34. Roadkill

While Bella started to eat her omelet, I slid one of the rolls onto a napkin and walked slowly toward my pregnant wife. When she met my eyes, I hesitantly held the cinnamon roll out to her, unsure if the thing would taste as foul to her as it had to me, or if she would enjoy my offering. Her eyes grew wide when she saw what I had brought, and she sniffed it before rewarding me with a beautiful smile.

"That smells amazing."

I waited until she took her first bite, still not sure that she would like it; I had thought it smelled good, too. When she licked the icing from her fingers and began alternating between bites of the omelet and the roll, I felt confident enough to say, "Old family recipe."

"Yeah, right," Bella laughed, but kept eating.

Gesturing toward the cup that was nearly empty, I offered her the refill that Emmett had been unable to provide. Moments later, I was handing her the newly filled cup from which she instantly took a few sips.

I'd been absently keeping track of the patrolling wolves any time their patrol took them within my range, but had tried not to really hear their thoughts. Seth's mind might have been pleasant to listen to, but his sister's was quite the opposite. This time, it was not their patrol which brought them within my range. They were both standing just within the tree line, eyeing our house while they argued.

...be able to hear him.

Aww, look who's gettin' all sweet on her Alpha.

Shut up, Seth! Just because you're best buddies with the tick doesn't mean I trust any of them.

...know how much Jake's done for them. They're not gonna hurt him.

Still don't like it.

You know how tired he was?

Yeah, yeah.

...tellin' you, he just fell asleep human.

...do realize how many hours it's been, don't you?

Of course! But he's been up for days. Give it a rest, Leah.

...rest when I know he's okay. Look. Either you go check on him, or I will.

Ugh, you're so pushy. Fine! You'll see; Jacob is just sleepin'.

Leah pointedly looked in another direction when her brother changed to human form and retrieved his torn and rather dirty shorts from where he'd stashed them.

Despite being only fifteen, Seth - like all of the Quileute wolves - was quite tall. He wasn't as tall as Jacob, nor were his shoulders as wide. I thought he'd probably fit into my clothes better than Jacob had fit into Emmett's. Before Esme could scold me for not providing him with a change of clothes, I went to my room and grabbed several options for him. When I came back downstairs, he was chortling over Jacob's open-mouthed snoring.

"Bella, how in the world did you manage to sleep through that?"

"Guess I was tired." She shrugged and tore off another chunk of the roll.

"Guess so," he agreed with another short laugh.

I couldn't help but to snort as I glanced at the wolf in question. "I think the better question is how Leah didn't hear him."

...would've if she'd've been willin' to leave the trees.

"'Sup, man?" He held out his fist to me, and I bumped it with mine. He turned back to Bella with a grin. "You're looking better."

As she had a mouth full of food at that moment, she couldn't answer him, but settled for giving him a nod and a muffled, "Mmphm."

I nodded gratefully. "Yet another thing I owe Jacob for."

He shrugged and made a dismissive gesture. "Nah. You're the one who came up with the idea."

"He made the connection, though."

"I s'pose. Doesn't really matter though, does it? S'long as Bella's alright."

I looked back toward my pregnant wife and shook my head. Although anyone could see the improvement, I wouldn't have gone so far as to say she was alright.

Seth shoved his hands into his pockets, rocked back onto his heels, and eyed the stack of clothes I was holding.

"I asked Jacob to let you and your sister know that you are all welcome to anything here you might need or want, but I don't think he got the chance to pass on the message before the - it - " I stopped and glanced back toward Bella again, not wanting to speak the words, but he hadn't heard of the latest damage the fetus had done to Bella's body.

Bella looked away from us and absently rubbed her broken rib before forking another bite of the omelet into her mouth.

What happened?

Ignoring his look of pity and the question in his mind, I held out the stack of clothes. "There is no need for you to lack for anything when we can easily provide it. You're about my size. If you would like them, you are welcome to these, or any of the clothes in my closet if these don't suit you."

"Oh, cool. Thanks, Edward."

Though Jacob had refused my offer, I extended the same invitation to Seth as I had to Jacob. "You and Leah are welcome to shower here, if you'd like, and we've also got beds, although Jacob seemed to prefer the floor."

"Nah, we're good, thanks. But a change of clothes would be nice." He flashed a grin at me as he took the clothes I'd offered.

"Bathroom's down the hall. First door on the left. When you've changed, I'm sure Bella would like it if you joined her for breakfast."

His stomach was gurgling, and his nostrils flared as he took in the scents coming from our kitchen.

She nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Seth, please do. Edward always cooks too much."

...don't need to ask me twice; that smells good! ...well, aside from their... erm... well, I know I don't smell any better to them. But that food sure does!

