A/N: As always, thank you for reading:)
Debriefs and Decisions
Jasper wasted no time bounding into the clearing and throwing his arms around Seth. When the newborn - Bree - instinctively growled at him, he just rolled his eyes and set Seth back on his feet. "I'm not going to hurt him," he reassured the young girl whose emotions were a raging tempest. When her fear rose as she looked at him, he shook his head. "Or you. I understand that you're confused and frightened, but you're safe now," he said more gently. "No one here will hurt you."
Bree just looked around at all the beings surrounding her, not really understanding what was happening. One minute Riley was telling them they needed to kill all of their golden-eyed enemies, the next she was being carried away from the fight with no arms. Fortunately, the scarred man who'd taken her away and the petite blond woman who'd been waiting for him in the new clearing had helped her reattach the limbs, but she still felt completely lost. It didn't help that she was feeling confusing things about the dark-haired boy standing nearby.
Honestly, the whole last few months of Bree's life had been nothing but confusing. Up was down, nightmare was reality, and everything familiar had been stripped away from her.
Leah had been keeping her distance from the newborn, knowing she got a little freaked out every time she looked at her. Bree understood that Leah was the wolf who'd hurt her, but the fact that a wolf had turned into a human was a little too much craziness for her mind to absorb. Wanting to be next to Jasper, and hoping it might put Bree a little more at ease to see a wolf could be that close to a vamp without anyone getting hurt or feeling threatened, she slowly walked over and tucked herself against Jasper's side.
Jasper smiled and wrapped an arm around her, pointedly ignoring the newborn's focused stare. "Did you have time to go back to the Reservation yet?" he asked her quietly.
"No, but that reminds me," Leah started, pulling out her phone and handing it to him. "My mom asked me to have you call her when you got here. I talked to her and Charlie, and they're both fine. They'd just left Sam and Emily's to go to our house, but my mom's waiting to hear from you before she tries to get a little sleep. I told her you were alright but she won't believe me until she hears your voice," she explained, rolling her eyes a little. Her mom had gotten reassurance from multiple people - vamps and wolves - that Jasper was unharmed and perfectly fine, but she still demanded that Leah have him either call or come over as soon as he was back in the area.
Jasper just nodded and dialed the Clearwater's number. He couldn't blame Sue, because he felt exactly the same. He knew there hadn't been any fighting near Forks or La Push, but he also knew he'd feel a little anxious until he heard Sue's reassurance for himself that she and Charlie were okay.
When Sue answered and realized it was Jasper, she let out a huge sigh of relief. Every third word she said was cut off by a yawn, so they didn't talk for long, and Jasper was only a little surprised when she asked if he minded passing the phone to Peter.
Peter was surprised though. He took the phone a little hesitantly, making both Jasper and Leah smile, but then a grin broke across his face when Sue explained that Sam had told her the only injury on their side was the bite he got and she wanted to make sure he was alright.
"Perfectly fine, ma'am," he told her. "Jasper had me all fixed up in no time."
It was just as Peter hung up and handed Leah her phone back that Jasper felt Jared approaching as a wolf, but the Alpha stopped a good hundred yards out and phased back to a human before coming into the baseball field. Almost immediately behind him were Rosalie, Emmett, Carlisle, and Esme.
Bree's eyes went wide that she was suddenly faced with so many of the vampires Riley had told her wanted to kill all of them, particularly the one who was easily twice her size. He seemed to understand her fear, because he stopped dead in his tracks and pulled the tall blond woman to a stop beside him. Bree darted her eyes to the two red-eyed vampires in the clearing, her brow furrowed in confusion. Riley had told them the golden-eyed vampires wanted to kill all those with red eyes, but they were greeting each other as friends. The woman with caramel hair and kind eyes even hugged the two of them and asked if they were alright.
Humans who turned into giant wolves, enemy vampires hugging each other… nothing made any sense to Bree anymore.
Esme moved pretty quickly to hug Jasper and the others, but Carlisle walked over more cautiously, his hands out in front of him to show the newborn he meant no harm. He immediately stopped when she closed her eyes and inhaled, then started growling and shifting on the balls of her feet.
"You smell the human on me?" he asked her.
Bree nodded as she swallowed back the venom that flooded her mouth and locked all her muscles to keep herself in place.
"She's a member of my coven," Carlisle told the girl. "I won't tolerate anyone harming her. I'm happy to explain everything to you, but if you can't control yourself, we'll have to do it elsewhere. All of the nearby humans are under our protection," he said, gesturing to everyone in the clearing - both the vampires and the humans who transformed into wolves.
