I dialed the number from memory—one of the very few that I knew without having to look it up on my phone—and peered out the front window guiltily.  Technically, I had been asked—or rather ordered—not to do what I was doing now.  Edward had asked me to limit my communication with the pack this week…at least until Tanya and Irina were safely out of the lower forty-eight, and I had taken his not-quite-a-request seriously for four whole days.  That had to be some kind of record for me.

The angry sounds of some semi-familiar Metallica song rang in my ear, causing me to smile.  Edward had bought Seth a cell phone for his sixteenth birthday, and Seth had promptly gone crazy downloading all the free ringtones that he could get. 

“Hello?” came the low voice at last.  Relief washed over me.

“Hey, Seth, it’s…”

“Oh, hey Bella!” he interrupted, recognizing my voice instantly.  I knew there had been a reason why Seth was my favorite…next to his future pack leader, of course.  “How’s married life treating you?”

“I can’t complain.  How’s Jacob?”

 “He’s the same as usual,” he replied, but I thought I detected a darker tone.  “You know…brooding, secretive, constantly hungry, a complete jerk.  You’d love him.”

“Very funny.”  I focused on my mission.  “Listen, Seth, I was wondering if you would do me a favor and keep an extra eye on Charlie today while he’s at Billy’s.  But, you know…don’t let him know that you’re keeping an eye on him.” 

Charlie was still claiming plausible deniability with all things werewolf and seeming at ease enough, but I didn’t want to push my luck.  I’d slept uneasily all night, plagued by nightmares, and I had woken with a sense of foreboding that would not go away.  My instincts had never been up to par with the werewolf or vampire residents of our tiny little town, but I had learned to trust them over the years just the same, and today, that meant keeping an extra set of eyes on my father.

Seth snickered on the other end of the line.  “Sure, Bella.  You don’t even have to ask.”

“Thanks Seth.  You just made my day a lot less stressful.”  Now if you could just get me out of a vampire shopping spree, everything would be perfect.

“I aim to please,” he snorted, “Hey Bells…”

A scuffle on the other side of the line seemed to stop his line of thought.  I listened as patiently as possible to the half muffled argument that was unfolding on Seth’s side as I stared out the window and into the half-lit driveway.  Edward would be here any minute.

“Seth?”

“Bella?”  a feminine voice responded.  It was high-pitched and just a bit too nasal to be pleasant.  I sighed. 

“Hey, Leah.  What’s up?”

“How much longer are they staying?” 

No, What’s new in Forks?  No, How’s packing going?  It was typical Leah—straight to the grain.  I rolled my eyes and tried to listen for an engine outside.  I could hear a light patter as the rain began.  Great.

“They’re going back to Alaska when Edward and I go to New Hampshire.  Edward already talked to Sam about it.”

“How long will that be?”

I performed a quick count in my head, marveling at my own ability to control my voice as I answered.

“Three days.” I was surprised to realize that this was the first time I had ever done the calculation.  I only had three days left to pack…and only three days left to say goodbye to Charlie, possibly forever.  I frowned, and checked the front window again.  Nothing.

“Do you know how many extra watches Sam’s got us pulling because of those two leeches?”  Leah’s voice pulled me back.  “I haven’t slept a full night since your wedding!”

“I know, Leah, and I’m sorry.” I sighed, exasperated.  It seemed as if I had been repeating those last two words way more than I wanted to lately.  I pressed my forehead against the side wall as I continued.  “I don’t like it any more than you do.  You’ll just have to be patient.”  Patience was something that was in short supply on both sides of this conversation. “They won’t go anywhere near LaPush again.”

I crossed my fingers that this was true.

“I don’t even know why Sam bothers to listen to you,” she snapped.  “It’s just going to get worse when Jake gets back and takes control.”  I exhaled heavily,  recognizing the beginning of a Leah-patented rant.  I didn’t have time for this.  “And if Jake expects me to follow orders from you just because he’s in love…” 

“Hey, Leah, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to get going.  Should I call back a little later?”  My fingers were still crossed for the negative response. 

