And So The Lamb Became the Wolf

25. 11 Minutes

We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it. -Dwight D. Eisenhower

1:05

The field buzzed. Alice's vision had done nothing more than tell the vampire shifter forces when and where the newborn army would appear. They had begged her to look harder, to see farther, again and again, and again. Alice could not make something appear that just wasn't there. "We need more than this," they had all pleaded.

"I can't give you more. Battles don't read as other visions do. I see decisions once they've been made. I know when they intend to appear, but not how the battle will go. Every fight is a compendium of decisions, a collection of actions that have not been chosen yet. I can't see a decision that will be made based on a decision that will be made later." Alice's face had fallen as she saw the limitations of her visions imperiling her family.

Their numbers did not bode well for them. They had sent out a desperate summons to all their friends, but so few of them had come. Some of them were frightened. They were too scared to sacrifice their immortal lives for their friends. An army that didn't want their lives, but simply the Cullen's. Carlisle had refused to pressure anyone. no matter how afraid he and his family were.

1:06

Bella pushed her consciousness to Rosalie's. I love you.

I know.

Bella rested her large wolf head against Rosalie. I love you more than anything else.

I know.

Bella focused one bright gold eye on Rosalie's darker eyes. We're going to get through this, and we're going to move to a remote place where we can never be attacked again, and we're going to steal Collin and Brady and raise a blood-drinking, howling family.

A sound that was somewhere between a sob and a laugh escaped from Rosalie's throat. She reached up and scratched behind Bella's ear. We will be together until the end of time, and we will raise the little pups in our image. Bella didn't know exactly when she and Rosalie had decided the younger boys were theirs, distinctly, loveably, theirs, but she and Rosalie both acknowledged that truth now. They both tried to ignore that the 'end of time' could very well be today. Also, I love you too.

Bella had been sleeping so little the past few days, and when she did sleep, she found her mattress dissatisfying now that it was lying flat on the floor. The past few nights Bella had snuck from her house to the Cullen's to sneak into Rosalie's room and sleep there. Rose had been out hunting the first time this happened and had returned to change her clothes to find an exhausted wolf curled up in her bed. She felt a warm fire settle in her chest as she looked at her mate, the love of her life- existence? -peacefully at ease. Rosalie sat next to her and ran a gentle hand through Bella's beautiful brown hair. The wolf snored lightly. Rosalie kissed Bella's brow and changed out of her muddy clothes. She sat on the bed next to her wolf and read a book. She smiled as Bella moved closer to her. Bella threw an arm over Rosalie and curled up around her. The wolf's legs hung off the bed. Rosalie put an arm over Bella's. They stayed that way through the night.

1:07

Collin and Brady sat apart from the rest of the pack, eyeing the vampire additions with anxiety. They could sense the mistrust rolling off the strangers. The Irish coven had come to help preserve their Cullen friends, and this included protecting the adopted wolf pack. Their red eyes brought terror to the young wolves, whose instincts told them not to trust these strangers, and no assurances had been able to comfort them. The wolves as a whole balked at the idea of having three hungry non-vegetarian vampires on their land, but Carlisle was feeding them from the hospital's blood stores.