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𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐘𝐄𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐎𝐁 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐑𝐔𝐃𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐒, 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈 𝐏𝐔𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐘𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅. He still held his prejudice. Even my other mates could put aside their anger with Jacob. From what I assumed, vampires and these wolves don't get along and are always on the verge of killing each other. That wouldn't do. I wouldn't let anyone hurt my mates. Wolves and vampires will have to get over themselves if they want to stay on my good side.

I huffed, sitting down on the black couch. Carlisle had invited Jacob over. Bless his soul, kind sort of old vampire man.

Rose pulled me into her chest, glaring daggers at Jacob, who was being given some dinner. Esme still had to make my food, but my stuff was trickier to make. Figuring diversity in my diet has always been a struggle considering all of my allergies. No nuts, no kale (health nuts hate that fact about me but I really can't help it), no passion fruit... Okay so the last one isn't that big of a deal. Not deadly, but seriously uncomfortable.

Yet another smoothie was passed down the line of vampires, to which I gave them my thanks. Keeping me fed may be the bare minimum, but I still appreciated everything they did for me. Most people would expect me to cook for myself.

While I ate I remembered the events of the hour before. One of my mates tried to attack my other mates. If he weren't my mate I would let him get set on fire or something like that. Being this upset about something isn't normal for me. I honestly don't know what to do with myself now that I'm annoyed. For the most part I've tried to push down any negative emotions that plague my mind. Being upset with people isn't in my nature. I try to be the kindest to everyone no matter what they do to me. Yes, I cut people off, but this was the oddest situation possible. Plus, I'd already said I would give him a chance. The feeling of anger at Jacob's actions still made me upset. Upset with him and upset at myself.

Negativity isn't what I need right now. I should be spending my remaining human life having fun, not dwelling on the actions of an upsetting mate. Still, I just couldn't help myself! All of these feelings put me in a bad mood.

"Are you alright my darling?" Esme asked, sitting down next to me. Damn all of these weirdly intuitive vampires. Can't I spend one second wallowing in self pity? You know, being a normal teenager? "If there's something wrong, I can try my best to help. How is your smoothie? Does it taste okay?"

"Yes, the smoothie is amazing." She gave me a look, pressing me for an answer to her first question. I didn't want to worry them. I'd done enough to worry people. "Holidays are coming up, aren't they? Do you vampires celebrate Christmas?"

I heard a little squeal from across the room when I mentioned the holiday. I'm guessing someone likes that idea.

Alice appeared in front of me at once, looking ecstatic. "Come on, we just have to go out to get you a dress! This will be our first Christmas together. We can get gifts and have so much fun!"

To be honest, Mom and I hadn't ever had the money for presents. The most I got were at school when kids would pass around little mints and stuff. I didn't care about the presents, but I knew that if it could make her happy and make a part of the coven I would do it. I would do anything to get closer to my mates. It would give me a good chance at showing off my nonexistent gift giving skills. God there's meaning behind everything they do. Don't I have to do that as well? I don't want to be one upped on Christmas. That would suck.

"How about you take our mate to the mall to get her some new clothes?" Esme suggested. A few of my other mates tipped their heads back to listen to what was going on. "It would be good for you and Rose to get a chance to show her around the shopping mall. You three might have some fun there. Plus, we have to keep up the act. You girls have to do the normal teenage girl things."

Right. The Cullens aren't like normal people, aren't a normal family. Then again, I never liked normal. Damn now this sounds like a teenage romance novel. 'I'm not like other girls'. At least I'm self aware. Wait, would I be the main character?

"That sounds wonderful," Carlisle affirmed, smiling in my direction as he grabbed one of my coats. "How about you bring Jacob as well? The other wolves likely have learned about Jacob's imprint being with vampires, so normalizing relations between our two species will need to happen. I won't deal with conflict, complaining, or prejudice. I'm a doctor, not a therapist."

"Some therapists have doctorates." Carlisle shot Rose a look before sitting down on a table.

"The point is that our mate needs to get out and we need to learn how to deal with the wolf," Alice said happily. "Would Jacob be up to it? I want our mate to be happy. She deserves to be happy during the last few years of her humanity. You know, since she won't be a human for much longer. You'll be able to tolerate that, right? You won't be able to stop her decision, which she's already made."

