All characters from Twilight belong to Stephanie Meyer. I own nothing except my version of events.

A/N: I'm so glad to hear you guys are enjoying it so far. Thanks so much for the comments and messages, they are all so very welcomed… strangely, even the weird ones lol

I just wanted to clear one thing up before you read the following chapter:

As you guys have read in the last one, I've decided to include Leah and Seth in the pack. It's the first time I've added them to any of my stories… honestly I have no idea why, I think I just forgot they existed lol and then my niece wanted to watch Twilight one day and they suddenly appeared and, Ooopsie. Anyway, I brought them into this one but I wanted to change one major thing about Leah's history.

I'm pretty sure you guys already suspect what it is but just to make things clear, Leah and Sam have not dated in the past. Emily is still Leah's cousin but I've decided to take out that source of contention between the three. Personally, I've always hated that this drama was added to Twilight. It just seemed so unnecessary to add this to Leah's character. It made her appear sad and pathetic, and I don't appreciate it when women are portrayed to be that way. Like, we're not just desperate women looking for love nor desperate to pop out babies. Ya kno? And since I obviously have the power to change anything I want, I've removed it altogether. I want to build Leah in my own way and write her out as the badass wolfwoman she should have been in Twilight. #TeamLeah

Anyways, thanks for listening to my little rant and enjoy the show!

Chapter 3

"Antee Bewa! Antee Bewa! Antee Bewaaaa!"

I startle awake, my eyes flying open feeling a little body landing hard on my stomach. "Oooof!" My breath wheezes as the air is pushed out of my lungs by the incessant little tornado that has apparently deemed it funny to wake me up in such a horrific manner.

I wonder where he learned that from…

When the little body pushes to his feet readying to throw himself again, I grab him by the waist catching him midair. The action is followed by a loud squeal and a following giggle. It's enough to bring a smile to my face, my eyesight focusing on the little menace that is Sam's two and a half year old son, Kaden.

"Good morning. And thank you for such a nice wake-up call."

He giggles, throwing himself at me again but this time in a tight hug. Or as much as a toddler can manage with their tiny little arms.

"Mownin-" He says with his sweet little voice. "Momma say I no wake you but I miss you."

I practically melt at the declaration, my own arms hugging him tightly to my own body.

"I've missed you too, little man. It's been a while since I've last seen you."

He nods and pulls away, his chubby little face beaming down at me. "I hungwy." He announces out of nowhere, rubbing his hand on his stomach.

"You're hungry? Momma didn't make you breakfast?"

He nods his head but says, "I toll Momma I wait fow you." Pointing to me with his chubby little index finger.

"You did?" I question sitting up in bed to get a better look at him. Just in the few weeks since I've last seen him he's grown so much already. "You shouldn't have done that, Sweetheart. If you were hungry you should have eaten breakfast without me."

He shakes his head effusively, his straight jet-black hair swinging across his face as he does so. "No. I want eat wit you."

Dang, how is this kid so darn sweet?

"Well in that case, let's go. I'm hungry too." I pretend for him, rolling off the bed and picking him up where he is now standing on top of the covers. "So what are we eating for breakfast?"

He hums loudly, his little fingers cupping his chin while he thinks over his answer. It's a habit he's learned from his own father when there's a matter to discuss concerning the wolf pack. It was the same mannerism he used when Embry, Jacob, and I had first asked Sam if it were physically possible for them to move away with me to college.

Initially the guys had been extremely hesitant to ask, scared even, to get their hopes up by asking Sam only for him to deny their request. But we'd been talking about it for years and when it was finally time to make concrete plans we had no other choice but to try. Together we had come to Sam's house and told him of our plan. The guys had offered to remain nearby so they would be able to come back home every weekend for patrols. They promised to drop everything if there were ever a vampire emergency during the week. Offering to drop out of school altogether and return home if it didn't work out as planned.