Bree swallowed again and gave him a single nod. She didn't trust her voice to not betray her fear. Or her thirst.
Seth nervously bit his lip as he thought about how to help his imprint. This was so different from when Leah imprinted on Jasper. Jasper already knew about the wolves by then and the two groups had an established peace treaty. They understood imprinting and mates so there was very little to explain. Bree didn't seem to understand anything at all about the world she'd been brought into.
After looking at Jasper, who tipped his head back and forth a couple times in consideration and then both shrugged and nodded - which Seth interpreted to mean 'sure, go ahead, it probably can't hurt' - he very carefully took Bree's hand and brushed his thumb across the back of it. He smiled when she instinctively took a deep breath and the quiet growl that had been rumbling in her chest stopped.
Bree looked up at the boy curiously. She'd instantly felt more calm when his hand touched hers. It was hot, which was a little confusing and uncomfortable, but it still worked to settle her raging emotions a little. When she saw he was smiling down at her, she offered him a tentative smile in return.
"How about we start with names?" Carlisle suggested, watching Seth with a smile.
Bree turned all her focus on matching names to the faces around her. The coven leader and his mate were Carlisle and Esme, the huge vampire with his arm around the tall blond was Emmett, and the blond woman was Rosalie. The tall blond man with scars that screamed 'danger' was Jasper, and the girl leaning against him was Leah. The two red-eyed vampires, both of whom had similar scarring, were Peter and Charlotte.
Bree nodded nervously when the man finished. Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Leah, Peter, Charlotte. Got it. Maybe. "I'm Bree."
Carlisle smiled at the young girl. "It's nice to meet you, Bree."
"Everyone else is part of my… coven," Jared said, choosing that word because it was something the young girl already understood. When the rest of the group laughed a little, he shrugged. "We call it a pack, not a coven," he explained. "I'm Jared, the man over there is Paul, and the boy holding your hand is Seth. Leah is part of my pack, but she's also part of Carlisle's coven because she's Jasper's mate. Did anyone explain mates to you?" he asked Bree.
The girl shook her head. "Like soulmates?" she asked hesitantly, afraid speaking would get her in trouble.
"Exactly like soulmates," Jared nodded. "Vamps call them mates, but in our pack they're called imprints. Just like Leah is Jasper's mate, Jasper is Leah's imprint."
Bree looked at the couple in question and they both nodded at her. "It's true," Leah confirmed. Bree then darted her eyes up to the boy holding her hand, and he gave her a gentle smile.
"Have you felt anything confusing in your chest since you were changed?" Jasper asked the girl quietly. "Like there was something pulling you in a certain direction?"
Bree immediately nodded. She'd felt a weird tugging sensation but she hadn't understood what it meant and she'd been too scared to ask anyone.
"That's how vampires find their soulmates," Jasper explained. "My guess is that you would have eventually followed it if Riley and Victoria hadn't brought you here. It's one of the strongest instincts we have as vampires, and it was probably only because you were changed so recently that kept you from following it. Being a newborn is chaotic. It's not easy to tell one emotion from another."
"Were you a newborn recently too?" Bree asked curiously, a little too overwhelmed to think about the boy at her side being her… mate.
Leah snorted a laugh while Jasper just smiled and shook his head. "No. It was a very long time ago for me. The newest vampire in our coven is Emmett, and he was changed eighty-five years ago."
Bree's eyes went wide again and darted to the behemoth, who just smiled and waved at her. He had dimples in his cheeks that made him look like a happy child, and even though he was huge, the dimpled grin made him look less scary. The blond at his side was another matter. She wasn't smiling and it felt like her eyes were burning holes in her. Bree shrank away from her gaze.
"Don't mind her," Charlotte reassured her. "You were an enemy not too long ago and Rosalie takes her coven's safety very seriously."
"I don't want to fight," Bree told the scary woman. She couldn't deny being proud of herself that her voice only shook a little bit. "I never wanted to fight but they told me I had to."
Rosalie looked at her steadily for a few moments, making Bree shift uncomfortably. Rose wasn't completely unsympathetic to the young girl, and she couldn't deny being glad Seth had found his imprint. The kid was as sweet as could be and deserved all the happiness in the world. And it was obvious Bree was confused and scared, but that didn't negate the fact that she'd been created to kill Rosalie's family. "It isn't only the vampires in this clearing who are part of our coven," she said. "There are two other members you haven't met and one of them is the human you were programmed to kill."
