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Chapter 170

Vampires and Wolves


Edward


Yes, it had all started so well with Jake and Becky. It had been nice to watch the two of them. But now it was all over! They had to realize that this arrangement no longer made sense. That they were only fooling themselves. That this had no future.

So I walked with a determined pace up the stairs and did not hesitate even when I opened Jake's room door.

I had no bad conscience about it. That was completely lost to me in the meantime!

"You are supposed to study! And not for biology!" I thundered, watching my children as they blushed.

And how they pulled back their hands, caught.

Jake has been in the process of making his way purposefully to Becky's bra clasp under her T-shirt while she sat on his lap. Of course, the books on the business management subject lay unnoticed behind her on the desk. It had been really cute when they had actually been studying. How they teased each other and yet complemented each other wonderfully. I had listened unabashedly. Then they came to the topic of supply and demand, and both of them had immediately been distracted by it. I didn't understand the connection, but I understood that they wouldn't learn anything that would help them in the business administration exam. Commercial fornication was sometimes only asked in tax exams to determine the type of income, whereby no practical demonstration was necessary!

I warned them both that if they didn't behave, I would throw Becky out the door.

With a very understanding smile, I went back downstairs.

I could really understand them. Love was far more interesting than pretty much anything else, but they still wanted to pass the mid-year exams. After all, these were the basis of their report card grade. So for courses they didn't take in the coming semester, that grade would be on their final report card forever. That was the only reason the senior class was so focused on studying these days. The fact that Becky was allowed to stay over anytime from now on - since yesterday, to be exact - had presupposed some other ground rules. One of them said that she should not neglect her parents and that she also spent time with them and with her little brother on a regular basis. Another was that her school performance should not be jeopardized. I had personally vouched for this with Henry. Jake and Becky, of course, agreed to all the rules. Unconditionally. I was little surprised at that. They had suggested themselves that they wanted to keep it the way it was after the rape, when Becky had spent every night here. They wouldn't see each other all the time after school, but Jake would pick her up later for the most part. Unless they were meeting for special occasions. With their mutual friends or like yesterday and today to study. Eliza and Henry had been okay with that overall.

"I doubt this is the last time you'll have to go upstairs," Bella chuckled once I was back in the living room.

"That's what I'm afraid of, too," I agreed, and sat back down at the dining table with her.

While Ced was dozing off in his crib, Bella was reading through old English essays of mine on my laptop after we stumbled upon the subject of learning after dinner. Right now she was busy with a paper on 'Romeo and Juliet' and asked how many times I had turned it in without changing a single word. And without having a guilty conscience.

"A couple of times," I admitted. Each time there was an 'A' for it. Why change what was already perfect? However, this only worked for the high school. At the college level, there was a database into which all student work was read, which compared the various texts. If there were too many matches, you could quickly get into trouble. Emmett could talk about it firsthand.

We chatted about my own school experiences, that the teaching content had hardly changed in all those years. Except, of course, where different insights had been gained.

When I diapered Ced upstairs a little later, I reminded Jake and Becky one more time to study.

They made an effort. Yes ... really.

We wanted to reward the kids a little for their earnest efforts, so we went to the kitchen.

Where else? Leah would certainly be hungry again when she got home.

Bella had found a recipe for brownies on the Internet this morning and wanted to try it out. She had also procured all the necessary ingredients. So we baked eagerly.

By the way, Ced could not do anything with walnuts. But with chocolate, which his sweet little face could not deny.

When the cake was in the oven, our favorite neighbor came over.

We hadn't really seen each other since Thursday and he took the opportunity, since he was outside with Cookie, for an impromptu visit.

We hugged casually as I let him in through the patio door. Cookie also wanted to be greeted extensively and jumped up at me, while David already went into the kitchen. He pressed Bella to him as usual and gave her the usual unconscious kiss for the two of them.

When I entered through the door with Cookie, David already had Ced's chocolate hands stuck to his face as he greeted his godchild.

I handed him a bottle of beer straight from the fridge while Cookie freed my son from the chocolate.

After all, a dog's tongue like that was much more effective than simply washing him. Above all, Ced would probably giggle with far less amusement at a washcloth.

"You too?", I asked Bella.

She nodded.

I liked a tipsy angel. She always came up with very amusing ideas, provided she didn't fall asleep.

Soon David and I were sitting on the floor with Cookie and Ced, rolling balls back and forth.

Bella pulled the armchair forward while we updated each other.

The software he had had to present at his company on Friday had been a complete success. He only had to add a few more special functions, which the customer had ordered directly after the first test, but he would have no problem with that. On Friday, Vanessa, Daniel's mother, would be at her parents' house to pick up Daniel. Or so she believed. In truth, everything had already been settled between David, Sonya and Daniel's relatives, with whom he actually lived. David had had custody alone for years, so he could make decisions about Daniel all by himself. Daniel would live with his father and get his last things out of his room there on Friday. Since he wanted to continue going to boarding school in Sanford, where he stayed during the week like all the other students, he would go to visit his grandparents, uncle, aunt, male cousin and two female cousins regularly. He had grown very fond of them all, but here he felt more at home. With that, David would also finally stop paying alimony.

Of that I had reminded him.

He paid Vanessa because she was Daniel's mother in spite of everything, although he was not obligated to do so for legal or moral reasons. And in addition he paid Daniel's grandparents because he was taken in there and provided with everything. Both he would now stop.

