A/N: So here it is! Still on schedule, yay me! I think I still have another chapter to post after this one, but if not, I might miss next week's update date. I haven't been able to write much recently, and this week is going to be a bit crazy, so sorry if it happens. In other news, really hope you like this update, I'd love to know what you think! It's a bit of pain to draw out a single scene so much, but at the same time, when you have a lot of shit you have to set up, you don't really have a choice. Character development can be a bitch.

Chapter 22

"What is this? What the hell happened to your arm? How did this happen to your arm? Are you going to be okay?" Irina's panicked cry was loud enough that everyone outside save for the human could hear it. Leah immediately froze, her concern and fear for Riley overtaking her rational thoughts. She made a move as if to leave the makeshift arena to check on her friend, but a second later someone delivered a drop kick to her chest, using her body as a springboard to propel herself closer to the door.

"Oops," Kate said absently, but with a quick glance at Leah sprawled out on the ground, she remembered why she didn't like her current sparring partner. "Not sorry." At any other time, she would have rubbed in Leah's lapse in concentration. But she was too busy trying not to freak out as her mind raced with what state Riley's arm was in. She rushed to the door, dodging over and through other sparring pairs with the ease of an experienced warrior, and was about to burst through the front door of the Cullen home when Tanya caught her.

"Kate-"

"You can't be serious! Why are you stopping me?" Kate hissed at her at a pitch so low no one else would be able to hear. "How are you not rushing inside with me?"

"I want to, believe me. But having us all crowd her while Riley is in a vulnerable position isn't the best idea." It was the near hidden tenseness in Tanya's voice that told Kate just how worked up Tanya truly was. "We already know how stressed she is being examined by a doctor. I don't want to make things worse." Tanya's jaw clenched, and she had to turn her back on the door so as to not give into temptation. "We're still strangers to her, Kate. For now, it's best for us to just leave things to Irina and Carlisle. She'll be fine." The last sentence was said with complete certainty, as everything in Tanya refused to even consider anything less.

Kate and Tanya stared at each other for a moment, a silent conversation appearing to flow between them. It was just as Kate finally nodded and relaxed that someone couldn't keep silent anymore.

"Hey bitch, come back here! I want a rematch!" Leah shouted from across the clearing. Tanya and Kate glanced over to find the tall native american woman fuming with two very clear dirty footprints on the front of her muscle shirt."You did that on purpose, damn you!"

"It was your loss of focus that caused your loss, not me!" Kate called back. "I didn't use you as a trampoline on purpose I assure you, but I sure as hell wish I had! I would have aimed for that face of yours!"

"Kate," Tanya said warningly as multiple snarls echoed across the clearing.

The other blonde only scoffed. "Like you don't wish to do the same."

Tanya changed the pitch of her voice so that the wolves couldn't hear, not wanting to stir up more aggression. "I certainly wouldn't announce it to the world."

Kate let out a borderline maniacal cackle. Thankfully, she lowered her voice so that the shifters couldn't hear when she said, "I knew it. You want to beat her up as much as I do."

Tanya sighed, but didn't deny it. "Just try to behave yourself."

"What are you, chicken? Afraid to face me in a fair fight?" Leah shouted when she saw Kate still nowhere near moving. She was shaking lightly, just enough of a tell to show how worked up and agitated Leah was.

"Oh, I can't wait to fight with you again," Kate murmured, eyes darkening just a bit as her gaze locked with Leah's. Kate wasn't angry about the provocation; in fact, she found the attempt childish and quite pathetic. She simply wanted to kick Leah's ass for being so close to her mate. Yes, maybe her reasoning was as childish as Leah's words were, but she couldn't help it. Whenever she looked at Leah, she remembered how close Riley was to her, how Riley had propositioned the woman, and all Kate saw was a threat. She made sure to make a show of her power by releasing some electricity, letting it crackle between her hands. This got a few gasps, not just from the wolves, but from the Cullens too.

"Since when have you been able to do that, Kate?" Edward asked, both fascinated and also frustrated he hadn't known about it sooner. "I thought you were only able to make people feel like they were getting electrocuted when you touched them; I never knew you had power over actual electricity."

Kate glanced over at Tanya, realizing her mistake and automatically looking to her coven leader for guidance. Tanya only sighed, her head already in her hand, and motioned for Kate to just get the explanation over with. It wasn't like they had meant to hide it, but obviously the Denali coven had agreed to try and broach the subject at a better time.

