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"You cool?"
"As a cucumber."
"Doesn't seem like it," Rosalie stated after Valeria replied to Emmett.
The Cullens were standing in the center of the clearing that Bella's scent would lead the newborns to. The wolves were waiting, hiding behind the trees and waiting for the best moment to strike.
Despite her claims of being cool as a cucumber, Valeria's human instincts gave her away. She was wringing her hands and chewing on her lip and had already untied and retired her shoelaces twice to give her something to do. Valeria was scared, and they all knew it.
It wouldn't be long before the army reached them. They didn't need Alice's visions to tell them that — they could smell them, hear them. Hear how many of them there were.
Carlisle stepped next to Valeria and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Calm down. Take a deep breath." It was needless for the vampire, but Carlisle knew simple things like that helped her. "We're not alone. Sam and the others, they're right behind us."
He knew mentioning Sam's name would help Valeria, who glanced back over her shoulder to search the trees. She couldn't spot the black wolf through the heavy underbrush, but a second later, the leaves shifted. It was Sam telling her just where he was hiding out of sight.
Valeria released the breath and turned back to the direction the enemy was coming from. The closer the newborns got, the tenser they all became. Valeria's fists were clenched at her side, her fingers itching to spark and let the flames loose. At Jasper's request, she'd need to wait until the wolves arrived, including Jacob who was coming down from the mountain. They didn't want anyone accidentally getting burned.
So fast that a human would have missed it, the army broke through the tree line. Valeria bolted, half a step behind the others, who were more sure of their movements.
A girl much taller than her charged at Valeria, who quickly spun out of the way before grabbing her like Jasper had shown her, keeping the girl's arms behind her back.
A second later, the wolves joined the fray. Quil was the closest to Valeria and rushed to bite the newborn's head off. He then ran off to assist Embry, who was fighting off two newborns.
The wolves and vampires fought surprisingly well together, almost moving in sync at times. Alice would lure a newborn off, and then Leah would pounce. When Jared managed to pin down one, Rosalie would act quickly, tearing their limbs off. Even Paul and Emmett had teamed up, no one a match for their brute force.
And Sam, of course, stayed right by Valeria's side. Sure, she could hold her own in the beginning, but as soon as Jacob came bursting through the trees, her focus had to shift from self-preservation to controlling her abilities.
"Valeria!" Jasper called, spotting the russet-colored wolf who arrived and instantly started tearing newborns apart. "Now!"
Valeria couldn't help but yell, "Flame on!" as she shot fire from her hands. The already torn apart newborns were set alight before they could start pulling themselves back together.