We also told some things.

That our house had finally been finished, with which we also extended a dinner invitation for Sunday evening. However, we would not be able to fulfill this until a week later. David had had to promise Daniel's grandparents to come over on Sunday with his whole family.

From the trip with my kids on Saturday.

How wonderful it was to run with them through the untouched forest. That we were even in Canada he acknowledged with a deep gulp from his bottle.

As Bella brought the two busy teenagers more warm brownies, I also told him that Becky was allowed to stay with us again.

"The whole family. Finally under one roof again?", David smiled understandingly.

I nodded, but unfortunately not quite as enthusiastically.

"We encountered foreign Spirit Warriors on Saturday and ... Leah imprinted on one of them," I therefore said soberingly.

So we also reported it to him, in all due detail.

"Despite the circumstances, however, Nanuk seems to be a very likeable young man. No idea if he is by nature or maybe just by the influence of imprinting," said Bella in conclusion.

"As far as I can tell so far, he is so by nature," I sadly had to agree, and I guess I peeked clearly contrite.

"No matter what comes of it, whether Leah stays with Marcus or not. YOU don't start again like you did with Marcus and pick only the negative sides of this Namur!", David threatened me.

"Nanuk," I immediately corrected him.

"Whatever! Nanuk for all I care!", David grinned, and I just nodded.

David's cell phone rang.

His wife asked if he got lost. He had already been walking the dog for two hours.

He tried to explain that Cookie was to blame. That the dog had practically dragged him here and as huge and as strong as the dog was, David hadn't had a chance.

So ... this massive and incredibly strong animal David was talking about didn't even manage to snatch his beloved Kraken out of my son's hand!

So David finished his second bottle of beer, said goodbye and went home.

"What are our kids doing? Are they still studying?", Bella chuckled to herself.

Yes, she was a little bit tipsy.

I listened briefly ... and could hardly believe my ears.

"They're sleeping?!", I said as horrified as Bella looked at me in response.

I first had to see if everything was all right. It hadn't been that long ago that they had still been very lively. I had been concentrating very hard on Ced when I noticed the increasingly rapid heartbeats.

Quietly I opened the door and smiled.

They were cuddled up close in bed. That they were naked, I probably did not need to specifically mention.

On the nightstand, I plugged the charging cord into Jake's cell phone, whose diode was already glowing red, and turned off the lights before quietly leaving the room again.

Then I saved my angel.

Bella was lying on the thick carpet and Ced was climbing and crawling around on her back side the way Cookie usually did with anyone he caught lying on the floor. He took hardly any regard with his little hands and feet, trying to tickle out his mother.

I took an example from it, but with much more success.

The extended playing with Cookie had made my baby tired, though. He quickly became cuddly, yawned, and snuggled up to Bella. Ced, however, stayed awake. He fought bravely against his heavy little eyes and babbled to himself.

That's how we lay there. Perfectly happy. In the middle of the living room on the floor. Bella in my arms. In hers our sweet baby.

I gently stroked his face and hummed Bella's lullaby to help his eyes a little. It worked for both my angels and so I carried them to bed one by one.

Ced had already been in his pajamas since the last diaper change, so all I had to do was put him in his crib, give him a gentle kiss, and cover him up a bit with a thin sheet. He snuggled with his little face against his purple kraken.

I sighed happily and afflicted at the same time.

How I would have loved to watch Jake and Leah sleep!

Then I turned myself to my larger angel.

Bella was still fully dressed, which I changed very gently.

It reminded me of the evening when David had first appeared here without notice. When he had put my angel to bed. Like David then, Bella tried to help me today in her dazed half-sleep. I supported David's thought of the time that it would be easier if Bella was already asleep properly.

It was quite a job getting her half of her pajamas on. Afterwards, recovering from that, I sat on the edge of the bed and tenderly stroked her face. I was somewhat comforted by the fact that Bella was asleep before eleven. She was leaving at the same time as us tomorrow to go to Portland to see Professor Stewart and had been in bed very late the last few evenings.

I gave my angel a kiss on the forehead and went back downstairs. Before that, however, I fetched Leah's bathrobe from her room.

The way I assessed Nanuk, he would accompany Leah home. For him, I took my own in case he wanted to come in for a moment. He wouldn't have to get dressed awkwardly.

Both I laid down on the terrace.

I expected, since Marcus would be home any minute, that Leah would arrive shortly as well. No matter who got here first, they would be waiting for each other.

I was putting away Ced's toys when Marcus arrived as well.

Sluggish and tired. Since he also had to study for the midterm exams, he would certainly hardly have had a chance to get some rest today.

"Hello, Marcus. You look exhausted," I noted with concern.

I had advised him to cut back on work until the school semester, or at least the exams, were over. After all, it was only two weeks. But he had to earn money since his parents were separated and his father had stopped all allowance for his children. It hadn't been much before that, but at least he had taken care of clothing, school supplies, and the like. Now, however, Marcus was on his own. He did not want to burden the few savings his mother had. He had rejected my support with the words 'I'll be fine', which I couldn't blame him for. He practically lived with us without contributing to any costs. This I had rejected rigorously! But I made sure that the Audi was always - as if by magic - quite sufficiently filled up.

"Hey, Edward. I'll be fine," he said.

I rolled my eyes at his standard saying, but smiled understandingly.

