Breaking Dawn

Today had begun like any other day. Made it home from patrol with the rainy sunrise, breakfast with Billy and Rachel, bad TV, bickering with Paul… How did it change so completely, turn all surreal? How did everything get messed up and twisted so that I was here now, all alone, an unwilling Alpha, cut off from my brothers, choosing vampires over them?

The sound I’d been fearing interrupted my dazed thoughts—it was the soft impact of big paws against the ground, chasing after me. I threw myself forward, rocketing through the black forest. I just had to get close enough so that Edward could hear the warning in my head. Leah wouldn’t be able to stop me alone.

And then I caught the mood of the thoughts behind me. Not anger, but enthusiasm. Not chasing… but following.

My stride broke. I staggered two steps before it evened out again.

Wait up. My legs aren’t as long as yours.

SETH! What do you think you’re DOING? GO HOME!

He didn’t answer, but I could feel his excitement as he kept right on after me. I could see through his eyes as he could see through mine. The night scene was bleak for me—full of despair. For him, it was hopeful.

I hadn’t realized I was slowing down, but suddenly he was on my flank, running in position beside me.

I am not joking, Seth! This is no place for you. Get out of here.

The gangly tan wolf snorted.I’ve got your back, Jacob. I think you’re right. And I’m not going to stand behind Sam when—

Oh yes you are the hell going to stand behind Sam! Get your furry butt back to La Push and do what Sam tells you to do.

No.

Go, Seth!

Is that an order, Jacob?

His question brought me up short. I skidded to a halt, my nails gouging furrows in the mud.

I’m not ordering anyone to do anything. I’m just telling you what you already know.

He plopped down on his haunches beside me. I’ll tell you what I know—I know that it’s awful quiet. Haven’t you noticed?

I blinked. My tail swished nervously as I realized what he was thinking underneath the words. It wasn’t quiet in one sense. Howls still filled the air, far away in the west.

They haven’t phased back, Seth said.

I knew that. The pack would be on red alert now. They would be using the mind link to see all sides clearly. But I couldn’t hear what they were thinking. I could only hear Seth. No one else.

Looks to me like separate packs aren’t linked. Huh. Guess there was no reason for our fathers to know that before. ’Cause there was no reason for separate packs before. Never enough wolves for two. Wow. It’s reallyquiet. Sort of eerie. But also kinda nice, don’t you think? I bet it was easier, like this, for Ephraim and Quil and Levi. Not such a babble with just three. Or just two.

Shut up, Seth.

Yes, sir.

Stop that! There are not two packs. There is THE pack, and then there is me. That’s all. So you can go home now.

If there aren’t two packs, then why can we hear each other and not the rest? I think that when you turned your back on Sam, that was a pretty significant move. A change. And when I followed you away, I think that was significant, too.

You’ve got a point, I conceded. But what can change can change right back.

He got up and started trotting toward the east. No time to argue about it now. We should be moving right along before Sam…

He was right about that part. There was no time for this argument. I fell into a run again, not pushing myself quite as hard. Seth stayed on my heels, holding the Second’s traditional place on my right flank.

I can run somewhere else, he thought, his nose dipping a little. I didn’t follow you because I was after a promotion.

Run wherever you want. Makes no difference to me.

There was no sound of pursuit, but we both stepped it up a little at the same time. I was worried now. If I couldn’t tap into the pack’s mind, it was going to make this more difficult. I’d have no more advance warning of attack than the Cullens.

We’ll run patrols, Seth suggested.

And what do we do if the pack challenges us? My eyes tightened. Attack our brothers? Your sister?

No—we sound the alarm and fall back.

Good answer. But then what? I don’t think…

I know, he agreed. Less confident now. I don’t think I can fight them, either. But they won’t be any happier with the idea of attacking us than we are with attacking them. That might be enough to stop them right there. Plus, there’re only eight of them now.

Stop being so… Took me a minute to decide on the right word. Optimistic. It’s getting on my nerves.

No problem. You want me to be all doom and gloom, or just shut up?

Just shut up.

Can do.

Really? Doesn’t seem like it.

He was finally quiet.

And then we were across the road and moving through the forest that ringed the Cullens’ house. Could Edward hear us yet?

Maybe we should be thinking something like, “We come in peace.”

Go for it.

Edward? He called the name tentatively. Edward, you there? Okay, now I feel kinda stupid.

You sound stupid, too.

Think he can hear us?

We were less than a mile out now. I think so. Hey, Edward. If you can hear me—circle the wagons, bloodsucker. You’ve got a problem.

We’vegot a problem, Seth corrected.

Then we broke through the trees into the big lawn. The house was dark, but not empty. Edward stood on the porch between Emmett and Jasper. They were snow white in the pale light.

“Jacob? Seth? What’s going on?”

I slowed and then paced back a few steps. The smell was so sharp through this nose that it felt like it was honestly burning me. Seth whined quietly, hesitating, and then he fell back behind me.

To answer Edward’s question, I let my mind run over the confrontation with Sam, moving through it backward. Seth thought with me, filling in the gaps, showing the scene from another angle. We stopped when we got to the part about the “abomination,” because Edward hissed furiously and leaped off the porch.

“They want to kill Bella?” he snarled flatly.

Emmett and Jasper, not having heard the first part of the conversation, took his inflectionless question for a statement. They were right next to him in a flash, teeth exposed as they moved on us.

Hey, now, Seth thought, backing away.

“Em, Jazz—not them! The others. The pack is coming.”

Emmett and Jasper rocked back on their heels; Emmett turned to Edward while Jasper kept his eyes locked on us.

“What’s their problem?” Emmett demanded.

“The same one as mine,” Edward hissed. “But they have their own plan to handle it. Get the others. Call