Chapter Eight, Epilogue

In the months leading from the Cullen coven dismantling from within, Emmett and Rosalie along with Peter and Char had joined the Amazon coven, while Gwen joined the Volturi coven and found her true mate within Marcus Volturi. The pair were more suited for each other than anyone realised, both had suffered the pain of their mate leaving in one way or the other.

For Marcus, he suffered the pain of his mate-bond breaking down when the Romanian coven killed his beloved Didyme - Aro's younger twin sister - during their rebellion almost a millennium ago. It was the start of Aro's need for power, so no one else within their coven would suffer the pain he and Marcus felt. For Caius, it was the start of his cold and sadistic nature as he'd lost a sister who would always challenge him intellectually and sparring partner. But for Marcus, who had the gift of seeing bonds between people, it was the start of his lacklustre for life as he wished for the warm embrace of his mate in the afterlife and the peaceful silence of death; the hat was until he met Gwen once more.

However, for Gwen, she lost her mate - Alice - due to her (Alice's) selfish and self-centred ways. Not once did Alice ever truly care for Gwen - not really - no, all Alice cared about was herself and controlling everyone and everything around her, especially within the coven. Alice, like Edward, believed they were always in the right and could do no wrong due to what they believed was their superior gifts.

It didn't help that both the Seer and mind-reader could do no wrong in the eyes of Esme and Carlisle; which led to the self-destruction of the coven. As slowly but surely both Alice and Edward started taking control from Esme and Carlisle without their noticing, until the day came where Jasper left the coven to join his mate's coven; which the pair didn't like as they couldn't control him anymore, and the fracture that appeared that day grew and grew until it was a gaping chasm causing these bonds of the coven and the mate-bond between Alice and Gwen to become torn apart.

But back to the Amazon coven. Much like with Jasper, Senna right Rosalie and Emmett to hunt the humans and which ones they go after and who NOT to go after - like the tribe and their customers. She also taught them how to use their gifts while hunting and how to safely use them, now that they - more Emmett than Rosalie - had better control over his gifts now that he was on the correct diet. And they were much happier for it.

***

In the months leading up to the birth, the new coven members bonded well with Aiyana and her aunts, they became a family, like how the Cullen coven should've been, and they all - including Jasper and Aiyana's three aunts - became increasingly protective of Aiyana. Jasper even brought back blood for Aiyana not waiting to endanger her or their children, despite that he knew she could fully protect herself as she was an extremely skilled fighter and that's without her gift (Photo-Umbrakinesis) which allows her to use light and shadows as she wishes, and she can even turn them into weapons; much like she did the very first day she met Jasper, Peter and Char.

As a surprise for Aiyana and Jasper, Rosalie and Char decorated the nurseries for them (after they had work done on the house to extend the property for all of them). Rosalie just loved bonding with Aiyana and Char who were like sisters to the blonde vampire. Whereas, Aiyana's aunts he'd become aunts to everyone, in other words they had all become very close with tight familial bonds; Rosalie and Emmett had even fixed their bond with Jasper when they proved to him there was nothing like the Cullens. As part of that proof they had forsaken the Cullen name and had taken up Emmett's actual surname 'McCarthy' instead. Something that Rosalie loved being able to claim as it was her marital name and she no longer had to hide it.

Despite all the work done on the house to incorporate the four new members - Peter and Char and Emmett and Rosalie - and the babies that will soon be joining them in a months time, the house still held the warmth and cosy feel to it that Orenda - Aiyana's mother - had originally designed. Instead of the small but cosy, wooden two storey cabin their house used to be, it was now spacious with more than enough room for all of them.

The house was still hidden amongst the trees within the Forest but it was now four stories and built out of stones they'd gathered from the forest and nearby quarry? The only wood they'd used had been reused from the old house, duck as for the railings and bannisters mainly unless used for the walls and flooring. The house had multiple balconies, with armchairs, coffee tables and swing seats where they could sit outside and watch the sunrise or sunset. Outside surrounding the house they'd installed a large pond framed beautifully by rocks and brightly coloured flowers, as well as multiple flower gardens to helped the wolf life of the forest in which they lived and a fire pit in the back-garden surrounded by stone benches and wooden deck chairs, for when their hosted the tribe meetings of even coven meetings.

On the first or ground floor there were two large living rooms that were cosy with exposed beams, cream walls, stone fireplaces, large windows, and neutral coloured armchairs and sofas. There was only one difference between the pair, which was the flat screen mounted on the wall next to the slate stone fireplace and the other difference was that the second living room held a curving wooden staircase leading to the floor above, located behind the sofas on the opposite side of the room opposite the cobblestone fireplace.

The other rooms located on this floor were a coat closet by the door, a pantry that held all the human food for Aiyana and the babies (when they arrived), a second cooler pantry that held human blood in blood bags or bottles, a utility room, a two-storey library that Aiyana could he found hidden away on the window seat absorbed in whatever book she was reading, and an open plan kitchen/dining room.