"Isn't Leah here yet?" he asked cautiously at once, however.

He wasn't sure what to make of the whole situation around Leah and Nanuk. He didn't like it, that much was certain. And he was deeply worried about how Leah would face him after the two of them had met all alone today.

"Not yet. But she will certainly come any moment ... Are you hungry? We baked brownies," I replied.

He nodded, with which we made our way to the kitchen.

I asked him about his day, and we chatted a bit while he ate, and I handed him something to drink.

However, only a few minutes passed before I perceived Leah's thoughts. And Nanuk's. They were relaxed and enjoying the moment, forgetting how the providence was nastily playing with them. They jumped, laughing in thought, into our garden. Leah saw Marcus through the kitchen windows and instantly got a guilty conscience. She had wanted to be here before him. Now she not only came later, but also brought Nanuk with her, which of course was not hidden from Marcus.

Leah saw the bathrobes lying at the side and phased back so that she was immediately on two legs and continued walking without stopping her graceful movements.

Nanuk had followed this in disbelief, which I noted with a smile.

He saw himself on all fours again when he changed back and wondered how Leah would have done it. She impressed him continuously. Whether it was with her intelligence, her looks, her grace, her eyes, her beautiful smile ... He shook those thoughts out of his head. She was just a good friend. Nothing more!

Leah, on the other hand, had grabbed the bathrobe on the way and put it on and hurriedly came running into the kitchen. Immediately into Marcus' arms, which held her tightly and pressed her against him.

He was very relieved in the face of this greeting.

"I'm sorry, I meant to be back here sooner," I heard Leah whisper as I left the kitchen.

On the one hand, I didn't want to get in the way of the couple in love, and on the other hand, I wanted to greet Nanuk politely. He certainly deserved that. He had brought my princess here in good health. Not that anything could really happen to Leah, but I thought it was very gallant of him.

He wondered if he should just take off. It was late, Leah was home, and Kate was probably already waiting for him at home. However, he thought it was kind of ... naughty not to at least say 'good evening' when someone else was already awake.

"Good evening, Nanuk. You must be hungry," I held out my hand to him outside and motioned him to enter.

Since we were hosting wolves in this house, we had baked two trays at once.

"Hello, Edward. Yes, thank you," he replied cheerfully.

We both strode very slowly to the kitchen to give Marcus and Leah time.

Nanuk had already seen the two of them closely embraced, but immediately looked away and fiddled with the bathrobe.

He didn't know how he felt about it. What he should think about it. It bothered him somehow, but somehow also not.

I cleared my throat a bit, with which the young people in the kitchen separated from each other a bit and we entered. The young men shook hands, trying to keep an unbiased face.

Neither of them succeeded.

"Sorry about that. I detained Leah," Nanuk looked Marcus in the eyes.

He was truly sorry.

Marcus didn't understand his subsequent chuckle, however, so he narrowed his eyes a bit sullenly.

He tried to imagine how Nanuk would have 'detained' Leah. None of the mental images appealed to him.

"I thought I had to hunt vampires," Nanuk explained, however, and then looked at me. "I seem to have been tracking siblings of yours."

"He found Rosie and Em's scent," Leah chuckled.

Marcus breathed an inward sigh of relief.

"Emmett certainly would be tickled pink," I indicated.

While all three teenagers were munching on the rest of the brownies from the first tray - I defended the second one with my life! - Nanuk and Leah told us how their meeting had gone.

Leah had studied for geography, afterwards with Nanuk's help. They had talked about their dates the evening before. And they had talked a little about the confusion of their feelings while they were walking along the lakeshore. Although they summarized everything very much, they were very open and honest, which surprised me a little, but pleased me a lot. I was really convinced that only sincerity helped them to retain the trust of Marcus and Kate. As far as I heard it from Marcus, I was right about that.

"Maybe you should meet my family in person, so you don't accidentally make me an orphan or an only child," I mused as Nanuk then very soon took his leave.

"I've thought of that, too," Leah agreed.

So far, only Esmé knew about Leah's imprinting, who had certainly told Carlisle. My siblings, however, were not yet in the picture about it. Leah had asked for it, in order not to be addressed by them also still constantly on it. She recognized after Nanuk's short-term hunting drive, however, the necessity to make the wolves and the vampires known to each other.

"My family lives a good distance up the Saco River. We own quite a large property there. We recently renovated and expanded our house a bit, so Bella, Ced and I will mostly be spending the weekends there now," I said, but was interrupted.

"A bit?!" questioned Marcus, raising an eyebrow very skeptically.

As well as Leah.

I rolled my eyes.

I really did not know why they reacted so. I had really limited myself to the absolutely necessary with the little conversion!

But I passed over her objection.

"Since you want to make up for your movie night on Friday night, the three wolves could visit us there in the afternoon," I suggested, knowing this would be in Leah's sense. She would see Nanuk again, but they wouldn't be alone. So that it did not come again to such a temptation as earlier at the lake.

Marcus was also in favor.

For the same reasons.

"You could bring Kate, too," Marcus commented.

This unknown person interested him. He wondered how she dealt with these things.

"Kate and my mom are planning to go to Portland on Friday to visit Tom's sister. She's expecting her first child any day now, so to speak, and is a schoolmate of Kate's ... Tom and his dad are going to see her too," Nanuk smiled encouragingly at Leah on the last sentence.

