One Month Later...

Aria's POV

"This one... definitely this one!" I swallowed down the lump that had formed inside my throat as I stared at my reflection.

"Sweetheart, you look perfect." My mother's warm hands covered my bare upper arms as she looked into the mirror with me.

The dress was pure white, contrasting perfectly with my tanned skin, and as the sun shone in through the boutique's window the faint glow of my skin illuminated the gown. The bodice was completely lace, the skin of my torso slightly visible through the intricate design. The design continued up and across my breasts, winding into thin straps to hold the heavy dress up. From my torso, the lace design flooded downwards into thin streams over the satin, ball gown skirt. The pattern continued around the hemline, the material just about touching the floor.

"Jake is so going to cry." Catori gushed as she looked at me dreamily, her own mind drifting off thinking of herself as a bride one day.

"He better, otherwise he'll have me to deal with." Rose jeered, though there was her usual unserious lightness in her voice.

"Of course he will! Have you seen how he looks at her normally?" My mother cooed as she began to readjust the long curls that hung loose across my shoulders.

Knowing smiles spread across my guests faces as to why Jake looked at me so endearingly, and I with him really. It made my heart melt a little knowing everyone could visibly see the love between Jake and I, even my mom when she didn't know the true magic behind it.

"Okay, I have found the matching veil." Alice announced as she approached my mother and I. She carried the ten foot veil and train in her arms, the veil itself was plain apart from the similar lace pattern that adorned the edges, just like the bottom of the dress.

I internally winced when I sensed my mother's defensiveness at the Cullens being so involved in my wedding planning. My guests with me today consisted of my mother, Catori, Rachel, Scarlett, Esme, Alice, Rosalie, Bella and Aunt Renee; Renesmee was still a secret to the humans — she was currently hiding at Seth's. We decided we would introduce her as a new adoptive Cullen just before the wedding.

Alice was of course a major element to my wedding planning. In what usually takes a year to plan, she had arranged for almost everything to be ready for a June wedding this year.

In true Cullen style there was no budget, it was just spend, spend, spend. As a gift, my adopted siblings had offered to pay for the whole thing. Jake and I objected as first but Alice had already got to work planning. Secretly Jake and I agreed to pay them back in a few decades or so.

The venue was the first task in our minds, but my dad cleared that up easily by offering the yard and house to us. My dad and Joy were exceedingly happy to host the wedding in our back yard, we had more than enough room for the amount of guests Alice planned to invite. I had no idea what she had planned to do or have it look like, it was extremely under wraps deep inside of her mind, and to be honest, I wanted the surprise so I didn't peek.

The cake was of course extravagant. Four huge tiers of vanilla cake covered in teal and coppery orange coloured buttercream with a branch made from wire and fondant icing, also painted copper, wrapping itself around the cake.

Getting Jake's suit was easy, well choosing it was easy. It had to be custom made to fit his height and bulkiness. I had a revelation when I first saw him in that suit; I loved to see him in it but at the same time I wanted to rip it off of him. I had a thing for my man in a suit.

The suit was black, for both Jake and his groomsmen, both would be wearing a dark teal tie and boutonnières of orange roses. The only difference between the suits was that Jake would have a teal waistcoat and the groomsmen wouldn't.

For my bridesmaids, I would have three different types. The adult bridesmaids had a teal, halter neck, chiffon, floor length dress that hugged their figure until their waist and would then flow out elegantly. Renesmee would be the only child bridesmaid so her dress had slight differences to the adult one. Instead of a halter neck it would have straps. For Jake and I's little niece, Aubrey, her dress was a cute little white chiffon dress with a waistband and hemline covered in teal roses.

The flowers scattered around the venue, and the bouquets the bridesmaids and myself would be holding, would all fit in with the orange and teal theme. My bridesmaids would all have small bouquets of tiger lilies, whereas my own was much larger with the same lilies but other orange flowers as well; roses, chrysanthemums, cosmos, tulips and gerbera daisies. Accents on the flowers would be in teal.

Carlisle wanted to be involved in the wedding and seeing as he didn't want to step on my own father's toes, Carlisle gladly took on the role of officiant. We hadn't gone through what he had written for us yet but it was sure to be spectacular.

Wanting to keep with tradition, Jake and I decided to include some rituals that had been a part of our tribe for generations. There was a set of vows called the Rite of Seven Steps, they were many ways of reciting them, each couple would say them differently but Jake and I wanted to incorporate it into our own ceremony.

The second tradition was the wedding vase. Each couple had one created for them before their wedding. First the bride drinks the blessed water, and then the groom, and finally the couple drink together. If there are no spillages it proves the couple are destined to live a long, happy life together.

