章節 54: Ch.54

(Matt Pov)

After the fight, we all went inside to have dinner, though the entire time Ivar either ignored Charlie or gave him a pissed off glare. Carlisle and Ivar got along well since Ivar was being cordial or nice to everyone else. After dinner, Ingegärd promised Eva and Charlie that they would come and have dinner with them to get to know Charlie better, much to Ivar's annoyance. Then everyone left other than my grandparents and cousins who would be staying with us as long as they stayed in the US. Giving a call to Billy after dinner, to tell him that my grandfather was here and if we can come tomorrow for the official visit. Which now my grandfather and I have to do tomorrow, then I promised I would show my family around the town of Forks.

As the next day came, Ivar and I were about to head over to the Quileute, my family wanted to come and see it also. Giving a quick call to Billy asking if my other clan members could come and see the village that has other shifters, which he said was fine. Unfortunately, that means I had to borrow Emmett's jeep again to pack everyone inside, as we headed over to the Quileute. Once we arrived at the Quileute tribe, everyone but my grandmother who was not a shifter scrunched up their nose in discust.

"Fuck, I can tell these are wolves. Is there a place they don't piss?" Astrid says annoyed by the smell of the wolves marking their territory.

"Nope, though you'll get used to it once you are here long enough," I say laughing as the first couple times I came here the smell made me want to vomit too but got used to it after some time.

Pulling up to Billy's house once again I see him in his usual spot on the porch smoking his pipe and drinking coffee. Seeing me he smiles and waves at us.

"Hey Billy, how've you been? And is Jacob here?" I ask Billy after jumping out of the jeep.

"Same old, same old. Jacob is out on patrol and will be back in a few hours," Billy says to me still smiling.

"Billy this is my grandparents and cousins, Ivar and Ingegärd, Astrid and Lucas. Everyone this is Billy Black, one of the elders of the Quileute and father of one of my closest friends," I say to them, and they all nod in greeting to Billy.

"Nice to meet you all and welcome to the Quileute tribe. Ivar and Ingegärd I'll call the other elders to let them know you're both here now and then show you both to the meeting hall. In the meantime, Matt want to show your cousins around the village and I'll call you if we need you at the meeting too," Billy says to us.

"Sure, do you know if Leah is around?" I ask Billy.

"She should be at her house, you gonna ask her to help show everyone around?" Billy says to me.

"That's the idea," I say to him, then wave goodbye to Billy and my grandparents as I lead my family to Leah's house.

Walking through the paths in the forest that surrounds the village, we eventually arrive at Leah's house. Knocking on her door Leah's mother Sue answers the door, since Harry died this past summer, while I was in Sweden, Leah and Sue have been depressed since. Both not really talking to anyone or going out as much as they used to, so I am hoping to hang out with Leah today and possibly cheer her up. Seeing me Sue smiles with some strain and sees the rest of my family which confuses her.

"Hey, Mrs.Clearwater. Is Leah there? I was wondering if she wanted to help me show my cousins around the village while my grandparents are meeting with the elders. These are my cousins Astrid and Lucas," I say to Sue.

"Nice to meet you both, Leah is inside, though I'm not sure she'll want to do anything today. You can come in and try asking her yourself," Sue says to me and I can see Sue has gotten better as much as she can for both herself and her daughter's sake.

"I'll give it a shot," I say as we enter their house, Sue is talking with my cousins about the village and asking them about our clan. Walking over to Leah's door and I knock hearing a response before I can say anything.

"Mom, I'm fine. I just want to be left alone today," Leah says with a tired sigh.

"Hey Leah, it's Matt–" I say, and before I can say anything else her door opens up and I see Leah staring at me surprised.

"Matt! I heard you came back, but you never visited what's up with that?!" Leah asks me and seems surprised but annoyed with me at the same time.

"Sorry I was busy with all sorts of crap, though that's no real excuse. I should've come to see you sooner as your friend, but I know what's it like to lose your parents. I figured you just needed some alone time," I say to her and she seems saddened at the thought of her father, but remembers I lost both my parents years ago.

"Yeah, was rough in the beginning. Still hurts and I miss him so much," Leah says sad and on the verge of tears. I just give her a hug and she cries somewhat silently in my hug.

"I know this isn't really helpful, but for me, distraction helps with dealing with sad thoughts. Not really a permanent fix but makes it more liveable. I was coming here to see how you were doing and to see if you wanted to hang out with me and help show my cousins around the village," I say to Leah after letting her cry for a bit in my arms and waiting until she calmed down a bit.

"Sure....just let me get ready real quick," Leah says breaking the hug and wiping the tears from her face, but still has a look of pain on her face.

