Chapter 19
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"Excuse me?" Bella's voice was shrill, and her hand flew to her jutted out hip. I had definitely done something seriously wrong.
"Bella, please, be reasonable."
"Reasonable?!" I'm not sure a human could have heard her voice at that point. The pitch was so high that only an animal or a vampire could hear it.
Her pointer finger flew up in the air before she spoke in a much lower and far more dangerous tone. "Let me tell you something right now, Edward," she said, spitting out my name like a curse. "I don't give one rat's ass how much older you are; you don't get to tell me what I am allowed to do. Got that?" She poked me in the chest, and I let her push me back with the motion, fearing she'd break her finger otherwise.
I wanted to back pedal, but I also needed her to understand the gravity of the situation. "Perhaps, I used the wrong word."
"No shit, Sherlock," I heard Emmett chuckle from the couch. Similar thoughts ran through the minds of all my family members.
Bella threw him a glare, and I was briefly relieved to have the heat of her stare off me. My thoughts were scrambling, trying to find a way to get myself out of the hot water I'd unwittingly plunged myself into.
I'd always wondered how Emmett managed to get himself into such predicaments with Rosalie and often chided him for not filtering his thoughts before they left his mouth. Apparently, there was a variable in the equation I hadn't understood before.
Thankfully, my father had mercy on me. "While I'm normally inclined to allow the two of you some privacy for this conversation, I'm afraid we have no time.
"Bella, dearest, you have every right to be a part of this meeting. However, we can safely assume that one or more wolves will be in attendance. It would be irresponsible for us to take you into such an unpredictable and, quite probably, dangerous situation. I'm sorry, but I need to ask you to sit this one out. Please trust that we will let you know everything that happens."
Bella folded her arms across her chest and glared at me as she sat back down into the overstuffed chair beside me. "You could've just said THAT, Edward."
"Duly noted, love." I knelt beside her and gazed into her eyes.
She kept her arms crossed over her chest, still angry. "You can't boss me around. Just talk to me, Edward. I'm not a child any more. If you and I are going to work, you have to treat me as your equal. Can't you understand that?"
"Of course, Bella. I'm sorry. Forgive me?"
Rosalie snorted behind me. I didn't have the patience for her in that moment. Warning her to back off, I growled softly so that Bella wouldn't hear.
The warning, however, went unheeded, and Rosalie let her tongue fly. "Oh, shut it, Eddie. That's the only good thing to come out of this whole damn mess. We finally get someone who can deal with your emo, OCD ass-and all the overbearing, controlling bullshit that goes with it. Give him hell, Belly Button!"
Bella's smiled brilliantly at Rose, then looked at me, still crouched on the floor near her knees. Finally, she uncrossed her arms and offered me her hand. I took it in mine with great relief and kissed her knuckles.
"Thank you," I whispered.
Carlisle interrupted again to explain the situation with the tribe to Bella. He described the long standing treaty between the tribe and our family, how the tribe learned of our existence, and the wonder that he had felt after learning that the wolves had reappeared after two generations without any.
Carlisle had scheduled a meeting with them to discuss the particulars of this new development and my presence in the Swan household. By telling her parents she was playing baseball with my family and me, we were able to arrange for Bella to stay at the house with Esme and Rosalie while the rest of us met with the tribe.
Carlisle, Emmett, Jasper, Alice and I arrived at the meeting place along the northern boundary of the reservation. The tribe was represented by Chief Billy Black, Harry Clearwater and Old Quil Ateara and two wolves.
"Chief Black, it's good to see you again," Carlisle began as he offered his hand to the man in the wheelchair. Billy just looked at it. They were all silent except for the wolves, who stood on either side of the group rumbling with low growls.
A strapping, but very young, man – perhaps only fifteen – stood behind the chief's chair. It was Jacob, Billy's son and future tribal chief.
Carlisle withdrew his hand. "I assure you we mean no harm to any of you." He looked at the chief again and smiled sincerely. Edward, please, I need something to sit on.
My father wanted nothing more than to earn their trust. He asked for something to sit on to even the subconscious inequity of his physically towering over the man in the wheelchair. In the blink of an eye, I located a fallen tree and brought to him. He sat on it with an open and relaxed posture.
"You look remarkably like your grandfather," he told Billy. "He was a good man . . . and wise. I admired his ability to govern his people so fairly and with such compassion. I strive to be like him with my own family."
Carlisle gestured to us, ignoring the chief's "harumph".
None of them spoke for several moments. They were waiting and watching, wanting us to make a mistake and show a hint of violence or wildness.
