"What do you think?"
"I think you're insane."
Bianca laughed as she twirled around in the mirror one more time. She was trying on a little red bra and panty set, complete with stockings and a pair of stilettos she brought from home. The lace of the bra settled quite comfy on her chest. She turned in the mirror to look at her damn near perfect ass in the lace cheekies and nodded in pure satisfaction with herself. I watched her put her hands on her hips, her cheerleader abs flexing and relaxing as she breathed. "I think it's cute!" She shrugged. "But should I do this one or the black?" Bianca started muttering to herself as she held up the identical black set to examine.
"Are you trying to kill him, B?" I smirked, crossing my legs. Kaya had told me to go ahead and enjoy my day since Jacob would be out of commission for a bit. I sat and watched a couple of episodes of Vanderpump Rules with her before inviting Bianca to go shopping. So, we were out shopping. Not panicking. We're chilling, you know? Not panicking.
Kaya scoffed at the television and rolled her eyes. "I can't believe Scheana would say that," she shook her head as she adjusted herself on the couch. I was trying to focus on the TV, but I couldn't help but keep stealing glances at the staircase. Jacob had disappeared upstairs 20 minutes ago, and other than the occasional 'this is stupid' projection, it was completely still up there. "I feel like she's way too dramatic about all of it, you know?"
"Mm-hmm..." I mumbled, focusing my energy on Jacob's. He was just very Zen right now, but I couldn't hear him.
"Leah?" Kaya waved her hand in front of my face. "You're wasting your time. He's going to be up there for a while."
I took a deep breath. "You're right. I'm sorry. So, what did Scheana say?"
Kaya scoot closer to me and started explaining the whole dynamic of Stassi and Scheana to me, playing with my hair as if this was just something we did on a regular Saturday. I knew she was trying to distract me with nonsensical chatter about the early seasons of Vanderpump Rules and girl talk. I zoned out a little while she was talking, watching her face closely. Her eyes always had a happy and playful nature to them...but when I looked past that, I could tell she was tired and concerned.
It would have been too easy for our ancestors to just have all of the answers. It would have been too easy for them to tell us what's coming. I hated the idea that I was the one that was stressing her out. If I had just let myself relax, Kaya wouldn't have had to come back. On the contrary...I felt so comfortable with her here. I loved her pres—
A loud thud came from upstairs and I, all of a sudden, felt very empty. I couldn't feel him. My head snapped towards the stairs and, before I even knew it, I was rushing toward the stairs.
"Ah, ah, ah!" Kaya called from the couch. "Sit down."
"What?! No! Didn't you hear that?! Something's wrong!" I said, panicking.
She rolled her eyes at me and smiled. "He is fine, little one. I promise."
"But, I can't—"
"I know you can't feel him. That's just part of the process. Jacob is having a special visit right now. He's ok. Come sit."
I snapped back into focus when Bianca spoke again, "Well, it will be our first time. I want to make sure it's super special." She was still looking at herself in the mirror. She moved her hair out of her face and stood straighter, her chest pushed out. She whirled around to face me. "Do you really think it's too much?"
"You look hot, B. And I think Embry will like the red more than the black," I said, honestly.
She nodded, facing the mirror again for a final inspection. "You should wear the black then," she tossed the set to me; I almost didn't catch it because I was shocked by her words. "You look so good in black, Lee. If you wore this like under your dress, Jacob wouldn't be able to keep his hands off of you. Not that that's ever been a problem for you two." Bianca smirked at me through the mirror. "Trust me, girl, throw that on, make his heart race a little bit, put on that cute Leah Clearwater charm that I know you have, and he'll be like 'Bella who? What wedding? What treaty?'"
I chuckled, fingering the material between my fingers. "We both definitely need some stress relief," I admitted. "Between Bella and Kaya and the pack, it's just been a mess."
Bianca reached behind her back to unhook the bra so she could change. "How is Kaya adjusting to...everything?"
"Kaya is living her best afterlife and loving every second of it," I handed Bianca her actual bra and crop top. She quickly redressed herself before we head out of the dressing room. We walked around the Victoria's Secret more. "Not that I blame her. If I was also dead and brought back to life for god only knows how long, I'd be living it up too. She was talking about getting a tattoo before I left."
"Can she do that? Is that even possible?"