He nodded enthusiastically and sauntered casually through our house to change.

"Is it too much?" I asked, nodding toward the food she was eating.

"Yeah," Bella laughed, nodding. She scooped another bite into her mouth and mumbled around the food, "That doesn't mean I'm not going to eat it all, though. I'm so hungry."

"If you eat it all, then how is it too much?"

"Are you kidding? This is enough for two people."

My mouth twisted. "Well, you are eating for two, you know."

She rolled her eyes and wrinkled her nose at me. "Okay, so what was your excuse on the island?"

I shrugged. "You ate it. And besides, I had to make sure you had plenty of calories to burn."

A flame of desire surged through me as cheeks flared a brighter red than I'd seen in weeks. Chuckling, I kissed one of her burning cheeks and returned to the kitchen to fix Seth a plate of food. He was trying to hold his breath as he tried on the clothes I'd given to him.

...wonder if I can make 'em smell any better... take 'em for a roll, maybe...

He chuckled as he imagined himself carefully laying the neatly pressed clothes on the grass before assuming his wolf form and rubbing his scent into them. I nearly laughed aloud at the image when he took it a step further and pictured himself on his back with his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth and his legs in the air, while he wiggled around on the clothes. He followed this up with an image of Esme's expression when he returned to our house, the clothes grass-stained and slightly muddy, but smelling - to him - much better.

Once dressed, he made his way into the kitchen to watch me cook. He eyed the tray of cinnamon rolls and said, "Leah's been running for hours; do you think I could take her something to eat?"

"Of course. She can have this one. I'll fix another for you, if you'd like."

He leaned close to the sweets I had made for Bella, inhaled deeply, and rolled his eyes. "With the way that smells? Oh yeah."

When it was ready, I gave him the omelet I'd prepared, tucking a roll onto the plate beside it. "There's plenty more where this came from. I'll have your plate ready for you when you get back."

"Thanks!"

I nodded and refrained from asking him if he was really going to try and rub his wolf scent into the clothes or not. He strolled across the lawn to where his sister waited in the trees, growling with disgust as she took in his appearance. And his smell. She sneezed and bared her teeth at him, clearly expressing her disapproval.

...bad enough I have to smell them from here, now I've gotta smell their stench on my brother? Perfect. Just perfect. Exactly what I've always wanted...

"Hey, Leah! So, I told you Jake was just sleeping. And man, did he crash hard! He was snoring up a storm when I walked in and didn't so much as twitch while we were talking right beside him. I'm bettin' he'll be out for a while."

Leah grunted and started to turn toward the forest with the intention of resuming her patrol. ...get me away from their stench ...stand to sleep in there!

Before his sister could dart away, Seth said, "Hold up a sec. I know you've gotta be hungry; wanna join me for a picnic in the moonlight? They made cinnamon rolls." He dragged the last sentence out enticingly, wafting the smell of the rolls directly toward his sister.

...gotta be kiddin' me! I am not touching anything the leeches cooked. Swishing her tail in annoyance, she turned her back on him, growling insults as she trotted away.

"Don't think I don't know you'll change your mind!" he called after her. After a moment of listening to her moving about in the trees, he said, "I'm just gonna leave this here for you."

"Don't bother!" she yelled back, having changed into her human form so she could more decisively tell him no. "I'd rather eat roadkill. You'd better watch yourself, eating that crap. I wouldn't be surprised if they poisoned it."

"Sheesh, Leah, don't be ridiculous. Even if they didn't need us to help protect Bella, they're not like that."

She appeared from behind the trees, wearing a t-shirt and pair of shorts. "They're killers, Seth. I want you to stay away from them."

"I killed Riley," he reminded her in a low voice.

"Taking down a tick is just pest control, not murder. I don't trust them!" she hissed. "And neither should you."

"Then why are you even here? God, Leah! No one asked you to come, and don't tell me you're here for me, 'cause I don't need a babysitter."

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"No. But you do need to eat. Come on, admit it! This smells better than the ones Emily makes." He held the plate toward her again.

She heaved a sigh and took the plate from him. A broad smile spread across his face until she turned and chucked it into the forest as hard as she could throw.

His smile faded and was replaced with a frown. "That wasn't nice."

"You wanna eat with me? Come for a hunt then."

"Eat raw? When there's cinnamon rolls? You're nuts. I'll bring you another plate. They cooked enough for our entire tribe by the looks of it. And you'd better not throw this one away." He snorted with disgust and turned back to the house.

