Chapter Twenty-Five

Max's POV

"Come on, Max." Angel said adorably. "We only want to stay a little bit longer. Please, please, please?" My little girl, who was no longer a little girl since she had turned eighteen a month ago, begged.

We had been at the bonfire for over three hours and the party seemed to be wearing down. I knew that we needed to head back to the Cullen's house for Nick's Homecoming Party or else Alice would kill us, but no one seemed to be ready to leave yet.

Leah and Embry were the only Pack members still here other than the Cullen-Blacks and any imrpinters of the Flock.

Other than their kids of course. Both of their three year old twins were shifters and looked fifteen already. Since they had two phasing parents, their DNA was boosted like Jacob's kids weren't. Owen and Derick will probably be completely grown in a year or so. Leah says she wants to get pregnant again though, and hopefully get a non-shifting little girl. After all of her worries that she wouldn't be able to reproduce, apparently she has bonus genes when combined with Embry.

Nudge and Iggy were watching Sierra fly above their heads. The four year old wasn't bothered by the heat of the flames as she tried to dip lower and lower towards it. Iggy just laughed at his ''little firecracker'' and let her continue flying. Her skin was tougher than mine due to being partly vampire but I still worried about her as if she was my blood niece that I treated her like.

Will and Nessie were having a heart to heart by the looks of it, and the mother hugged her son tightly to her chest. I looked for my son amoungst the dark skinned Quillites present and panicked when I couldn't see his brown-blonde hair.

"Allie took him to get some more juice from the house." Angel said, answering my thoughts. Though I was constantly forbidding Angel to read people's minds and invade their privacy, sometimes it was useful. "So can we stay? Pleeeeeeaase?"

I glanced at Fang who was sitting on the driftwood beside me.

Fang shrugged, though slightly as not to wake up Annie who fell asleep on his lap twenty minutes ago. I'm glad that Fang gets to have these daddy-daughter moments with Anastasia still. Her Will is only fifteen physically, five years older than she is, so he doesn't mind sharing his girl with us. I know that one day that will all change, but until then, I know that Fang loves Annie more than anyone ever could.

We found out after I had Arian that I couldn't have any more children without severe risk to my health. Carlisle said it was highly unlikely that I could carry another child, so Arian was my only birthed child. It made me sad, but after watching Ella die, I knew that I wouldn't risk it. I had Annie and AJ, and even more importantly-Fang,and that was enough for me.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but we have to go." I said, glancing at Jacob over the flames. I nodded, finally giving him the signal to put out the flames, and watched as he and Embry smothered the fire until there was nothing but ashes left. You could tell that they had done this many a time before because they were pros.

"Fine." Angel grumbled. "But I'm going to ride home with Seth." She was careful not to say ride home 'on' Seth like she actually meant. Ever since she matured into a woman, she and Seth had strict rules. Especially after what happened with Gazzy and Bex.

"You are to fly home with your family, young lady." Fang said, taking over since he knew I was about to make the same argument. Though I had always been the leader, he didn't fall victim to the girls' Bambi Eyes.

"Seth is my family." Angel said stubbornly.

"You know the rules, Ange." I said, trying to calm her down.

"You just don't understand!" She yelled, stomping off towards the woods. "I can see why Gazzy left!"

Everyone was silenced by her words of anger, but with a pleading look at Fang and I, Seth followed after her. I knew that she would be safe and that she would end up at the Cullen's if Seth was with her. He had a more level head on his shoulders than Gazzy and Bex had had.

"Well, um, maybe we should head back?" Nessie asked, trying to get us back into our happy-bonfire moods we previously were in.

Jacob whistled loudly and a minute later, Allie returned with Arian in the Black family Hummer. Since Nessie and Emma didn't phase, Jacob was intelligent enough to buy a vehicle that could provide their family with a way to travel together long distance.

The Blacks piled into the Hummer, minus Emma who had been at the Cullen's house all day waiting for Nick's arrival.

I went to wake Annie up to prepare for our flight home, but Fang shook his head. "I'll carry her." He whispered.

"She's ten now, Fang, you can't keep treating her like a baby." I said rationally despite how much I knew my husband wanted to do this.

"She is a baby." Fang responded. "Don't worry, Max, I won't drop her and I won't throw my back out flying with her."

"You sure?" I asked, knowing full well that he was. He nodded, preparing to take flight. "Drop her and I'll kill you." I threatened with a grin that I knew he loved.

"I love you, you know." Fang said to me as he wrapped Annie's arms around his neck and placed her legs closer to his waist. In her sleep, she automatically wrapped them around his torso.

"I know." I said back with a smirk. "Flock! Up and Away!"

Nudge took the air first, followed by Sierra and Iggy. I made sure Arian was steady before I urged Fang to go next. Once my Flock, minus Gazzy and Angel, were in the air, I opened my wings widely and jumped straight upwards.

When we arrived, Arian scrambled to hold my hand. He had landed ungracefully and scraped his right elbow. He was always comforted by my presence, which usually helped stop his tears. I was thankful for these moments because it reminded me of how different our childhoods were and how lucky my son was to have not had to experience any of mine.

The first sight I saw when I walked through the Cullen's door was Edward attacking Nick. I paid no attention to the new experiments that Fang's twin had brought with him, or the Crew and Cullens who were staring in shock at the pair on the floor. I did, however, see that Jasper was straining to control himself, and sure enough, he had to excuse himself not even seconds later.

Nick looked like he was out cold, his black hair matting with blood.

"What did you do!" I screamed, letting go of Arian's hand and going to confront Edward. No one hurts my family and gets away with it.

"You should have heard his thoughts..." He growled, still sitting on top of Nick's unmoving body.

"I don't care if he was plotting to kill all of us, he is family and you will regret hurting him. I swear on my life that you will regret this Edward Cullen!" I threatened.

By this time, Fang and Emma had helped Nick to his feet and were trying to get him up the stairs. Edward's eyes were honed in on mine still since I was refusing to let him move. I blocked his path to Nick in case he decided to finish the job.

"I wasn't going to kill him." Edward said with an eyeroll, though he was still seething. It made me wonder what Nick had thought that was so terrible. "I just snapped."

We waited after that. Fang came back downstairs, leaving Emma to guard Nick, and we all waited for news of his safety.