I blew a raspberry. "At this point, anything is possible." I tried to focus my energy to connect to Jacob again with no avail. Bianca made her way to the check-out counter, snatching the black lingerie from my hands and giving it to the less than enthused sales associate. "Hey! What are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm doing you a favor," Bianca sang, swiping her credit card before I could say anything else about it. Bianca had become somewhat of my sounding board since she came into our lives. Even though she had been completely thrown into this life with no warning, she was taking it all in as if it was as natural as breathing. Her and Embry were going strong, taking things slow. She told me that he was the one that was waiting for the right time and didn't want to rush sex. Bianca had completely turned Embry Call into a lovesick puppy dog. And, honestly, she was the perfect person for it. She was kind and sweet; she had such a sunny disposition. We had never seen her in a bad mood. Ever. Bianca was the human embodiment of positivity and kindness. They couldn't have picked a better person to enter our lives, truly.
We walked around the mall more, chatting about anything and everything. I was trying my best to distract myself from the fact that I had absolutely no idea what was happening with Jacob back at the pack house. We wandered into a couple of stores; I was aimlessly trying to find a dress for the wedding. Bianca shoved a bunch of dresses in my hand before pushing me into a dressing room.
"You need to look hot," Bianca said from outside the dressing room. "I don't think he's in love with this Bella girl anymore but, you need a dress that will make him want to drag you out of there and fuck you in the car."
"Jeez, B," I laughed. "Whatever happened to subtlety?" I pulled a red dress over my head, discarding it into the 'no' pile. Everything was just too short or the wrong color or just an all-around no.
"This is war, Leah," she declared. "When my ex and I broke up the first time, he started dating his ex-girlfriend. It was a week before my 21st birthday and so my sorority sisters took me shopping, we found the most low-cut dress ever and we partied all weekend and put it all over social media so he'd know what we was missing. Jacob needs a wakeup call."
"He hasn't exactly done anything wrong though. We talked about it," I said, turning to look at my butt in a navy blue bodycon dress. Shaking my head, I took it off and tried another.
"Still, he needs to know what a hot piece of ass you are. Sexy but classy. Like you look gorgeous in everything, but this needs to be a statement."
I opened the curtain and stepped out in a low-cut burgundy, chiffon, floor-length dress. Looking down at myself, I shrugged and did a twirl. "Is this enough of a statement?"
Bianca's jaw dropped as she looked me up and down. "Do you just wake up looking like a goddess because that's not fucking fair."
I started to smile when, all of a sudden, a surge of emotion rushed over me. My hand snapped to my forehead and I struggled to keep my balance. Bianca's voice was muffled; I felt her grab my arm to hold me upright. I opened my eyes and immediately felt dizzy and lightheaded. Bianca led me to a chair, still talking. All of a sudden, my energy was back at Kaya's house. I was overwhelmed with a sense of confusion and anxiety. Jacob was awake. "Holy shit..." I whispered, taking a deep breath. A small sweat broke out on my forehead and neck; Bianca moved my hair so I could feel the breeze on my hot skin.
Bianca's voice came more into focus as my breathing evened out. "Leah, are you ok?"
"Whoa," I blinked a few times, focusing my eyes. "I'm sorry, B. That was weird."
"What the hell was that?" she asked, pulling my hair into a ponytail and rubbing my back. "You looked like you were about to pass out."
Lee? I heard. Leah, where did you go?
"Jacob..." I breathed. I stood up, still a little dizzy.
"Jacob? Is he ok?"
"We have to go, B. Jacob woke up; I can feel him." I grabbed my shoes from the dressing room and started towards the door.
"Lee, we have to pay for the dress first!"
XXXXXXXXX
Kaya was massaging Jacob's neck with oil when I got back to the house. She was humming and willing him to relax. He looked exhausted, completely depleted. Perched between Kaya's legs, Jacob was shaking his head and mumbling to himself. "Do you see how important it is to practice your meditations now, Jacob?" Kaya asked. He nodded, his head hanging as she massaged him. "Come on in, Leah."
Closing the door behind me, I cautiously entered the house. Bianca was kind enough to drive us back to La Push while I got changed and worked to focus on Jacob's energy. "How's he doing?" I asked, setting my bag down on the kitchen table.
"I'm fine. It just...it took a lot out of me," Jacob answered, turning his head to look at me. He winked and smiled before hanging his head again. "Good to see you, gorgeous."