The most recent wedding task — other than trying to find a dress, which we were doing today — that had been completed was our guest list. Over the years Jake and I had come into contact with a lot of extraordinary people, and planning for them to all happily be in close proximity with each other was going to be a tough job.

Firstly there was Jake and I's immediate families, plus the Cullens. We'd have to throw introducing Renesmee into that somewhere which was going to be tough anyway. Both packs and their families were invited, plus a few of my friends from school — minus Ryan obviously. Then there was the Denali Coven and the other witnesses from the Volturi confrontation... Alice already mentioned the many, many coloured eye contacts that would be on hand for our special guests. Let's hope the few humans in attendance didn't get suspicious.

"What about a tiara?" Mom's hopeful voice burst out. She didn't like the veil.

"Ew, no, Mom." Tori scrunched her nose up in disgust.

"She's right Lils, it just doesn't go." Aunt Renee agreed, gently taking the sparkling tiara out of her sister's hands.

Mom, Scott, Aunt Renee And Phil had travelled up together from Florida. My mother and Aunt Renee met the rest of us here at the boutique in Seattle and the guys continued on to La Push to greet the rest of the families.

I couldn't bring myself to mention Scott, or the way he handled things when I got engaged. Besides, I couldn't mention how much I had heard on the other end of the phone, humans couldn't hear in that much depth. However, I did find it strange Mom's thoughts hadn't gone to her boyfriend once since she'd been here. Surely she would at least worry about how he was getting on with the family? I guess I'd find out tonight when we'd all meet up in Port Angeles for dinner.

"So, have you made your decision?" Amy, the shop assistant assigned to us, asked politely.

"Yes!" Alice declared loudly, my mother side glanced her with a pointed look.

"I know this is the dress I want to get married in. It's perfect." I beamed as I turned away from the assistant to look back at my reflection again.

Jake was so going to cry.

Amy began to prattle on about fittings and when the dress would be ready by, Alice did the math in her head to work out of it fit in with our time frame or not. Leaving Alice to it was the safest thing I could do. I called on Bella to help me out of my dress and she happily obliged.

"I just feel so awkward around her." Bella complained, her voice waving as she watched me step out of my dress without difficulty. She was slumped in one of the small armchairs in the corner of the room, her head in her hands. "I hate being away from Renesmee."

"I know." I huffed as I hooked the dress back up onto the hanger. "I wish she was here, too. And I know how you feel about your mom. They both look at us with the same confused gazes. Their excuses are the same, they think the Cullens' grace and style has rubbed off on us — that we spend too much time with them."

"They can stuff their opinions." Bella burst out a little too loudly, she very rarely lost control of her temper nowadays. Her newborn persona had completely disappeared, I however, still had the short temper and superior speed and strength that went with it.

"Hey, keep it down, they may be human but they're not deaf!" I pointed out as I finished changing.

"Speaking of humans, why has your dad arranged a huge meal? He knows Edward and I don't eat... is he trying to make us suffer?" She wondered as she grabbed the dress from the rail.

"He just wants to watch you squirm." I clarified with an evil smirk and jogged out of the room before she could attack me.

Swiftly after that we made our purchase, booked my first fitting and left just as dusk was settling upon the city. The sky took on a remarkable pink hue as it melted into deep blues and purples. By the time we got to Port Angeles, the black of night had fallen and our group had split into two.

As Bella pulled in to the parking lot of the restaurant, my heart fluttered at the sight of Jake leaning against the side of his truck, clad in dark blue jeans and a muscle hugging black T-shirt, my stomach clenched with need. He had shaved as well, it made him look younger despite his lack of ageing. He looked like the same boy that first imprinted on me all those years ago.

After the car parked up, I flew out of the vehicle — of course with grace and human finesse — and into Jake's awaiting arms. Up on my tiptoes, I buried my face into his neck as we wrapped our arms around each other. "Hey beautiful." I could hear the smile in his voice and it melted me.

I leaned back look up into his gorgeous, deep brown eyes. "Hey, how—" He cut me off with a hasty kiss. Our lips moved together with a soft urgency, it made my toes curl as I longed for more.

"Sorry, I haven't seen you all day and I missed these lips." He admitted lovingly as he ran his thumb over my lips.

"I missed you, too." I breathed with a wide smile plastered across my face. "Now, how was Scott?" At the mention of his name, Jake's mind instantly went back to Scott and Phil's arrival at my dad's house.

Jake's POV

Jesse was an uncontrollable mess. I hadn't seen him this riled up in years, not since when Aria and I first got together and all the mess I had caused before that.

