The day after Christmas began with a treaty meeting.
That was probably not how most families followed a holiday, but most families did not have more than a dozen vampires camped within running distance of a reservation full of people who knew exactly what vampires were.
Sam arrived shortly after sunrise with Billy.
Seth was not with them. Jacob had sent him to relay instructions to the eastern patrol before coming to the house. Jacob and Leah joined us in Carlisle's office, along with Jasper and Edythe. Carlisle sat behind his desk while I stood beside Leah.
Billy sat in his wheelchair near the door. Sam remained standing.
He looked tired.
Not physically. Shifters recovered too quickly for that. The strain came from being responsible for a pack that could smell human blood on several of the vampires gathered near their land.
"The treaty was made with the Cullens," Sam said. "Not every vampire they might invite into the area."
"You're right," I said.
The answer surprised him.
It also drew Jasper's attention toward me.
I continued before anyone could misunderstand. "The tribe agreed to live beside a coven that does not hunt humans. That agreement does not automatically extend to visitors who do."
Carlisle folded his hands on the desk. "I have already asked every guest to hunt well away from Forks and La Push."
"Asked," Billy repeated.
Carlisle accepted the correction. "Required."
Sam glanced toward the ceiling, though the people he was concerned about were spread throughout the house and surrounding forest.
"Some of them have fed recently," he said. "The scent carries. Our younger wolves know what it means, and they know those vampires are close enough to reach the reservation in minutes."
Jacob leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "He's not exaggerating. Half the pack is waiting for someone to cross the line."
"And the other half?" Jasper asked.
"Waiting for the first half to start something."
Leah exhaled through her nose. "Sounds about right."
Sam gave her a flat look, but she did not take the words back.
Carlisle looked between Billy and Sam. "What would make the tribe feel secure while our guests remain?"
"No visiting vampire crosses onto tribal land," Sam said immediately. "No human hunting anywhere on the peninsula. If someone leaves to hunt, we know where they're headed and when they return."
Jasper nodded slowly. "I can keep track of departures."
"The pack needs a contact," Sam added. "Someone who will answer when we ask."
"Jacob or me," Leah said. "One of us will always know."
Jacob nodded.
Billy's gaze moved to me. "And if one of them ignores the rules?"
Several answers came to mind.
None were especially diplomatic.
"They leave," Carlisle said.
"And if they refuse?" Sam asked.
"They won't have that option," I said.
Sam studied me.
There were times when explaining myself helped.
This was not one of them.
Jasper's mouth moved slightly, though he hid the reaction before it became a smile.
Carlisle inclined his head. "Then we are agreed. No guest crosses the treaty boundary. No human hunting anywhere on the Olympic Peninsula. Anyone leaving the area to hunt will inform Jasper, and either Jacob or Leah will pass that information to the pack."
"No gifts used on our people without permission," Sam added.
Edythe's expression did not change, but I knew why he had looked toward her.
"That should apply to everyone," I said. "Vampire, hybrid, or shapeshifter."
Sam glanced at Jacob.
Jacob raised both hands. "Don't look at me. My gift is being handsome under pressure."
Leah looked at her brother. "You failed."
"That wasn't directed at you."
"It affected me anyway."
Billy rubbed one hand over his face.
The door opened before Sam could respond.
Jennifer stood in the doorway with a plate in one hand. Toast, eggs, and what looked like the remains of one of Esme's cinnamon rolls sat on it.
She looked around the room. "Am I interrupting?"
"Yes," Jasper said.
"No," Carlisle said at the same time.
Jennifer stepped inside. "That cleared things up."
Joham appeared in the hallway behind her, his attention already sharpening as he took in the people gathered in the office.
Jennifer looked at Sam and Billy. "This is about us being close to your land, isn't it?"
Sam did not soften the answer. "Partly."
"That's fair."
Joham's eyes moved toward her plate. "You are eating again."
