*Skids into room* Hey, guys! Guess what? I'm finally back with chapter 17. I know, I know. I've been gone for a while, but I have also been trying to answer some of the questions from your reviews. If you had a super important question that you just couldn't live without the answer to and I didn't get to you, don't hesitate to ask me again. Now, this chapter will answer the one question that I've been getting the most of: what are the Children of the Moon like? And what about Shelby's pregnancy with the shifting? Nailed it...I hope. If not, please ask.

Ok, enough rambling.

*Disclaimer here*

Please Enjoy!

RPOV

The next morning, I woke to the sound of Jacob building up the fire in our bedroom fireplace. Stretching out all the kinks Jacob had worked into my body last night, I rolled over onto his side of the bed to watch him. The orange glow of the fire danced over his skin, bringing out the orange and red undertones of the russet. Though he was an aggressive, dominant male, he was utterly beautiful. I grinned at the thought of what he would say if I told him that.

His voice, when it came, made me jump. "Your mom used to say that to me all the time."

Swallowing my heart back into my chest, I asked, "Say what?"

He turned on the balls of his feet with a grin. "That I was beautiful." Those broad shoulders lifted in a shrug. "You projected. Sorry."

Shaking my head, I smiled at him. "It's ok. I'm just not used to letting it all out. I don't know how Dad deals with his gift."

Jacob chuckled. "Oh, he enjoys it, I'm sure. Unless we're around him."

"Wh-oh," I said when he looked back at me with mischievous grin. The blush couldn't be helped.

When he chuckled again and went back to tending the fire, I just stared at him still wondering what had brought on the change in him. What had brought out the raw maleness of him? Last night, when he'd taken over the conversation and effectively ended it, telling everyone where we stood and what ways we were going to move forward with a defense plan, nobody had questioned him, just did as he said, even Caden who was more than able to be Alpha of his own pack. And when we'd gotten back to the cabin? He'd taken charge of how we'd ended up in bed. No hesitations, no are-you-oks or I'm sorrys. Just him leading me to the stairs that led to our room. Instead of letting me walk down however, he'd turned me around, captured my lips and pulled me roughly into his arms with his hands firmly on my thighs. From there, he'd put me where he'd wanted me as we made love. Tried new positions. Positions that left him in complete control and me at his mercy.

At first, it had been as it always was with us: fast and hard. And I'd realized that that was how it was always going to be with us. We were the ultimate dominant couple, the Alpha couple, and Jacob had embraced that wild side of him. That had been clear last night. Our fast and furious rushes at the beginning were our way of reigniting the mark between us, claiming the other by marrying our bodies rough and wild.

After that initial wave had crashed over us and passed, he'd made love to me slowly, taking his time so that the orgasms were slow but powerful. He wouldn't let me have an ounce of control over him, and his point was clear. He was taking me the way a man should take his woman: with power and knowledge of her so she didn't have to tell him. Jacob asserted his dominance over me in one glorious night, letting me know that though I was also an alpha, he was the king. Kings ruled even over their queens. My advice and suggestions were welcome, but in the end, the decision was his.

Though I knew we were both equal in the relationship, I realized that he had to have his control of us before he could assert himself elsewhere. Our relationship and how he interacted with me was the basis of how he'd treat the others.

"You got all of that from last night?" he asked in a low voice.

Looking up, I noticed that I'd zoned out. Jacob was sitting back on his haunches, his profile to me. Again, I'd projected.

Sitting up in the bed, I wrapped the sheet around my chest, tucking it under my arms. "It was perfectly clear. I'm still not quite sure what caused the change in you, but it's pretty evident that you've seriously and finally embraced your primal side. And I must say that I like it."

"Yeah?" His expression was hesitant, like he didn't believe what I was telling him, which was understandable. I'd freaked out the last time he'd told me that he'd changed, that he wasn't the same person he'd been.

Laughing at myself, I suddenly figured out that I was the dumbest person on the planet. We all changed every day. Our personalities shifted with events that affected us on a daily basis. How could I have been so stupid?

"Absolutely."

He sighed. "Nessie, part of what you just thought about bothers me."

