growled at Seth "we can't kill our pack". "They're not our pack if they start a fight, we have to protect the kids" Seth replied as he looked over to Anastasia. Bracken shook her head as she fed Anastasia her bottle "no Seth, we can't ask you three to fight your brothers", Bella walked into the room holding Renesmee. As she sat on the sofa with her daughter in her arms, Jake sat next to her "Seth's right, if Sam and the pack try to hurt the kids then we have to step in and stop them". Bella rolled her eyes and held Renesmee closer to her chest, Edward struggled to hold back a growl and Bracken had the smuggest look ever on her face. She wasn't the only one who hated the imprints. Alice went blank as she slipped into a vision, Leah took Cadoc gently from her and Bracken passed Anastasia to Seth. Everyone watched Alice closely as she eventually came back from her vision, looking around quickly to everyone "they've made up their minds, they're coming in an hour to kill the kids" she whispered. Everyone growled, with Bracken, Seth, Leah and Jake letting out the loudest growls of everyone. Bracken turned to Esme and Rosalie "mom, Rose, will you two hold the kids and keep them safe?" she asked, Esme nodded "Of course sweetie, I assume you have a plan". Bracken nodded "Jasper, could you keep a lock on their emotions? And Edward, could you stay in Sam's mind?" she asked her two brothers, both Edward and Jasper nodded "It'll be easier listening to just Sam, I'll be able to hear all of them at once" Edward said as he wrapped his arm around Bella and held her close.
Carlisle stood and looked around at everyone "OK, we have an hour to get ready. Let's make sure everything is covered", Bracken and Jasper started formulating a plan quicker than anyone could have imagined possible. By the end of the hour, everyone was stood out the front of the house, waiting or the wolves to show up. Everyone was on edge waiting for the fight that would destroy them all, no matter who won. The plan was for Esme and Rose to hold the children, they had to stay behind everyone and protect the babies. Seth, Leah and Jake stood at the front in wolf form, with Jake taking alpha point in front. Everything was silent for what felt like forever, no one moving, no one making a sound. Slowly Sam and the other wolves moved out of the tree line, growling, ready for a fight. Edward stepped forward and spoke to Jake, Seth and Leah "Sam is giving you a choice, stand with them once again… or die with us". All three growled louder than anyone thought possible for a wolf, and Bella felt a small amount of fear at the volume of her best friend. Edward turned back to Sam "Jake, Seth and Leah all agree that they will not be the ones dyeing today. You want to kill their imprints; they'll fight to the death". Sam nodded his giant head and turned to look back at the others, all the wolves crouched further as they got ready to charge forward. What happened next, no one was prepared for and no one would have believed if they hadn't been there to see it.
Sue Clearwater ran in between the two groups, facing Sam with her arms stretched out "Stop Sam!" she yelled. Sam looked over her shoulder briefly before turning back to her, "I don't like it any more than you Sam, I never wanted my children to imprint on them. But if you kill those children, then you kill my children… and me" Sue said with as emotion as she could put into her words. Billy Black was wheeled around the side of the house by his daughter Rachel "Sam wait!" he shouted as his chair was brought to a stop next to Sue "this attack will not happen", everyone looked at Billy in confusion as they all tried to work out what the hell was going on. Bracken stepped forward slowly and cleared her throat "excuse me Mr Black; I hope you don't find me speaking out of turn. But I don't understand what's going on; I thought the council ordered the death of our children". Billy looked at Bracken and shook his head "It was agreed before we knew of the situation; we cannot allow three of our tribe to lose their imprints". Sam growled loudly, brining attention back to him. Esme and Rose held the babies closer to their chests, taking a step back towards the house. Carlisle stepped forward and joined his youngest daughter "Billy, are you saying the attack has been called off?" Billy nodded "none of us are happy about the imprinting, we would give anything to have the imprints broken. But the rules are not to be broken by anyone; you're all safe as long as the imprints stand"
Jake, Seth and Leah howled with joy as they rushed back into the house to change back. Sam and the other LaPush wolves growled once more before walking off back into the forest. Sue looked sadly as her children walked back out of the house in human form and took each of their imprints, smiles spread over their faces as they hugged them tightly. Bracken saw this and looked at Sue sympathetically "I'm not happy about the imprinting either, I never wanted my children's choices taken away from them. I'd give anything to turn back the clock and stop it from ever happening, but I can't". Bracken glanced back briefly at Seth and Leah holding the twins and smiled, looking back at Sue as she carried on speaking "But I do know that Seth and Leah will treat my children with as much love as I or Alice could ever give them. Even if they've had their choice in mates taken away from them, I know it's not really an unfair trade when I think about it". Sue looked at her children and for the first time she saw pure happiness in their eyes, the happiness you can only find by finding the other half of your soul. Sue sighed "I don't like it now, but I suppose I can get used to it. I just don't want the reservation over run by…. Vampires", Bracken shrugged "it won't be, the treaty stands no matter what. We'll only come on your lands if you invite us". Billy shook everyone's hands and hugged his son, Sue hugged her children and gave them strict orders that they would sleep at home every night and spend their days with the twins. Seth and Leah agreed happily and waved as Billy and Sue left to back to the reservation. Carlisle sighed "even though this problem is sorted, we still have another big problem".