"They're about a mile out." Embry announced as he entered the Hotah's kitchen, pulling a khaki T-shirt over his head.

"Jess, man, relax!" Quil stressed, moving to stand up straight instead of leaning against the kitchen counter.

"I can't!" Jesse protested, spinning on his heel to continued his rhythmic pacing. "Not after seeing Aria's face after that phone call, and not after knowing how he treats my mother!"

"Son, I know this is hard, but you have to give him a chance. For your mother's sake." Rob clapped a hand down over Jesse's shoulder in an effort to reassure him. Jesse wasn't convinced.

"C'mon man, why else do you think Edward is here?" I chimed in, nudging into Edward who was stood beside me, an unamused expression on his face. It was an attempt to lighten the mood.

I caught my own father rolling his eyes at me. "Thank you, Jacob, for making me feel like I was actually wanted here." Edward mocked sarcastically, one eyebrow raised. "Despite the comment, I also want to ensure your mother's safety and wellbeing. I'll be watching and listening to make sure it was a one time issue."

"And if it's not." Jesse challenged, shaking Rob's hand from his shoulder.

"I alert you on his intentions." Edward said honestly, though I hoped he would tell Jesse at the right moment and not when it could all go to shit and we were left with a dead human at the hands of Jesse. "Don't worry about that, Jacob."

"Don't worry about what?!" Jesse demanded, his face turning red with anger and the air began to quiver around him. An outburst like this was expected of my newbies but not my beta of five years.

"That's enough Jesse." My voice was hard and stern, balancing on the brink of the deepness of my alpha command. "We'll be rational when he gets here. If he gives us something to worry about we will, but not yet."

The awkwardness settled uncomfortably around the room as I stared at my few pack members and the other elders. I hardly ever used the alpha command, I only used it on the new recruits when they fell out of line — never on my boys.

Charlie, Sue and Seth came in through the back door then, shifting the tense atmosphere. "What's going on here?" Charlie asked, slightly defensively, his body shifted minutely to the right to stand in front of Sue a little more. For almost five years he had been involved in this life, that still didn't mean he was completely okay with it.

Jesse sighed heavily. "Nothing, Charlie." He was visibly cooling. "Our guests are arriving, let's greet them out the front." Without a second glance he turned and stalked towards the front door before throwing it open.

Shifting gravel announced the strangers' arrival. Phil I had met only once at Bella and Edward's wedding, he was a quiet man, didn't take to me too well. Though, that might have been due to my disappearing act I pulled during the two weeks prior...

In all honesty, I was just as on edge as Jesse. Lily was like a second mother to me growing up, and if someone was hurting her, or controlling her in the way Aria described, I wouldn't be able to just sit there and do nothing. I was trying to be strong for everyone, we couldn't all run out there and attack him, as much as we wanted to.

We filed out onto the porch, there was enough big guys here to intimidate anyone. Jesse stood waiting on the bottom step, his arms folded tightly across his chest. I followed suit, standing beside him ready to introduce myself.

Robert and Joy positioned themselves behind us with Embry and Edward standing either side of them. The rest of the group and family spread themselves along the porch; Charlie, Sue and Seth to the right and Quil, Paul and my father to the left.

The car skidded to an uneasy stop, my guess it was because of the sight of all of us stood here waiting for them. The car was an old, beat up rental in a garish red with blotches of rusted metal across the hood where the paint had worn. It kind of reminded me of my old Rabbit that I fixed up as a kid.

Inside the car sat two men. Instantly I recognised Phil with his bald head and piercing blue eyes. A few lines had set across his forehead and in the corners of his eyes had formed since I had last seen him.

Next to him in the passenger's seat, sat a man with a hard, cold face. His eyes seemed the most intense, they were dark green mirroring the green of the forest surrounding us. The eyes narrowed as he stared and I held back from a defensive snarl. No human had made me feel like this before, he made me feel on edge, like I had to be ready for anything he might do. Even the hairs on the back of my neck seemed to stand up.

Phil exited the car as soon as he switched off the ignition. He made for us with an eager and welcoming smile on his face. Scott, however, sat waiting in the car, taking us all in. "Edward, what's he doing?"

"Like you thought, taking you all in, even me... he's making scenarios in his head about how much force he'd need to take us all down." Edward muttered so low that only sensitive ears could hear.

"What a freak." I heard Paul say from behind us as Jesse stifled a growl.

"Hey, guys, wow it's been so long." Phil's cheerful voice shocked us back into greeting mode. He held his hand out to Jesse first and I just hoped Jesse would receive him well.