I expected him to come sit on the bed and have some serious eye contact, but he just stayed on the floor, his eyes on the fire that he'd built back up for me. Because it wasn't for him. He was always hot. He'd reconstructed that fire for me, so that I'd be warm without him in the bed. Though he'd embraced that wild side of him, he was still the sweet, chivalrous man that I loved.

"Which part?"

Quite a few heartbeats passed between us before he answered. "Morgan was right that I needed to quit pining after you and looking for your permission to be who I'm meant to be. But she was also wrong. I need you. You help me to settle my mind and think. Every single day, I rely on you to ground me, to give me a reason to fight. Your advice and suggestions and opinions mean everything to me. The final decision doesn't need to be just mine. It needs to be ours. When Morgan said all of that to me, she hadn't imprinted yet. She didn't understand the power of a mate in her life. She does now, though. I can't do this without you."

My heart melting, I wrapped the sheet around my naked, deliciously sore body and went to kneel next to him on the floor. I placed my hand on his warm cheek and leaned in to kiss him gently on the lips.

"Jacob, I would never abandon you to do this on your own. As I said last night, you won't have to do this without me. I'm here, and I'm staying here."

He kissed me back. "Good. I love you, woman."

Smiling, I whispered, "I love you, too, my man."

"I'm a dog, remember?"

"And I've got your leash."

His lips moved against mine with his own smile. "Mmm, sounds kinky. Be sure to shop for one while you're out."

Surprise made me frown as I pulled back from him. "You got a kinky side that I don't know about?"

He shrugged. "Never too early or late to experiment."

I laughed as he winked at me.

Moving so that I sat on the floor next to him, I absently traced his lips with my fingertips. "So, where am I going? I wasn't aware that I had any plans."

He nodded. "I made them for you. Bella and the other girls agreed that you guys need a day out. Our wedding is in a couple months and Alice said that she needed to grab some things from Seattle. Patrick and Alana are going to go with you. Adam and Derek prefer not to leave Forks."

My fingers had crept along the back of his neck to play with the hair at his nape. It made sense that the two males wanted to stay far away from strangers just in case they imprinted. They were far too in love, and it would break them if one of them imprinted on someone else.

"And what are you gonna do today?"

"Gather the pack and the Cullens, and have a meeting." Before I could say anything, he continued. "I'll tell you whatever we talk about. I just know that you need time with your female relatives and to pamper a bit before the wedding." He placed his palm on my cheek. "I am going to make you my wife, but I also need to make you safe."

Absently, I rubbed my thumb over his cheekbone. "Just make sure you also plan to keep yourself safe. I can't do this without you."

Reaching up to cover my hand with his, he brought my palm to his lips. "Never have to."

Once his lips touched mine, I knew that if we didn't get off the floor and if I didn't get clothes on, I wouldn't be fulfilling those plans and he wouldn't be having that meeting. Both were much needed items at the moment, so I pulled away and went for the closet.

Pulling out some jeans from one of the drawers, I went to put them on when something caught my eye. Light purple bruises wrapped around the skin of my inner thighs and, upon further inspection, my hips. Turning to the full-length mirror, I fully dropped the sheet to further inspect my body. Doing a little spin, I also saw the bite marks on my neck at the top of my spine and on one of my shoulders.

In the mirror's reflection, I saw Jacob leaning against the doorjamb with his arms crossed over his massive chest, muscles in his arms and shoulders flexing with the movement. His eyes raked my body, but not in an oh-my-god-are-you-ok? kind of way, but more possessive, proprietary. He liked what he'd done to me. When our eyes met in the mirror, he unwrapped those powerful arms and stalked silently over the carpeted expanse between us. Without a word, I wrapped his arms around my waist as we stood there, staring at our reflections. With our matching hickies on our chests and matching bite marks on the same shoulders, we looked like male and female versions of each other.

As we watched each other in the mirror, I lifted my hand up to run over his shoulder and around his neck. Feeling the need to reassure him anyway, I said, "I love every mark and I'll miss them when they're gone."

