Chapter 53: Ch.53

(Matt Pov)

It's been a week since I helped Jacob and I told him that his journey in his mindscape is something he must do on his own. Not much has changed other than him trying and failing to hunt the other wolf in his mindscape. Today though Alice and I are headed to the airport to pick up my grandparents along with my two cousins who have decided to join them, the twins Astrid and Lucas. Arriving at the airport once again borrowing the jeep from Emmett since it has more room. The four exited the airport seeing us, once again Alice forced me to hold a sign, which said Bear Family and a picture of bears around a campfire. They all chuckled seeing the sign and hugged us both in greeting.

"Matt, you are colder and smell different, what changed?" my grandfather Ivar asked me once we got into the jeep and started to drive to our home.

"I got control over my emotions and with it an increased power, I can basically control ice now like magic," I say to them lying as for now I can't involve them in godly affairs, as Alice is different since she will be my wife soon. I plan on officially purposing soon.

"That is very good, seems the next clan head is going to be a very interesting and strong one," Ivar says with a smile.

The rest of the car ride was Alice telling them all that happened since we last saw them, leaving out Eva's situation since that is for her to tell, and them telling us what has been going on in the clan. Eva, Charlie, Carlisle, Esme, Edward, and Bella are coming later today for dinner to meet them and for Eva to announce her and Charlie's engagement plus soon to be child. Entering the house we introduce them all to the Cullens that are living with us.

"Everyone, these are Alice's siblings," I say as Alice introduces them one by one to my family and they introduce themselves to the Cullens.

"Your grandfather is a big man too, though your cousins are not as big, guess only your immediate family is big," Emmett says after the introductions are over.

"Ha, yeah we of my family have the brown bear in us, though Matt is an exception with his Polar bear blood," Ivar says laughing at Emmett's statement much to the relief of Rosalie.

"I bet I could still kick your ass," Astrid says with some anger in her voice for being called small, though her brother even being a black bear too, still has his father's panda blood in him making him more relaxed.

"Relax Astrid–" Lucas tries to calm his sister down, but Emmett interrupts him.

"Ok, little girl let's see what you got," Emmett says taunting her, much to Rosalie's annoyance but before she can scold him.

"Fine little man let's see who is the better fighter," Astrid says and I just sigh since this seems to be happening regardless if we try to stop them, they will fight later probably.

Bringing them outside to the gym we set up, I bring them to the fighting area where we have all been training the Cullens with Jasper, Alice, or me. It's in the same style as the fighting rings I trained in at the clan in Sweden.

"Ok you two, no severe injuries to each other, try to make this as clean as possible. The first to submit, be knocked, or pushed out of the ring loses," I say sighing as we all go outside to watch this fight.

"Wait, before they fight let's make bets," Jasper says as his gambling side starts to show, since, he, Emmett, and I have bets going on about the Victoria situation. The bets are how many people she will turn, how many people will die, and when she will attack.

"Fine, alright everyone bet on who will win, we are not going to get crazy with the bets," I say before Jasper can come up with a convoluted bet like how one will lose, when they will lose, etc. With the bets in place and with mine on Astrid winning.

"Wait can she shift? I want to know before I bet," Alice asks us as she is thinking about the bet, I thought she could, but we all turn to the two who want to fight.

"I can beat this muscle head without shifting," Astrid says smirking and Emmett just shrugs.

"She can shift if she wants either way I'm gonna win," Emmett says.

"So yes or no to shifting?" Rosalie asks now also.

"Uhhh, no shifting clean fight. Shifting might make her accidentally severely injure him," Ivar says since this is supposed to be a fair fight and thinking on it I guess he is right.

'Shit she is gonna lose, can't take my bet back now,' I think to myself as I have been training everyone on how to fight like my clan, alongside Jasper showing us how he was trained. With that everyone finishes their bets, the clan members betting on Astrid and Cullens betting on Emmett.

"Well now that the bets are done, let the fight begin!" I say initiating the fight.

After hearing the start, Astrid rushes Emmett, and being smaller than him is just slightly more dexterous than him. Slipping under his right hook she grabs his belt and picks him up to slam him on the ground like we were taught in the clan. Emmett having been trained somewhat on the clan's fighting style, digs into the ground and grabs the waist of her jeans. Emmett is stronger than her in pure strength which she now sees as he begins to push her to the edge of the ring as she struggles to break his grip. The anger filling her she headbutts Emmett's nose, breaking it and making him release her surprised from the move. He grabs his nose in surprise that she broke it, taking this moment Astrid rush past him, kicking him in the back of the knees. As he falls to the ground from the kicks Astrid grabs his arms trying to restrain him by bear hugging him from behind.

