The wind whooshed in my ears as loudly as if I were in a jet plane. My speed could not rival Leah's, of course, but that wasn't something to be sad about. After all, if not for a few seconds, I would be literally the fastest being on the planet, followed closely by the only female pack mate we had.
The third place would have to be awarded to the redheaded bloodsucker that had trespassed onto academy grounds around ten minutes ago. She wouldn't be around long enough to claim it, though. Leah and I were just short of encroaching on the perimeter she had managed to maintain around herself up until now, and soon enough one of our claws would dig into her dead heart and put an end to the chase.
White-hot adrenaline pumped through my muscles as the distance between me and Leah shortened. Her fur glinted like silver under the October moonlight, in stark contrast with the burgundy of the bloodsucker's hair as she tried to slip away from the clearing we were chasing her through into the forest shadows. My heartbeat began to thud faster when it struck me that she was actually getting close to the end of the clearing and to forest beyond, where–as Dr. Cullen had instructed–we definitely weren't supposed to venture.
His stern voice echoed through my head for the most fleeting of seconds before I realized that the bloodsucker had pushed herself past an invisible line that I was certain we would not be able to reach in time–not without crossing over into the forest and risking our own lives in the process.
"There's no point, Black," an annoyingly condescending voice belonging to none other than Edward Cullen said from at least a couple of miles away. "Give it up. She won't come back any time soon."
As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. The bloodsucker was too far out of reach, and if we continued following, in all likelihood we would end up plunging into the woods before we even had the chance to realize it and turn back. So, with a growl of frustration, I skidded to a halt. The sudden shift in pace made my lungs cough out the crisp autumn air I'd swallowed during my run, while the adrenaline that had been gushing through my veins began to melt away.
That was, of course, until my eyes spotted Leah's silver tail still bouncing in the distance.
"Halt, girl," another voice commanded, also from a couple of miles away. That was Jasper Whitlock, and judging from the direction of the sound, he couldn't be far from where Cullen was standing. "Leah," he said louder. "Stop. Now."
As soon as he spoke, the mane of ginger hair we'd been following slipped out of sight, as the bloodsucker finally escaped into the forest.
But that was not enough to bring Leah to her senses.
The urgency of the situation had me shifting back into my human form in less than a second and falling almost face-first onto the grass in the process. The embarrassment didn't even hit me, shadowed as it was by the ice-cold fear that my Beta would end up running into what we all knew to be a trap.
"Leah!" Her name ripped from my throat. "Leah, stop!"
The darkness of the forest seemed to loom over her, to dwarf her, as she sped towards its depths.
And then, without prior warning, she just dropped limp on the ground, a mere two feet away from the trees.
My shoulders sagged in relief.
Jasper.
Without further ado, I sprinted to where Leah lay, still as a rock. The wave of drowsiness that Jasper had thrown over her had also made her shift back into her human form, which definitely made it easier to just lift her up into my arms and carry her the hell out of there.
Soon, I found myself at the edge of the beaten path that snaked around the campus's bouldered woods towards the main school building.
That was where Cullen's black Range Rover screeched to a halt.
"Get in," he said from the passenger's seat. I moved Leah's body so that she was hanging over my shoulder and did as he instructed. The air inside the car was warm and comforting, and I could feel some of my tension receding as I fell back against the cushioned seat. "There's a blanket under my seat. Cover her up."
"Do you only speak in imperative sentences?" I complained, while also fetching the plaid blanket and laying it over Leah's body. "I'm genuinely curious."
"You should be curious about why your Beta is so intent on disrespecting our orders," Cullen quipped back.
A burst of heat flared up in the pit of my stomach.
"The only orders she should follow are her Alpha's. If you're confused about who that is, let me help you: that's me."
"And yet, when you called for her to stop, it was as if she didn't even hear you," he retorted.
I wanted to answer with some other snarky remark, but the truth was that… I couldn't. Because he was right, and no matter what I said, he'd be able to hear my thoughts anyway. He would know that, deep inside, I was growing more and more agitated at the futility of my efforts to tame the wolf pack. It didn't help that new wolves seemed to pop up out of nowhere every month. In the beginning, there was only me, Sam, and Paul, and shortly after that, we were joined by Leah and her brother Seth, who were followed by Embry, Quil, and Jared. Then, all of a sudden, Collin and Brady, whose voices were still that odd mix between the sound of a boiling kettle and that of a truck engine, were brought over here and practically forced to enroll in the academy.
The worst part of it was that they were not even my biggest concern. Collin and Brady were still young enough to idolize their Alpha, unlike Leah and Paul, who were all teenage angst and bravado. The more I reproached them, the more they rejected my authority.
And then, of course, there was Sam–the reason why we were all here in the first place, thousands and thousands of miles away from home.
"She's coming to," Jasper announced.
"What the hell?" Leah muttered, her deep-set eyes fluttering open and adjusting slowly to the warm light inside the car. "Why the fuck am I naked? In a car. With three men."
"There's a bag with some of Rosalie's clothes under Jasper's seat," Cullen said quietly, and there was a soothing quality to his voice that made my eyebrows climb all the way to my hairline.
"None of you answered my question," she spat out. "What the hell happened?"
"Jasper used his freaky powers to save your ass," I replied. "You were going to follow the bloodsucker into the woods, so he made you fall asleep before that could happen."
"What?!"
"We've talked about this, Leah," Cullen cut in. "It's an ambush."
Leah huffed in frustration, whilst also falling back against the car seat with a resigned look on her face.
We'd learned that this was the prototypical ambush shortly after we had lost the one person who could tell us what to expect before it happened. Alice Brandon was the only clairvoyant in the academy, and that was probably why the Volturi had put a target on her back.
Cullen's theory was that they had been playing around with her visions for weeks before they finally caught her. The thing about her gift was that it was all based on people's decisions: it was not the future per se that she could see, but the future outcomes of others' choices. So, for weeks, several of them had chosen, one at a time, to break into the main school building and kill everyone in sight. The catch was that Alice could not see us werewolves, meaning that the outcomes she envisaged always lacked a crucial element–our swift response to any bloodsucker trespassing onto school grounds. In other words, each time one of them showed up in real life, weeks apart from one another, we managed to kill them soon after spotting them, but that scenario never played out in Alice's mind beforehand. It was as if we did not exist in her visions, and without our existence, there could only be one end to a vampire's presence near the academy's students: a massacre.
Alice Brandon's gift turned out to be her curse. Whenever a vision like this washed over her brain, her screams could be heard through the granite web of school halls, as shrill as sirens.
Eventually, she broke. She'd just… disappeared, never to be seen again. We scouted the area surrounding the academy for weeks and weeks, relentlessly, tirelessly, until we almost lost one of our best and brightest, Benjamin, who was able to start a fire out of thin air and who was accompanied by Kate, the only person on campus that could brew a storm inside her own fist and fry you to a crisp with her thunder.
