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Alice stood motionless, her gaze fixed on Nate.
The deep blue she remembered in his eyes was gone, replaced by a glowing red that burned like embers in the shadows. It wasn't the gleam of a newly turned vampire struggling to contain his thirst; there was something deeper in his stare—a dark weight that seemed to anchor him to a silent pain.
His figure was imposing. Tall, broad-shouldered, and with defined muscles, Nate seemed to occupy more space than he truly had. The dim light filtering through the rusted cracks in the structure slid across his pale skin, highlighting the sharp lines of his face and the hardness in his jaw. There was no hesitation in his stance—he was a predator surveying the terrain, fully aware of his strength.
Alice took a step toward him. Then another. The faint echo of her movements blended with the muffled murmur of the wind slipping between the metal walls.
Jasper moved quickly, stepping to her side. His cold, firm hand closed around her forearm.
"Wait…" he murmured, his voice deep and low, just for her. "His emotions are too unstable."
Nate's eyes narrowed at the sight of Jasper's touch. It was barely a change in his expression, yet the air in the room seemed to thicken. There was no sudden move, but the latent threat became sharper, as if the calm around him was a mask that could shatter at any second.
Alice turned her head toward Jasper. Her face was a mix of irritation and determination.
"He won't hurt me," she stated with unshakable certainty.
She brushed off his hand with a decisive motion and kept walking, her eyes locked on Nate.
The Cullens watched in silence, each reacting differently. Carlisle and Esme looked at him with a mixture of sadness and compassion, as if they could see beyond the vampire he had become and remembered all that he had lost along with his humanity. Rosalie and Jasper remained cautious, their watchful eyes ready for the slightest sign of aggression. Emmett, however, frowned slightly; there was something oddly familiar about Nate's presence. It was like that primal instinct from his human days, when he had once come face-to-face with a bear in the woods—that cold certainty that you were standing before something that could kill you in an instant.
Nate was surrounded by them—two full covens—yet he didn't seem cornered. His stillness wasn't that of someone feeling threatened, but of someone who knew that if tension broke, he would have more than a fair chance of getting out unharmed. The air was heavy, dense, and every second that passed without a word made it feel as though something was on the verge of erupting.
Alice was now only a few steps away from him.
The Denali coven watched as she closed the distance with firm strides. The tension in the air was almost tangible, and even though none of them had known Nate as a human, the scene before them was leaving a powerful and difficult-to-ignore impression.
Eleazar studied him with narrowed eyes, like a mathematician facing an equation that refused to be solved. There was something about Nate that didn't fit—an enigma that challenged even his experience. Beside him, Carmen, sensing the growing discomfort saturating the room, gently clung to her partner's arm, seeking in that gesture a silent refuge from the tension.
Tanya let her gaze travel slowly over Nate, lingering a moment too long on his face. Even among vampires, his features were extraordinary, and the halo of mystery and danger around him stirred in her a curiosity that was hard to suppress. Kate, on the other hand, regarded him with a different sort of interest—the memory of the strength with which he had repelled her still resonated in her mind. Very few vampires had ever bested her, and the quiet confidence radiating from Nate was as intriguing as it was challenging.
Irina, however, kept her eyes mostly on Alice. In an instant, she understood the connection between them, and the worry reflected on her friend's face struck her with a pang of sorrow.
In contrast to the others' expectant silence, Laurent was smiling. It wasn't a warm smile, but rather the proud expression of someone who felt vindicated in their past decisions. His gift allowed him to sense the tide of power flowing from Nate like an invisible pulse, and deep down, he congratulated himself for having turned his back on James that day in the clearing.
Oblivious to the stares around him, Nate saw only Alice approaching. His eyes, cold and calculating by habit, slowly softened, letting a crack of vulnerability escape. Inside, he wanted to close the distance as much as she did, but he was acutely aware of the invisible gap between them. For a moment, he saw her as if she were made of glass—fragile, ethereal… and dangerously precious. A weight settled in his chest as he realized that perhaps this was how Alice had felt about him all along.
He stayed perfectly still, watching her until she stood before him. Alice, with a touch as soft as a feather, lifted her hand and placed it against his cheek. She tilted her head slightly, forcing their eyes to lock onto each other. They stayed like that, unmoving, as if they were meeting again for the first time after an eternity.
Nate, in a slow and deliberate motion, began to lift his hands toward her. He hesitated for a heartbeat, as though afraid to break the moment, and finally wrapped his arms around her. With as much gentleness as his nature allowed, he pulled her close, holding her in an embrace that was more confession than physical contact.
Alice was not surprised. She rested her head against his chest, closed her eyes, and let herself be wrapped in the calm he radiated. The world around them seemed to fade away. Nate's expression grew somber, marked by a regret that weighed heavily on his soul. His voice, deep and velvety, barely louder than a whisper, broke the silence.
"I'm sorry it took me so long…"
Alice tightened her hold on him, still with her face buried in his chest, whispering softly, "It doesn't matter… the only thing that matters is that you're safe."