Jacob simply glared at Alice from across the room, huffing. It was true, I'd already made up my mind about becoming a vampire. I wouldn't leave the Cullens for a simple human life. Well, not simple, I'm constantly about to die. Still, a human life wouldn't be that great for me. Now, life as a vampire sounds interesting. From how everyone had described it I wanted that for myself. To be stronger, to not be deathly.

"Is your human life that awful?" Jacob questioned judgmentally. Alice growled at the wolf.

"Oh, what kind of a life have I lived? Better than most. I wouldn't say that it's bad, but it's limited. I'll always love my life, even with all the hospital visits and needles." Jacob's face flooded with regret. Of course, he had no idea about my condition. It's not like he could get much time with me as a human anyways. Maybe three or four years at most. "It's better that I turn into a vampire, Jacob. I'm hanging on a lifeline and the only chance I have at the moment is Carlisle and his treatment for me. You should know better than to judge people based on whether or not they would become a vampire. Everyone has different goals, different experiences. I don't know what kind of garbage you were fed about vampires but you cannot disrespect them in front of me or in private. Keep that stuff to yourself."

"So I'm just not allowed to say my opinion? What happened to freedom of speech? Vampires are murderers and nothing good comes from their existence." For the first time in my life I felt the urge to slap a man straight in the face. I wanted to knock him out. I wanted him to get the hell away from me if he was going to disrespect my mates like that.

The rest of the Cullens had their eyes on me, watching for what I was going to say back. I'd never shown disrespect towards the people my friends and family cared about. Hell, I've almost never shown disrespect to anyone. Even if someone was the most vile, cruel, and despicable person I'd at least show basic respect. No, I didn't have to agree with them or their lifestyles. Cruelty was uncommon for me, to say the least, even in my thoughts, but this man - this boy - made me want to set the house on fire.

"You lose your right to free speech in this country the second you speak lies and hate. You don't get to just drag vampires in the mud because of some opinion. I told you that you'd have to share, that you'd have to accept the Cullens and treat them with respect. Fucking hell," I swore viciously, making Edward and Carlisle's eyes go wide, "We've done absolutely everything in our power to have you here. Vampires don't like you either but you don't hear them harassing you or trying to steal your imprints away! At least everyone else is trying to get rid of their prejudices about you guys. For all I know, wolves are these annoying animals that try to take your mates away from you! Clearly that can't be all of you but that's all I know!"

Jacob stood up from where he had been sitting on a recliner with his eyes blazing. I'd hit a nerve, but I didn't care. If hitting a nerve would get facts through his head then I would say whatever. Fuck respect, he's done nothing to deserve my love and respect.

"The vampires are doing better than you. Get a grip," I finally seethed. I wouldn't put up with any bullshit from some guy who already threatened to take me away from my mates. Wolf or mate didn't matter, if he couldn't understand that what he's doing is wrong I didn't want him. Rejection sounded terrible but lord was he making me angry. None of the Cullens acted like I was their property, but he sounds like he wants me to think that.

"So you're just going to side with them? Accept people who have killed?" I nodded, knowing my mates' backstories. None of them killed for fun. Some slipped up in the face of blood singers, which is understandable. I would as well if I saw the most tantalizing thing put in front of me. "How can you be so quick to allow that? To want to be immortal?"

"I've never felt human, Jacob! I've never lived a normal human life! As much as I wanted to, I never have! Everything has always been me worrying about dying! No matter how much I wanted to keep my mind off the fact that I'm a goner! I'll die before I reach my 30th birthday!" I was nearly in tears at this point from the anger that burned in my chest. I'm not good at confrontation, but I needed to do this. "You ask how I can accept this, but how can I not. I'm being given a chance at a better life, a happy and eternal life with people who love me. To just reject them for something none of them could control is wrong and cruel, especially when they've been waiting for their souls to be complete for so long. I want to be happy. Why is that such a problem?"

When he gave no response, I had to hold back a tear threatening to slip down my hot cheeks.

Grabbing my coat, I pulled Alice and Rose out of the house, ready to get away from the toxicity that is Jacob's hatred for my mates and vampires as a whole.

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