We'd all been so stunned when Sam had not only agreed but encouraged us to leave. We'd thought it would have been a lot harder to convince him of our plan. Little did we know, Sam had been considering the same all along. He, himself, had been forced to drop out of college after he first shifted and dreaded having to do the same to his brothers. He knew how tough being a wolf was alone, along with all the responsibility it carried to be one, and refused to be the one to limit his pack mates the same way he had been in the past. He loved us all like we were family.

We were a family. We'd all basically grown up together, looking out for each other through the years. Always united even before they'd all turned into wolves.

"Me want pa-cakes and beecon."

"Sounds like a good plan." I easily agree, placing him on his seat at the table to get the stuff ready.

A few minutes after I start on breakfast, Emily walks in. Her eyes suspiciously narrowed down at her son's. "I leave you for two seconds to feed your sister and you wake up Auntie Bella even after I told you not to."

He only smiles at her happily, so ready to start on his lie. "I no wake up, Antee Bewa."

I laugh at the look of pure innocence in his face.

Of course Emily doesn't believe him for a second. She knew her son better than anyone, she birthed him after all. "We've talked about lying, Kaden. Remember we agreed it wasn't good to lie?"

He purses his lips, his fingers going to his chin again as if trying to remember the event.

I bite my lip to not laugh this time, turning my head away to hide my expression.

"Lie bad, right?"

"Yes, sweetheart." Emily verifies, releasing an exasperated breath. "If you want to be a good boy, you cannot lie."

"Ok. I no lie no mo'." He says easily.

He hasn't even started and he's lying already.

"It's fine, I can't sleep all day anyway." I add so Emily won't feel bad about it. "What time is it?" I suddenly think to ask.

"8:30."

"Ugh, never mind, it is early."

Her musical laugh tinkles in the air as she moves closer, peering over my shoulder to see what I'm making.

"Order from the little general over there."

She chuckles, silently shaking her head in disapproval but with an indulgent smile lingering behind.

We were all aware of Kaden's sneaky ways. He could be pretty devious sometimes, fully aware we would all forgive him anything. He was the only kid in our family and so he was completely right. We all had a soft spot for the little guy and he knew that very well.

"Did you eat? I can make some for you too."

"I ate with Sam earlier." She says, moving to make a cup of coffee for me. She was more of a tea drinker.

"Jesus. I don't know how you willingly wake up that early just to make him some breakfast."

"I was already awake after feeding Athy." She says with a shrug, as if it were nothing to be awake at the wolves' ungodly morning hours to cook, no less.

"I honestly don't know how you do it, Emily. It all sounds like so much work. I don't think the wolves are the ones with the superpowers. I think it's really you."

She laughs lightly, squeezing my arm in silent gratefulness as she passes by me. "I manage. Plus you'll come to understand when your time comes."

"Doubtful." I start to say. "It's not like I want to make babies. I'd rather stay the cool aunt forever."

"Oh right, sometimes I forget you don't want any. It's not for everyone, I guess." She says with an easy shrug of her shoulders.

I'm glad we've gotten to the point where she's not trying to convince me to have children of my own someday. It wasn't very socially acceptable to not birth children like every woman in the world was expected to. And so I, in return, always expected people to question me about it.

It gets so fucking frustrating to have to repeat my reasons over and over again, as if I needed to. Especially when the person didn't even know me and had no right to comment on how I chose to live my life. It was my business and my business alone. I was thankful those closest to me had long accepted the fact and no longer bothered to question me about it.

"Coo- Antee Bewa! Coo- Antee Bewa!" Kaden starts chanting in his seat.

"See. He agrees with me."

Emily rolls her eyes and laughs. "He agrees with everything you say."

"Because I'm coo- Antee Bewa." I repeat Kaden's words, earning a laugh from said little boy while I plate his 'pa-cakes and beecon' on his aqua blue silicone plate.

Emily sits with us as we eat breakfast, lovingly assisting her son whenever he needs it or to prevent him from falling completely off the chair in his excitement at finally filling his empty tummy. He was eating much like the wolves, ravenous as though he hadn't eaten in ages.

