A/N: Thank you for your patience. We had some unexpected things come up and thereby delaying the posting of this chapter.

Bella

I watched as the five behemoth creatures appeared from the shadows of the woods, and my nervousness grew. I could understand, to a point, Edward's insistence in the past that I not be involved in any interaction with the wolves. Even his description of their size had not done them justice, and there was no denying that I felt more than a little intimidated.

It was not the time for such comparatively trivial things to affect me—we had far more pressing matters at hand.

Carlisle took a step forward, causing Edward and Jasper to close ranks behind him, like a barrier between the approaching wolves and me. "Thank you for coming. I assure you, this is of the utmost urgency."

Edward's hand secured around mine a little more firmly for a moment, as he was clearly listening to their thoughts. I wondered what he had heard that bothered him so much. "They are insistent that they can handle whatever is coming."

"I wish I could say that I agree with you, but I can't. The seven of us combined cannot defeat this. Therefore, I must insist, for your safety, that you do not interfere in any way," Carlisle explained, and I peeked around Edward's arm and saw the grey wolf snarl, the fur rising on his neck and shoulders.

Suddenly, the jet-black leader began backing toward the woods, joined by the brown one at his right, while the other three remained rooted in place.

"What's going on?" I asked Edward nervously, releasing his hand to curl mine around the inside of his bicep. "Where are they going?"

"They want to talk, but don't trust us enough to have them all in human form," Edward clarified, but the tension in his muscles only escalated beneath my palm.

After some more rustling in the woods, two human figures emerged, clad only in denim cut-offs. Their features remained obscured by the shadows cast by the trees until the moonlight illuminated their faces, and I took a sharp breath in.

"Jake?" I choked out, unable to believe my eyes. There before me, standing beside who I recognized as Sam Uley, was Billy Black's son, Jacob, and though I had just seen him a little over a month before, he was barely recognizable to me. His long, black hair was now cropped off, and the more defined muscles and bulk to his body that I'd noticed at Thanksgiving appeared even more pronounced in his shirtless state. The most significant difference, however, was the scowl on his face. While I couldn't say that I had an abundance of memories involving Jacob Black, never could I recall him having anything less than a jovial disposition and the widest, brightest smile I'd ever seen. Not once had he ever looked so… incensed.

I tried to ignore the way his dark gaze was boring into me as Sam began to speak. "I don't see how this could be any different from any other…of your kind that we have faced."

Edward had always told me that Sam was the most reasonable of the Quileute wolf pack, and I was seeing that for myself at that moment. Despite the hint of a sneer curling his lip at the pause in his statement, his voice remained level and calm, even though he was face-to-face with seven vampires, their mortal enemy. As Carlisle began to explain the ferocity of the Volturi and all he had personally witnessed in the decade he'd spent with them, my gaze shifted back to Jacob, who was practically vibrating with the restrained fury I saw burning in his eyes. It only intensified as I inched closer to Edward, and it was obvious that Jake's thoughts mirrored his appearance, since his arm circled around me protectively.

"We are already aware of the 'gifts' of your kind," Sam said, breaking my focus on Jacob, and I watched his eyes flicker between Alice and Edward. "And they have posed no additional threat to us."

Carlisle shook his head slowly with a sigh. "Edward's gift, while useful and powerful in its own right, is merely a defensive measure. Similarly, Alice can predict what is coming, but it does not help us defend against it. Not even the strongest among you could withstand their offensive weapons."

The hackles of the grey wolf rose again, joined by a snarl, but just as quickly, they lowered, and he laid down beside Sam, completely docile. Both he and Jake stared wide-eyed at him before returning their attention to Carlisle.

"What are you doing to Paul?" Sam asked, uncharacteristically shaken, and all of their gazes frantically moved among the group of us, until Jasper stepped forward with his focus on the wolf in question.

Having experienced Jasper's mood control ability in the past, I could relate to the confusion of both the unaffected members of the pack, and even more so, Paul himself. I could tell the moment the effect released him, as his snarl returned, and he reared back before taking off into the woods. Moments later, a tall, slender man returned, appearing just as fierce as the wolf who had just departed. "What the hell was that?"

Once again, Paul's stature relaxed, as did Sam and Jacob, and then the two remaining wolves as well, but that time, it was Jasper who addressed the pack. "This is but a mild example of offensive gifts we can have. Right now, you just have no control over your emotions, but it inflicts no impairment on your strength or mental capacity, nor is it harming you in any way. That is not the case with what is coming. Jane can incapacitate you with pain by simply looking at you, and while she can only afflict one target at a time, Alec can more than compensate for that. There is no escaping his hold once his mist ensnares you, and he will strip you of all your senses, and not just one or two of you at a time, but all of you at once, just as I am right now."

It was evident once Jasper relinquished his effect on them, as even Sam seemed to become more agitated than before, and then Carlisle continued. "And that is only if they intend to destroy you once Aro learns of your existence. His brother, Caius, hunted the Children of the Moon to near extinction two millennia ago, and while he will not differentiate between your kind and the creatures he hunted, there is a high probability that Aro will see your ability to shift without the effects of the moon phase as an asset, a weapon he could use."