I watched as he leaned down to gently press his lips to the slope of my shoulder where it met my neck. In all the frenzy sex that had been happening, those lips had been fierce and hard over my skin. But now, they were utter silk, soft as a whisper, as they moved over me, making me want to melt into the man behind me.

"I'll put 'em back when they fade," he murmured into my neck.

"Can't wait." When I tried to push him back so that we could get ready for the day, he just tightened his grip around my waist, causing a laugh to burst through my still swollen and red lips. "Come on, Jake. We gotta get ready. Shelby's lack of patience won't allow us to take another roll through the sheets."

"What sheets? We kicked them all off last night." Though his words suggested what Shelby could do with her lack of patience, he backed off and went to his side of the closet. "But you're right. You girls need some time together."

Rifling through my side of the closet, I found my outfit for the day and started to dress. "Why do you keep saying that?" I asked as I shimmied into my jeans.

He slipped a black tank over his hard upper body and turned to me. "Nessie, like I already told you, I've been taking up so much of your time chasing you around like love-struck pup. I love you and have had you so many times that I should be sated by now. Clearly, you scramble me up so bad that I forget my sense of duty to my pack. So I've gotta muscle myself into getting out of bed and away from you to do my job." Padding back over to me, he wrapped his arms around my hips. "Don't get me wrong, I love being with you, but we both have jobs to do. You're the leader of the females, and I need to get as much info as I can on these other wolves from Caden."

It seemed silly, but for the first time as I leaned into his big body, I felt the power of him hum through me. After all the false starts, I finally felt his acceptance of the dominant side of him. Though his libido wanted to wrap us up in the bed all day, the man in him was forcing down the hormonal teenager so that he could do what he could to protect all of us and ensure more days in a happily ever after. He was now truly alpha male, and I sure as hell felt sorry for Tristan when he comes back to take on our pack. Last night, the moment he'd said what he had about putting Nyla in the ground, I knew that Jacob would rip Tristan apart.

"You're right," he said into my ear. "It's finally become clear to me how very real the threat is. Especially after what happened back in November. I cannot lose you, so Caden and the rest of us are going to sit down and start from scratch."

Reaching up on my tip-toes, I pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. No tongue or teeth, just warm lips against warm lips.

"Well, then we better dressed and get you to that meeting."

Twenty minutes later, we'd turned off all the lights, set the security system, and locked the door. Jacob took a moment to scan the woods, lifting his face to the wind so that he could scent it.

"You're not gonna have a fit on me again, are you?"

I shrugged. "That would depend on whatever is in the woods, but I'll try."

All the way down to the house, he kept his arm around my waist, but his eyes were on the woods, scanning, and nose scenting the breeze. Adam and Derek had flanked us as soon as we'd walked off the porch in their wolf forms. I put my free hand in Derek's fur as we walked. The touch was comforting, and I found myself wondering if he and Adam had in face imprinted on each other. As Adam and Caden had said, we really didn't know the full spectrum of all the properties of the imprint. Maybe they'd been in love before phasing and hadn't felt that connection click because it had already been there. I hoped so for their sakes. They were perfect for each other.

Abruptly, Derek turned to me so that he could nuzzle under my chin. My mental walls had stayed down since the first night Jacob and I had made love. The unconscious habit hadn't picked back up since he'd told me that he hated it when I blocked from him. Derek's muzzle went back to my hair where he snuffled into my neck.

As I giggled, Jacob tightened his arm over my hip and chuckled. "Alright, Derek. Get off my woman."

In response, Derek stepped closer to me, defying Jacob as he pressed his side into mine. I wrapped my arms awkwardly around him as we kept walking.

"Aww, Jacob, he just wants some lovin'."

Jacob's dark eyes narrowed as Adam let out a chuff as if he were laughing. Derek's purr vibrated up my arms and through my chest.

"He can get that from his man. He doesn't need it from you," Jacob grumbled, but I knew he was just playing.

So I played back. "Every man needs a little love from a female, even if he prefers males in his bed."

Derek huffed in a serious manner as if he were agreeing with me.

Those eyes narrowed on the wolf again. "All I ask is that you put some pants on before you hug her, no matter your orientation."

A grumbling sound came from that broad chest under my arms.

