Edward Point Of View. –
We stood, united, in the back yard of our new house. We were standing in a line, each of us next to our mates, ready to show them that we were not backing down. The grandfather clock in the parlor chimed midnight and the minds of the wolves became clearer to me. "They are close." I told the family. Bella squeezed my hand, silently showing her support. Carlisle turned to nod at me, and then turned back to the forest. Emmett sighed, Rosalie leaned against his side.
They emerged slowly, regarding us with careful eyes. Jacob Black was working hard to conceal every thought that he could and I assumed that Sam had asked Jacob to be careful; obviously they didn't want to offend us.
Carlisle stepped forward and smiled kindly at the alpha wolf. "Sam, it is a pleasure to meet with you again. We trust that you and your pack have been well?"
We have thankyou. I repeated Sam's thoughts for Carlisle. I could tell that some of the other wolf's were getting restless, they wanted to know what they were about to be facing.
"Maybe this would be easier if you changed back to your human form. You must be hungry or thirsty, we have everything that you need in the house."
The wolves considered Carlisle's words for a few moments before they answered.
"We will sleep out here, but we agree that communication will be easier if we are in human form." I said in representation of Sam.
The wolves went to the forest to phase but were back moments later. They were all shirtless and most of them were scowling. Sam had a neutral expression on his face but Jacob Black would not look at any of us.
"Lets go inside." Carlisle said politely. I could see that he was excited at the prospect of strengthening the relationship between the two families.
Sam, Jared and Embry all sat on the couch and Jacob and Paul stood behind them. The first three seemed the most accepting at being here. Carlisle, Esme and Jasper with Alice on his la sat on the other couch, Emmett and Rosalie on the love seat and I sat with Bella on my lap on one of the arm chairs. I did not want to let go of her now, more than usual, with Jacob around. Alright, not just Jacob but all of the wolves, but mostly Jacob. Jacob could hurt Bella with words and thoughts as well as physically. I was not stupid, I knew how much she had relied on Jacob whilst I was gone and the fact that he would rather her dead hurt her. But Bella was so strong, she would not let Jacob's thought affect her so greatly.
"The same amount of newborns is coming." Alice said brightly after no one spoke for a few moments. The wolves all turned to look at her and Jasper pulled her closer to him. He was as protective of Alice as I was of Bella.
"What else can you see?" Embry asked her, generally curious about her visions in general.
"I do not see the fight, but only the outcome. I see no blood so I assume that none of the pack are harmed. The only members of our coven that are injured are Edward and Emmett." Bella looked at me curiously, and somewhat angryily.
"What?" I asked Bella.
"Rose and I were the ones that got hurt."
"You think that we would let that happen?" Emmett snorted and Rosalie glared.
"But now the two of you get hurt." Bella said worriedly.
"There are no serious injuries Bella honestly. I think that one of us gets bitten though. I can hear Carlisle say 'still stinging?'." Alice cocked her head to the side and her eyes glazed over.
Bella and I saw the vision run through her head.
Bella was sitting next to me, running her fingers through my hair and rubbing her hand over my arm, which had scratch marks. I could see Rosalie sitting next to Emmett and whispering in his ear, he was leaning his head on hers and had a peaceful expression on his face. I too could hear Carlisle say in a gentle voice 'still stinging?'
"So wither Jasper or Alice get bitten?" I said. Jasper stiffened and looked at his wife with alarm, before pulling her close still.
"What about Esme?" Bella asked. Carlisle had very much the same reaction tat Jasper did.
"No, Carlisle would be much more panicked if Esme that had been hurt." Alice said calmly.
"Hmmm." Said Bella thoughtfully.
"So what exactly are we facing here?" Sam asked after a moments silence.
"There are nineteen vampires coming, seventeen of those are newborns. They are unprepared to fight numbers likes ours. They are much stronger than most vampires. The only one here that will be able to match them for strength is Emmett." Jasper said, gesturing towards my other brother. The wolves looked at Emmett curiously, who grinned at them.
"They do not know that we are aware of their attack. They do not know that we help. I think that it would be best if you hid upwind of them, just at first, so that they are not deterred by your scent." Jasper said.
"They fight using their strength, not their skill. Have you ever attacked a vampire before?"
"Just that leech with the dreadlocks that tried to bite Bella." Paul said. I tensed at the mention of Laurent and Bella kissed my cheek sweetly.
"We can show you more if you want." Jasper said wearily. My brother was not sure if teaching the wolves how to fight with a vampire with a good thing or not but wanted to do anything possible to keep the family from danger.
The wolves all nodded eagerly and we made our way to the backyard. "Emmett come up here with me." Jasper gestured and Emmett bounded up in front of the crowed grinning like a little child.
"Emmett attacks like a newborn more than the rest of us."
"Hey!"
"Only because you use your strength so much. Try to attack me."
Jasper and Emmett spread out and started to circle each other in their crouches. Emmett flew at Jasper, arms out stretched and flew into his side, pinning him to the ground.
"Easy." Emmett grinned.
"Yer, yer, I let you do that. Do not get to used to winning." Jasper said as the two of them got up.
"Now, that is most likely how the newborns will attack. Whatever you do, do not let them get their arms round ya'." The wolves all nodded. Jasper proceeded to show them extensively how to attack the newborn vampires and even got the wolves to phase back to their wolf form to attack. Alice protested that greatly because she could not see the outcome but eventually Jasper managed to sooth her. Needless to say by the end of the lesson they were all very excited about what would happen in just eight hours.
They decided to hunt in wolf form and headed east, whilst we headed west. We split up into our mated pairs and Bella and I got lucky. We caught the scent of some wolves and ran after them. I tried not to look at her whilst she hunted but I couldn't not. She sensed my lust using my gift gladly helped me get rid of that situation before we both returned to the house, satiated in more ways than one. I couldn't wait till this was over though, I was more than willing to find a house to live in with Bella, and I wanted to marry her soon.
We ran back to the house and met everybody there. The wolves were back in their human form and everybody was sitting in a circle on the lawn discussing last minute tactics. Some of the wolves were actively discussing, though Jacob still would not allow any of the vampires to go near him. Jacob glared at Bella and I as we walked towards them smelling strongly of each other. Obviously, they were all aware of what we had just been doing, and if they weren't, they would be soon. Emmett wolf whistled at us.
"I was wondering what was taking the two of you so long, but I guess that now we know." He grinned at me. Embry fought a smile and Paul fist bumped Emmett, roaring with laughter.
Immature assholes.
"How much longer do we have?" I asked them as Bella and I sat next to my mother.
"About an hour." Esme answered.
"And where exactly are Tanya and the others?"
"Right here Edward!" I heard somebody call from behind me. We all turned our head to the direction of the to voice and saw the four Denali members running towards is. My family and I stood up to greet them, whilst the wolves moved further away.
Tanya came first then followed by Kate, Carmen and Eleazar. They all made pleasantries with each other and I stood protectively behind Bella with my arms folded across her stomach.
"Edward! It is so good to see you again!" Kate said excitedly as she kissed my cheek, then shook Bella's hand. "And Bella! It is so wonderful to finally meet you!" Carmen and Eleazar greeted her the same way but Tanya determinedly ignored the both of us. The only mated couple in the Denali coven were the most civil to the wolves but Tanya and Kate practically ignored them.
"Guys!" Alice called over all the noise. Everyone turned to look at her. "It's time."