With a shrug, Kate turned back to Edward. "A few months ago I got this weird feeling like I was getting shocked to hell. Don't really know why, but it felt like my own power turned against me or something. When it finally stopped, I found my personality was a lot more 'shocking' than ever."

Jasper looked awed at the new information, a small seed of hope being planted in his heart. If the powers of vampires could really change even after a thousand years walking the earth, then perhaps he could get even more control over his power than he had already. It was an exciting prospect.

"And you have no idea what could have caused it?" Edward asked.

Kate had already locked back onto Leah, who appeared slightly pale; perhaps she realized how dangerous of a vampire she was up again? "Nope. Now, back to that rematch..."

Edward only heard the first word Kate had spoken. "Fascinating. I'd love to discuss this with Carlisle...and perhaps Eleazar would like to join us? I'm sure we would both appreciate your perspective on the matter as well."

"Of course," Eleazar said with a nod. He had been wanting nothing more than to discuss and look into Kate's change of power, but hadn't truly been able to. The only person who would discuss it with him was Carmen; Tanya and Kate had been too worried about Irina, and even when Kate was free, she hadn't been interested in why she got the new ability. Instead, she had only been interested in the strength of her enhancement and how to best use it in battle.

Before anything more could be said, Sam stepped between Kate and Leah, cutting Kate off when the vampire was only feet away from the she wolf. "I don't know what kind of personal grudge you have against Leah, but this is training, not an actual fight. It would be best if you changed sparring partners with Jared."

Jared looked over from where he had paused in his sparring with Carmen during all of the commotion. He immediately nodded and started jogging over to Sam's side at the unspoken order, despite being nervous about sparring against what was basically a vampire version of an overexcited live wire. Kate rolled her eyes at his protectiveness, but had to inwardly admit it was probably a wise choice on his part.

Leah, on the other hand, was bristling. "I don't need you to protect me, Sam. I can take her."

"I don't doubt you can," Sam said, and while he was mainly trying to placate her, he also meant his words. There was a reason why he had originally struggled on whether to make Leah or Paul the official third in the pack; not only was Leah less of a hothead than Paul, but she had put her all into learning how to fight in both human and wolf form. "But as I told the...vampire…?" he glanced over at Kate, feeling like simply calling her a vampire wasn't a proper way to describe the biggest wildcard among both the Cullen and Denali coven. "What we're doing here is supposed to be sparring and training to better prepare for a future threat. It's not a good idea to bring any personal feelings into this. And whatever that blonde harbors against you is definitely personal."

Kate tried not to grumble in disappointment when Leah relaxed and nodded, saying, "Yeah, fighter barbie definitely has an in for me. You're right...this time."

"Thank you," Sam said, but Leah only waved him off as she started to make her way over to Carmen. Sam seemed a little nervous about leaving Jared with Kate, as if expecting Kate to just go wild on the beta now that Leah was training with someone else, but was relieved to find Kate didn't seem interested in Jared at all. Instead of looking excited at the idea of training with Jared like she had when she had latched on to Leah, Kate appeared almost bored now. Which, in Sam's mind, was definitely an improvement.

"Come on, pup, let's see what you've got," Kate said once Sam left them alone. As everyone outside focused back on training, over that particular bump in the road, the people inside were still struggling with their own hurdles.

Despite her previous attempts to keep her emotions locked away, Irina and Paul had both drawn her out of herself in the short time Riley had been sitting in Paul's lap. Despite what they had done, Riley had felt strangely comfortable with them around. At one point, Irina had placed a hand on Riley's uninjured shoulder, squeezing lightly in support. While having the strangely intimate feeling touch made Riley's heart go wild for a moment, she found herself drawing strength from the blonde in a way that made her silently panic. Sadly that panic had only skyrocketed when Irina had attempted to move her hand away. With one arm still pressed to her side due to Paul's arms still wrapped around her and Carlisle lightly holding her other arm, Riley had impulsively used her chin to pin Irina's hand to Riley's shoulder, holding it in place until she knew for a fact Irina wasn't going to try and move it again until Carlisle was done.

Her own actions had only further rattled Riley, but sadly, she had other problems to worry about.

"I just don't see how this could have happened," Carlisle mumbled as he applied one last ointment to the entirety of Riley's arm. Sadly, there wasn't more that he could do that hadn't already been done. "In all my years, I don't think I have ever seen anything like this."