"How lucky!" exclaimed Leah in exaggerated relief.

Oh well. Maybe it wasn't so exaggerated after all.

They would work out the details tomorrow by phone, because Nanuk really didn't want to disturb them any longer.

He was not comfortable keeping Leah from sleeping when she had to go to school tomorrow morning.

This short evening meeting of Marcus, Leah, and Nanuk had made Marcus see everything much more positively, and I also had the impression that it had helped all three of them a little.

This impression, of both Marcus and me, was somewhat overturned when Leah and Nanuk said goodbye to each other. While we boys had merely shaken hands respectfully, the two hugged each other very familiarly and Leah looked after the three-colored wolf until he was no longer to be seen.

They went to bed almost silently.


When I arrived home after school the next day, I could already hear my son crying from outside.

Hurriedly, anxiously, I entered our house. And was taken aback.

Ced sat crying on the floor and stretched out his little arms. After his mother, who stood in front of him with her arms folded in front of her chest.

"What's going on here?", I asked.

My entrance must have been lost in Ced's shouting.

They both flinched and Ced quickly crawled behind the sofa. Then Bella turned to me, and I was startled.

An unsightly hematoma formed directly under her left eye and the eye itself teared and was red.

Immediately I stood by my angel and kissed the tears away.

Bella closed her eyes, sighed a little in relief, and leaned against me as I continued to gently cool the bruise with my fingers.

"How did this happen?" I asked anxiously. Actually, I didn't want to hear the answer to that. Since Ced was crying, he had to have something to do with it.

"YOUR son hit me," Bella said.

Challengingly! And smirking slightly?

"He wanted another bottle of blood, but we don't have any left here. That's when he got a little ... pissed."

I squinted my eyes sadly.

So in the end it was my fault. Specifically: I should have taken precautions to make sure there was always enough blood in the house for him. Ced was currently getting a bottle of blood three times a day and I knew we only had enough for one. So I had arranged with Carlisle to drop off new blood after his shift at the hospital, which ended in less than an hour. General: Because I was a vampire and should have expected my son not to take a joke when it came to blood. I should have anticipated that even at his age, Ced could go into a frenzy like the rest of us when he drank blood. That he wouldn't be himself. That he would rage rampantly if one contested or denied him his prey - or his bottle. We were bloodthirsty monsters who would sacrifice our own souls for blood. Or even our own mother.

Gentle hands on my cheeks commanded me to look at Bella.

The eye still teared and increased my sins with every drop. Our son was too dangerous for Bella.

"Whatever you're cobbling together in your head right now: Forget it! This is my baby, and I will deal with him! Like I've already dealt with two wolves!" she sparkled at me.

Another one of those moments when my angel scared me.

How did she know my thoughts? Or did she just know me too well?

She smiled adorably, even if she twitched a little, which was certainly due to the little injury.

This gesture made me reconsider the image presented to me as I entered.

When I had walked into the room, it was not a scene of an angry unmanageable baby who had maliciously hurt his mother. Ced had been crying, not raving. He hadn't been angry, he'd been scared. He was hiding. From me. He was anxious.

I gently kissed the increasingly reddening spot and turned to my son.

Ced had stopped crying and very carefully looked past our sofa, but when our eyes met, very quickly hid behind it again.

"Charles ... Edward ... David ... Swan ...!", I said clearly that it would probably have been heard throughout the house. Only to supernatural ears, of course. I wasn't screaming, after all.

Ced crawled on, but I heard the swallowed sound of renewed crying.

I went after him, but he had already reached the far corner and crawled on. Vampirically fast I went from the other side around our sofa area.

A little game, which Ced usually liked very much, and he commented with enthusiastic babbling and squealing. Today he flinched when I stood in front of him and retreated in the opposite direction.

I picked him up and peeked angry.

"Look what you did to Mommy!", I urged him.

Trembling, he turned his head toward her.

His face contorted and he immediately began to cry bitterly again. He dropped his face on my shoulder, sobbing irrepressibly, whereby his little hand was on my neck.

His thoughts were free. Whether he used his gift consciously or whether he had lost control in view of his frightened condition, I could not say.

I took the two steps to Bella, and she grabbed Ced's other little hand.

We saw together how it had happened.

They sat together in the armchair. Satisfied, Ced sucked the red liquid from the soother and looked happily into the face of his smiling mommy. Then the bottle was empty. His hand was on Bella's arm, which she used to hold Ced, so he asked for another bottle through his gift. When Bella said that wouldn't do now and she gave him an apologetic kiss on the forehead, he lost it. Truly. He flailed his arms wildly and kicked with his feet. Furious. Angry. His mommy suddenly cried out loudly and he sat on the floor. Grumpily, he looked around until he recognized the injury on Bella's face. From then on, all he did was cry. It hurt him to see his mommy like that and to know that it was his fault. He didn't think his mommy would love him anymore. And I probably wouldn't love him anymore either. No one would be fond of him now! Bella was thinking that wasn't true and I was announcing similar things about my thoughts.

Since our son only continued to blubber, we also talked to him, but Ced did not perceive it in his grief.

Bella and I exchanged a very sympathetic look.

We were simply overwhelmed with the consternation of our fifteen-day young baby.

My little son was a little dramatist. I wondered from whom he had inherited this trait. Bella was truly not so inclined and after all, neither was I!