"Alright, boys. Separate to your corners."

Jacob pulled me back against his body but allowed me to keep a hand on Derek as we finished the walk to the big Cullen house. As soon as we reached the clearing, the two wolves darted off in the direction of one of the giant trees in the backyard where their extra clothes were kept. Jacob and I waited for them to come back before we walked into the house. Derek pulled me into a giant bear hug, one that competed with Uncle Emmett's. Adam pounded knuckles with Jake as he waited for his own hug.

When he pulled me up off my feet, he said, "Beautiful as always," into my ear.

"Thank you, Adam."

He nodded and then turned to Jacob. "Most of the pack is here. We're just waiting on Sam and Emily."

"And all the girls are ready to go."

"Patrick and Alana are here?"

Derek nodded. "Yup. They're rounding up the cars. Embry wants to go, too. I told him I'd run it by you."

Jacob considered it for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, sure. Sounds good. He needs some fresh air."

Derek and Adam went inside first and we followed. All the females of the house were gathered around the front door. Patrick and Alana were standing outside next to two blacked-out SUVs, their heads bent toward the other. At first it looked as though they were kissing, a second glance showed that they were talking. Probably discussing the security procedures.

Patrick was tall, lean, and lethal from what I'd heard about him. Skilled in the martial arts and knives, it was surprising that he wasn't one of my perma-guards. It did make sense that he was coming with us as we headed out of town though. Alana was just as dangerous with a couple guns attached to her ankle and the small of her back. I knew she also had a couple knives somewhere on her person. They were a match made in heaven. Luckily, they'd imprinted on each other.

When they caught me watching them, both of them nodded at me in a show of respect. Returning the respect, I nodded back before darting into the house to meet the other women of the house.

JPOV

As I followed Nessie inside, I gave both of the two guards a curt nod, which they returned with a bow from the neck. The motion stopped me dead in my tracks. They'd never done that before. Nessie was right. Me finally embracing the wolf and dominance was noticeable. And this time, it was a permanent acceptance. Not the false starts and promises to myself.

Man, Morgan's whole speech came back to me. King. Again that word pin-balled around my brain, pinging around.

Patrick and Alana were two of the most dangerous wolves in the pack, but also two of the most compassionate. They were competent enough to handle any trouble that the ladies faced, which was good. This was supposed to be a girls' day out so I knew they wouldn't want a bunch of guys following them around. Embry and Patrick were perfect. As was Alana. She could go into the restrooms with the ladies. Two males were necessary, though, because you didn't send a bunch of attractive women out by themselves into a giant city like Seattle. Absolutely not. I wouldn't risk my family like that.

Just before I turned to go into the house, Sam's truck pulled up the drive and parked to the side. Getting out, he ran around the vehicle to help Emily out. Together they worked to gather Leila and her bags and stroller. This would be good for Emily, to get away from the rez and present her daughter to the world.

I waited for them to meet me on the porch. After pounding my knuckles to Sam's, I leaned over to press a kiss to Leila's forehead and hug Em.

"How you guys doing?"

Emily grinned excitedly. "We're good. You have no idea how ecstatic I am to be getting out of the house. A girls' day was your best idea yet, Jacob. Thanks."

I grinned back. "Not a problem. I think all the girls are ready to head out whenever you are."

She nodded. "Let me just change Leila real quick, and then we can head out."

"Sounds good. Sam, you ready for this meeting?"

Waves of uneasiness poured off of him. I understood. His mate and daughter were about to be away from him, miles and miles away from him for the first time since Leila was born. It was bound to be hard on him, always wondering if they were ok.

"Sam," Patrick called from the cars. When Sam turned to him, he continued, "They'll be safe with us. Embry is coming, too. We'll put him on your females, ok? They won't be left unguarded."

Sam's broad shoulders lifted as he took in a deep breath. Eventually, he nodded and turned back to me.

"Let's do this. We have a family to protect."

I clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Amen to that, brother. Amen to that."

