Phasing and A Week Later

'Wow' is all I can think as I look at myself in the mirror.

Whereas before I was around 6'1" with barely any muscle, I was now a solid 2 inches taller and packing enough muscle to have filled out my frame, and it'd only been a week on my special Phasing Workout and Diet regimen.

I could say that I was definitely beyond a human's strength as well, probably being able to go up against fully phased Shapeshifters in their human forms. A few weeks and I have no doubt I could fight against the average Vampire and that's in my Human form. Sadly I can't fully phase yet and that means I can't go around in my majestic Wolf form but that stuff comes toward the end of the phasing and only when my body's completely ready for the change.

At first, Bella and dad thought I was doing some weird stuff to do with steroids but after a check-up - that I suggested, by the way - they both got off my back and simply accepted this as a major growth spurt. Unluckily for them, I hadn't stopped growing yet.

Plus, I'd had dad buy me some weight equipment and as many free weights as he could along with an incredibly strong bar. Though these weights were quickly becoming quite useless for me and I was thinking about hacking some trees down to use as impromptu weights.

I don't know yet, however. It seems a bit much, right?

Feeling my stomach growl, I sighed before reaching into my desk and pulling out a few protein bars.

This. This was possibly the biggest annoyance with the change. My appetite had increased to absolutely inhuman proportions. Sadly, I knew why it had to as well.

My metabolism burnt through food and energy from said food, so quickly, that I needed to replenish it within an hour or two of consuming it. It didn't help that I naturally needed a lot of food to sustain my supernatural physique as well. Working out only seemed to expand my appetite even further. The result? I eat a lot. Like, seriously, I eat enough for a family of four.

Luckily, dad's services as the Chief of Police don't go without gratitude from the locals and the butchers around town, along with most of the food stores, give him stuff on the cheap, and seeing as he's buying so much and most of it is the stuff no one buys, it doesn't affect them much.

Wolfing (ha!) down the bars in my hand, I started to get dressed for school knowing that today was the day Edward and Edythe Cullen come back to school after their week absence.

Hopefully, this will stop Bella from looking like a lost lamb around school because her Shepard aka Edward will be back and she can finally start questioning him about his oh so mysterious behavior.

...Though I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss seeing Edythe's unusual shade of bronze-colored hair and her stunning eyes...But! The main reason is because I wish to know if I have the same kind of wet dog scent Jacob and the others apparently have.

I know that the scents exist - I can smell the Cullens from hundreds upon hundreds of meters away. That sickly sweet scent is...overbearing to say the least. But from the lack of reaction from the Cullens when I walk past them in school, it would seem as if I don't have a scent. Which is weird.

I'm an Upgraded Shapeshifter. Shouldn't I smell even more like a wet dog than the others? Or is it their specific bloodline that does that?

Haah~ Once again, so many questions yet so little answers.

In the end, I simply just got dressed and looked at myself in the mirror, my slightly pale skin having gained a bit of color over the phasing which I liked. Along with my chocolate brown hair and blue eyes, I looked more handsome by the day.

I was dressed in some black jeans, a plain white t-shirt and a black leather jacket over the top. Finishing it off was a pair of normal-looking black and white trainers that I brought yesterday as the only bad thing about growing so much is that I'm having to replace my clothes pretty quickly. Luckily, however, old me had some pretty baggy clothing, so I'm probably gonna have to wear that from now on.

Walking down the stairs and into the kitchen, I saw some toast that either Bella or dad had done for me and still feeling a bit peckish, I quickly gobbled it up before drinking whatever was left of the orange juice.

Sensing someone behind me, I turned around to see Bella looking at me weirdly. Tilting my head at her look, I questioned her, "What? I got something on my face or something sis?" smirking toward the end I saw her face scrunch up in questioning before she thinly smiled at me.

"It's nothing. Just can't believe you're still getting bigger," she said in mock disbelief which I could tell was fake.

Ah~ The ever-curious Bella. Just like how she constantly questioned what Edward was, now she's doing it to me. Oh well, should I just fuel her suspicion? Yeah, let's do that~

Chuckling and playing along to her little lie, I walked past her and brushed my hand against hers. I didn't mean anything by it but it did make her notice something; the intense heat of my skin.

