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Chapter 102

My Boyfriend


Leah


"Leah," it whispered in the middle of the night - and in my so comfortable and cozy bed.

Crap! Again, the night was over.

With difficulty I opened my eyes and recognized Edward on the edge of my bed.

With a coffee cup in hand. Like every morning. It made me wonder, though, how well I could see him.

Well, darkness didn't bother my eyes anymore, but daylight streamed through my windows. That shouldn't really be the case at this time of day. Or had I overslept for a few months?

My gaze went to the alarm clock.

7:38 a.m. Nope ... It was only an hour and a half.

I sat up indecisively.

I wasn't sure whether I should hurry now. Dad seemed much too calm for that.

"Jake, Becky, and you had a doctor's appointment this morning that couldn't be rescheduled. Carlisle left appropriate medical certificates for you yesterday," Dad conspiratorially informed me and gave me my obligatory kiss on the forehead, while I gave him a hug.

"So? Will we survive?" I asked for our family doctor's opinion. Not an insignificant piece of info. I found.

"Just about," he smiled, causing me to wake up.

I almost choked with laughter when Jake next door saw it differently with the survival. He was more in the mood for strict bed rest, which was to be supervised by a young lady.

Becky had gotten into the habit of going jogging as long as Jake and I were running as wolves in the morning. So, we met in the hallway in our gym clothes.

Well. Becky was wearing sports clothes. After all, we would only have to undress.

Mom and Dad stood at the front door waiting for us.

"Breakfast is already ready for you ..." Dad began to say.

"... but in doing so, don't forget to still go to school!" Mom held her index finger out to us.

As if we weren't even present, Dad casually mentioned that he would probably notice. And if he did notice, we could wrap up warm.

They put on their jackets.

Then I guess Dad wanted to get to school on time.

"Of course. So, one won't necessarily assume that your late appearance has anything to do with last evening," Dad nodded.

We hugged Mom a little more extensively than usual.

We would not see her again until tomorrow.

So, we went for a run, had breakfast, took a shower, and were actually at school on time for third period.


Then, as usual, we all sat at the same table during the lunch break.

We reviewed the fun evening and clarified that we would really be playing 'The Dark Eye' on Saturday night. At our home.

Mom wouldn't be around, and Dad would leave us the house.

Lisa and Jason invited him to join us and/or play along, to which Jake and I also had no objection, but Dad just said he didn't want to disturb the 'kids'.

Jazz and Em immediately pricked up their ears and were unanimously convinced that Edward would be spending the evening with them.

Hunting, of course.

"I already have other plans for Saturday night," Dad simply replied, leaving them both in the dark.

This drove them both crazy, which Dad seemed to enjoy. They goaded Alice to anticipate his plans, but she was blind when we were around.

Except for the small thing, that Brandon then wanted to charge at Chris, who was now unmistakably together with Jenny, it was a boring school day.

The test in biology, which we had somehow completely forgotten about, was no problem.

In the last two hours, Bran calmed down to some extent.

Only practice after school was pretty sweaty. Not for me personally, but for the other girls on my team. I felt sorry for them and wished I could give them a bit of my supernatural condition. Even Becky was out of breath. Becky wasn't really allowed to exercise - Carlisle would probably tie her to the bed if he found out about it - but she wasn't herself without physical exertion. So, she warmed up and stretched with us, practiced only smashes, for which she didn't need her injured hand, and otherwise tossed us the balls so we could practice our receptions. As long as she didn't make mooneyes at Jake on the other side of the gym.

Our coach had given us a good lecture for the lost game on Monday.

We had ourselves to blame for the defeat. We had not taken our opponents seriously enough, who did not let us get back into the game due to our own inattention. It wasn't that they were better than us. We had just played bad. Something that would break our neck the week after next. There was our next game. Against the favorites. They had won the championship two years in a row.

The coach exceeded the time limit of the lesson.