An hour later, long after the girls had left, the members of the pack that weren't on patrol and the Cullens were all crowded into the house. Caden was standing with me at the head of the new dining room table that could seat, like, a thousand people while we all leaned over to look at the maps of the rez and Forks, our territories. We'd spent the first hour going over all the new patrol lines and schedules as well as protective details on all those that weren't preternaturally capable to take on werewolves. The Cullens had been drafted into the both patrols and security by Caden. They hadn't argued. It gave us more manpower.

I was also back on patrol shifts, but during the day so that I could stay with Nessie at night just in case those nightmares got burped up again.

Sam walked back into the room as he stuffed his phone in his pocket and nodded at me. The girls were fine. He'd called for a check-in thirty minutes ago. Seemed all was still well with the girls' day out.

"The cabin was here, and that's where we were staying. Not sure if they moved after I left." Caden pointed to a spot on the map where that decrepit cabin had burned with him and Nessie still inside.

"You think they'll have stayed there?" Carlisle asked.

Caden shook his head. "Not a chance. Tristan is smart. He'll have realized that we'd put that waste of space into the patrol territory after all that. If anything, they may have headed further up north. Tristan kept saying that we had allies up there." Those amber eyes flicked to mine. "Apparently your brethren up there didn't quite feel a connection anymore."

A low growl vibrated up through my chest. "Then, I guess we'll need to make another visit."

For a long moment, Caden stared at me as if he were thinking of saying something but trying to judge my reaction beforehand. That tuned me in to who his plan would include. I started shaking my head before he said, "Take Nessie. I know you don't want her up there, but she can help explain her kind. Any of the other Cullens will rock the ship. They're full-blooded vampires. She's half human."

God, those two were on the same brain wave. I'd thought she was over that. Maybe she was, but he was just getting started. "She's my mate. I won't risk her life like that."

"Jacob," Caden said in an infuriatingly calm voice. "She should get to make that call, not you. She's her own person and has her own rights. Not to mention, we'll go up there en masse. It would make sense to have some of your wolves and maybe even the Cullens search the area just in case Tristan took his pack up there."

Gritting my teeth, I bit back a growl. "I'll think about it. Now tell us about your kind of werewolf. We need to know everything you can tell us."

Silence enveloped the room as all eyes went to the apparently agitated wolf. Caden busied himself with folding up the maps and papers, no doubt thinking about all he was about to divulge. Once he finished with all the paper, he started pacing, hands on his hips, eyes on the floor. The room stayed quiet as he gathered himself, my wolves staying as still as they could and the Cullens moving nothing but their eyes. I took up space on the wall, leaning my weight into my shoulders and crossed my arms over my chest.

Abruptly the pacing stopped. His hands scrubbed his face and then went back to his hips. Leah went to stand close to him but didn't get in his space. Sensing her presence, the tension loosened out of his shoulders and he nodded.

"Alright." Another scrub over his face. "Ok, well, of course you all know that we're known as the Children of the Moon, which is true. Every full moon we have no choice but to change. The animal inside us takes over, and we become passengers in our own skin. There are, however, exceptions. Only the most powerful, like all the wolves in Tristan's pack, can shift at will. Also, we can partial shift, as in just our claws if need be."

"Wait," Seth interjected. "Sorry for the interrupt, but thinking about my mate and the baby, if you have no choice during the full moon, how do you procreate? And why hasn't Shelby shifted?"

Caden nodded. "Only the really powerful females can calm their bodies during the months of pregnancy. My guess is that, even though Shelby still won't talk about what happened, one of Tristan's pack got his claws into her. With that kind of power going into her and her own personality mixing, that makes for one hell of a powerful wolf. Her instincts told her she was pregnant before we actually knew, therefore, her body tempered itself, regulating to accommodate the baby. Once she has the pup, though, I figure she'll change with the following full moon."

"And what is the shift for you guys like?" I asked. "We've only seen you in wolf form after you go through it."

"There's a damn good reason for that. The only time we're truly vulnerable is the shift. It's incredibly painful. Bones breaking and reknitting. Muscles popping, strengthening and elongating. Fur sprouting out of our very skin. It takes up to a full minute and half to shift. Throughout the whole process, we're completely incapable of protecting ourselves. More often than not, that's how a lot of us die. Our enemies take advantage of that."

