Breaking Dawn   ::   Meyer Stephenie

Wait, I thought.

The circling paused for one beat, and then they were pacing again.

There’s little time, Sam said.

But—what are you thinking? You wouldn’t attack them for breaking the treaty this afternoon. Now you’re planning an ambush, when the treaty is still intact?

This is not something our treaty anticipated, Sam said. This is a danger to every human in the area. We don’t know what kind of creature the Cullens have bred, but we know that it is strong and fast-growing. And it will be too young to follow any treaty. Remember the newborn vampires we fought? Wild, violent, beyond the reach of reason or restraint. Imagine one like that, but protected by the Cullens.

We don’t know— I tried to interrupt.

We don’t know, he agreed. And we can’t take chances with the unknown in this case. We can only allow the Cullens to exist while we’re absolutely sure that they can be trusted not to cause harm. This… thing cannot be trusted.

They don’t like it any more than we do.

Sam pulled Rosalie’s face, her protective crouch, from my mind and put it on display for everyone.

Some are ready to fight for it, no matter what it is.

It’s just a baby , for crying out loud.

Not for long, Leah whispered.

Jake, buddy, this is a big problem, Quil said. We can’t just ignore it.

You’re making it into something bigger than it is, I argued. The only one who’s in danger here is Bella.

Again by her own choice, Sam said. But this time her choice affects us all.

I don’t think so.

We can’t take that chance. We won’t allow a blood drinker to hunt on our lands.

Then tell them to leave, the wolf who was still supporting me said. It was Seth. Of course.

And inflict the menace on others? When blood drinkers cross our land, we destroy them, no matter where they plan to hunt. We protect everyone we can.

This is crazy, I said. This afternoon you were afraid to put the pack in danger.

This afternoon I didn’t know our families were at risk.

I can’t believe this! How’re you going to kill this creature without killing Bella?

There were no words, but the silence was full of meaning.

I howled. She’s human, too! Doesn’t our protection apply to her?

She’s dying anyway, Leah thought. We’ll just shorten the process.

That did it. I leaped away from Seth, toward his sister, with my teeth bared.