"The children are growing too fast" Carlisle explained "they should only be a few weeks old, but they all like their a few months", everyone realised in shock that Carlisle was right. With all the stress of the pack wanting to kill the kids and everything else happening everyone had failed to notice that the children were growing way too quick. The look of panic in Bella and Alice's eyes was near heart-breaking to Edward as he saw his wife and sister clutching their children to them even tighter. Bracken stood and started pacing as she looked lost in thought, everyone stopped their silent panicking and watched her pace. "Bracken?" Carlisle asked, Bracken shook her head quickly as she came back out of her train of thought "sorry dad, I was just remembering something I heard once". "well please share it with us" Jacob growled, Bracken looked at Jake un-phased by his actions before looking at the whole family "It was something I heard about 100 years ago, there was word of a new kind of vampire. Vampires created naturally with human mothers, giving birth to them. We never knew where they came from or much about them, but we knew that they could live either way, they had heartbeats and blood running through their veins. They could pass easily for a human or even live alongside vampires as their equal".
"They grew quickly, very quickly, they were fully grown within 7 years. But the thing was, as soon as they reached maturity, they stopped ageing. They lived forever as far as we knew" Bracken finished. Everyone looked at her in shock "well what about the twins?" Alice asked, "well that's the thing. Amongst our kind, the pack moves together. Wolf cubs will grow at the same time, if one grows faster than normal they all do. Cadoc and Anastasia are genetically following the others in the pack" Bracken replied. Bella spoke quietly as she looked down at her daughter in her arms "so…will Renesmee live forever?", Bracken smiled "all four of them will live forever… as long as no one kills them". Emmett looked down at Skyler sleeping in Rosalie's arms "so we're never going to lose them, they'll be our children forever", Bracken smiled and nodded "pretty much, they'll become young adults and stay that way forever". The cheering from everyone in the Cullen house could be heard a mile away as the family celebrated… the whole family. The children would age quickly and within 7 years would stop ageing, no one would be saying good bye to them and no one had to worry. Edward and Bella had Renesmee, Bracken and Alice had the twins and Rosalie and Emmett had the one thing they had always wanted but could never have. Esme was the happiest of them all. Four grandchildren to spend an eternity spoiling… and she couldn't wait.
A/N2: ok, I'm so sorry for the really long wait. I've had so much happen recently that I could write a book about it all, not gonna happen though. Ok, so this is the last chapter of the story. I've finally ended this one, but the sequel will be brought out soon. I haven't come up with a name for it yet, but I will think of one soon enough. Unless someone has a suggestion, message me if you do. It'll be mostly about the kids, they're the main focus of the story. The first chapter should be written and posted a week from the date of this update. Thank you to everyone whose followed Bracken's journey so far and an even bigger thank you to everyone who's reviewed and added me to author and story alerts. You guys are who I write for; I just hope the next story will be just as good as this one. Love you all, big hugs and cookies for everyone!