A/N: Just a couple things real quick. I've set this in 2020 because I wanted modern technology, not early-2000s technology. I've also changed the ages for the wolves because canon ages don't make sense to me. Paul and Leah are nineteen, and Seth is fifteen. The rest of them aren't all that relevant. And updates will probably be every other day until real life settles down a little, but eventually I hope to go back to daily updates.
This site is stupid so I haven't gotten any of the email alerts to reply to your reviews, but I just want to thank everyone who has taken the time to leave feedback. I'm both surprised and delighted by the fact that some of you are willing to give this a chance even though it's not a couple you like to read:)
Thanks for reading! ~ M. x
Training and Tracking
The week after the family meeting, Alice and Jasper set aside some time for her to have a refresher course of sorts on fighting without her gift.
When Rosalie heard what they were planning, she decided to tag along. After Alice and Jasper joined the family in 1950 and she learned about his time in the south, she'd asked him to teach her to fight. The violence that ended her human life had left her feeling vulnerable, and even though she had become a virtually indestructible vampire, she still wanted to know how to defend herself in any situation.
As the three of them were running to the baseball field, Jasper suddenly stopped in his tracks as an idea occurred to him.
"What's wrong?" Alice asked as she and Rosalie came to a stop beside him.
Jasper hesitated for a moment. "I think we should offer to train the wolves," he said. Alice immediately broke into a wide, excited smile, but Rosalie's emotions were entirely on the negative end of the spectrum. Not that he was surprised by that. Rose didn't trust anyone outside the family easily and the wolves were their natural enemies. When she opened her mouth to give him a very firm no fucking way, he held up his hand. "Let me explain before you start shouting."
Rosalie crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a hard glare. "Fine, but only because you're my favorite brother."
Jasper smiled and took her hand. "Let's sit."
Rosalie grudgingly allowed Jasper to pull her down so the three of them were sitting in a circle.
Jasper figured full disclosure was the best way to go, hoping that if Rosalie knew about Leah Clearwater, she'd be more inclined to back him up. She'd been hoping Jasper would meet his mate for seventy years. He quickly glanced at Alice, who smiled and nodded.
"Okay. So first off, we know Victoria's been hanging around. Carlisle made a huge error in judgment when he listened to Edward rather than me. I told him Victoria was a loose end we needed to deal with but Edward convinced him she wasn't a threat. Obviously he was wrong. The wolves have been trying to catch her for months with no luck, and it's in all of our best interests to eliminate her. We have a vengeful enemy out there gunning for us, Rose, and you know how important our family's safety is to me."
Rosalie nodded because she did know that. Jasper was a protector by nature and he took their safety and security very seriously.
"So that's reason one. If the wolves have some guidance on how to track and how to fight, we have a better chance of getting rid of Victoria. But there's also a second reason. Before I explain, I just want to stress that I'd like this information to stay between us for the time being. Edward has his own issues with the wolves because of how he feels about Bella and Jacob Black, and knowing him like I do, I have no doubt he'll make a nuisance of himself. Can you block your thoughts enough to keep him in the dark temporarily?" he asked.
"Of course," Rosalie nodded, her initial hostility shifting to curiosity.
"Needing a break from the negative emotions wasn't the only reason I left Ithaca on my own. That was definitely part of it, but it was also because I started feeling a pull on my heart."
Rosalie froze for a second in surprise, then broke into a huge smile and launched herself at Jasper to hug him. "Finally!"
He laughed as he was knocked flat on his back, and the amount of happiness in the woman he considered his sister in every way that mattered warmed his heart. He'd been confident she would be thrilled he'd finally found his mate, but he wasn't at all confident that she'd be thrilled with where he'd found his mate.
"So you followed the pull?" Rose asked as she hopped off him. "That's where you went?"
"It is," Jasper nodded as he sat up.
"Wait, then how did you get back to Washington so quickly? And if you felt it strongly enough to follow it, that means it's not a human, right? It's another vampire?"
Alice let out a bright laugh. "It's definitely a mythical creature."
Jasper smiled at Alice's amusement. "The pull led me here, Rose," he said carefully.
Rosalie's eyes went wide as she connected all the dots. "Your soulmate is a wolf?" she asked incredulously.
"Yep," Jasper laughed.
"Well. That's… not what I was expecting. Have you met him yet?"