That day, Sam and I were the only ones on patrol, and Benjamin, Jasper, and Kate followed closely behind us, when suddenly, all five of us dropped down to the ground in excruciating pain. I was still able to remember the feeling that had wrapped over me, as if my bones were shattering into tiny little pieces all at once. And then, through the blurriness that had clouded my eyes, I saw a figure in a dark cloak bent over Benjamin's writhing body, its head eerily close to his neck.
Jasper had saved the day. If it hadn't been for his ability to control others' emotions, none of us would have been able to grab onto the lifeguard that was the wave of calm he'd flipped over us and make the life-determining–albeit pained–effort to get off the ground, bite the bloodsucker's head off, and run the hell out of there.
That was how we found out that a war was being silently waged against the Cullen Academy.
Shortly after this, Edward had scanned the area for any thoughts belonging to our enemy, and we quickly realized that the pain we had endured that day had been sent our way by a little girl called Jane, under the orders of her Master, Aro Volturi.
That was when one of my best friends, Bella, was called to step in. Bella was a mental shield, or at least that was what Professor Eleazar called her. Her gift consisted in being able to establish a perimeter around herself where other people's psychic powers didn't work. The biggest perk of her gift was that it worked like a one-way mirror, allowing those within the perimeter to project their powers beyond it. The biggest downside to it was that she could only expand it up to a certain radius. In this case, the furthest her shield could go was up to the outermost ring of woodland surrounding the campus.
In other words, we were all trapped here.
A loud growl tore through my stomach as soon as Jasper parked the car inside the open garage to the left of the school building.
"Looks like someone forgot his dog treats this morning," Rosalie said as soon as I got out of the car, throwing a bag of clothes against my chest.
"Looks like you forgot to redye your roots."
I let her stew over that as I put on the pair of gray sweats and black tank top she'd brought me. Judging from how they fit me, they could only belong to her boyfriend, Emmett, who stood at 6'5'' and who had the biceps of a professional bodybuilder. I was slightly leaner than him, but I was also taller.
In my human form, though, I was definitely weaker than him, and so was the rest of humanity. It just so happened that Emmett's power was supernatural strength, which made him one of a kind.
I didn't dwell outside for long. Instead, I hurried up to my room and made quick work of stripping and stepping into the shower. Steam gathered over my head as the hot water washed away the leftover adrenaline that was still coursing through my veins.
In front of my pack and the rest of the student body, I couldn't display any signs of weariness, but within the confines of my shower cabin, I could let my head hang and pretend the water drops slipping down my face were tears. The truth was that I had lost the ability to cry a little over a year ago, when I had been plucked from my hometown in Washington and almost dragged here, to this little town in the middle of Ireland–all because of Sam and his ineptness at keeping himself under control.
Werewolves were volatile by nature, but Sam should have known better than to shift into his wolf form out of anger and permanently scar his girlfriend's face in the process–not just because Emily was the last person in the world who deserved that, but because that was bound to draw attention.
In fact, that's exactly what happened. They took their time, but eventually they showed up at our doorstep with a briefcase full of ancient books and all the paperwork to get us enrolled in their academy on the other side of the world. I had just turned sixteen, and all I wanted was to spend my days learning how to fix cars and my nights going to bonfires with the kids from our high school. Instead, I found myself sitting at my tribe's Council table, my insides churning the longer I looked at the three people sitting across from me–Dr. Cullen, Emmett, and, of course, Edward.
Dr. Carlisle Cullen was the dean of the academy. Emmett was his bodyguard, even though he liked to pretend he wasn't actually needed. And then there was Edward Cullen, the dean's son. His job was to know whether you were lying and lay out all of your secrets for everyone to see.
I remembered fisting my hands around the back of my chair as I watched my father from across the room, flanked by Leah and Seth's father, Harry Clearwater, and Old Quil, Quil's grandfather.
"Our understanding is that Sam is the first boy to transform in more than fifty years," Dr. Cullen said slowly, allowing the reality of the situation to seep into everyone's minds. His pale blue eyes bore a gentle and cautious look, as if he were trying to calm down a bear. "I believe that means nobody in the reservation has any experience with werewolves. Is that correct?"
"I know the value of legends passed down from generation to generation is something that's hard for you pale-faces to understand," Old Quil grumbled. "But we don't need your help. We can handle our boys on our own."
The tension in my forearms eased when I heard those words. Maybe I would get to stay close to my old man, to my friends, to the broken-down cars that I'd been working on for months… I didn't know why I'd been so worried–of course my father and the rest of the tribal council wouldn't allow a bunch of complete strangers to drag us to some fancy school in Europe. My lungs readied themselves to push out a sigh of relief, when suddenly, Edward Cullen's quiet voice reverberated through my head like a shockwave.
"Billy and Harry don't think that's enough to help them."
My stomach froze over. I looked at my old man, at the wrinkles that lined his russet skin like ridges carved into clay. His dark eyes were troubled and remorseful, as if he had already made his decision and couldn't take it back.
"Dad," I called, my heart panging against my chest. He wouldn't do this to me. Would he? "Tell them they're wrong. Just because Sam had one episode, it doesn't mean he can't control himself. Look at me and Paul. We're fine. Sam will be fine, too."
Except that wasn't really true. Paul was not even there with us, because he had just transformed a couple of days ago for the first time and he didn't know how to shift back into his human form yet. Aside from that, he had a hell of a temper, and that was saying a lot. Even I was treading a fine line as I sat there, feeling my blood simmer underneath my skin and my wolf howl through the walls of my ribcage.
I realized my mistake as soon as this thought coursed through my brain, when Edward's jade-green eyes snapped to mine.
It was strange that, when he looked at me for the first time, everything in my head seemed to go silent. Up until that moment, I'd been consumed by fear and confusion and mistrust, but then… Then there was only his raspberry-pink lips and angular features and the mid-morning sunlight filtering through the window and setting his bronze hair ablaze. His eyes widened slightly for a brief second as he stared back at me, surprise and a hint of something else soaking up the indifference that had been there before.
Goddamn. He was… intimidatingly pretty, if that was even a thing.
The moment ended when he blinked it away, his gaze shifting quickly to his folded hands on the table.
"He's lying," he said shortly.
"Please don't get us wrong," Dr. Cullen cut in, addressing my father and Harry directly. Curiously, he didn't glance at Old Quil even once, as if he didn't exist. "There's no reason to lie or be afraid. Perhaps we've given you all the impression that you don't have a choice here. If the boys don't want to enroll in the Cullen Academy, that is up to you and them, but I urge you to consider our proposal. All of the kids we've taken under our wing have made considerable improvements. They've learnt how to control their powers, instead of being controlled by them."
I could hear my father gulping down his inner torment from across the room.