Only when we simultaneously pressed a kiss on his cheeks did he seem to notice us at all. His moaning faltered while his little head lifted.

'We are still fond of you!', Bella and I thought together.

A very shy smile twitched around the corners of his mouth.

We needed some time until our baby could laugh again properly.

The fact that Carlisle had brought fresh blood did not interest him, but that was very likely due to the person who brought it.

He still didn't trust Carlisle as far as one can spit and always peeked at him very skeptically.

Carlisle took a quick look at Bella's eye for safety's sake, during which Ced snuggled up to me apologetically and in turn informed me how sorry he was.

Ced was stronger than a normal baby, but that he could cause such injuries was news to all of us.

Carlisle suspected that Ced had very likely just gotten in a lucky shot.

Bella already didn't notice any of it unless you touched the spot, even though it looked quite unsightly.

At least that's what she said, which did not mean that I believed her. She would certainly have a few days of this.

When Carlisle had gone, Ced immediately crawled to her at the sofa, she took him on her lap and very gently he stroked over her eye with his fingers.

Bella made an effort not to flinch.

All at once he pulled himself up by Bella's sweater, stretched, and gave his mommy a kiss on her injured cheek.

I was completely gobsmacked!

My baby had stood on his own feet for a brief moment. Well, he immediately plopped back again, but he had stood. For a whole two seconds! Another reason was this gesture. Until now, Ced hadn't known what a kiss meant. He just thought it was silly. But now he had resorted to this gesture himself and from Bella's reaction I could conclude that he had understood a kiss as an expression of affection.

"I am fond of you too, my little Knob!" my angel murmured, touched, as a tear rolled down her cheek.

I even got a kiss, but without him standing up again. He pulled me down to him by my shirt.

My heart was alive. For sure. It glowed moved.

Our older kids were not so greeted when they came home after practice. They saw Bella's little injury with concern, but Ced promised his siblings that he would never ever do anything like that again.


After dinner, however, our children immediately disappeared again.

Rosalie would quiz Marcus on health sciences and tinker with the bus on the side.

Presumably, it would be more the other way around.

For Jake, English with Carlisle was on the schedule today, and Leah would be dealing with physics and Emmett.

Which of these was easier or more difficult was beyond my knowledge. My guess was Emmett. Where Becky was staying was not sufficiently known to me, but Jake would bring her later.

In contrast, Jazz and Alice came to visit us. More precisely, they visited their nephew, not Bella and me. Insofar as they paid attention to us, we told them about Leah and Nanuk. They were honestly concerned about this coincidence and guessed correctly that it didn't suit Leah at all. Moreover, Alice was upset because she only learned about it today.

"Leah didn't want you guys to talk to her about it every chance you got and keep asking her how she was doing. She just wanted to forget about it," Bella came to the defense of our princess.

"That's why she reacted so annoyed when I approached her on Monday," Jazz stated.

I nodded.

"I would also appreciate it if you continued to not directly address Leah on this. The situation is already confusing enough. Everyone involved is puzzled. Take it as a given and wait to see if their plan works out. Let's just hope for it together ... Unless, as a psychologist, you have some advice for them when you witness the emotional chaos tomorrow. Nanuk kept track of Em and Rose yesterday, which is why we invited the wolves to us, so they could meet all of you and not accidentally kill you," I explained.

Jazz considered with a smirk who would have killed whom there, if the wolves were still young and inexperienced besides being smaller than ours. However, he held the same opinion as me in this respect. If Nanuk had met Emmett, it would have become predominantly amusing. We both doubted that Emmett would have harmed a hair on the head of an unknown Spirit Warrior if Jake and Leah hadn't signed off on it.

Jazz and I had run into the woods a bit more with Ced.

My son loved the speed. Almost as much as swimming. I put him in my carrying shirt the wrong way around for this, so that he also noticed enough of it.

Bella had called after us that I should not kidnap our baby to Canada. Otherwise I could get the shock of my life! I would be curious about the shock, but I did not risk it.

For the subsequent strengthening Ced got another bottle of blood and fell asleep very quickly, very firmly. Thereby it was not yet so late.

"Empty nest," my angel purred meaningfully.

A fact that Bella and I knew how to use very well ...

Rather in the background, I noticed that at some point the teenagers had fallen straight into bed, tired.


The next day passed first of all very comfortably.

Wake up six sleeping angels, breakfast, school.

When I arrived home, I doubted my mind for a moment.

Was it yesterday again? I heard Ced crying again as I got out of my BMW.

But this time I smirked.

David, Sonya, and Emma had come over for lunch. This often took place together, sometimes with us, sometimes with the Mitchell family. For Bella alone it was hardly worthwhile to cook something, so she usually went to our neighbors, if she did not eat lunch at Professor Stewarts. Today was payback time, so to speak, especially since Ced was acquiring a taste for human food. Cookie was there, too, and he was licking pudding off our carpet.

Obviously, it was Ced's little bowl that had fallen to the floor. My son was quite displeased about this - unlike Cookie.

But when David presented him with a new little bowl, my son was able to smile again and heartbreakingly rubbed the tears from his eyes.

I kissed all the ladies present in greeting, Cookie growled at me as he defended his pudding, I casually hugged David and I planted a kiss on my sons forehead. Afterwards, we drove to indulge in Ced's favorite pastime.

Swimming. Until the children announced themselves by text message in the afternoon after school.