In a way, it didn't bother me. I wanted to keep training so that I was prepared for the next game. On the other side, Marcus was probably already in the parking lot. And then he also made me to clean up the gym? Are you feeling allright?

I grumbled and tried to hurry up - in the soon empty gym.

Jake, Becky, and Brandon were gone by the time I collected the last of the balls.

I was moving frantically. In the process, a ball slipped out of my arm, I tripped over it and slammed lengthwise onto the hard gym floor.

Grrh ...!

I looked up and saw the guilty ball lying right in front of me. As if it wanted to provoke me on purpose.

I stood up, grabbed the ball and gave it such a violent smash that my hand burned a little.

Fuck it. It more than deserved that!

It flew right toward the door. Which opened at the exact moment it got there.

"Marcus!" I shouted still startled, but my reaction was too slow.

The ball banged against his chest, he staggered back, and the door slammed shut again.

Oops.

Immediately I ran off and rushed through the door.

There he lay. Lying on his back on the floor, he hugged the ball and tried to breathe evenly.

"You could have just said you didn't want to see me!" he complained, but chuckled as he sat up.

He looked somehow crumpled. But he still hugged the ball.

"And feel free to tell me if you'd rather spend the weekend with the ball than with me!" I countered, played miffed.

"Mmm ... I'll think about it," he said, balancing the ball presentingly on one hand.

I stuck my tongue out at him and stalked back into the gym in a huff.

Marcus immediately came after, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me at it into his arms. His dark eyes looked at me and held me captive.

"You don't seriously think that I came to Saco just for a ball ... Do you?" he asked in a whisper, while his lips gently and seductive brushed over mine.

"Yes," I murmured comfortably.

Marcus backed away a little and looked at me in irritation.

"No," I corrected doubtfully. Uh ... What was the question?

He smiled adorably and finally kissed me.

Our phone conversations every evening couldn't make up for the fact that I had to do without that here for so long. His dark eyes. The body that nestled against mine. The smell of the dreamy sunset. That soulful and playful kiss. The taste of caramel. I wanted that it would never be different than right now.

"Why are you here, anyway?" I asked after I had regained my composure a bit. Marcus kissed really forbidden good.

"I met Jake and Becky in the parking lot after Jake punched someone on the chin pretty hard," he began to say.

"What?", I shouted in between.

"A tall lanky blond guy."

"Chris?" I considered. What was Jake's problem now? Why was he interfering? That wasn't his usual style.

"No idea who it was. Jake didn't say anything about it, and the guy just lay there in shock, not responding."

I shrugged my shoulders.

Well. Jake would tell me later. After all, I wouldn't have to worry about my little bro.

"But Becky said you were still in the gym and sentenced to clean up ... What did the poor ball do to you that you hit it with pure force?" he asked afterwards.

I reported its malicious attempt on me.

He laughed delightfully. But also challenging.

I showed him, after prompting, how I had hit the ball.

He was surprised by the force with which it was hit, since he had still seen how far away from the door I stood.

I blamed it on my anger.

"When you rotate with it a little bit, you give the ball the energy from your body movement. It also gives it a little more rotation, which makes it harder to receive the balls," he meant.

"You know about volleyball?" I asked skeptically.

"A little bit," he smiled.

Ah yes. Sports science.

"What have you done already?" we started chatting as he kept passing me new balls so I could manage that with the extra energy and twist. It worked better and better. I was a little surprised at how good and precise his passing was. Maybe this 'a little' was only half the truth?

He told me that he had already tried almost everything in sports, but surfing held his heart, if you wanted to put it that way. Even rhythmic sport gymnastics. However, he had been pretty drunk, which is why he had come up with the idea in the first place.

"Ballet?" I asked, grinning.

He nodded and I dropped the ball in amazement.