I had already loaded a plate with an omelet and a roll for Seth, but seeing Leah's reaction and his intention to ask for another plate for his sister, I covered the one in my hands with some cellophane so that it would be protected. He could just leave it outside for her to eat or not, as she chose. I rather thought she wouldn't, but that wasn't my concern. She could track down a deer if she got hungry. I only hoped it tasted better to her than their blood did to me, but with Seth's reaction to eating a freshly caught animal rather than the food I'd prepared, I doubted it.

Seth's mouth was twisted into an embarrassed grin when he entered the kitchen, and he was rubbing his fingertips across his scalp as he eyed the plate I held. "Hey, Edward, ah..."

"I saw," I said simply and held the plate out to him. "I'll have another one ready for you in a few minutes."

"Thanks! And, er, um... don't worry about Leah. I mean, she's got rough edges, but she'll do her part here."

"I know."

"Oh. Right. The whole mind reading thing. Makes things easier sometimes, huh?"

"Sometimes," I agreed with a shrug as I cracked a few more eggs and began to work on his breakfast.

By the time he had returned to the tree line with the new plate of food, she had changed back into her wolf form and run off, snarling mentally at my family as a whole, Bella for starting this mess, Seth for being so easy-going, Jacob for his resolve to protect us, and herself for thinking any of this was a good idea. Listening to her mind wasn't easy; a lot of her complaints about my family were those same ones which Bella was blind to.

Leah knew what we were; how did Bella not?

Since I was still cooking when he returned, Seth plopped into one of the living room chairs that were arranged to face each other. When it was ready, I brought his plate to him. He took it at the same time Bella shivered, and I turned to her with a frown.

"Cold?"

"Yeah. Could you grab me another blanket?"

"Don't be silly, Bells." Seth hopped up from his chair, balancing the overflowing plate in one hand as he crossed the short distance to where she sat. "What did Jake call himself? A portable space heater? Well, I'm at least as hot as he is." Seth winked at her and chuckled as he carefully sat beside her. He was moving gingerly so as not to jostle her, but even so, she winced and hissed through her teeth just from his small movements.

"Thanks, Seth," Bella said, shivering again and leaning into him as he got settled.

"Anytime." He pursed his lips and considered draping an arm over her shoulders.

I nodded at him and sighed. "Go ahead, Seth."

"Now, don't think I'm getting fresh here, Bella. I'm not one to make moves on a married woman, but jeez, you're freezing."

Although it went against the grain to see another male getting so cozy with my mate, I knew his intentions were harmless. It frustrated me, nonetheless, since yet again, someone else was doing something for her which I could not. Bella's eyes flashed up to meet mine as soon as Seth's arm touched her. Something of my feelings must have been on my face, because she reached a hand out to me with a worried frown.

"Sit with us?"

"I don't want to make you colder," I demurred.

Bella rolled her eyes. "Edward Cullen, don't you make me come over there! I'll drag you over to this couch myself if I have to."

Her threat made me chuckle. I adored her tiger-kitten fury. I sat on the other side of her from Seth, not bothering to hide my sigh of pleasure at being so close to her again. After a bit of shuffling of plates and cups, Seth and Bella resumed eating their breakfasts.

Rose was glaring at me from across the room with distrust in her eyes. ...know he apologized and promised not to fight with her, but how do I know he's not going to try something stupid again? This is Edward, after all... Stupid might as well be his middle name...

"Why don't you join us, then?" I said coldly.

She raised an eyebrow. ...couch isn't exactly built for four...

"There's always the floor. You were comfortable enough sitting there yesterday."

Hmm, maybe I will. It'd mean getting closer to the wet-dog smell, but as it's already permeating the air... guess it wouldn't be any worse if I... Within seconds, Rosalie was seated at Bella's feet. Alice deliberated for a moment before she left the wall beside Jacob and joined Rosalie to sit on the floor beside Seth. Rose leaned her head against Bella's knees. It was strangely almost as calming for her to be touching Bella as it was for me. She was trying to convince herself that was only because it would have been next to impossible for me to steal Bella away with the way she was now pressed against Bella's legs.

Esme was in the kitchen, putting away the extra rolls and turning more of the bacon, eggs, and cheese into omelets. She was sure one of our guests or Bella herself would want another one sooner or later, and with the ingredients all ready to go, it seemed silly to her to leave things unfinished.

With the food made and the kitchen cleaned, Esme darted into the living room, but paused to stare at the sight of us sitting together so easily. She laughed and continued on her way with an image of old Ephriam Black in her mind. She thought he would have been quite surprised that we were able to put aside our differences so completely. We had gone from being enemies with an uneasy truce to allies to friends.

Friends with werewolves! Can't tell me not to believe in the impossible after all that I have seen.