"Her," Jasper said with a smile, then smiled wider at her shock. "Apparently we were wrong and it's not just the males of the line. And no, I haven't met her. She's a brand-new wolf. Peter says I won't meet her for three more months but I'm determined to prove him wrong. Given how negative the atmosphere at home still is, I don't particularly want to wait that long. If I'm going to be suffering inside the Cullen home, I'd like to at least have some joy outside of it."
Rosalie nodded her understanding. They'd all thought the roughest road was behind them once Alice, Bella, and Edward made it home from Italy safely, but that wasn't the case. Edward's behavior, specifically, was causing a lot of tension. He'd always been overprotective of Bella, but he'd gotten even worse since they'd been reunited, becoming possessive and controlling. Esme had tried to gently talk to him about how damaging his behavior had the potential to be to his relationship, but Edward dismissed her.
Bella was a human who needed to be protected. All he was doing was trying to keep her safe. End of story.
"What do you know about her?" Rosalie asked curiously.
"Not much, to be honest. Peter tried to tell me some things but I didn't feel comfortable learning about her life from someone else. I just know her name and age, really," he shrugged. "A little about her family," he added, his heart aching that his mate had lost her father.
Rose looked at him expectantly, making Alice laugh.
Jasper smiled and rolled his eyes. "Her name is Leah Clearwater. She's nineteen, has a little brother, and her dad was Harry Clearwater."
"He's a tribal elder, right?" Rose asked. "Wait, what do you mean was Harry Clearwater? Did he die?"
"That's the funeral Jacob Black was talking about when he very impolitely answered the phone at the Swan's house," Alice said quietly.
Rosalie winced as her guilt flared, and Jasper immediately took her hand. "It's not your fault, Rose," he reassured her. "Was telling Edward about Alice's vision over the phone the best choice you've ever made? Probably not. But Edward's the one who enacted a suicide plan without even verifying that the funeral was Bella's. He easily could've called Alice but he didn't."
"It's true," Alice agreed. "I know I snapped at you but that was my frustration at the whole situation. Bella jumping the way she did - in cold weather, during a storm, fully dressed, with no backup - was reckless to the extreme. It was pure luck that Jacob Black saved her. I didn't think to call any of you to tell you Bella was alive and that my vision wasn't what I thought it was. You told Edward his mate died over the phone. So yes, all three of us made poor choices. But Edward is the one who ran off on a misguided suicide mission. The blame for Italy and all the consequences of that trip, including the Volturi knowing about us and Bella, falls squarely on Edward's shoulders."
Rosalie nodded as she sighed. "That's what Emmett has been trying to get me to see."
"There you go, listen to your husband," Jasper said with a smile. "The two of you are always honest with each other, so if he thought this was your fault, you'd know about it."
"And Emmett's scarily observant," Alice added. "If he thought the rest of the family saw the whole Italy debacle as your fault, you'd know about that too."
Rosalie nodded and accepted them at their word. Not only were they right about Emmett, but Jasper never lied, and Alice only lied by omission if she saw something in a vision that she didn't want to share yet. She trusted both of them completely. "Alright, so how are we going to finagle you a meeting with Leah Clearwater before June? Is that why you want to train the wolves?"
"Not entirely. I do think it increases the odds of catching Victoria, but yeah, it also means I can meet her sooner."
"It's actually not a terrible idea," Alice said after thinking on it. "With the exception of the Alpha and maybe one or two others, the rest of the wolves are very new. Physically, they're fully capable of taking down a vamp - they've got the teeth and claws for it - but they don't know a thing about fighting. They killed Laurent, but he was wildly outnumbered. I think Bella said there were five wolves that day."
"Edward's probably going to be our first and biggest obstacle," Rose pointed out. "Because his ego won't allow him to admit he's jealous of Jacob Black, he just keeps telling Bella the wolves are too dangerous to be around."
"Right, because she doesn't regularly spend time with a family of seven vampires?" Jasper said dryly as he rolled his eyes.
"She's Edward's singer," Alice scoffed. "I'm not sure a greater supernatural threat exists for a human. And yet he seems perfectly happy for her to spend time alone with him. Hypocritical ass," she muttered under her breath.
"Who says we have to tell him?" Jasper asked. "I've spent seventy years in this family and I've never once run any decision by him beforehand. He doesn't get to make decisions about my life."
"What do you have in mind?" Rosalie asked.
"We're already planning on doing some training, why not do it somewhere the wolves are more likely to stumble on us? Not in our territory, but somewhere neutral that they're free to go when they're patrolling. I have a feeling curiosity alone might be enough for at least one to come investigate. Whoever approaches, we make our pitch to them, see if they want to learn," Jasper shrugged.