"He thinks himself a little wolf too." Emily comments, voicing my thoughts as she watches her soon devouring his food with gusto.

I frown as she says it, a sudden thought popping into my head. "You think he might one day–" I don't finish the sentence, watching Emily's attention shifting to mine with obvious understanding in her eyes.

"We've talked about it." She says quietly, meaning her and Sam. "It's concerning. We don't want him to but at the same time there's nothing we can do to stop it if he does…"

"Right." I agree softly. I couldn't even imagine little Kaden having to go through the same struggles as my friends have. They've made their peace with it but it didn't necessarily mean they were happy about it, more so just accepting than anything else.

"Me want be like Daddy!" Kaden announces excitedly, lifting his fork in the air and throwing bits and pieces of egg onto the table and Emily.

Emily doesn't even flinch, redirecting her son's fork back to his plate and absentmindedly picking up the mess with a napkin.

Mothers… it was honestly admirable.

"Seems he won't mind…"

Emily chuckles, shaking her head at her son in disapproval. "We'll see, if the time ever comes. And if it does, at least I hope that remains true." Then her eyes shift to mine and widen a little. "So Paul?"

I'd arrived during Kaden's bedtime last night and so we hadn't had the chance to talk about it while Emily was putting the kids to bed.

"Yes." I start, shifting my eyes away from her as I think about it. It felt as though I'd purposefully pushed those thoughts away from my mind to avoid my feelings on the matter. But it was time to discuss it and who better else than Emily to do that. She was the best listener. "It was crazy and…. scary as hell."

She throws me a sympathetic look, watching me with worried eyes. "I can't imagine how I would react if it were to ever happen to me. But not only having to go through that terror and fear for your life, but also caught in the middle of all that mess with Paul shifting for the first time. It's a lot for anyone to take in."

It hadn't been easy for sure. Being chased by bloodthirsty vampires and being stuck in the middle of a face-off between vampires and werewolves was not the way I had thought our camping trip would go.

It was supposed to have been an ordinary camping expedition. More normal than the ones we've been on in the past with Paul present. Instead I'd been attacked by vampires and Paul had shifted for the first time.

My life was crazy sometimes…

"It was but I'm also kind of surprised in a way. I mean, I spend a lot of time with the pack, and it's a miracle it hasn't happened before now… except for the whole Paul thing. Poor guy, by the way. He looked so shaken and out of place, like he was suddenly uncomfortable being in his own skin. I mean it's understandable. He left when he was practically still a kid and probably has long forgotten the tribe's legends. He had no idea."

"Sam said Paul was still confused. He was still trying to wrap his mind around everything, but even Sam felt sorry for the guy. You know he would never willingly want anyone to fall to the same fate as they have… but in a sad, twisted way, he was also thankful that Paul had been there to keep you safe. Paul might not have known what was going on when he initially shifted but when he saw those vampires going after you and Seth, he instinctively knew what to do. He was more confused after everything happened and you left, but I think it's because it was at that moment he actually realized he was a wolf."

"That's amazing, isn't it? Like an instinct they're born with or something."

"I guess so. I'm just glad everyone's okay and you made it out with only a few scrapes." She says emotionally, her hand reaching out to lightly grasp onto one of my injured hands.

I turn my hand over to squeeze hers to reassure her in some way. I hated more than anything to worry them, and not just the wolves. Emily and Kim were my brothers' imprints and therefore like my sisters too. They automatically accepted me in their lives as if it were nothing. I was so grateful for their love and kindness. My only wish was to continue to create beautiful friendships with the wolves' future imprints, whoever they were.

After that emotional moment we move on to more casual topics, Emily updating me while Kaden continues to eat. Once he's done it's a whole other story.

He jumps out of his chair, asks me to help him wash his hands, and then proceeds to drag me into the living room to start playing with his toys. We play for hours until Athena's hungry cries blare through the house and the baby monitor. I don't know why they bothered with that thing. She was much louder than its speakers. I'm pretty sure I could hear her all the way from Forks.

