"None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free."

—Gothe

Prologue

"It wasn't something I'd thought about doing. It wasn't planned. I felt a sudden rage, and it consumed me—it was all I felt. I lost my control. I cannot tell you all that happened, as the memories are still unclear to me. I can tell you, however, that after it was done, I felt different. For the first time in two hundred years, I was my own man again. I felt as if I had been shackled, and that those shackles had been cut. Everything that held me to everything I knew was gone. She was gone, and I was free. I began to wonder what that feeling of freedom meant, and the farther I ran, the more I realized that that was not the life I was meant to lead."

"Do you regret what you did?"

"Not for a second."

CHAPTER 1—DECISION

The room was very quiet as Aro read over the parchment in his hands yet again. By now, they all knew what it said, what it meant for the future of the Cullen family, and what Aro thought it meant for them.

"There must be something," Caius muttered, still pacing quickly back and forth. "This has to violate something."

Aro shook his head slowly. "We have no rules about this, my brother. We know so little of the hybrids, in any case, that we are scarcely in any shape to create rules for them. Perhaps if you had not been so hasty in your destruction of Joham, we would know more of them."

"We know enough," Caius growled. "Enough to know that if this is allowed, it will only give the Cullens more allies and more power. Aro, they could destroy us! The threat this constitutes is large."

A wispy sigh escaped from Aro's lips, and he tossed the wedding announcement to the floor. "The wolves are already allied to the Cullens, Caius, as I'm sure you've considered."

"But marriage!" Caius snatched the expensive paper from where Aro had tossed it. "It cannot be allowed! Imagine if they were to have children, Aro. Imagine that threat, if you will!"

Felix stared down at the floor. He did not understand why Aro and Caius viewed the Cullens as such a threat. Certainly, their coven was a large one, and very powerful, and their allies outnumbered the Volturi guard, but he could not see why the Cullen family would decide to challenge the Volturi. In the ten years that had passed since the birth of Renesmee Cullen, the family had not once given the Volturi leaders any reason to fear them. In fact, they'd not really heard from them at all until an announcement for the wedding of Jacob Black and Renesmee Cullen arrived.

Next to him, Demetri also seemed to be paying little attention to the proceedings. His eyes were focused on a fixed point on a wall just over where Jane stood on the opposite side of the tower room. He followed his friend's gaze, and found nothing of interest, but his eye caught sight of Chelsea where she stood next to Jane. She was frowning at the floor, seeming to be concentrating. She was doing a lot of that lately. Behind her, her mate, Afton, rested his hands on her shoulders. Felix felt a pang of jealousy as he watched Afton's hands slide down Chelsea's arms to wrap around her waist from behind. Why should he be allowed a mate when the rest of them lived their lives alone?

The sound of Caius's hiss broke Felix from his reverie, and he looked up. "The Cullens must be destroyed, Aro. You know this."

Aro sighed again. "I fear that you are correct, my brother. Their coven continues to grow, but they continue to live in the human charade. It is a threat to our way of life, so many vampires living openly as they do."

Caius smiled darkly. "I knew you would find a reason, Aro."

Several of the other guard members shifted uncomfortably, muttering to each other and themselves.

"To think it has come to this," Demetri said, quietly enough that only Felix could hear him.

"What is their crime?" Felix breathed. "They live even more cautiously than we do, with numbers smaller than ours, and we are going to punish them? I don't understand."

Across the room, Jane's clear voice rang out above the others, silencing them. "We must plan this carefully, masters. We cannot forget that they have many allies and that they have the one who sees the future."

Aro nodded gravely. "We must take great care to think quickly."

Out of the corner of his eye, Felix saw Demetri's face harden again, and he wondered what his friend was thinking.

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The breeze that came in through the open window was soothing on Jacob Black's heated skin. He was exhausted—it was well past three in the morning—but he couldn't sleep. Leah's birthday party had been a wonderful excuse to take the next day off from work, and he had had more fun than he had in a long time as he sat around with his old friends, drinking and laughing and making complete idiots of themselves with Wii bowling. What had been the icing on the cake was that, even though she was tired, Renesmee had managed to wake herself up when he got home and had given him his own private party.