Much like the rest of the house the kitchen-dining room was bright and light with lots of large windows, wooden beams that were exposed, and laminate wooden floor and ceiling. It was designed beautifully that the darker wood from the kitchen bled into the smaller, lighter wood of the dining room seamlessly without looking odd or out of place. There was a multitude of wooden oak sideboards with granite marble countertops, large square lights hanging from the ceiling, and a large rectangular table in the dining room along with top of the range equipment.

The library had dark mahogany beams, turquoise walls, large windows, a curling mahogany staircase, oak flooring and matching floor to ceiling mahogany bookcases that held a multitude of books (most of which Aiyana had brought from the bookstore she worked at). There was a dark desk beneath one window near the staircase, black leather armchairs in front of the stone fireplace with a plush turquoise ring beneath the dark coffee table and a cosy window seat beneath one of the windows near the fireplace. It was cosy and homey, and Aiyana loved it which made her family love it, just happy that she was happy.

Now, the next two floors consisted of mostly large bedrooms with their own en-suites and walk-in closets (including the two nurseries and spare rooms), apart from one room on the second floor next to the top half of the library that had been turned into a playroom for the twins, and a large room on the third floor which was actually an in-home gym where they could workout any frustrations. Complete with a hot-tub in the second part of the room or more accurately on the balcony. 

At the very top of the house on the fourth floor was only one room which was Senna's room as she liked being up high it was made mostly of windows; especially around her bed so she could look at the gorgeous views. However, like in each bedroom her room was complete with a large circular swing seat hanging from the ceiling, while in the en-suite there was a large shower with the shower head on the ceiling and a large oval shaped bath facing the windows.

On the third floor on the left side was Aiyana and Jasper's room that was designed in soft calming greys with a Queen-sized bed with fairy lights strung on the wall above the bed, two sofas on either side of the room with a coffee table between them and a grey circular swing chair that was in every bedroom. On the opposite end of the hallway were the twins' nurseries which Rosalie, Char and Aiyana's three aunts and grandma had designed for her and Jasper.

They were designed in an identical woodland theme in a grey, brown, white and cream colours scheme. The only difference between the two nurseries were the signs on the walls in each room, one depicting 'Little Man Cave' in brown wood slats and another in a bold black design on the wall above the cot that said, 'Kai'. In the other nursery, much like her brothers there was a white sign depicting, 'Little Lady', and another in a white design above the cot that read, 'Tallulah'.

Oh the floor brown just beneath the twins' bedrooms was Char and Peter's bedroom. It had a balcony overlooking the forest, the walls were made of redwood with a dark cream carpet. A large kings sized bed sat in the middle of the room in chocolate coloured bed covers, with a grey blanket over the bottom half of the bed. Like every bedroom, there was a large walk-in closet shared by the couple, a large bathroom with a large oval shaped bath and large walk-in shower in the corner designed from red oak flooring, two windows and black tiled walls. However, near the bath were beige walls, exposed brick walls, red oak flooring, house plants and large windows that can be covered with chocolate curtains creating an inviting, warm and cosy feel; the other difference to the rest of the bedrooms were the mahogany bedside tables that matched the frame of the sliding glass door leading out onto the balcony.

At the other side of the hallway was Zafrinas bedroom that protruded out a little and looked more like a greenhouse than a bedroom with its glass walls and ceiling and the multitude of different plants trailing up the walls and across the ceiling. What was left of the walls were exposed brick painted white, matching the bedroom door, giving the room the illusion that it was much bigger than it was. White and grey furniture were placed strategically around the room, leaving a double bed in the middle of room resting against the west facing glass wall and the swing seat facing the south glass wall overlooking the forest.

The bedroom next door to Zafrina and below Jasper and Aiyana's belonged to the eldest sister and coven leader, Kachiri. Kachiri's room, unlike the others, had a natural minimalist feel to it. The walls were made of lint with grey slate flooring. Tree stumps were used as bedside tables, a wall was completely made of glass with her double bed decorated in grey and rust colours. It was simple but Kachiri loved it.

Finally, was Rosalie and Emmett's room just down the hall from Kachiri, and was in between the coven leader's room and the spare room that resides next to the platform. Rosalie and Emmett's room was elegant with its alternating cream and grey stone walls. Ok the middle of the room sat their bed that was swamped in red and cream cushions. Opposite the bed was a stone fireplace next to the doors to the balcony. On the other side of the room was the large swing seat facing the large windows that Rosalie and Emmett often curled up in, and the doors leading to an en-suite and closet that were identical in design to the other.