"Who's in charge of training these kids?" he asked. "What do they know about werewolves?"
"Our teaching staff includes Professor Eleazar, Professor Zafrina, and Professor Siobhan. Not only do they possess gifts of their own, but they have dedicated their entire lives to the study of supernatural beings. Professor Zafrina in particular is familiar with the Lobisomens, a werewolf pack native to Brazil."
Silence ensued. My father exchanged brief glances with Harry, whose eyes kept flickering to where Sam was sitting, looking like death.
Emily was still in the hospital, the left side of her face covered in stitches and gauze. Sam was so ashamed that he hadn't gathered up the courage to visit her yet.
The silence was broken by the sound of a pen scribbling on the notepad that Edward had in front of him.
Seriously? My life was falling apart, and this guy was fucking doodling.
"Sam," Dr. Cullen called softly. Sam finally looked up from his lap, his eyes red-rimmed and lifeless. "I know you don't want to live your life in fear of hurting the people you love most. It may seem now that you're doomed to distance yourself from everyone, but with time and guidance, you can feel in control again."
A quiet spark returned to Sam's jet-black eyes, and right then, I knew that I would not see my family and friends ever again.
Looking back, I could admit that my reaction had been somewhat dramatic. The truth was that we were all allowed to visit our folks every other month, and all at the academy's charge.
I still resented the fact that Sam's fuck-up had spilled over into my otherwise quiet life, although not as much as I resented my old man for not trusting me enough to manage my wolf on my own terms. I had shown him nothing but patience and maturity throughout my entire life, both when my mother had died and when his diabetes had put him in a wheelchair, but it seemed that the time I'd spent proving to him that I was enough of a man to lead a werewolf pack without anyone's unsolicited advice was worth nothing.
I was Ephraim Black's great-grandson, the natural-born Alpha of the Quileute pack. Ancient wisdom was in my DNA. I didn't need Professor Zafrina or Dr. Cullen. All I needed was some peace and quiet and a werewolf pack that could actually cooperate.
I still needed to have a word with Leah, but I would refrain from doing so tonight. After all, it was the first Friday of the month, which meant that there was probably a party going on, and the next patrol shift had already been assigned to Paul, Sam, and Collin, who would be accompanied by Emmett and Professor Siobhan. For once, I could relax and pretend we weren't at war.
When I came down to the assembly hall, I found myself surrounded by an assortment of fall decorations. Fake spider webs festooned the walls, intertwined with string lights and maple leaf garlands. A makeshift pumpkin patch sat on a bed of grape leaves and corn husks in the furthest corner of the room, surrounded by red and black pillows. Nobody was wearing a costume, but they were all donning partywear. And to add a special touch to the scene, the lighting from the driveway outside filtered through the stained glass of the 14th-century windows, casting kaleidoscopic shadows on the zigzag of velvet settees and flowered camelback sofas that crowded the space.
"Thought you wouldn't come," Bella drawled beside me.
"And miss the chance to see you in heels?" I chuckled, accepting the glass of wine she handed me. "Never."
"Come along." She grabbed my hand and stumbled her way through the sea of students towards the settee where her two cousins, Renata and Fred, were already sitting. I was glad to see Fred somewhere that wasn't the furthest corner of the room. Because his gift consisted in being able to repel people, him being here meant that he was finally learning to control his power.
"Fred, my man." I fist-bumped him. "How's it going?"
"We'll let you two bores catch up," Bella chirped, grabbing Renata's hand and dragging her away to the agglomeration of dancing students across the room.
"Really well," Fred replied, and the smile that colored his face confirmed it. "Dr. Cullen says I'm ready for some team exercises. I'll be on patrol duty every Thursday night from now on."
"That's great news, Fred. You'll be with Seth and Quil. They're a fun duo. You'll see."
"Yeah, I'm happy to finally contribute, but I'm not sure how much fun it'll be. You-know-who will also be there, and I don't really want to risk him ratting on us to Dr. Cullen."
"What? Him?" I pointed at a sofa on the opposite side of the assembly hall, where Edward sat, donning a pair of gray tweed pants and a black sweater vest with a white shirt underneath. He'd loosened up the buttons leading up to the collar and rolled up his sleeves, and I had to stop myself from staring for too long at the blue veins on his uncovered forearms as they pressed against the underside of his alabaster skin. "Well, what if he does? The patrol units need all the help they can get these days. It's not like Dr. Cullen would scratch you from the team over a couple of laughs."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Fred agreed, but then his blonde eyebrows furrowed as he titled his head. "Wait, why do the patrol units need help? Did something happen?"
I opened my mouth to tell him about the incident with Benjamin a couple of weeks ago and Leah's latest brush with death, but as I did, my gaze unwittingly flittered over to where Cullen sat, his green eyes trained on me. The subtle shake of his head forced my mouth closed.
"I mean," I stammered, "we still don't know why Alice disappeared."
"I thought it'd been established that she, you know… Put an end to everything herself."
We still didn't know if that was the case, actually. Cullen's theory was extremely plausible, but it still lacked an explanation as to why Alice had simply vanished. The only thing we knew for sure was that Aro Volturi and his undead minions had done it on purpose to make her go off the deep end, but that was a fact that only a few of us were privy to. Everyone else at the Cullen Academy was in the dark about the presence of vampires in the vicinity and thought patrol duty was just another drilling exercise.
"Yeah, but it's just…" I trailed off. "I guess you never know, right? You know what? I'm starving. I'm gonna go get some food. You want anything?"
"Nah, I'm good."
I strode over to the row of tables that'd been pushed against one of the walls. Mrs. Cullen, Dr. Cullen's wife, had probably spent the entire day preparing all the food that cluttered them, and my stomach grumbled as I scanned all the options until I landed on a lasagna dish.
"That's the vegan corner, Black," an awfully familiar voice informed me. "I'd go for the ground beef casserole if I were you."
"Cullen," I greeted him shortly. "This may come as a surprise to you, but I also eat other things besides meat."
As I said that, though, I dropped the spatula that was buried in the lasagna and grabbed the one lying on top of the ground beef casserole.
"Clearly," Cullen muttered. "Anyway… I need to talk to you."
"No, you need to eat," I retorted. "You slip of a thing."
That was definitely a jab. Cullen was not even that skinny–he had a well-proportioned, slender build that perfectly matched his height of six feet. But if you looked at us from just about any angle, my own physique always ended up dwarfing him.
"Carlisle wants me to listen more closely to what's happening in the woods."
"More closely?"
"He wants me to stand close to the edge of the forest and listen from there."
I froze, my mind flooded by the idea of him standing on the same spot where Leah had been earlier today, the vastness of the forest towering over him like a silent giant. Something about that thought made my blood go cold. Edward wasn't like Benjamin or Jasper, who had offensive powers. His power wouldn't be of any use in single combat, except to predict his opponent's moves. But that wouldn't help if a vampire decided to get close.