Leah snorted.  “Three days,” she repeated, and hung up the phone.  Her capacity for courtesy astounded everyone around her.

“So will Seth watch Charlie for you today?”

Edward’s voice caused me to jump and twist around a little too fast to seem innocent.  He was leaned casually against the wall, his expression patient and worried at the same time.  I blushed.  Caught red handed.

“Edward, I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be,” he said, taking my hand and leading me toward the door.  “You should never be apologetic for worrying about your father.  But your concern was unnecessary.  I’d already asked Seth last night.” 

I frowned.  “Why would you do that?  Did Alice see something?”  A premonition at this point wouldn’t have surprised me at all with the dreams I’d had last night. 

“No,” he reassured me, slipping his arm around me as we reached the entryway.  “You spoke in your sleep last night.  His name was prevalent.  I thought that you’d be more at ease if he were under constant vigilance.”

A smile twitched at my lips. Edward traced it lovingly with his fingers, but I sensed a distant distraction as he stopped to open the door.

“Is there something else bothering you?”  I asked him.  He grinned.

“I’m about to spend an entire day with my wife for the first time since our honeymoon.  What could possibly be bothering me…besides the three thousand times I will have to battle my sister’s will today, of course?” 

He ushered me out the door, locking it behind us.  I turned down the driveway to find Alice, Irina, and Tanya all smiling eagerly at me from the back seat of the Guardian.  No wonder I hadn’t seen the Volvo.

“We’re taking my car?”

“I thought it would be more appropriate,” Edward mocked, raising one eyebrow in amusement.  “With you in the car, you never know when we might have use for missile-proof armor.”

I was sulking, but not arguing as I followed him toward the car.  With my conversion looming on the horizon and a war between vampires and wolves that I had suddenly found my puny mortal self in the middle of, these days, he was probably right.

Long drives had always seemed significantly shorter with Edward at the wheel, pushing the car to his usual insane speeds, but the trip to Seattle proved an exception to that rule.  I sat in the front passenger seat with Edward’s hand on my leg most of the way, listening to the excited chatter from the three girls in the back seat and growing steadily less enthusiastic about the day with each question tossed casually in my direction. 

Most of them revolved around my fashion preferences and favorite brand names, which left me with a sneaking suspicion that I had been invited more as a human mannequin than a passive observer.  As the conversation drifted into names of designers that I no longer recognized, I caught myself glancing toward the odometer and wishing, for the first time ever, that Edward would go faster.  He was silent and withdrawn for most of the journey—working to tune out the barrage of estrogen oriented banter that emanated from the back seat, I assumed.

But by the time we reached the private fashion boutiques just off the main streets of downtown Seattle, I was convinced that there was something more distracting him than just a mental fashion block.  Alice was content to begin in the shops that she was accustomed to, with names that would never have appeared in the tourism section of a society magazine, and with price tags that had me wondering whether there wasn’t gold or diamonds spun into some of the fabric. 

Edward performed stoically, waiting in silence at my side and sagely holding back his laughter as the three women took it upon themselves to familiarize me with every designer I had not recognized on the trip up.  Every now and then, I would notice a furrowing of the brow or a subtle tightening of his lips as he watched Tanya and Irina pour over bins of scarves or isles of overpriced patent leather heels, and I would wonder what secrets he was seeing in their minds beyond acquisitions and accessories…and why it seemed to be bothering him so much. 

Despite his darkening demeanor, Edward once again proved my personal hero,  stepping in at all of the right moments when it looked as if the task of  flawed fashion model was wearing down my will to protest whatever Alice had in line to buy for me.  We miraculously left Alice’s higher-end stores with only one shopping bag full of clothing that would serve as decoration for the back of my closet for an eternity.

