Once the werewolves retired for the evening, the vampires in the house were left to deal with the after effects of the Blood Wine. Which was a strange phenomenon to endure. As sobriety returned, so did my faculties, and with my vampire mind I remembered every moment of my intoxication in excruciating detail. I would have been embarrassed, but each member of my family were experiencing the same thing. And then, of course, came the strange ache in my head, a pressure behind my eyes that throbbed painfully. As Charlie had headed upstairs to bed, he had casually called out over his shoulder that a good hunt would have us 'right as rain'.

I didn't want to leave the house, or more accurately, I didn't want to leave Bella. I didn't like the thought of leaving her alone while she slept off the effects of the Monkshood wine – however Jasper helpfully pointed out that she wasn't alone, that Charlie was in the house as well, and she was just as safe as she usually was. I appreciated Jasper talking me down and giving me his personal brand of support. While Emmett chose to tease me relentlessly, and Carlisle offered me soft, knowing smiles that silently promised an ear and a shoulder should I need it, Jasper just … knew. He knew what I felt and what I needed. Sure, part of that was Jasper's Gift, his ability to get a pinpoint accurate read on my emotions allowed Jasper an undeniable edge when it came to offering support – but a much larger part of it was just… Jasper. My brother had an uncanny ability to read me, and if it were anyone else it would annoy me to no end.

"If you head back early, I won't say anything to the others." Jasper spoke up as he dropped the corpse of an elk on the ground.

I grinned wide as I dropped the evidence of my own hunt. "Thanks."

Jasper chuckled and shook his head ruefully. "I don't need to use my Gift to see how anxious you are to get back to her."

I lifted a hand in farewell before I took off in a blur of speed.

XxXx

The rest of Spring Break passed in a delightful haze. My days were filled with Bella's company, even if I did have to share her with my siblings as they all grew closer – as much as I wanted to monopolise Bella's time, seeing her with my family warmed my cold, dead heart. Even Rose was warming up to Bella, after finally coming to terms with the fact that Bella wasn't a threat to our secret, or our family in general, she then had to contend with the general feeling of uneasiness that most of my family felt in Bella's company. It was a sensation that I could empathise with. I knew what it felt like to be the sole focus of Charlie's attention – a crawling itch under my skin, a queer shiver than would run down my spine like a ghost of the goose-pimples that my body could no longer produce. The more time I spent with the man, the easier it became to ignore the sensation entirely and I could see that the same was true for my family and Bella.

I smiled over at my prickly sister as she studied the Weichi board in front of her. Bella had managed to corral Rose into a game, and Bella had quickly found herself outmatched. Bella was sitting on the living room rug, her back against the front of the armchair I was sitting in, her shoulders touching the inside of my legs from where I had placed them on either side of her body – I wanted to have as many points of contact between us as possible, and from what I could gather from my sister's thoughts she didn't mind our casual affections. My long fingers absentmindedly carded through Bella's hair and I gave into the urge to lower my head to press a gentle kiss to the top of her head. I could see Bella was struggling to gain the upper hand in her game, I could also see what Rose was planning and how Bella could turn the tide.

I lowered my head further until my lips were grazing the shell of Bella's ear, and I delighted in the small shiver I felt run through Bella's body – she was always so responsive to everything I did, the lightest of touches could send Bella into a spiral that usually ended with her warm lips against mine. I smirked devilishly. "If you just-" I whispered.

Bella's relaxed stature straightened violently as she twisted on the spot and slapped her palm against my leg. I sat up in my chair, quickly giving Bella space as confusion to her sudden mood shift flooded through me. "I don't need any of your mind reading shenanigans, thank you very much." Bella growled.

Rose caught my eye and smirked at me, entirely too smug for her own good. Your wolf has far more integrity than you do, brother dear.

I wanted to mutter a snide remark in response to Rose's thought, but the days of me being able to get such things by Bella's werewolf senses were long behind me.