Bree nodded nervously. She didn't really understand the whole mate thing yet, but she understood the blond's implied threat loud and clear. "I'm… not great around humans," she admitted quietly.
"Perfectly understandable," Esme reassured the girl. "The newborn period is a difficult time for all of us and it takes a little while to learn control."
Jasper was listening to the conversation with one part of his mind while also thinking about everything else they needed to talk about. Not only did Carlisle need to know about Jane, Alec, and Felix, but Jasper still wanted to find out what happened with Victoria and Riley. Because Edward hadn't said anything, he assumed the woman had no further tricks up her sleeve, but he wanted confirmation on that. They also needed to decide what to do about the fact that they suddenly had a human-drinking newborn in their midst. Jasper wasn't one to judge anyone on their choice of diet, but if Bree wanted to continue eating humans he didn't want her anywhere near Forks or La Push.
Carlisle seemed to understand that Jasper's mind was racing, so he quickly explained the conversation he'd had with Alice when she and Rosalie had met them near the treaty line. "Edward was taking Bella home so she could get some rest, and because she's still a little jumpy, Alice has offered to stay with her once she's asleep so Edward can come here. She did take a moment to play the recording for me, though, so I know how things went with Jane and the others."
Jasper just nodded. Before the Volturi guards arrived, Alice started a voice memo on her phone and put it in the pocket of her sweatshirt with the hope that it would catch their conversation. She and Jasper wanted to have concrete proof if Jane acted the way they assumed she would.
Esme, being reminded that Jasper had been on the receiving end of Jane's gift, spun around and wrapped him up in another hug. "Are you alright?" she whispered, letting him feel all her love and pride. "Did the emotions help?"
"They did," Jasper lied, only feeling a little guilty about being dishonest. It was incredibly rare for him but he didn't want Esme to be needlessly upset. Yes, it was painful, but it was over and done with.
Carlisle looked at him sharply when Esme stepped back, but Jasper just sent him the emotions that were his version of 'please let it go' and discreetly shook his head. Carlisle raised an eyebrow and sent back the equivalent of 'we'll be talking about this later in private' and Jasper sighed quietly and did some mental grumbling about coven leaders who were too observant for their own good and didn't know when to leave well enough alone.
That was the moment Edward arrived, and he couldn't help smiling at Jasper's thoughts. When the empath gave him a playful glare, Edward just shrugged. Every member of the family had done their fair share of good-natured grumbling through the years about their too-observant coven leader who didn't miss much.
Edward's smile immediately fell away when the newborn caught Bella's scent on him and started growling quietly. He already knew the girl was Seth's imprint so he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to cause any problems with the pack, but he glared at her with steely eyes. When she swallowed hard and stopped growling, Edward turned his eyes to Seth and gave him an unspoken warning. He liked the boy, it was impossible not to, but he wouldn't tolerate Bree being a threat to Bella.
Seth didn't need to be a telepath to hear the warning, so he nodded at Edward that he understood. He was starting to worry that it might be in everyone's best interest for Bree to leave the area temporarily.
Given everything he'd learned about newborns and their lack of control, Seth was afraid of what might happen if anyone thought his imprint was putting people at risk. There was also her diet to worry about. Thanks to his sister and Jasper, he knew the rest of the pack could deal with a wolf having a vamp for an imprint, but that was a vamp who committed to only hunting animals over seven decades before. Jasper had slipped in his early years, but he'd also been determined and had never made the choice to go back to human blood. Seth wasn't sure how anyone would react if Bree wanted to stay on her current diet, but he assumed it wouldn't be good.
Seth's eyes snapped to Jasper when he broke the uncomfortable silence that had settled over the group, his voice firm but not unkind. He should have known it would be the empath who addressed the elephant in the room.
"Hunting in our territory or the pack's territory is firmly off limits. And anywhere near Seattle is probably a bad idea given the carnage you and the rest of the newborns already caused there," Jasper told the newborn. When he felt Bree's defensiveness, he was quick to reassure her. "That wasn't a judgement. I get that Riley kept you in the city, which made hunting discreetly more difficult. If you want to continue on your current diet, that's perfectly fine, you'll just need to learn how to hunt without drawing any attention."