"Well that's totally what I wanted to hear, thanks Doc," Riley replied sarcastically. The entire time Carlisle had been working on her, she had kept her eyes on her arm, almost fascinated with what had happened to it. After the whole weird exploding thing had happened earlier, Riley had only seen blood dripping from wounds and her skin pale from blood loss. Now, her arm had reverted back to its golden tinge, but the wounds looked just plain weird. It was like the entire lightning strike pattern, from her hand to her shoulder, had been broken open and the skin forced apart to make crevices. Those crevices left her skin bright red on either side of the wounds and filled with what looked like near black blood, which appeared to have thankfully dried. Riley didn't know what to think of it.

Irina had been told that Riley got that injury after being struck by lightning, but it did nothing to ease her fears. She knew what lightning did to human beings, and what she was currently looking at was definitely not normal.

Riley tilted her head to the side so she could rest her cheek against the top of Irina's hand as if the human was trying to comfort her. Irina almost said something to either reassure or thank Riley, but then realized the girl hadn't even realized she had done it. There hadn't been too many instances of vampires finding their mate in a human, but one thing Irina had always heard was that the human of a pair never really felt the bond. At most, humans had simply been drawn to their vampire a little more than average and of course be attracted to them, but when it came to love, the vampire would have to work their ass off with wooing their human mate. It was one of the things that drove so many vampires to turn their human as soon as they found them. Yet ever since their first interaction, Riley definitely appeared to feel something more than that for Irina and her sisters. Even the human herself seemed surprised about her reactions and responses around the blondes. Irina would have to talk to Tanya and Kate about what she noticed, at a time when the three of them were in less of a frenzy over their mate.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to cause you unnecessary worry. But your arm is, well...worrying." Carlisle gave a helpless shrug before wrapping Riley's arm up in fresh bandages. The relief that Riley felt when he finally let go and moved away was palpable to everyone in the room. "I feel it's best to give your arm daily checkups so as to make sure it doesn't get any worse. If it does, we'll have to have a serious discussion as to what our best options are in regards to your injury."

"And the good news just keeps coming and coming," Riley grumbled under her breath. She instinctively tried to lean into Irina's side but couldn't do it due to Paul's hold on her, and Irina wanted nothing more than to remove the offending arm in the most painful way possible. Irina knew it was her instincts making her so aggressive, but rationale was only good for so much. It was only her constantly reminding herself about how badly Riley would likely react to Irina hurting Paul that stopped her from potentially injuring the boy.

"Hey...she's not going to lose her arm or anything, is she?" Paul asked, the most subdued anyone had ever seen from him.

Carlisle could only deliver the truth as carefully as possible. "She shouldn't if this was a normal wound, however due to what you explained to me, I have to say this wound is anything but normal."

Riley grimaced at the news. "But this is my fucking arm! I can't permanently lose my fucking arm! Losing it will greatly impact my future performance!" Before anyone could say anything or, in Paul's case, do more than gag, Riley appeared to shrug the worries away. "Guess that just means I won't let it happen."

"How the hell are you going to do that?" Paul demanded. "You can't even remember to stop yourself from trying to punch people with your fucked hand, if it gets worse-"

"We'll do what it takes to protect her." Irina's voice was soft, but her tone was so steely it left even Paul unable to argue.

Riley was a different story. She pulled away from Irina as best as she could while still in Paul's hold, glaring up at her. "I take care of myself."

Irina only met Riley's glare with a calm sort of understanding, her voice sweet but still just as firm and strong as before. "I don't doubt that you can, but just because you can, doesn't mean you should do it alone."

"What if I want to do it alone?" Riley snapped back. Paul loudly cleared his throat, and Riley rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh, knowing what he was not so subtly hinting at. "Also I have the pack. If I need something that bad, I'll get them to help out. I don't know why you're trying to involve yourself with me." I don't know why I'm actually okay with you being in my life, either. Just what is so special about you, Irina? How the fuck are you able to get so close to me so fast?

The blonde knew she had to be careful with how she replied or she would most likely scare Riley away. She could see it in Riley's eyes-one wrong move, one wrong word, and the girl would run as fast as her human body could take her.

"You're an interesting person, Riley, and I want to know more about you. Besides, I've always had a soft spot for humans, and there's something…" Should Irina really say it? Or would it scare Riley off? "...You're a very special girl, Riley."