"I have a question," I said slowly. "Why has your father decided to get his only son killed?"
"He wants you to come with me. And he wants Sam and Quil as the rearguard, just in case."
"Why us?"
"If something goes south, you're the only one in the pack who'll keep his bearings and take me out of there instead of acting on instinct. Sam is the strongest after you. Quil is the fastest after Leah and Paul, but the difference is that he'll actually listen to you if needed."
"Why isn't anyone else coming? Professor Zafrina? Jasper?"
"They'd distract me," he said, and the undertone of impatience in his voice, coupled with the angry flush that was beginning to permeate his cheeks, almost made me smile. "Will you be there or not?"
"Chill, Cullen. You don't need to act like I have a choice. Of course I'll be there."
"Splendid. Tomorrow at eight. Next to the watermill. Oh, and…" He leaned in and lowered his voice. "Do consider demoting your Beta. She's clearly not up to the task."
Anger burst out of my stomach like lava splashing wild against the sides of a volcano. Against my better judgment, I leaned down until my face was merely an inch from his, and his scent wafted up my nose like a quiet intruder, carrying cedar and rosemary leaves. I didn't know if some of the wine Bella had offered me was beginning to take effect, but it felt all of a sudden as if the rest of the world had fallen away until I was left with nothing but tunnel vision and a loud, fluttering heartbeat.
"Get this straight once and for all, Cullen," I growled. "What happens in my pack is my jurisdiction."
The quick, surprised breath he let out washed over the skin on my throat like a tiny gust of wind. His pupils had bloomed over his green irises, casting a shadow over them that was dark enough to infuse them with a bottomless emerald green.
"When will you get this through your head, Black?" he hissed. "Your jurisdiction is our jurisdiction."
The anger was everywhere now–flowing hot and heavy through my veins, branching off like lightning through every part of my lungs. My heartbeat echoed through my head like a stampede getting closer and closer.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" I said through gritted teeth. "To manipulate us all into doing everything you want, like when you helped convince our Council to send us away? How's life under your daddy's wing when everyone else here has had to say goodbye to their family?"
The words seemed to spill out of my mouth of their own accord, as if I'd been pushing them down for too long and the dam had finally broken. There was more where that'd come from, though, and my lungs were ready to blow it out when I realized that an awful, hurt look had sliced through the defiance in his green eyes like a painful gash.
"All right, that's enough," Jasper's voice broke through the cloud of tension that'd fallen around us both. "Fucking hell. Why isn't my power working on y'all two right now? Edward, darlin', let's go."
Wrapping his arm around Cullen's shoulder, Jasper led his boyfriend away, but not before throwing a quiet insult at me under his breath.
"Asshole."
I felt the adrenaline ooze out of my pores as they walked away, a sour taste flooding my tongue the longer I looked at Jasper's hand on the back of Cullen's neck, gently guiding him out of the assembly hall.
It wasn't long before I decided to go up to my room. The night was ruined anyway. My reasoning was that I was better off catching some sleep, but then it turned out that I couldn't even do that. I spent at least three hours tossing and turning, jostling my frustration at having been called an asshole when Cullen was the one acting like the Thought Police every minute of every day, reporting on everything he thought was a violation back to his father. Any time someone got distracted during fight practice or used their powers to fool the teaching staff and skip class, Dr. Cullen always ended up knowing about it. His prissy kid was his eyes and ears, and the rest of us had no freedom to fuck up at least once in a while.
The whole school thought he was the asshole. They were all on my side.
So, why was I still mulling over the entire exchange?
It didn't help to know he was right, at least as far as Leah was concerned. She had always been temperamental, but after the news that her father had died of a heart attack a couple of months ago, her tendency to challenge me just for the sake of it had begun to smell a lot like rebellion.
I got it. She was grieving. She was angry that she hadn't been there to hold Harry's hand as he died. Every day, I feared that the same could happen to my old man, and the only person he'd have there to sit with him would be Leah and Seth's mom, Sue. I didn't know if that would make me want to fight a bunch of gifted vampires all by myself, but what I did know was that we didn't need an uncooperative Beta at a time when we had to be aligned in order to win against Aro Volturi.
I found her near the inner courtyard the next morning, staring through the arcade of stone columns at the October rain as it watered the topiary garden. She was still wearing her party clothes, her make-up slightly faded and smudged.
"Leah," I called her carefully. "Did you sleep?"
"If you've come here to give me an earful, I'm really not in the mood for it."
I took a deep breath.
"I'm here to tell you I've made a decision." I nearly forced out the words. "I want you to… step down. At least for the next month or so. Sam is next in line. He will fill in for you as my Beta."
A mocking smile spread across her face, and my stomach twisted into tiny little knots when I saw the watery glint that covered her eyes.
"Sam, huh? The same guy who dropped me for my cousin, only to disfigure her less than a week after? That's who you're picking as your Beta?"
"He's the oldest and most experienced, and he's not the same person he was when we first arrived here." She didn't say anything in return, her eyes still trained on the garden. "Look… I didn't want to do this, but we have a job to do, and we can only do it together. If one of my wolves runs off on their own into the lion's den, everyone else will have to follow, and then we will all be in danger."
"You don't need to say anything else, Jacob. I get it. I'm a liability."
"No! Leah, for fuck's sake…" I huffed out a breath in frustration. "Look, you're not a liability. You're you, and right now, you're grieving. So, actually, if you want to take some weeks off, if you want to go back home to your mom for a little while… You know what? You should really do that."
I thought that would placate her, but somehow, it ended up having the opposite effect. Hurt and wrath swirled together in the deep brown of her eyes when she finally turned to look at me, and it was all I could do not to avert my own gaze.
"You wanna know something, Jacob?" She let out a small, wounded giggle. "You keep acting as if the Cullens destroyed your life, but you know what their biggest mistake was? Allowing you to take the reins. You're as clueless now as you were back home, and I wouldn't want to be your Beta even if you begged me."
With that, she strode down the cloister, leaving me to deal with the hole that her words had punched through my stomach.
It was almost eight already. I couldn't just stand around wondering what'd just happened, so I made my way to where I was supposed to meet Cullen for his little eavesdropping session.
The watermill stood on top of a moss-covered hill overlooking a narrow stream. On the other side, a thin strip of pebbles gave way to a seemingly impenetrable forest, where Bella's shield would not be able to protect us from Jane's power. I could hear Sam and Quil's paws against the damp undergrowth a mile or so behind me, along with the sound of an engine getting closer. Cullen showed up soon after, gripping Jasper's waist from behind as he rode his dirt bike up to where I stood, already in my wolf form.
Hey, I greeted him in my head, as the sound of Jasper riding away echoed through the trees.
