Bella POV:

I felt like the worst cousin in the whole world for leaving my basically sister when she was that sick. But Edward had told me that he really needed to speak with me, I had a couple of tests today, and I, knowing Katie, she wouldn't want any there to witness how bad she was feeling.

I pulled up to the couple of buildings that makeup the tiny Forks High School and cut the roar of my engine. Just as my feet hit the ground, Edwards cool hands were on my arm, helping to steady me. I shot him a quick glare, "I'm fine." He just smiled and held his hands up in surrender, his butterscotch eyes as mesmerizing as always.

"And where is the young red head on this fine Friday?" Edwards silk voice slipped over my bones and made me shiver. It took me a moment to respond, then my mind restarted again. "Oh, uh, she's really sick, I think it might be the stomach bug or something."

Edward frowned and made a low note of consideration in his throat. Then took my hand as we walked up the steps into the school. The best thing about having a supernatural boyfriend, was having him charm the administrators to give us the same schedule.

I blew a stray strand of my dark hair out of my face and turned towards Edward, "So," I asked him, "what did you want to talk to me about?" He pursed his lips and responded to my question with one of his own, "So Katie is home alone?"

"Uh. Yes?" My tone obviously portraying my confusion. He briefly reached over to brush a lock of my hair around my ear and then held my cheek in his cold hand. He leaned forward, surrounding me with his intoxicating scent, he briefly kissed my forehead and said "Let's talk later." I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off with "I promise I'll explain, please trust me, Bella." I huffed in exasperation, but relented and nodded, hoping 'later' came quickly.

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Lunchtime eventually rolled around. I always thought it was funny how time went so slowly when you had something you were anxious about. In this case, I was anxious about why Edward was so concerned with where my cousin was and who she was with.

Edward carried my tray to our normal table with Alice, Jasper, and Emmet already there.

"Where's Rosalie?" I asked as I sat down, the plastic chair scratching against the floor as I moved towards the table. Emmet grunted and said "She went out to eat, said she was getting a tad restless." By restless he meant quite, ah, I guess you could say she took 'hangry' to a whole new level. I nodded in confirmation and immediately turned to Edward with my eyebrows raised.

He sighed and took a deep, albeit, unnecessary breath. "The reason I asked if Katie was alone is because my family and I," he hesitated as if not wanting to make me angry, "we are concerned for Katie's safety." I looked at him in confusion. "Why?" I questioned, "Her dad is in jail and the idiots who threatened her have been expelled. And she scared the shit out of any other guys who would be dumb enough to try something. Not to mention she has the whole pack looking out for her." I rambled on, confused as to why the Cullens would be discussing the safety of my sister.

Yes, they had been so very helpful when Katie's dad had come and she needed the medical help. And yes, she did get along weirdly well with Emmet. They both had a fondness for roughhousing and she once found Katie and Emmet in the grass outside Charlie's house wrestling for fun. Of course Emmet wasn't using any of his supernatural strength, but they both had huge smiles on their faces nonetheless. Alice and Jasper had both mentioned they were fond of her, too. But, excluding school, and a couple of times she ate dinner with me at their house (literally happened twice before she suddenly kept getting dinner invitations at Emily's from the boys), there was no real reason for them to be overly concerned. Katie was fine. Besides currently having her head in the toilet. She had me and Charlie and Jacob and the pack. She was good.

Edward gently took my hand, effectively stopping the locomotive of thoughts in my brain. "The reason we're concerned," he started again, "is because of the pack." My brows furrowed in confusion. He went on, explaining, "The pack, while kindhearted, is full of young, temperamental, wolves." I finally caught on to where he was going with this and hissed "You think the pack would hurt her? She's practically family over there! Not to mention she's bonded to Jacob, there's no way in hell they would hurt her with her being an imprint!" I finished incredulously.

Edward took another deep breath and pointed out softly, "Emily was mated to Sam, and look what happened to her." My lungs constricted. I thought of the deep ragged scars covering most of Emily left side. I remember what Jacob had confessed as his biggest fears to me. That he was the monster. That he would lose control and hurt those around him. I glanced around the table, my eyes darting in anxiousness. "You don't," I stuttered, so afraid he was right, "You can't actually think she's going to get hurt right?"

Emmet just grunted, as eloquent as ever and looked at Alice. I looked over at her too. Though tiny in stature, she had a big personality and even bigger gift."You saw something didn't you? Alice, please tell me." I begged her.

Jasper took Alice's hand in silent comfort and suddenly I felt my stress ease and I glared at Jasper. Stupid emotion control.

Alice looked at me unwaveringly and said "I try my best to keep tabs on the people we love. When Katie came here, I kept tabs on her too. But she spends so much time with those mutts that I tend to lose her. But I always watch her cross the line onto the Reservation and cross back when she's safe and coming home." I gulped at the sense of foreboding that even jasper couldn't keep at bay.

Alice continued, "In the near future, I can't tell exactly when right now, or maybe ever, due to the interference from the dogs," her annoyance at the gap in her gift caused her to clench her teeth.

"Alice." Edward said, trying to pull her back on track.

She looked me dead in the eyes and said, "In the near future, I see her drive over and cross the Reservation line, and I don't see her cross back." My stomach dropped and I scrambled to find a loophole. "Maybe...maybe she just crossed back with Jacob and you can't see her."

She came over beside me and gently squeezed my shoulder, "No Bella. I looked as far as I could and after that moment, I couldn't see her ever again."

My heart stopped. "You're saying. You're saying she died?" Tears burned my eyes, "You're saying the pack is going to kill her?!" My voice had steadily rose in pitch and Edward brushed a comforting hand down the back of my hair.

"Who?," I asked, my voice thick with unshed tears, "Who kills her?"

Alice shook her head slowly, "I told you Bella, I can't see them."

Emmet leaned forward and braced his forearms on the table, "If I had to guess," his deep voice rumbled, "Probably the hotheaded big one. What's his face. Uh, Pete?"

"Paul." I correctly emotionlessly

Emmet continued, not seeing me crack apart, "Yeah, my moneys on him. He hated you, right?" Emmet gestured at me, while I nodded soundlessly, "Well than he might do it just to spite you." So her death would be my fault.

Edward kicked Emmet under the table and he justified "What, I'm just saying." With his hands raised in mock innocence.

Alice grabbed my hand, forcing me to meet her eyes. "It's ok, Bella," she said to me, "The solution is simple. We simply keep Bella from going over to the Reservation and she can never be hurt by the dogs." She smiled brightly as if this was great news. "And besides," she continued, "We at least have a few days, most likely weeks or months, before we have to convince her to stop going over. Don't stress. It'll be ok."

Emmet smiled, "We could always just tie her to a tree." Edward kicked him again. My heart rate calmed down to a reasonable pace and my lungs started working again. This was fixable. We could keep her safe.

The bell rang to signal that lunch was over and I got up numbly to deposit my tray. Edward wrapped me in a hug before we started walking to our next class "Don't worry, we can keep her safe. Nothing is going to happen." I nodded against his chest, trying desperately to believe him. My cousin was not going to die. Not because of me. Not because of the boys who hated the "vampire girl". And certainly not because Paul held a grudge against me.