arm. I'd missed a whole lot while I was burning, and this was the first real chance to catch up.
The main thing was the end of the feud with Sam's pack - which was why the others felt safe to come and go as they pleased again. The truce was stronger than ever. Or more binding, depending on your viewpoint, I imagined.
Binding, because the most absolute of all the pack's laws was that no wolf ever kill the object of another wolfs imprinting. The pain of such a thing would be intolerable for the whole pack. The fault, whether intended or accidental, could not be forgiven; the wolves involved would fight to the death - there was no other option. It had happened long ago, Seth told me, but only accidentally. No wolf would ever intentionally destroy a brother that way.
So Renesmee was untouchable because of the way Jacob now felt about her. I tried to concentrate on the relief of this fact rather than the chagrin, but it wasn't easy. My mind had enough room to feel both emotions intensely at the same time.
And Sam couldn't get mad about my transformation, either, because Jacob - speaking as the rightful Alpha - had allowed it. It rankled to realize over and over again how much I owed Jacob when I just wanted to be mad at him.
I deliberately redirected my thoughts in order to control my emotions. I considered another interesting phenomenon; though the silence between the separate packs continued, Jacob and Sam had discovered that Alphas could speak to each other while in their wolf form. It wasn't the same as before; they couldn't hear every thought the way they had prior to the split. It was more like speaking aloud, Seth had said. Sam could only hear the thoughts Jacob wanted to share, and vice versa. They found they could communicate over distance, too, now that they were talking to each other again.
They hadn't found all this out until Jacob had gone alone - over Seth's and Leah's objections - to explain to Sam about Renesmee; it was the only time he'd left Renesmee since first laying eyes on her.
Once Sam had understood how absolutely everything had changed, he'd come back with Jacob to talk to Carlisle. They'd spoken in human form (Edward had refused to leave my side to translate), and the treaty had been renewed. The friendly feeling of the relationship, however, might never be the same.
One big worry down.
But there was another that, though not as physically dangerous as an angry wolf pack, still seemed more urgent to me.
Charlie.
He'd spoken to Esme earlier this morning, but that hadn't kept him from calling again, twice, just a few minutes
ago while Carlisle treated Seth. Carlisle and Edward had let the phone ring.
What would be the right thing to tell him? Were the Cullens right? Was telling him that I'd died the best, the kindest way? Would I be able to lie still in a coffin while he and my mother cried over me?
tt didn't seem right to me. But putting Charlie or Renee in danger of the Volturi's obsession with secrecy was clearly out of the question.
There was still my idea - let Charlie see me, when I was ready for that, and let him make his own wrong assumptions. Technically, the vampire rules would remain unbroken. Wouldn't it be better for Charlie if he knew that I was alive - sort of - and happy? Even if I was strange and different and probably frighteningtohim?
My eyes, in particular, were much too frightening right now. How long before my self-control and my eye color were ready for Charlie?
"What's the matter, Bella?" Jasper asked quietly, reading my growing tension. "No one is angry with you" - alow snarl from the riverside contradicted him, but he ignored it - "or even surprised, really. Well, I suppose we are surprised. Surprised that you were able to snap out of it so quickly. You did well. Better than anyone expects of you."
While he was speaking, the room became very calm. Seth's breathing slipped into a low snore. Ifelt more peaceful, but I didn't forget my anxieties.
"I was thinking about Charlie, actually."
Out front, the bickering cut off.
"Ah," Jasper murmured.
"We really have to leave, don't we?" I asked. "For a while, at the very least. Pretend we're in Atlanta or something."
I could feel Edward's gaze locked on my face, but I looked at Jasper. He was the one who answered me in a