The video call connected with a little bloop and Jess and Angela's faces appeared on my screen. Before I could even open my mouth to offer a greeting Jess was freaking out.

Jess squealed so loudly I was worried she was going to break something, "I can't believe you're getting married!"

I laughed loudly, shaking my head as Alice giggled daintily from where she sat next to me.

Angela chuckled, "Jess, did you ever doubt that this was going to happen? I'm just surprised it took them this long."

"This long?" I squeaked, "I'm 18! Edward's only just turned 19 last month! How much sooner did you expect for this to happen?" I demanded.

"Oh, while we were still in school, definitely." Angela answered easily, while Jess nodded along seriously.

"Rude," I mumbled.

Jess giggled, "We don't mean anything bad by it! It's just you guys are so in love it's like something from a fairy-tale or something."

Alice pulled out her notebook and ring-binder folder and began to flip through it with a serious look on her face, "Right, well moving on to business." she said with a professional tone that wouldn't have been out of place at a board meeting for a fortune 500 company. "We don't have a lot of time before the wedding, but don't worry, I have everything planned out. Check your emails for a timetable and itinerary, let me know if there are any scheduling issues and we can move things around. Don't worry about flights, we will pay for those, suggested flight dates and times are in the itinerary." Alice looked up to see the stunned faces on the screen. "What?" she asked with a confused tilt of her head.

"Uh, that's really… nice and everything." Angela began.

"Yeah! Yeah super nice!" Jess nodded feverishly in agreement.

"But you don't need to pay for my flight." Angela continued.

"Or mine!" Jess readily agreed.

"Nonsense," Alice waved away their concerns with a dismissive hand. "We have plenty of money,"

"Still, you don't have to-" Angela tried and I was quick to cut her off.

I knew why they were both having such a hard time about this. For some people, it would be about pride, about not accepting handouts, but for my friends it wasn't like that – they just felt bad. They felt guilty about accepting gifts, especially ones with a high price tag, worried about putting people out or being a burden. Angela the oldest of 5 children, a Preacher's daughter, she was accustomed to living a modest 'Christian' life – self sacrificing, she never liked taking from others, but always gave so much of herself, she even gave up opportunities to attend better colleges further away from home, just so she could still go back to Forks every weekend to help her family out. Jess was no better, even though she was an only child, her parent's weren't incredibly wealthy, solidly stuck in the working class, never quite reaching the level of middle-class partly due to Forks mediocre job opportunities and stagnant economy. Her mom was an administrator at the timber mill and her dad was a guard at the nearby correctional facility. Jess knew the worth of a dollar, and even though she had big dreams and aspirations, she had grown up being denied a lot of the things she dreamed for – and the guilt for wanting a better life, for wanting better and more prettier things never left her, she just got better at hiding it.

"Guys, stop it's fine." I smiled, I could see them both gearing up for an argument. "I'm serious. Between my old family money and the Cullen's new money, two airfares are a drop in the bucket. Not even that."

"Bella, are you sure?" Angela hummed.

"Completely." I assured them, "Besides, Alice has plans to take you both dress shopping. The wedding is going to be super small, just you guys and Edward's extended family, so we want everyone to look good for the photos." I offered a snarky grin, "So you both better get used to us spending money on you, or everything will just take longer than necessary."

"If you're sure?" Jess frowned nervously.

"Yes, we're sure." Alice rolled her eyes, "There's not going to be a bridal party, per se, just a best man and a maid of honour who will act at witness for the actual legal part of the wedding ceremony, but I want everyone wearing matching dresses and suits… well not matching because that would be tacky, but ya know, fitting in with one theme and colour palate." Alice rattled on as she began holding up a number of different colour swatches up to the laptop's camera to show the pair.

We continued to chat for a little while, about the wedding, about how the pair would be staying with us at the estate for two weeks leading up to the wedding so we could get their dresses sorted out and have the bachelorette party. All things considered, the two humans didn't even blink at any of the strange customs that Alice and I brought up – they easily accepted the explanation of them being traditions from Charlie's side of the family that I wanted to embrace after being raised by my mom my entire life. So when we explained that the bachelorette party involved the women kidnapping me in the night to take me on bar crawl, where we leave a trail of bills behind us for the groom to pay as he tracks his bride down, they just giggled, thinking it was kooky and fun. The original tradition had us leave a trail of defeated prey for my Mate to track, but I wanted to include my human friends in my bachelorette party so we compromised.