"It gets easier, the more you practice. You hit that landing pretty hard. There are ways to ease into it if you want me to teach you." Kaya pat his shoulder to let him know she was done. She placed the oil in a drawer. "Valerian root, geranium, and rose oil. Reduces anxiety and stabilizes your energy," she explained. Kaya got up to wash her hands.
As soon as she walked out of the room, I rushed over to Jacob and wrapped my arms around his neck. "Oh, thank God." He buried his face in my hair and breathed. When I held him at arm's length, I smiled and brushed the hair off of his forehead. "Ugh, I missed you so much."
Jacob leaned forward and kissed me. "That was a wild ride," he said. "I wish you could have been there with me."
I chuckled, "I'm sure it was. You were out for a while. How are you feeling?"
"Tired but...energized. I want to sleep it off, but I also want to run to Canada. It's crazy." Jacob shook his head, looking just past me at empty space. "Ephraim is just like me."
"Isn't he just the cutest?" Kaya asked as she walked back into the living room, her toenails adorning a pretty red color that wasn't there when I left. She swooned as she sat back on the couch, thinking about her love. "Did he say anything about me?"
Jacob grinned at her, "Just that he misses you and he's ready for you to come back."
Kaya squealed quietly with delight and ruffled Jacob's hair. "He's just perfect..." she muttered to herself before addressing us, "Ok, so, a little backstory: we started using meditation as a way for us to open communication with the other side. I cannot stress enough how important meditation is for both of you. If you both had been practicing, I wouldn't be here. Meditation is also the one place where your partner nor any of the other ancestors can access you unless you allow it. Leah, you immediately felt a disconnect from Jacob, right? Once he stopped saying it was stupid and actually started focusing?" I nodded my head. "While his body, of course, was upstairs; his spirit was not. It's not like dying. It's just a transcendent experience." She paused and thought through carefully if that was all the backstory we needed. "So, with all that said, I have absolutely no idea what Jacob and Ephraim talked about. I think this was a good opportunity for two Alpha Males to chat. Do you want to talk about your experience, Jacob?"
Jacob lifted his shoulders, "I'm not even sure where to start, honestly."
"Well, I guess we can start with a question. Do you feel like you got clarity on how to handle the situation with Bella and the Cullens?" Kaya asked. I sat next to her on the couch and crisscross apple sauced my legs. Kaya instinctively reached over and started to run a hand through my hair.
"I do. Ephraim and I were able to talk about our options here. It was kind of crazy; I kind of felt like I was looking in a mirror the whole time. I didn't realize we looked and acted so much alike. It was like staring at a long-lost twin." Jacob said.
"You're welcome," Kaya whispered to me with a giggle.
"I think it'll be better for all three of us to decide what we want," Jacob started. "We already laid out two options, which is battling this shit out if they change her or negotiating a new treaty. Ephraim also mentioned asking the Cullens to leave if they're going to change Bella, but I don't know how I feel about that yet."
I spoke up, "What are you feeling then?"
"I think we should negotiate a new treaty. Since Alice has seen countless futures where Bella gets turned, we can make her the exception. But, since this is our first negotiation, Ephraim and I agreed that you should come with us, Kaya."
She guffawed, loudly. "He didn't say that. There's no way," she shook her head. Her eyes darted between the two of us looking for some kind of joke. Jacob gave a tight smile and shrugged. "Wait, what? Why?"
"Because you're the only one who was there for the first negotiation," I realized. "That makes sense."
"Kaya, maybe that's why they brought you here. To help us fight this. If we can do this as civilly as possible, we need someone who knows how Ephraim would handle this. He wants you to be there with us because he trusts you." Jacob explained. "You've been such a great help to us already. Please...just help us end this before it begins."
Jacob and I watched as Kaya pondered. She pinched the bridge of her nose and gave a loud sigh. She didn't say anything for what felt like a really long time. Kaya picked at her thumbnail. I understood her hesitation. For so long, she's been in the background helping us make decisions. Now we were asking her to be front and center. It was a huge ask. "There's one caveat you seemed to have forgotten," she finally said.
"What?"
"I'm dead! Hello!" she threw up her hands. "You want me to walk up to the Cullens with absolutely no explanation as to how I'm here and negotiate a new treaty."