Now, she lay on her stomach, her bronze curls fanning out in every direction, and Jacob stared down at her in wonder. She was beautiful. It was like she had been created for him alone. One long, slender leg hung out from under the sheet, and her back was bare to her waist, where the sheet was bunched up. He could just make out the curve of her breast, and her lavender eyelids fluttered slightly, but did not open, when he ran his hand over it.

One month ago, after going to each member of her family individually to ask for their blessings, Jacob had planned the most lavish weekend in New York for the two of them. Two nights at the Plaza, and dinner at an expensive restaurant that boasted the best steak in the city. He sent her off to a spa for the day and set up the hotel room while she was gone, then met her at the restaurant. That first night, when they had arrived to the hotel, he spoiled her with even more attention and a box of her favorite chocolate before relaxing in bed with her and watching When Harry Met Sally. Halfway through, right when Meg Ryan was in the middle of a fake orgasm, Jacob heard a gasp next to him.

Under a chocolate covered caramel was an ornate ring, encrusted with diamonds and sapphires. She had cried blissful tears as Jacob had taken the ring from her and slid it on her finger, asking her to marry him, and had accepted at once.

Now, a month later, she had moved out of her family's massive mansion, down a lane about a mile to the smaller house, built by Esme, where Jacob had lived alone since the move to New Hampshire three years ago. He worked every day and came home to find her in the kitchen putting dinner on the table, waiting to hear about every insignificant detail of his day. She slept in his bed every night, and in just two more months, she would be his wife. A tribute to her sense of humor, Renesmee had selected the twentieth of June as the wedding date. Jacob hadn't understood until a giggling Bella informed him that the twentieth was Edward's human birthday, something he tried to get by every year as uneventfully as possible.

Jacob watched as she rolled over onto her side, exposing her body to him, and he was just about to try to rouse her when he heard a buzzing. Frowning, Jacob rolled over to retrieve his phone. Bella Cell was lit up on the tiny screen, and he grimaced as he answered. "Hey, Bells, what's up?"

"Jacob?" Her voice sounded shaky. "Are you with Nessie right now?"

He frowned. "Yeah, she's asleep." The lavender lids fluttered and opened to reveal groggy brown eyes. "Or she was. She's awake now. Did you need to talk to her?"

She didn't exactly answer his question. "Can you both come up to the house?"

Something in her voice, which Renesmee could hear, alerted the youngest member of the Cullen family and she snatched the phone from Jacob. "Mom? What's wrong?"

He heard Bella's response, and it sent him flying out of bed and throwing clothes to Renesmee, something he never did. Alice saw something. The Volturi have made a decision... He didn't hear the rest. He was throwing on the first clothes his hands touched and Renesmee was scrambling into her own, now wide awake. They did not speak—there wasn't time, and there weren't words. Jacob didn't need Renesmee's gift to understand the terror she was feeling.

Hand in hand, they raced up to the house, halting at the front door. It was lit from top to bottom, but it was completely silent. The silence was foreboding, and Jacob did not relax at all when they entered the dining room, where everyone was seated around the massive table.

At the head, Carlisle was holding Esme's hand, both of their faces worried. Next to Esme, Edward stared at Alice's blank face across the table, where she sat next to an almost equally blank Jasper. Bella held Edward's hand, staring at his face, concentrating deeply. Rosalie was glaring at Emmett, who was messing with his Blackberry, as unconcerned as ever. They took the empty seats, Jacob sitting next to Emmett and Renesmee next to her mother. Once they were seated, Carlisle took a deep, unnecessary breath.

"Alice has seen a vision of the Volturi," he began, and Rosalie took the Blackberry away from Emmett, putting it in her pocket with a scowl. "They have finally found reason to eliminate us, and with proper reasoning, it could possibly work."

