The question of how my existence would end was something that I had considered many times. When I had been mortal, I was certain after my mother died that my fate would be the same as hers. I had lost the will to fight the disease, then, even if I could have beat it. But Carlisle had taken matters into his own hands and saved me… regardless if I wanted to be saved or not.

Since then, I had been burdened with the curse of an extended period of time to think about my fate. When I had left Bella, I wished that there was an easy way I could have ended my existence. I had felt more dead than a corpse during that period of my life, and I would have easily taken a convenient out if one had been offered, as selfish as it seems in retrospect.

When Bella had left me, the thought of going to the Volturi and asking them to kill me had come into my mind several times, but the thought of Bella needing help stopped me. I always knew, though, that when she died, I would follow her as soon as possible. Living in a world where she existed in an untouchable way was terrible in its own right, but living in a world where she didn’t exist at all was out of the question for me. The sheer chance of contact with her would sustain me as long as she lived, no matter how much pain I was going through.

I had considered many different ways for my life… or lack thereof, to end. Never, though, had I considered it this way. Although, as I rushed through the forest paying little heed to the environment around me, I figured that this was a valiant way to go - if that’s what it would come to. Dying to protect someone that you loved was probably one of the most noble things to do with your life.

For someone who had a soul, that kind of selflessness would surely get you a one-way ticket to the best afterlife available. As it stood, though, I was neither being selfless, nor did I have a soul. As much as I wanted to save Bella for her sake, I also wanted to save her for mine. I needed her in ways that I never thought possible.

If I failed to rescue Bella today, I don’t think the alternative of being killed by a werewolf would be all too lacking in appeal. Living with the failure of that would be more excruciating than anything. I knew the odds weren’t good. There were at least twenty werewolves, and there were only seven of us. Even if we took on two werewolves per member of the family, we were still out numbered. Of course, we were still hoping that it wouldn’t come down to a fight, but we knew that it was highly unlikely considering the temper of the wolves and the nature of our unexpected and already unwelcome visit.

My family had decided - without giving me any chance for input - that they would each take three werewolves and leave me to deal with Jacob, one other random werewolf at random, and then protecting Bella.

What if Bella got mad, though?

It was unlikely, sure, but when had Bella ever made herself known as being predictable. Us bursting in when she hadn’t expected me to find that letter for years would certainly come as a shock to begin with, but how would she react if it turned to a massacre of wolves… or worse, vampires? She would no doubt blame herself for that and the massive guilt she would carry for the rest of her life would be excruciating to both of us, that is, assuming I survived.

It was hard for me to think of it in terms of only possibly surviving, but I had to face the facts here. We were outnumbered and the odds were against us. What was worse, the odds were against Bella. I knew how unlikely it was that we would all come out of this unscathed, but looking around at the determined faces of my family whose only thoughts were of Bella’s safety, I couldn’t bring myself to be afraid.

My only fear was losing her… and I knew that the chances of that happening would be significantly heightened if it came to a fight. I was going to have to do everything in my power to keep that from happening. I had no idea as to how I was going to achieve that, exactly, but I was determined to do everything possible.

La Push was relatively empty when we arrived. Darkness had settled and the last rays of the sun were slowly disappearing behind the distant tree line. We all surveyed the air as we neared the edge of the forest right near the LaPush border. It was eerily quiet. No fresh scents were in the area. Not even when we crept along the road and near to the first clump of houses did we smell any werewolves. Suddenly, the steady rumble of an engine started up in a nearby driveway and we all sprang into the cover of shadows as an unfamiliar red car rumbled away from the border down the road.

The thoughts were distinctly female, of that much I was certain. Another thing her thoughts had implied was that wherever she was bringing the hot dogs she had just picked up, that’s where we would find the werewolves, and by likely association, Bella.

I motioned with a quick flick of my hand that we should follow the vehicle and the family offered no hesitation in complying. We were as silent as ghosts. The gravel made no noise beneath our feet and our shadows cast by the pale glow of the moon were fleeting and barely visible as we blurred ourselves against the forest backdrop.

I recognized her direction very quickly. She was heading to first beach. It didn’t take long before the scent of a campfire became present in the air, mixed with the distinct scent of saltwater, hot dogs, and then the non edible and immensely disgusting scent of dog. The minds of my family surrounding me were all in the midst of recognizing the same thing that I was. The entire pack and their families were gathered at first beach for some inconveniently timed festivities.