"Alex!" Bella yelped before quickly grabbing my hand to check if what she felt was right, "You're, like, boiling hot!" she placed a hand on my forehead, pulling it away as if she'd touched a piece of hot metal, "Do you have a fever or something? Sit down!" as she started to enter a sort of big-sister mode, I couldn't help but smile but I suppressed the smile swiftly and sat down on the kitchen table.

Looking up at my sister, reaching for some medicine on the top shelf, I rolled my eyes and got up to help her. Must suck to be short.

Though when I grabbed the medicine for her, she spun around with a stubborn look on her face and placed a finger on my chest, poking me backward, "Sit. Down. Alex."

Of course she wouldn't be able to move me if I didn't want her to, but for now, I played along and moved backward with my hands up in surrender.

"I feel fine, Bella," I insisted to my sister who looked worriedly back and forth between me and the medicine bottles in her hands but when she heard what she said, she scoffed before glaring at me.

"Alex, you feel like you have a terrible fever, you obviously aren't fine!" she nearly hissed at me as she started to pour some medicine onto a spoon before shoving the spoon in front of me, "Drink this! Now!"

Seeing her enter this kind of ultra-caring mode of hers, I felt a surge of warmth flow around my chest before I just smiled and took the spoon into my mouth and swallowed the medicine. Feeling the bitterness of the medicine I was surprised that it still tasted oddly sweet.

Huh, weird.

When I went to get up again, Bella put her weight on my shoulders, 'forcing' me down once again, "You're staying at home, Alex. You can't go to school like this," her voice was firm just like the worried frown on her face.

I felt bad about having to lie to her and I also felt a slight regret for making her worried and getting her curious about what was wrong with me but I knew this was kind of necessary.

I can't just come out of nowhere and show her I'm some sort of Shapeshifter, werewolf thing. I have to open her up to the possibility that I'm different before I tell her. That's what happened with her and Edward. She had suspicions, did a whole ton of research before finally confronting him and getting the truth. I feel that without that research or preparation, Bella would have rejected the supernatural. Just like she would if I straight up told her I, her little brother, could turn into a giant wolf.

Anyway, looking up at my worried sister, I stood up and this time ignored her trying to push me down. Looking down at her, I smiled for a second before bringing her into a hug.

"Don't worry, sis, I'm fine. Maybe I just have a naturally high body temperature? Or you're really cold right now and I feel hot by comparison? If I feel bad in school, I'll come to get you as soon as possible, okay?" I pulled her into a tight embrace, being sure to mind my strength around my fragile sister.

At my words, I felt her weakly nod into my chest, obviously not happy with this, before tightly squeezing me back with her slender arms.

Even if we hadn't seen each other in years and only had a week to catch up, Bella and I were still siblings - we were close, and we cared for one another.

Finally separating, I looked down at her with a smirk, "So, Dr. Swan, can we go to school now?"

Rolling her eyes, but unable to hide her mirthful smile, Bella playfully swatted me on the shoulder, "Yeah, yeah, come on then."

And with that, we were on our way to school.

. . .

POV Change - Edythe Cullen

Alexander Swan.

The younger brother of Isabella Swan who Edward's infatuated with. Son of Charlie Swan, Chief of Police.

And my Singer.

When I first saw him, it was when those electric blue eyes of his were staring at me in the cafeteria. When I found myself staring back, his head shot away in a different direction and I didn't think anything by it; it was just typical human behavior.

He was decently attractive, with his chocolate brown hair and blue eyes giving him a 'boy-next-door' kind of vibe. He seemed decently tall as well, along with an okay build.

Overall, he wasn't anything unique or new to me.

But it turned out I had to sit next to him in History. This time when our eyes met I felt something weird. Like something started turning specifically for this boy. I pushed myself past it but decided to ask the teacher if I could switch seats as the seat next to this boy was the only one available; I didn't want to do anything stupid or horrific to this boy as I felt something was happening to me.

At the time I didn't know why I just felt something bad. It didn't help that his mind was impregnable to me and my Telepathy.