A shrill shriek sounded from the second floor and Bella's head snapped up to stare at the ceiling, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. From Alice's mind I could glean a vision of thundering lightening, grey clouds, and grass stained trousers. Bella looked at me, her eyebrows furrowed in concern and I couldn't help but chuckle at the adorable expression.

"It's just Alice."

Bella's frown deepened. "You do realise that doesn't actually explain anything, right?"

"You'd be surprised by how much it actually does explain," Rose snickered.

With a blur of speed Alice was in the room. "There is going to be a thunder storm later!" She happily announced. Ah, now her vision made more sense – baseball.

Rose shot up from her seat with a wide grin as she rushed upstairs to get ready. Alice had already disappeared as soon as she had made her proclamation and I could hear Emmett's thundering footsteps rushing about in his room.

Bella frowned up at me, confused amusement glittering in her eyes. "Are one of you gonna fill me in? Or is this just more vampire nonsense?"

I grinned at her as she pulled herself up off the ground. "A thunderstorm means baseball." I explained as I stood.

Bella shifted nervously at my explanation, her teeth worrying her bottom lip. "Is that why Alice gave me a baseball jersey last week?"

I scoffed out a disbelieving chuckle. "Probably, love. Probably."

"It's at home," Bella murmured under her breath, her eyes downcast as her hands twitched as she picked at her cuticles. I had become fluent in Bella's body language, and it didn't take a genius to see that Bella was nervous at the thought of playing baseball with my family. "It's a shame Charlie is working, he would have loved to see Vampire baseball." Bella mused with a sigh.

"Maybe next time," I murmured as I kissed Bella lightly. I could tell that Bella was bothered by something, and I hoped that she would open up to be without me having to press her for answers.

"Do I have to play?" Bella whined with a frown.

An amused smile tugged at my lips, so that's what had gotten Bella so worked up. "Not if you don't want to, you can be the referee." I replied reassuringly. I saw Alice rushing through the room and quickly shot out a hand to stop her. "How much time do we have?"

Alice's eyes glazed over and in her mind I could see her searching through the near future, forcing the visions to come to her rather than wait for them to present themselves – half a dozen different, potential futures flickered through her mind, each with different levels of probabilities, but it didn't take Alice long to figure out which futures were more likely, and what they had in common. Predicting the weather was a lot easier than predicting anything else. She quickly worked out how long it would take Bella and I to arrive at the field in time for the storm. "A while, but unless Bella wants to shift you guys should head out in Emmett's jeep now. We will run out and meet you."

I was about to ask Bella what she thought when she spoke up. "Let's take Emmett's jeep."

I took Bella's hand and led her towards the garage and opened the passenger side door of the jeep and helped her up into the large vehicle.

"Why can't I drive?" Bella grumbled petulantly as she buckled herself in.

"Because you don't know where you're going." I answered easily as I started the engine.

"You just don't like me driving." Bella accused with narrowed eyes.

"Can you blame me after the rough treatment you gave my Volvo?" I teased as I began to drive down the drive.

"I swear sometimes I think you love that car more than you love me." Bella pouted and shoved my shoulder playfully.

I caught Bella's hand with lightening reflexes. "Never," I vowed solemnly as I kissed her knuckles.

Unfortunately, I couldn't keep Bella's hand in mine as I needed to keep my hand free to change gears when necessary. Just another reason to prefer an automatic vehicle. Bella was sitting up eagerly in her seat, her head swivelling around to take in the scenery, and her excitement only grew when I turned off the main road onto the dirt track that led into overgrown forest. The further we travelled from the main road, the rougher the track got, and I glanced at Bella to make sure she was okay. I was happily surprised to see her grinning wildly, her eyes wide and gleaming as she bounced with each hole and bump we drove over. I grinned back and revved the engine recklessly, and was rewarded with a squeal of laughter from Bella. I threw caution to the wind as I raced down the track faster than was strictly safe – I was secure in the fact that I wouldn't crash, and even if I did, I knew Bella wouldn't come to any harm. Besides, I could hardly concern myself with such things when Bella was making such delightful noises. Her laughter rose in pitch each time I sent us soaring over a particularly large bump in the track and all I wanted was to make her laugh again.

