He frowned into space for a long moment, and then suddenly smiled at me, coming back from his reverie. "Definitely possible. Regardless, we've got to be prepared for anything until we know for sure. You're very perceptive today," he added. "It's impressive."
I sighed. "Maybe I'm just reacting to this place. It makes me feel like she's close by . . . like she sees me now."
His jaw muscles tensed at the idea. "She'll never touch you, Bella," he said.
In spite of his words, his eyes swept carefully across the dark trees. While he searched their shadows, the strangest expression crossed his face. His lips pulled back over his teeth and his eyes shone with an odd light - a wild, fierce kind of hope.
"Yet, what I wouldn't give to have her that close," he murmured. "Victoria, and anyone else who's ever thought of hurting you. To have the chance to end this myself. To finish it with my own hands this time."
I shuddered at the ferocious longing in his voice, and clenched his fingers more tightly with mine, wishing I was strong enough to lock our hands together permanently.
We were almost to his family, and I noticed for the first time that Alice did not look as optimistic as the others. She stood a little aside, watching Jasper stretching his arms as if he were warming up to exercise, her lips pushed out in a pout.
"Is something wrong with Alice?" I whispered.
Edward chuckled, himself again. "The werewolves are on their way, so she can't see anything that will happen now. It makes her uncomfortable to be blind."
Alice, though the farthest from us, heard his low voice. She looked up and stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed again.
"Hey, Edward," Emmett greeted him. "Hey, Bella. Is he going to let you practice, too?"
Edward groaned at his brother. "Please, Emmett, don't give her any ideas."
"When will our guests arrive?" Carlisle asked Edward.
Edward concentrated for a moment, and then sighed. "A minute and a half. But I'm going to have to translate. They don't trust us enough to use their human forms."
Carlisle nodded. "This is hard for them. I'm grateful they're coming at all."
I stared at Edward, my eyes stretched wide. "They're coming as wolves?"
He nodded, cautious of my reaction. I swallowed once, remembering the two times I'd seen Jacob in his wolf form - the first time in the meadow with Laurent, the second time on the forest lane where Paul had gotten angry at me. . . . They were both memories of terror.
A strange gleam came into Edward's eyes, as though something had just occurred to him, something that was not altogether unpleasant. He turned away quickly, before I could see any more, back to Carlisle and the others.
"Prepare yourselves - they've been holding out on us."
"What do you mean?" Alice demanded.
"Shh," he cautioned, and stared past her into the darkness.
The Cullens' informal circle suddenly widened out into a loose line with Jasper and Emmett at the spear point. From the way Edward leaned forward next to me, I could tell that he wished he was standing beside them. I tightened my hand around his.
I squinted toward the forest, seeing nothing.
"Damn," Emmett muttered under his breath. "Did you ever see anything like it?"
Esme and Rosalie exchanged a wide-eyed glance.
"What is it?" I whispered as quietly as I could. "I can't see."
"The pack has grown," Edward murmured into my ear.
Hadn't I told him that Quil had joined the pack? I strained to see the six wolves in the gloom. Finally, something glittered in the blackness - their eyes, higher up than they should be. I'd forgotten how very tall the wolves were. Like horses, only thick with muscle and fur - and teeth like knives, impossible to overlook.
I could only see the eyes. And as I scanned, straining to see more, it occurred to me that there were more than six pairs facing us. One, two, three . . . I counted the pairs swiftly in my head. Twice.
There were ten of them.
"Fascinating," Edward murmured almost silently.
Carlisle took a slow, deliberate step forward. It was a careful movement, designed to reassure.
"Welcome," he greeted the invisible wolves.
"Thank you," Edward responded in a strange, flat tone, and I realized at once that the words came from Sam. I looked to the eyes shining in the center of the line, the highest up, the tallest of them all. It was impossible to separate the shape of the big black wolf from the darkness.
Edward spoke again in the same detached voice, speaking Sam's words. "We will watch and listen, but no more. That is the most we can ask of our self-control."
"That is more than enough," Carlisle answered. "My son Jasper" - he gestured to where Jasper stood, tensed and ready - "has experience in this area. He will teach us how they fight, how they are to be defeated. I'm sure you can apply this to your own hunting style."
"They are different from you?" Edward asked for Sam.
Carlisle nodded. "They are all very new - only months old to this life. Children, in a way. They will have no skill or strategy, only brute strength. Tonight their numbers stand at twenty. Ten for us, ten for you - it shouldn't be difficult. The numbers may go down. The new ones fight amongst themselves."
A rumble passed down the shadowy line of wolves, a low growling mutter that somehow managed to sound enthusiastic.
"We are willing to take more than our share, if necessary," Edward translated, his tone less indifferent now.
Carlisle smiled. "We'll see how it plays out."
"Do you know when and how they'll arrive?"