South bend again. The path holds last night's rain like it doesn't want to let go. Rina walks ahead, silent, jacket zipped up to her chin. We stop where the moss thins out into river stones and the air shifts: cooler, cleaner, with a sharp sweetness at the edge. The vampire scent hangs there, invisible until you're in it.
Rina tips her chin. "On their side," she says. "Hold."
We hold.
A Volvo noses through the trees on the far track, stopping where the brush thins. Two figures step out. The first is careful and formal even at a distance, like manners have weight. The second moves with calm presence.
Edward lifts a hand in a plain hello. Carlisle mirrors it. Neither crosses.
Rina doesn't shift her stance. "You good?" she asks me, low.
"I'm fine," I say. Breathe.
We step to the line, my toes an inch behind a root I've chosen as the rule. Edward reaches speech first.
"Good afternoon," he says. His voice is even, almost old-fashioned. "I'm Edward Cullen. This is my father, Carlisle."
"Hello," I say. Names feel like heavy things out here. "Ana."
Carlisle's smile is small and exact. "Thank you for meeting us at the boundary."
"I didn't move," I say. "You came close."
A quiet beat. Edward's mouth almost smiles at that. "Fair."
He glances at the trees, then back at me. "We're preparing for… company. There may be more traffic on our road this week. We'll keep everyone on our side. No surprises. If anything looks like a surprise to you, we'd like to hear of it."
"Through Sam," I say. "Not me."
"Of course," Carlisle says. "We'll coordinate with him."
My truth-sense hums low. No trick in it. No hunt. Just care that's practiced.
Rina shifts her weight once, a small circle. "Your guests wander," she says, not a question.
"They may try," Carlisle admits. "We'll discourage it."
Edward's head tilts a fraction, like he's listening to a station I can't hear. "Alice says hello," he adds, dry and fond at once, "and also that -her words- 'it fuzzes out around you.'"
"Wolves fuzz her sight," I say. "Standing orders."
"Yes," he says. His eyes are steady, careful. "But it's… sharper with you. Like the center is clear and the edges refuse to be drawn."
I don't know what to do with that. I don't do anything with it. "We'll keep the peace if you do."
"That is our intent," Carlisle says. "No aggression, no provocation. We won't hunt within range of your people." His gaze flicks to the river, then back. "If at any point you feel that peace is threatened, please-" He stops himself from saying call and settles on, "- let Sam know."
The brush whispers. Alice steps into view on their side, small and bright as a match. She doesn't come closer. She wiggles her fingers in a friendly little wave like we're across a street.
"Hi," she says. "Don't worry, I'm not crashing the no-go zone." Her eyes crinkle. "It's like TV static around you. Useful, but rude."
"Sorry," I say.
She laughs. "Don't be. It means my worst habits get checked."
Edward's look says sister, please. She lifts both hands like I know, I know, and rocks back on her heels.
"Your pack has been… steady," Carlisle says, choosing the word with care. "We're grateful."
"Steady keeps blood off the grass," I say.
Edward's gaze reaches my hairline at the flash of white the wolf left there and then returns to my eyes. "You're new," he says, gentle. Not a question.
"Yes."
A beat of river sound. Alice folds her arms, bright dimmed a shade. "Tell Sam from me: the weather's being dramatic the night before the wedding," she says. "Wind, not thunder. That's as clear as it gets when you all stand near the picture."
"I'll pass it," I say.
"Thank you," Carlisle says. He means it. It lands calm.
Rina draws a small line in the dirt with her boot. A mark we don't need. A reminder anyway. "We're done unless you aren't," she says.
Edward nods once. "We're done."
Carlisle inclines his head. "Peace to you."
"And you," I say, because my mother would have liked me to.
They step back first. That matters small manners with big uses. Alice winks like a secret from a book and vanishes into trees without a sound. Edward and Carlisle return to the car. The Volvo ghosts away.
We stay until the sweet bleeds thin from the air. Rina exhales like she'd been holding it for both of us.
"They're polite," she says.
"They're careful," I say.
"Same hat, different heads."
I look at the root I didn't cross. My heart's steady now. The hum under my ribs is low. "They meant what they said," I add. "Today."
"Today's all we need." Rina thumbs the radio. "South bend check complete. Contact at edge, no incident."
Sam's voice returns, even as rain. "Copy."
We walk the line once more, slow. The trees feel taller, like they liked the show of rules. At the last turn, Leah drops from the trail above and falls in step, eyes flicking over our faces, then to the river.
"How'd it go?" she asks.
"Polite," Rina says.
"Brief," I say.
Leah's mouth tips. "Good. I hate long."
We pass back into our own scent and noise. The hall roof shows through the trees like a low ship. Somewhere down the road, a bike coughs and settles. The day chooses gray again.
Cautious respect isn't warm, but it holds. I can live with that.
[
Hello, readers! This fanfic is complete. If you want to read ahead of the public release, you can access my Patreon. Thank you.
link: https://patreon.com/MorpheusGrey
]