But he hadn't really done it. When he was in kindergarten, there was a girl who had just started ballet. For one day, his whole crawling group had then tried their hand at it. Swimming he had done very persistently as a child, which had probably caused his strong back with broad shoulders. Baseball he still did now and then. Also mountain bike trips through the woods with his two best friends. Tennis was his sister Maggie's sport, which he had played a lot with her. With Ethan he occasionally went golfing. Not miniature golf, but the real thing. On grass, with sand hazards, golf carts, and handicaps and all that. His younger sister Jules preferred floor gymnastics, whereby his knowledge in this regard was rather theoretical, but it was enough to give her a little help when she practiced a new element. He was on various school teams. Lacrosse, for example, or ...

"Okay, enough!", I said intermediately. And I had always thought, I was sporty, what he wanted to know in detail.

I had also tried ballet as a child, but it just wasn't my thing. David had played soccer with us many at time, even if only when he was there, and the weather cooperated. I met up with a friend every few weeks for badminton. Zoey had taken me to Zumba regularly for a while, but that was also a while ago. I could also ride inline skates. Bicycle, too, of course. We didn't go on downhill tours like he did, but we went on day trips with our friends a few times a year. Mostly we went down the coast. Skiing was also within my repertoire. And jogging, but that didn't count according to Marcus. He also did that, after all.

In the intermediately my coach had come again. Actually, he just wanted to lock the gym, but since I didn't want to stop, he gave me the key, which I was to throw into the mailbox of the school later.

We kept practicing and I liked how we tried and practiced all kinds of things together.

It was nice to play volleyball with my boyfriend. None of my former boyfriends would have done that. Except for a round of beach volleyball, they had never deigned to do so. They always saw it as just a game for girls. But I had the feeling that it also helped me personally in some way, as far as the game itself was concerned. As the afternoon went on, I became more and more convinced that Marcus was actually very good at this game. He was really good, knew the rules, and taught me almost effortlessly this technique of smashing and passes, which was new to me.

Since Mom and Dad weren't around this evening, I didn't need to let them know I wouldn't be home for dinner, however, eventually I did get hungry.

Marcus too.

While I quickly showered and changed, he collected the balls.


On the way to my place, we stopped at an Italian restaurant and picked up two large pizzas.

Then, as we stood in our driveway, it started to hail pretty hard. So, we stayed in the bus for the time being, sat down in the back on the floor and ate there. We did not notice that the hail had passed and turned into a full-blown thunderstorm.

We enjoyed the dessert, which challenged all of our senses.

We leaned against the back row of seats and kissed enduringly.

But we also talked a lot.

Starting tomorrow, the weather was supposed to be pretty good - at least for the time being - and we considered whether we could go to the beach again.

I wanted to see that hot surf instructor again before winter came.

"If you don't mind the temperature," Marcus said, and I emphasized that I didn't really care about temperatures in general.

"What about Ethan and Maggie? Are they coming along again?" I asked.

I liked them both and it had been pretty fun on the beach after all.

"Definitely. We could also take Jake and Becky with us, if they're up for it," he suggested.

I nodded in agreement.

Jake could surf just as well as I could. So not at all. But he was curious if it was really as hard as I said it was.

We talked until we fell asleep.


A knock woke me up.

A knock on the fogged window of the bus.

I winced, knowing instantly that I was not lying in my bed.

Marcus also winced, but opened the door.

"Good morning," an extremely good-humored Jake wished us, grinning at us, and holding out two cups, which we took from him without a word.

I wasn't sure what to say.

"You are welcome to come INSIDE the house for breakfast," Jake gave us to understand and left again - continuing to grin.

Marcus scrambled out of the bus and stretched in all directions.

I did the same as him, since it seemed that all my bones should hurt. In fact, it felt really good.

With one hand on my cheek, he pulled me into his arms.

I almost spilled the precious coffee.

"Good morning, Leah!" he whispered and breathed a kiss on my other cheek.

Who needed coffee when they had Marcus?

"Good morning, Marcus," I mumbled, a little embarrassed.