"Yes," Jacob and I said, dead-panned.
"Absolutely not. I can guide you all through it, but that just doesn't seem safe. I don't care how nice they are. If it somehow gets out that I got sent back to earth, it would set off a whole bunch of shit that none of us can predict."
"We'll keep you safe, Kaya," I reassured.
She shook her head. "I'm not worried about me. I'm worried about how this will affect you guys. I could be air lifted out of here any second. What happens if there are issues after I've left?"
"There's always going to be the threat of an issue whether you're here or not," he said, holding her gaze.
I turned my full attention to her. "Kaya," I took her hand in mine. "We appreciate how much you've helped us, and we love having you here, no matter the circumstance. But we wouldn't be asking if it wasn't our best option. They'll understand how dire this is when they see you."
She groaned and dropped her head to rest of the back of the couch. "Really, Eph?" she called to the ceiling. Kaya picked her head up with an eye roll. She locked eyes with Jacob. "Alright...call them up."
XXXXXXXXX
I stepped into my bathroom, holding up one earring in each hand. One of them was a gold hoop and the other was a silver dangling dewdrop. Jacob was standing in the mirror, tucking his undershirt into his black slacks. "Which ones?" I asked him.
He looked at both options in the mirror before pointing at the gold hoops. "I like those."
I nodded, putting them in my ears. I watched as he examined himself in the mirror. His facial hair was starting to grow in again and he was just so handsome. He scratched at it a little, turning his face up and raising an eyebrow. Jacob reached for his shaving cream and razor. Placing a hand on top of his, I shook my head. "Don't," I said, quietly. I would be damned if Bella's Jake made an appearance today.
The big event—the day we've never waited for—the start of the end—was today. The wedding. The Cullens agreed to speak to us, but only before the wedding. And by before the wedding, they meant a couple of hours before the wedding. Which meant that we would immediately have to go to the sight after this conversation. Which meant that I had to have a literal life or death conversation in this girly ass dress and heels.
Kaya, Jacob, and I were holed up in the pack house for the past couple of days talking strategy. When we weren't talking strategy, we had the pack continue to train just in case. I don't exactly know why Kaya insisted on having us train when we were essentially giving the Cullens a gift. She just kept saying she didn't trust them.
"What, you don't like my baby face?" Jacob joked, pushing his shaving stuff aside. I watched him closely as he sprayed a little bit of cologne on his wrists.
I walked in front of him and ran my hands up his chest before wrapping my arms around his neck. I shook my head. "I like my men a little more...untamed," I purred. A grin spread on his face before he pulled me into a passionate kiss. I giggled in his mouth as his tongue entered my mouth. His hands glided down my torso and to my hips, hoisting me onto the counter.
"No, no, no, no, no!" I heard from the door. We broke away to see Seth standing in the hallway with a look of disgust on his face. "You have a room. Use it. I need the bathroom."
I held up my hands in surrender and jumped off the counter. "Sorry, brat," I said, pulling a laughing Jacob into my room.
"Yeah, our bad, Seth," he said as I closed the door to my bedroom. He pressed me against the hard wood and leaned all of his body weight on me, breathing in my perfume. His hand came up to lift my face so he could access my neck. His open mouth kisses on my neck made me melt into him. My fingers delicately danced across the contours of his biceps. He looked up and met my eyes before crushing his lips to mine again. "Do we have time?" he asked, against my lips.
My eyes shot over to the clock. 2:35. I moaned in surprise and pushed him slightly away from me, breaking the kiss. "No, we have like 20 minutes to get ready and leave. I still have to finish my makeup. Come on." I pat his chest again to get him to move. He didn't budge. "Come on, Jacob," I chuckled. "We don't have much time."
He whined a little bit, dropping his head on my shoulder. "This is ridiculous. Why can't we just run away?"
"They'd find us," I muttered, finally getting him to move off of me. I sat in front of my mirror and finished my makeup while Jacob leaned against the door, sulking. "What's wrong, honey?" I asked, moving my freshly curled hair out of my face.
He sighed, "Just feels like the end of something, you know?"
"Or the beginning," I countered. "Who knows? Maybe us making a new treaty will set off a string of good change." I examined my face before standing up and facing him. "Jacob," I started. "I know this is hard for you. I get it. No one said this Alpha thing would be easy. But this is our path; just like turning is her path, maybe."