Rosalie nodded, but she was feeling a whole lot of uncertainty. "And you don't think they'll use that knowledge to come after us?"
"If a single wolf attacks one of us, it would be a violation of the treaty," Alice reminded her. "Maybe it'll be good for the pups to see us fight so they know without a doubt they have no chance of taking our family on and winning," she laughed.
"Fair point," Jasper smiled.
"Okay, so we train somewhere near the Quileute's territory and maybe make a little more noise than is strictly necessary?" Rose asked as she hopped to her feet. "Then let fate take its course from there?"
Jasper looked at Alice, who gave him a beaming grin. "It's as good a plan as any," she nodded. "I can't really offer more solid reassurance in this particular situation. Being blind like this would be highly annoying if I wasn't so thrilled about you finally finding your mate."
Jasper hauled himself to his feet, yanking Alice up with him. "I have no doubt you'll adjust. Until that happens, feel free to bitch to your heart's content," he laughed. "Now, let's get this show on the road. I had it pointed out to me recently that I'm not getting any younger."
Alice had just swiped Rosalie's legs out from under her when Jasper felt a new set of emotions headed their way. He watched with a proud smile as Rosalie spun on her way to the ground so she didn't land on her back. Managing to get one foot underneath her, she sprung up in the very next second and scored a solid hit on Alice's shoulder before Alice ducked out of the way.
Jasper kept his eyes on them while monitoring the incoming wolf. It had taken a lot less time than he'd expected, honestly. They'd only been sparring for about thirty minutes. Whoever was approaching was being cautious, which could only be a good thing, because it meant they weren't hostile to the point of charging in recklessly. They were feeling more curious than anything else.
Jasper turned his eyes to the trees when the wolf stopped moving, and Alice took advantage of his momentary distraction to launch herself at him. Jasper, seeing her coming, rolled his eyes and dropped to the ground so she just flew over his head with a bright burst of laughter.
"Nice try, Ali," he laughed as he stood up. Curiously, the wolf was feeling amusement at Alice's antics. Alice had been studying humans and their behavior since she woke up to this life, so she may have known seeing them acting playful would put the wolf at ease. Jasper couldn't honestly say. He wasn't in the habit of spending a lot of time with humans.
Alice had done an impressive mid-air flip so she'd landed on her feet. "I was so close," she laughed as she skipped over to him.
"Sure," Rosalie scoffed as she joined them. "If five feet above his head is 'so close' then yeah, Alice, you were super close."
"Hey!" Alice protested. "I would resent that if you weren't right."
Rosalie smiled at her sister, fully aware she was keeping things lighthearted on purpose.
Before they could decide how best to approach the wolf who was observing them from the very edge of the trees, it took a few steps into the clearing. It was a risky move for a lone wolf to expose themselves to three of its natural enemies.
Alice gave the sandy brown wolf a bright smile and a wave. It was a gangly thing, all too-long legs and too-big paws. "Hi," she chirped cheerfully. "I'm Alice. I'd ask your name but that would be a pointless endeavor," she laughed. "This is Jasper and Rosalie."
Jasper and Rosalie both waved, guarded but making an effort to look friendly.
Clearly not enough of an effort because the wolf turned and walked back into the trees. All three vamps exchanged a look.
"That didn't go as well as I'd hoped," Alice said with a little bit of a pout.
"Wait," Jasper cautioned, noticing that the wolf had only gone a few steps into the trees. Just enough to get a little bit of cover.
A minute later, a shirtless boy wearing a loose pair of sweatpants walked out with a smile on his face. "I'm Seth, it's nice to meet you."
"Seth Clearwater?" Alice asked with a delighted smile.
"Yeah," he nodded. "And you're all Cullens, right?"
"We are," Jasper answered, excited that he was meeting his soulmate's brother. "We're all part of the Cullen family, but not all of us go by the name Cullen. Alice does, but Rosalie and I go by Hale. My real name is Whitlock, though."
"So what are you guys doing? I mean, you're obviously fighting, but you seem to be playing, too."
"Sparring, training, just brushing up on our skills really," Alice said. "Would you like to join us?"
Seth looked at them in surprise. "Join you in training? Like you'd teach me to fight? To fight vampires, I mean."
"If you'd like," Jasper nodded. "We've heard Victoria has been hanging around so we want to be as prepared as possible. Most of the family knows how to fight already, but it never hurts to practice. We could teach you some things that might make it easier to catch her," he offered.