We had spent the night together. I couldn't quite put it into words. It just felt good. Unique. I had never spent the night in a man's arms before. Not like this. Except maybe in Jake's. This had absolutely nothing to do with sex or anything. It was so much more. On another level of consciousness, it felt significant.

We walked into the house holding hands and smirked.

Jake and Becky snuggled on the sofa, both with cups in hand, watching a children's program on TV in nostalgic serenity.

Jake always enjoyed doing this, forgetting that he was seventeen and not seven.

In front of them on the table stood a plate on which countless pancakes were piled up. They fed each other and teased each other.

"Are you going to eat all of those by yourself?", I inquired. That was too much even for Jake.

"No. I've planned you guys in," he was still grinning.

So, we took a seat.

I felt Marcus' restraint again. He sat dutifully on the cushion. Leaning against the backrest and feet on the floor. His gaze went more or less stubbornly to the TV, on which the cartoons were running. But he had summoned me not to pay attention to that.

I turned sideways, just threw my legs over him and nuzzled his back neck while nibbling on my pancake.

It also worked without Marcus reacting in any way dismissively to it. He merely looked at me for a moment as if he would thank me, put his hands on my legs unconcernedly and leaned a little towards me.

"Do you have them every Saturday?" Marcus asked then, picking up a pancake himself.

"Nope ... Only when Dad's not around," Jake said, snapping with his mouth at one Becky held out to him.

"It's all Jake can manage for breakfast," I added.

Jake nodded and acknowledged that Becky had made the coffee.

After a hilarious debate about the children's program of today, which had been much better when we were children, we told Marcus that our friends insisted on finally bringing him together with them and that, in their opinion, the role play would be ideal for this. He didn't know the game, but was looking forward to it. He was also looking forward to getting to know our friends properly. He had only spoken briefly with Lisa and Jason in the bar, and we had only just met that evening.

But for now, he drove away again after the plate of pancakes was empty and we were sufficiently educated about the favorite animated series of the four of us.

We both still had to wash, shower, and change.

In his case, there was also the fact that he would have to show his sister - with whom he would spend the weekends while he was in Saco - that he was not lost. After all, he had actually announced himself for last night.

I went for a run with Jake and then hurried to shower and get dressed.


Marcus was back not two hours later.

Well, after we both freshened up, there was a decent kiss in greeting.

"Do you guys feel like coming to the beach tomorrow?" Marcus asked the other two lovebirds as we all considered what we would do out there in the sunshine. "It's going to be pretty cold in the water, but Maggie and Ethan will be there, too," he added.

"But not until after breakfast," Jake determined almost anxiously after Becky nodded in agreement.

I laughed.

Clearly, for the wolf food was important first.

After that was discussed out, Marcus and I drove downtown.

The weather was too good to hang around at home. That had to be taken advantage of.

We leisurely strolled through the busy streets, walked through a small park, and watched street performers.

I met some friends who also did not want to stay indoors in this sunny weather. Also Anna, with whom I immediately made an appointment for the next badminton game.

Saco was not particularly large. A stroll through town was therefore usually quite manageable.

We got one of the blankets from his bus and lay down in the park on the grass, in the sun.

We remained not alone with the idea. It filled more and more.

We got a little something from a sandwich store to eat in the early afternoon. We also got milkshakes and were not willing to leave the blanket for the time being.

He was lying on his side, his head braced on one bent arm, whereby I was leaning against his legs. One of our hands was intertwined, playing with each other. Again and again he released our fingers briefly to drive with them over my face.

So as long as he didn't know anyone, his little problem with closeness really didn't seem to be a problem. All the better, I thought.

We talked about God and the world. We always came up with new topics. Except sport. We had worked through that yesterday for the time being.

As a street musician walked by, we got to speaking about music. Through our cell phones, we played each other music that we currently preferred.

We had the same preferences.

I also had Dad's songs on my phone and played them for him.