"But what about Charlie? I just...I can't stand the thought of lying to him."
"Every decision will have a consequence. It sucks that we're the ones that will have to deal with the consequence of her shitty decision, but we will handle it because that's our job, right?" I stroked his cheek and offered a sad smile. "Are you going to be ok enough to handle this? Kaya and I can go, and you can stay here."
He shook his head fervently. "Nope, I will not allow you to go by yourself." He walked around me to the bed where his dress sheets were lying. He held them both up. "Black or white?"
"Black," I pointed. Once he pulled the button-down over his shoulders, I helped him adjust his collar. "You're doing a good thing," I assured him, smoothing out any wrinkles.
"I'm doing this for us. That might be selfish, but I really don't care at this point." Jacob paused. "Ephraim told me to use you as motivation to resolve this as quickly and painlessly as possible. That's what he did."
"For Kaya."
He nodded. "For Kaya, for his family...for the pack. For us. It's not worth it to keep some nearly 100-year-old treaty in place. A lot has changed." He tucked his shirt in before tapping me on the ass. "Come on, get dressed."
I slipped on my dress, narrowly avoiding him seeing the black lingerie I had on under it. I adjusted my cleavage as I hummed. Stepping in front of my mirror again, I mussed with myself until I felt satisfied. There was part of me that wondered if there was something wrong with how I looked or if I was just feeling anxious about today. The bags under my eyes were starting to be a little more noticeable every day. I still wasn't sleeping much. Jacob's eyes caught mine in the mirror. "What?" I asked, smirking.
He shook his head and let out a small laugh. "Just...truly the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."
Alright, lovebirds, let's go. We're late. Kaya projected the image of herself standing at the tree line alone.
Jacob and I rushed out of the house and towards the woods. I was holding my high heels in my right hand, my left hand laced with Jacob's, and my bare feet hitting the ground as we jogged toward what felt like some weird twist of fate. "It's about time," Kaya huffed. She was dressed in a white sundress with pink floral print. Her pin straight black hair was flawless as always and her body language was anxious, nervous. "You two look really nice," she gave a strained smile.
"Are you ok, Kaya?" Jacob asked.
"It's just been a while, little one," her face softened. "It's kind of like culture shock, you know? Being here, seeing all of these new changes, and...facing them. I just wish we had more time to prepare." Kaya brushed off some imaginary dirt from her dress and replaced her anxiety with a brave face. She smiled wide. "Ok, let's do this. They're close."
The three of us walked into the woods; Kaya went through with us one more time how the conversation would go. She spoke with confidence and a certain know how that was quite impressive. She hooked her arm through mine as we walked the path toward the treaty line. Jacob asked questions and I listened quietly, taking it all in. It was our best option. We needed to ensure that everyone was going to be safe if Bella was going to be turned into a vampire.
We stood at the treaty line for a few moments before we smelled them approaching. Kaya stood between Jacob and me, lacing her fingers through mine. Her body was in slight trembles and her mind wall was a little shaky. For the first time, I had access to Kaya's head. And from what I saw, she felt like she was going through a bout of PTSD from dealing with the Cullens during her lifetime. Most specifically, the fight they all had before the treaty was in place. She closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath, calming herself down. When she opened her eyes, the Cullens came into view. Carlisle, Edward, Emmett, Esme, and Rosalie stood in front of us, as creepy as they always had been. "Oh, the original five, how fun," Kaya mumbled under her breath.
They were beautiful, I can say that. They, just like us, were dressed for the wedding. The boys stood securely in their tuxes while Rosalie and Esme walked up in similar lavender floor-length dresses. I squeezed Kaya's hand in comfort. Carlisle was the first to speak, a look of shock on his face, "Is th—Kaya?" She lifted a shoulder with a slight smirk on her face. "How is this possible? I thought—"
"Me too," she chuckled, uneasily.
"How?" Esme asked.
"I don't know."
"What—?" Edward started.
"I don't know," she repeated, emphasizing each word.
"Why—?"
"I really wish I had answers for all of your questions, but it seems that there are more important matters to attend to." Kaya shifted her weight. "Congratulations is in order. I'm very happy for you Edward. You're not the odd man out anymore!"
"Thank you," Edward nodded once with a small smile. "It's good to see you, Kaya."