All too soon, we came to the end of the track and I turned to look at Bella who was still grinning ear to ear, her face flushed red and chest heaving with the strength of her panting breath.

"Have fun?"

Bella let out a breathy laugh. "Yeah that was crazy,"

"Come on, we're on foot from here." I said as I got out of the jeep and walked around the front of it to meet Bella as she jumped down from the step of the vehicle. I could hear Bella's heart thundering in her chest from the excitement of the drive in, and I watched in fascination as she took a deep breath and forced her heart rate to slow dramatically. She really was a captivating creature. Even though she had forced her heart rate to slow down, Bella hadn't lost the wide grin and mischievous glint in her eyes. If we were going to make it to the pitch on time, I was going to have to carry Bella the rest of the way – an activity I was very much looking forward to. I knew that Bella could just transform and be able to easily keep up, but I wasn't about to suggest that, not when I had the opportunity to hold Bella tightly against my chest. I walked up to her and bent at the knees, fully intending to scoop her into my arms. Bella squeaked in surprise and pushed me away, although she put a bit more strength behind the movement than she intended, if the way I went flying was any indication.

I flew through the air several feet before I landed heavily on the mossy forest floor, the impact knocked the air from my lungs and I couldn't manage to right myself as I went sliding across the ground before a thick tree trunk halted my journey. This wasn't the first time Bella had mishandled her newly increased strength, but it was the first time it had been directed at me.

I stood up slowly, dusted the dirt and leaves from my clothes, and gave Bella an amused smirk. My jovial attitude did nothing to lessen the growing look of horror on her face. "What the hell, Bella?" I laughed, hoping to lighten the mood a little.

"What do you think you're doing?" Bella squawked as she hurried over, as soon as she got to me she began to brush her hands over my shoulders, my chest, my arms, as if she were checking me over for any injury. Even though it was unnecessary, it was still unbelievably sweet.

I quickly caught her hands in my own, holding them gently to stop her fretting. "Well I was going to pick you up so I could run us to the field." I chuckled.

"I can run!" Bella protested with a mulish look.

I quirked an eyebrow. "Unless you're going to shift, you can't run fast enough."

"So I'm just supposed to let you carry me around like a child?" She grumbled.

I cocked my head to the side as I considered her. "That was the general idea, yes." I couldn't puzzle out what had Bella so worked up, or why she was protesting so vehemently against this, I think I had just caught her off guard and now she was stubbornly defending her overreaction. I smiled as I turned around and crouched down low before shooting a mischievous smirk over my shoulder. "Well, hop on."

Bella rolled her eyes dramatically, but didn't protest as she stomped over and climbed onto my back. "Hold on tight, spider monkey." I teased.

"You're enjoying this way too much," Bella muttered bitterly in my ear. I didn't try and argue, because she was right – I was. With a loud laugh I took off at a sprint, darting around trees and jumping over rocks and fallen branches. I felt Bella tighten her hold around my neck, and if I had needed to breath I wouldn't have been able to, I also couldn't help but notice how her thighs were circled around my hips – how warm and strong they were as Bella gripped tight to my back. I had to fight back a sudden urge to spin Bella around so she was clutching onto my front, rather than my back – now was not the time for such thoughts.

Even though I was enjoying Bella's proximity, I was thankful that we had quickly arrived to the playing field. As soon as I stopped Bella scrambled off my back, another detail I had mixed emotions over. I had very much enjoyed the way Bella's muscled limbs had encircled my torso, but her warm body and delicious scent and desirable frame did nothing to help me curb my more ungentlemanly thoughts.

"What's this!? Edward's giving piggy back rides?" Emmett crowed as he walked over to us. "When's my turn?" He jeered as he dove in my direction and I nimbly avoided his tackle with a rumbling laugh. I heard Bella being welcomed by Esme and I let my mom explain everything to Bella as I caught the jersey that Emmett threw my way. I hastily slipped it over my t-shirt and quickly took my position in the outfield.