"I can't really do much with classical music like that. I know the classics. 'Für Elise' or 'Beethoven's Ninth' or something. But this sounds really ... moving," he said devoutly, and we eavesdropped on Mom's old lullaby. "Did your dad compose any other songs?" asked Marcus with interest.

I tapped on my phone to play him another song.

"Pretty. Sounds kind of happy ... and yet thoughtful, too," Marcus meant.

"He wrote that for Becky and Jake. That's how he feels when he sees the two of them together," I explained. I was proud of my dad. Of his musical ability, which, unfortunately, we didn't get to hear that often at home. Except on CD.

"How long have your parents been together? You said, if I'm not mistaken, since a few weeks," he considered.

"Yes. Since the middle of September. The thirteenth was Mom's birthday and I think a day or two later they were together." Plus about twenty years, I added in thoughts.

"He's got quite remarkable talent, though."

"What do you mean?" I inquired. There resonated a strange undertone that sounded as if he didn't believe me.

"Well. If he can come up with two songs just like that in just a month and a half. That doesn't necessarily sound like they're unfinished ... He must want to be a pianist or composer or something, " Marcus noted.

Aha! I smiled. That was altogether unbelievable for him.

But at his statement, I just shrugged my shoulders ignorantly.

After all, it didn't stand yet that Edward would really study medicine.

"But for the two of us, I'm sure he won't write such a beautiful song," Marcus then smiled almost apologetically and turned on his back.

"Why don't you believe that?" I inquired, scrambling to his side.

"I don't think he likes me very much and would probably like it best if I got the hell out of here!"

"Oh, nonsense!" I said immediately. But I wasn't sure about that in any case. I rather had the impression that Dad granted me, but I certainly didn't have his blessing at the moment. Why else had he not said anything about Marcus so far? Neither something positive nor something negative.

"But he can wait a long time for that!" clarified Marcus, gently pulling me towards his lips.

He looked at me intensely. With his fingertips he touched my face. Tapped my lone freckle. Traced my eyebrows. Stroked over my cheek.

"I think I can never let you go again," Marcus whispered that moment.

"Nor I you," I agreed and kissed him again.

A tender and soulful kiss. However, it did not stop there. The longer the kiss lasted, the more urgent our lips became. A greedy kiss that awakened some things in me. The desire to feel him even more and he seemed to have understood this mute request.

He turned with me so that he was leaning sideways over me.

From head to toe I felt his body and from head to toe I was confused.

On one of his arms lay my head, however the other hand slipped under the hem of my top. Only so far that his palm was at my side, and he could pull me against him. It throbbed excitedly underneath.

But I also had the urge to touch him. To explore him piece by piece.

So, I let my fingertips slide under his sweatshirt, ran over his caramel-colored abs until I arrived at his piercing. Very carefully I played around it.

"You like that, mmm ...?" asked Marcus smiling into our kiss, but he didn't give me a chance to answer.

Not really. His mouth caressed its way to my ear, playfully nibbling at it and - oh man - did it feel good.

His hand began to slide higher at my side. I bit my lower lip to keep from sighing out loud. When he kissed the hollow under my ear, I squealed and automatically squirmed under him.

Startled, Marcus backed away and knelt a little away from me.

At the end of the blanket.

"Congratulations! You've found the only place where I'm ticklish!" I gasped quite out of breath. I had forgotten all about that myself and was still chuckling.

He breathed a sigh of relief, rolled his eyes and drove through his hair.

"I almost had a heart attack!" he accused me, but scrambled back to me. "Where was that spot exactly? Not that I'll hit it again by accident!" he asked hypocritically.

"Forget it!" I said, holding my hands defensively against my neck.

He tried to reach the spot again, sometimes left, sometimes right, but I fought him back. Instead, there was a kiss on the tip of my nose.

This incident ended the flaring desire, but it did not dampen our good mood.