He inched closer with a wary look on his face, as if he hadn't expected me to greet him after yesterday's face-off.
"Hi," he said quietly, his eyes drifting off to the mass of evergreens across the stream. "Okay. Let's do this, then."
With that, he took a deep breath through his nose, his eyelids fluttering closed as he tried to focus.
Then, there was just utter silence, which was the worst remedy for someone who'd just had a confrontation with one of their closest friends. I kept replaying the conversation with Leah. I couldn't for the life of me understand why she thought I was not the right person to hold the title of Alpha. Did she think she was a better fit? Frankly, that was laughable. Or maybe she was just upset that I had demoted her and had spewed all of that in anger. Or… Maybe she was disappointed to find out that I didn't trust her enough to keep fulfilling her role, just like I'd felt when I realized that my old man didn't trust me to control my wolf without outside help.
"Could you be quiet?" Cullen gritted out.
Could you stop getting into my head and do your job?
"That's not how this w…" He huffed. "You know what? Never mind. Just focus on the trees or the sound of the water or something."
Despite my annoyance, I tried to do like he asked, my ears flicking in the direction of the stream underneath. I focused on the whooshing of the water as it traveled down to the small waterfall a mile to the west, but before long, Leah's voice was filtering through my brain again and throwing all of my thoughts into complete disarray. My latest theory seemed somewhat plausible–I had also felt like crap when my father had underestimated my strength. Was that what I'd done? Had I underestimated her strength? Or maybe I hadn't, until Cullen had planted the thought in my head that she wasn't up to the task.
A growl brewed in my chest. This was all his fault.
"Please tell me you're joking," Cullen snapped. "I knew this was a bad idea. It's impossible to work with you."
Twigs snapped under his feet as he set out to go back to the main school building by himself.
"Are you seriously denying it?" I heard myself saying and realized all of a sudden that I'd shifted back into my human form. I made quick work of untying the jean shorts that were wrapped around my leg and slipping into them, just so I could follow him through the woods. "One moment, I have the fastest creature in the world as my Beta. Next, I have a wreck of a girl telling me she doesn't want to work with me anymore. Do you know what happened between those two moments? You."
"Yes, I'm sure that had nothing to do with her disrespecting your orders and putting herself in danger," Cullen scoffed over his shoulder. A couple of copper strands had fallen over his forehead, the tips weighed down by raindrops.
"Do you see my point? One mistake! One little mistake, and that's reason enough for you to throw someone away like garbage or go whisper in your daddy's ear about them. This is why nobody in this freaking school can stand you."
Cullen turned around so fast I almost bumped straight into him. His eyes were two tumultuous pools of sea-green.
"Yes, and you know why?" His voice trembled slightly. "Because everyone loves a common enemy… Especially you."
I was reminded of the flash of pain I had seen on his face just yesterday. This time, his eyes were guarded and bitter, as if he had learned his lesson and decided to stow his feelings well under anyone's line of sight.
For a moment, I felt rooted to the spot, my mind racing and going nowhere. I wanted to ask him what he meant, why his voice had gained an edge of defeat when he'd mentioned me specifically. But his scent had drifted up my nose again, fresh and electrifying, and suddenly, my head seemed to be caught in a negative pressure room.
Cullen moved away again in the direction of the main school building, cutting the moment short like a maestro shushing his orchestra, and a new flare of annoyance lit up in the pit of my stomach. We walked for a couple more miles in silence, until I could no longer suppress my irritation.
"I shouldn't have followed your advice." I scoffed. "And you know what the worst part is? The fact that I end up doing it all the time. You decide which school I go to, when I'm supposed to be on patrol, how I manage my wolf pack… Hell, you even get to decide what I can or cannot disclose to my friends, like the fact that their school is surrounded by fucking vampires."
"Careful, Black," Cullen warned.
"Why should I be careful? They deserve to know the truth. They deserve the chance to decide if they want to go back home. But I guess that's exactly what you're afraid of, right?"
That touched a nerve.
"Once again, Jacob, I would tread carefully if I were you. You have a lot to say about things you don't understand, which is why I should remind you that this in particular is not your decision to make."
"Stripping Leah of her title was my decision, though, wasn't it? And yet, you still meddled."
"Precisely," he roared, spinning on his heel to face me, and just like before, I almost bumped into him, my body standing so close that I could almost feel his heartbeat in my own wrists as it thumped through his veins. "It was your decision. And yet, you've pinned the blame on me like you always do, because you are utterly incapable of taking responsibility for anything. Do you really want to know why Leah was upset with you? Because it took you two months to finally tell her to go home and mourn."
"What?" I could barely think. A weird energy buzzed through the space between us. My eyes darted down to his mouth, to the small Cupid's bow on his upper lip…
"That's why she won't listen to you. That's why Sam won't talk to you. You've spent the last year scapegoating him for all of your troubles, when a real leader will put his pack's needs above his own. And what Sam needed was a safe space free of judgment to learn how to control his wolf. What he needed was us. And you're so caught up in your stupid pride that you won't admit that you are the one who's not up to the task."
That shook me out of my stupor. It was like the most hidden part of me had been pinched by a red-hot poker, and all too quickly, an unfamiliar anger that felt raw and visceral burst through every fiber of my being. I felt like I was about to phase, but when I looked around, I realized that we had reached the grass lawn facing the main entrance, and Cullen was stalking off towards the ancient double-doors. I caught up with him when he was already walking down the hallway leading to Dr. Cullen's study, my hand darting out to grab his arm and swing him around.
"Who the hell do you think you are to tell me what I'm qualified to do? See, this is exactly your problem. You think you're entitled to judge and decide for others based on your warped view of what they need–"
"I do know what they need," Cullen cut me off, before snatching his wrist from my grasp. "Let me go, you dickhead!"
With that, he burst through the door of Dr. Cullen's office, and I… I didn't think–I just followed him inside, shutting the door behind me as if it were myoffice.
"What's this about?" Dr. Cullen wondered, looking up from the file he had in his hands.
"I can't do this," Edward told his father. "Pick someone else. Anyone else. I can't work with him."
I thought Dr. Cullen's blue eyes would immediately land on me, but instead, they remained unreadable and fixed on his son. I realized that I'd never been to his office. It was much bigger than I had expected, the walls lined with cherry wood bookshelves and antique maps of places I'd never seen. On the right-hand side, a rose window stood above a golden wall plate etched with three Latin words.
Scientia Potentia Est
Before I could wonder what it meant, Dr. Cullen broke the silence.
"Am I to understand that you didn't bring any novel information, Edward?"
My brow furrowed in surprise. It was a normal, legitimate question, but I felt that there was an icy undertone to Dr. Cullen's voice beneath all the usual layers of warmth. I glanced down at him. Like always, his blonde hair was neatly combed back, his navy-blue waistcoat and the gold chain that hung from its pocket as smooth-looking as ever.
