The longer I was around her, the more I could see the colours of her mind and the recesses of her heart. There was a beast in there. But there was also a girl who was afraid of being a beast, and who wondered if other people had beasts in their hearts, too. There was strength, but there was also just the determination to look strong.
~Jodi Lynn Anderson
EPOV
It did not surprise me when Alice had her vision of the quisling planning a sneak attack. I considered them to be the lowest form of cowards, too disorganized and inept to stage an honest coup. Bella made me proud when she delegated the others and took charge until she reached Jacob's house. There she effortlessly handed over the reigns to the Alpha, and he had proved himself worthy. Jacob took down Embry and severely injured Jared before that milksop ran off. Hopefully he was bleeding to death in the middle of the forest. The others were lucky to have departed this life, for I would otherwise be set on vengeance for the damage done to Bella.
I was almost positive that Bella was the cause of the seismic shift. I could not pinpoint why I thought so, but I would wager a hefty sum if proof could be found one way or the other. It seemed that she vibrated from within as she was attacked by those lousy assholes, unable to remove herself from underneath the two of them it took to pin her down. There was no warning of the impending splits in the earth, it merely happened in the blink of an eye. I saw Leah scrabbling to save herself from the crack that opened up beneath her; I calculated that with the nearby tree root I could swing in an arc and grab her as I did so. She landed roughly but otherwise seemed fine.
The idea that Bella would suffer the same fate too far for me to be of any assistance nearly broke me. Leave it to her to dig herself free before I reached her. I was astonished when one second she was a giant white wolf, and the next a small blue bird. It made it much simpler for her to escape her hole, of course, but I was taken aback when her return to human form came with a multitude of side effects.
I carried Bella home after speaking with Jacob and immediately tucked her into my bed. "Are you sure you feel better?" I asked her.
"I'm positive. The soreness eased, and even though I'm a bit tired still, I'm nowhere near as wiped out as I was when I first shifted back."
I could hear some of my family hovering outside the bedroom door. "Is there anything that anyone can fetch for you?" I sat on the edge of the bed and swept the stray hairs off her forehead.
She yawned, and I gave her a knowing glance before kissing her temple. "I just want to nap." She snuggled further under the duvet and looked up at me. I smiled reassuringly at her before I left her side.
I checked on Frank's water and food before leaving the room, closing the door behind me. Everyone had retired to the living room by that time, so I joined them.
"So, a bird, huh?" Emmett piped up. "Not a dog, not a hyena, or anything else remotely related to a wolf? A teeny, tiny, bird."
"Humorous," I deadpanned. "The original Quileute warriors used astral projection to leave their bodies, their wives staying behind and keeping watch. The best their souls could do was to howl through the trees like ghosts and persuade animals to scare off the enemy. This shifting most likely comes from her mother's bloodline."
Carlisle hummed. "I believe that Bella is a bit of both; therianthrope and Quileute shifter. If she focused, she might could become any animal she chose."
Jasper laughed. "Can you imagine the power she could wield? She could turn into a grizzly and wrestle with Emmett."
We all chuckled. "But what happened in the middle of the fight, Edward?" Alice asked, sobering us all.
"An earthquake. It was fairly massive, but contained. It appeared to only affect the yard and forest surrounding Jacob Black's property."
"I didn't see it coming," she mused. "I thought something looked fuzzy, like a shaky hand holding a camcorder, but the vision ended before I could make anything out."
"It was like spontaneous combustion, in the form of seismic activity. It was unreal, and yet I saw it with my own eyes." I paused as I heard a sigh from upstairs. I listened for her heartbeat to settle after the covers rustled, then continued. "Jared was somehow lost in the mêlée, so be on the lookout. I believe Sam and Paul to have perished, but I could be mistaken. The fissures are large enough that I have no desire to send a search party to excavate."
"So, Jake has a de facto win, but he is in the right, so the council will accept him still." Alice thrummed her fingers on the arm of her chair as she looked off into the distance. "Yes, he'll fare well."
"So nobody wants to talk about the Volturi hearing about this and coming to rip off our heads?"
"Rose, don't be so dramatic," Esme chided.
"Look, I like Bella, but I'm not up for a fight with Darth Sidious and his merry band of Siths," Rose huffed. "It's bad enough we're going to track down unknowns in the Amazon that the Volturi have been tracking for decades."