Jess tore his eyes away from the smirking psycho in the car too look at his uncle by marriage. "Hi Phil, it's good to see you again." He slapped an unwanted smile on his face and tried to be friendly.

"My I just can't get over the size of you guys." He joked, slapping Jesse's bicep before he moved onto me. "Hey, Jacob." I took his hand welcomingly.

"Hey Phil. Good to have you back." I was polite and sincere, Bella missed having her mom and Phil around despite the awkwardness it now caused. These times were precious to her, we didn't know how much longer we could do this for.

Phil nodded gratefully at me before continuing through the group. Scott decided to make a move then, the smirk still plastered on his face as he got out of the car and stretched in an over the top manner. "Wow, could you guys live any more further into the middle of nowhere?"

Wow, what a great opening line.

"We like to be away from the cities." Jesse announced as he strode down off the last step and across the gravel driveway. He met Scott by the car and towered over him by half a foot at least. Jesse outstretched his hand to Scott and waited for him to take it.

"Seems boring." Scott shrugged, unbothered by Jesse's size as he grabbed Jesse's hand.

"It's less restricting." I could tell from the way the muscles flexed in Jesse's arm he was squeezing Scott's hand as he said it, testing him. Scott tried to keep the smile on his face but the harder Jesse squeezed his façade began to fall away. Robert began to notice this as well and rushed past me towards the two men.

"Scott, nice to meet you." Robert's hand on Jesse's arm was a warning for him to let go, and reluctantly he obliged.

"Ah, the ex. I can see why she left you." Scott burst out, slapping Robert playfully on the chest as he attempted to make his joke. "I'm kidding. You got a nice place." Scott proceeded to walk around Robert and towards the house leaving us all remotely stunned.

I rolled my shoulders and took that as my cue to step forward. No one spoke to one of our elders like that. I stopped Scott in my path and he chuckled as he took me in. "You must be the boyfriend."

"Fiancé." I corrected sternly, and then I leaned down into his ear to let him know how I really felt. "Listen, things work a little differently round here. Robert is one of our elders and he demands respect when you are in our community. Just relax, okay?"

He watched me with his pierced snake eyes, the cocky smirk sat upon his lips depleted into a scowl. He said nothing to me, looked me over once again and then bumped past me to go 'introduce' himself to everyone else.

I watched him carefully as he greeted Edward. He made some joke about how cold Edward's hand was, but from the look on Edward's face I could tell he was confirming that Scott was no good, that he couldn't be trusted. Telling Jesse, Aria and Catori about this wasn't going to be easy.

Aria's POV

"Ari? Ari? Hey!" The voice was a blur as I tried to regain control of my emotions. Though there was no evidence in his mind that he had physically hurt my mother, there was proof he was psychotic and she needed to get away from him. "Aria!" Jake's urgent whisper snapped my out of my thoughts, my jaw ached from how hard I was clenching my teeth.

"Sorry." I said hastily as I let go of him, I realised my grip was a little too tight and was most likely hurting him.

"It's fine. I'm okay." He promised as he stepped closer to me again. "Jesse is just as worked up as you are but we need to get through this meal first before you or Jesse say anything to your mom. Catori doesn't know yet." Jake explained and my stomach dropped. I didn't even want to meet the guy.

I turned away from Jake and scanned the parking lot for my mom and Scott. They were greeting one another next to what I can only assume was their rental car. Mom was wrapped up in his arms, her body seemed off, like she was nervous about being in his arms. Scott's hold on her was possessive and entirely inappropriate. His hands were on her ass and he was kissing her neck and the top of her chest.

"He makes me sick." Jesse spat as he and Scarlett came to stand beside us.

"It's like he's trying to rub it in our faces." Jake seethed as he wrapped an arm around my waist.

"She feels uncomfortable and doesn't like how he's acting." I explained as I listened to her thoughts. "She's scared to tell him to stop..." my voice wavered as I tried to dig around for more information, it was hard to watch.

"Why?" Jesse snarled as he stepped in front of me. "Does be hurt her?"

"I don't know." I blinked away angry tears. "All I can see is him shouting at her." I admitted as I wiped my cheek quickly.

"That's enough for me to kill him." Jesse growled, turning his massive body ready to stomp over to them.

"Jesse, wait." Scarlett rushed forward to stop him. "Speak to your mother in private, they won't admit anything if they're standing together. Trust me." She pleaded, her green eyes sparkling up at him.

"She's right." Catori's voice snuck up on us from behind, clearly she and Embry had been eavesdropping. "We'll talk after dinner."