On the one hand, of course, it was a great pity, to put it mildly. For another, this was not the right place to indulge our cravings. Fortunately, we were sitting a bit away in the park, so we didn't risk causing a public nuisance.

Only when the sun was getting closer and closer to the horizon did we leave.

And namely home.

We stopped briefly at a supermarket, where I got the absolutely vital snacks for playing.

Chips. Cookies. Candy bars. Gummi bears. Licorice. The epic battles, which we only had to fight in the fantasy world, were exhausting. One had to fortify oneself in the process!


We arrived home as Jake was finishing cooking his chili.

Becky and Marcus drank lots of milk at dinner, but the predators liked it just fine.

"I don't even know what you two have. Has become quite mild after all!" Jake was convinced.

Dad didn't eat, of course, but had a plausible excuse for Marcus.

Since he had an appointment, he would have dinner there. He was basically already gone and wished us a good time.


Explaining the game to Marcus was complicated. Well, the game itself. That wasn't necessarily due to Marcus. It was just very extensive. After we got to know this 'pen & paper' game through Jason's and Lisa's parents a few years ago, we had spent two evenings alone dicing out our characters. Not only the general game-relevant attributes like courage, skill, or charisma. Also age, hair color, marital status, number of siblings, noble title yes or no ... and whatever else you could dice out. Since then, I was a shadow magician, with red hair and blue eyes, married, with blue blood ...

"Where's Brandon, anyway?" I inquired as Jason had set up his paperwork and accessories as the game leader.

Well. Quite manageable today. He seemed to have only a rough map with him and a small pad with a few notes.

"He's not coming!" growled Jake venomously.

"Was that the guy you knocked out yesterday?" inquired Marcus.

"WHAT?" screamed Lisa.

"No comment! ... Let's play!" Jake ended the little Q&A session, leaving no doubt at it that he had absolutely nothing to say about it.

We sorted the survival rations across the living room table, food and drinks, and got going.

Jason always thought up great scenarios, but today we limited ourselves to a simple little story to first introduce Marcus to the basic principle. We were all adventurers in the Middle Ages, who were on the road today without specific attributes.

"You're lying in a green meadow by a lake, recovering from your latest adventure, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping ..." Jason began to create a tranquil spot in our minds.

I sighed contentedly and snuggled into Marcus' arm while it was still so cozy, and we didn't run across any goblins or anything.

"... You hear a ripple that hasn't been there before," Jason continued, looking at Marcus summoningly.

"What?" the latter asked.

"Do you want to know what the splashing is about?" asked Jason.

I chuckled.

In this game, absolutely nothing worked unless one said what one was doing.

"Yes, " Marcus answered indeterminately.

"You approach the lake and search the shore. You find a bottle with a parchment in it. On it is an old faded map. But you can clearly see a red X to the north."

"We're heading toward the north," Jake immediately stated.

"With all our belongings!" I quickly added.

Brandon once had us meet a dragon unarmed because we didn't specifically say we were taking our weapons.

That's how today's little adventure began.

We walked stubbornly north and soon came upon a ruin that we wanted to enter.

"Well, to open the door, you have to roll a number between one and ten. If it shows more dots, the door stays closed," Jason explained.

Lisa picked up the twenty-sided die. Eighteen. Jake eleven. Becky five. The door was open. We also fought little fights today in the same way. Against a chest that didn't want to open, an oversized spider that was in the way, a robber who wanted our provisions ... Normally, fights against other opponents turned out to be a bit more complicated, which we tried to explain to Marcus a bit more, using my shadow magician's character arc.

"You will come to a fork in the road. The northwestern path will lead you through the forest. It offers robbers many opportunities to hide and ambush noble knights. The northeastern road leads through a small village. A meeting place of renegade rabble of dubious reputation ... Which way do you go?" asked Jason.

"I'm for the village. It's getting late and it's more comfortable to sleep with a roof over your head," Lisa meant.

