"When will our guests arrive?" Carlisle asked Edward.

Edward concentrated for a moment, and then sighed. "A minute and a half. But I'm going to have to translate. They don't trust us enough to use their human forms." He threw a glance at Rosalie, who merely shrugged.

Though I could see the faint smile on her lips. Edward didn't seem to hold it against her though. Everyone was happy that she was happy. Even I noticed it in the small amount of time I was with her. And this also meant that when I joined the Cullen family I still had someone from my human life.

Carlisle nodded. "This is hard for them. I'm grateful they're coming at all."

I stared at Edward; my eyes stretched wide. "They're coming as wolves?"

He nodded, cautious of my reaction. I swallowed once, remembering the times I'd seen Jacob or Alex in wolf form - the first time in the meadow with Laurent, the second time behind Jacob's house when Alex had gotten angry at me and when Jacob hurt Alex...They were all memories of terror.

A strange gleam came into Edward's eyes, as though something had just occurred to him, something that was not altogether unpleasant. He turned away quickly, before I could see any more, back to Carlisle and the others.

"Prepare yourselves - they've been holding out on us."

"What do you mean?" Alice demanded.

"Shh," he cautioned, and stared past her into the darkness.

The Cullens' informal circle suddenly widened out into a loose line with Jasper and Emmett at the spear point. From the way Edward leaned forward next to me, I could tell that he wished he was standing beside them. I tightened my hand around his.

I squinted toward the forest, seeing nothing.

"Damn," Emmett muttered under his breath. "Did you ever see anything like it?"

Esme, Lucia, and Rosalie exchanged a wide-eyed glances.

"What is it?" I whispered as quietly as I could. "I can't see."

"The pack has grown," Edward murmured into my ear.

Hadn't I told him that Quil had joined the pack? I strained to see the seven wolves in the gloom. Finally, something glittered in the blackness - their eyes, higher up than they should be. I'd forgotten how very tall the wolves were. Like horses, only thick with muscle and fur - and teeth like knives, impossible to overlook.

I could only see the eyes. And as I scanned, straining to see more, it occurred to me that there were more than six pairs facing us. One, two, three . . . I counted the pairs swiftly in my head. Twice.

There were nine of them. It was a huge pack, nearly triple the original one.

"Fascinating," Edward murmured almost silently. Carlisle took a slow, deliberate step forward. It was a careful movement, designed to reassure.

"Welcome," he greeted the invisible wolves.

"Thank you," Edward responded in a strange, flat tone, and I realized at once that the words came from Sam. I looked to the eyes shining in the center of the line, the highest up, the tallest of them all, or she would have been if she were standing at her highest.

It was impossible to separate the shape of the big black wolf from the darkness, but my I found the undeniable green eyes. She was more relaxed her head lower and she was looking directly at Rosalie.

Edward spoke again in the same detached voice, speaking Sam's words. "We will watch and listen, but no more. That is the most we can ask of our self-control."

"That is more than enough," Carlisle answered. "My son Jasper" - he gestured to where Jasper stood, tensed and ready - "has experience in this area. He will teach us how they fight, how they are to be defeated. I'm sure you can apply this to your own hunting style."

"How are they different from you?" Edward asked for Sam.

Carlisle nodded. "They are all very new - only months old to this life. Children, in a way. They will have no skill or strategy, only brute strength. Tonight, their numbers stand at twenty. Ten for us, ten for you - it shouldn't be difficult. The numbers may go down. The new ones fight amongst themselves."

A rumble passed down the shadowy line of wolves, a low growling mutter that somehow managed to sound enthusiastic.

"We are willing to take more than our share, if necessary," Edward translated, his tone less indifferent now.

Carlisle smiled. "We'll see how it plays out."

"Do you know when and how they'll arrive?"

"They'll come across the mountains in four days, in the cover of night. As they approach, Alice will help us intercept their path."

"Thank you for the information. We will watch."

With a sighing sound, the eyes sank closer to the ground one set at a time. They may have been invisible to my eye, but I could still hear them.

It was silent for two heartbeats, and then Jasper took a step into the empty space between the vampires and the wolves. It wasn't hard for me to see him - his skin was as bright against the darkness. Jasper threw a wary glance toward Edward, who nodded, and then Jasper turned his back to the werewolves. He sighed, clearly uncomfortable.

"Carlisle's right." Jasper spoke only to us; he seemed to be trying to ignore the audience behind him. "They'll fight like children. The two most important things you'll need to remember are, first, don't let them get their arms around you and, second, don't go for the obvious kill. That's all they'll be prepared for. As long as you come at them from the side and keep moving, they'll be too confused to respond effectively. Emmett?"