Seth didn't even have to think about it. The rest of the pack treated him like he was too young to be helpful, which was highly annoying. If he learned some new skills, especially skills the rest of the pack didn't have, it wouldn't be so easy to sideline him. They did the same to Leah because she was a girl, so maybe he could convince her to join them at some point. Knowing how to kick some vamp ass might restore some of the self-confidence Sam had robbed her of.
"Hell yeah," he said eagerly. "If you're offering, I accept."
Jasper smiled at the kid. Not only was he kinda adorable with a dimpled grin, but his emotions were pleasant. There was a brief flash of frustration in him, but it was quickly replaced with determination and excitement.
"How are you with tracking?" he asked, figuring they should probably start with something simple and fun, rather than jumping straight into combat training.
"I haven't really done much tracking. I've only been a wolf for a couple weeks," Seth admitted. "But my sense of smell is pretty good and I have the best hearing of any of the wolves."
"Alright, let's start there. Alice, Rose, how about you guys lay a trail, maybe five miles?" Jasper asked. "Try to overlap a few times. Seth, you choose one to track."
Seth looked at both female vamps. The tiny one had a cheerful smile on her face, while the blond bombshell looked a little more guarded. He could understand that. After all, the wolves and vamps were natural enemies. Not wanting to make her any more uncomfortable than she already was, he smiled at the little pixie. "Alice."
Alice's smile grew even wider. "Excellent choice," she nodded.
"Two minute head start," Jasper said with a smile. Alice was just as happy as he was that they were spending time with his mate's brother. When she and Rose nodded, he looked at his watch. "And… go."
Seth laughed as the girls tore out of the clearing almost faster than his eyes could keep up with. In his wolf form he was fast enough to run pretty even with the vamps, but in his human form he wasn't quite as fast. Still a hell of a lot faster than a regular human, but not vamp-level fast.
Determined to use his two minutes wisely, Jasper smiled at the eager young wolf. "How are you liking the supernatural world so far?"
Seth thought on it for a moment before answering. "For the most part, it's pretty great. I'm strong, I'm fast, and I get to be a protector of my tribe. But…" he hesitated there, not sure if he should share personal details about his family. Deciding to be honest but vague enough not to betray his sister's trust, he shrugged a little. "The first time I phased was pretty scary, and it's been kind of a rough time for our family."
Jasper nodded and gave him a sympathetic smile. "I heard about your dad, and I'm really sorry for your loss."
"Thanks, I appreciate that," Seth said quietly. "I have my mom and my sister, so we're coping."
"Are you guys close?" he asked.
"Yeah, and this whole wild ride has made us even closer. Leah - that's my sister - and I both have to deal with some of the pack treating us a little differently, me because I'm the youngest and Leah because she's a girl, which is bullshit," he grumbled before his dimpled smile returned. "But it means we lean on each other a lot. You know, bitching and commiserating," he laughed.
"That's nice you have each other," Jasper smiled. "Maybe we can give you some skills so the rest of the pack sees you're every bit as capable as they are."
"With you being willing to train me, I can show them I'm actually more capable than they are," Seth laughed.
Jasper laughed and nodded. "Spite, huh? That's cool, whatever your reasons are, I'm happy to teach you. Now, are you ready to hunt Alice down?"
"Hell yeah. I have to go into the trees to phase though. I like you so far, Jasper, but not enough to let you catch an eyeful of me naked," he said, then smiled seeing Jasper's confusion. "Our clothes don't survive a transformation," he laughed, holding up his leg and lifting his sweatpants enough for Jasper to see the leather cord around his ankle. "We've all gotten used to tying pants to our legs."
Jasper nodded as Seth bounded into the tree line. It hadn't occurred to him that the wolves would lose their clothes when they shifted but it made sense.
Seth stepped out of the trees a minute later in his wolf form, and after a nod from Jasper, he took off like a shot. Jasper laughed a little at the kid's emotions - as soon as he started running he was filled with exhilaration. Even though some of his pack mates sounded like condescending assholes, he seemed to truly love being a wolf.
Jasper sat down to wait for the others to return, and only a couple minutes later, Rosalie ran out of the trees and plopped herself down beside him.
"Sometimes I forget how nice it is to stretch my legs like that," she laughed. "And Alice is having a blast with this little exercise. She's twisting and turning and backtracking and taking to the trees to try and confuse him."
"I figured she would," he nodded with a smile.
"What's he like?" Rose asked curiously.