Jennifer looked down at it. "That is generally what one does with food."
"It provides little benefit."
"It provides some."
Joham entered the office. "Compared to blood, the nutritional value is negligible."
Billy watched them with an expression that suggested he had not expected to hear vampires discuss breakfast nutrition when he woke up that morning.
Jennifer took another bite of toast.
"I can survive on human food," she told Sam after swallowing. "It isn't my preference, but I don't need to hunt while I'm here."
Joham's mouth tightened slightly. "Survive is not the same as thrive."
"No," Jennifer agreed. "Which is why I want to offer to try the Cullen diet."
That caught everyone's attention.
Even Carlisle looked surprised.
Jennifer glanced toward him. "Animal blood. I'll test it while we're here and keep a record of the effects."
Joham studied her. "You would deliberately weaken yourself to satisfy their fear?"
Jennifer did not flinch.
"I would test an alternative food source under controlled conditions and give you a full account afterward." She smiled faintly. "You're the one who taught me not to dismiss a theory without evidence."
Joham could not argue with his own principles without admitting they only mattered when convenient.
He looked displeased by that.
Jennifer turned back to Sam. "I'm not asking for different rules. I won't cross onto your land without permission, and I won't hunt humans anywhere near here."
"The rules apply to all the visitors," Sam said.
"They should."
Something in Sam's posture eased.
Not much.
Enough.
Her offer did not make the red-eyed vampires in the forest harmless, and it did not erase generations of blood between vampires and the tribe. But it proved at least one of the guests understood why the wolves were uneasy.
A small body rushed down the hallway behind Joham.
"Dad!"
Harry slid to a stop at the office door, his pajama shirt crooked and one sock missing.
Nancy followed at a more controlled pace, carrying the box Charlie had given her beneath one arm.
Leah turned. "I thought you two were upstairs with Renesmee."
"We were," Harry said. "But Uncle Emmett says the game needs an expert."
From farther down the hall, Emmett shouted, "I said I was the expert!"
Jasper closed his eyes briefly.
Nancy looked at him. "He connected it wrong."
"Of course he did," Jasper said.
Harry reached for my hand. "Can you fix it?"
"I'm in a meeting."
His face fell with such immediate disappointment that it should have counted as a supernatural gift.
"I'll help when we finish," Jasper promised.
Harry accepted that from him far more easily than he would have from me.
Joham had gone completely still.
His gaze moved from Harry to Nancy, then to Leah and me.
"Dad," he repeated.
Every protective instinct in my body sharpened.
Joham stepped farther into the room. "These children are yours?"
"Yes."
"Biologically?"
Leah's hand settled on Harry's shoulder.
"Yes," I said again.
Joham's earlier interest in Jacob and Leah had been detached. Academic.
This was different.
His eyes moved over Harry and Nancy as if a locked door had opened in front of him.
"Extraordinary."
Nancy shifted closer to Leah.
Joham noticed the movement, but not the reason for it.
"Were they conceived before or after your physiological alteration?" he asked. "Did the mother carry them naturally? What traits manifested at birth? Blood samples alone could answer several—"
"No."
Joham stopped.
The room became silent.
He looked at me as if I had interrupted a lecture. "You have not heard what I intended to propose."
"I heard enough."
"I would not harm them."
"I didn't say harm."
His brows drew together.
I stepped between him and the children.
"You may ask questions. We will decide whether to answer them. You may observe what they willingly show you. But you will not examine them, take samples from them, or touch either of them without their permission and ours."
Joham looked genuinely offended.
"The opportunity to study an entirely unknown form of life…"
"They are children."
"They are also unprecedented."
"So am I."
His attention shifted to me.
That was better.
"If you need something unprecedented to study, study the warning I'm giving you."
Joham's expression hardened. "You would allow sentiment to obstruct knowledge?"
"Every time that knowledge requires treating my children like specimens, absolutely."