As much as I didn’t want this to happen in front of more people than necessary, it was unavoidable at this point. We had come this far, and if we didn’t go through with the plan now, our scent was all over their town and they would have Bella hundreds of miles away by the morning. It was now or never.

The wind was blowing in our favor, it was coming straight towards us, making it unquestionably harder for them to smell us from far away, but making it easy for us to smell them. 19 werewolves were present. Bella’s scent was there, too. But there was also the different scents of at least 20 humans.

Innocent humans.

My guilt flared at the possible loss of innocent human life. Years before it wouldn’t have bothered me, but because I knew it would bother Bella… it now had a different effect on me.

If Jacob has any amount of decency left, Edward, he’ll send the humans away. I don’t think he would attack us in front of all those people. There are small children there, even he has more sense than that. This might work in our favor.

I turned my head quickly to nod my thanks in Jasper's direction as the red car turned the corner into a dirt lot. The sound of the waves crashing against the rocks were closer now, and I knew where we were. We kept going down the road until we caught the edge of the forest that encroached onto the beach. It was still about a quarter of a mile from the now visible glow of the bonfire, but we had no problem seeing and hearing as if it were only two feet ahead of us.

We watched in silence as the woman from the red car approached the bonfire with several more packages of hot dogs. It was almost stunning how quickly the food disappeared. I could hear the tearing of bags and fumbling for roasting sticks as they bantered over who got how many and who was the most hungry. I looked past them and started scanning the crowd for Bella. With a little assistance from Alice, who’s mind showed that she had already found her, I located her as well.

She was wrapped in a green blanket sitting on a lawn chair. Her knees were pulled into her chest and her eyes were still red and puffy, the bruise was now perfectly visible even to human eyes and I wondered for a brief moment what Jacob had told the other people on the reservation to explain his additional outburst.

Bella’s eyes were open and unseeing as she stared into the flames. Her body was lifeless and she held no part in any conversations taking place around her. I scanned the minds of the other people and canines quickly to find that a lot of them were concerned for Bella. The humans had no idea what was going on, of course, so they were very confused and worried. Jacob was bordering on furious, though.

The least she could do is pretend that nothing is wrong. I’m under huge suspicions right now and her sitting there like a whiney little girl who’s puppy just died isn’t helping the situation at all.

I watched as he crossed to her, offering her a hotdog which she turned down politely, but without looking at him. He settled himself into the chair next to her, squeezing her knee in false encouragement and an empty sign of affection that was more for the audience than for her. Bella’s eyes fell onto his hand and retained their empty and unfeeling shallowness as she forced a smile, again, more for the audience than anything. The hot dog in Jacob’s hand disappeared almost instantaneously as soon as he set his sights on it, and his attention was then back on her.

“Smile, Bella. I thought you would be happy. You just saved your blood suckers life, that’s quite an accomplishment. Do me a favor and at least put on a happy face around my family. They’re going to start thinking I abuse you or something.” He chuckled, looking away.

Bella’s head snapped up as he joked about abuse and her eyes narrowed in disbelief. She was likely thinking the same thing that I was. What was the harm in them thinking that he was abusing her when in actuality that’s exactly what he had done?

“Asshole,” Rosalie muttered from somewhere behind me.

“That’s a compliment compared to what he should be called.” Esme hissed back.

“Like what, useless sphincter of rotting road kill?” Emmett added.

“Nice.” Rose applauded in a hushed tone.

They stifled several laughs and brought their attention back to the festivities before us.

Jacob had stood, then, and crossed over to a young looking boy who reeked of werewolf, also. It was surprising how young he was, though. He must have been only about 13 or 14. Another pang of guilt constricted my chest but I pushed it away quickly, focusing instead on what Jacob was saying.

“You’re sure?” he whispered condescendingly, his tone threatening.

“Yes.” The boy gulped. “All seven of them.”

“Even the psychic?”

“Yes.” The boys voice was shaky.

“Good,” Jacob grinned deviously. “Thank you Brody. You’ve done good.”

“Hey Jake..” He started nervously as Jacob began turning around.