Emmett stepped out of the line with a huge smile. Jasper backed toward the north end of the opening between the allied enemies. He waved Emmett forward.

"Okay, Emmett first. He's the best example of a newborn attack."

Emmett's eyes narrowed. "I'll try not to break anything," he muttered.

Jasper grinned. "What I meant is that Emmett relies on his strength. He's very straightforward about the attack. The newborns won't be trying anything subtle, either. Just go for the easy kill, Emmett."

Jasper backed up a few more paces, his body tensing.

"Okay, Emmett - try to catch me."

And I couldn't see Jasper anymore - he was a blur as Emmett charged him like a bear, grinning while he snarled. Emmett was impossibly quick, too, but not like Jasper. It looked like Jasper had no more substance than a ghost - any time it seemed Emmett's big hands had him for sure, Emmett's fingers clenched around nothing but the air. Beside me, Edward leaned forward intently, his eyes locked on the brawl. Then Emmett froze.

Jasper had him from behind, his teeth an inch from his throat. Emmett cussed.

There was a muttered rumble of appreciation from the watching wolves.

"you're too predictable, Emmett" Lucia spoke up, then looked out at her family "that's a good thing, the Newborns won't be smart or controlled enough to think it through."

*****

Everyone took turns, Carlisle, then Rosalie, Esme, and Emmett again. I squinted through my lashes, cringing as Jasper attacked Esme. That one was the hardest to watch. Then Lucia, they slowed down, still not quite enough for me to understand btu the others could. Lucia and Jasper were very evenly matched.

"You see what I'm doing here?" he would ask. "Yes, just like that," he encouraged. "Concentrate on the sides. Don't forget where their target will be. Keep moving."

Edward was always focused, watching, and also listening to what others couldn't see. It got more difficult to follow as my eyes got heavier. I hadn't been sleeping well lately, anyway, and it was approaching a solid twenty-four hours since the last time I'd slept. I leaned against Edward's side, and let my eyelids droop.

"We're about finished," he whispered.

Jasper confirmed that, turning toward the wolves for the first time, his expression uncomfortable again. "We'll be doing this tomorrow. Please feel welcome to observe again."

"Yes," Edward answered in Sam's cool voice. "We'll be here."

Then Edward sighed, patted my arm, and stepped away from me. He turned to his family.

"The pack thinks it would be helpful to be familiar with each of our scents - so they don't make mistakes later. If we could hold very still, it will make it easier for them."

"Certainly," Carlisle said to Sam. "Whatever you need."

There was a gloomy, throaty grumble from the wolf pack as they all rose to their feet.

My eyes were wide again, exhaustion forgotten. The deep black of the night was just beginning to fade - the sun brightening the clouds, though it hadn't cleared the horizon yet, far away on the other side of the mountains. As they approached, it was suddenly possible to make out shapes . . . colors.

Sam was in the lead, of course. Huge, for the first time I caught on that he wasn't completely black he had brown flecks throughout his fur, a monster straight out of my nightmares - literally; after the first time I'd seen Sam and the others in the meadow, they'd starred in my bad dreams more than once.

Now that I could see them all, match the vastness with each pair of eyes, it looked like more than nine. The pack was overwhelming.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Edward was watching me, carefully evaluating my reaction. Sam approached Carlisle where he stood in the front, the huge pack right on his tail. Jasper stiffened, but Emmett, on the other side of Carlisle, was grinning and relaxed.

Sam sniffed at Carlisle, seeming to wince slightly as he did. Then he moved on to Jasper.

My eyes ran down the wary brace of wolves. I was sure I could pick out a few of the new additions. There was a light gray wolf that kept darting his eyes between the Cullen's.

There was another, the color of desert sand, who seemed gangly and uncoordinated beside the rest. A low whine broke through the sandy wolf's control when Sam's advance left him isolated between Carlisle and Jasper. Though he wasn't alone long as an unbelievably huge wolf, nudged him.

It was jet black like a shadow, with unmistakable green eyes. Alex. For the first time I noticed the brown spot above her right eye.

Amazingly it made her seem less like a viscous wolf and more like a puppy.

I stopped at the wolf just behind Sam. His fur was reddish-brown and longer than the others, shaggy in comparison. He was almost as tall as Sam, the third largest in the group. His stance was casual, somehow exuding nonchalance over what the rest obviously considered an ordeal.