They stayed like that, clinging to each other as if the rest of the world no longer existed. The stillness of the moment was heavy, and each passing second seemed to stretch, filled with a silence that said everything. The warmth of that embrace was strange for two such cold bodies, but the sense of home it carried was unmatched.
The moment was shattered with a cough that sounded foreign, intrusive. Tanya stepped forward, wearing a polite half-smile, though her eyes held urgency. "Sorry… Nate, right? We don't want to interrupt your reunion, but we need to find Victoria and her army before they get farther away." Her gaze shifted toward the burning pile of bodies, the fire crackling and casting unsettling shadows across them all. "From the looks of it, her army's out of control and killing each other. Now would be a good time to attack…"
Emmett cut in, unable to contain the curiosity boiling under his skin. "Forget that for a second! How are you a vampire? Who bit you? And how did you get here so fast?"
Nate, still holding Alice as though letting her go was unthinkable, lifted his gaze to him. His expression turned cold again, his deep voice carrying a final tone. "Victoria and her army won't be a problem anymore. I took care of it." He tilted his head slightly toward the burning corpses, as if that alone explained his words.
Rosalie frowned, incredulous. "Wait… you took them all out by yourself?"
Carlisle, who had been silent until then, spoke with a mix of surprise and concern. "That's madness…" His eyes narrowed in thought, and after a few seconds, he added, "But we sensed a trail of newborns heading in another direction… and that pile isn't as big as it should be. Did some get away?"
Nate didn't hesitate for a moment. "Most surrendered when I started killing them. They just wanted to live… Victoria was manipulating them, and I gave them the chance for another life."
Carlisle's gaze softened immediately, as though something in those words touched him deeply. Nate felt a faint weight of discomfort at the reaction, though it didn't show on his face.
Kate stepped forward, her tone sharp and loaded with disbelief. "Wait… you just let them go? They're newborns! They'll cause a massacre!"
Nate looked straight at her. His piercing red eyes made Kate instinctively step back. The tension in the air grew dense, as if his gaze alone had cut right through her.
"I told you, I took care of it, and I take responsibility for them," he said in a deep, measured voice, each word falling with weight. "If anything happens, Alice will see it in her visions, and I'll deal with it."
No one seemed entirely convinced, but his tone left no room for argument. It was the voice of someone who didn't ask permission, who didn't seek approval.
Jasper, with a look that made it clear he'd rather not ask, broke the silence. "And what about the vampire who attacked Forks? Did you take care of him, too?"
Nate's gaze hardened even further, as if the temperature around him had dropped. "No. I have no idea where he is, but he wasn't here. I made sure of that."
Carlisle, who had been watching every movement, seemed to be piecing things together in his mind. He clapped his hands once, sharply enough to cut through the tension, and spoke calmly: "I think we all have plenty of questions, but with that vampire still out there, we'd better return home to support Edward. We don't know if he might come back."
Emmett, still processing what had happened, frowned. "But what about Nate? He can't just go back like this. And there's… the funeral for his grandmother…" His voice trailed off abruptly. Realizing what he'd just said, guilt flickered across his face as he glanced at Nate.
Nate lowered his gaze for a moment. A shadow of melancholy crossed his features, and when he spoke, it was in a low but steady tone. "I'd like to return to Forks to take care of that… but I don't trust myself to be around humans right now. I think I need some time to adjust."
Carlisle, with quiet understanding, took a small step toward him. "I'll do what I can to delay the funeral for a few months. I'll keep the ashes until you're ready. I'll use your absence as an excuse to postpone it."
Nate nodded slowly, a nearly imperceptible glimmer of gratitude in his eyes.
Alice, still pressed against Nate's chest, seemed to think for a moment before speaking with a determined tone. "I'll go with him for a while, somewhere far from humans… at least long enough for Nate to gain enough control to return to Forks."
Carlisle nodded with calm understanding, as if he fully grasped the need for that time and space.
Emmett, unable to hold back his impatience, spoke again in a slightly tense voice. "So you're not going to explain?! You're not going to tell us what happened here? How you suddenly a vampire? I've got too many questions…"
Alice tightened her embrace on Nate, stepping in to answer for him with calm firmness. "We have plenty of time to catch up. For now, it's best if you all return to Forks, and I'll spend this time with my partner."
Emmett huffed, resigned, and reluctantly backed down.
Everyone exchanged brief glances, laden with mixed emotions, until Tanya, seeking to ease the tension, spoke kindly. "If you're looking for a place, you can stay with us. We don't live too close to humans, there aren't as many scents in the snow, and if your partner loses control, Kate—along with the rest of us—could incapacitate him."
Nate seemed to consider the offer, his eyes scanning each of the gathered vampires, weighing the silent calculations passing through his mind.
Laurent stepped forward, insisting gently but firmly. "Yes, you should come, Nathaniel. The Denali house is the perfect place to get your thirst under control…"
Nate looked at them for a few seconds, then turned to Alice. She smiled at him with complete trust and nodded without words.
He returned a small smile—a mix of gratitude and relief—before speaking to the group. "I'll take you up on that."