I offer to go grab her so Emily can relax longer and Kaden happily follows after me screaming, "Sissy wake! Sissy wake!"

Him and those chants, I swear… He was so lucky he was so darn cute I was instinctively more patient with him than anyone else.

"Good morning, itty-bitty-baby." I coo, picking up Athy out of her crib and cradling her gently in my arms. Her cries soften at my touch, only screeching out a few more times as we leave her and Kaden's shared bedroom. "You want Momma to feed you?" I ask softly, carefully handing her to Emily on the couch.

Once she's out of my arms I sit next to them, Kaden climbing onto my lap to watch his sister eat again. "Momma make goo- foo-."

"Yup." I agree, caressing his hair softly. "Momma always makes amazing food."

In her boobs and the kitchen… though I don't say it out loud.

When Athy is done eating, Emily hands her back, Kaden moving to my other side to allow me to hold his baby sister properly.

I've heard most kids grow jealous of all the attention the new baby receives, but not Kaden. He absolutely adored his sister, treasured her and loved her endlessly, vowing to protect her always.

Sam and Emily prepped him in that regard, explaining to him what life would look like when his sister arrived. Somehow Kaden had understood, even at his young age, awaiting for his sisters arrival more than anyone else. We all helped where we could, priming him constantly, hoping that when his sister arrived he wouldn't have a hard time adjusting to the change. Kaden adjusted easily, especially with all of us to provide the attention he needed while his parents took care of his baby sister. But I have to admit, it was mostly all Kaden. He was a uniquely understanding and deeply caring little boy, so loving with everyone he met. He reminded me so much of his father.

As if I willed him with only my thoughts, the front door softly opens, Sam filling up the open doorway.

"Daddy!" Kaden screeches happily, jumping off the couch and running to Sam who quickly scoops him off the floor.

"Hey, little man. Did you keep our girls safe while I was away?" He asks, looking at his son with a deeply loving expression.

Kaden nods his head emphatically. "Yup! And Antee Bewa may me bwekfess!"

"She did?" Sam asks, his eyes moving to me and silently sending me his thanks. "What did she make?"

Then Quil hollers from behind. "Uh can you move? And also, did Antee Bewa make some food for us too?"

Kaden giggles and Sam chuckles as he steps away from the doorway to allow the rest of the pack in.

They file in, greeting Kaden as they pass by but all going straight to Emily and me on the couch. We receive kisses on our heads in greeting but most of the guys hover over the back of the couch looking down at Athy in my arms and greeting her too.

She blows little split bubbles out of her mouth in response and I swear the guys all 'aww' at the action. I internally laugh. Athy couldn't talk yet but she sure as hell had them all wrapped around her tiny finger already.

Emily laughs and begins trying to get up, "I'll start getting food ready."

"Nuhuh." I say firmly, pinning her with a glare. "Don't you dare move." I order, my eyes moving to the guys. "They have hands, they can feed themselves."

The guys don't even bother to complain and move into the kitchen to get to it. The only one who remains is Embry and Leah, bending over me to keep watching Athy.

"Who dis?" Kaden asks, his little voice sounding somehow louder than the wolves' around him.

I turn my head watching Paul standing quietly off to the side. He's in the house but not fully participating as if not knowing what to do with himself.

"This is Paul. He's our new friend." Sam answers him.

"New fwend?" Kaden asks excitedly, his eager eyes taking Paul in. He wiggles out of Sam's arms, wordlessly asking to be put down. As soon as he's on his feet, Kaden practically runs to stand in front of Paul extending his hand up to him in greeting. "Hi, my name Kayyden Uwey, son ob Sam Uwey afffa ob Quyett pack."

Paul smiles for the first time, squatting down to his level and taking his tiny hand in his much larger one. "Hi Kaden. My name's Paul. It's an honor to meet you."

I almost laugh, Kaden had that effect on everyone.

Leah on the other hand practically giggles as we watch Kaden pulling his 'new friend' down to the floor to play with him.