Riley didn't hear the last of what she said. She had only heard as far as "soft spot for humans" and something in Riley's mind decided to throw the facts of the Twilight series at her. How furious the original Irina was at Laurent's death even though he tried to kill Bella. While the Denali coven had diverted from their original path in the book, Irina still held a grudge up until that phone call. How could she have a soft spot for humans, yet get angry when she found out her mate was killed for trying to kill a human? Not just any human, but a human she knew was important to the Cullens, even if they were shit at showing it? Yeah, it was her mate who had died, but still. From what Riley could tell as the books were shit at explaining it, Irina had never once condemned Laurent's actions. Riley didn't know why Irina was showing interest in her, but having a soft spot for humans was definitely bullshit. She was a liar, and that was enough for Riley to keep her distance from Irina. Even if the vampire was way too sinfully hot for Riley's heart.

Why did it have to feel so wrong to push Irina away? Why did it make her feel so horrible even if she knew she was making the right choice? Her confused emotional and mental state only worked Riley up to a higher degree.

"Bullshit." Riley's response was met with surprised silence from the vampires, while Paul let out a bark of laughter. As the human was busy pulling herself out of Paul's arms and shaking off Irina's hand, she didn't notice how taken aback Irina was, or notice the flash of hurt in the blonde's eyes. "We're done here, right? Cool." With that, she was already heading for the front doors, leaving everyone stunned by her sudden behavior change.

"Wait, Riley? Riley!" Paul knew something was wrong, which was what drove him to chase after her, even if she might lash out at him for it. And while Irina wanted to do the same, she could only trail slowly after them. She knew Riley wouldn't react well to her presence right then, and while it made her undead heart twist in her chest, there was nothing she could do about it.

Paul caught up to Riley right as she opened the door, almost grabbing her arm before realizing just in time that he had almost grabbed her bad arm. He was going to call out to her one last time, but then he realized how many eyes were on them; all of the shifters had focused on them at Riley's arrival, Sam and Leah watching Riley with a special intensity. Not only that, but Rosalie looked worried to the point she might kick Paul in the balls if she thought he did something to upset Riley, and Emmett was too far away and also looked equally as worried about Riley, which meant he probably wouldn't stop his wife. Jasper was watching everything, harboring mild concern of his own while also struggling with the strength of everyone's emotions at the clearly unsettled Riley. Alice was frowning with frustration and glanced somewhere through the door to where Carlisle, Esme, and Irina still were, before flitting over to Jasper's side and taking his hand. Edward was standing awkwardly next to Eleazar, grimacing at the very creative threats coming from nearly everyone's minds if it turned out that someone had actually hurt Riley. Eleazar did his best to give Riley and Paul some semblance of privacy despite their loud arrival, while Carmen had her attention split between the two Denali sisters she could see in case they did something that might be taken the wrong way, and fear for Irina's potential state of mind. Bella was silent from where she sat in the grass, but she was clearly anxious and uneasy seeing Riley in such a state; she even seemed to struggle with the desire to hurry-and most likely trip over her own feet in the process-to Riley's side. To help the shorter girl in some way.

However, besides Emmett and Rosalie, the only ones Paul really took notice of was Leah, who would definitely beat the hell out of him if he accidentally hurt Riley-and the other two blondes. Kate and Tanya. Despite what appeared to be a relaxed, almost casual demeanor, Kate's eyes were locked on Paul's hand with a dangerous intensity that told Paul that he was walking a very dangerous line. Tanya's face was carefully blank, yet somehow, Paul knew that she was seconds away from intervening. It made Paul's wolf pace uneasily, sure that intervention wouldn't be gentle.

"Bella! You, me, training. Let's go," Riley called as she bounded off the front porch, needing to do something that could hopefully keep her body and mind busy and keep everyone else away from her. She made sure to keep her gaze away from any vampires or shifters so that they wouldn't try to use eye contact as a way to check on her. Still, she could feel so many gazes on her. It freaked her out, and she didn't even know why.

Paul stayed on the porch, knowing it was best not to follow-both for Riley and for Paul's own safety. He paid special attention to Kate and Tanya, noticing their laser-like focus as they watched Riley. Both seemed to be masking their emotions pretty well, but Paul still saw how they almost gravitated to Riley as she passed them before they realized what they were doing and stopped themselves.

First Irina, now these two? What the hell was going on with them? What was it that made them so interested in Riley?

Paul might not be able to help Riley with her current emotional state, but he sure as hell was going to protect her in any other way he could. If those three tried anything, Mama Paul was going to make an appearance. And Mama Paul was a force to be reckoned with.