"No," Edward admitted. I looked at him. He was standing straight and holding his chin up as if he were speaking to the whole student body, but his green eyes glinted all the same with an edge of uncertainty. "But you need to understand, Carlisle. I can't concentrate if he's around. His thoughts are too loud."
Dr. Cullen regarded his son for a second, before leaning on his cane to stand up and move around his mahogany desk. Rumor had it that he'd started using it after an incident with a vampire during his witch-hunting days, before he'd fallen out with his father and decided to help witches and other supernatural creatures instead of persecuting them.
"Are his thoughts too loud or are you holding back, Edward?"
"I…" Edward stammered, and I heard his quiet gulp from where I stood. "I'm trying not to hold back. I promise. I just–"
"Son…" Dr. Cullen sighed tiredly. "Alice is missing. We almost lost Benjamin. Every day, we risk being attacked. This is not the time to just try. You can reach further. You've done it before."
A familiar smell crawled up my nostrils. I glanced down at Edward's hands, folded tightly behind his back. Sweat. I looked up at his face again. A faint, tortured glimmer covered his eyes.
My stomach fell. This was definitely not the outcome I'd been hoping for. Maybe I should have agreed with him right in the beginning and told Dr. Cullen that I also couldn't work with his kid, and that would've been the end of it. Now here I was, standing awkwardly in the middle of his study, watching Edward being scolded over not stepping up to the plate.
"But before–"
"You were not ready before. You are now," Dr. Cullen interrupted. "Please don't force me to think you're not strong enough to help us in this time of need. That would be devastating."
Edward squeezed his own fingers behind his back.
"Yes, Carlisle."
Without waiting for a response, he walked out into the hallway again. I trailed behind him like I'd just arrived and he was my tour guide.
The silence in the hallway was deafening.
"Listen, Cullen, I–"
"Tomorrow morning." His voice was flat. Cold. "Same place. Same time. This time, leave your problems at home."
We didn't see each other again until the morning after. At night, I found myself tossing and turning once more, pushed around by all sorts of different thoughts. The idea of Leah spending two whole months wishing I would let her take a break from everything ate away at me until I started pacing around the room. Why didn't she say anything? Hell, if Cullen knew about it, why didn't he say anything? Why did I have to wait for Leah's silent potential demise for him to finally nudge me in the right direction? Not only that, but there were so many better ways to do that which didn't involve telling me to demote her. What the hell was wrong with him?
I just couldn't reconcile the version of himself he'd shown me in the woods, all roaring anger and pure honesty, with the image of him that I'd preserved in my mind since the day we'd met and which he'd presented me with after we'd walked out of Dr. Cullen's office.
I didn't even know which version of him I preferred–the one that only spoke to me in riddles and to order me around or the one that was not afraid of staring me head-on and telling me I was a shitty Alpha.
You are the one who's not up to the task.
The words swirled around my head like flies, reopening the wound that my father had instilled in the first place. I knew they weren't true. They couldn't be. And yet, I kept mulling over them anyway, even as I trotted up to the watermill a few hours after.
I didn't have to wait long for Cullen. This time, he came alone and on foot, his white cable knit sweater a bit ruffled from his walk. I thought of making a snarky comment in my head about how he could've just become someone's dinner by choosing to wander around through the woods on his own, but then I decided against it.
Instead, I let the sounds of the forest envelop my brain: the chirping of a few morning birds in the distance, the gurgling of the steam as it slid over the rocks underneath, the quiet chattering of the morning rain as it slipped through the treetops…
"There's someone," Cullen whispered, his eyes moving beneath his closed lids. I froze. Jane? "No… He sounds young. And scared. He's not alone. There are another two. They're planning to flank us. The first one will attack us from the front."
I summoned Sam and Quil through the metal link we shared inside the wolf pack.
Sam, take the west side. Quil, you go east. Embry's on duty. Tell him to shift back and ask for back-up.
I would have to handle the first one on my own. My claws grated against the ground in anticipation, as my nose tried to get a whiff of the bloodsucker's smell.
"They're a distraction." Cullen's voice was strained. "There's someone in the background. That voice…" He gasped. "Alice."
I had no time to feel the slightest hint of shock, before a guy that was roughly Emmett's size came flying through the trees on the other side of the stream. I pushed Edward to the side with my muzzle and readied myself to jump and catch the bastard mid-air. We collided like two boulders, my jaws snapping just an inch from the bloodsucker's neck. Mud splashed all around us when we fell on the ground, but soon we were both back on our feet, dancing around each other like a bull and a matador in an arena. Edward had retreated towards the small, wooden porch of the watermill, but his brow was still furrowed in concentration.
My heart trembled when I realized that the bloodsucker was closer to him than I was. It shook even more when a brooklet of blood began to trail down Edward's nose.
I jumped as soon as the bloodsucker turned around, my teeth sinking into his shoulder and my claws swiping at his back. Normally, that was enough to disarm them, so nothing could've prepared me for the feeling of two ice-cold arms snaking around my torso and the sickening crunch that followed.
My mind went silent. Then, after a beat or two, the worst pain I'd ever felt blew up through my ribs like a controlled explosion, stealing my breath away. An agonized howl ripped through my throat as I dropped to the ground, the impact so excruciating that white spots began to dance before my eyes.
Still, when I saw the bloodsucker drawing closer to where Edward stood, I gathered up the last remains of strength I had and kicked at the ground beneath me.
A horrible, squelching sound filtered through my ears as the bloodsucker's neck got torn to shreds inside my mouth. With a violent move of my muzzle, I spit out its head, and it rolled down the hill and into the water beneath.
Everything else after that was a blur.
Edward's anguished voice sounded distant and muffled, as if I were underwater.
"Jacob! No, no, no, no! Jacob, stay with me! Open your eyes. That's it! That's it… Lean on me. I'm gonna get you out of here. You're gonna be okay."
I could feel his shoulders under one of my biceps and his hand pressing against my armpit, trying to hold me up. I knew he was guiding me away through the forest, but all I could see was a moss-green mist. I couldn't even register the feeling of my own legs moving. All I was aware of was the searing pain pounding through my ribcage and the jagged sounds coming out of my mouth.
"That's it, Jacob! You're doing so well," Edward panted. I was too heavy for him. "Seth! Seth, we're here!"
Something came barging through the foliage. The next thing I knew, I was lying face down on a mantle of soft hair, a pair of gentle hands wrapped around mine and intertwined with the brown strands underneath. The only way of knowing we were on the move was the wind swishing in my ear and whipping my skin, and when it stopped, I knew we'd arrived. There was a lot of shouting as I was nearly dragged through the hallways and into the infirmary, where multiple hands helped settle me onto a wide bed.