Eventually the members of our group all made their way into the restaurant, my siblings and our partners were stopped in the foyer to be introduced to Scott. "Girls, I'd like you to introduce you to Scott." Our mother was now beaming ecstatically, hanging onto his arm and giggling like a school girl. Her fear and anxiety from before has completely disappeared.

"Aria, wow, your mother's pictures didn't do you justice." His voice just felt oily and fake, it took everything in me to not repulse away from him. He moved forward for a hug but when his hands got dangerously low, Jake pulled me back into his arms before I could react. "Not one for sharing I see."

"Hey!" Jacob and Jesse bellowed furiously just as Mom cut in and stuck up for her boyfriend. "He's joking of course!"

"You must be Catori." He moved for her as well, and extended for a hug, but Tori beat him to it and stuck her hand out for a handshake.

"I'm not a hugger." She gave him a sickly sweet smile as he chuckled and took her hand.

"Very well. Let us eat." He announced, leading the way through the entrance hall and into the main restaurant.

There were twenty-two of us in total, my father had basically rented out half the restaurant for our gathering. Luckily Jake and Jesse were sat as far away from Scott as possible, the unlucky souls were Phil and Paul, though I guessed Phil was used to him and I knew Paul was more than capable of looking after himself.

Dinner was going smoothly, mostly it was wedding talk, discussing what details we had sorted and what was still left to do. Conversation soon turned to a sore subject for Jacob and his family. Rachel's twin, Rebecca, had been dodging calls, texts and emails from Rachel, Jake and Billy.

After their mother died Rebecca became distant, and then when she had the opportunity to go to college she left and never came back. She never visited over the holidays, never invited the family to go and see her. When she finished college she got married and moved to Hawaii, and since then contact with her had dissolved into once a year if that. She didn't come to Paul and Rachel's wedding, she didn't even congratulate them on the birth of Aubrey.

"That is a shame, Sarah's passing seemed to really hurt her." Mom's sympathy was sincere, she helped a lot after her best friend's death. I knew that Jake could only really remember my mom being around, his memories of his own mother were very few. "Maybe one day she'll come around."

"I'd like to hope so." Billy agreed, he had a sunken look on his face. He missed his daughter, he only hoped she was getting along fine without her family.

"Let's lighten the mood, where will the newlyweds be living?" Mom asked, a bright yet suspicious smile on her face.

"We've nearly finished saving all that we need. For now we'll be staying at Dad and Joy's until then." I explained happily, then proceeded to shovel a large spoonful of chocolate cake into my mouth.

Mom hummed in response, she wanted us closer to her but that just wasn't going to work for us. Not with the pack and having to disappear in a few years or so... I was still struggling to come to terms with that. It had dissolved into the back of mind of these last few years.

Our meal ended quickly after that, and whilst Scott was using the bathroom, I guessed my siblings and I only had five minutes to talk to Mom in the parking lot. "Oh, my babies, we'll be back tomorrow to have a look at your new house Jesse. It's very grown up—"

"Mom, we have to ask you something." Jesse cut her off sharply and her eyes widened. She snuck a glance at the rest of the group who were slowly getting into their cars.

"What?" Mom's expression became one of worry as her gaze flitted between the three of us.

"It's about Scott, is everything okay between the two of you?" Tori asked, taking Mom's hand reassuringly.

"Y-yes. Why would you ask that?" She asked, bewildered. She snatched her hand back from Tori.

"Mom we just have this feeling—" I began but Scott cut me off.

"Feeling? What about?" His voice asked, it was like he knew we knew what he was really like and was taunting us with our mother.

"Nothing, sweetheart." Mom consoled, lacing her arms around his.

"Better hope so. And tell that boyfriend of yours to watch himself." He snapped, pointing a finger right at me.

"Excuse me!" I growled, stepping closer but Jesse caught my arm.

"Let's go Scott, you've had a little too much to drink, it's going to get out of—" Mom tried to take his hand but he shook her off.

"Get off me woman!" He stalked off towards the car, Mom's wide eyes following.

"Class act you got there Mom!" Jesse said sarcastically as he let me go.

"Enough, Jesse." Mom said, her eyes frantic. "I'll see you tomorrow." Without a second glance she trotted off after him, climbing into a car filled with his heavy angry breathing. Renee and Phil were sat in the front seats stunned into silence.

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Hi guys, thank you for the love you're showing for the sequel, I really appreciate it. 💖

After describing the items for the wedding in this chapter I thought I'd add photos to show where I got the inspiration from.

I would also like to thank Alphafyers for helping me finalise ideas for the wedding.