I didn’t fare as well when we entered the Pacific Place mall at Tanya’s request, however.  It seemed, much to my discontent, that the Denali sisters were much more practical than Alice.  There were stores that I recognized, at prices I could almost afford.  My low tolerance to shopping induced stress combined with my impending need to increase my wardrobe for college, whittled away both Edward’s and my ability to object to Alice. By the time four o’clock rolled around, she’d managed to triple the amount of shopping bags in Edward’s arms. 

Edward’s mood had grown painfully mysterious by the time my stomach began to rumble, graciously reminding me of just exactly how human I really was.  Instead of seeing this as a hindrance, this time, I looked up at Edward as if I’d been granted the most precious gift of the day.  This was my opportunity to break away from the three pairs of supersonic ears and harass Edward about his increasingly annoying bouts of brooding.

“I’m hungry!”  I almost sang.  It came out more as though I had just won the lottery.  Edward stared at me for a moment in confusion before reading my expression and recognizing his chance to escape as well.  His smile didn’t nearly mask the relief on his face as he glanced over at Alice.

“It seems you’re not as gracious a host as you pride yourself on, Alice,” he chided.  “Here it is, nearly time for dinner, and Bella hasn’t eaten since this morning.”

Alice looked over at me miserably.  “Oh, Bella, I’m so sorry! I knew I was going to forget something on this trip!  We’ll go right now.  I’ve heard good things about Rover’s.  What do you think, Edward?”

Edward smiled knowingly as I prepared my own objection.  “Actually, Alice, I’ve heard quite a few compliments about the restaurants here on the fourth level.”  He indicated the escalators about fifteen feet behind us.  “You ladies continue your escalades in the shopping mall.  I’d like an intimate dinner with my wife, if you don’t mind.”    

Tanya’s knowing smile could have lit the entire mall as she dragged Alice away.  Alice didn’t protest.  She gave me a quick “you’ll be missing the best part” look, and then followed Tanya and Irina toward the entrance of Fredericks of Hollywood.  I silently gave thanks for the incredibly fortuitous timing of my hunger.  Ten more feet would have found me modeling corsettes and lacy push-up bras for three women who could run around for all eternity without one if they so chose.

“We’ll call you if we need you to carry anything, Edward,” Alice called back quickly with a grin.  I breathed a sigh of relief as the three moved fluidly on to the lingerie without their human doll.  Edward’s eyes lingered suspiciously for only a moment on the two pale women that accompanied her.  They could have passed as mannequins in the same windows they were now surveying.  Then his arms slipped gratefully around me and his smile returned.

“I believe I owe your appetite a great amount of gratitude,” he said as we started off in the opposite direction toward the escalator.  “Where would you like to eat?”

I really was hungry, but not even the promise of food was going to distract me from taking advantage of the precious little time we were destined to have alone today.  I had served my time as a paper doll.  Now it was his turn to dish.

“How about someplace private,” I suggested.  His eyes narrowed suspiciously.  “Where you can tell me exactly what has been bothering you all day.”

He sighed.  “Bella, has it occurred to you that it may simply be taxing to be the only male on a female-centered excursion?”

It had occurred to me, and I had promptly discarded it.  I had not yet come upon anything—apart from keeping me alive and out of trouble—that had ever been mentally taxing enough to silence Edward for an entire day. 

"We had a deal,” I reminded him.  “No secrets.  You’ve been walking around Seattle staring down Tanya and Irina like they were about to walk into a bank and commit armed robbery all day…and don’t think they haven’t noticed you staring too.”  Edward’s eyes widened in alarm for only a fraction of a second, and then they were impenetrable once again.  “I’m not meeting back up with them until you tell me what you’re worried about.”

He seemed to contemplate that for a moment, staring into my eyes as if judging my potential.  I glared back at him as stubbornly as possible, and he seemed to find something there that caused his shoulders to sink in submission.

“All right,” he agreed, taking my hand as we mounted the escalator.  “How do you feel about Thai food?”