Before Jasper could answer, he felt new emotions enter his range, and they were coming in fast and coming in hostile. He shot to his feet, pulling Rose up with him, and then tucked her against his back.
"What's wrong?" she whispered as she pressed herself closer.
"We've got an incoming wolf who's pissed," he whispered back.
Just before the angry shifter broke through the trees, a sandy blur came tearing into the clearing to stand between the two vamps and the larger wolf with dark silver fur. The silver wolf skidded to a stop seeing his pack mate between him and the vamps, very obviously in a protective stance, and the two seemed to engage in a staring contest for a minute. Going by their emotions, Jasper thought they were somehow communicating with each other. After about thirty seconds the silver wolf stopped growling, and after another thirty seconds, it turned and loped into the trees. Seth followed a moment later.
Alice ran into the clearing from the other direction and came to a stop beside Rosalie, knowing Jasper well enough to anticipate that he'd want her to stay behind him for the moment. "What's happening?" she asked quietly. "Seth was following my trail one second - which he did remarkably well, by the way - the next he was racing off in the other direction. Is there another wolf here?"
Jasper nodded. "And they're definitely not as friendly as Seth," he whispered. "Did you know they had some kind of pack telepathy?"
Alice's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "No, but I guess it makes sense. If the wolves are fighting as a group, they need to be able to communicate with each other."
Seth walked out of the trees a moment later with a scowling and shirtless boy. He was older than Seth by a few years, so Jasper put him around eighteen or nineteen. He made sure his body language was non-threatening, but he remained vigilant and kept himself between the newcomer and Alice and Rose.
"Who are you?" the older boy asked brusquely.
"You've seen this in my thoughts already," Seth said with an exasperated sigh.
"They could've been lying to lull you into a false sense of security," the other wolf snapped.
Jasper let out a sharp laugh at that. "All you have to do to know who we are is look at our eyes. I assure you, the only vamps with gold eyes in this part of the country are the Cullens. We haven't lied to Seth about anything."
"Why would you offer to teach him to fight? All you're doing is giving us the ability to take you down," he said suspiciously.
Alice peeked around Jasper to smile cheerfully at the scowling boy. "I wouldn't be so sure about that, pup. Our family is more than capable of protecting ourselves."
Jasper sighed a little. "No 'dog' insults please, Ali," he said. "In addition to being able to protect ourselves, we also have a peace treaty," Jasper pointedly reminded the angry boy.
"Most of the members of our family are already strong fighters," Rose said as she took a small step to the side so she could look at the newcomer. "You wolves are not. And in case you've forgotten, Victoria has been in and out of the area for months and manages to elude you every time. Training Seth, and any other wolf who's interested, is about giving the pack the tools to keep yourselves safe, and to protect the humans in the area, which includes your tribe."
"It seems to me that taking Victoria down before she lashes out and kills someone is more important than some inter-species feud," Jasper added.
The older boy looked at them suspiciously for a few moments, trying to find any sign they were being dishonest, until Seth gave another exasperated sigh. "Quit it, Paul. Pull out those manners I know you have and use them."
Alice and Jasper both smiled when they realized the angry boy in front of them was Leah Clearwater's best friend.
"Shall we start over?" Alice asked cheerfully. "I'm Alice Cullen, the beauty beside me is Rosalie Hale, and the warrior standing guard in front of us as if he's conveniently forgotten he's already trained us to defend ourselves is Jasper Whitlock," she said, making Jasper and Rosalie laugh. "Although he goes by Jasper Hale here."
"Paul Lahote," the wolf said after a moment.
"Nice to meet you, Paul," Jasper said with a small smile. "Do you have any interest in training with Seth? Which reminds me, Seth. Alice said you were kicking ass at the whole tracking thing before you abandoned your mission to come protect us."
Seth gave him a huge dimpled grin. "Really? It was pretty fun, honestly. And she didn't make it easy. At one point I thought I'd lost the trail completely before I realized she'd taken to the trees," he laughed.
"Nicely done," Jasper said with a proud smile.
Paul thawed a little seeing that Jasper was genuinely proud of Seth. He thought it was bullshit that some of the other wolves dismissed him based on his age. Same with Leah because she was a girl. If these vamps were willing to give them the skills to prove everyone wrong? Well, maybe they weren't all bad.
Hoping he wasn't putting his trust in the entirely wrong place, Paul took a deep breath and nodded at the blond warrior. "If you're willing to teach me, I'd like to learn."