On his knees and being grappled from behind, Emmett struggles to force himself on his feet. Seeing he is slowly beginning to regain his composure, Astrid releases him and kicks him in the back quickly making distance between them. Emmett stumbles from the kick but quickly regains his composure and turns to Astrid who is eyeing him carefully. They are now both taking this fight seriously after testing one another's strengths and weaknesses. Emmett then rushes her, as Astrid slips and ducks between his punches and kicks. Seems she found her opening after a barrage of punches and kicks, as she sidesteps another kick from him, Astrid takes the split second opening to land a haymaker on Emmett's head. The power behind it makes Emmett stumble back and we all hear the audible crack from the punch. Using his stunned moment she rushes him and begins her assault of punches on his head and body. Emmett just uses his arms to block the punches assaulting him but many slip his defenses hammering into him.

The fight goes on for another hour with Emmett barely landing any punches or kicks since Astrid is more dexterous than him and seems to have kept up with her training. As we are watching this slow battle of attrition I sense everyone else who was coming over today is starting to show up. They all seemed to arrive together coincidentally and everyone except Bella and Charlie heard us in the back cheering on the fight. As they all walk to the back they can see a bruised up Astrid from the few hits that Emmett landed and a pissed off Emmett.

"What the fuck is going on here? You guys having cock fighting without us?" Eva asks seeing this brawl and Charlie just chuckles at her statement. The Cullens look confused about the situation and so too does Bella.

"You all are too late to place any bets, but upon first meeting, no surprise there, Emmett and Astrid got into a verbal fight. Then they decided to take it outside," I say informing them and they all nod understanding the situation. Though Carlisle and Esme both sigh at the situation. Though Edward seems to enjoy seeing Emmett get beat on.

"Fuck, we should've gotten here sooner so I could have placed my bets," Eva says stepping up and watching the fight after greeting her parents. Charlie just sighs but follows next to her and her parents just stare at him.

"Nice to meet you both I'm Charlie Swan, Matt's uncle, and Eva's fiancé," Charlie introduces himself to my grandparents. My grandmother smiles at him happy Eva finally met her mate, but my grandfather just glares at him and grunts in response to his introduction.

"Ignore my husband, I'm Ingegärd and this is Ivar, it is nice to finally meet you. Eva has told us much about you, though we would love to get to know you more in person," my grandmother Ingegärd says to Charlie and patting his hand smiling at him. Though Ivar just ignores him for now focusing back on the fight.

"Of course…..uh, you are more than welcome to come to my house and we can have dinner together at some point you are down here," Charlie says to Ingegärd and gives an awkward smile since Ivar is ignoring him and Eva is cheering on the fight alongside everyone else.

Turning back to the fight I can see the wear on Astrid is finally showing as Emmett has landed a few more hits, making her slow down and tire more quickly. Black bears are not known for their endurance but for their agility, as Astrid has shown in this fight. Then again if she shifted she could have won this fight eventually I feel, but as this is not a deadly fight, but a somewhat friendly spar she lost since her opponent does not tire and is stronger than your average vampire. Landing another blow on Astrid's stomach she falls to her knees in pain and struggles to get up, but does not seem to want to submit, black bears are very stubborn too, well all of us bears are really. Seeing she won't surrender, Emmett grabs her by the waist and she struggles as much as she can, but is ultimately thrown out of the ring, losing the fight. Lying on the ground breathing hard Astrid seems angry with herself for losing.

"Good fight, though without shifting you were gonna lose this fight eventually," Emmett says in good spirit and offers his hand to her, to help her up. Astrid just stares at him still upset, but then takes his hand sighing.

"Maybe, but I never fought a vampire before, either way, you are a good warrior. I assume Matt taught you our clan's fighting style since you seemed to understand my style in the beginning," Astrid says after standing up and smiling even after losing the fight. Though now Jasper is giving out the winnings to those who bet on Emmett.

"Seeing a fight like that has my blood pumping! Too bad I can't fight for a while now," Eva says to Charlie having forgotten that she still hasn't told her parents she is pregnant.

"And why is that?" Ivar says hearing what Eva said, which makes her snap back to them and have a red face embarrassed. Seems she wanted to tell them a different way but messed up.

"I'm pregnant!" Eva says though happy and Charlie looks like he wants to hide, as Ivar had a surprised look on his face but immediately gives a deadly glare at Charlie a second later. Ingegärd seems ecstatic as she hugs both Charlie and Eva congratulating them.

"Since that is out of the bag, might as well drop other bombs too. Farfar, we have to meet with the elders of the wolf clan that lives here. I have made an official alliance with them, but they wish to meet the current clan head also. Plus we might be going to war with an army of vampires at any moment," I say and now Ivar is staring at me in surprise and then annoyance as he sighs rubbing his forehead.

"Fuck yes! So glad I came! I get to fight in a huge battle!" Astrid says seeming excited about the idea of a battle and Lucas seems a little excited also.