"Uh, has anyone told him he shouldn't be greeting people like that?" I question lowly, low enough for Kaden not to hear while everyone else still does.

Emily snorts, watching along with us. "We've tried but it hasn't exactly caught on. Luckily his baby speech hides most of his words and people don't really understand him yet. We're hoping he learns not to before his speech gets any clearer."

"Good luck with that." Leah comments. "My nephew can be very stubborn sometimes."

"Comes with the toddler territory." Embry adds.

Then Kaden suddenly jumps up to his feet and starts shifting from foot to foot holding onto his bum. "I got- go potty!"

We all laugh, and before Emily can even attempt to get up, Embry steps in. "Alright, little man. Let's go handle that situation before you burst."

Kaden runs into the hallway, followed by Embry chuckling to himself as he watches Kaden's panic.

"Wouldn't be surprised if he didn't make it." Leah chuckles as they both disappear.

"God, I hope he does." Emily prays helplessly, her eyes closed as if already dreading that mess.

"Well sometimes he confuses a fart with a shit, so he might be good. It happened the last time I was here." I humorously add.

Everyone laughs, even Paul who is now sitting alone on the loveseat watching me holding Athena in my arms.

"Oh and this is Athena, daughter of Sam Ulley alpha of the Quileute pack." I quip, introducing Paul to Athena while still remaining seated. I'm pretty sure he can't see her from his position but I don't dare move her to show him.

She looked about ready to knock out again.

He chuckles and is about to speak when Embry yells. "Oh god, Bella. What the hell did you feed this kid?!"

Emily and I laugh watching as everyone around us slightly twists their noses in disgust. I guess the smell reached all the way here. I was glad not to be a wolf at that precise moment.

Sam appears above Emily, giving her a sweet kiss before managing to slide his large body into the tiny space in between Emily and I.

I wordlessly hand over his daughter.

Sam is so huge, Athy looked so tiny wrapped in her baby pink blankets, tucked into his enormous arms.

"Hi sweetie. Daddy's home. Did you eat already? I missed you..."

He keeps quietly having a one sided conversation with his baby daughter, most of us looking away to give him their privacy. But it's so sweet seeing Emily's loving expression as she watches her husband and daughter having their moment. And I swear that little baby waited just to catch a glimpse of her loving father before giving into her sleep.

I stand up to give them more room and stretch out my arms over my head. "Seriously, I don't know how they do it. I didn't even hold her for very long and my arms are already tired." My shirt lifts up a fraction, exposing some of my skin, Embry takes the opportunity to poke me there.

"Weakling."

I squirm, giggling lowly when it tickles and hunching over to hide my torso from him, simultaneously smacking his hand away from me. "Says the guy who got squeamish when we re-watched the Saw movies last week."

He looks offended at the accusation.

"He totally did." Jacob easily agrees, joining us and handing Paul a plate of food before standing next to me. "He escaped into the restroom like five times."

"We were drinking." Embry lamely excuses.

"You had like two beers." I correct, turning to take a bite from Jacob's offered piece of bacon from his fingertips.

"Whatever. I was not squeamish."

"Dude, you always get grossed out by the randomest things." Jacob answers, continuing to tease him. "We kill Vamps for a living for christ's sake. Remember when…"

Even through the noise I hear a ding from my phone and pull it out, finding a text message from an unknown number. I click on it and almost make a noise of complaint.

Unknown: Hey it's Reed. I got your number from Chastity at a party last night.

Reed: You in town for spring break?

Reed: I was thinking we could go to Roman's party together.

"Stupid Chastity." I grumble under my breath.

Jacob snorts loudly, his eyes fixed on my phone. I hadn't even noticed when he'd stopped talking.

"Shut up." I mutter lowly.

"Who's Reed?" Quil asks, suddenly popping up over my shoulder from my other side.

I hurriedly lock my phone screen, having forgotten to do so as soon as I'd finished reading the thread of text messages.

Rookie mistake, Bella.

"No one."

"Doesn't sound like no one."