From my place near the tree line I could see Bella taking position at first base, behind Esme, and when I caught her eye I sent her a flirtatious smirk which made Bella's eyes widen and an adorable blush to colour her cheeks.

Rose was first up to bat, and I shifted my attention to the game – all our differences aside, baseball was one of the things we both took very seriously. Rose's lips were in a thin line of determined concentration as Alice pitched the ball with startling speed, and within a blink of an eye and a loud crack that sounded like thunder, Rose hit the ball far into the outfield. My head snapped to the direction it went and without a second thought I flew off after it, managing to catch it amongst the trees a moment after it had hit the ground. I pulled my arm back and launched it back in the direction I knew first base was located before I sprinted off back towards the field. I made it just in time to see Rosalie sliding towards home, her white pants staining green as she veered towards the base.

Esme caught the ball a split second before Rosalie's foot touched the plate, and both looked expectantly up at Bella to make the call.

"You're out." Bella declared.

Rose dusted herself off with a scowl, and sent an impressively frightful growl in Bella's direction. That caused me to frown and I was about to speed over and get between my sister and my girlfriend, worried that Rose's excessively competitive personality would scare Bella away – however much to my surprise, Bella wasn't cowed by the vampire's snarl, and simply returned it in kind.

With a comforting pat to Rose's shoulder, Carlisle stepped up to the plate. Alice pitched, and Carlisle struck, and I followed the path of the ball with keen eyes, leaping into the air to attempt to make the catch. Apparently, Emmett had the same idea, and the pair of us crashed together mid-air with a sound of crashing boulders. It just went to show just how invested in the game I had become, as I had not noticed my brother's intentions within his mind in time to avoid the collision. The pair of us laughed rambunctiously as we landed on the damp grass with a thud, and I shoved Emmett off of me long enough to pick up the ball and race to third and try and catch Carlisle out. Unfortunately, our crash had given Carlisle enough time to make it safely to third base, so I was forced to throw the ball back to Alice so she could pitch.

With a playful smirk on his face, Jasper stood up to bat but Alice didn't allow herself to become distracted by her Mate's flirtatious looks as she pitched the ball with startling speed. With another crack of thunder, Jasper hit the ball and began to run the bases, but I was pulled away from the game as I was pulled into Alice's mind – into her vision.

Three pairs of blood red eyes, the colour of rust. A dirty fur cloak. Thin lips twisting into a sinister smile. The unmistakable scent of death.

"Stop!" Alice shrieked, and in an instant we were all at her side. They are coming Edward. Nomads, three of them. This will not end well.

I looked to the treeline, but I could see nothing in the churning shadows that told me where the intruders would be coming from – even with my Gift, I could only barely hear the tiniest whispers of foreign minds. I moved to Bella's side and grabbed her wrist. "We need to go, Bella. Now." I ordered, my face creased with worry and fear as the Nomad's minds became clearer and clearer.

"It's too late," Alice's voice was tight as she tried to get a handle on her fear. "They heard our game, and decided to join in. It was a last minute decision. I had no way of seeing it any sooner, I'm so sorry."

With these words, the rest of the family immediately knew what was happening. It wasn't so long ago that Carlisle had been called in by the Chief of Police to act as coroner to a vampire victim – although it felt like it had been years since then. So much had changed. Now, we knew that Charlie knew what we were, and what had truly killed that hiker, and what's more, Charlie knew that we knew. Neither the Chief or any of my family had seen any further evidence of the rogue, Charlie assured us he had followed the trail until it had gone cold just outside of what he had called 'his territory'. In all honesty, with everything else going on in my life, the possible existence of strange vampires near my home had all but fallen from my mind.

With grim determination, and unyielding tenacity, each member of my family began to circle around Bella – with broad shoulders and stiff backs they were preparing to defend the most vulnerable member of the pack.