"They've had ten years," Emmett said, frowning. "What could they possibly have come up with now?"

It was Edward who answered, his eyes still trained on Alice, whose mind was clearly across the ocean. "They have decided that our size is already too large for as openly as we live, and that Jacob and Renesmee's marriage may constitute a new risk."

Emmett's frown deepened. "He's already been here for ten years. What's changed?"

"Aro is concerned," Edward sneered the word, "that if they have children, our numbers will be large enough to draw enough attention to us to expose us. And they don't know what kind of children they would produce." He shifted in his chair, clearly uncomfortable with this part of the conversation.

It was silent for a moment, before Rosalie spoke. "They won't get away with it," she said firmly. "Everyone knows that the Volturi feel threatened by us. No one will fall for this."

"They have enough friends that they could exterminate us easily if they so wished," Carlisle said quietly. "It would be so simple. They are prepared for what we are capable of. They know our strengths and our weaknesses."

"They also know that we have friends," Esme said hopefully. "When will they arrive?"

"That's the thing that doesn't make sense." Edward's face was frustrated as he stared at Alice, reading her thoughts. "They've made no plans. There is only the decision that we must be destroyed. And so much of what is going on is fuzzy right now."

Alice's eyes cleared and she snapped back to the room, looking as frustrated as her brother. "Someone is going to happen to deter them," she said. "I can't see what, though. It's as if that particular decision has not been made yet. The good news is that this gives us more time to contact our friends and have them at the ready."

Carlisle nodded. "We should start making calls tonight," he said. "Everyone who stood with us last time. Anyone we could not get a hold of."

"And Nahuel." Renesmee spoke for the first time. Her eyes were tight. "He'll be on our side, and he can bring his sisters. They have not forgiven the Volturi for Joham." Everyone winced, recalling the sudden destruction of Joham and the rage it had created from his daughters, who were left with no explanation. "He'll bring his aunt, as well. I can call him in the morning."

"And the other wolves," Jacob said. "Seth and Leah are still phasing. I think some of the others are, too. Whoever is still phasing can come to help."

"This is different, though," Jasper said. "We know that they come to destroy. We may not get everyone this time."

"What if we got something on the Volturi?" Bella's voice was thoughtful. "If we could prove that their intentions are only the result of feeling threatened, would it make a difference?"

"If you can get some member of the guard to come forward and tell everyone that that was the case, you'd have most of the vampire world on our side, but it's not going to happen." Jasper frowned. "And we can't really sneak into Volterra. They'd notice."

"What about Eleazar?" Esme was still hopeful. "Maybe he is still on good terms with someone who would be willing to help us."

"No good," Edward said, shaking his head. "If Aro suspects anyone's disloyalty, he can just have Chelsea focus that much harder to discourage them."

"We'll think of something," Emmett said. "We got out of this last time and nobody thought we could. We can pull it off again."

Edward sighed. "Let's hope so." He smiled over at Renesmee. "I'd imagine you would like to go back to sleep?"

Renesmee smiled drowsily. "I'll call Nahuel first thing in the morning. He can get a hold of the Amazons for us, too. And there's also some rumor going around about a hybrid in the south somewhere. Nobody knows her, but I guess she's there."

Edward frowned. "I hadn't heard that."

A wry smile crossed her face. "You're not a hybrid."

"No." A hopeful look crossed Edward's face. "I suppose this means we'll have to push the wedding date back." Renesmee arched an eyebrow at her father, and he frowned. "Just as stubborn as your mother," he muttered.

Bella grinned. "That's my girl."

a/n I didn't want to mess up my crazed italicizing at the beginning to put this at the top, so it's on the bottom. I've got several ideas for where this can go and a good idea of where I want it to end, but if you have any suggestions, let me know. Everything's canon, everybody's the way they are in the books. This starts in April about ten years after the end of Breaking Dawn. Let me know what you think so far. I'll try to update as much as I can between homework and everything else.

DISCLAIMER: Not mine. I'm a broke student. I own nothing, let alone Twilight.