"What?" Rosalie hissed, interrupting him. "That's–"
Jasper cut her off. "It's not our choice to make, Rose. She's had every decision made for her by outside forces since the moment she woke up. If I'm reading her correctly - and I think we both know by now that I'm pretty good at that - the only choice she's made on her own was to try and leave the fight because she didn't want to be a part of it. You've never thought any less of Peter and Charlotte for their diet, and you've never tried to convince them they should switch to animals, so why do you think it's up to us to decide for Bree?"
Rosalie wanted to argue, but she knew he had a valid point. Personal autonomy was a big thing for her, so it wasn't fair or right for her to try and force the newborn to do what she wanted her to do. Still. "Wasn't it like an hour ago that you wanted to kill her, my dear, sweet, bloodthirsty brother?" she asked with a too-innocent smile. She even fluttered her eyelashes a time or two.
Jasper laughed and dove for his twin, and it was only Emmett's arm around her that kept them from hitting the ground. "You forgot to say favorite," he reminded her, giving her a loud kiss on the cheek.
"Get off me, you psycho," Rose snarked, swatting his face away and trying not to laugh. "Watch it or Edward will bump you from your position and he'll become my favorite brother."
Jasper scoffed and hugged her more gently. "Hell would have to freeze over first."
Even Edward laughed at that. He wasn't sure anything could make Rosalie prefer him over Jasper. Maybe if Jasper ever intentionally hurt Emmett, but that was about it. The two loved each other as much as any pair of real twins.
Bree wasn't sure what to make of the scene. When Jasper lunged for the woman, she'd braced herself for the worst, assuming he was attacking her in anger. When she looked around to see that everyone in the clearing was laughing while watching the two blonds, all she felt was confused.
Charlotte put a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder and smiled at her. "I know everything's a little confusing right now," she said softly. "I'm not sure what Riley told you about our world, but I'd be willing to bet that a lot of it was lies. Now this is just a hunch, but did he tell you that the Cullens wanted to either kill all of us red-eyed vamps or force us to follow their diet?"
Bree's eyes briefly darted to all the golden-eyed vampires before she nodded nervously.
"That's not true. Carlisle and his coven have chosen to only hunt animals, but they don't expect anyone else to make the same choice," Charlotte reassured her. "If you decide you want to follow their diet, I have no doubt they'll be happy to help you make the change. And if you decide you want to stick to a traditional diet, Peter and I can teach you how to do it safely. Control will take a little bit of time regardless of which diet you follow, but you'll get there eventually."
Bree nervously chewed on her lip and thought about what she wanted to do. It was strange that she was even being given an opportunity to make any choices for herself and she was afraid of choosing wrong. She peeked up at the dark-haired boy who was holding her hand and took a deep breath. "I think I'd like to try animals. Humans taste really good but I don't like how it feels to kill them," she admitted.
"In that case, it's probably best to prepare yourself now," Peter chucked. "Animals don't taste nearly as good as humans."
"It's gross?" Bree whispered.
"A little bit, though it'll be marginally better if you stick to carnivores," Peter whispered back. "It's not easy in the beginning, but if that handsome fella over there can make the switch, so can you," he told her, gesturing to Jasper.
Bree looked at Jasper with her head tipped to the side in curiosity. "You didn't always hunt animals?"
"No, I lived on human blood for my first eighty-five years of this life," he answered. "Peter's right, it's not the easiest transition to make, but it's definitely not impossible. And we'll all help you."
Bree looked around again to see that every Cullen was nodding their agreement, even the blond woman who scared her a little bit. She chanced another quick peek up at her… mate - and wasn't that a weird concept to accept - and saw that Seth was smiling down at her. Bree admittedly didn't know very much about the world, and there were still about a million questions racing through her mind, but she thought maybe, just maybe, she'd found exactly the right people to help her understand this new life.
There was a lot to discuss, so once Bree was feeling at least a little more settled, everyone took a seat on the ground and got down to it. The first order of business was the 'fight' with Victoria and Riley. Jasper knew enough from Edward to know it hadn't actually been much of a fight, and he gave Paul a huge proud smile when he found out it was the wolf who took out Riley all on his own.
Victoria had been darting all over the place to try and lose Charlotte, Edward, and Paul, and she hadn't given Riley a single thought in her attempt to get away. He'd called her name as he fell behind, but she'd ignored him completely and kept running. The shock of being discarded by the woman who'd told him she loved him was enough to make his steps falter, and Paul had seen the opening and quite literally jumped at it. Riley had put up a little bit of a fight, but like the newborns, he hadn't been trained at all. The fight was over in under a minute and Riley didn't manage to land even a single hit.