XxXx

"Bella!" A young voice squealed in excitement, and the next second I had my arms full with a tiny teenage vampire.

There was no way I could invite the Denali's to my wedding and not invite Bree – especially since she was the only member of the coven I actually liked. Since she had moved in with the Denali's, Bree and I had been in regular contact, we exchanged emails almost daily, and her angsty teenage gossip was simply delightful. The change to vampirism didn't alter Bree's personality all that much, and, at heart, she was still just a 15 year old girl who was struggling to adapt to an entirely new way of life. Bree bitched about how Tanya and Kate sulked when their sister Irina decided to travel with her Mate Laurent, rather than stay with the family – and wasn't that a kick in the pants. None of us had expected that to happen when Carlisle directed Laurent to our northern relatives, and while I couldn't say I was happy for the pair, I was happy Laurent was out of the country and far, far away from me. Bree also was happy to report the progresses she made with Eleazar, who had the gift of sensing other vampire's gifts and how best to train them in their use – a power that by itself wasn't all that useful, but as a member of the Volturi was indispensable. They had discovered that she could only influence a single person at a time, and that she couldn't make them do anything that would go against any of their core beliefs. Bree had told me though that Eleazar believed that the more she practised, the stronger she would become, and soon she would be able to influence more people at once.

I'm not gonna lie, Bree's Gift freaked me out a little bit – and I told her as much. Bree took that pretty well, and admitted that it kinda freaked her out as well, and without prompting quickly promised never to use it against any of the Cullen's ever again.

"Hey Bree," I chuckled fondly as I caught the girl as she leapt into the hug.

"You're getting married! It's so exciting!" Bree grinned wildly as she pulled away, "Thanks so much for inviting me!" she continued earnestly.

"Of course," I answered softly, I took a step back and smiled as Bree picked up her bag and hurried inside.

"Bella, it's nice to finally meet you, properly that is." a smooth, feminine voice drifted towards me and I fought to keep the scowl off my face as I faced the Denali coven leader. Her strawberry blonde hair was a riot of curls, tight ringlets surrounded her head like a luscious lion's mane.

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too, Tanya." I replied politely, even though I hadn't heard him coming, I didn't startle as Edward curled his arm around my waist. All of my focus was on the remainder of the Denali coven as they piled out of their luxury sedans. Tanya wasn't a threat, of course I knew that, this was Edward's family, none of them were a threat, but that didn't stop my mind from replaying the venomous glare she sported when she called my dad an animal. It didn't stop me from being able to pick up traces of betrayal and disgust hidden within Tanya's vampiric scent.

Upon seeing Edward, Tanya's face changed from a carefully constructed smile into a genuine smile filled with warmth and affection.

"It's nice to see you again as well, Tanya." Edward greeted.

The rest of the Denali's closed the distance, bags in hand they congregated around us. Another woman stood close by Tanya, she looked a lot like Tanya, enough to think they were actually related, they had the same, slightly upturned almond shaped eyes and high cheekbones, but where Tanya's hair was a curly strawberry blonde, almost a light ginger colour, this woman's hair was so blonde it was almost white, and it was hairpin straight.

"Hello, I didn't get the chance to introduce myself last time, my name is Katrina, but please, call me Kate." she then smiled mischievously, "and something tells me you already know Eleazar and his Mate, Carmen." she jerked her head towards the two brunette vampires by her side and I had to bite my lip to stop myself from barking out a laugh – it was an inappropriate, but effective way of breaking the ice and addressing the elephant in the room. "He told us a little bit about what to expect from a werewolf wedding, and we're all pretty excited." she grinned.

I smiled cheekily back, "Yeah, well we've had to make a few adjustments, since I have some human friends attending the ceremony, but we still have a few festivities planned before they get here."

"Fantastic, can't wait!" Kate grinned impishly, "Where can we put our stuff?" she asked, hoisting up a bag in question.

"Follow me, I'll show you to your rooms." Edward replied, he pressed a quick kiss to the top of my head before he turned and lead the procession of vampires into the house.

XxXx

It was the night of the full moon, and dusk was just starting to settle on the verdant Virginia forest. Charlie and I had ventured deep into the woodlands, up into the ridges that surrounded the protected cove that housed the estate. He was carrying a worn duffle bag filled with mystery items, and had ignored all my attempts at asking questions as he led us further and further away from our vampire filled home. Finally, he came to a stop.

