I was stretched out on the couch in the den, my head propped in my mate's lap, reading a book while she played with my hair, twisting it around her fingers and scraping her nails against my scalp. This was the kind of thing I could certainly get used to. While I am not really one for doing absolutely nothing, I could definitely get used to simply relaxing with my girl and... well doing absolutely nothing.

This was a break, a calm before the coming storm, I knew that. But what I was unsure of, was which storm it was. Was it the tornado that was just over two hours from from my front door or the hurricane that was brewing just over 500 miles from my front door and about to make landfall. Neither one was something I was looking forward to but both were going to happen and there was no stopping either. It wasn't even the vampires that had me on the verge of cringing, it was the dogs that Jasper called.

I knew that there was a little hostility between the mutts and the vegheads. I knew about the treaty between the two groups of morons. I knew that the pups hated our kind because of what they were, they did. They were the protectors of humans; we were the eaters of humans. There was going to be no common ground found other than my girl and that was only going to be one sided.

And that had nothing to do with my mate's lack of human memories.

From a very brief conversation with Jasper about the soon to be arriving pound puppies, it came out that one of them seemed to have a bit of a 'puppy love' crush on my little Sugar, something that I wasn't gonna entertain for even the briefest of moments. If the little fucker so much as looked at her with a spark of longing in his eyes, I was gonna rip them out of his fucking skull. I didn't rightly give a damn the reason it was there either. It didn't matter if it was the longing of what could have been, the loss of her human life, any fucking thing. It wouldn't fucking matter, I would END him.

I was jarred out of my thoughts by the sound of a ringing phone and then by my mate's perfect tits coming closer to my face. I know she was reaching for the phone, but when you are a guy and you have a set of boobs in your face, you capitalize on that shit. Waiting for just the right moment, which also happened to be when she flipped the phone open, I lifted my head and nipped at the perky peak, making her squeal and crush my phone in her surprise. How she didn't see it coming was as much a mystery as to why I actually let her try and answer the phone knowing that she was in no way in control of her strength. Mother fucker; I liked that phone.

Oh, well. I like the titty that was just in my mouth a little bit more.

Moving my eyes from the tit that was still in my sights, I saw Izzy wrinkle her nose as she turned her hand over and dropped the bits and pieces of the mobile device onto the floor before looking down at me with a bit of a sheepish look on her face, "Sorry."

I just shrugged a little as my other phone started to ring. Lifting my hips, I pulled it out of my pocket and smirked, "Don't worry about it. That one was yours." Glancing at the screen, I sighed a little before flipping it open, "So, ready to admit defeat and just ask where the fuck to go yet or you gonna continue to be an ass and try and find a reclusive nomadic vampire's place on your own?"

I could nearly hear the fucker's eyes roll to go along with the sigh, "I will give credit where it is due, Captian. Not many can hide this well from my tracker."

I chuckled a little, "Something to keep in mind for the future, Aro. If I don't want to be found, I won't be and your tracker will be about as useful as a pointy stick to a vampire. Now, do you need directions or do you want to continue driving in circles for a little bit longer?" After a ten second pause, he came back on with another sigh and asked how to get to my place making me chuckle again, "It's actually really simple. Stay on the road you're on for another twenty miles, take a right at the fork. You're gonna be on that road for thirty-three and a half miles. There will be a break in the tree on the left side of the road. That is the beginning of my drive. There is a gate seven miles in. I really hope you listened to me when I said you needed trucks of some kind because those cars low riding cars you insist on will never make it."

I was looking up at my girl, doing a little math in my head to get a time frame in which they were going to show up. I gave them about twenty minutes or so before Aro either called back or pushed the call button at the gate. I blinked though when I heard an unanticipated voice in the background of the conversation making me snort. Aro told me he was bringing his best, and I knew the fucker could fight and all, but I had never heard of Marcus leaving the Royal City. Caius, sure. He was actually hardly ever there unless he had to be for whatever reason, but Marcus... fuck no.