“What?” Jacob allowed impatiently.

“It’s nothing… it’s just..” He stammered, obviously intimidated by Jacob’s temper.

“Spit it out.”

“Is it really necessary to hurt them? They’re gone… they’re not breaking any rules…”

“They did break a rule, Brody. Edward trespassed onto our land which the treaty expressly forbids.”

“But, Bella-”

“Bella doesn’t have to know.” Jacob’s voice was bordering on a snarl, then. Brody recoiled, wincing. “And she wont know. Right?” Jacob threatened menacingly.

“R..Right.” Brody nodded quickly.

Alice was the first to speak.

“That bastard.” She hissed through clenched teeth.

The rest of the family murmured their agreement through clouded and angry minds, but my reaction was opposite. I felt relief.

I was no longer guilty in the least about anything that might happen from this point forward. If any young werewolf got hurt or killed, It wasn’t my fault. Even if my family ended up hurt in some way, it wasn’t my fault anymore. This was something that was going to happen whether we had planned it or not. If we hadn’t come here, they would have come to us.

I was no longer burdened with the knowledge that I had been leading my family straight into a situation that could be potentially fatal. If it wasn’t now, it would be tomorrow when we weren’t expecting it. At least this way there was a slight chance that we could come out of it with Bella, whereas the other way around, they certainly wouldn’t have brought her with them. They would have hidden her somewhere… or maybe they wouldn’t have even went that far. Maybe they were so sure that they would come out victorious that they wouldn’t have even made precautions like that.

We watched for several more moments as Jacob made his rounds about the campfire telling 17 more people the exact same words. - “It’s on. Meet at Quil’s house tonight at 1 AM. We’re going leech hunting.”

“Oh honestly,” Emmett scoffed. “Come up with better nicknames for us you flea bitten sons of bitches.” He was silent for a second before snorting - “Hah! Get it, sons of bitches… because they are dogs and female dogs are called bitches..”

We all rolled our eyes in unison. I marveled at how calm and jokingly Emmett could compose himself while facing something as potentially dangerous as this. Emmett had always been one for overconfidence though. Hopefully in this instance it would work to our advantage.

I watched as Jacob checked the time on his wrist watch to see that it was midnight. “Well, guys. Bella and I are tired. Tomorrow’s the big day, you know. We need our rest,” he winked.

Bella rolled her eyes sarcastically, though her face was still half concealed as she buried it in her kneecaps.

My stomach dropped as the minds of all the humans were suddenly filled with different variations of the same thing. Bella in a wedding dress standing next to a man that was not me.

The wedding was tomorrow?

“Now, Edward. It’s now or never.” I felt Carlisle, who had remained silent until now, applying pressure to my back, urging me forward.

The families were scattering, heading back to their cars now. Jacob was urging Bella to stand and she did so uncooperatively. We took several steps forward until we were out of the cover of the trees. As soon as the moon illuminated our pale skin, Bella saw us. She gasped, loudly, her hand flying up to her mouth.

Jacob whirled to see what she was looking at, his eyes falling upon me immediately. Anger was the first and most prominent reaction that crossed his face, but immediately following that was arrogant acceptance of the situation.

Now Bella can’t even come close to blaming me for killing him. He broke the treaty twice and he didn’t listen to her when she told him to leave and not come back. What an idiot.

Bella’s eyes were wide, horror etching every inch of her face. “No,” she whispered. “What are you doing..”

“Hey Quil, Embry!” Jacob called over his shoulder, stopping two tall native boys and turning them in their tracks. “We’ve got company.”

Several other humans turned to examine the situation, but Quil and Embry took the initiative to direct them firmly to return to their homes. Embry sprinted down to stand next to Jacob as Quil ran off up the sandy incline to stop as many of the pack as he could and order the rest of the humans to get home.

“What do you want, Cullen?” Jacob spat, aiming the question at me.

“You know exactly what I want Jacob.” I responded, gesturing with my head towards Bella.

“You don’t learn very well, do you?” He scoffed, “Didn’t you hear her when she told you that she chose me?”

I realized with a start that if things ended badly for me, it would be worse for Bella if Jacob knew she had hidden a letter in the book. I had to lie.

“I did,” I nodded. “But I also saw in your mind when you told her to lie in order to save my life.”