There would be six of them and they would come over as wolves.

My whole family was standing by in the living room.

They all were in the know, but everyone respected that Leah hadn't told them anything yet.

While we were in the pool, Esmé had been baking.

For the wolves. What was pilled on the table would barely be enough. A mountain of waffles, one of which Ced was tearing apart, a large bowl full of muffins, and savory wraps.

I laughed as I heard the approaching thoughts of the wolves.

"It took Akai three tries to jump the fence ... They're smaller than Leah and Jake," I explained my hilarity. "And he is limping with his left front leg," I indicated to Carlisle.

He nodded.

I followed the approaching thoughts.

Nanuk watched Becky and Marcus with fascination. How they pressed themselves - as a matter of course - into the fur of the large predators and held on to them. Even while jumping over the fence. There was not the slightest bit of fear or discomfort in either of them. Would Kate eventually overcome her fear?

One sibling couple after another entered the little changing room.

We greeted our children and Ced had crawled after us. Still with a waffle corner hanging in his mouth.

"Well, who's the squirt?" immediately asked Akai as he stepped out of the room dressed and admiring the baby in Jake's arms.

They had shared the waffle fraternally.

I wasn't sure Akai would ever be capable of a bad mood. He laughed happily. As always. And the question was more rhetorical. Nanuk had already told his family about our son.

"This is our little brother," Jake proudly introduced him.

"You're a handsome boy!" said Akai, lightly pinching him on his chubby cheeks.

Ced chuckled sheepishly and hid his face against the crook of Jake's neck.

The Latham brothers looked at each other as we then asked them to step closer. They were nervous, while I smirked.

They had about the same thoughts that Jake and Leah once had when they met my family. They were in the house of their archenemy, whom they were not only outnumbered. But Nanuk remembered Leah's trust in us.

"How can you stand that stench?" whispered Akai as they walked.

"You get used to it," Leah indicated, to which I added that the smell of wolves was similarly repulsive to vampires.

My family had casually spread out in the living room.

Carlisle and Esmé stood closest to the living room door, smiling kindly.

"My parents. Carlisle and Esmé," I introduced the two of them.

They welcomed the brothers and Esmé directly followed up that they should help themselves. A request that my children had not even waited for. They were already chewing.

"What happened to your hand?" the in-house internist asked with dutiful discretion.

Carlisle couldn't get out of his skin.

Akai waved off - actually, he didn't quite trust the vampiric doctor - that it would be all right.

"I know how your healing works to the greatest extent possible and that there is a sometimes painful, even excruciating burning sensation that comes with it if the injuries are too severe. This is pain that you do not have to endure. For Leah and Jake, I have developed a serum that takes away that pain. It's very effective and it's based on their blood. I could make it for you as well," Carlisle offered.

Nanuk did not miss the statement between the lines and his gaze was immediately on Leah with concern.

There was only one way to be able to demonstrably determine the effectiveness of such a remedy. Leah had needed this injection. Because she had suffered excruciating pain. Something that he did not want to imagine and caused a burning sensation in himself.

Leah intuitively understood his look. She was holding Marcus' hand, but now she also took Nanuk's and squeezed it lightly. They nodded to each other barely noticeably and let go again.

Everyone in the room noticed this gesture.

Everybody! Marcus too, of course.

"Alice, our psychic, and Jasper, an empath," I led the young men on, and Alice was already jittering toward them.

"Hi ...! You're as warm as they are. Isn't it warm for you guys? I always wonder how Jake and Leah can stand that body temperature. So you're wolves, too. But smaller than them, according to Edward. How little are you? Do you have nice soft fur? How long have you been wolves? Have you already gotten used to it?" Alice squeaked happily.

"Alice!", I interrupted her flow of speech.

"Um ... yeah, nah ... don't know ... yeah, yeah, about a foot and a half ... yeah, three weeks ... not quite yet," Nanuk replied with a smile, and all chuckled at Alice's strange face, who wasn't prepared that she would receive an immediate response to every single comment or question.

They had been warned about the verbose Alice, and Nanuk used a technique he always used for learning to remember things better. He connected every single sentence of Alice in his mind with an image that had as emotional a meaning for him as possible. With this tool, one could remember a lot of information if one was practiced at it.

Jasper chuckled and apologized for his little elf while shaking hands with Akai and Nanuk. Then they strode on toward the last two vampires.

Nanuk smirked.

"So you were unknowingly followed by me the night before last," he realized.

"Well spotted," Emmett shook hands with him appreciatively.

"You can tell their stenches apart from each other?", Akai asked his brother, completely perplexed.

Except for Rose, everyone laughed.

Rose was offended. A little bit. After all, the smells weren't any more pleasant for her. She couldn't help but tease Akai a little.

She put on the face of a predator. Cold and hard and relentless, she strode threateningly toward the younger brother.

"You little stinky wolf," Rosalie began her speech.

I prayed briefly that this joke would not backfire.

Rose continued.

He should not allow himself to judge her until he knew what he was doing. And if he had taken a shower. The way he smelled, his last shower would have to be several years ago.

Akai kept backing away, while Nanuk stifled a smirk.

He assumed that Rosalie just wanted to tease his younger brother a little. If only because absolutely none of us said anything.

At least this assumption lasted until Rosalie growled.

With that, she brought the Alpha wolf onto the scene. Or the big brother. I was not sure about this.