Before Aro could relay the question to me, I went ahead and answered it, "Tell the lazy asshole that I ain't running the Four Seasons and there ain't no room service here. Booze I got but if he wants to eat, he gonna be huntin' up his own damn dinner, dagnabbit."

There was a chuckle and I heard a growl but it didn't matter. Humans didn't know this place was here and it was gonna stay that way. Marcus was old and set in his ways, but the hunt and exercise would do him some fuckin' good. If my newborn mate hunted for herself, so was the eons old son of a bitch.

After I was sure they were on the right path of finding the place, I hung up and looked up at my girl but didn't get a word out before she snorted, "really? Dagnabbit? Just what the fuck is 'dagnabbit'?"

Looking a little affronted at the teasing tone she was using at my expense, I huffed, "Don't you be getting all entertained at the expense of my southern roots there, Sugar. That ain't cool."

She snorted again before outright laughing, "I was seriously asking what the hell that meant. I have never heard it before that I remember."

I shrugged a little, "Oh, it means pretty much whatever you want it too, Sug. In this case, I was simply watching my mouth and talking in a way that was a little more respectable to someone that used to be a man of the collar." She cocked her head to the side as confusion took over her features but before she could say something else, I jumped in with something a little more important that my choice of words and her amusement with it. "You sure you're alright with this, Sugar? This is your home and I don't want you gettin' all upset because of the amount of people that are fixin' to be here."

She just gave me a little shrug, "I gotta get used to this eventually right? Plus, I think I'm getting better at being around a larger group, don't you?"

I nodded at her, "Yes, but there is a massive difference between neutral ground and your own territory. Think about it, Sugar. You tried to kill Garrett for nearly a month back in Canada because you knew that was your home. The camp, the bars, things like that that you knew you had no claim to; this, this isn't the same. This is Canada all over again even if the scenery is different. Then there was the skittishness in Italy because you knew that was the territory of not only a very large coven, but a very powerful one as well, as you were in Mexico. It's all instinct, Mate and it will be your instinct to once again defend your territory."

She pursed her lips a little and glanced off to the side, "But, this is your territory, Peter."

I rolled my eyes at her before sitting up and pulling her to sit on my lap and turned her face so she was looking at me. "Remember the conversation back at the dealership when you were a week old when I told you what a mate was?" She nodded a little and I wrapped my arms around her waist, "A mate is a spouse in the eyes of our world making every last thing that was, is and will be mine, yours too. Every property that I own, every established area that I claimed as mine is just as much yours, if not more so.

"See, here's the thing Sugar. When I found you and decided to be the one to raise you, I knew what that entailed and that I would be giving up quite a bit of what I have to you when or if you struck out on your own."

She blinked at me before a look full of doubt settled on her face, "Really? Just like that?" I nodded at her and she cocked her brow a little, "why?"

I hummed a bit as I leaned back on the sofa and kicked my feet up on the coffee table. "Well, two reasons actually. The first is the obvious one and that is because you would need it to survive on your own. Even down and dirty nomads have a bank account and at least one credit card and one small spanse of land they claimed as theirs, all of which is normally set up by their sire. Since yours wasn't there and I took you in and overtook your care, that would have become my responsibility, if not my pleasure by the time you were deemed grown up enough to be set free on the world. Plus, you would have been so used to certain comforts that you wouldn't have lasted a day as nothing but a common vagabond.

"The other reason is that by the time that came about, we would have been in one place long enough for you too see that area as yours, even knowing that it was really mine, but it would have been all you knew. Sure, we would have left Canada for a warmer pastor, but that would have been where we stayed until you could live without the parental supervision. That would have been probably in the ballpark of eighteen, twenty months and by THAT time, you wouldn't have been able to just up and leave because you inner homing instinct would have been so attuned to that place, it would have led you back there every time.

"Knowing that, I would have given you the deeds to whatever property that we spent that length of time at, making it yours as well as setting up an account for you, stocks, bonds, CDs; set up your credit line and gotten your card. Set up a contact list of people to call if you ever got your ass in a jam and needed some help and for whatever reason couldn't get ahold of me. I would have made damn sure that you were set up in a life in which you had become accustomed to, that I had gotten you accustomed to.

