Why would the Volturi come for the pack—was a grudge really enough?
Sam's voice once again dominated the room. "There will be no dispersement. There will be no relocation." He glared at Edward. "Do you understand what the purpose of a reservation is?" His eyes meaningfully turned towards the smallest wolves in the room and then returned to the Cullens. "Our tribe belongs here, where our ancestors have lived for thousands of years—in spite of everything that has happened to us, our people have lived and died here and we will live and die here, and that is final." The quivering children watched him with wide, dark eyes, returning to the room at large only when Edward's velvety retort cruelly ripped back across the room.
"Then you will die here, and all your lineage be destroyed." Black eyes stared out of his white face. "We will do everything we can, but if you choose to end yourselves, there is nothing else we can do." His nostrils were flared wide as he waited for his words to take effect. Leah cocked her head; I knew what was coming before she even opened her mouth.
"Why do you even care, bloodsucker? Is this about us, or just her?" One of her eyebrows spiked at the mention of me, and I suddenly became aware of Jacob's heat behind me once again. The glance in my direction gave Edward away.
"I've told you everything I'm obligated to," he whispered, and just like that, his jaw fell open and raw shock registered on his face. I realized his hand was resting on Alice's shoulder at the same time she turned towards the room.
"They're not after you," she said in a flat voice—a dead voice. Edward's words rushed out at her.
"He read his mind—" she nodded, her head jerking loosely on her neck. Jasper's hands appeared around her, holding her upright. A ripple quaked through the small wolves, but they held still. Jasper looked as anxious for news as any of them.
"What's going on?" This time the voice was Jacob's. His was deeper and rougher than all of the others combined, and the timber of it startled me and made me ache. In the face of so much adversity it was getting harder and harder to remember why I was so angry with him.
"They're using you as leverage," Edward said, his voice as monotone and broken as his sister's. "They have no genuine interest in killing any of you besides yourself, Jacob Black, and that is the true reason they are coming—to use you to get to…me. But then, the real prize is Alice." He frowned, and I tried to piece together the complicated string of words. My shock was getting in the way.
"That doesn't make any sense," Leah countered.
"They will require me to trade my life for the pack's—they do not intend to let you live, Jacob. But the rest of the pack may continue, if I become a member of their guard." Here, he turned towards his diminutive sister, her face as numb with terror as his. "For aiding and abetting you, they will require Alice. To keep them from slaughtering our family."
"This doesn't make any sense!" Leah snarled. Sam's arms remained crossed, but Leah's composure slipped as she leaned further across the table, her posture pleading and her expression fierce. "From what you told us, none of this fits with that whole 'rule of silence' thing!" She stood upright, hands in fists still on the table. "Like someone isn't going to notice if they wipe out our whole tribe—like frigging Custer or something! Why would they break their own rule like that?"
"You misunderstand," Edward said, his face pointing downwards. "The problem no longer belongs to your tribe. You are invisible to Alice," here he swept his arm as if to imply collectively, "so we are interpreting a rather opaque future. But it seems it was all a ruse. Once they saw the members of our family…our weaknesses….and our strengths…" He looked her in the eye then, the granite face painted in such numbing sorrow I felt my heart swell. "Of course I will join their guard. I would not see an end to your people on my behalf. When we didn't understand—we didn't know what they truly sought—we offered our protection. I would hardly rescind it now when the means are so much more simple." His dead face found Jacob's. "You will have to run, Jacob. Before their tracker knows your mind well enough to find you. Before he can take you from her. They have no intention of letting you live, no matter the lies they tell." The anguish in his tone was too much—my knees gave out. Both men reached for me, but hot hands held me aloft.
"No, Edward—" I began, but Leah cut me off.
"What does joining their guard mean for you? What kinds of things are you going to have to do?"
"It's slavery," erupted Jasper suddenly. His arms were now wrapped completely around Alice, their slender bodies shamelessly twined together with her face buried in his chest. The vulnerable position was so uncharacteristic of them that it said more than any of the words that had passed. "They're going to use them to carry out the kind of horrible things they would have done here…it's criminal," snarled Jasper. He looked at Edward. "We'll run. Carlisle just saw them, there's no way they can get here before we can—"
"You would have fought for us?" Sam's voice silenced everything. "Before you knew that your family was the real target, you would have fought for us? You spoke of dispersement, making us leave…"
"I cannot make you do anything," whispered Edward, and his eyes found my face. "As Bella reminded me, I have no right to decide another's fate. And you should understand, they do not value your lives. They will welcome any opportunity to kill you. Still—we have told you all we know, offered all we have." I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, and realized Jacob had almost reached out to Edward. I was sure he saw. It was too much for either man to move further.
"Then you won't object if we don't let you get sold in to slavery for us, either," Leah said evenly. She looked at Jasper and Alice appraisingly. "I don't think you have any idea what a reservation really is," she added in a lower voice, and I could tell that her point was different than Sam's. He was looking at her now with an steely expression on his face. A new sort of tension filled the room; the wolves were suddenly no longer paying attention to the vampires.
"We need to talk about this," Sam said. He didn't seem as convinced as Leah that benevolence towards the Cullens was their duty. Instantly, there was movement—young wolves wiggled, their thin muscular bodies flying back and forth across the room as they chattered animatedly, and the larger warriors glaring at each other in stony silence. Edward didn't even look at them, and turned towards Jacob instead.
"They will leave immediately." Alice looked at me from Jasper's protective grasp, listening to Edward's words. "With a head start—"
"Don't." Leah was next to us now, standing closest to me. I could tell the smell was bothering her in spite of her efforts. "Give us half a day, noon at least, to think of a plan. Something less…drastic." A look of disgust crossed her handsome features as she leaned a little closer to Edward and said, "there is always more than one way to solve a problem. And we did contribute to this one. And you helped save us then." Her eyes went up to Jake's. "Sorry, Jake. Embry was right—we didn't know." He shrugged awkwardly, and she was leaving to go to Sam's side just as suddenly. I realized the room was emptying around us. Alice squeezed my arm, but I grabbed at Leah.
"Leah, I want to talk to you. Soon." She looked deeply in to my eyes for a minute and then nodded firmly. I knew she would confer with Sam first, but find me when she could. When she did I hoped I had a plan of my own to offer. Alice's hand became a little more insistent.
"Twelve hours is as much time as we can possibly wait," she said, and then a slight smile appeared. "But, it'll allow us to say goodbye to Carlisle in person." Her grief was powerful, altering even the gold in her eyes. I shook my head.
"Leah's right—there is always more than one solution. Always. You should know that better than anyone, Alice."
"It hasn't changed yet," she whispered, and I kissed her cheek before Jasper lead her away. Edward turned to go and I grabbed his hand.
"This isn't over, Edward." I took his fingers, completely aware that Jake and I were the last ones left. Edward's glistening lids hid his black eyes from me while he absorbed my heat for a moment. The cool fingers of his other hand gently encased mine before he released himself.
"Twelve hours," he replied in a dull, hopeless voice. And then he was gone. Nothing filled the room but the suddenly vibrant and unignorable tension between Jacob and I.