Do the Swan family have some kind of immunity?

Pushing such thoughts out of my head, I walked over to the boy and sat down at the desk next to him.

Right then. That's when I found out he was called Alexander but preferred to be called Alex. It's also when I noticed his intoxicating scent.

I saw his hand stretched out to shake mine but I couldn't bring myself to shake it, knowing that feeling his warm flesh and the blood flowing beneath it would instantly make me lose it.

I calmed myself down and played the part of a cold girl who didn't want to talk to whoever was talking to her. And for the most part, that's exactly the case! Every time he breathed out, a bit of his scent wafted over to me, filling my nose. I couldn't bring myself to turn toward him as I knew it'd take willpower I didn't have to stop looking at him.

Why?

Was all I could think while I absentmindedly answered his question. Why did this human attract me so? He wasn't incredibly handsome, nor was he very charismatic. No, he was neither of those things. But when I looked into his wonderful blue eyes I could think about only one thing:

Looking into those eyes as I drained him of his blood.

The thought was maddening and his constant attempts at conversation were beginning to grate on me. Not because I didn't want to talk but because I knew if I was talking I'd not be focusing and if I weren't focusing I might hurt him.

The fact I could get a read on his mind didn't help either. Why is he trying to talk to me? What's different about me other than my good looks? Can he not see that I don't wish to talk?

All this rolled into a ball of annoyance and I snapped an answer back at him. It was about when I heard him asking a girl about my name.

And he didn't seem annoyed at my snappy words. He just seemed pleasantly surprised I'd answered him. It even went from a pleasant surprise to a sort of smug look as he refuted me.

For reasons I don't yet know, I got annoyed at this. I don't know whether it was because I could see his thoughts or because I had been caught out by a human when I said something in annoyance but all of this went out the window when a breeze blew past him.

As his full scent hit my nose, I felt my body freeze up as every cell in my body was filled with an aching for him or more specifically his bloody.

The delicate thrum I could constantly hear was like an angel call and it took every ounce and fiber of my being to not jump on him and gorge myself on his blood right then.

But within the feeling of bloodlust, there...there was a regular, normal attraction. A protectiveness that seemed to flow from my core, as if this boy in front of me was my property and I owned him.

And that thought scared me. It terrified me.

Because I could take him away against his own will. He could never fight me, never outrun me, it would be all too easy to do what my bloodlust was telling me.

Scared by the feelings, I couldn't bear to look at him anymore and the rest of the lesson went by without me really paying attention and only giving the most basic answers to anything Alexander asked me when we were paired up.

The lesson felt like it lasted an eternity and when it was finally over, I rushed out before taking a glance at Alexander who just looked at where I was just sat, his blue eyes surprisingly not filled with confusion.

But my curiosity at the time was overridden by fear I'd hurt this innocent boy, so I rushed off.

And that brings me to where I am now: After a week of rest and calming myself, I'm back in school, sitting in my history class and occasionally looking toward the door. I try to stop myself but I just can't. I didn't see him at lunch, or school in general, and now was the only time I knew I'd be able to see him, the only time I'd be able to see if I'd gotten over his scent.

I highly doubt that. But at least this time I'll be prepared. You don't get to 100+ years as a Vegetarian Vampire without having some good self-control.

But such thoughts went out the window when he walked in.

If before he looked handsome, then now he looked dropped dead gorgeous. If before he was just under a foot taller than me, he was now just over a foot taller than me. Over the week I was gone, it looked like he'd gained a bit of a tan and a lot more muscle as his figure was slowly filling up.

But the biggest change was his eyes.

They practically shone. Like a beasts. Gazing across the room like an apex predator in all their shining blue glory before finally landing on me, our eyes meeting in a clash of color. My golden, metallic-colored eyes staring into his shining electric blue eyes, and them staring right back.

And then his scent flooded my nose and I felt my face flush slightly. Though that was my imagination - I don't have the blood necessary for flushing but the sentiment was definitely there.

'What am I gonna do?' is all I could lament as he flashed me a killer smile and walked over to his desk next to mine.