Edward, being the fastest of the vamps, had caught up to Victoria by then. She put up more of a fight than Riley, but she let her anger at being thwarted take over and it made her too careless. She did manage to get her hands around Edward's throat at one point, but Charlotte stepped in before she could cause him any harm. She'd been content to just watch Edward's back and let him deal with the woman who had a vendetta against him and his human mate, but when it looked like Victoria might cause a little damage, she only debated for a second before pulling the vial of Bella's blood from her pocket and snapping it in half. She could've just dealt with the redhead herself but she didn't want to take the kill away from Edward. It was rightfully his.
"I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty impressive," Charlotte cut in. "If I didn't know Bella was his singer, I never would've have guessed it by his reaction to her blood. His eyes darkened a little and I was fully prepared to tackle him if he tried to lunge for it, but he just stayed focused on Victoria," she complimented the telepath. It might have been the first compliment she'd ever paid the kid. "The second she smelled the blood, it distracted her enough that her grip loosened and he had her head off before she could inhale a second time."
"And the blood didn't bother you?" Bree asked Charlotte while everyone else was busy praising Edward. She didn't know what a singer was, but she was surprised a vampire could resist blood once they smelled it.
Charlotte just smiled. "Nah. You don't get to be my age without being able to tolerate the smell of human blood without snapping."
"And you didn't hear anything that made you think Victoria had a backup plan?" Jasper asked Edward.
"No," Edward shook his head. "She was genuinely surprised by the little she saw of the fight before she ran. She didn't think it was possible for us to face a newborn army and win. The only thought she had at the end was that the Volturi guards would kill us," he explained. "She'd been given the impression that Jane, Alec, and Felix would eliminate our coven on the off chance she wasn't successful. It wasn't explicitly stated, but it was implied."
"Did she know Maria was the one killing her newborns?" Jasper asked. It didn't impact their current situation in any way, but he was curious if his sire had given herself away at any point.
"Not that I could tell," Edward answered with a smile. "It's possible she knew and just didn't think about, but the only thing I heard about Maria was that Victoria thought she'd lied to her. She assumed just having the newborns would mean an easy victory. She didn't realize it was Maria relentlessly training her army that made her a force to be reckoned with for such a long time."
Leah spoke up then. "What do we do with her now that Victoria's out of the picture?" she asked Jasper. "Do you think she'll wait to hear from you or will she come find you?"
Jasper thought on it a moment before answering. "Initially, I think she'll probably wait, but I don't think she'll wait for long. My guess is she'll give it a few days at most. She's not known for her patience," he said, realizing he was going to have to call his sire soon if he wanted to keep her from coming to Forks.
Leah nodded, her stomach flipping at the knowledge that the time was drawing closer that Jasper would be leaving to help his sire find Matthew. She just nodded again when he gently squeezed her hand. She didn't like it, and she didn't think Maria deserved it, but she also wouldn't stop him. She shoved her worry to the back of her mind, not wanting him to feel bad or think he had to make a different choice just for her sake.
"Just because she's impatient doesn't mean we'll be leaving immediately," he reassured her softly. "There are still some loose ends we need to tie up here, and Alice wants to do more mental searching now that she doesn't have to spend the bulk of her time patrolling and training. It's not an easy process and it takes time."
"I'm assuming she hasn't seen anything yet?" Carlisle asked Jasper, who shook his head. "Have you gotten anything?" he asked, turning to Peter, who also shook his head.
"No, nothing yet."
Carlisle just sighed and nodded. He was about as pleased by the whole thing as Leah was, but he would never in a million years tell Jasper or Alice they couldn't do something just because it made him uneasy.
"Do we know for sure that the guards are gone?" Jared asked Jasper, moving on to the next thing they needed to deal with.
"Yes, Alice sees them back in Italy," he answered. "She thinks you should call Aro and play the recording for him," he added, looking at Carlisle. "I know he told you he wasn't aware of any plot to have our coven destroyed, but him hearing the conversation makes him question Jane, Alec, and Felix and he's going to be furious that they went behind his back. He'll keep all three of them on a short leash for a while, but particularly Jane."
Carlisle just nodded. The recorded conversation had made him incredibly uneasy. He knew what Jane was capable of when she felt she wasn't given the respect she believed was her right, and people not fearing her was almost equally insulting. Jasper, Alice, Edward, and Rosalie had shown no fear in her presence and he was worried about how she might try and retaliate for the perceived slight.
