Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight, I just enjoy borrowing her characters for a while.

AN: Thank you so much to everyone who is still reading. I'm grateful for every favourite, follow and review. No beta…mistakes are inevitable and I hope you can forgive them.

Wrapped

Considering what they'd been through, Bree and Fred made so much more progress more quickly than I could ever have hoped for.

Initially, I hadn't dared consider that they might fully commit to a human-free diet and to our vendetta against Victoria but they were all in. I should've realised that it was possible though and it was unfair of me to underestimate them. They'd already worked out they were being lied to before they came to the battle and they'd kept control throughout that fight and then they were calm and brave in the face of multiple enemies.

Fred took to feeding from animals with relative ease. He told me that he'd already been trying to claw some control over his thirst, that right from the beginning he'd been repulsed by the mindless slaughter and had tried to hunt carefully with varying success. He was relieved he'd never have to kill a human again…he was determined that he wouldn't. Bree found it much more difficult but she was inspired by Fred and Bella's success and stubbornly striving not to be the weak link.

Bree and Fred explained how Riley had been very strict with all the newborns about how often they hunted. Initially after being turned, Fred and the original newborns had been allowed to hunt with only a few restrictions but most of them were out of control and left carnage behind when they hunted. By the time Bree was turned everything had changed. Most of the original newborns had gone missing or been destroyed and it was likely that is was only Fred's gift that'd spared him from that fate. From Bree's description, it seemed to me that they had been kept underfed, desperate and dependent. They weren't allowed out for prolonged periods of time; trapped, it seemed, by fear, psychological abuse, lies about sunlight and threats of UV traps. A few favourites were appointed jailors, encouraged to be brutal in their strategies to keep the others subdued.

Fred had fared better than most, eventually able to avoid the worst types of attention thanks to his gift and he tried to protect Bree, and more recently Diego, as best he could. Initially the effects of his gift had been minimal and he hadn't been able to project it onto anyone else but the brutal conditions had given him sufficient motivation to practice and improve his control. As his gift became more effective, they'd started to plan their escape but then Diego disappeared and they were waiting for him to return before they executed their plan. When he hadn't returned before the battle, they'd followed the other newborns with a fading hope they'd find Diego here. They never planned to join the fighting, just hide, wait for Diego and leave together once it was all over.

While they were held captive in Seattle, they were only occasionally let out to hunt in small groups with harsh punishments if any attention was drawn. Mostly they were fed by humans being thrown in with them which led to brutal fights over the scarce supply of blood and the humans being literally ripped apart by frantic newborns. Fred was older at this point and was not so desperate to feed but the impact on Bree had been very damaging. She found it difficult to control herself when feeding now. She glutted down blood, unable to free herself from the notion that she was no longer at risk of being starved. We hunted twice a day to keep her thirst under control so we had to go further afield than I ideally would've liked so as not to decimate the local wildlife. I used it as an opportunity to look for signs of Victoria, sadly unsuccessfully.

The wolves weren't as resistant to Bree and Fred as I thought they'd be. After the massive fuss they'd made about allowing Bella and I to stay in the area, there was barely any resistance to us keeping Bree and Fred close. Something was going on with them and I thought they were hiding something. I was almost sure of it but as it worked in our favour, I didn't press the issue.

We all trained together. Bella and I, Bree and Fred and the wolves. It was surreal but beautiful in a way. Bree and Fred were both fast learners. In honesty, Fred had no real need to hone his fighting skills as he could disappear and avoid any fight he wished but he pointed out that if his gift didn't work on Bella, it might not work on others and he wanted to be able to fight with us, not sit invisibly on the side-lines. He was as eager to learn as Bree, who desperately wanted to be able to effectively defend herself. I guessed some ghosts from her human life and those from her newborn life were equally responsible for that urgent desire to be able to protect against any enemy.

We were also working on Fred's gift. He was already formidable before we started but he was a quick study also. It wasn't long before he could make various pack members fade in and out of existence at will, his speed in cloaking them improving each day. It was initially impressive but we soon discovered an unfortunate flaw; it was only entirely effective when the he or those he was cloaking were completely still. We would need to work on strategy and communication if it were ever to be of any real use in a battle.

"You couldn't have run from us that first day, could you?" I asked Fred after one gruelling practice session.

"No, sir," he replied with a wry smile.

His gift had kept them prisoner in that spot, I realised. If he'd been able to cloak them on the move, they'd have been long gone by the time the battle ended. Despite my frustration at his gift proving to be more defensive than offensive, I was grateful for that too. It was better than not having it at all and I liked Fred and Bree very much. It was already difficult to imagine life without them.

xWx

I was watching a fight between Bella and Fred. It was always hard for me to watch Bella under attack, even if I already trusted Fred not to seriously hurt her. He was instinctively using his gift whenever she had an advantage even though it was pointless because she could always see him and when he stilled to use it, he was a sitting target for her. He wasn't a natural warrior despite his willingness to learn and eagerness to improve.

As I watched them, in another part of my mind I was contemplating why Fred's gift was completely ineffective on Bella. The only logical explanation was that she had a shielding gift. Bella had said that Edward's gift hadn't worked on her either. But Jasper's and Alice's had apparently. Why? Could Bella shield more gifts than just Edward's and Fred's? She had shielded against Edward while she was still human. If her shield was actually a gift, it was surely a very powerful one. I had begun to wonder what else she might be able to shield.