We were sitting on the top of a ridge that had a beautiful overlook of the estate below, looking out towards the setting sun in the west, I could feel the slow rise of the full moon at my back. "Okay, we're here, can you please tell me what's going on?" I pleaded.

Charlie smiled at me, "Sure," he nodded towards a fallen tree, "Take a seat." I did as he asked and the dropped the bag at my feet, the contents clinked and clattered as they settled. Charlie looked around for a moment before he spotted a large boulder nearby, nodding to himself he ventured over to it and picked it up as if it weighed nothing. He placed it down in front of me, the rough, but mostly flat surface of the top of the rock made a makeshift table as Charlie began to pull out a collection of empty brown glass bottles from his bag and place them on top of the stone. "We're going to be making Blood Wine."

I sat up a bit straighter, "Awesome." I breathed.

Charlie grinned at me, "Yes, it is." he nodded, but then his face grew serious. "You can not speak of this to anyone, Bella." he warned and I furrowed my brow in confusion, "Not even Edward."

"Edward's my Mate," I responded, puzzled by the serious and sombre look on my dad's face. "The Cullen's are our family, our Pack." I reasoned.

Charlie nodded, "Yes, they are. But they are also Vampires. And though I trust them with my life, and with your life, I do not trust them with this."

"They wouldn't tell anyone!" I argued.

"I know they wouldn't Bella." Charlie sighed sadly, "But their minds can never truly be safe, Edward is not the only vampire capable of reaching into someone's mind and plucking out whatever thought they desire." Charlie sat down beside me, "I know I could trust them with this secret, but if any other vampire were to find out, then it would spell disaster, not just for us, but for every surviving werewolf."

"Dad, you're frightening me." I mumbled meekly.

Charlie shook his head, "That's not my intention, I just want you to realise the seriousness of the situation, that is all."

"Okay," I whispered with a small nod, "I promise not to tell anyone, not even Edward."

Charlie grinned down at me, "That's my girl," he beamed.

"Okay, so… how do we do this?" I asked. I could feel the pull of the full moon as she rose behind me, filling me with otherworldly power and I shifted on the fallen tree as the urge to transform into my wolf form itched beneath my skin.

"It's simple, really." Charlie smiled as he pulled out two bottles of Monkshood wine, followed by an ornate silver dagger with a leather bound hilt that glinted dangerously in the moonlight, and placed them next to the half a dozen or so empty dark glass bottles and followed up with a… plastic funnel? "We get totally sloshed, and I mean absolutely wasted, and then we blood-let into the bottles."

I baulked as I stared up in horror at my dad, "You're… you're serious?"

"Deadly." Charlie nodded, his serious tone lightened by the teasing smile. "Blood Wine requires a state of heavy intoxication, combined with the power granted to us during a full moon. Those two factors combined fills our blood with unique qualities that will allow a vampire to… well… become drunk."

And just like that, it all made sense – the level of secrecy, Charlie's sombre words and my solemn promise. If vampires ever found out the truth of Blood Wine, being hunted to extinction would become the least of our worries. When you live forever, unique experiences are hard to come by and greatly treasured, and if the vampire world at large discovered the truth of the origins of Blood Wine, we would face bondage and servitude – a life lived in silver chains and darkness.

I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that if the Volturi had known the truth before they Massacred my people, they would have reacted very differently. An alternate reality flashed before my eyes, where werewolves were not hunted like animals, but kept like pets, enslaved and beaten, only to be bled dry each full moon for the pleasure of our Vampiric masters. But, the secret had been kept, since the dawn of time the origins of Blood Wine had never been uttered within the presence of another, be that human or Vampire – and I knew that I too, would keep this sacred oath. Because Charlie was right, I could trust Edward with my life, but I could not trust him with this.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! I keep getting asked if there is going to be a Baby/pregnancy plot in this fic, and to be honest with you guys I am undecided because I know it could go either way. So in the spirit of being honest, I thought I would let you guys know that it will probably be both. Both? I hear you ask. But how? Well, I will do one here, in the main fic, and then when the fic is finished, I will add a few bonus chapters that cover the alternate ending with the alternate timeline.

Can't wait to read your comments!