"What's so funny?" Seth asked.

"Esme just decided nothing is impossible."

"Huh?"

"Well, look at us. Three vampires, a human, and a werewolf, all getting along. Not just simply 'not enemies', but friends, family. What do you think your grandparents would have said?"

"Hah! I'll bet they would have thought you'd brain washed us with some weird vampire mind-control or something!" His low chortles turned into a loud belly laugh that shook the couch. I glanced anxiously at Bella, but she was grinning, too.

"See what I've been telling you, Edward? All this natural mortal enemy nonsense is just in your head."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Yes, love. You were right again, as per usual."

She patted my knee before linking her fingers with mine. She resumed eating her omelet as Jacob's snoring reached a crescendo and abruptly cut off.

...huh? Wuzzgoinon... Ugh! Oh, yuck, ow! My nose! It's burning!

He let out a groan as he rolled over and sat up.

"About time. The chainsaw impersonation was getting a little tired," Rosalie complained and snorted. Friends, indeed.

"Hey, Jake's coming around!" Seth said, leaning forward slightly to grin at his Alpha.

Jacob's short hair was sticking up in places, squashed against his head in others, and he had creases on his face from the pillow. His expression was slightly dazed as he blinked around the room in confusion until his eyes fell on Seth and the arm he had thrown across Bella's shoulders.

What the hell?

I caught the flare of anger in his mind - an anger I could easily identify with. "Bella got cold," I explained.

Right. None o' my business, anyway. Doesn't belong to me...

Seeing the anger that remained in Jacob's eyes, Seth correctly interpreted the reason behind it and pulled his arm back to himself. Pretending it had nothing to do with Jacob's look, he began to eat again, forking a huge bite into his mouth with one hand while holding the plate with his other.

"Leah running patrol?"

"Yeah," Seth agreed around a mouthful of food. "She's on it. No worries. She'll howl if there's anything. We traded off around midnight. I ran twelve hours." Anyone could have heard the pride in his voice as he made his report. Jacob hadn't wanted him in his pack; he was pleased to be able prove his usefulness.

"Midnight? Wait a minute - what time is it now?"

"'Bout dawn."

Well, damn... slept the rest of the day and the whole night, too... dropped the ball. "Crap. Sorry about that, Seth. Really. You shoulda kicked me awake."

"Naw, man, you needed some serious sleep. You haven't taken a break since when? Night before your last patrol for Sam? Like forty hours? Fifty? You're not a machine, Jake. 'Sides, you didn't miss anything at all."

Nothin', huh? Bella and Jacob's eyes met, and she grinned at him. "How's the rib?"

"Taped up nice and tight. I don't even feel it," she said, unconcerned despite the warnings Carlisle had given to her. I ground my teeth, frustrated that she was still so convinced that she would live through the birth of the monster that was killing her from within.

I heard the sneer in Jacob's voice that didn't quite hide his disgust when he eyed her cup and asked, "What's for breakfast? O negative, or AB positive?"

Bella's poked her pink, kitten-like tongue out at him, proving what Esme had thought earlier: Bella had fun with Jacob. Easily, naturally, without any effort.

"Go get some breakfast, Jake," Seth prompted him. "There's a bunch in the kitchen. You've got to be empty."

Jacob ignored his gurgling stomach, narrowed his eyes at the young man, and asked, "What's Leah having for breakfast?"

"Hey," he defended himself. "I took food to her before I ate anything. She said she'd rather eat roadkill, but I bet she caves. These cinnamon rolls..." He trailed off as he took another bite.

"I'll go hunt with her, then."

Carlisle had heard Jacob's voice and came to the living room to stop him before left. "A moment, Jacob?"

Jacob turned around and eyed my father. He knew how much he owed to Carlisle, and his face didn't hold the look of defensive anger it would have had any other member of my family stopped him.

"Yeah?"

"Speaking of hunting, that's going to be an issue for my family. I understand that our previous truce is inoperative at the moment, so I wanted your advice. Will Sam be hunting for us outside of the perimeter you've created? We don't want to take a chance with hurting any of your family - or losing any of ours. If you were in our shoes, how would you proceed?"

Jacob seemed surprised at being asked such a question. For a moment, his thoughts were less than charitable, but he quickly reconsidered his response. He might not wish to sympathize with our needs, but if he didn't feel he could offer us hunting advice, he could at least offer advice on how not to get caught.

I shouldn't have been surprised at the thoughtful and thorough answer Jacob provided. I knew more than enough of the young man by that point that I should have expected no less of him, but I kept finding my ingrained prejudices as difficult to overcome as Jacob did.