"Edward, what the hell is going on?" Bella muttered at me as I pulled her behind me, as a group we had turned towards where the Nomads would be coming from – we could hear them now, only seconds away.

I didn't take my eyes off the treeline as I responded. "There have been some nomads in the area, we thought they were leaving." I murmured quietly. "Just stay quiet and stay behind me." I sent a silent prayer to a god I didn't know if I believed in, and then I sent another one to Bella's Moon Goddess, just for good measure. Alice's ominous prediction that this meeting would not go well was echoing through my mind, thrumming like an alien heartbeat.

Their scents wafted into the clearing a moment before they appeared, and as the scent reached Bella I could feel her entire body tense against mine where I had her pressed against my back. I desperately wanted to comfort her, offer her a reassuring word or touch, but I couldn't risk drawing any attention her way. The trio emerged from the woods, a dark-skinned vampire with long dark dreadlocks leading the group. He was flanked by a pointed face blonde man, and a wild looking red headed woman. Even though I didn't want to, I knew what I had to do – I steeled my resolve and delved into the strangers' minds.

The minds of other vampires were vastly different than the minds of my family, not just because I was exceptionally familiar with my family's mindscapes and thought patterns. Vampires had the extraordinary ability to entertain many trains of thought at once, considering many different facts, contemplating a variety of plots and plans, and processing the sheer volume of information our enhanced senses presented us with – but the one thing that set a majority of vampires apart from my family was just how dark their minds felt. Exposing myself to their thoughts felt like submerging myself in thick, inky black goo. And these three were no different.

The male in the front was flicking his crimson eyes over our group with a look of insatiable curiosity. There's more than we thought. His thoughts mused as his mind flashed with images, overlapping echoes of the amber eyes of my family, and his curiosity surged.

The woman's thoughts were wild and unfocused, unable to settle on a single thought for too long before she had moved onto another. Her mind was a quagmire, multifaceted and layered with many streams of consciousness – I was unsure if the woman was a genius, or if she were just insane, and if the situation were any different I would have been fascinated to speak with her and work out which it was.

The blonde man's thoughts were cold, that was the only way to describe them. Purposefully exposing myself to his thoughts made me feel cold in a way I hadn't done since I had become a vampire. His crimson gaze studied each of us, calculating with ruthless efficiency just how much of a threat we were – I was elated to see that he was vastly underestimating most of us. Other than Emmett, he didn't see the rest of my family as a threat. My vampiric instincts rejoiced in the other's blunder, inwardly celebrating the inevitable downfall of this stranger should he choose to instigate a fight.

The trio came to a stop half a dozen feet away and the dreadlocked male began to speak. "Hello, my name is Laurent, and this is Victoria, and James." Laurent spoke with an odd accent, and as he introduced his companions he gestured to them slowly, taking great care to appear nonthreatening. Unfortunately for him, this sharp eyes and curling sneers of his friends did little to help his cause. "We were just passing through when we heard your game."

We knew to stay silent, to stay deathly still and allow Carlisle to deal with the intruders.

"Welcome, my name is Carlisle, and this is my family." Carlisle gestured genially to our group, pointedly not offering a single name. I heard a distinct ripple of surprise and confusion go through the trespasser's minds at Carlisle's use of the word family. "You're recent activities have been somewhat of an… issue for us." While Carlisle's voice was steady, polite even, the gentle warning was not lost on anyone present.

"My apologies, we did not know the territory had been claimed." Laurent replied graciously. Lies. There was no way in hell that the three of them hadn't realised there were other vampires in the region. A smug smirk flickered across Victoria's face for the briefest of moments as the image of the mauled hiker that Carlisle attended to flashed across her mind – a gift she had left for the resident vampires she had sensed in the area. Laurent took a small step forward and at my back I felt Bella surge forward, her small hand threatening to snap my wrist with her iron grip. Oh god, oh please, let them leave. They needed to go, tensions were at a knife's edge and I knew a single spark would cause everything to explode like a powder-keg.

"You needn't worry, the local authorities were tacking us, but we led them east" Victoria sneered.

