A/N: Not sure how I feel about this chapter but it's been kicking my ass and needed to be done so here I am. Thanks for all of your support and patience.

Chapter 25

It had been only minutes after all of the wolves, Bella, and Riley left. The Cullens had all agreed to patrol their side of the border along with Carmen and Eleazar in an attempt to give the three Denali blondes some privacy as well as time to process everything that had occurred. They ended up side by side on the couch in the Cullen living room soon after they were left to their own devices. All were lost to their own thoughts as they tried to come to terms with finally finding their mate–only to mess things up with Riley in a way none of them even realized was possible.

"You were too intense there. You know that?"

Of course hearing Kate of all people say that Tanya had been too intense only reminded Tanya just how badly she had fucked up. The coven leader's eagerness to know everything she could about Riley had cost them all. She still couldn't believe how badly she had mishandled the situation. She used to be able to handle even the most complex conversations with ease that left the other party reeling, all information Tanya wanted milked out of them. Yet despite all of that, a simple conversation with an eighteen year old girl, mate or no, had made Tanya forget herself in a way she never realized was possible for her.

Tanya sighed and rested her face in her hands. She felt like shit, her heart felt like it was slowly being burnt to cinders in her chest, and she couldn't stop playing the pain that flashed over Riley's face right before their mate had left them. "I know."

"Like, way too intense," Kate continued. She stretched for a moment before settling back down on the couch, one arm thrown over the back of the couch and over Irina's shoulders as a result. She was so lost in replaying every moment she had spent with Riley to realize how much Tanya stiffened at her words or how Irina gave her a warning look. "I thought I'd be the one to fuck everything up back there but somehow I'm the only one out of the three of us that she didn't get pissed at. Don't know how the hell that happened, but it did. Maybe–"

Irina snapped her teeth at the warrior. "Shut up." She still couldn't believe how quickly things had turned for the worse. When Riley had looked at her for the first time since leaving the Cullen house and appeared almost concerned for her–although the youngest Denali had no idea why–Irina had thought things were looking up despite her own mistakes. And it had been, for a while.

Then the Denalis came on too strong the moment the three decided to join Riley at the table. They and their beasts had been too desperate and pushed too hard and acted too emotionally from the very beginning. Then they even managed to mention the one thing that upset Riley the most.

Kate frowned at her younger sister. For a moment she opened her mouth as if to argue or maybe just point out that she had been the one that messed up the least. She quickly changed her mind at the devastated look on Tanya's and Irina's faces. Both of them were clearly punishing themselves for everything that happened and Kate didn't want to add to it. "Sorry," she muttered before shifting awkwardly in her spot, dropping her arm from the back of the couch. Kate really felt the need to move and do something. To maybe help her sisters somehow or go to her mate and fix everything for Riley no matter what the cost. With the former, Kate felt useless as she had no idea what to say; emotions and well crafted words weren't her strong suit. The latter was equally as impossible despite how easy it should have been. All it should take is a quick run while following Riley's scent trail and Kate would be with her mate.

If only there wasn't that damn border.

Tanya didn't even notice the exchange. Riley's face, the way she tensed, the pain in her eyes, every mistake she made–all of it was being examined by Tanya at every angle as if to punish herself for causing so many issues with her mate.

Then there were the words Emmett had thoughtlessly spoken after the shifters' and humans' departure; "Yeah you fucked up really bad but you shouldn't worry about it too much. Riley knows how serious things are with the fighting coming up. I doubt she's going to hide from you all like she did from Alice."

Yet what if Riley did just that? What if Tanya's mouth had made it so that their mate hid from them forever? It would be so easy for Riley to do. She just had to stay on the La Push side of the border.

"I need to figure out a way to fix this. To at least apologize," Tanya said at last. Not that she knew how of course. She doubted anyone would be quick to give Tanya or her sisters Riley's number. Even if they did, what was to stop Riley from hanging up the second she heard any of their voices?

"We'll need to be calm to do that," Irina mused. "We don't want a repeat of what happened earlier." She still couldn't believe how much she had lost her cool, especially so soon after swearing to be on her best behavior and make things right. It was embarrassing and humbling and just plain wrong of her.

"So lots of hunting is needed. Check," Kate said. At least hunting was easy. It was something she could do right now and not have a problem with it. She would have jumped up and gone about draining whatever animals she found until she was full but a simple shake of Tanya's head stopped her.

"Hunting will help but it's not enough. As Riley is a bit of a special sort, if we do meet her again the likelihood of the meeting is random."

"When we meet her again," Irina corrected their oldest sister. She took Tanya's hand in hers and gave it a comforting squeeze. "There is no way we won't meet her again. Don't punish yourself that much by thinking such a thing."

Tanya nodded and gave Irina a self deprecating smile as she squeezed her youngest sister's hand in return. "You're right. I was getting ahead of myself there." Tanya straightened a little as she considered what else needed to happen. "We need to hunt but we can't keep ourselves full every day without doing damage to the local wildlife population. Even if we could without issue, it wouldn't be enough to handle ourselves around Riley. Especially with the way she acts around particular friends of hers."

"Paul," Irina couldn't help but snarl at the same time Kate snarled, "Leah." Both of them had tensed up, eyes turning darker as they couldn't help but seethe with jealousy at the way both shifters had been able to touch and hold their mate so easily.

Tanya paused. "Among others," she said carefully. "Your reactions alone are enough to prove my point that hunting isn't going to be enough. The shifters aren't even here yet you're both ready to fight them." Not that she was faring much better; the beast in her roared with its own possessive jealousy and Tanya's eyes had darkened considerably at the two names that were mentioned. If it weren't for how humbled she had felt after her last screw up she likely would have reacted similarly to them.