"Jacob, can you hear me?" Dr. Cullen asked. "Your ribs have healed wrong. We're going to need to reset them, okay? Rosalie is on the way with some morphine, but your body will burn through it fast. So, this will hurt, son, but we need you to stay still. Do you understand? Nod if you understand."
I nodded. A couple of minutes later, I regretted it.
The next hours were spent in unthinkable agony, as Emmett helped Dr. Cullen re-break and realign my bones. There were only brief moments of relief, when the three doses of morphine washed over my nerve endings, just before my body temperature had the chance to distill them. Apart from that, there was just the pain of my ribs snapping and the sound of my screams echoing through my own head.
By the end of it, I was drenched in sweat and ready to pass out. In fact, that was probably what happened.
I didn't know for how long I remained unconscious, but when I woke up, I was hit at first with the image of a jack-o'-lantern perched on the edge of the nightstand next to me and afterwards with the image of my former Beta sitting at my bedside.
"Leah," I croaked, wincing. My ribs still hurt like a motherfucker, but nowhere near as much as before. "I thought I'd told you to go home."
"Yeah, except we're all trapped here until the vampires are gone, in case you've forgotten. Dumbass."
"Is that any way to treat a poor, bedridden man?" I smirked weakly, and a spark of joy lit up in my chest when she smiled back. "Leah… I'm really sorry. I should've paid more attention."
"Yeah," she agreed, sighing through her nose. "He told you?"
It took me a while to see who she was referring to, but then my eyes traced a familiar silhouette draped awkwardly over the chaise longue in the corner. Edward's chest rose and fell slowly as he slept, and despite my confusion at seeing him there, something in my stomach warmed up at the sight.
"Yeah, he did," I replied. "Rather unceremoniously, if you ask me."
"Shocking," she deadpanned, before taking a deep breath. "Listen, Jake, about our conversation… I've been thinking, and even though I can't leave this place, I've decided to take a break from the pack for a little while. Just until I feel like myself again."
"I would say you have my blessing, but you don't need it."
"That's right." She smiled, and with that, she stood up, ready to leave. "I'll let you take some rest."
"Thanks. Before you go, could you take the creepy pumpkin away?"
"Nope," she said over her shoulder, closing the door on her way out.
Thankfully, the damn thing didn't give me nightmares, and I slept like a rock through the next twelve hours. When I woke up, my werewolf DNA had done its magic and healed my ribs completely, but the muscle and sinew around them were still sore. That was definitely not enough to keep me in bed, so I got up, intending to return to my dorm to take a shower. As I did, though, my eyes landed on the chaise longue in the corner, which was now empty, and suddenly, my chest felt… vacant.
A sylvan smell still lingered in the air, and it sent me back to that moment a couple of days before in the woods, when the crackling energy rolling off Cullen's body began to blend with my own. Snippets of impassioned green eyes and pale hands mingled with mine engulfed my mind before I could stop them, and my brow furrowed when I realized that I could feel my pulse all over, from my neck all the way down to my fingertips.
I shook my head. What the hell was wrong with me? First of all, Cullen had a boyfriend. Secondly, he was still the same annoying know-it-all I had met almost one year ago. Besides, it hadn't been that long since he'd told me I wasn't cut out to be the Alpha of the Quileute pack, which was just an asinine assumption that… That was still gnawing at me nonetheless.
I walked to my dorm with my head down, my stomach tight and my muscles tense as I continued to ruminate over those five words. Not up to the task. I became so lost in my thoughts that I almost ended up crashing into the one person responsible for my brooding mood.
"I'm sorry." Cullen's voice was quiet but firm as he stood outside my dorm. Had he been waiting for me? He nodded. "Yes, I wanted to…" He swallowed, and a faint blush bloomed across his cheeks. "I wanted to see how you were doing. And I wanted to thank you for saving me. And I also wanted to apologize for what I said. I think you're madefor the title of Alpha, actually."
"And yet, I wasn't able to kill that bloodsucker before he could get close to you," I retorted, my eyes widening when it dawned on me that what'd happened had actually made me doubt myself.
"He wasn't just any vampire." Cullen shook his head. The dark blue of his fair isle sweater and the sympathetic expression on his face tinged his eyes a teal green. "He was Emmett's estranged brother, Felix, who had the same gift. It was never a fair match."
"Well, I definitely didn't see that coming." I blinked in surprise. A plethora of questions pelted my brain. How was Emmett? How much did Aro know about the students at the Cullen Academy? Who would he go for next? But then, what Cullen had said about me being made for the title of Alpha registered in my brain, and a fresh vial of pride spilled all over my chest. "So, that basically means you were wrong all this time, and as the true-born Alpha, I'm genetically destined to beat anyone who doesn't have Superman strength?"
Cullen's face reddened again, this time in anger.
"Emmett's brother is dead, and all you care about is reaffirming your status as the leader of your little pack. Wow, congratulations! You've successfully convinced me that you're incapable of caring about anyone other than yourself."
"First of all, there's nothing little about me pack. Second, I sure cared about someone other than myself when I put myself through hell to save your ass, didn't I?" I said through clenched teeth.
"I already thanked you for that! Seriously, how much validation do you need?"
"As much as I can get," I said mockingly, punctuating each word, and when I finished speaking, I found myself standing impossibly close to him, my face only a breath away from his. There was that herbal smell again, stinging the back of my throat and crowding the space inside my skull. My eyes landed on the faint smattering of freckles strewn across his nose, before traveling up to his started eyes and then down to the pearl-white of his teeth as they peeked through his parted lips.
What happened next shook me off my axis.
"Edward!" Professor Eleazar's frantic voice broke through the headiness of the moment. "Esme's gone. You need to come. Now!"
And just like that, he was gone, leaving only his scent in the empty space where he'd been. It took me a few seconds to get my bearings, but when I did, I didn't waste any time–I elbowed my way through the crowd of students to catch up with them, my face numb from the realization that Mrs. Cullen, who was probably the sweetest person I'd ever met, had been taken by Aro or one of his allies.
The fact that Cullen and I had been at each other's throats just a few seconds before wasn't lost on me. In fact, I was still reeling from it–both from the inebriating energy that'd sizzled over my skin and the harshness of his words. But the situation was too serious to keep fuming over our exchange, so I pushed my annoyance aside and followed them both through the hallways.
They were already climbing down the stairs to the assembly hall when I reached them, their faces pale and anxious. I kept pace with them as they walked through the hallways and through the cloister that surrounded the inner courtyard, my brow furrowing in confusion when Professor Eleazar opened the wrought iron gate that led down to the underground galleries.
I climbed down the stone steps with them, ducking my head when it almost collided with one of the granite archways lining the small square where Dr. Cullen and Jasper were already waiting.
Just like before, Dr. Cullen ignored me, limping straight towards his son.
