Surging Desire || CullensxOc

99

12 years later, June 28th, 2024

"Huh?" I asked dumbfounded. My hands holding tightly onto the Manila envelope, while sitting on the couch in our new home in Denali. It's been an amazing and hectic twelve years since we moved from Forks, to the Faroe Islands, then to Denali in Alaska. Sharing land with the Denali coven that has gotten a little bigger in the last few years, just like our coven. I'd even married all my mates two years after moving from Forks, Ezra married me and chose to take the Cullen last name. Benjamin and Tia were now the queen and king of the vampire, ruling our kind with love and hope for a brighter future. The shifters in Forks still there and taking care of the town. I'd kept contact with the whole pack, even visiting sometimes. They are all doing well, and Seth even found his imprint who happened to be a vampire.

"Can you adopt us?" The six year old girl asked for her and her twin brother. The two children holding hands while using their best begging faces. I smile softly and move my hands motioning the children to come closer. When they do, I place both of them on my lap and hug them close. Envelope discarded at my side, trying my hardest to keep my venom tears at bay.

I wasn't going to tell them just yet that I'd adopted them years ago. Rosalie, myself, and Esme really wanted kids, and with none of us being able to conceive we agreed to take in some children in need. When our family agreed that we could do whatever made us happy, Carlisle, Jasper, and Edward looked into foster homes for children that would fit well either our coven. Alice looking into their feature to give some confirmation that the children would be perfectly fine with us. Ezra, and Emmett were just excited to grow our family and have kids of their own to cause trouble with.

Thus our family grew, and we adopted Ezekiel a bright fourteen year old boy six years ago. Ezekiel had been a breath of fresh air for us, being energetic and shy at the same time. He had been nervous moving in with such a large family, especially when his race was different from ours. But that never mattered to any of us, we embraced his African culture and took care of him like we birthed the boy. Getting him to open up to us took a few years, but our first child fit right in and fell inlove with our family like we did him. Being super close to Carlisle and Esme, those two being his favorite parents even if he doesn't say it.

Ezekiel is twenty years old now, taking Architecture classes in university. My oldest son always wanted to travel and had an obsession with Asian culture. So he had left for South Korea a few years ago, falling inlove with the culture there.

Two years after bringing in Ezekiel; Edward found a small child abandoned in the woods. After reading the child's mind, my mate found out the little girl had been abused and neglected. That her drug using parents dropped her off in the middle of nowhere, with the hopes that the child would die. Finding out the horrors the little girl went through was enough for all of us to take her under our wing. Having no need to adopt the small girl, since she didn't exist as her parents had her in private. We all just treated her as if she were our own right away. Ezekiel loved having a little sister and Talia loved him more.

The now ten-year-old girl did what most children her age did. Played with dolls, eats lots of sweets, and causes a lot of chaos. I enjoyed every minute of it, she reminded me of how I acted at her age. It helped that Talia looked like a mini me with her beautiful red hair. And with how her parents treated her, it reminded me of the woman I grew up with as a kid. Making me always remember the promise I made to myself, to never be like that woman. To treat my children fairly, and with love. As well as letting them know they mattered and that they would always have a safe space. Talia just needed a loving home. The little girl loving all her parents but was closest to Edward and me.

Then we ended up with Silvia, and Sylas. Taking the twins in was a hard situation to be in. But my family and I knew we had to be the ones to do it. Their father had been slaughtered by a small group of terrible humans, leaving the children abandoned in their home. When the children had been taken to the hospital, Carlisle spent a lot of time with the kids there. Coming home and telling their story to us of how they ended up there. Jasper, Alice, and Carlisle being the ones to ask the rest of us to take the kids in.