"Rose has a bit of a point," Emmett defended his mate. "While I would love to pick a fight with the Volturi, we can't take on their entire guard."
"Exactly," Rose agreed.
"Okay," Esme spoke up softly, "so we just move carefully when we head south. Our friends will house us and shield us if necessary. We aren't looking to make a big splash and draw attention."
"A family of shapeshifters is likely to draw attention, no matter our intentions," Rose argued.
I sighed. "We are not going to stand on their front lawn and practice black magic, Rosalie! We are going to visit friends and ask if they've seen these people lately. If they have, Bella will get the chance to meet them. Period."
"Okay, okay, it looks like the Volturi will stay in the dark if we keep our visit quiet," Alice confirmed.
Rose crossed her arms over her chest. "As long as I can come back with 'I told you so' when we're all kneeling before the one true dark lord awaiting our execution."
Jasper laughed at her dramatics. "Why don't you ever just call him Aro?"
"He's got such a large ego, him and his two sidekicks. He deserves my derision."
Rose had a point there. Aro, Caius, and Marcus were the trio of Volturi leaders, and they loved to pretend they were cultured and benevolent, but they truly enjoyed ending vampires as they saw fit. They also collected any gifted vampire and 'convinced' them to remain with their group in Italy as part of their guard. If one of the three leaders thought a vampire had done something wrong, that vampire was eradicated with little to no proof sought. The thought of this happening to any of my family was incomprehensible.
"Everything will work out just fine," Carlisle assured us all. It didn't hurt that I could feel the waves of calm that Jasper was sending out.
"So we'll go sooner than later?" I asked, reading Carlisle's thoughts.
He nodded. "I think it's for the best if we change our plans a bit, involve Bella. We could all go, or just your mother and I with the two of you."
"Harry and Sue honestly wanted to do this for Bella," I reminded him. I'd read their thoughts the last time it was discussed. They were sincere. "Though they might have some cleanup here regarding Jacob's place and need to hold an emergency meeting."
"So we'll ask them when they'd like to join us," Jasper pointed out. "I think we should all go. Our strength comes in our numbers."
"But a large coven converging on the jungle would draw in the V team," Rose snarled. "Does nobody take my concern seriously?"
"Of course we do, Rosalie," Carlisle assured her, holding his palm up in her direction. "We're still hammering out the details, and I believe I agree with you on the numbers. We should be more stealthy."
"We need to keep it down to no more than four, which brings us back to me, Bella, and you and Esme." I leaned forward. "If Rose is right, and all of us arriving would sound an alarm, then the Clearwaters will have to stay home. They smell vaguely of werewolf, and they could make things worse."
"I thought I was the only one that noticed their stench," Emmett put in.
"No, I've noticed it as well," Jasper assured us all, his nose scrunched up like they were in the room currently.
"It's a good thing Bella doesn't carry that odor," Alice added. "You'd never be able to get close to her."
"And then all we'd hear is 'Poor me! My mate stinks like a filthy pirate wench!'," Emmett mocked me in a high-pitched voice.
I threw a pillow at him, which of course he caught. He stuffed it behind his head and grinned at me.
"Edward," I heard from upstairs. I was up in a flash, and I heard the family dispersing to all corners of the house as I walked into my bedroom. Frank streaked off the bed Bella was sitting on.
"I can't sleep," she admitted.
I sat down next to her on the bed. "What do you need to help you fall asleep?"
She smiled wryly. "I need you to hold me, please," she whispered.
"I think I can easily accommodate you." I slipped under the covers and pulled her body close to mine.
"When I was a bird," she pauses to huff out a laugh. "That's something I never thought I'd say. When I was a bird, your shoulder felt cold to me. It was strange, since I'm so used to your temperature in my human form."
"You aren't cold now, are you?" I constantly worried over her comfort.
"No, of course not. I'm sorry if I interrupted whatever you were doing downstairs."
"I was merely informing the family of the events of today."
"Still, I must be boring to you." She yawned again, snuggling closer to me. I would not tell her of the ways that she affected my body when she was so close.
"Nonsense. Just breathing the same air as you is all I need to be content, my love." I kissed the top of her head. "Now try to sleep so your body can restore itself."
I hummed the song that always came into my head when I thought of her, and it didn't take long for her to fall into a deep slumber.
Thank you!
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