We agreed.

"I'm for the forest. If this renegade rabble gets together to get the map, we'll look complete fools," Marcus said, however.

We agreed to him after a short discussion, and I was surprised how well Marcus fit into this game.

"Dark clouds are gathering as you approach the forest ..." Jason whispered perilously.

"STOP!" said Lisa, Jake, Becky and I at the same time. Panicked!

Marcus didn't understand this reaction and just looked confused.

Jason clapped his hands against his face. He stood up and paced the living room irritably while hissing at us.

"Are you crazy? ... What do you think? ... Huhhh ...! Dark clouds are gathering! ... And what do you do? Panic and set off the ABC alarm? ... Once I made you run through acid rain! ONCE! ... Do you think I do this every time? Do you think this is going to be a running gag or what?" he asked scornfully as we just chuckled.

"Okay. We're walking," Jake laughed.

Jason sat back down, sorted himself and his card, looked at it for a long moment.

"It's raining blood!" grinned Jason at us, and we threw gummy bears at him.

Blood. Acid rain. What was the difference? Both would mess up my incredibly sexy looking costume. Even if I only wore it in my imagination, it would make even my Catwoman of Halloween look prudish.

The game continued briskly after we again shouted a unanimous 'STOP' at Jason.

Marcus had joined in this time.

The hours passed happily until we stood in front of a large, magnificent castle and Jake's cell phone rang.

It was already approaching midnight.

Who was calling at this hour?

"Jazz?" asked Jake more confused and went into the kitchen so he wouldn't be disturbed by the others discussing our next course of action.

I went after him.

Jazz would certainly not call so late for no reason.

"Is Leah with you too?" asked Jazz first, to which Jake immediately replied. "I was hunting with Alice, and we ran across another couple of our kind. They persecute us because they have a problem with our way of feeding. We certainly wouldn't have a major problem with them, but you so rarely get a chance to let off steam as wolves. Would you like to take care of that?" asked Jazz enthusiastically.

"Sure!" said Jake and I at the same time.

Let's be honest, as Spirit Warriors most of the time we were rather bored.

Alice and Jazz were still a good distance away, which is why we had some time to get rid of our friends.

But how? They also no longer had a curfew.

My cell phone beeped, and Dad texted us an excuse to disappear, at least temporarily.

"Hey, Jake. David's skyping with Charlie in Forks and he's asking about his grandkids," I winked conspiratorially.

Fit. The two knew each other to some extent. Still from the time when Mom had lived with Grandma Renée. Charlie had been here before, too, while David was there. And in Forks, it was now three hours earlier.

"Then we'll just take a little break and you guys go chat with your grandfather for a bit," Jason said, standing up and stretching first.

"I need some fresh air anyway," Lisa agreed.

Jake grabbed another sweater from his room.

Allegedly. Actually, he got the little box with our syringes. Just to be on the safe side. I didn't think we would need them, but if we did, we could hardly explain that to our friends.


We hurried to David's.

Edward was already standing nervously in the doorway.

We chuckled.

"You stay here!" we nagged at him when he expressed the opinion that he had to come along.

He'd have to look out for us, after all, which Jake and I had only commented on, rolling our eyes. He would spoil all our fun and dispatch them himself.

"Don't act like Mom!" pursued Jake.

"You know we're not helpless puppies!" I added.

He had said it himself after we had met the four vampires from the south in the forest. Besides, our training with Jazz had lapsed since then.

It was no longer necessary! We did not need to fear any opponents. We were strong, strategically advantageous by our telepathy and extremely skillful. Those were his own words!

"If something happens to you ..." Dad wanted to say something.

But we didn't let him.

"It won't! There are only two of them!" Jake insisted.

"Besides, Jazz and Alice are also there. Nothing at all can happen there!" I clarified.

Dad nodded defeatedly and hugged us tightly.

We talked on the phone again with Jazz and Alice.