Heading back to the kitchen I can hear Astrid telling Sue about our clan and what it is like there. Sue listened intensely and chimed in with how certain things are similar here. Seeing me Sue and everyone stops talking, looking at me curious about how things went.

"She'll be down in a bit," I say to them, and they all nod. After waiting for about ten minutes Leah comes downstairs and we all head out of the house saying goodbye to Sue.

"Leah, this is Astrid and Lucas. They are shifters like me. Guys this is Leah a friend of mine and Bella," I say to everyone and they greet each other.

With this Leah and I show my cousins around the village, introducing them to everyone pretty much. Then after a few hours of showing them around, I text Jacob to meet me at the falls, while taking everyone there. Once we arrive at the falls, Astrid and Lucas seem impressed with the beauty of the place.

"So why are we here again?" Leah asks me once get there.

"I told Jacob to me us here, plus these two are adrenaline junkies so I figured they might want to cliff dive," I say as both Astrid and Lucas get excited at the idea.

"You can cliff dive in this place?" Lucas asks me excited and I just chuckle and nod.

"Watch," I say taking my shirt and shorts off only wearing my boxers, though I can see Leah looking at me with lust, seeing me see, she then looks away with a blush in embarrassment. Without further a do I jump off the cliff, which is maybe sixty or seventy feet high from the water.

The rush of jumping off a cliff isn't much for me anymore, considering that in my real form I'm taller than this cliff. Then I swim a few feet away after jumping off, and without waiting too much longer I see Lucas following right after me in his boxers too. After Lucas is Astrid and then as we all are treading water looking up at Leah who is contemplating whether or not to jump.

"You don't have to if you don't want to!" I shout seeing her hesitate and not wanting to peer pressure her. Though that seemed to make her want to jump now, as she strips to her underwear and jumps off. After landing in the water she swims up to the surface and laughs along with us at the excitement from jumping.

Swimming to the shore, we all then start to head back up the cliff to either jump again or grab our things. Walking up the cliff again I smell and hear Jacob approaching the area. Then as we reach the cliff Jacob jogs over to us and is surprised to see Leah outside but smiles at her happy she decided to get out.

"Matt, what's up? Leah happy to see you also," Jacob says giving me a bro hug as I finish putting my shorts on. Then gives Leah a happy smile and she just nods her head in greeting.

"Jacob, my grandparents are here and meeting with the elders. These are my–" I start to say to him until I see a look on his face that resembles the looks people get when they see their mate. Turning I see Astrid put her jeans back on but is staring at Jacob with her shirt in her arms, also in a similar trance.

'Fuck! Does that mean my plans on turning Bella before she goes on a honeymoon with Edward altered his mate? Since now the possibility of Bella having a child is gone if my plan works?' I think to myself seeing the mate bond form between them and Lucas smirks seeing what's happening.

Leah is confused, as she knows about the wolves since her father was an elder also. But doesn't know all the details, like the mate bonds. Like the good brother, he is Lucas decided to mess with Astrid, while I'm contemplating if the knowledge I possess for the future might be slightly different now. While I knew that was a possibility my plans still centered the plot for the most part.

"If you two need a more private area, we can leave and let you two get to 'know each other better'," Lucas says smirking and being very suggestive with the phrase of getting to know each other. Though hearing him snaps back Astrid to reality and she punches his shoulder embarrassed and annoyed with him. Jacob just has his jaw dropped and looks at me, since the conversation we had about mates seems to come back to his mind.

"Is there something I'm missing?" Leah asks since she is still confused.

"Yeah, you know the stories about the wolves, well once a shifter sees their soulmate they bond with them. Meaning they become connected in a way, with their feeling for one another. Kinda hard to explain without experiencing it for yourself, but the best example is the fairytale stories of 'love at first sight'," I say to Leah and she seems to nod her head in understanding. Then looks at me with a sad look, guessing she had a crush on me, and realized now that I'll only have feelings for Alice.

"Well, Jacob, these are my cousins and shifters like me. This is Lucas and his twin sister Astrid," I say introducing them to each other. Lucas is rubbing his arm where Astrid punched him, while Astrid and Jacob go back to staring at one another. Breaking the silent atmosphere I get a phone call. Seeing that it is Billy saying we all can head back to the meeting since the elders want to see me and might as well meet other members of our clan.

"We have to head to the meeting hall, the elders want to meet us officially. Can you lead us there?" I say to everyone and turn to Leah asking her. She nods her head and motions to follow her.

"This is gonna be a fun meeting," Lucas says laughing as Jacob and Astrid are still trying to deal with the mate bond formed between them.