I roll my eyes. "He's literally no one. I met him at a party last week."

"Aw, is our little Bella breaking hearts again?!" Jared teases from the dinner table with Kaden now on his lap, eating from his plate after coming back from the restroom a bit ago.

"More like breaking penises." Leah mutters under her breath, which she knows is no use when everyone present can hear even an ant crawling by. Well, everyone except for Emily and Kaden.

Thank god.

"Leah." Sam warns sharply.

She has the decency to look chastised by her crude comment in front of the children. "Sorry."

"Antee Bewa, who dat?!" Kaden hollers from his seat.

I almost want to hide my face from the kid's question. "Uh, no one."

"Antee Bewa." Kaden starts with a warning tone. "Momma say lie bad."

"Oh lord, not another one." I say, giving in and covering half of my face with my hand.

Jacob and Embry burst out laughing watching me die in embarrassment.

"Oh my god. She's blushing!" Leah chortles, pointing at my face.

"I hate you guys so much right now." I mutter.

Sam gives into his laugh when he catches me flustered.

"What you say?!" Kaden hollers from the dinner table. "I no hear."

"Nothing!" I holler back, "Just that you're the sweetest little boy I've ever met."

I shove Quil away from me and take a seat in the only other empty space available, which happens to be right next to Paul.

He'd been quietly watching in interest, a light frown on his face. I think nothing of it, unless he was talking to Kaden he'd had that frown firmly in place since he first walked in.

That all changes when Quil makes another stupid comment.

"It can't be worse than when you actually dated that bloodsucker Cullen."

"Okay!" Emily quickly exclaims, standing up and heading straight for her son. "I think it's time for us to go have a little read now."

"No Momma, I no wanna go!" Kaden starts to complain immediately, always eager to be involved in the drama.

"We'll read your favorite book together."

He pauses in his attempt to crawl away from her, his eyes looking interested now. "Wit da ewaffent's?"

Sam gets up to help in the endeavor. "How about we read sissy the elephant story to keep her asleep?"

Kadens' eyes shift to his baby sister in his dad's arm and immediately gives in. "Okie!" He exclaims happily, jumping off Jared's lap and running ahead of them.

"Seriously?" Sam hisses indignantly, ushering his family out of the room.

Quil receives slaps to the back of the head by the guys as they join us in the living room.

"Bloodsucker Cullen?" Paul asks curiously… and suspiciously.

"Ah crap. Uh yeah… I kinda… sorta… dated a vampire."

"What?!" He exclaims, almost jumping out of his seat.

"In my defense I was a teenager and I didn't know he was a vampire at the time. I didn't even know vampires and shapeshifters existed, at that point."

His expression relaxes but only a fraction, still staring at me as if I'd just grown two heads. "I thought you knew about the wolf thing from the beginning."

"Kind of, but not really. According to tribal rules, I'm technically not supposed to know. Not if I'm not a wolf myself or part of the tribal elders. I don't know if you remember but I only used to come visit my dad in Forks during summers. On my annual visit when I was seventeen, Jacob went MIA and the rest of the guys told me they were too busy to hang out with me. I was pissed, but decided to make the best of the situation and make friends in Forks. It's when I met Edward Cullen and his family. I mean I knew they were a little weird from the get go but I just thought people from Forks were being prejudiced against them because of all the money they had. They weren't exactly friendly to others either but they were always nice to me, welcoming me in and making me feel comfortable."

"So when did you find out?"

I snort and look at Jacob, nodding my head in his direction. "I didn't know at the time but Sam had prohibited Jacob from seeing me at all that summer. He'd shifted for the first time a week before I landed in Washington and it wasn't safe for him to be near me. As you know now, it's hard to control your shifting, especially when emotions are involved. But Jacob had been desperate to see me and–"

"I wasn't desperate." He retorts with a scoff.

Embry and Quil burst into raucous laughter, mumbling incoherently but getting clearer as they calm down.

"I wonder if Bella is gonna call me now that she has a boyfriend." Embry mimics Jacob's voice as he says it.

