Delicate (Jasper Whitlock Hale)

Chapter 30

and I OOP

Y'all have fun. You're gonna learn a thing or two today.

"The werewolves," he murmured at last. A shudder went down my spine and I had to force myself to stand still to avoid exposing all six of us before we were needed.

"Ah, brother...," Aro answered Caius.

"Will you defend that alliance, too, Aro?" Caius demanded. "The Children of the Moon have been our bitter enemies from the dawn of time. We have hunted them to near extinction in Europe and Asia. Yet Carlisle encourages a familiar relationship with this enormous infestation - no doubt in an attempt to overthrow us. The better to protect his warped lifestyle."

Edward cleared his throat loudly before speaking.

"Caius, it's the middle of the day," Edward pointed out "These are not Children of the Moon, clearly. They bear no relation to your enemies on the other side of the world."

"You breed mutants here," Caius spit back at him.

The malice in his voice was clear and I had my growing suspicions as pieces started clicking into place for me. All I needed was visual confirmation for my thoughts, and I could tell Jasper was curious as to why my anxiousness turned to sudden anger.

Edward spoke next, speaking clearly and carefully, "They aren't even werewolves. Aro can tell you all about it if you don't believe me."

All six of us exchanged glances, we were all just as confused as the rest of my packs more than likely were.

"Dear Caius, I would have warned you not to press this point if you had told me your thoughts," Aro murmured. "Though the creatures think of themselves as werewolves, they are not. The more accurate name for them would be shape-shifters. The choice of a wolf form was purely chance. It could have been a bear or a hawk or a panther when the first change was made. These creatures truly have nothing to do with the Children of the Moon. They have merely inherited this skill from their fathers. It's genetic - they do not continue their species by infecting others the way true werewolves do."

He was right, and at least I wasn't being told we were something completely different than we had learned. We simply had our own selves confused, and apparently even more of the scary stories were true.

"They know our secret," he said flatly.

Aro spoke again. "They are creatures of our supernatural world, brother. Perhaps even more dependent upon secrecy than we are; they can hardly expose us. Carefully, Caius. Specious allegations get us nowhere."

Most of us could tell this was an act, they had tried thinking through every possibility possible to accuse our family of.

"I want to talk to the informant," Caius all but yelled, and we all knew she had sealed her fate. "Irina," Caius yelled again.

Caius snapped his fingers. I heard the snow crunch as she walked from where she was to, I assumed, in front of Caius.

"So you appear to have been quite mistaken in your allegations," Caius began.

I could feel the anxious atmosphere in the clearing and it radiated out to us, even Alice looked distraught, although she knew what was coming.

"I'm sorry," Irina whispered. "I should have made sure of what I was seeing. But I had no idea..." She trailed off.

"Dear Caius, could you expect her to have guessed in an instant something so strange and impossible?" Aro asked. "Any of us would have made the same assumption."

I was tired of Aro trying to play the good guy and was more than grateful when Caius snapped his fingers at Aro to silence him.

"We all know you made a mistake," he said brusquely. "I meant to speak of your motivations."