Spirit Mother - Twilight Saga

chapter 21

I left before Bella woke up. She was out for long. Three days.

I felt sorry for her, I knew what agony turning could cause. Of course, every single turning experience is different. Mine was different because I turned half way only. Alex turned under manipulation. And Bella... Bella turned postpartum, and with an insane amount of morphine in her system.

Before I left, Carlisle took a bit of venom from me, in case Renesmee had a medical emergency. He speculated my venom saved her because it was the most alike her blood, and yet, nutritious for both her human and vampire side.

I returned to La Push with Jacob, once I knew Bella's survival was almost a hundred percent certain.

I didn't have much time to reunite with Sam, as he was quick to take off with Jacob to the Cullens to talk things over. But Embry, Jared, Quil and the newbies were quick to welcome me back. Paul's absence was noted, but I wasn't sure I wanted to see him anyways.

"It's so good to see you again" said Jared, to my surprise, hugging me. I hugged back hesitantly, but once I felt his emotion through his touch, I melted into the hug. And all the wolves welcomed me just as equally.

"Good to have my lil sis back" laughed Embry.

"Oh, lil sis?" I teased.

"So what's going on?" asked Jared, his Alpha's second instincts kicking in. I realised they didn't know everything yet. Jacob only talked to Sam, and both of them left in human form, so Sam couldn't talk to his pack. He did send me a serious look though, maybe it meant he wanted me to explain.

"Well... Bella gave birth" I said, and the wolves visibly tensed. "The kid... Renesmee. She's amazing. Completely harmless, and extremely charming, actually."

"So not a monster?" asked Embry, majorly skeptical.

"Not at all" I said, shaking my head. "And... you wouldn't harm her anyways."

"What do you mean?" asked Jared.

"She... Jacob... imprinted on her" I said finally.

The silence was loud.

"Now I can give all the crap back he gave me for Claire" said Quil. I smiled at him softly.

"The Cullens still don't know how to feel about it. They hadn't seen you interact with Claire, they don't see the real nature of the imprint bond and how it could affect and infant."

"What about Leah and Seth?" asked Jared.

"Well... the split happened already, I guess" I shrugged. "You can't merge two packs, unless one Alpha yields in favour of the other. Jake can't yield, once he accepts his legacy, he can't kneel again. But then... Sam wouldn't... and shouldn't. He's grown to be the best Alpha this pack could have."

The wolves all nodded or hummed in agreement, their utmost respect for their alpha showing.

"So they won't come back?"

"They're loyal to Jake now... but none of them want hostility."

"Us neither" nodded Jared.

I looked around uneasily.

"Where's... um, Paul?"

The wolves all winced at the mention of his name.

"What?" I asked. It was Jared who spoke up.

"When a wolf uh... stays away from their imprint for long..." my heart dropped. "We get... depressed, fading... just, tired, and sick."

"He's all that... because of me?"

"Well, no one's really blaming you personally" said Embry quickly. "But we would appreciate it if you could talk to him. We... we all feel his agony, you know."

"I'll... go" I said awkwardly, and sped off to... nowhere. I realised I had no idea where Paul lived. So I sped back to Sam's, standing before the wolves awkwardly. "Guys... Where does Paul live?"

"I'll take you" said Jared. "He might be... a little temperamental again."

"Good thing he can't hurt me" I muttered.

The car ride to Paul's was silent. I knew we both wanted to talk, but didn't know how to start. I wanted Jared to see my side of the story. Why I got so upset when they wanted to kill Renesmee.

But before I could say anything he stopped the car.

"Listen... maybe this isn't a good idea" said Jared, taking the key out of the ignition.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know... are you sure you're ready for it?"

"Ready for what?"

"This might upset you both."

"We'll eventually have to talk" I said, getting out of the car. "Thanks Jared."

He nodded.

"Do you want me to wait here?"

"No, I'll find my way back, but thanks."

"Nika..."

And that's when I heard it.

A melodic laugh, one that definitely didn't belong to Paul.

"Is there someone with him?" I asked. Jared looked extremely uncomfortable.

"It uh... it might be Rachel? You know, Jacob's sister?"

"He has a sister??"

"Two, actually" said Jared, coughing. The laughing stopped. A few seconds later the door opened, and Paul was standing there, mouth agape.

"I didn't think you'd be back so soon" he said, avoiding my eyes at all costs.

"Well... I'm here" I said awkwardly, but tried to sell it off as confidence. Like I wasn't thrown off by some random girl laughing with Paul.

"So did you want anything?"

Fuck you.

"I just... I wanted to talk, but I guess you already have company" I said with a fake sweet smile. "I'll... see you around."

"Yeah" he said awkwardly, and I turned back to Jared, who took me back to Sam's.

"Nika..."

"It's fine" I said quickly. Then I took a sharp breath and turned to Jared. "Will this... connection between them... affect his connection to me?"

Jared shook his head.

"If you turning into a vampire didn't affect the bond... this won't either."

"But surely his devotion will uh... split?"

"Are you jealous?" Asked Jared, as we arrived back to Sam's place.

"I just want to understand" I said, quickly shaking my head.

"We don't quite know. It's our first time being wolves too, you know.

All I knew was that I didn't want to lose Paul. But why did I feel like Rachel was a threat to that?