When Aiyana finally saw the house after its completion (she had been staying with her grandparents during the building process) she couldn't believe her eyes. It was stunning, but what made her smile wider was that it wasn't completely new, but was in fact still her mother's house; it had just been expanded.
"I love it!" Aiyana exclaimed happily, hugging her aunts and her new best friends and brothers and sisters - Emmett and Peter, and Rosalie and Char - in all but blood. She loved Emmett's and Peter's carefree and goofy sides while still being overprotective, and she loved Rosalie and Char's loving and fierce protective nature.

"I'm glad." Rosalie beamed, hugging the young girl. "How about -" she started to ask, only to pause and let out a  gasp when Aiyana let out a pain filled gasp as she doubled over clutching her stomach.
"What's wrong?" Char asked frantically, before she shouted for Aiyana's aunts to come quick. The three men had gone hunting not that long ago.
"I think the twins are coming." Aiyana gasped in pain, noticing the water trickling down her legs.

In a matter of seconds a flurry of activity took place. Char and Senna darted off into the Forest to find the wayward men, Kachiri took off to the bookstore to get her mother who was not only a healer, but she had promised her only grandchild she would be there; leaving Rosalie and Zafrina to get Aiyana situated in her and jaspers bedroom and make her as comfortable as they possibly could. Hoping everyone would arrive quickly.

In just under five minutes everyone had returned to the house feeling rather frantic and Jasper was in no state to block anyone out or calm anyone down as his own emotions were going haywire.
"OUT! All of you, out!" Halona ordered, pushing the three men out of the room with a fierce scowl. "We will get you when it's time. Now, OUT!"
"But...." Jasper protested, wanting to be there for his wife.
"No." Halona said firmly. "I'm sorry Jasper, but you three are fretting worse than everyone put together, I understand of course I do, but it won't be helpful to Aiyana right now. Go and calm down, and wait with Chaske." She said softly but still girl in her decision before she closed and locked the bedroom door.

And so it started. Time seemed to drag by spelt for the four men waiting downstairs in the living room. None of them spoke to each other as they waited anxiously for news, pacing backwards and forwards for hours on end. Just as Emmett was about to lose his patience as he was never much good at that to begin with, they heard the shrill cry of a newborn causing them to let out a breath of relief only slightly and twenty minutes later another shrill cry wrenched the air causing them to run up stairs to wait outside of the bedroom. They didn't have to wait much longer as five minutes after arriving outside of Jasper and Aiyana's bedroom the door opened to reveal a smiling Halona.
"All three of them are just fine." She assured them, causing the tension to visibly bleed out of the four men. "They even have gifts of their own." She announced, stepping back and opening the door wider so they could enter.

Jasper nodded with a relieved smile before darting towards the bed where a tired Aiyana sat propped up against the cushions holding two precious bundles, one wrapped in blue and the other in pink. Dropping to his knees beside the bed, Jasper placed a tender loving kiss on Aiyana's forehead.
"Are you alright darlin'?" Jasper asked, assessing her with his eyes.
"Tired but otherwise perfectly alright." Aiyana assured. "Now meet your children. This is Kai, our son and our oldest." Gently handing him the tiny bundle wrapped in blue who looked like Jasper but with his mother's colouring. "And this is our youngest and our daughter, Tallulah." Aiyana smiled, showing him their sleeping daughter who looked so much like her mother but with Jasper's eyes (Rosalie told him) and a lighter hair colour than her brother's that was a mix of both Jasper and Aiyana.

"They're perfect. I love you, Uwoduhi." Jasper declared lovingly, kissing his wife tenderly on the lips.
"And I love you, my Adageyudi." Aiyana whispered reverently.
"So what are my niece and nephew's powers?" Emmett asked eagerly, bouncing on the spot in anticipation only to revive a slap around the head from Rosalie for ruining the moment. "What? I'm eager to know and I'm excited. Plus I have a bet on what they'd get with Peter." Emmett asked, bewildered, causing everyone to laugh and shake their heads at the pair of childish men.
"Kai has energy manipulation and Tallulah has Telekinesis." Kachiri revealed.
"Damn it!" Peter, Emmett and Chaske grumbled half-heartedly, passing money over to a smug looking Senna and Zafrina.

All Jasper could do was laugh and shake his head as he sat on the bed beside his tired wife wrapping an arm around her shoulders as she rested against him after a tiring ordeal.
"Rest darling I have you." Jasper whispered, kissing her head, a smile on his lips as he felt truly at peace as there were finally no threats to his family. It wasn't for the first time since he met his wife that he was left blissfully stunned at all she had given him, and now as he looked at his sleeping wife and children in his arms and his quietly arguing family at the other end of his bedroom he could say with absolute certainty that he was glad for all the trials he's travelled through since being forced to become a vampire as it had led him here to this moment. To his family. To his wife who was a miracle unto herself, and to the miracles that were their children. And he and Major fully agreed they would never want to be anywhere else.

The End!