They would lead the vampires to the area between Alfred and Lyman where we would expect them.


'Since when did this place have so many thorn bushes?' cursed Jake as we arrived at the wooded area as planned.

He was already pulling the third thorn out of his paw with his teeth.

'Don't act like a little girl!' I chuckled and kept running.

The smell of vampires was in the air.

The sweet stench was only faint. Our vampires. When they left the area around Portland to hunt spacious. Or Emmett organized races.

Then I heard something and immediately turned in that direction.

Two pale figures whizzed through the forest, and I ran parallel to them.

Jazz had noticed me.

Through the undergrowth I already saw the pursuers in some distance.

'Are you almost ready?' I asked, exaggeratedly annoyed.

'Yes, yes. I'm here,' the other little alpha animal told me. 'Hey!' he still complained.

When Jazz encountered Jake, Alice and he stopped. I ran to them and pulled back a bit with Jake so we wouldn't be seen right away.

"What's your problem, anyway?" fluted Alice good-humoredly to the two strangers as they arrived at them.

The couple looked rather puzzled. They probably didn't expect Alice and Jazz to stop again.

"I don't like the color of your eyes!" the man hissed.

You could also call him a boy. He was at most the same age as us. Physically speaking.

"You are a disgrace to vampires!" the woman cursed disparagingly.

If she was a little smaller, it would pass for a perfect porcelain doll.

"Well, now really. You don't even know us," Alice whimpered, as if she were mortally offended.

Jazz took her comfortingly in his arms.

"If you already have a problem with our eyes, what do you say to our family?" asked Jazz lightly, causing Jake and I to step out of the undergrowth.

The strangers' eyes widened as we walked slowly toward them, growling. Stretched to our full height, we loosely towered over them, and they looked up at us fearfully as they clung to each other.

We waited - in fairness - a brief moment for them to get over the sight. Then they ran away. And we ran after them.

Jake and I realized that we basically didn't have much practice, but all in all it really wasn't a problem. We only suffered minor bruises when they held us by the arms or legs for a moment too long. When we underestimated a blow and were thrown away. It was basically a fun little scuffle in which we deliberately held back a little. After all, we wanted to practice a bit. Still, no more than three minutes and the two were history.

'Ow, ow, ow, ow, ...,' I heard from Jake, and as he phased back, it went on like that.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ...," he cursed and sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree.

He pulled countless thorns from his pa ... hands and feet.

Laughing, I too phased back, but I now realized what Jake's problem was. The thorns had really pressed into our flesh. As wolves we both hardly felt it, it was just a little uncomfortable, but as a human it pulled horribly.

Surprised by this, I stumbled over a root and slammed onto the fortunately soft forest floor.

Oh yes ... that was also covered with thorns. In addition, I had also twisted my ankle by this damn root. Grrh ...! What were our mortal enemies compared to the big bad forest!

Alice handed me her jacket, which I quickly put on. She was about to help me free myself from the thorns, but I waved off.

That would become a never-ending story here in the forest. Besides, our friends were still sitting at home waiting for us. And our dad was waiting as well. My ankle was burning, so I let myself be carried home on Jake's wolfish back.

Jazz and Alice accompanied us.

The thorns that were only a little stuck in my skin fell off by themselves along the way. But the ones in my hands and feet stuck in too deep.

Arriving at David's terrace - we arrived before the vampires, Jake was in a hurry - Jake's ouch cursing started all over again.

I hurried to dismount so as not to be an additional burden on his paws, but in the meantime I had forgotten again how disgusting it really felt to stand on my feet. More startled than it really hurt, I tipped awkwardly to the side.

But Dad and David were already standing with us and caught me at the same time.

"What happened!" asked Dad with a slightly panicked tone.

Okay. Slight was an understatement.

"The forest attacked us," I said, holding out my hands as proof.

"And he won!" grumbled Jake, stretching out all fours while lying still on the ground.


Thanks for reading!