"May I reacquaint you with my family?" He pointed to each of us as he called our names. In turn, we stepped forward and offered a silent greeting, waving or nodding, but were met only with stares.
"I believe we have two matters to discuss," Carlisle stated and waited for the Chief's acknowledgement before elaborating. Ninety seconds passed while Billy merely gazed at him.
Carlisle waited patiently, a soft smile on his face.
Finally, Billy looked to his left at the larger of the two wolves, raising his eyebrows and ever so slightly nodding his head in our direction. We tensed, thinking he was signaling an attack, but held our position.
Jasper sent out a giant wave of calm. I gestured with my hand next to my thigh, telling him he had misinterpreted. The chief was merely asking the wolf to indicate which of us he'd smelled the night before. One of the wolves pointed at me with his muzzle. I gathered from Billy's thoughts that the wolf's name was Sam.
Billy turned back to Carlisle. "Why was that one at the Swan's place last night?"
The tribe was unaware that I had been in the Swan home on a regular basis for the last seventeen years. We knew there might come a time when this information would need to be revealed but until now, as far as the tribe was concerned, our arrival in Forks happened only weeks ago.
Are you ready? Carlisle silently asked.
I nodded and stepped forward. "I was there because of Bella. She is . . . important . . . to me. I protect her. I always have."
Billy's thoughts became more suspicious. "Explain," he demanded.
Taking a deep breath, I continued, "I was in Bella's room last night watching over her . . . in the same place I have been for seventeen years."
"Why?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. He wanted to know from whom I was protecting her. Specifically, he wanted to know if there were other vampires near and if they were after Bella.
I pondered what to tell him. If I told him too much, he could nullify the treaty, which would lead to a war between us and endanger Bella. This, I could not abide. However, I had to tell him something.
"Because . . . I love her. She knows I'm there. She wants me there with her. I will watch over her until the day she dies." And beyond, I finished to myself.
"You intend to change her?" he asked perceptively, spawning twin growls from the wolves.
"Not without consent," I said and left it at that.
He interpreted my answer somewhat egotistically, replying, "We do not give it. You know the terms of the treaty. It is violated if you bite a human, no matter the ultimate end to your victim." He enunciated the last word carefully. Neither he or the treaty made any allowances for circumstance.
In truth, I had meant Bella's consent, not the tribe's, but chose not to belabor the point and merely nodded.
"I'd like to discuss . . ." Carlisle began, gesturing one hand toward each wolf. "I hadn't realized that the gene had resurfaced. I assumed the gene was completely dormant. How interesting, you have not one, but two, wolves when there were none for two generations."
Carlisle's thoughts swirled at the medical marvel of the people opposite us. The science of it fascinated him.
I was about to clear my throat to get him back on track when I heard a startling, errant thought from one of the elders. Harry Clearwater was smug as he thought, Four wolves.
I was shocked. We knew of no generation with more than three wolves.
"How long has it been since their first shift?" I asked, interrupting Carlisle.
"Long enough," the chief answered vaguely, but his thoughts told me that Sam's transformation occurred two weeks prior and the wolf on his right, Jared, had changed for the first time just three days before the meeting.
Harry's thoughts told the rest of the story. The other two wolves were still in the midst of their fever and, therefore, not stable enough to leave their homes. The elders doubted that Sam and Jared could be completely relied upon to maintain control, but the elders were sufficiently intimidated by us that they risked bringing them.
"We can help," I said quickly. No one would be happy with me revealing too much of my hand this early in the game, but I was wagering that the help we could give would strengthen the tenuous peace between us. I needed the tribe as my ally to ensure Bella's safety on all fronts.
"We need no help from the cold ones," Chief Black responded indignantly.
"Sam was first then Jared less than a week ago. The other two, Embry and Paul," I picked the names out of Harry's thoughts, "are still suffering from the fever, but you know what's coming. There are four in this generation, maybe more." I looked back to Billy.
"That's what you're worried about, isn't it, Chief Black? You're worried that Jacob's turn is coming." It was more a hope than a worry.
"Let us help," I offered again. "We know the stories your grandfathers told us and we are as strong as they are. I know you're worried about someone getting hurt. Sam and Jared can help, and they have been, but how many more boys about this age are there on the reservation? How many more are on the brink of fever?
"We don't want to be your enemies. Let us be your friends. Please, let us help."
A sudden flash of anger burst from Jacob, and he yelled, "Friends? Help? It's your fault they're like this! It's your fault that we're turning. And no one knows who's next? We all sit around waiting, dreading, wondering whose life is going to be changed forever. Help? It's all your fault!"