Thai Ginger was on the fourth level just a few yards from the escalators.  We entered through what looked to be a typical ancient Chinese entrance, past two ornate wooden pillars painted jade, supporting a roof that hung down feet below the skylights of the actual mall roof.  It was decorated with stucco and curving up at the corners.  It reminded me of the pictures of the Forbidden City in northeastern China that I had seen hanging in Mr. Jefferson’s classroom. 

The interior was much the same as the entryway, with elaborately carved and polished wooden hangings of dragons and strangely delicate figures playing instruments that I had only seen in other Thai and Chinese restaurants decorating the walls.  It was funny how Chinese and Thai food were often grouped together in the northern United States.  I wondered just how different the two cultures really were.

The waiter greeted us with a strained smile, and Edward asked him for a booth in the back, away from the crowd.  We were led past the crowded center section of the dining area, past a partition with a pattern of intricate flowers curling up into each beautifully carved corner, and toward a section of booths in the back where the lighting was softer, and the music was only a whisper.  I slipped into one side of a large corner booth as the waiter took our drinks order.  Edward ordered us both Cokes. 

“Do you realize how long it’s taken us to finally make it to Seattle together?”  I began, trying to coax a smile out of him before the interrogation.  “It was supposed to be our first official date.”

It worked, but his smile was contradictory.  “We flew into Seattle five days ago, Bella.  Or was our honeymoon that forgettable?” 

My two weeks in Spain and my one fleeting night making love to Edward Cullen—something that I’d dreamed of almost since the day he’d first saved my life—were anything but forgettable.  I blushed as our drinks arrived.

“Airports never count.”

His smiled turned genuine, and his hand reached across the table to take mine.  “In that case, I’m sorry for taking so long to fulfill my promise.”

I made a small dramatic display of brimming tears as I took a sip of the Coke in front of me.  “If only my truck would have lived to see the city.”

Edward looked amused and horrified at the same time.  “Four vampires and you stuffed into the tiny cab of that ill-fated truck and chugging down the road toward Seattle at a steady fifty five miles per hour?” he scoffed.  “As if the trip at 115 wasn’t uncomfortable enough for you!”

“You noticed?”  I hadn’t realized it was possible to blush deeper.  He chuckled quietly.

“I may not be able to read your mind, but your heartbeat is twice as reliable.”  The smile faded slowly from his face.  His eyes began to drift to the partition beside us.  “I can’t even imagine what I’ll do when it ceases to beat.”

My grin edged into mischievousness as I remembered our first glorious morning in Spain, and his strange revelation to me.  “You know, I can think of a way for you to read my mind whenever you want to.”

He turned back to stare at me, not understanding my implications at first.  Then his lips curved into a desirous smile and his eyes closed slowly.  He opened them again when the waiter appeared to take our orders, but his lascivious expression did not change.  I ordered the pad thai, and tried to stare back at him with a conviction that equaled his own, but I was no match for him.  His eyes didn’t stray from my own as he assured the waiter that he was indeed not hungry.  I could only imagine what images were running through his head in that moment.  I was pretty sure that they were the same ones running through mine.  Ones that I had promised not to pursue again for another four months.  This was not healthy.  I turned my thoughts—and hopefully his as well—to more recent events.

“Is it Tanya and Irina?  Is that why you’re worried today?”

The smile melted into frustration and he exhaled heavily.

“That’s a large part of it.”

“Are they still thinking about way to convince you to break the treaty?”

There was a long silence before his answer.  “I don’t know,” he admitted, reluctantly.

“What do you mean?”

“Irina and Tanya seem to be going out of their way to hide any thoughts they may have about the wolves,” He flinched and gazed down at the table. “…or any thoughts about you.”  The last part seemed to hurt him as it was being spoken.

“But why would they do that?”

“I don’t know, Bella!”  The fist of the hand that was not holding mine was balled in frustration.  His words had come out sounding much angrier than he had intended, but there was a hidden knowledge behind it.  Edward knew exactly why the sisters were hiding their thoughts from him. 