"Now, since you're my mate, I am STILL gonna do all that. The only difference is I'm not giving you only the bare minimum, I'm giving you everything. All that I have is yours too. All of my different homes around the world, the money, the toys, the contacts, everything."

She looked up at me, a curious spark in her eyes, "toys?"

I dropped my head back against the headrest and looked up at the ceiling, tisking a little, "Well, let me think. There is the plane that you have seen more than once. Then there are the ATVs, four wheelers, boats, jet skis, bikes, cars, guns..."

"You have guns?"

I snorted a little and nodded. "Yes. I have a shit of them too. They really are a fantastic stress reliever." I saw excitement light up her eyes and I smirked at her, "tell ya what, once you are in better control of your strength, I'll show them to you. I happen to be very attached to some of them and I would get a little testy if you broke one. Sound like a deal, Sugar?" She gave me a bright smile and nodded just as there was a buzz throughout the house telling that Aro and them had found the place.

Shifting my hold on her so I was carrying her when I stood up, I went over the security screen to make sure it was them before hitting the gate release. Pushing the intercom button, I told them to take a right where there was a split in the drive unless they wanted to make the hike from the garage to the house.

Opening the front door, I carried my mate out to the porch to greet them. Setting her on her feet, I grabbed her shoulders and locked eyes with her, "If you start to get wound up, you let me know, ya hear? The last thing I want is for you to get upset at a bunch of perceived trespassers and attack someone."

I wasn't so much worried about the visiting vampires. She knew most of the ones that were coming. The dogs on the other hand, I didn't see that having a good outcome no matter how much preparation she had or how use to others she was. Her home was about to be invaded by a massive amount of bodies and it was going to be a really shitty afternoon once the mutts showed up; and it wasn't only my newborn mate that I was concerned about.

*X*

The convergence of werewolves and vampires was always something that I thought would be pretty fucking sweet... turns out it is a lot like Hollywood said it would be. Lots of growling, snarling, snapping and bitching. It was absolutely hysterical to watch as the huge, smelly ass guys blew their tops and try to go after Demetri and Felix. It was also funny watching the ones that didn't try and get them to calm the fuck back down and act like civilized human lookin' like creatures.

My favorite part... my snappy little Sugar kicking the shit out of the side of one of the smelly bastard's heads when he tried to attack Jasper.

She was currently squared off with the silver wolf who was backed up by a reddish looking one, kinda looked the little fucker rolled around in a pool of rust. The rust colored one looked like he wanted to attack but at the same time, you could see in his eyes, he was torn right down the middle of WHO he wanted to attack, my Sugar or his pack mate.

All eyes were on the two of them, the silver wolf and my mate as they growled at each other. The wolf was crouched and ready to pounce while Izzy was in perfect position to both dodge and counter whatever the fucker was thinking about doing.

Izzy dug her toes into the dirt and snarled at the wolf, "Bad doggy. Now, SIT."

I wasn't sure if it was the tone she spoke in or the words used, but I'll be damned if the fucker didn't rear back and nearly follow that command.

Izzy was probably the only one not shocked as hell at the action because all she did was continue to glare at the guy, teeth bared and eyes narrowed; her eyes void of all color as she stared him down. The wolf took a step back and just stared at her, his eyes full of both irritation and annoyance as Iz continued to stand her ground against him, something I am sure he wasn't used to.

Once Izzy settled down and the growling subsided a bit, she laid into him, "You are a long fucking way from home, Puppy dog. It might behoove you to remember that next time you get a little too big for them britches of yours. Not only do you lack home field advantage, you lack the numbers necessary to stand a fucking chance. You're a goddamn guest and I highly fucking suggest you act like it. I get it, you don't like us. Well, feeling is mutual you smelly ass fuckwit. You don't want to be here, leave. Ain't no skin off our asses if you stay or go. But, you wanna stay, you act like a fucking civilized fuckwit or I knock your fucking head off your fucking shoulders. You get me, Boy?"