Maybe Bella could shield from Victoria's evasion gift. It would make sense that might be why Victoria and James hadn't realised the full danger of pursuing Bella when she was human. Victoria would have still been able to sense the threat posed by the rest of the Cullens but once James had the plan to get Bella alone she had missed that Bella was the factor that would lead to his demise. Of course the only way to make effective use of that advantage was to send Bella after Victoria on her own. Victoria's gift would work on anyone that accompanied Bella but there was no way I'd be able to allow Bella to go after Victoria without me. My whole being violently rejected that possibility.

My thoughts moved on to other gifts I was aware of. Aro's gift was similar to Edward's. Would she be able to shield from him? He wouldn't take kindly to that I was sure. He'd want to kill her or keep her. What if she could shield other Volturi gifts? Even Jane's and Alec's? It could keep her safe if the Volturi came here except it wouldn't because she would never save herself and leave the rest of us. I had a horrifying vision of the pack and I writhing in sightless agony while Bella took on the rest of the guard singlehandedly.

Maybe by the time they came, Fred might be powerful enough to hide us all. If Fred could throw his gift over others, maybe Bella could do the same. If Fred and Bella could both share their gifts then maybe even the Volturi wouldn't be a threat to us. We could hunt Victoria and she wouldn't sense us and run as she continually loved to do.

Hours and hours of frustrating fruitless attempts later and Bella hadn't manged to project her shield. Fred was patiently explaining again how he sensed the life force of those he wanted to hide and doused them in a fog. The denser the fog he projected, the better hidden they were. He could now move the fog slowly but not at anywhere near the speed we could move.

Bella was concentrating so hard she looked like she might shatter but I still couldn't see Bree who was acting as our test subject.

"She needs more motivation," Jake suggested, looking as monumentally bored as the rest of the wolves.

"Like what exactly?" Bella bit out, uncharacteristically short tempered.

"Like… Fred hide me and I attack Garrett. Everyone agrees not to help him. I won't do anything too permanent, I promise, but the only way Bella is allowed to end it is by shielding Garrett and making me visible to him."

"You'd have to move slowly," Fred pointed out.

"Not a problem," Jake drawled maniacally.

"No way," Bella replied instantly, but I liked the idea. So did the wolves. It would be good practice for both Fred and Bella. The other wolves were stirring from their disinterest and stretching in anticipation.

"More than one of you," I said.

"Huh?" Jake grunted, probably distracted by his plans on how to inflict slow and effective attacks on me.

"One wolf won't do it. Fred needs to shield a few of you," I told them.

"No, Garrett!" Bella cried.

"I trust them not to kill me…everything else will heal and this is too important Bella," I implored. "It could help us finally catch Victoria. It might even protect us against the Volturi if they come."

"I like it a lot," said Jake. Not even bothering to go into the trees before he stripped and shifted.

"Wait," Bella pleaded.

"Less thinking, more instinct," I told her as the wolves all slowly disappeared.

"Remember to move slowly, or he'll be able to sense you," Fred instructed them, "I've made a thick ring of concealing fog around Garrett. If it gets too close to him, he'll see you too because it's hard for me not to instinctively include him in the protection; I like him and I don't actually want him to get hurt. Once you get close enough to hurt him, you'll be out of the fog and he'll see you."

"No!" shrieked Bella seconds before a crushing, vice clamped my shoulder and threw me ruthlessly into the trees. Jake had come at me from behind, darting out of Fred's invisibility so fast that by the time I sensed him, it was too late to avoid him. The pain was worth it though if we'd found a way to apply Fred's talent in a battle.

"Don't help me, Bella," I warned, as I returned to my original position, rubbing my shoulder. "Not unless it's by making them visible so I can get my hands on them."

I was taking quite a brutal beating. I got in a few satisfying lucky hits when one of the wolves moved too quickly in the wrong place and flicked into my vision but mostly I was the only one hurting. I ground my teeth. Come on Bella, I silently urged her.

"You wouldn't," Bella gasped, starting towards me again but I backed slightly away from her, holding up my hands.

"No, Bella. Not that way!"

"But he looks like he's planning to take off an arm," she worried.

"I don't care. Don't help me unless it's by shielding me!" I did actually care. No one wanted to lose an arm but still, it was repairable even if it would hurt like hell.

Bella gasped, silently reaching towards me while forcing her feet not to move. Suddenly I could see them all. I recognised Embry mid pounce, aiming to clamp his jaws around by biceps. I swivelled out of his way, punching him the face and launching him into three other wolves, taking them all out.

"Yes, Bella!" I cheered, running to her and swinging her into my arms until we were surrounded by the pack in their human forms, whooping and cheering. Embry was grinning despite the massive black eye that I had given him.

Once she had done it once, it was like a dam had broken, like a switch had been flicked. She absolutely couldn't do it until she absolutely could. It wasn't the same as Fred's, she explained. She saw the sparks of life force, just like he did but her gift was nothing like fog. It was a like a blanket that she could wrap around us and unlike Fred, once she'd wrapped us in her gift, it moved with us even at speed.

She tired quickly though. Fred said he had too at first. Their gifts were like muscles that needed stretching and exercising. Both of them needed more range and endurance before we could be completely sure of success against Victoria's gift and comprehensive protection from other offensive gifts. There was still no guarantee which gifts Bella's shield would protect against either. It had been tested by five gifts so far and shielded against three of them. Sixty percent success rate. It might not be enough against the Volturi. Our best option was still to end Victoria before they decided to come and investigate what she was doing.

AN: Thank you for reading. I know it's a bit slow going at the moment but how their gifts work is really important for what's to come. Please let me know what you think.