"Ah, yes! Kaya, of course, it's good to meet again," Carlisle said with an immaculate smile. His blonde hair never seemed to move out of place. He always creeped me out the most. I know he's the good doctor, but I just wanted to see him ruffled just a little bit. "Jacob, Leah," he greeted the both of us. "Why are we here today?"
"As you know, a lot of changes are happening around here. Leah and Jacob have accepted an Alpha role in the pack and, with Edward getting married, we've come to the consensus that it's time for things to start changing around here." Kaya spoke for us. Jacob placed a hand on her arm to let her know he's going to take over.
"We want to amend the treaty," he stated. "Effective immediately."
Carlisle looked at his family who almost all had surprised or intrigued expressions on their faces. Rosalie and Emmett stood with stone faces. "In what way?" Edward asked.
I stepped forward, clasping my hands in front of me. "We are giving you permission to turn Bella, if you so choose to. She will be the only amendment to the treaty."
"Why are you making this exception now?" Esme asked, cocking her head to the side. She stood next to her partner, gently holding onto the crux of his arm. "As far as we know, there are no plans to turn Bella anytime soon."
I glanced at Jacob before speaking again, "We've been made privy to some information that suggests otherwise."
Rosalie scoffed. "What information? How?"
I pursed my lips and worked hard to not think about Alice. While she was the one withholding this information, it wasn't our place to out her on her decisions. "That's not important," Jacob said. "This is more of a precaution on our part than anything. Just because we are making this amendment, doesn't mean that you have to act on it."
"We want to make sure that there is no unnecessary drama if the treaty is somehow broken in the future." I clarified. "We really want to keep the peace."
"You can choose to do whatever you want with this information," Jacob spoke up. "Kaya, Leah, and I just felt that the treaty that's currently in place is outdated."
Carlisle adjusted his tux jacket and chuckled a little, "I guess we're just a little confused as to why this is happening. It feels like a lot of holes and missing information."
"We have absolutely no intention of turning Bella." Edward said, definitely. Kaya made a small noise in disagreement. He blinked at her, indignantly. "Unless you know something we don't know."
"Damn, I did not think that us improving the treaty in your favor would come with so many questions," Kaya held one of her elbows and met each of their eyes. "From what I remember, the last treaty negotiation was quicker than this."
"What do you know, Kaya?" Edward asked, a firm tone in his voice.
She got quiet and looked down for a second, shaking her head slightly every few seconds. I believe she was speaking to Ephraim or something on the other side. Neither Jacob or I could hear, but by the quick change in her expression, it was definitely a conversation and not a train of thought. When she finally looked up, she bit her lip before speaking, "Your little psychic one—"
"Alice," I offered again.
"Thank you, little one," she chuckled. "Does Alice share everything she sees with you?" Kaya asked, stepping closer to the boundary line.
The Cullens all exchanged glances. "We would think so, yes," Carlisle answered.
"I can, personally, say that that's not the case. Alice is very talented. You guys picked up a nice addition in her." Kaya stopped for a second. "If I was to say that little Alice has seen at least a dozen accounts of your near future where Bella has been turned, what would you say?"
"That's impossible," Edward spat. "I would have been able to hear her thoughts if that were true."
"There are practices for that. Mind reading is invasive and sometimes a girl needs her privacy." Kaya countered. "We're not saying you have to go home and turn Miss Bella right now. We are just offering you...a gift." Kaya held out her hands as if she had an actual gift in her hand.
"What's in it for you?" Rosalie sneered.
Kaya sighed dramatically. "Well...these two—" she gestured towards us, "—will live a long and happy life. Have a couple babies. Get married. All that fun stuff. You all will continue to live your vegetarian lifestyle without a lick of trouble. And we can all live happily ever after." Kaya smoothed down her dress and nonchalantly continued, "Or we can take the offer off of the table, Bella will somehow get turned anyway, and your little family can leave Washington forever. Or, behind door number three: we take the offer off the table, Bella turns, and the pack has full right to tear you all to shreds and burn the pieces. We don't want that...right?" Kaya looked up and shrugged.
"Things have changed over the years, Kaya, but we've never meant any harm," Carlisle attempted to diffuse the tension. "We rather appreciate all of you being kind enough to come up with such a generous offer."
Kaya locked eyes with Carlisle, "We all just want what's best for our children, don't we?"