The silver wolf bared his teeth at her with a growl, to which she gave the attitude right back. After a moment, Izzy's growl cut off completely and she stood, a lip curled and a look that I was having a little bit of a hard time deciphering until she sighed a little and glanced over at the wolves that had enough sense about them to stay human and cocked a brow, "Oh, for fuck's sake. Translation, if you would be so kind."

The leader of the pack glanced at the silver one a quick moment before looking at my mate, "what makes you think we know?"

She looked at him like he was an idiot. "Because I'm not a fucking retard, that's why. You're a giant wannabe dog, he's a giant wannabe dog. Two peas and all that. What I actually want to know is if the fucker is being an asshole... again."

The guy just smirked a little at that, "no. For once in his life, Paul isn't being a prick, Bella." She actually gagged a little at being called that, but the wolf either didn't notice or didn't care, because he just pressed on and answered her question. "He was talking of the treaty between our tribe and the Cullen coven."

She went to ask something else, the curious little bitch, but the rust color wolf started barking before she got the chance, which apparently annoyed the fuck out of her considering the look she shot him. If I had to guess, that one is the one that Jasper told me about. Izzy however, just glared at him, "don't make me neuter you. Interrupt me again, and I will rip your balls off... with my bare fucking hand." Keeping that glare on the dog a moment longer, she then turned back to the leader of the wolves. "Two things; one, NEVER call me Bella again. Call me whatever you want, but you call me that, I rip your tongue out. Hadn't you heard? Isabella Swan died in a plane crash two months ago. Not really one for reading are ya, Chief? Two, what the fuck are you talking about? What treaty?"

The leader locked eyes with her, "The one that says that the Cullens would never take a human life and we wouldn't rip them to shreds."

Izzy nodded but was unable to say anything before Jasper jumped in, "Um, no. It says that while living on the Olympic Peninsula, the Cullen coven wouldn't bite a human. Just in case your homing instinct is a little off, this is not, in anyway, part of the peninsula."

The leader looked over at Jasper at that and cocked a brow, "Then what are we doing here?"

At this, Jasper smirked a little and nodded at Izzy, "Her father is an honorary member of your tribe, is he not? Wouldn't that make the little lady one by extension?"

The guy blinked a few times before glancing at Iz a moment before looking back, "She is a parasite now."

Jasper shrugged, "Because the Cullens paid someone to kill her. She couldn't seem to get killing a human right so she bit her. Iz here is a 'parasite' through no fault of her own. She was just trying to live her life as best she could and was hunted and tortured for five years for it, then bitten when she survived a plane crash in the Canadian tundra." Then he looked at his nails, "Then there is the little issue of one of the Cullens drinking human blood while living on the peninsula."

"Excuse me?"

Jasper looked back up at him and nodded, "Yup. While most of the shit they pulled would actually fall within the lines of the text, Edward drank the little lady's blood while we were living in Forks. The act itself happened elsewhere, but there was still human blood in his belly when he got back."

Before anyone could say a word, my little short fused Sugar did, "I beg your fucking pardon, he did WHAT?"

Awe, I love my little demon when she gets all pissed off. Moving to her side, I set a hand on her shoulder drawing her attention to me. Her eyes were black and teeth a little barred again. Wonderful, she was fucking livid. "Calm down, Sugar. It was a long time ago. No need to get all upset about it now. Especially since you don't even remember it."

She shrugged my hand off her and whirled around with a snarl, "And that makes everything perfectly fucking alright, right? Because I don't remember it, it didn't happen? Fuck that. Fuck it the ass with a lack of lube." Then she turned those black eyes on Jasper, "and you let him." She shook her head a little before turning to the leader of the wolves, "and you did nothing about it."

There was a whimper sounding whine in her throat as her hands came up to her head, fingers threading through her hair as her eyes closed. She started nearly vibrating from trembling so hard before she dropped to her knees, her head dropping to her chest.

I went down to the ground with her, setting my hands over hers but looking at Jasper with wide eyes, "What the fuck is going on?"