Jacob scoffed and rolled his eyes in disgust. "As if we wouldn't die before serving leeches in any way."

"Jacob!" Sam commanded sternly, to which Jake reluctantly acquiesced.

"You wouldn't need to succumb willingly. The Volturi have one amongst them, Chelsea, who can form unbreakable bonds. She could bind you to Aro, and you would become subservient to his will for as long as he found use for you," Carlisle explained calmly, while his voice lost none of its authority. "I could go on through the remainder of the guard and just the gifts that I am aware of, but it will still only result in one outcome. This is not a fight that you can or will win."

"So why even stay here yourselves? Leave Bella alone and with her father where she belongs, and just get out of here. Then there would be no reason for these psychotic bloodsuckers to come after her, and you'd all be long gone before they could even get here. Problem solved, killing two birds with one stone," Jacob sneered venomously with his narrowed eyes focused on Edward.

I took that moment to step forward, feeling Edward tense beside me, but I gave his hand a gentle squeeze to silently assure him that I wasn't moving any closer. "It's too late for any of that. I already know too much, and they've allowed a human to know the truth about them. All of our fates are sealed. And then, of course, there would be the fact that we would infuriate the Volturi by running, and the consequences would fall on the people of Forks, especially my dad, which is something I would never risk."

"And by association with Charlie, the tribe is at risk then as well, even if you hadn't already revealed your existence in an effort to protect him, Forks or La Push. They will stop at nothing to draw us out. No matter what we do or where we go, they will eventually find us, and we are only prolonging our already borrowed time. In addition, they also have a tracker that, once he catches the essence of someone's mind, it's more potent than a scent, and he can follow it with meticulous precision. Masking a scent is possible, but minds are far more difficult, as my family has learned over the years just with my gift. However, trackers have a single-minded purpose once they target their prey." Edward paused and shared a meaningful look with Sam, whose gaze almost imperceptibly flickered to Jake. "As you are aware."

Both men shared a brief nod of understanding. I, on the other hand, stood there completely bewildered, but for once, I found that I was not the only one. The entire family, including Alice, looked questioningly at Edward. I tugged gently on his sleeve to bring his attention back to me and gazed at him expectantly. "Would you like to share with the whole class what the hell you guys are bobbing your heads about?"

Usually, Edward found my outbursts amusing and they would at least coax a small smirk out of him, but I knew the situation was too urgent and dire for even a moment of luxury like that. His gaze merely shifted again toward Sam, and mine immediately followed.

"I know you've been told to some extent that a vampire's presence triggers the gene inside one of us that has it, and we phase. The more vampires that appear, the more of us will phase." Sam paused for a moment to await my response, and once I nodded, he continued. "When Jake phased, we were instantly put on alert. The last one we had was Embry, and that was only a few weeks before, due to new vampires in the area that weren't the Cullens or their friends."

My breath suddenly froze in my throat, and my eyes widened, moving quickly over to Edward. "The nomads. I thought they were gone."

"We thought so, too. We chased them across the border and eliminated one of them," Sam interjected, and I felt Edward's arm circle around me protectively again.

I could recall the conversation we'd had in his room what seemed like more than just several months before, about the nomads that he'd encountered along with Rosalie and Emmett, and a shiver ran through me. "But that wasn't the case, was it?"

"Unfortunately, no." The shake of his head caused me to shift closer to Edward, my eyes darting around the woods surrounding us, as if they could be anywhere within them. Sam must have noticed my fear, as he didn't speak again until I brought my gaze back to him and gestured for him to continue. "The remaining male was a tracker, and how easy it was for us to take one of them out both infuriated and intrigued him. He was bent on not only destroying us all, but also to learn more about us. After his encounter with the Cullens, he knew Forks was too risky. Not only would his hunting activities rouse suspicion and he'd be outnumbered, but he knew of Edward's gift. So, he and his companion remained out of range along the northern outskirts of La Push to taunt us and give chase. We caught him within a week because his ego got the best of him, and the woman was fast, but all it took was the destruction of the one she called her mate for her to make that one fatal misstep."

Carlisle sighed with a nod of his head. "So, as you can see, we are not exaggerating here. James was barely three hundred years old. That is three centuries of honing that skill, compared to Demetri, who is not only far more powerful, but has been doing so for an entire millennium."

"So, please, I'm begging you," I started, darting my gaze among them all, before focusing solely on Jake. "Just stay out of this and keep my dad safe. I need to know that he'll be okay."

"Of course, we will." Sam's response instantly reignited the fire in Jake's eyes. Right there before me, I watched what was once a boy I could remember from my childhood, seemingly erupt into the form of a giant, brown wolf, and with one last snarl, he bolted back into the woods. Sam's voice speaking my name brought my frightened gaze back to him. "You have my word."

