"When I left my tribe, I had nowhere to go. I felt lost and hopeless, I really was lost. The woods used to be a scary place at night." Thalia tried her best to envision this. "I came across a few shifters when I was stumbling at night. I was so young at the time I had no idea where I was or what I was doing. They spotted me as a trespasser, they were ready to kill me, but your father did not fear them. In fact, he was working alongside them. He had told them to stand down and not fight. I was grateful for that because it saved my life. Later that night he invited me back to his mother's place and we began to talk a lot. I had explained to him my story and that I had nowhere to go. After consulting with his mother prior, he had offered me a place to stay. With no other option and completely hopeless, I accepted his offer. It was amazing, he taught me everything there was to know about shifters and the tribe. We would spend long nights sitting out by the fire and he would tell the old tales." Tiffany's eyes were glossed over as she remembered the old times.
"Eventually our love for each other seemed to grow into more than just a friendship. He had told me something one day. That he had come from a bloodline of shifters, dating back to when Ephraim Black was the alpha. For some reason, his shifter gene was never triggered, it was unexplainable but we assumed that there were no vampires around. That same day, he had told me that he fell in love with me. We were young and in love. The council frowned on the fact that I was no imprint, but he didn't care. We were so in love that it didn't matter if I was the imprint or not. We married only after a year and things moved up from there. We moved into this house so we could be surrounded by the love of the community. Not long after, we had you and Embry." The twins gave each other a small look before their mother continued with the story.
"Over time, things started to become a little rocky. You see, rumors spread about vampires in the area, you guys were so young and your father was so worried. He wanted to get out of here, live somewhere far away, somewhere where there were no vampires, but I didn't. I knew it wasn't possible, and you and Embry had already built your own little family here. I couldn't take that away from you guys. That day, your father and I sent you and the boys out to play so we could talk in private. Talking turned into yelling and yelling turned into arguing. We had decided the night before that it would be best for us to separate." A tear fell from the mother's eye and she quickly wiped it away.
"If we separated, he would leave here. I didn't want you two to be without a father. He wanted to take you both, he wanted to take you guys away from here, to a safer place. Being a mother and all, I didn't want you guys to be taken from your roots, but at the same time, it wasn't fair that he couldn't see his kids. If he couldn't have both of you, he at least wanted one. And I begged, pleaded, and cried but in the end, it seemed like the fairest agreement. If he could take one of you, then he would stay in Forks. Believe me, it's not something I wanted to do. But he left so quickly, there was nothing I could do but say goodbye." Thalia sat there and soaked up the information like a sponge. She didn't realize that the smallest tear formed in her eye. "I'm so sorry Thalia, I thought he would just keep you safe. I had no idea that he'd plan to forget everything-"
"Mom, it's okay," Tiffany seemed shocked to hear the words come out of her mouth so soon. "You didn't know what he would do." Thalia stood from her seat next to Quil and walked over to her mom. "You couldn't have known he had planned to do that." The tears streamed from her mother's eyes.
"He wouldn't let me see you, Thalia, he kept you from me, from Embry, from-"
"It wasn't his fault," Tiffany was confused by Thalia's defense, sure you can never stay mad at family, but last she checked, the girl was furious at her father for keeping a secret. "Not all of it at least. Sure he wanted to protect me but, he wasn't alone."
"What do you mean?" her twin brother questioned.
"His wife, my mom," Thalia put air quotes and that. "Janie, she's stuck up, snooty, and could only care for a social image. In fact, I've been gone for a whole night and day, she's probably freaking out. Of course not in the way that you would think."
"Hm, your father never told me that he would remarry." Tiffany seemed hurt by the new information.
"It was probably to keep me safe. It would have been a lot easier if she wasn't such a no-good son of a-"
"Hey missy, language," Jacob laughed, trying to make light of things.
"Well," Tiffany stood and brushed her pants. "I guess I should meet this mother," she grinned and Thalia couldn't help but smirk, surly Janie wouldn't mind finding out where Thalia got her attitude.
"Indeed you shall, boys?" Thalia looked to the three boys who crowded the small sofa.
"Sounds like quite the idea," Embry threw an arm over his sister's shoulder. "Jacob, Quil, what do you say we take a trip into town? I think it's about time we meet this woman."
"I'd say that it's a great idea," Quil chimed in. "But we should probably let Sam know that we're leaving the Rez. so late," he shrugged.
"I'd say we do that first," Tiffany sighed.
"Well, then what are we waiting for?" Embry asked, "let's go see the wonderful wizard of Oz." The five of them laughed as Embry kept his arm slung over his sister as they walked out the door to head to Emily's.
A/N: annnddddd that is the final chapter! Thank you all so much for reading and thanks for 700 reads!!!! There is a possibility for a squeal but probably not for a while but I will notify this book when the next is published. Until next time👋