AN: Sorry it took so long to get this to you. We had out of town guests. Then I had to figure out how I wanted this whole scene to go, with all the different variables and options. Hope you enjoy it!

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Chapter 44 - Ambushed

Jasper POV

"Hello, Laurent. I see you made it back home safely," Eleazar answered pleasantly.

"Thank you, Eleazar. Where is everyone?" Laurent asked. If I hadn't been listening so carefully, I wouldn't have detected the slight tremor in his voice.

Peter had run inside and gotten a pad of paper and a pencil. He quickly wrote out a message to guide Eleazar.

'Invite him to come here. Victoria has him and Irina and is expecting to ambush us. Pretend everything is fine, then we'll be waiting for them between there and here.'

"We're all here with the Cullens. Why don't you two come join us?" Eleazar offered calmly, as if nothing was wrong.

"Thanks, we will," Laurent muttered before hanging up the phone.

"Boy, what enthusiasm," Emmett joked. "I can tell he's really looking forward to coming here."

Everyone simply ignored him, knowing he was trying to provide comic relief and reduce tensions, but unimpressed with his effort. There was so much to do and decide, and with a newborn army approaching us, led by a sadistic psycho, every second counted. I immediately began considering the area between the Denali's home and ours, deciding which might be our best vantage point. At the same time, I was creating and rejecting various battle strategies, trying to determine our best course of action. A third section of my mind was keeping careful track of my mate, while a fourth was paying attention to everyone else.

"Where's Jacob?" Charlie asked Billy, full of worry and concern. "Shouldn't he be here with us? What if they find him out there alone?"

Billy patted Charlie's shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, Charlie. Chief has reported the situation to Jacob, and he's on his way. He was already heading toward us, wanting to participate in the training."

Charlie grimaced and muttered, "Right, training. Talk about too little, too late. Dammit. Why did I have to lose my shit and send Bella and Jasper off by themselves for a few hours? What if the newborn army had caught up with them? It would've been all my fault."

He had ranted at himself so quietly a human wouldn't have even heard him. His guilt and frustration were overwhelming me, and I pushed them away, blocking his volatile emotions so they wouldn't interfere with my rational thinking abilities. Sometimes being an empath really sucked.

"The small meadow 6 miles northwest of here would be the best place to face them," I grunted. My brain had narrowed down our strategies significantly now that the place had been chosen.

Carlisle nodded his head in approval. "Yes, that would give us the advantage, with the cliff and glacier falls at our back. They'll be running uphill toward us, which will allow us to detect them before they detect us, plus the rocks on the sides will allow us ample hiding places should we find them necessary."

"I think we should split into two groups, with our strongest fighters out front," Peter recommended. "Our newborns can circle around behind them after the battle begins, cutting off their retreat. What do you think, Major?"

"That is indeed one of the scenarios I was considering, Captain. Good thinking. Does your gift suggest that as our best possible option?" I replied calculatingly. His gift had saved us so many times in our war years, I knew never to doubt it.

"Yes, sir. So far," Peter responded, giving me a careful nod.

"If Laurent is Irina's mate, why is he leading an army toward us?" Billy asked Tanya, his disapproval and disdain apparent on his face. "Why would he betray his own mate by attacking her family?"

Tanya frowned. "I don't know. Either he's not really Irina's mate or he's been coerced into it."

"For a betrayal this big, I'm guessing his mate has been threatened if he doesn't comply," Charlotte carefully remarked. Peter nodded in agreement.

"For his sake, I hope so, but for her sake, I hope she's somewhere safe," Eleazar growled. Carmen put her arms around him, trying to comfort him and herself at the same time.

We needed to get back down to business. It was a short run to the Denali's from here, so time was of the essence. "Charlie, Billy, Chief, and Bella will wait here for Jacob. When he gets here, the five of them will follow our scents until they reach the marker indicating they are almost within range of detection. At that point, they will circle around to the right and come at the army from behind, cutting off their retreat. The rest of us will advance now to the meadow and choose our positions. We'll leave a marker at the point where it is impossible to be heard from the meadow, and a few of us will check for scouts to make sure Victoria is not alerted to our position in advance. Any questions?"

"Char and I volunteer to hunt for scouts," Peter offered. I nodded and sent him my acceptance through my gift, much as I had back when we were both working for Maria.

"I want to stay with you, Jasper," Bella protested.

I looked down at my agitated mate and gently ran my fingers through her hair, in a soothing motion. "I know, darlin', but this gives us the advantage of surprise. Victoria doesn't know you're a vampire yet, so she won't be expecting you."

I watched her eyes as she thought about it. She sighed, "Okay, Major. You know best."

"Why, thank you, darlin'," I smirked. "I'm so glad you recognize that."

She rolled her eyes and slapped my chest playfully. "Yeah, sometimes, occasionally, you know best."

I growled and pretended to snap at her. "Watch it there, half pint, or I'll eat you up, I love you so."

"Promises, promises," she laughed, and I felt her arousal at the thought.

"I thought it was always 'Daddy Knows Best'," Carlisle pouted. "Not Major knows best."

"Yes, dear," Esme cooed, patting him on the head.

We all burst out laughing at his wounded look.

"Hey, how come you all laugh at him, but ignore me? That's not fair!" Emmett whined.

"That's because you're not funny," Kate teased.

"Hey!" Emmett shouted. "I'll show you 'not funny'!" He began chasing her around the yard, and she began squealing as she tried to stay at least one step ahead of him.

"Enough, children!" Peter called to them, as Emmett had a small tree poised to throw like a spear. "Save it for the battle field and direct it toward the enemy."