"Listen to me," he rasped, catching Edward's face in his trembling hands. Blond wisps of hair had strayed off his head and fallen over his forehead. His shirt sleeves were rumpled around his elbows. "My wife is gone. Do you understand? She's gone."
My breath caught in my throat when he referred to his wife, as if he weren't also talking about his son's mom.
"We'll find her," Edward said firmly. "I promise."
"No, no…" Dr. Cullen shook his head, and his hold on Edward's face tightened. My muscles tensed up all of a sudden. "You will find her. I don't care how long it takes. None of us are leaving until you've tapped into their mind."
They exchanged a silent look that was charged with meaning, before Edward took a deep breath and nodded.
"Okay."
With that, Dr. Cullen led him to the Jacobean chair that stood in the middle of the square. Jasper's hands were braced against the back of the chair, his dark eyes apologetic as his boyfriend sat down.
A hush fell over the four of us. My heart raced. Mrs. Cullen could be anywhere by now, her thoughts scattered amidst an entire avalanche of dreams and mental musings belonging to the students of the academy and the arsenal of bloodsuckers that Aro had gathered.
Dr. Cullen hunkered in front of his son, his hands trapping Edward's wrists against the armrests.
"Open your mind," he told him. Edward's eyes fluttered closed, and a wince crossed his face only a few moments later. I imagined a cacophony of voices barging through his head, and suddenly, I understood why Jasper seemed apologetic. "That's it. Keep that door open. Weave through the noise."
A minute went by. Edward's eyes were shut tight, his chest heaving slightly.
"I can't hear her," he groaned, and I became aware of an unfamiliar discomfort in my stomach. It was a feeling of… restlessness, as if something were pacing back and forth all over my insides.
"Open it wider," Dr. Cullen instructed, to which Edward shook his head quickly, almost instinctively. "Wider."
This time, his son complied, and my nostrils were prickled by the smell of salt and exertion. Sweat had begun to gather along his auburn hairline in tiny drops that were already making their way down his temples.
"There's so much noise. I can't think. I can't–"
"Do not close that door, Edward," Dr. Cullen warned. Another smell infused the stale air in the galleries, wafting off the river of blood that had begun to trail down Edward's nose.
"Come on, darlin'," Jasper murmured, wiping the sweat off his boyfriend's forehead with a tender hand. "You can do this. I know you can."
I ground my teeth together. Hate started bubbling through my veins. I knew it made no sense, but the longer I watched, the more I had to fight the urge to slap Jasper's hand hard enough to break it. His boyfriend was in pain. Why was he helping to prolong it?
"Criss… Criss-cross," Edward whispered suddenly, and confusion bloomed across all of our faces. "I… Master…"
"Edward, focus!" Dr. Cullen almost shouted, and my hate became two-pronged, like a pair of forging tongs glowing hot in the dark. Edward's breathing had galloped into a series of quick gasps, his chest going up and down at an alarming pace, as blood continued to pour from his nose. "Whose master?"
"They're too far," he cried. "Dad, they're too far. My head hurts!"
Edward's arms strained against his father's hands, but Dr. Cullen held fast.
The sight stirred something in me, and instead of feeling like I had a phantom creature pacing back and forth over my chest, I now felt that it was lunging and scratching at it, begging to be set free. An unbearable itch began to crawl underneath my skin, as I watched a lone tear slide down Edward's cheek.
"Stay there," Dr. Cullen ordered. "Who's they? Listen to me, son. Keep the door open and stay there."
"The toll… My sister," Edward coughed out, and amid the horrible sound of his hiccups, his eyes flashed open, wide and unseeing. "Kate!"
"Kate?" Dr. Cullen echoed.
A look of realization fell over Jasper's face.
"Carlisle, it's Kate's sister, Irina," he said, his hands slipping off the back of the chair. "That's why she's been feeling guilty all these months. She was the one who took Esme, and I bet you she took Alice as well. They're probably crossing the bridge beyond the cliffs now. It's the only one with a toll."
"Eleazar," Dr. Cullen called. "Call the Assistant Commissioner and tell her to send a police squad. The more apparatus, the better. Aro won't send anyone with so many humans around. Tell her we'll put as many other officers on our payroll as she wants. Jacob, gather up a crew. We need to set up a channel of communication. One of you needs to stay here with Edward and report back to the rest of the pack through your link, so that they follow the right trail."
I couldn't register what he was telling me. Edward's tear-filled eyes kept flicking back and forth as if he were seeing a dozen different pictures all at once, his face drenched in sweat, blood, and tears. The sound of his gasps drilled into my head like flying bullets, summoning the phantom-creature that was still clawing at my chest.
And then, I heard it–my wolf, whining and growling inside me like someone had pierced its heart.
"You're keeping him here?" I heard myself asking through the sound of my blood crashing over my insides like a wave.
"We need to make sure we don't lose track of Irina," Dr. Cullen replied.
I glanced down at Edward. His body was shaking like a leaf, like he was about to break into a million little pieces. My wolf was howling now, his claws leaving angry gashes on my conscious.
"Son, what else do you see? Do you see Esme? Can you hear her?"
"It's so dark," Edward breathed, a sob catching in his throat. "It all hurts so much, and it's all so dark."
"Son, listen to me, I need you to–"
Something in me snapped.
I didn't hear what Dr. Cullen said next. Maybe he didn't even have time to say anything else with how fast I lunged through the space between us. The only thing I heard was his body thumping on the floor as I pushed him away. Jasper reacted immediately, his blonde curls bouncing in his haste to hold me back, but I shoved him away as well, my wolf rejoicing when I heard one of his bones crack as he crashed against the ground.
My arms slipped under Edward's body to lift him off the chair. I took only a moment to wonder at how cold he felt against my own body, and then…
Then, I ran.
I ran out of the underground galleries and into the fresh air flowing through the cloister that surrounded the courtyard. I ran with the man I used to hate in my arms through one of the side doors of the academy, through the thick of the forest that wrapped around the main school building and through the clearing beyond. I ran like my lungs were two giant trees and my legs were made of air, and when I looked down at the face that had plagued my mind for almost a year, an epiphany rained over me like a cold shower.
All this time, I'd wanted to hate Edward Cullen. I'd found every possible excuse to exacerbate my own resentment, because I didn't want to accept the truth.
And the truth was that Edward Cullen was my imprint.
"Hold on, Cullen," I shouted through the rain when I noticed that he was still shaking and that his breathing was still too fast. "You're gonna be okay. I'm gonna get you out of here."
I didn't know where we were going or if we would ever come back. All I knew was that the energy that had burst out of my heart was stronger than anything I had ever felt before, and that the more it pumped through my veins, the more I felt stronger. Everything else fell away–the forest around me, the academy, even my own pack… The only thing that mattered now–the only thing that would matter for the rest of my life–was keeping this man safe.
So, I just kept running, past the main gate of the academy and towards my fate.