I woke up with Rosalie's head in my neck, her hand rubbing circles on my stomach. I stretched, throwing my hand around her back settling on her waist. "I'm worried about it; I don't want you to get hurt"

I let out a sigh moving my hand up to her head, allowing my fingers to thread through her hair. "I have to be there, i couldn't be anywhere else but with you."

Her head burrowed deeper into my neck; she placed a kiss on it before getting up. "you need to eat"

I nodded, feeling the grumble of my stomach.

"how long have I been asleep?" I asked as I looked out the window to see the sun coming from the wrong direction.

"a long while, you haven't sleep much in the past few days" she replied from the edge of the bed. Judging by the placement of the sun it was afternoon now.

"I should head home, see my mom. I need to get my mom on the Reservation for the night. Get everything set up. And I need to talk to Sam..."

Rosalie nodded "Jasper's going to do another training later"

I nodded standing in front of her. "I'll be back by then, I promise"

She nodded a small smile on her lips as she kissed me sending me on my way. I walked through the house not hearing anyone, I'm guessing they were focusing on making sure they are well fed before the fight.

By the time I made it home my mom was making dinner. I stepped into the kitchen probably looking like a mess.

"hey guys"

"Well, well, well. she returns." Eve smirked "did you have as much fun as the rest of us?"

I closed my eyes cringing at the thought of that, but also because I needed to find a lie to tell them. "no... no I did not"

I sighed; my mom obviously picked up on the change in atmosphere.

"what's wrong?"

"I need you guys to stay out of Forks Friday night into Saturday morning."

"what? Why?" Eve asked looking frantic.

"just trust me, go to La Push, stay with Emily or Mark... All night, convince Charlie to stay too. I don't know get drunk and pass out at Billy's or something" I practically begged. "You'll be safe"

They relented. They knew there was some things I couldn't tell them, somethings it was better to keep secret. "I won't tell you everything, I can't but just know we're going to handle the Seattle thing"

"I thought that was a gang?" my mom said as she pulled out plates. For a brief moment I thought about laughing, every time we have a conversation like this we're eating.

"it's best if you don't know"

They nodded, a small ounce of fear passing through their eyes. I knew my mom wanted to press the issue, she wanted to know exactly what was going on, what I was getting myself into. She was also fighting the urge to do that and to let me grow up.

"my appearances at home are going to be a little sporadic the next few days. I'm going to try and be around but there are things we need to prepare for."

Eve and my mom tried to avoid thinking about what was coming. Instead, they focused on anything else, work, their significant others. They then asked about Rosalie, Eve having noticed the new ring on my necklace, asked how Rosalie liked hers.

"I can't believe baby Al is engaged before me. Or before Charlie's popped the question" Eve replied, my mom nodded agreeing with the previous statement.

"you're growing up so fast, I'm just glad that when we are gone you won't be alone"

The night continued slowly. After dinner I sat and watched a movie with my family, taking in the momentary peace. Though each of us were tense, the impending doom floated over us like a rain cloud of doom.

I had already called Sam to inform him of what was going on. I was going to join the Cullen's for the training tonight and Seth had volunteered to go with me so that he can learn more. But it made him feel included.

Since we were linked I didn't really need the whole pack here. Not to mention most of them were uncomfortable and were planning to spend as much time with their family that they could.

Once the sun set, I went to run patrol.

Seth and I would patrol together, and once we were done Jacob and Sam would take over. Seth and I ran the loop a few times, nothing standing out. All the vampires were preparing to attack us.

Seth and I began walking to the meeting spot, still in wolf form.

'hey Seth, you ready for this?'

'yeah! Sam told me that I would be able to help'

I nodded 'yeah, you need to watch over Bella and keep in contact with us. It's not fighting but it's still important.'

'I can do it'

'I know you can'

I enjoyed the trip to the clearing more than I had last night. I still felt guilty, still afraid, but I wasn't terrified anymore. I could function. I could see past what was coming, and almost believe that maybe it would be okay.

Edward was apparently fine with the idea of missing the fight . . . and that made it very hard not to believe him when he said this would be easy. He wouldn't leave his family if he didn't believe it himself.

Maybe Alice was right, and I did worry too much.

We got to the clearing last. Jasper and Emmett were already wrestling - just warming up from the sounds of their laughter. Lucia was amping them up, I was unsure who she rooted for more. Her husband or Jasper.

Alice and Rosalie lounged on the hard ground, watching. Esme and Carlisle were talking a few yards away, heads close together, fingers linked, not paying attention.

It was much brighter tonight, the moon shining through the thin clouds, I looked out surprised to only see two wolves. One of which was Alex, she was lounging on the ground in her wolf form, looking much more like a dog than a ferocious wolf.

The other one was smaller, gangly. The sandy one that Alex nudged yesterday he was sitting down next her looking relatively relaxed as well and a little excitement as his eyes followed Jasper and Emmett closely.

"Where are the rest of the wolves?" I wondered.

"They don't all need to be here. One would do the job, but Sam didn't trust us enough to just send Alex, though she was willing. So, she brought Seth. He wanted to see more" the desert-colored wolf perked up when he heard his name.

"Are you participating tonight?" I asked, hesitant. I knew this was going to be almost as hard for him as being left behind would have been for me.

Maybe harder.

"I'll help Jasper when he needs it. He wants to try some unequal groupings, teach them how to deal with multiple attackers." He shrugged.

And a fresh wave of panic shattered my brief sense of confidence. They were still outnumbered. I was making that worse. I stared at the field, trying to hide my reaction.

After a few minutes I heard Jasper say "Alex?" I watched the big black head look up. "why don't you come over here?"

She got up graciously and trot over to the others. Like a damn show dog. And with the perfect sleek black fur, she'd probably win. She stopped right in front of Jasper and Emmett.

"I hear Rosalie has some concerns and we'd like to see how strong you are"

I watched as Rosalie sat up straighter, her eyes locked on Alex with concern, that only doubled when Emmett stepped up to face off with the wolf. A small amount of fear filled me as I watched Emmett and Alex stand head-to-head, Emmett wrapped his big arms around Alex's neck.

"Don't hold back"

In an instant the two pushed against each other, Alex's paws were digging into dirt. Emmett pushed against her, and I could see Alex's paws slide ever so slightly causing the dirt to move.

Alex was straining to push Emmett, she didn't make much difference, but she was able to stay relatively in place.

"okay" the two stopped and Alex stopped by Rosalie her nose bopping Rosalie's shoulder before returning to Seth and plopping down next to him, dramatically I might add.

"see Rose, nothing to worry about. Alex is strong, it was like pushing against a cliff" Emmett chuckled. I breathed out a sigh of relief. If Alex could stand against Emmett then the other wolves could too.