For the first time since my change, I wished that I needed to shower and change clothes more often. The packing was going much too fast, meaning that we would be able to leave sooner. We really only needed one extra outfit for each of us, so we weren't taking anything but a small backpack. I was just zipping it up when Jasper came into our room and put his hands on my hips, standing behind me.

"What do you think, Darlin'?" he kissed the side of my neck. "Are we almost ready to go?"

I took an unnecessary breath, "Yeah, I think we are." I gave a shaky laugh as I felt Jasper's calm wash over me, thankful that he knew what I needed without having to say.

He threw the backpack onto his shoulder and turned me so that we were face-to-face. I felt his thumb stroking my cheek as he leaned in to press a kiss to my forehead before walking down the stairs. I followed him, giving myself a mental pep talk the whole way down.

I wasn't sure how this was going to go, but I knew one thing for sure. I wanted this to be a happy moment for Jasper. Even though he chose to leave his family with good reason, I knew he missed them terribly. I missed them, too.

We walked out of the front door together, heading north. "Jasper," I started curiously. "You said that the Volturi is after the Denalis. What provoked them?"

"Really, it doesn't take much to provoke them. Even an inconvenience can cause them to take life." Jasper ran a hand through his curls, "That's exactly what happened to the Denalis. Irina, one of the sisters, reported a crime based on a misunderstanding. The Volturi leaders feel as though they wasted their time checking it out and now want Irina to pay for it." He glanced over at me, sensing my confusion.

"And the rest of them are guilty because they are trying to hide her, right?" Jasper nodded. "How will it help to have 'witnesses'?"

"I believe they want us to vouch that Irina is honest and that it was a genuine mistake." He reasoned. "That she was trying to help them."

That stopped me in my tracks. "I won't be much help at all, then, will I?"

Jasper put his arm around me, urging me to continue walking. "That's not exactly true," he started, "I have taught you a lot about fighting in our spare time." He grinned, and I knew he was thinking about how some of our fighting lessons ended in not-so-productive ways. "You will be very helpful when we are giving everyone a crash course on how to fight experienced vampires."

I held onto him a little tighter, "Do you think this will end in a fight?"

He contemplated for a moment before answering. "I hope not. But, if it does, there will be more of us than they are expecting. I was even thinking of asking Zenna and Safrina to come up if we need some extra help."

"That's a good idea, Jas." I smiled at him, promising myself to try and keep my emotions in check no matter how much I wanted to curl into a ball and roll all the way home.

Eventually, we picked up the pace of our trip and ran through the woods, only slowing down when we neared a place that might have humans in the area. It made me think of the first time Jasper took me hunting after I was changed.

"Okay, Bella, there should be a lot of wildlife in this area-" Jasper's voice broke off abruptly and I spun to face him, concerned. "We need to get out of here."

Then, I smelled it. A human. I knew instantly what the indescribable scent was as my senses ran ahead of me and I began attempting to detect where it was coming from so that I could run straight toward it. I was broken out of my trance by my husband's gentle grip on my shoulder. Immediately, I was concerned for Jasper, as he had told me how hard it was to feel the bloodlust of others. I quickly grabbed onto his hand and searched his eyes, making sure he was alright. I saw many things there. Awe, pride, amusement, happiness, and love.

"Honestly, sugar, one second of concern for me pulls you out of a newborn blood craze?" He shook his head as he pulled me to his chest. "I don't deserve you."

I smiled up at him for a moment, and then took off running in the opposite direction of the delicious scent. I wanted to hunt before that happened again.

We ran for hours, feeding once, until we crossed into Alaska. Never having been there, I tried to enjoy the scenery as we got closer to our destination. I knew we were nearly there when Jasper slowed down and took my hand, bringing it up to his lips. I began to hear noises of the gathering that was waiting for us; voices, laughter, loud crashes that I attributed to the sparring that Jasper had mentioned would take up much of our time. The trees began to thin out as we approached a house not unlike the Cullen's, and saw many more vampires than I had ever seen in one place. The first thing that drew my attention was Emmett, who was dodging another vampire's attacks as others, including the rest of the Cullens, watched. It was that moment that Esme turned her head and locked her eyes onto Jasper. I watched her eyes go wide and her jaw drop open as she took a hesitant step toward us.

"Jasper!" She began to run as every other pair of red and gold eyes turned toward us.