Edward stepped away from the wall. "What about the girl? The one born to two shifters?"

Caden took a deep breath. "Nyla has always been different. Her scent lacks the potency of the disease. But her shifting is only slightly faster than ours. And she's more in touch with her wolf side. A lot of shifters who survived attacks to get to where they are refuse to accept their beast. Which is a mistake. If the beast isn't let out when it wants to be, all hell breaks loose. It's a give and take system for us. We give in to the beast over lesser evils, it'll let us keep some awareness and control over it."

The entire room shivered at once, even the vampires.

"You make it seem like a monster and completely separate," Carlisle said from the kitchen doorway.

Caden nodded. "Absolutely." He motioned to me and around the room at the other wolves. "The werewolves you're used to, meaning Jacob and the others, were born with the werewolf gene. They've always had that primal instinct whether it was triggered or not. With us? We were infected with it, injected with an alien life that we've had to share the steering wheel with. I have accepted who I am. If I don't fight the shift, it's a lot smoother because I'm letting the beast have his time to shine. In a way, he and I have an accord. I let him out, he lets me decide how far we can take things depending upon the situation."

A lot of confused looks went his way as well as raised eyebrows. The word crazy bounced silently around the walls.

He shook his head and put his hands back on his hips. "Let's put it this way. It's like talking to yourself. You have an internal debate. Except this time, I'm the conscience. Sometimes, I have to tell my inner wolf that if we do something, then after he gets put back into his cage, my human self has to deal with the consequences of the havoc he wrought."

A sharp growl ripped through the room. All eyes went to Seth. "And Shelby's going to have to go through this," he ground out from between his teeth.

"Not necessarily. Shelby's a very tough woman. She and her wolf have already made the biggest pact that females can make with themselves: to not shift until the pup is born. That's the ultimate show of strength from a female, and she sure as hell has my full respect."

"But can't she still shift?"

Caden shook his head. "No. It's a done deal. What normally happens is that a female won't know she's pregnant before she shifts, and then, unfortunately, she miscarries but doesn't learn til later what happened. Shelby was so attuned to her body that she knew something was up. That's what kept her from shifting. It's quite impressive."

"So that's what happened with Nyla's parents?" I asked from my corner.

The wolf who had everyone's attention seemed to have lost the rest of the tension because he didn't look as conflicted. Once we'd accepted the whole talking to yourself bit, he'd settled down. Now, he faced me.

"Yes. Nyla's mother was the alpha female of the pack, her father the pack leader. Males know almost the moment that their females become pregnant because of the scent of the shift in hormones. Seth probably noticed the change in Shelby but didn't know what it was so he didn't say anything. But Nyla's father knew what it was and told his mate the news before the next full moon. Basically, males of my kind are the pregnancy tests. However, with that being said, there are a lot of lone males and females that happen to mate at random when those pheromones are in the air, so those females, after the mating, take off not knowing if they're pregnant or not. More often than not, those females lose the pregnancy."

All this was very interesting, and luckily, Shelby seemed to be ok in terms of carrying the baby to term. However, we were not going up against pregnant females, not that we'd hurt one of those anyway. Pushing away from the wall, I went to stand next to him.

"Ok, we need to get back on track. What are we up against in terms of an aggressive attack from them? Right now, we haven't seen Jane around, so we need to concentrate on the wolves. They've been the closest to our territories. How many are in that pack?"

Caden took a moment to count out. "All in all? Probably around forty to at least fifty."

The blood drained out of my head. We were nearly even with close to sixty wolves in my pack. "What abilities do they possess against us?"

"Fast. Very fast. As in," he motioned toward the Cullens. "Vampire fast. One moment there-," Suddenly, he wasn't standing in front of me. He was all the way across the table standing next to Emmett. "The next, gone." Then he raised his hand so that we all could see it. Before our eyes, the fingers lengthened, knuckles popping and shifting. Those nails grew darker and sharper until they were dagger like claws, razor sharp. "Like I said earlier, partial shift. Every one of Tristan's packmates can do this."

Jasper stepped forward, an expression on his face telling everyone he was intrigued. "Do you think, with training from you, that Jacob and his wolves could move like that? Maybe partial shift as well?"