Jasper using his gift on her and Alec, regardless of how justified he was in doing so, would only add fuel to the fire.
That was largely the reason why Carlisle was willing to agree to make the call. When he read the three guards, Aro would see that Jane used her gift on two members of Carlisle's coven without cause, and he wanted to be sure Aro knew Carlisle was aware of it. He was considering calling Marcus as well, though he had yet to make a decision about that. Marcus was the king with the strongest moral compass, but involving one of the other brothers might backfire and cause Aro to aim his ire straight at the Cullens rather than where it belonged.
The sun has risen by then and Jasper could feel the exhaustion from all the wolves. They'd been running themselves ragged for weeks and surviving on very little rest, and he thought they all deserved to climb in their beds and sleep for a solid day or two straight. Victoria had first shown up in the area months ago, so this was the first time the wolves hadn't had a threat to worry about since the current pack had become a pack. "You wanna head home?" he whispered as Leah leaned her head on his shoulder.
Leah looked at Bree a little nervously but had to stifle a yawn before answering. She was pretty sure if she let her eyes close she'd be asleep in seconds, but they still had one piece of unfinished business they needed to address. The newborn may have said she wanted to try hunting animals, but she was still a very new vamp with close to no control. If the situation was different, she would have asked the Cullens if anyone could take her somewhere else until it was safe for her to be around humans, but she was Seth's imprint, so sending Bree away didn't sit well with her.
Jasper understood her unspoken concern. "As much as I'd like to say you should come home with us, I'm not sure that's the safest move for anyone," he told the newborn. "I'm not saying she's not welcome in the family," he quickly added when multiple people opened their mouths to protest. "I'm simply pointing out that our house will cause complications. Bella spends so much time there that her scent literally permeates every room, which will make it extremely uncomfortable for Bree."
"Does that mean you think she should leave?" Seth asked, trying not to let his discomfort show. He didn't want his imprint to have to deal with feeling like a red-hot poker was being jammed down her throat all the time, but he also didn't really want to be separated from her and he wasn't sure his mom would agree to let him go with her. The elders had allowed the wolves still in high school to take a temporary leave of absence, but the agreement had always been that they would make up whatever they missed during the summer.
"What about the cottage?" Esme suggested after a moment. "It's on the opposite edge of the property from town and it's far enough away from the house that Bree won't catch Bella's scent. It also means she'll be near enough to Seth that he can come see her any time he'd like," she added. She knew the presence of her mate was probably the thing that would bring the newborn the most comfort, which would go a considerable way towards keeping her calm.
Emmett immediately nodded his agreement. "It means we can all take turns teaching her to hunt and none of us have to miss Bella's graduation. I have every intention of fulfilling my big brother duties by embarrassing the hell out of her with my cheering."
Carlisle shook his head and smiled at him, then looked at Bree. Up to a certain point, it was her decision. "What would you like to do?"
Bree looked around nervously. "Would I be staying there by myself?" she asked quietly. The thought of being completely alone scared her.
Carlisle immediately shook his head. "No. We'll work it out so there's always someone with you," he told her. Not only did he not want the frightened young girl to have to be alone, but they'd need to have a round the clock watch on her to ensure the safety of both the coven and the nearby humans.
"We're happy to stay there with her," Charlotte offered after exchanging a quick glance with Peter. With Maria lurking around, they'd already decided they were going to stick close to Jasper's side. They could also use the time to teach the girl about the world she'd been dragged into.
After being assured by his family that it was a solution they were all relatively comfortable with, though Edward admitted to being wary on behalf of his mate, Carlisle looked at Jared. "Do you think the council will have any objections to her remaining here with us?"
Jared hesitated a moment. "I'm not sure," he admitted, hating the look of disappointment in Seth's eyes. "It's a situation none of us saw coming so I honestly don't know how they'll react. Her willingness to only hunt animals should help our case, and I'll do everything I can to get them to agree, but I can't give you a definitive answer before talking to them."
Seth just nodded in resignation. His imprint being one of the red-eyed newborns created to kill them was definitely a complication none of them had anticipated, and he knew Bree was at the very beginning of what would probably be a difficult and confusing path. When his sister reached over to take his hand, he took a deep breath and gave her the best smile he could summon. All they could do was take it one step at a time and hope for the best.