"I miss her sooooo much." Quil adds.

"How am I going to survive without Bella in my life? Boo hoo."

"Shut up you unhelpful dicks!" Jacob lashes out. "And all of you were the exact same way too!" He accuses back.

"We were all upset." Sam corrects as he quietly enters the room by himself this time. "But I couldn't risk you getting hurt because of us." He clarifies, looking at me with sad, repentant eyes.

He knew how hard that summer had been for me. I had always thought of them as my family, so when they suddenly started ignoring my calls and attempts to visit it was the first time in my life I had truly felt rejected.

It hurt. A lot.

I throw him an understanding smile.

It was the past and we couldn't change that now. There was no point in dwelling on a pain long forgotten. After all, he'd done what he'd thought was right at the time. I couldn't fault him for that.

"Anyway," I start again "the week before I was scheduled to go back home Jacob found out the person I was actually dating was Edward Cullen, of all people, and had been pissed… allegedly because he was a vampire." I add that last part conspiratorially. "And showed up on my doorstep while Edward was there. Of course at the close proximity to his supernatural enemy, his wolf burst out and he shifted without control. My dad had been home too and so he'd seen what Jacob had turned into. It's then the elders had been forced to confirm the Quileute legends were all true."

"So he didn't try to uh… eat you?" Paul asks in confusion.

I chuckle at the question, it was a reasonable inquiry. "No. Edward and his family were animal drinkers. They preferred to live amongst us humans to live somewhat of a civilized life. They hated what they were and tried to do their best to bring good to humankind. They were good people." I clear up before he could continue to make assumptions.

The Cullen's had been vampires, sure, but their morals were honestly admirable. Better than most of our own humankind. I've known humans with not even half of the morals the Cullen's upheld. They had the power to be just as vile as the vampires who'd attacked me but they'd all willingly chosen a different path. Forcing themselves to endure agony by going against their nature and feeding from animals. But they did it to be better, to surpass their only physical weakness with strength of will. I would never speak ill of them when all they've ever done is be kind, to me and those around them.

"After I found out though, I ended up breaking up with Edward. He tried to convince me that things didn't need to change but I couldn't stay. I had my family back and I wasn't willing to choose the Cullen's over them."

"Awww, our 'ittle Bewa wuvs us too!" Embry says in baby talk, imitating Kaden.

I roll my eyes, they could be such dicks sometimes. But he was right too. I loved them more than they could possibly imagine.

"And now that you've all thoroughly embarrassed Bella." Sam unhelpfully points out. "We have to talk business."

I lean forward in my seat. "What business?"

"I talked to the elders this morning. They want to do a bonfire tonight to welcome Paul as our new pack member and to retell the Quileute legends."

I feel Paul shift uncomfortably in his seat next to me. His corded arms becoming more prominent with the tension he's now holding in them.

"Have you asked Paul if he's ready for that?"

Sam arches a brow at me in confusion, his eyes shifting to Paul's tense form. "Uh, no?"

My brother could be so daft sometimes.

"Well maybe you should've asked first before making plans. What if he needed time to get used to the idea of being a wolf?"

I didn't like them just assuming it'd be okay to start telling him what to do just because he was a wolf now. He was a grown ass man and he had other shit to do. They couldn't expect him to just drop everything.

"I need a couple of days." Paul speaks for himself this time. "It's all really weird to me still and I'd appreciate it if you could give me some time to wrap my head around it before I have to meet with the Elders."

The other wolves frown but remain silent, warily watching Sam's reaction.

I don't miss the slightly annoyed expression Sam throws my way, but he grudgingly knows I'm right. He releases a breath and yields to Paul's request. "You're right, I apologize. I should have spoken to you first. I have to admit I'm also a bit caught off guard by your sudden shifting as well. It hasn't happened in a couple of years, not since Seth, and I don't really know how to proceed next. Would Friday night work for you?"

Paul's body almost deflates in relief. "Absolutely. Thanks."