Carlisle gave a smile, "Of course." He turned towards his family. "We will accept the Alphas' generous gift. Because today is a great day. Today, we welcome a wonderful addition to our family." Edward was wearing an unreadable expression. It was some mixture of confusion and frustration and something else.
Esme stepped close to the treaty line and smiled at Kaya, "We thank you, truly. And it really is nice to see an old face, an old friend even." Kaya beamed, turning back to the friendly presence she's always been. "If we would have known you were...still alive..." Esme said in a question, "we would have formally invited you to the wedding. Please, you are most welcome to attend if you want."
"Well I don't know if I'm dressed for a wedding," Kaya looked down at her casual sundress.
Esme waved her hand in dismissal, "We insist."
"That's very kind," Kaya smiled at the ground. She still looked uneasy. I knew she wasn't going to turn down the invitation, but I could tell she was trying to figure out if she could say no. "I'm sure you all have lots to do before the wedding. Thank you so much for taking time to talk to us and we'll see you soon."
As soon as the Cullens left, Kaya let out a big breath and buckled a little, putting her hands on her knees. "Holy shit..." she whispered. I went to her side and placed a hand on her back, asking if she was ok. "Oh my god, I hated every second of that."
"I thought it went well," Jacob said, confused.
"I am not fit for that kind of confrontation." Kaya righted herself and looked between both me and Jacob. "And I apologize for kind of taking over the conversation. How are you guys feeling?"
"I think this is what's best for all of us right now," Jacob said, slipping his hands in his pockets.
I shrugged. "Could have been worse. I think we all need a drink."
Kaya clapped her hands, "I agree! Tequila shots at the reception?"
Jacob chuckled before waving us to the reservation. "Let's just get through the wedding first."
By the time we made it through the woods and into the car, we had to rush to Cullen manor. When we pulled up, Embry, Bianca, Seth, and Sam were standing in the front, waiting for us. Jacob rolled up his sleeves before taking my hand in his, walking us into backyard. As usual, it reeked of sweet, bleachy vampires. I looked to Kaya and she didn't seem too phased by it. She walked next to Seth, making light conversation. The scene was beautiful; white wisteria vines hung from every inch of every branch on every tree. A massive arch covered in white flowers sat at the altar and there was beautiful greenery lining the aisle.
Jacob led all of us to our seats. I sat next to him, crossing my legs and trying to relax myself. My wolf instinct is to be on edge, but my mind was telling me that we were as safe as we would be here. We sat all in a row, no vampires on either side of us. I turned to Jacob and smiled at his rugged face. "You look handsome," I said, kissing his cheek.
"And you look absolutely breathtaking." He kissed my hand. I looked at him for a beat longer before the gentle music started. An older, white man started down the aisle, nodding at people every once and a while. When he made it to the alter, we all looked to see Edward start his descent. He still looked irritated by our earlier conversation but was putting on a really bad fake smile for everyone. His tux was sharp and not a single hair was out of place. He stood at the alter with his hands positioned behind him.
Everything went quiet. Then a soft piano began to play. We all stood and turned toward the top of the aisle. With Charlie, Bella stood in a beautiful, pearl satin dress that softly hugged her small figure. The ends of the long sleeves had a lace detail and at the end of her bony finger was the biggest rock I'd ever seen. I glanced up at her face and saw as she uncomfortably fidgeted, trying to take a deep breath. Her boring brown hair was swept away from her face, an elegant veil clipped at the back of her head, and her makeup was simple, natural. They began to walk down the aisle, Charlie looking just slightly more uncomfortable than Bella.
I tore my eyes away from Bella and looked at Jacob. He reached behind him so I could grab his hand. When I did, he lifted it until it was draped over his shoulder. He kissed my hand again. Once Charlie gave Bella away, we were able to sit. I scoot closer to Jacob; he put his arm around the back of my chair, gently running his fingers up and down my arm.
I couldn't really focus on the actual ceremony. Everything is up in the air now. Everything could change or nothing could change. I thought about Jacob's vision again. I wanted it so much and, on this day, I did not feel like I was second banana to Bella Swan. He was mine. And not because she was getting married, but because he was willing to make sacrifice in order for us to get the future we deserve. I looked around at the scene in front of me and couldn't help but smile a little. When my mind focused again on the actual ceremony, it was just in time to watch her mouth form to say, "I do."