His gaze flicked toward Harry and Nancy again.
I let a small amount of my strength settle into my posture. Nothing dramatic. No shift. No golden eyes.
Just enough to make sure the promise reached him.
"You like experiments, Joham. I have one of my own."
Leah went very still beside me.
Jasper watched Joham instead of me.
"I've wondered whether a vampire can recover after being pounded into particles fine enough to drift away on the wind." I held Joham's gaze. "Touch either of my children without permission, and we can test the question together."
Harry looked up at me.
"Dad, what are particles?"
"Very small pieces," Nancy whispered.
Leah covered Nancy's ears a little too late.
Joham stared at me.
I did not raise my voice.
I did not need to.
Carlisle stood. "There will be no examinations or samples without informed permission from Thomas, Leah, and the children."
Jennifer looked at her father. "He was very clear."
Joham's eyes moved toward her.
She took another bite of toast.
Sam stepped slightly to one side, giving Joham an unobstructed view of the office door.
The message was obvious.
Joham finally inclined his head. "Understood."
I did not believe he had stopped being curious.
But he understood the line.
For now, that was enough.
Harry tugged on my hand. "Can we play the game now?"
Jasper rose from his chair. "I'll fix it."
Emmett called from the living room, "It isn't broken!"
Nancy looked toward the hallway. "He says that a lot."
Jasper nodded gravely. "That is how we know it's broken."
The meeting ended shortly afterward.
Sam and Billy left with the temporary rules to take back to the council and the rest of the pack. Jacob stayed, partly because he lived half his life at the Cullen house now and partly because he wanted to see whether Emmett had damaged Charlie's gift.
Joham withdrew with Carlisle, though his attention returned to Harry and Nancy twice before they disappeared down the hall.
I noticed.
So did Leah.
By the time we reached the living room, the gaming system had been removed from its box and spread across the floor.
Jennifer sat cross-legged beside it with the instruction booklet open across one knee. Jasper knelt opposite her, examining the connections behind the television.
Emmett stood over both of them, offering advice no one had requested.
"You're making this too complicated," he said.
Jasper did not look up. "You put the video cable into the audio port."
"It fit."
"It did not," Jennifer said.
"It almost fit."
"That is usually a warning."
Emmett pointed at Jasper. "He plays games on a computer. This is a console."
Jasper connected a cable. "The principles remain recognizable."
Jennifer checked the diagram in the booklet. "That one is correct."
Emmett looked betrayed. "You two have known each other for ten minutes."
"She has demonstrated competence."
"So have I."
Jasper finally looked at him. "When?"
Harry sat on the floor with a controller in his lap, watching the blank screen with rapidly fading patience.
"Can we play yet?"
"Almost," Jennifer promised.
Nancy sat beside Renesmee on the couch. Renesmee had one of the game cases open and was showing Nancy the pictures on the back.
Jennifer turned a page. "It needs an account before they can use the online features."
"I'll make one," Jasper said. "The children's access will need restrictions."
Emmett stared at him. "You're an officer in an online guild, and you use parental restrictions?"
"For children."
"That feels hypocritical."
"It would only be hypocritical if I were a child."
Emmett reached toward the console.
Jasper caught his wrist without looking away from the television.
"Touch it and you lose the hand."
Jennifer glanced between them. "Is that a normal threat in this family?"
"More of a safety procedure," Jasper said.
"We put them back on after we cool down," Emmett added.
"That does not improve the explanation."
The front door opened.
Seth stepped inside, carrying one of his Mom's casserole dishes.
"Mom said Leah left this at Charlie's, and Sam said the eastern patrol understands the new…"
He saw Jennifer.
The rest of the sentence vanished.
Nothing dramatic happened.
There was no flash of light. No sound. No visible force pulling one toward the other.
Seth simply stopped.
His fingers tightened around the dish before it could fall, but everything else about him went still.
Jennifer looked up from the instruction booklet.