“Well then,” he continued, seemingly not at all set back by my accusation. “You clearly don’t have a very high sense of self preservation.”

“Not as high as my desire to preserve Bella’s life.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He snarled, “Preserve as in lengthen? Make her into a bloodsucker, too? You’d have to kill me first.”

“That can be arranged.” Rosalie muttered under her breath, but he didn’t look at her.

“No, Jacob. You know well what I mean. Do you honestly think Bella deserved to be mangled to within an inch of her life on the side of the road?” I started. The sudden wave of images spewing from his mind threatened to cripple me, but I ignored it as best as I could and continued. “Do you think she deserved that black eye?” I said, gesturing to Bella again.

“What?” an unfamiliar face questioned from Jacob’s other side, turning to look at Jacob questioningly.

Jake said that Edward had put that bruise on Bella.

“Oh did he?” I questioned, turning to address the young boy and realizing that there was now an accumulation of about 16 werewolves facing us and two more approaching. “Is that what he told you?” I repeated.

He stared at me, open mouthed.

“Adam, shut up.” Jacob snarled.

“He told you all that I was the one that gave Bella that black eye?” I said louder, making sure that everyone could hear me. “Would you like to tell them what really happened, or should I?” I said, raising my eyebrow pointedly at Jacob.

That explains why he hasn’t been phasing in front of us very often lately. He was hiding something from us.

I realized that this was good. The werewolves were questioning Jacob’s honesty and I was in the drivers seat at this moment. I was running this confrontation and it seemed to make Jacob obviously uncomfortable.

“That is not the point!” Jacob spat. “You coming here has cost you your lives, you realize that, right?” He growled, eliciting a sharp gasp from Bella.

“That’s not true either.” I chuckled. “You know, Jacob, you really should try telling the truth on occasion. Especially to her.” I gestured again towards Bella. “A relationship can be based on nothing if not trust.” I was shocked at my own sarcasm. How cool and collected I was being while facing something as terrifying as this.

“And you’re one to talk about trust,” he spat, trying desperately to spin the conversation in his favor. “You left her alone. I had to save her life-”

“The fact that you saved her life is negated entirely by the fact that you followed the action up with landing her in intensive care for months hanging on to her life by a string.”

It was clear by the assorted gasps resonating behind him that there was a large part of the pack that hadn’t known about that, either.

“Well then I guess we’re even. You leaving almost killed her, and now here you are trying to save her.”

“But at least I’m telling the truth.” I picked up the old topic that Jacob had thought he had successfully steered us away from.

“You said that us coming here cost us our lives… you know as well as I do that that isn’t true, Jacob. We’ve been watching you for a while, here. You planned on ambushing us at our home exactly one hour from now, did you not?”

“No!” Bella whimpered, “No, Jacob, you promised!”

“Bella, the treaty is much more binding than some petty promise I made to you to get him out of your life.”

“I didn’t want him out of my life.” She whispered, her eyes narrowing and her face turning into a pained frown.

“Bella, go to the car.” Jacob ordered without turning to look at her.

“No, Jake, please, don’t do this.”

“Go to the car!” He roared, uncurling one of his fists just enough to point a shaky finger at the parking lot in the distance.

Bella hesitated before planting her foot firmly on the ground and refusing in a simple and firm “No.”

Jacob’s mind filled with searing hot and blinding rage for a split second before he reached behind him, curling his fingers too harshly over Bella’s shoulder and pushing her in the direction he wanted her to go. “Now!” He ordered.

Bella stumbled, losing her balance and falling face first, palms outstretched, into the sand. I reacted impulsively. It was bad enough watching things like this from the replay of his mind, but to witness them first hand was something that I did not have the self control to handle. I flew forward, stopping inches from Jacob’s body and slamming my palms against his shoulders forcefully. Caught off guard, he flew into the air, landing on his back a few yards away on top of an old piece of driftwood, shattering it upon contact.

Alice was to Bella’s side in an instant, but the other members of the pack, still convinced that we meant Bella harm in some way, charged at her. She pulled Bella gently behind her back, snarling at the approaching wolves and taking on a poised stance as they came towards her.

Jacob stood up, his eyes flooded with anger and violent rage.

“This ends now!” He snarled.