Nanuk immediately got in between them, shielding Akai behind him and glaring at Rosalie.

The latter sparkled back no less belligerently.

Neither of the two moved.

Rose growled once again.

Afterwards, she actually wanted to smile and give up her attitude, which she wasn't serious about, but Leah immediately stood between the two of them. I was puzzled for a fleeting moment by the direction in which my daughter stood threateningly, until I realized that I could have expected it. She was defending Nanuk and facing Rosalie ready to attack. She stood so close in front of him that they would sense each other's body temperature. So close that Nanuk was fogged by Leah's scent. So close, that his hands were on Leah's waist, as if of their own accord.

Rose was also surprised.

Leah turned on her? She had not expected that at all. In general, that someone would interfere with her little game.

"I was just kidding," she immediately clarified, smiling conciliatory.

"Leah can't take a joke when it comes to Nanuk," I informed her so quietly that only vampiric ears understood.

That it was indeed so, she just saw herself, because Leah had not yet moved a millimeter.

Instead, Akai peeked past the two imprinted ones, smiled cheerfully, and walked toward Rosalie.

Rose rejected the proffered hand, but directly put an arm around his shoulders.

She wanted to make it clear that she really didn't mean it.

It took a moment for Leah to understand this in depth. It took a moment longer for Nanuk and Leah to free themselves from their posture.

That only happened when Akai realized that it would be a shame that Tom wasn't there, too. He would have found a new object of lust in Rose.

"You left me alone?", Leah asked her brother a short time later as we were getting beverages for everyone from the kitchen.

Next door, people were already chatting in a pleasant mood.

"I didn't see any danger. I knew Rosie was just fooling around. The imprinting caused you to intervene," Jake defended himself on the previous situation.

Leah snorted disdainfully and went back into the living room with a bottle of Coke.

"I guess she didn't like that answer, huh ...?", Jake asked me.

I shook my head.

We joined back the others and one met friendly and curious.

Ced sat on the floor, periodically looking critically in Carlisle's direction to make sure he was far enough away from him, and played with Rose and Alice. Becky sat on Jake rather than next to him. My angel and I shared the armchair, on the armrest of which I sat. Nanuk and Akai had taken seats between my parents. Marcus sat between Jazz and Em. Leah had found an innocuous individual seat on a stool, but close to Marcus.

How often did natural enemies have the opportunity to talk to each other as openly as they did just now? In this respect, Akai and Nanuk were very inquisitive, even about our fellow species. As I quickly gathered from the thoughts of my family, they thought the brothers were very nice. Alice even called Akai droll.

"How come you have so much food and beverages in your house? You only feed on blood. By the way, the wraps are totally ingenious, Bella!", Akai praised in the meantime, but with that he addressed the wrong person.

"I didn't do that," Bella chuckled.

Akai peeked ...

Okay, droll already suited him.

Becky and Leah had come here with them. Who would have cooked and baked then? The blood drinkers probably wouldn't even know how to turn on a stove or oven, Akai thought.

"Esmé prepared it for you," I interjected into his thoughts.

"I know by now that my grandchildren are always hungry," Esmé nodded.

"Yes," Ced confirmed ponderously from the floor.

I wasn't sure if he had deliberately chosen that combination of sounds, but he made everyone laugh by his clear clarification. I doubted, however, that he would ever eat as much human food as his predatorsiblings.

"The twins are on the premises very often, which is why there is now enough food in all our houses," Esmé added.

"Uh ... in all of them? Then there's more here than just this huge house?", Akai almost choked.

"Each pair of us has our own. The grounds are quite extensive," Jasper said.

"Since Alice is certainly itching to see you as wolves, I would suggest that you also take a look at the rest of the property together while we prepare dinner," Carlisle suggested.

"You are still staying for dinner, aren't you?" asked Esmé right after.

A clever question. It was nicely and politely phrased and articulated, which was exactly what Esmé wanted to express. However, the 'still' in between was the subliminal request to leave after that.

"So actually we were going to ...," Nanuk began to say.

Leah had moved her single-seat stool closer to Marcus in the meantime, so that their hands were gently playing with each other.

Of course, this was not lost on Nanuk, which is why he considered himself a disturbing factor and wanted to leave. He saw that Leah was doing well. Although they had only been here for a good hour, this observation was enough for him to be able to be carefree until tomorrow.

"Of course we'll stay for that long, thank you!", Akai interrupted him, however, not wanting to disappoint Esmé, but definitely recognizing the hidden ejection.

Our guests used the dressing room to undress, while our children were content with the terrace.

As I thought a few months ago. Our children's sense of shame sometimes left a lot to be desired. It was pitch dark outside by now, but neither wolves nor vampires disturbed light conditions of any kind.

"Have you ever actually seen your siblings as wolves?" Bella asked our youngest son, just as the wolves had risen from the sofa.

Even I had to think about that for a moment, while Ced just peeked cutely.

No, he hadn't. It had not arisen so far. Because of the outside temperatures, Ced mostly stayed in the house, which the wolves entered or left primarily as humans. I couldn't even tell for sure if he had seen the wolves through any thoughts yet. Bella apparently came to the same conclusion.

"This is going to be interesting," she said, chuckling.

