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By the time Edward got home that night his family had gathered in the large living room of the Cullen house. He'd spent hours just driving around and around the tiny town, thanking Jacob goddamn Black's lucky stars that the boy was from the Reservation and therefore safely out of Edward's reach for the next 16 or so hours.
He'd seriously contemplated intercepting the Quileute on one of the winding roads between the school and La Push. Edward had seen enough of Jacob in his friends' minds to know that the boy would have been alone in his old Volkswagen, which was notoriously unreliable. It would have been easy enough to stage an accident and take the boy.
Luckily, for Black, Alice had texted him a sharp and concise 'NO' which quickly reminded him of everything he would be giving up, more importantly forcing his family to give up, if he kidnapped the frustratingly silent teen. And what would it achieve anyway? He'd be stuck with the boy, because there was no way he could kill him - it would devastate Carlisle- and Jacob Black's ever silent mind would remain just so. Silent.
'You did the right thing' Alice said to him in his mind as his dropped his jacket and keys on the stool of his piano. Edward flashed a quick smile at her, running marble-like hands through forever tousled hair. "I assumed Alice filled you in?" he asked the rest of his family, already knowing the answer from their racing thoughts.
"Sucks dude" Emmett snorted sympathetically, stepping forward to pat Edward's shoulder. "But at least it makes this high school shit more interesting, right?" He grinned at Edward and Edward couldn't help but smile a little at Emmett's insane optimism.
"Emmett Cullen, what have I told you about using that kind of language in my house?!" Esme chastised, but Emmett just kept on grinning.
"Sorry, Ma" he said mockingly, rolling his eyes the whole while. Edward actually laughed out loud when he heard Esme resolving to hide that 'daft gaming contraption Emmett loves so much until that boy finds his manners' and gave her a thumbs up for which he received a smile from his mother.
"Alice says the boy is completely immune to your gift Edward?" Carlisle questioned. When Edward nodded the eldest vampires eyebrows drew together as if he were deep in thought, 'How bizarre' his mental voice mumbled.
"Watcha gonna do, Edward?" Alice asked, humming a 16th century carol in her head. In Portuguese. Backwards. What was she hiding? Edward knew that it must be something relating to his current predicament. That was the only explanation he could think of for her to try so hard to hide her thoughts from him.
Edward sighed heavily, he seemed to be doing that a lot today. " I don't know Alice. I might head up toward Denali. Clear my head. Today was too close a call. If I allow him to put me in that kind of position again I may well end up doing something that I'll regret later"
"Alaska?" Alice asked, her pixie-like face scrunched in annoyance "You can't run from this Edward. He's not going anywhere."
Edward could feel his ire growing as his sister spoke. Alice was right of course, she always was, but he was angry just the same. She knew something – something about him or Jacob Black – that she wasn't about to share, something that could help him and that made him angrier at Alice than he had ever been before.
"What should I do then? O fountain of infinite wisdom" Edward snapped at the tiny vampire before him, "What are you trying to hide Alice?" Jasper's menacing growl echoed across the room, the empath clearly upset at Edwards behaviour towards his mate, but Edward had had enough. "Stay out of this Jaz" he snarled through his teeth "She knows , I don't know what she knows, and she's hiding it from me. This is between me and Alice. So stay out of it"
" I won't 'stay out of it'" Jasper spoke surprisingly calmly "You are threatnin' my Alice, Edward. I ain't gonna let that fly."Edward rounded on his brother, prepared for violence, only to find the former soldier sitting calmly on the armchair nearest the window, with an almost pitying look in his eye.
"He's one of the tribe, Ed." Jasper reminded him quietly, giving Edward pause. "Harming him would break the treaty with the Quileute Elders. You know that as well as anyone." Edward sighed heavily. Feeling all the fight leaving him. It was Jasper's way, to do this; to perfectly find the crux of any situation. Edward presumed that it was an ability his sibling had gained during his human years as an Army officer, although sometimes he thought that maybe it was one of the many oddities that made Jasper, well, Jasper.
He could not deny the truth in Jasper's words; there was no way he could so much as harm one hair on Jacob Black's head without bringing the retribution of the Quileute Reservation down on the entire family. The people of the Reservation may no longer be the lycanthropic warriors that featured in their legends but they were still just as wary of Edward's family of "cold ones" as their ancestors had been when Carlisle had arrived in Forks for the first time almost a century before. Edward breathed heavily through his nose, pinching its bridge in frustration as he paced across the room to his piano and sat down, heavily, on its bench. Closing his tired eyes Edward leaned his head back on the pristine surface of his prized possession, attempting to clear his beleaguered mind.
It was Carlisle who eventually broke the silence that settled over the room, his apologetic thoughts tipped Edward off as to what his father was going to say before a single syllable was uttered.
"Alice is right, Edward." He began, sighing when Edward growled slightly before pulling one arm over his closed eyes, " going to Denali may give you some temporary space but the young man will be here when you return. He has no idea of the effect he is having on you, son. He sees no reason to fear you. To him you are not dangerous, so he will not run."
"But Carlisle" Edward groaned out in what, even he had to admit, could only be described as a whiny tone.
"No, Edward" Carlisle cut in " You aren't thinking rationally. I don't know if it's this boy or hunger or something else entirely but you are being rash. Its unhealthy, son. We need to deal with this as a family. Face it head on."
Rosalie snorted at the last part, moving from her spot against the wall for the first time since Edward walked through the door. "For God's sake, get a grip Edward. So what if you can't hear one human? Big whoop. What difference does it make? I think it'll be good for your overinflated ego, having to communicate like a normal person for once" She ended her rant with a sneer.
"Rose" Esme warned, her usually soft voice laced with scorn. It seemed to have no effect on Rosalie however, the blonde huffing dismissively before striding out into the garage.
"That's it. I have to get out of here" Edward rose from the piano bench, his face set with determination. "I need to hunt. " With those words he raced out of the door, leaving his confused family in his wake and himself alone with his thoughts.
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