Jacob's tirade had carried him from behind his father's chair and much closer to us than any of the elders were comfortable with. Both wolves leapt forward, flanking Jacob and growling viciously. Jasper and Emmett matched their positions beside me, crouched and growling with as much ferocity.
Chief Black propelled his chair forward over the rough terrain. "Jacob! Get back now!" I didn't have to be a mind-reader to hear his fear.
"Jazz, Em, back off." I spoke softly and calmly. They reluctantly acquiesced, but maintained their positions on either side of me.
"What do you mean 'our fault'?" Carlisle asked, attempting divert the focus away from the potential violence.
"Why do you think they've shifted?" Jacob asked incredulously. "You show up, and BAM!" he yelled and flung his arms out wide, "There's four of them! Four wolves shifting in a matter of weeks? That's not exactly a coincidence, doctor!" His voice dripped with sarcasm at Carlisle's title. "You said it yourself-there haven't been any wolves in nearly three generations. That is until you show up, and there's so damn many of you fucking freaks of nature; it's no wonder that our genes have gone all ape-shit!"
Silence weighed heavily on us following Jacob's rant. Carlisle and Billy each stared into the other's eyes. My father was aghast that we could be responsible for a fate these young men found so distasteful. The Chief regretted Jacob's losing control and revealing their thoughts to us, but wasn't the least bit sorry for what they believed to be true. He held us responsible and was happy to place the blame where he believed it belonged.
Could it be possible? Our presence caused the gene, once latent, to reactivate…and with such plentitude? Carlisle mused as he returned Billy's gaze.
"Chief Black, if this is the case, that we have unwittingly caused the shifting of so many young men, we are so sorry. It was never our intention." Carlisle paused, at a loss for words to express his regret. He turned to the two wolves, now standing together in front of their fellow tribe members. "We are truly and deeply sorry."
I caught the flashes of faces in Sam's mind and his words of pain. Leah. You'll never be sorry enough for what you've made me do to her.
I continued to listen to his self-flagellation over the girlfriend he loved. I listened further, unable to understand exactly what had happened.I heard Jared break into Sam's thoughts and was startled at my discovery.
"What does it mean to imprint?" I asked, picking out the unfamiliar word from what Jared was saying in an attempt to comfort Sam. "Who is Emily?"
Sam growled viciously, and I was hyper-aware that I was treading on dangerous ground by simply speaking her name. Sam obviously felt extremely protective of her.
"How do you know Emily?" Harry asked.
"I don't."
"Why would you ask those questions?" the chief questioned.
"Sam imprinted on Emily," I stated simply, picking the details from the thoughts swirling around me. "It's not your fault, Sam. No one here blames you." It was with great pain that he wondered about how Harry truly felt about him and what he'd done to Leah.
"What are you doing?" Billy asked.
"It seems we have much more in common than we thought," I ventured. "As you know, the wolves can hear each other's thoughts. The truth is I can hear you, too," I confessed. "Not just the wolves. I can hear all of you, all of us." I gestured both in front and behind me, indicating everyone present.
Gasps erupted from both sides. The tribe had no idea we had any enhanced abilities beyond the superhuman strength and speed all vampires had. My family was aghast that I revealed this information to them.
"Our kind is not so different. We have a kind of imprinting of our own, though we refer to it as 'mating.' Every one of us has been through the mating process."
Billy's eyes narrowed on us. "There are only seven of you."
"I know. Chief Black, please understand, we have no more choice than Sam did. Carlisle has Esme; Emmett has Rosalie. Alice and Jasper are mated."
I paused at the influx of emotion I felt, thinking about Bella. My fist went to my chest, and I rubbed the knuckles over the place where my dead heart lay, trying to assuage the clenching feeling there that strained towards her. "I, too, have mated."
After a moment to think it through, he said, "Bella." Billy's voice was resigned as he spoke her name. This was something he could understand. He'd watched the tragedy left behind after Sam's imprinting and the devastation felt by both Leah and Sam.
His thoughts were deeply sympathetic toward the large, black wolf standing in front of him.
"She knows," Chief Black stated.
It wasn't a question. I nodded.
"About you. About us? About everything?"
"Yes," I said, my tone indicating that the word was sufficient for all his inquiries.
"Does she wish to be…" he struggled with the word, "bitten?"
Everyone in the clearing held their breath while I considered my answer.
Looking Chief Black in the eye, I gave him the best answer I could give. "She seems favorably disposed to the idea."