Jacob told Carlisle to go out in the daytime. Rosalie gave a soft snort of contempt at his reference to what he called, "traditional vampire stuff."

Carlisle protested Jacob's suggestion that we all hunt together, leaving Bella without any of us to protect her from the pack of werewolves who had already proven their willingness to kill her.

"And what are we, chopped liver?" Jacob asked with a snort.

Although he laughed at Jacob's caustic wit, Carlisle's face grew serious again quickly. I caught an image in his mind of Jasper, Emmett, and I engaged in one of our wrestling matches - the kind that we had learned long ago to indulge in far from home due to the stress that watching us would cause Esme. Only, in his mind, rather than laughing, boasting, and razzing each other, we were snarling in anger. Rather than keeping to the well-defined rules which had always prevented any serious injury, we were aiming to kill. He'd seen the wolves in action only briefly as they handled the last of the newborns they had herded toward the clearing during the fight months ago, but he could picture all too easily how it would look if they were to fight each other with lethal intentions.

Carlisle's face paled slightly, and he insisted, "Jacob, you can't fight against your brothers."

"I'm not saying it wouldn't be hard, but if they were really coming to kill her - I would be able to stop them."

Anxious that Jacob had misunderstood him, Carlisle shook his head. "No, I didn't mean that you would be... incapable. But that it would be very wrong. I can't have that on my conscience."

"It wouldn't be on yours, Doc. It would be on mine. And I can take it."

"No, Jacob. We will make sure that our actions don't make that a necessity." Carlisle paused, frowning. ...said we should hunt together, that there would be safety in numbers, but that applies to Bella's protection as well. Even if we were willing to all leave at once, that would mean three wolves against seven. Willing or not, those are not good odds. No... better to keep it even. "We'll go three at a time. That's probably the best we can do."

"I don't know, Doc. Dividing down the middle isn't the best strategy."

"We've got some extra abilities that will even it up. If Edward is one of the three, he'll be able to give us a few miles' radius of safety."

I glared at him in shock. How could he even think I would consider leaving Bella to go hunt?! It had been bad enough when I had run off into the forest surrounding our house, but I'd only been gone a few minutes that time. Even as fast as vampires were, hunting took time. What if something were to happen to Bella while I was gone?

He glanced at me, and I saw my livid expression in his mind. Correctly interpreting my anger, he realized he'd have to rely on our other family members' gifts, instead. "I'm sure there are other ways, too. Alice, I imagine you could see which routes would be a mistake?" ...hunting doesn't involve the fetus... she should be able to see.

"The ones that disappear. Easy," she agreed with a nod.

"Okay, then. That's settled. I'll just be on my way. Seth, I'll expect you back on at dusk, so get a nap in there somewhere, all right?"

"Sure, Jake. I'll phase back soon as I'm done. Unless..." ...still seems so cold... "Do you need me?" he asked Bella.

"She's got blankets," Jacob said with a snarl.

"I'm fine, Seth, thanks."

While Carlisle had been talking to Jacob, Esme had prepared another plate of food. Feeling pleased with herself that she'd thought to finish more of the omelets, she offered the covered plate to Jacob.

"Jacob. I know it's... unappetizing to you, the idea of eating here, where it smells so unpleasant. But I would feel much better if you would take some food with you when you go. I know you can't go home, and that's because of us. Please - ease some of my remorse. Take something to eat."

...aw, jeez... He seemed not to want to take the food, but I knew how difficult it was to resist Esme when she was in mom mode, and Jacob found himself agreeing. "Uh, sure, sure. I guess. Maybe Leah's still hungry or something."

...just dump it under a tree or something so she won't feel bad.

His and Leah's protests were ridiculous. Food was food, wasn't it? What did it matter that a vampire had prepared it? Would they go hungry just out of pride?

Don't you say anything to her! Let her think I ate it. ...better agree with me... bloodsucker owes me...

"Thank you, Jacob," Emse said.

"Um, thank you," he returned, and his brown skin darkened slightly. I almost laughed, thinking he blushed as easily as Bella did. ...problem with hanging out with vampires... get used to them and they mess with the way you see the world... start feeling like friends...

"Will you come back later, Jake?" Bella asked as he edged toward the door.

"Uh, I don't know."

I was aware of the conflict within him. He couldn't stay, but neither could he stay away.

"Please? I might get cold."

"Maybe," he hedged, but he would be back. He resumed edging toward the door, and seemed ready to bolt through it when my mother stopped him a second time.

"Jacob? I left a basket of clothes on the porch. They're for Leah. They're freshly washed - I tried to touch them as little as possible. Do you mind taking them to her?"

"On it." Before she could offer anything further, he turned abruptly and stalked through the door.