"Right!" Emmett agreed, tossing the tree off to the side, already forgotten. He shook his fist above his head, yelling out a fierce battle cry. "It's time to roar our terrible roars, roll our terrible eyes, gnash our terrible teeth and show our terrible claws!"

Rose sighed theatrically, grabbed Emmett's hand and began dragging him off to the clearing. "Yes, dear. Let's go stare into their eyes, without blinking once, and see if it tames them."

"Ooooh! Do you think that'll really work?" Emmett asked her excitedly.

"No," we all answered at the same time. His face fell.

"But feel free to try it, while we're facing off," I added, grinning at him. "Maybe they'll declare you King of the Wild Things." Just like that, his spirits were soaring again, as he grinned triumphantly back.

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We were in the snowy clearing, awaiting Laurent and his pals, when he suddenly broke through the trees and out into the clearing. We were all standing in formation in the center of the clearing, all crouched and ready to spring, when he arrived. I could sense his shock, pain, fear, and shame as his eyes met ours.

He stopped, sighed, and dropped his shoulders. "I'm sorry, I had no choice," he confessed in a whisper. I could feel his sincerity, and knew they must have Irina. I could hear the pounding footsteps of the advancing army, who hadn't realized the need to be quiet yet. Falling back on my experience, my practiced ear picked out 17 pair of feet running along the forest floor. Only 17 against a coven our size? Especially knowing both our covens are together? What a novice! A naïve idiot! With our second group sneaking around the back, we're nearly even in number - 14 to their 17. This is gonna be child's play. Everyone knows you need at least two to three trained newborns for each experienced older vampire, if you want to win, and these newborns weren't even properly trained. I smirked to myself, and quickly whispered to the group, "There's only seventeen of them, plus Laurent, so everyone needs to take out one vampire. Pete, Char, and I will handle the rest of them."

I heard a few sighs of relief, but Pete grumbled, "Child's play," under his breath, earning himself a quick slap upside the head from his mate. As much as I was looking forward to fighting for the right reasons this time - to protect my home, my mate, and my family - I was relieved it would be an easy battle as well, since my mate didn't really know how to fight yet. I'd only had time to teach her a few of the basics, and I didn't want her getting hurt.

"It's too late," Laurent shouted back toward the army, shooting us an apologetic look. "They already knew we were coming."

A young male, less than a year old broke through the trees, backed by his chosen officers. I wondered what gift he had that placed him in charge of the troops, as he was clearly the one issuing orders. The other newborns soon flanked them, followed lastly by Victoria herself. Seeing us crouched and ready for her, she smirked and threw Irina off to the side as far as she could. Laurent's eyes followed her path, then flew to the young girl trying to hide behind Victoria. I could feel his shock as he met the girl's frightened, pleading gaze. She quickly made a few hand motions, discreet enough to avoid detection. Laurent looked over the girl's shoulder into the forest behind her, and the girl quickly nodded. He hung his head, resigned, but still hopeful.

My attention was divided between, Victoria, who was both disappointed and happy to find us here waiting for her, Laurent, who could fight on either side, and my mate, who was even now circling around behind the army, as instructed. I had felt my family's shock, disgust, and anger upon seeing Irina's limbless torso tossed casually aside like yesterday's garbage. We all immediately understood why Laurent had led Victoria straight to us. Thank heavens for Peter's warning, so we weren't caught off guard!

Just as any vampire would do, Laurent had chosen the welfare of his mate over the rest of his coven. I would have done the same, without an ounce of hesitation, remorse, or regret. Even Carlisle and Esme would sacrifice their children to save each other. After all, you can always make more vampire 'children' if you wish, but finding your soul mate is a once in a lifetime event, in a lifetime that can stretch endlessly on for millennia. Not that they wouldn't mourn the loss of any of their children, because they certainly would. However, a vampire can live through the loss of a child, friend, or sibling, while the loss of one's mate will utterly destroy one. I could sense Victoria's pain from the loss of James, her desire to die outweighed only by the desire for revenge. I realized she didn't expect to walk away from this encounter, but fully hoped to take down as many of us as she could before we finally brought her down and sent her soul to join James in hell.

I sensed my mate and the rest of our team members approaching the clearing from behind the army, cautiously getting into formation before quietly sneaking closer, past the border and into the detection zone, where any sound they made would give away their position.

Victoria laughed. "Prepare to die, you miserable bastards! Attack, newborns! Kill them all!"

The newborns crouched, ready to spring, and I tensed, poised to give my mate the signal to rush the clearing, waiting for the newborns to make the first move, so we could take advantage of the chaos. Our other team continued creeping silently closer, with Chief leading the way on weightless feet.

Just as the newborns began their lunges, the ones on the left started dropping like flies, falling to the ground midflight. With my vampire sight, I noticed a fog drifting toward us all, slowly, but inexorably. My eyes traced the fog back to it's source, just in time to see three cloaked figures stepping out from the trees on the far left.

Shit! Volturi! Alec! My brain shrieked in recognition. I didn't even have time to issue a warning before the fog overcame me, wiping out all my senses. I couldn't see, hear, smell, touch, or taste anything. However, I could still sense emotions. I inadvertently sent out a major 'Oh, shit! We're royally fucked!' vibe to my mate, so I followed up with a wave of extreme caution, hoping she wouldn't come charging in, eyes blazing. To my relief, her emotional signature stayed where it was.

The fucking Volturi just had to come right fucking now, didn't they? I mentally complained. Why the fuck didn't Peter sense this? And what the fuck are we gonna do now?

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AN: I know you hate me now for ending this here, but I promise I'm already working on the next chapter and fully expect to have it up tomorrow. So, what did you think?