"We'll certainly need more ways to restrain ourselves," Irina admitted tensely while Kate scoffed.

"Why do that when I have a gorgeous mate who wants to be restrained instead?" Kate muttered sulkily. "Riley finds it hot when I kick ass, she said it herself"

"Kate," Tanya said warningly.

The warrior huffed. "I know, I know. I need to restrain myself too–for now anyway. It's just so hard! If she were another vampire or even just a normal human who was my mate I know I wouldn't be like this. But she's not and it's driving everything in me insane." The last word was all but growled by the middle sister as electricity crackled along her skin. It magically didn't shock Irina the first time it danced over Kate's skin but Irina didn't want to risk it a second time and quickly blurred to Tanya's lap to give the warrior more strength.

Tanya made sure to press herself to the other side of the couch. As she understood her sister's frustration as well as her personality she knew it was best to get some of it out of her system, so she didn't say anything to make Kate calm down just yet. "I know. Everything about her tests the possessive and protective parts of our nature to the fullest." Riley being human was bad enough but then there were her old injuries, her refusal to tell much about herself, the dangers surrounding her arm that venom might not even be able to help, the way she was so flirty and touchy with everyone…and then there were the shifters. Shifters who were known to be temperamental and dangerous and who also loved her as one of their own and, in the process, kept their mate from them.

The instincts in them told the Denalis to rip all of the wolves apart and take what was theirs. If they were any younger they likely wouldn't have been able to fight the urge. It was through willpower and restraint and even animal blood that gave them the strength to not lay their hands on the shifters…too much, anyway.

"So what else can we do to stay calm since hunting is so clearly not enough?" Irina asked. Her words were enough to refocus the conversation and cause Kate's electricity to die down.

A frustrated sigh slipped from Tanya's lips as she pushed a hand through her strawberry blonde curls. "That's where things get complicated. We need ways to calm our beasts around her and there's only so many ways we can do that–especially as we're currently nowhere close to being in Riley's favor."

"Speak for yourself," Kate muttered. "I'm pretty damn close. She answered my questions the most and I definitely pissed her off the least."

"Not helping," Irina snapped, shoving Kate with her foot and causing the entire couch to creak with the force of it.

The warrior smirked at her but didn't say anything in reply before Tanya came to a realization.

"No…Kate's right."

"She is?" Irina asked, looking up at Tanya with clear disbelief from her place on the coven leader's lap.

"I am?" Kate echoed, just as clearly surprised.

"Yes," Tanya confirmed. "I don't know how or why but she's definitely Riley's current favorite out of the three of us."

"Should I be offended? I feel like I should be offended," Kate said.

"I know. It was quite a surprise; this is Kate we're talking about." Irina's agreement caused an outraged cry of "Hey!" from the middle Denali. Her other sisters pretended not to hear her but couldn't help cracking smirks at her expense.

"I'm plenty charming; at least Riley noticed," Kate grumbled. She crossed her arms over her chest in a clear and overly dramatic pout. She got a pat on the hand from Tanya and a kiss on the cheek from Irina and, along with some assurances and teasing, brightened right back up after she couldn't hold her frown on her face. She quickly went back to the more important conversation. "So as Tanya said, I'm right; but what am I right about?"

"You're her favorite. For now, anyway," Tanya couldn't help but add with a smirk. Kate stuck her tongue out at her oldest sister in response, which in turn made Irina giggle and Tanya grin. "You also angered her the least. Which means you're the one most likely to be able to make contact with her and potentially help us stay calmer around her."

Kate cocked her head to the side. "How am I going to do that?"

Irina had perked up at first but quickly fell back into deep thought as she tried to figure out how Kate could help all of them. "I'm afraid I'm a little lost too; I doubt Riley is going to let Kate convince her to meet us and I can't figure out how else Kate can help us all."

Tanya didn't blame them for not realizing what she was getting at. After all, her sisters hadn't even realized the way they reacted most of the time until they were face to face with Riley. "Think back to how we acted around Bella; what constantly drew us to her while waiting to meet Riley for the first time to the point we almost drove her insane. And what was it that got us so excited to come down here in the first place? It wasn't just Alice's words but what happened in the background of the call. Even in the field, what drew us to her before we even knew where she was?"

Realization hit both Kate and Irina at the same time, both of them straightening in excitement.

"Her scent and her voice," Irina said first. An adoring smile appeared on her face as she thought back to her experiences. "That's right. Smelling her scent on Bella was weirdly comforting when I wasn't getting jealous. I couldn't get enough of it."

"And her voice definitely makes us happy," Kate added with a grin, but the grin quickly fell as she remembered the last time she had heard Riley's voice and the anger behind it. "When she's not pissed at us, anyway."

"Exactly." Tanya couldn't help her excitement. She wouldn't even consider that her plans wouldn't work. Even if they didn't, Kate had a weird way of annoying her way into people's good graces. There was something about the cocky warrior that was irresistible and made it impossible to keep disliking her no matter how hard someone tried. Tanya knew this firsthand from the time her creator Sasha had first decided to add Kate to their family. Even if Riley didn't like her at all, between how badly Tanya had messed up and Irina's naturally hesitant and careful nature, a super reckless and aggressively charming Kate would still be the best option. At least for now. "As the current favorite, you're the one who is going to be in charge of getting us what we need to comfort our beasts enough for us to behave properly."

Kate arched an eyebrow but seemed more than happy to get to work, quickly forgetting any qualms she had about Tanya's idea as she leaned toward her coven leader eagerly. "Tell me what I need to do."