Seth's entire world rearranged itself around her.
I had seen devotion before. I had seen obsession, loyalty, love, and the desperate need to protect.
This was somehow quieter than all of them.
And more complete.
Jacob closed his eyes.
"Oh, come on," Leah muttered.
Sam had already left, which was probably fortunate.
Jennifer looked from Seth to the rest of us. "Is he all right?"
"Physically?" Jacob asked. "Probably not."
Leah elbowed him hard enough to move him half a step.
Seth finally remembered to breathe.
"Hi."
Jennifer's eyebrows rose. "Hi."
He looked like he had forgotten every other word he knew.
Emmett leaned toward Jasper. "Should we restart him?"
"Do not touch him," Leah said.
Jennifer set the instruction booklet beside her now empty plate and stood.
Seth's attention followed every movement, but he did not approach her.
"What happened?" she asked.
No one answered quickly enough.
Her gaze sharpened. "Something happened."
Seth swallowed. "Yes."
"To you?"
"Yes."
"Because you saw me?"
Another pause.
"Yes."
Jennifer folded her arms. She did not look frightened, but the ease had left her face.
"Is this a vampire thing or a wolf thing?"
"Wolf," Jacob said.
"Jacob," Leah warned.
"She asked."
Jennifer looked at Seth. "Does this mean you're going to start following me?"
Seth's face changed immediately.
Concern replaced the stunned wonder.
"Only if you want me to."
That answer made her hesitate.
He continued, finding more of his voice now. "You don't owe me anything. You don't have to like me. You don't have to stay near me. It means I'll be whatever you need me to be, even if that's someone who leaves you alone."
Leah's shoulders relaxed slightly.
Jennifer studied him.
"That sounds impossible."
Seth managed a small smile. "It feels pretty impossible from this side too."
"What is it called?"
"Imprinting," Jacob answered.
Jennifer looked toward him.
Jacob gestured at Seth. "His world just became about you."
Seth winced. "That makes it sound worse than it is."
"It sounds fairly alarming," Jennifer said.
"Yeah," Seth admitted. "It probably does."
She looked toward Leah. "Is he telling the truth? I don't have to do anything?"
Leah nodded. "Nothing. Imprinting gives him a bond. It does not give him ownership."
Jennifer's eyes returned to Seth.
"And if I ask for space?"
"I'll give it to you."
"If I ask questions?"
"I'll answer what I can."
"And if I tell you to stop staring at me?"
Seth looked down immediately.
Jennifer's mouth twitched.
"I didn't tell you to… yet."
He looked back up.
Emmett covered a laugh with one hand.
Jennifer studied Seth for another few seconds, then glanced at the casserole dish still clutched in his hands.
"You can start by putting that down before you break it."
Seth moved so quickly that the dish was safely on the table before she finished speaking.
Jennifer blinked.
Jacob grinned. "You're going to have fun with that."
Leah elbowed him again.
Jennifer looked at the gaming system, then back at Seth.
"Do you know anything about setting these up?"
Seth glanced at Jasper.
"That's the new PS 3, I have the PS 2."
Jasper moved aside, leaving room near the television.
Jennifer sat back down and pointed to the open space beside her.
"Then sit. Someone can explain imprinting while we make sure Emmett didn't destroy this."
"I did not destroy anything," Emmett protested.
The television screen flickered.
Then went black.
Jennifer looked at him.
Jasper looked at him.
Emmett raised both hands. "That could have happened to anyone."
Seth sat beside Jennifer.
Not too close.
Close enough to help when she handed him the next cable.
Leah slipped her hand into mine.
The tribe's concerns had not disappeared. Joham had not stopped seeing mysteries where the rest of us saw people. The Volturi were still coming, and the house remained filled with predators whose promises had to be watched carefully.
But the lines around us had shifted again.
Some had been drawn.
Some had been defended.
And one had vanished the moment Seth walked through the door.