“What aren’t you telling me?” It was a demand, not a question, spoken low and firm.

Edward’s eyes did not leave the table.  He was still as stone.  When my food arrived a few moments later, he was still unmoving, breathing steadily in and out and choosing his words wisely.  “They think that you have an uncomfortably large amount of control over the Quileute wolves.”

It took a moment for the information to sink in.  I had been expecting something much worse…perhaps a murder plot concealed by my own distant in-laws.  The thought of my being able to control anything that the LaPush pack did was not even on my list of possibilities.  I couldn’t help but giggle.

“That’s crazy!”

Edward’s eyes rose to mine again, and he looked suddenly affronted.

“Is it?” he persisted without a hint of a smile.  “Try to see it from their point of view, Bella.  If you ask any of the wolves for favors, it’s done.  If you ask for discretion in our ongoing feud, it’s granted.”

“That’s just logic!”  I protested.  “All I ever ask them to do is NOT kill my in-laws!”  And to look after my father while I’m gone.  And to discard their instincts and come to a wedding full of their mortal enemies.  And to fight, possibly to the death, to save me from a group of rogue vampires. 

I shifted guiltily in my seat and tried to meet Edward’s eyes as I filled my fork with noodles.  Something in his expression told me that he knew exactly to where my mind had wandered.  He continued objectively.

“Irina heard our conversation with Sam our first night back.  She knows that you’ve become an integral part of  holding our treaty with the Quileute tribe.  She heard the wolves threaten me one moment, and then promise to watch over you the next moment.”  I wanted to protest again, but Edward held up one finger.  I took a bite of the noodles instead.  “Tanya was there to see how a werewolf in full attack mode was able to stop of his own volition to avoid killing you.  That is not something that werewolves are capable of.”

I frowned as Edward took in another frustrated breath.  “And now, thanks to that little scene, both Tanya and Irina can also discern that Jacob Black—the wolf who is ultimately destined to be the pack alpha—is enough in love with you to suppress some of the strongest instincts in existence.”

He frowned down at the table again, releasing my hand and bringing it to his brow in frustration.  He let his eyes slide up to mine again reluctantly and I could see a well concealed pain there that I hadn’t noticed before. “I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that this fact doesn’t affect me adversely.”

I was at a loss for words.  He had never been this blunt with me before…at least not about Jacob.  I began to search for the argument that I had been building as I’d listened, but Edward’s honesty had made it disappear.

“What Jacob did wasn’t such a big deal,” I began lamely.  “You overcame your instinct to kill me when you first saw me.  Tanya and Irina don’t follow their instincts to kill every man that they…play with.  It’s possible to suppress instinct.

Edward looked down gravely at the table again.  “Not for a werewolf.”

I sighed, my frustration at a very familiar argument overcoming my newfound guilt.  “Really, Edward.  I thought we were past all of this “uncontrollable werewolf” stuff.  Wasn’t fighting with them enough of…”

“Werewolves can’t stop themselves from killing once they’ve phased,” Edward interrupted firmly. I was still frowning and my mouth had frozen on the letter f, making me look somewhat like and angry chipmunk.  “Werewolves can’t control who or what they kill when they are in wolf form.  They can’t plot or strategize.  They can’t communicate through anything more than a series of primitive growls and barks.”  His hands formed fists again on the table in front of him.  “And they can’t kill vampires…at least not without a ratio of at least eight to one.  Their teeth can, in fact, puncture our flesh, but it is impossible for one werewolf to leave a mortal wound.”

Bewilderment colored my expression.  “But Jacob said…I saw Seth…”  I gave up.  Edward had jumped into strange new territory. 

“I don’t understand,” I admitted.

“Jacob is not a werewolf, Bella.  None of the Quileutes are,” he said matter-of-factly.  “They are something much more dangerous….to us at least.”

I gulped and stared down at my full plate of noodles.  Suddenly, I wasn’t nearly as hungry as I had thought when we’d entered the restaurant.