With an understanding reached, we all prepared to leave, and Edward began guiding me to where he had parked the Volvo, when I heard another shout of my name. I turned in the direction of the sound and spotted Jacob jogging toward us, once again in human form and wearing another pair of shorts. My eyes flickered at the shredded denim still littering the ground where he'd phased, and my mind only momentarily pondered whether they had a stockpile of garments hidden in the woods. Yet, as he drew closer, those thoughts disappeared, and I clung tightly to Edward's arm and heard a snarl from deep within his chest.

"What do you want, Jacob?" I asked cautiously, and he came to a stop about ten feet away from me.

"Bella, you can't do this. It will kill Charlie. You've got to find another way." Jake's voice had lost a little of its volatility, while his ice-cold glare at Edward was no less intense.

"There is no other way. We've tried to think of everything, and nothing changes the outcome. The only thing we can do is minimize the casualties," I explained again, trying to break through Jake's stubbornness.

"You don't have to stay with them. He is not worth dying over," Jake hissed, glowering venomously at Edward.

I sighed in exasperation, rubbing at my temples and taking a step toward Jake, when I felt Edward's hand cup my elbow to stop me. "He won't hurt me any more than you would. He'd never do that to Charlie. Please, give me a minute."

I gazed at Edward's pained expression for a moment and then brushed my lips on his cheek with a whisper of "trust me". He nodded with a kiss to my forehead and replied, "Just keep a safe distance."

I agreed and gestured to Jake to follow me off to the side, and to his credit, Edward remained rooted to his spot, making no move to follow. "Look, Jake. I love my dad more than I could ever tell you, and if it were possible to spare him the pain of losing me, I would do it in a heartbeat. He doesn't deserve this, and I wish more than anything that I could have more time with him."

"Then don't do it, Bella. Don't listen to them. We can protect you and Charlie, no matter what we have to do to accomplish it. Or hell, even just take him with you all and run. There's no way these…vultures…" He rolled his eyes when I corrected him with the term "Volturi" and scoffed. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. They can't cover the entire world, Bella. You could go somewhere remote where no one could find you, with Charlie, and keep your damn bloodsucker."

"We've already thought of that, Jake!" I exclaimed, and Edward began stepping toward me, but I held my hand up to stop him and then took a deep breath to calm myself, fighting against the tears welling in my eyes. "We have run through every possible scenario, including Edward and I separating so I could stay with my father, and taking him with us and running. But he would have to be told about the Cullens eventually, and then his fate would be sealed, too. Nothing changes the outcome. Alice would have seen it, and I would have jumped at any chance of having even a little more time with my dad. There is no other way, and Charlie is not going to die because I'm too selfish to let him go."

The dam broke in the midst of speaking and there were now tears streaming down my face, and I even saw the inner torment raging in Jacob's eyes as I spoke of my father. It filtered into his voice as well when he began to speak again in a more subdued tone. "This will kill him, Bella. Knowing you're gone and never coming back. You weren't here to witness how much it hurt him when you decided to stop visiting him over the summer. That was the only time I can remember Charlie really happy in all the time I'd known him throughout my life, and it got taken away from him. But at least he knew that he still had you out there somewhere, and he could see you somehow."

Guilt began bubbling up inside me. It was not the first time I'd thought of how my selfish decision had hurt my father, even though he'd been accepting of it. The time I'd spent with him since coming to Forks had driven home just what I had missed out on with him. How much unease he'd put himself through by leaving the comfort of familiar surroundings, just for the opportunity to still have time with his daughter. Back then, it hadn't seemed so selfish, but on reflection, I could see that I was only thinking of myself, when everything he'd ever done had been with my well-being in mind. Right down to breaking his own heart so he wouldn't tear me away from my mother when she left him, believing I would be better off.

However, Jacob's words cut me deep, and I felt like I couldn't breathe through the sob building in my chest.

"If I could, I would go back and change so much that I've done and said to my father over the years, but I can't. And I can't change this, either." I paused, taking a deep breath to collect myself before bringing my gaze back to meet Jake's. "And as contradictory as this sounds, I also don't regret anything that's brought me here. If I'd never come back to Forks, I would never have known the unconditional love of two wonderful men, and I couldn't ask for anything better than that. Not even if I lived another fifty years."

"You're doing this for nothing, Bella. You're giving up your life for nothing. You're killing Charlie for nothing." With each statement, the emphasis and volume of his words grew, and as he moved toward me, I stepped back. "You're willing to die for him, but you cower away from me?"

"I'm not dying for him. It's a consequence of a choice I made, and this happens to be the price," I replied with as level of a tone as I could manage. "I know how much you love Charlie, so if you won't do this for me, do it for him. Keep him safe. Protect him. Never let him blame himself. Please, just take care of my father."

Something in my pleas that time must have broken through to him, because he sighed in defeat and nodded. Nothing more was said as I backed away to rejoin Edward, and we made our way to the Volvo, where I immediately broke down.