I kissed my wife, first on the lips, then on the little injury under her eye, and lifted Ced from the floor. Bella, wrapped in a blanket, followed me outside with the others. Everyone was curious. Marcus and Becky were already on the patio, carefully putting away the predators' clothes, whereby they were handed their jackets by Rosalie.

"Pay close attention, Ced, and don't be afraid!", I urged my son in a conspiratorial and reassuring tone, holding him in one arm in front of me.

Jake and Leah squatted in front of us as humans, ducking extra so they wouldn't be so huge right away, with Ced still giggling amusingly. Then they phased.

The giggling died away immediately.

Through my children's eyes, I could see Ced's face even though I was holding him in front of my stomach. His eyes grew large. For a moment they appeared fearful, but they quickly changed to fascination and curiosity.

Ced cautiously reached out his hands to his siblings. When Jake lifted his muzzle a little and nudged the little fingers with his nose, Ced giggled again. But pulled his hands back. And tried to hide himself in my shirt.

To be on the safe side.

"This would be Jake and Leah," Bella said softly, cuddling Leah over the top of her head.

Ced watched this very closely. He became bolder again and stretched out his little arms once more.

I took a half step closer to my children, but Ced no longer recoiled as he stroked over the soft fur on their ears.

Leah lay down on the floor and I lowered Ced down. He immediately crawled towards her body, wuzzed through the fur and giggled.

I clenched my eyes as he awkwardly pulled once too hard, and Leah stifled a pained yelp. I pulled Bella backwards into my arms.

It had been exactly this image that I had seen before me when I had decided so many weeks ago to return to my angel, even if David had been the father. Ced didn't get hold of himself at all, and really raged in all the fur of his siblings. He tried to climb on them, pulled Jake's tail, which the latter did not like at all, examined the huge paws and that they were quite heavy, pawed Leah on the nose. In short, our son was thrilled. Now we would only have to teach him that not all wolves were so trusting.

"Ahh ...!" suddenly shouted Alice behind us.

It was the pure enthusiasm. The other two wolves were there.

"They are cute!", Alice immediately stood by the two.

Like a shy girl, she stood in front of them. For believe it or not two seconds! She couldn't stand it any longer than that.

"He's so fluffy. I'm gonna die!" she quoted from an animated movie (Despicable Me 1) and was already busy with Nanuk's very lush fur.

Ced also paid attention to the oversized 'stuffed animals' and crawled purposefully towards Akai and Nanuk, while Becky and Marcus now turned their attention to their wolves and scratched their ears stimulatingly.

My predators liked that a lot.

Halfway through, though, I picked Ced up.

Nanuk was already feeling harassed by Alice to some extent now, as she didn't hold back and seemed to be pawing at every last piece of fur.

"But it's getting too cold out here for you now!", I commanded my baby and gave him a kiss on the temple. He did not like that at all. Well, that I took him back inside into the warmth. Outside with the predators it was so much more interesting.

He whinged and wanted to go back.

"You can snuggle with Leah and Jake later, but for now, that's enough," I said a little more gruffly.

His head fell against my shoulder in a huff, he babbled in displeasure to himself, and I smiled.

"Well, did Daddy put his foot down?" purred Bella, who had followed behind me.

"Just a very small one," I said, putting an arm around my wife's shoulders. "Thank you, Bella. For giving me situations like this," I said, kissing her. I hadn't thanked her yet today for our son together.

"You can thank me for that later. When the children have disappeared into the cinema room ... Extensively," she winked at me.

I wouldn't forget.

The wolves disappeared into the darkness and would explore our terrain. Marcus and Becky of course stayed with them on their backs.

When the vampires re-entered the house, Jasper dropped down beated on the sofa, which gave us all a bit of a scare.

I had never seen my brother like that before.

Emmett asked, amused, what was bothering him. So really empathetic, with a lot of grins on his face.

"I wonder how they can stand being in a room that long without going nuts," Jazz mumbled through the cushion under his mouth.

Concerned, my gaze passed through the glass panes through which I could still see the wolves in the darkness.

I had known how strong the imprinting was, at least mentally, but that even Jazz was overstrained with the feelings?

Emmett's grin was extinguished.

All were silent for a moment and also looked despondently through the windows.

Esmé quickly went to the kitchen to put dinner in the oven. She forbade all of us to help and also stood with us again a few minutes later, while Jazz tried to explain everything he could feel.

We literally hung on his lips as if he were telling the most exciting story while Ced gleefully drank his bottle of blood in my arms.

"... There is a rivalry between Marcus and Nanuk, which probably won't really surprise anyone. But it prevails rather subliminally. They appreciate each other, but this is due to Leah, who stands between them ... Leah doesn't know where she belongs. The bond between her and Marcus is very strong. Even stronger than it should be between human beings. Maybe it's because of the circumstances of how Marcus learned the truth about all of us. That this initial trust is the basis of their relationship, on which has built a rather unshakable love ... But what's there between Nanuk and Leah is different, but no less intense. Leah cares about Nanuk's well-being, and that concern goes beyond her feelings for Marcus. The same is true in reverse. Nanuk would do anything to make sure Leah is well and lacks nothing, and I actually mean that literally. And that, my dear Edward, is exactly what love denotes, even if you have conceptually considered it non-existent between them ... I cannot say whether their plan of building on each other's happiness will be crowned with success in the long run. It will depend on how much Leah and Nanuk will stick to being satisfied with it," Jasper ended.


Thanks for reading!