As Caden's arm went back to normal, he surveyed all the wolves. "I'm not sure. We can give it a go. Normally, in most packs, even with natural wolves, there are dominants and betas. But it seems as though all of the wolves here are of the dominant variety. They listen to orders and yet keep their own personalities strong. It's not normal. And neither is Tristan's pack. He pulled together some of the most powerful shifters he could find. A lot of internal fights happened with us. If Jacob is alright with it, I can try to get them to rile up their wolf selves enough to get to their primal roots."

With that, all eyes came to me. If I went with this, there was no going back to the peaceful wolves we had been. We'd be entering into a new era of the Quileute wolves, breeding a new type of protection that went beyond our morals and sensible selves within our wolf bodies.

I met the eyes of all the wolves that I could. The intensity with which they watched me, stared at me as I thought about their future, hit me hard. They were trusting me with their future, their very lives. Right then and there, I knew that I would do anything to keep them safe, even change them into animals the animals that our bodies changed into.

There was only one response. I nodded. "Any of those willing to go through the training is welcome. If any of you have any oppositions to this, tell me now."

Not one objection from any of them.

Caden and I met stares…

And nodded our agreement.

RPOV

"Here," Aunt Alice said as she thrust comet-sized ball of white contrasting fabric at me. "Try these."

Grinding my teeth, I took what she shoved at me. "Woman," I growled. "I thought you already had my dress designed?"

"I did, but that was before you lost your virginity. Now, it just doesn't work."

My eyes bugged out of my head as she said this in a normal tone so that the other women in the dressing rooms could hear. Shelby, who had come into the dressing room with me, just shook her head with a smirk.

"Red accents," my aunt said, more to herself than anybody else. "It'll need red accents now to match your passion with Jacob. So now I have to piece together a new dress."

Forty-five minutes and twenty dresses later, Aunt Alice had her sketch and wouldn't even show me. Apparently, my dress was a surprise for everybody. And the wedding was in just under two months. October twentieth. That's what she was aiming for. How the heck she was going to get all this crap together by then?

As we left the bridal studio, Patrick took the lead with Aunt Alice while Alana took the rear, and Embry stayed tight to Emily and Leila. Shelby and I were surrounded by everybody else. To passerby we looked like just a normal group of people, but I knew that they were keeping me, Shelby, and Emily on the inside where it was safer.

Alice steered us toward a baby shop that she knew of but had never been in before. Though she was using Leila as an excuse to go in, I knew it was because of Shelby. And maybe me for any future references. Which made my palms sweaty and thoughts of me and Jacob twisted up in sheets. Which led to different thoughts of my belly swollen, Jacob wrapped around me, and his ear pressed to the swell as we shopped online for baby stuff or looked up names.

Shelby's hand lightly touched mine. "It'll happen, Ness. I promise."

Looking down, I found that my hand had spread over the flat plane of my stomach. And I must have projected as well. I smiled up at Shelby distractedly as she wrapped her arm into the crook of my arm while we headed into the store.

Two hours after we went into the store, my suspicions that my aunt was taking notes on me was confirmed. She'd kept a notebook out to keep notes for Shelby, but every now and then, when I'd picked up something and said it was cute, I'd see Aunt Alice going for that notepad again.

Man, she was making nervous. It was like she was putting pressure for me and Jacob to get pregnant. Frankly, I just wanted this whole Volturi/other pack mess to dissipate before we even thought about kids. Hell, I'd like to just get to the wedding. However, as we all walked back to the car holding all of our bags, a sense of dread settled into my gut. The boys were all huddled around talking about defensive procedures, and I knew that if Jacob got his claws into Tristan, it would be an all-out war between the two packs.

I prayed to whatever god was out there that we made it through this bout of violence that was about to descend upon us.

Does anybody else get chills with this one? I kind of did. Jacob and Nessie have already been screaming in my head about what happens between Tristan and Jake, so I'm trying to get there as fast as I can. It's like pulling teeth to get them to tell me the bits up until then, so I hope you enjoyed this one! Luv you guys! xoxoxoxoxo