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The First Cut is the Deepest	By : TheBlindQueen Category: Twilight Series > Het > Bella/Edward Views: 6929 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or make any money from this story.

Chapter List
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*******Chapter 8: Partners********

I heard Jake’s” voice” even before I caught his scent. It was getting easier to hear him; the distances over which I could do so were stretching out. His thoughts in wolf form were slightly more difficult, but even that was getting easier all the time. I was able to pick up the thoughts of his brothers too. Their minds were linked so closely with Jacob’s that it was quite easy. Jacob Black was human when he approached the house.

I opened the door, motioning for Jasper and Alice to stay inside. The shifter obviously meant me no harm, but I could hear Jasper’s anxious thoughts as I went out alone to meet him. I kept them separated for everyone’s sake. Jacob would already be edgy, this close to our home. I did not want to add to his anxiety. I took a few steps out of the house onto the porch, but I did not descend the steps. I left him plenty of room to retreat if he wanted to do so. I did not doubt Jake’s courage, but our alliance was uneasy and temporary. There was no need to strain it even further.

“Is anything wrong?’ I asked, catching only a flash of confusing images. Nothing with Bella, however, and I felt myself relax.

“No,” Jake answered. Then I saw his reason for coming here in his mind.

“There are more of them?” I hissed.

“We’re getting at least a dozen scents now, including the red-headed bitch.” Jake scowled. “Yeah, and the pack isn’t happy about it either.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “When are the rest of you getting here?”

“Carlisle and Esme are on their way,” I replied. “Probably later tonight.”

“And the big guy? And the scary blond?” he growled, and I knew that he was desperately worried about Bella and the growing newborn Vampire army that coming for her and his son. He was actually disappointed that Emmett and Rosalie were not already here.

I grinned at him, trying to ignore my own fear, which threatened to rise up and choke me. I suspected the smile looked rather odd on my face if the look Jacob gave me was any indication. “Within a day or two,” I assured him. I nodded back at the house. “Jasper’s seeing if he can rally any help among others of our kind.”

“The kind that don’t eat animals, huh?” Jacob did not immediately lodge a protest about the treaty and I knew his terror must be gnawing at him.

“No,” I agreed. “But they’ll all have to agree that there’ll be no…hunting in the area, as our treaty states.”

Jake nodded, his shoulders hunched as if he was in pain. The wall he had so carefully built in his mind tumbled down and I was shocked that he had learned to keep so much secret, to guard so much. Only Alice was more successful at keeping me out, and usually she did so by thinking thoughts she knew I would shy away from, or flood me with mindless details that bored me until I retreated. Truly, he had a talent for it, and I wondered if pack life had merely perfected an innate skill he already had or if it had given him the gift in the first place. Idle curiosity. Useless. Pointless.

Like much of what I did these days.

“Bella’s in the hospital,” Jake said needlessly. I had seen the image in his head. Bella in a strange bed, looking pale and worried, cradling the bulge of her belly. She still LOOKED pregnant, and I wondered at the surge of relief I felt.

“Is she…is she all right?” I asked, mostly in an effort to get details. He was thinking in generalities right now, but I needed to know. What? How? When?

“There was some…bleeding,” Jacob said in a low, strained voice.

“And the baby?” No matter how jealous I was, I would never wish such heartache on Bella – or even him. And there it was, the cause for my relief. Jake had protected the most precious life in the world, and for that alone I wished him happiness.

It was my own fault that it would come at the cost of my own.

Jake heaved a sigh and nodded. “Fine,” he replied, meeting my eyes. “But it was much too close for comfort,” he admitted. “It’s the stress,” he added. “It’s getting to her.”

“From…me?” I hated to ask the question because I was not sure I was strong enough to do the right thing if he gave the answer I feared.

“No,” Jake answered a rueful smile. “The other bloodsucker.” He grimaced. “Bella can’t lie for shit, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t learned to tell when I am.” He heaved a sigh. “Anyway, her bullshit detector went supernova and she made me spill the beans. That vamp’s outta the bag now, you might say.”

We share a quick, strained laugh at that.

“Anyway,” Jacob continued. “When you’ve got your…family together, I’d like to see if we can maybe have a strategy meeting.” He made a grimace of distaste. “And my brothers and I would like to know what we’re going to be up against, and we figure if anyone knows about newborn vampires, it’s old vampires.”

I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling. “Well, we’re hardly old, at least for our kind. But my brother Jasper definitely has the experience we need – and the knowledge.”

“Good, good.” He nodded. “Well, I guess that was all.”

He turned to go and had taken two strides when I called out to him. “Jacob?”

Turning back to me with a reluctant expression, Jacob waited impatiently for me to speak. “What?”

“I know that Bella…” I hesitated. “I don’t want to cause her any more stress by going to see her in the hospital, and besides, no one knows we’re here, but…”

“I’ll keep you updated,” Jacob said without me asking. I was really starting to hate how I felt about the mutt. When I didn’t want to kill him, I almost liked him.

“Thank you.”

~~~~~~~~

“Oh, Edward,” Esme breathed as she hugged me close. Her frown of concern merely echoed what I heard in her voice – in her thoughts. /He looks terrible. And he’s allowed himself to get too thirsty./

“I’ll go hunting tonight, I promise.” I smiled at her, not missing the look she gave Carlisle. I tried not to listen in, but I didn’t have to read their minds to know how worried they were. I had a lifetime of reading their expressions.

“I just heard from Emmett,” Carlisle said, and I threw him a grateful glance. As much as I loved Esme, I was in no shape to deal with her sympathy right now. “He and Rosalie should be arriving at first light tomorrow.”

I felt something inside of me loosen at his words. The more of us there were, the better able we would be to keep Bella safe.

“That’s good,” Jasper said, coming up behind me. “Because we’re not going to be getting any other help.”

Peter and Charlotte had refused him. No surprise there. They had no desire to risk their lives for a human and her half-breed child; they felt an innate fear of the wolves. I picked up that from Jasper’s thoughts, but I could see he was embarrassed enough at his friends’ behavior and I did not mention it. Jasper was putting himself on the line for Bella, and risking Alice as well. I could only imagine how much that cost him. I could ask no more of him. In truth, I did not have the right to risk them at all.

“Jasper…” I began. He smiled, picking up on my emotions.

He shook his head. “No, Edward, we’re doing what is right. It’s our fault that Bella is Victoria’s target in the first place and so we’ll take care of it.” He shrugged. “Besides, I don’t think any of us really want Bella to die – because we know what it would do to YOU. So we’re protecting our family too.”

Carlisle nodded and Esme hugged me.

Then Alice was at my side. She leaned in close and I heard her thought. /I’m watching you, big brother./ I knew she had seen the wild, half-formed plans in my head – my contingency plan if we failed. /Don’t do that to Esme…or me./

I turned and smiled at her, brushing back her hair.

But I made no promises.
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The First Cut is the Deepest