The implication of Victoria's words cascaded through the minds of my family, each of them coming to the same startling realisation – somehow, Victoria had managed to trick Chief Charlie Swan into believing the trio had left the area. Whether she knew what the Chief was, was still unclear, her mind was so chaotic it made my head ache just being in her presence.

Then, to my absolute horror, the wind shifted directions, sending Bella's scent straight to the rogues. James' rust coloured eyes snapped up with unmistakable glee – he didn't seem to notice the predatory nature of Bella's scent, maybe being surrounded by vampires on all sides had muddled it too much. However he did notice the sour-sweetness of it, and while in his mind he noted that it wasn't the most pleasant blood he had smelt, it would do in a pinch.

"Ah, I see you brought a snack." He purred.

I snarled, my lips twitching over my teeth in a threatening display of dominance. All around me, my family were doing the same. Feral snarls and rumbling growls echoed around me. Jasper lowered himself into a half-crouch, preparing himself for battle.

Carlisle was the only one to remain calm, at least on the surface, internally he was a raging fire of bitter wrath. "Bella is part of our family."

This only seemed to encourage James, who stepped closer with intent, his movement mirrored by Victoria.

Laurent could see the situation devolving, and quickly tried to backpedal. "Let's not get carried away…" He urged in a dangerously calm murmur. Laurent knew he was outnumbered, knew that if things continued on their current trajectory it would not end well for him. "James," Laurent said the name like a warning. "Don't do this, not here." James grinned and took another step forward, and seemed to delight in the growls his actions provoked from my family. Laurent was panicking, he was quickly losing control of the situation.

"You should leave." Carlisle allowed a slight growl to seep into his voice. "You are outnumbered. This is not a fight you can win."

This made Victoria take pause. Her gaze flickered between James and our group, and I bit back a smug smile as she began to realise just how foolhardy it was to anger such a large coven. We were going to be fine, they were going to leave, Bella would be safe.

Then everything went to Hell in a hand-basket. A simple quirk of James' lips was enough to send Bella into a broiling rage, she was all growls and exposed teeth as she shoved her way passed me. A flat palm on my chest sent me flying through the air, and I landed a few feet away. I scrambled to get my feet under me, as I watched Bella push her way through the ranks of the family. Unwilling to allow her to get herself hurt, each vampire she passed made a valiant effort to restrain the raging werewolf – but none of them were agile enough to contain her. Like a serpent weaving through water-reeds, Bella ducked and dodged each attempt to hold her at bay.

Until, finally, Bella stood at the head of our group, her fists clenched tightly at her sides and her entire body vibrating with the strength of the growls emanating from her chest. "Stay the fuck away from my family!" Bella roared. This only seemed to amuse James further, and the cheerful glimmer in his ruby eyes sent Bella over the edge.

I watched, dumbstruck with horror, as streams of blood cascaded down Bella's arms as her skin began to crack and break like the muddy banks of a dried up riverbed. Then, in a move that took up the slightest of nanoseconds, Bella surged forward, becoming a massive wolf mid-stride. Bella's panting breath caused steam to cloud in front of her bloodied muzzle, and before any of the vampires in attendance could respond, Bella was moving.

Heavy, padded paws thudded against damp grass as Bella bounded in James' direction without hesitation or fear. When she was close enough, she launched herself at the crimson eyed vampire, who instinctively brought up his hands to defend himself from the attack. The pair tumbled to the ground in a flurry of pale limbs and brown fur. In the periphery of my vision, I noticed Laurent run away from the field in a blur of speed, and Victoria launch herself towards the attacking werewolf only to be intercepted by Jasper and Emmett – but I could afford them no attention. I was frozen. Rooted to the spot as I watched James' claw-like fingers sink into the flesh and fur of Bella's side as she landed on top of the vampire.

Blood spurted from the wounds, covering Bella's brown fur and James' dirty clothes in the precious liquid. Growls and snarls rippled from Bella's maw as she clenched down around James' throat. She yanked her large, lupine head back, pulling with it a tangle of vampiric flesh along with the ghastly tubes of James' oesophagus and windpipe. Bella flung the offensive objects to the side, inadvertently exposing the side of her throat as she did so. James took the chance, not letting the missing part of his throat slow him down as he pressed forward and savagely bit into the side of Bella's neck.

Bella's pain filled howls filled my ears and reverberated through my skull, I tried to take a step forward – finally able to will my leaden feet to fucking move – only for my knees to buckle, causing me to collapse onto the grass. My entire world had narrowed down to a single point as I watched Bella fight for her life, and I found myself utterly useless to offer any aid. All my strength, all my courage had fled from my body as I watched the horror show play out before me, and I was unable to make my limbs obey my mind. A familiar hand grasped my bicep and hauled me to my feet.

Carlisle. The touch of my creator filled me with comfort and belonging. "Help her." I pleaded, my voice hoarse, why was my voice so croaky? Had I been screaming?

"I think it's best to stay out of her way." Carlisle murmured as we watched Bella rake her claws down James' torso, spilling his innards over the ground. A pained whimper was all I could manage in response.

Bella finally managed to dislodge James' teeth from her throat, taking half his face with it as she mauled at the vampire's jaw. Bella didn't waste a beat, and returned her fang filled jaws to James' ravaged throat – and in turn, James continued his assault on Bella's torso. James' hands slashed down the sides of Bella's chest, wormed his fingers into the gaping wounds, pounded his fists against anything that was within reach. All of this was nothing in the face of Bella's single-minded resolve to bring death and destruction to the being that was writhing beneath her. With a final twist of her head, Bella finally managed to tear James' head from his body, and his arms fell to his sides – limp and coated red with Bella's blood.

"Bella." I rasped out, unable to force my feet to move even if Carlisle wasn't holding me in place with a forceful hand on my arm – his mind was reeling by what he had just witnessed, and his fears for our, for my, safety in the face of the terrifying beast that was Bella Swan were loud in his thoughts.

Bella's body was heaving with the strength of her panting breaths, each breath sounded more and more laboured than the last. With venom stained teeth, Bella grabbed James' decapitated head, grasping it tightly by the dirty blonde ponytail. The vast gashes that riddled Bella's sides and chest were still gushing a worrying amount of blood – she should have been healing, why the ever living fuck wasn't she healing? Bella turned her massive form towards us, and the movement caused the wounds on her side to move and ripple and spurt out a fresh stream of blood, and oh fuck I could see the pinkish white of her ribs and the swelling sack of her lung. Werewolf or not, no one could survive wounds like that – Bella was going to die. She was going to die, and I would be left alone. The other half of my very being would no longer exist in this world and I already felt hollow, endless pain coursed through my body and I knew the moment Bella breathed her last breath I would do everything in my power to follow her into oblivion.

With James' head grasped in her jaws, Bella lumbered forward, moving a single step before a pained whine echoed from her chest, Bella readjusted her grip on the grimy ponytail and then slowly began a limping walk in my direction. Blindingly bright yellow eyes locked on mine as Bella made the walk towards me – the dozen or so feet felt like an impossible distance as Bella approached. With each step, her wounds bled, and her breathing became more arduous as they began to take on a troubling gurgling sound. Finally, Bella came to a halt, dropping her load at my feet.

James' bloodied head fell to the grass with a sickeningly wet thud, before it rolled towards me, his unseeing eyes stared up at me as his venom stained my sneakers.

Bella whined, the sound shattered the fractured remnants of my heart, and that was the last sound she made before her massive wolf body fell to the side. I jerked my arm out of Carlisle's hold and fell to my knees, my hands fluttered uselessly over Bella's bleeding body, and before my eyes she began to rapidly shrink down into herself – the monstrous wolf becoming a girl once more.

Bella lay on the cold ground, her naked body broken and bleeding and I turned to my father with eyes filled with tears I was unable to shed. My voice was quaking with the strength of my plea

"Save her."