By the time the first witnesses came, most of the Cullens were gone.
Carlisle and Esme had left together. Some friends would come because Carlisle asked. Some needed to see his face first. Rosalie and Emmett had gone after Mary and Randall. Edythe had gone to contact those Carlisle thought might listen to her better than anyone else.
Edythe had been the last to leave.
She had stood in front of Harry and Nancy with her hands resting lightly on their shoulders while she promised she would come back before dark. Her voice stayed even. Her face did not.
Nancy had not cried.
That somehow made it worse.
She only gripped Edythe's sleeve until Edythe carefully uncurled each small finger and kissed her knuckles one by one.
Then Edythe looked at me.
I hated that look.
It asked me to protect what she did not want to leave.
I nodded because there was no other answer.
Then she was gone.
The house felt wrong with so many of them missing. Every small sound from the children seemed sharper without the full family there to absorb it.
Edward stayed.
No one needed to explain why.
If the danger was coming for Renesmee, Bella was not leaving. If Bella was not leaving, Edward was not leaving. And if the danger was coming for Harry and Nancy too, Leah and I were not going anywhere either.
Jacob had stayed as well, standing near the windows with his arms folded and his jaw set.
He had not asked permission.
No one had expected him to.
Renesmee sat beside Bella on the couch, close enough that Bella's hand could stay on her shoulder. Harry and Nancy were on the floor near Leah with a picture book open between them.
They were pretending to look at it.
Nancy kept glancing toward the door Edythe had used.
Harry noticed and pushed the picture book closer to her. She did not look down.
That was new. Usually, if Harry offered something, Nancy took it. Not always because she wanted it. Sometimes because accepting was easier than explaining why she did not.
This time she only leaned harder against Leah's knee.
Leah rested a hand on her hair. "She is coming back."
Nancy nodded.
She did not look convinced.
Neither did I.
Not because Edythe would break her promise. She would not. But other people could still break the world around it.
Seth lay in wolf form by the front door, head up, ears forward. His presence should have been comforting.
Instead, it made the room feel more crowded.
Leah noticed too.
She looked from Seth to Jacob, then toward the windows.
"Seth, you should go home. Spend a little time with Mom."
Seth's head came up higher.
Jacob turned. "What?"
Leah did not look away from Seth. "You heard me."
A low sound came from Seth's chest.
Harry looked up from the book.
Leah's voice stayed calm. "Do not start. We need the pack informed, and you are the cleanest way to do that."
Jacob frowned. "I can call Sam."
"And then what?" Leah asked. "Keep calling every five minutes while vampires start showing up at the door?"
Jacob's mouth tightened.
Leah pointed toward Seth. "Having Seth at the reservation gives us a direct line. It also keeps the house from smelling more like wolf than anything else."
Jacob glanced toward her.
Leah's eyes narrowed. "Do not start with me either. My scent has to be in that room. Yours does not."
That was the part everyone had been avoiding saying.
Leah would smell like wolf because Leah was a wolf, but she would also smell like Harry and Nancy's mother. Her scent belonged in that room.
Jacob's would be another layer of wolf. Stronger. Male. Protective. Angry. If he stayed too close, the first thing the arriving vampires noticed might not be three living children.
It might be threat.
Jacob did not like it.
He understood it anyway.
Seth huffed.
Leah looked back at him. "That was not an insult."
It probably had been a little bit of an insult.
A practical one.
Those still counted.
Seth looked at Harry and Nancy.
Nancy's hand tightened in Leah's pant leg.
Harry said, "You can come back?"
His voice made it a question.
Leah answered before Seth could move. "He can come back."
Seth's ears flicked.
Jacob sighed. "He does not like leaving."
"No one likes anything right now," Leah said. "That does not make it optional."
Seth stood.
He crossed to Leah first and pressed his head briefly against her shoulder. Then he nudged Harry's arm, Nancy's hair, and Renesmee's knee before heading for the door.
Renesmee touched his muzzle as he passed.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Seth froze for half a second.
Then he left.
The silence after him felt wrong.
Jacob watched the door close. "I am staying."
Bella looked at him. "We know."
His eyes moved to Renesmee.
She was watching him too.
"I am not leaving her," Jacob said.
"No one is asking you to," Edward said.
Jacob looked at him.
Edward's expression was controlled. "But when the others arrive, you will need to be careful."
Jacob's eyebrows rose. "Careful?"
"Best behavior," Leah said.
He looked offended. "I can behave."
No one answered quickly enough.
"That pause was rude," Jacob said.
Bella almost smiled.
Edward did not. "They will already be tense. They will not know why they have been called, only that the Volturi are coming for us and bringing witnesses for a crime. If they come in and the wolf scent is overwhelming, they may focus on the wrong danger."
Jacob's expression shifted.
"So what?" he asked. "I stand outside?"
"For the first meeting," Edward said. "Nearby. Not gone."
Renesmee's hand tightened on Bella's.
Jacob saw it.
His face softened. "I am not going far, Nessie."
She nodded, but she did not look happy.
I looked toward Harry and Nancy. Harry had stopped pretending to read. Nancy was half behind Leah now, watching the room over her shoulder.
I hated that they understood even part of this.
Edward followed my gaze.
"The problem is the first moment they realize what is in this house," he said.
Bella's arm tightened around Renesmee. "They do not know?"
"No," Edward said. "Only that Carlisle asked them to come witness the truth before the Volturi arrive."
"And if they see too much before they understand what they are sensing," Leah said, "they may think what Irina thought."
No one liked hearing that.
No one argued.
I looked at Harry and Nancy, then at Renesmee.
Three children.
Three heartbeats.
Three reasons every vampire law in the world might decide this room deserved to burn.
My anger moved under my skin again.
I kept my hands still.
"So we make sure they do not see them first," Bella said.
Edward looked at her.
She lifted her chin. "Make them listen first."
Leah's eyes sharpened.
Bella continued, "They hear their hearts. They smell them. They know they are alive before they see them."
Edward was quiet for a moment.
Then he nodded. "Yes."
"That could work," I said.
Everyone looked at me.
I hated when that happened.
I kept going anyway. "But not with me in the same room."
Leah's head turned. "Thomas."
"I do not like it either," I said. "But I am not exactly a clean sample."
Jacob snorted once.
I pointed at him. "Neither are you."
He gave me a flat look.
I ignored it and looked back at Edward. "If the point is to get them to hear the children and smell the children before they panic, then the room needs to be as simple as we can make it."
Edward studied me.
"What?" I asked.
"You may be useful before they hear them."
I stared at him. "That sentence has never led anywhere good."
Leah's eyes narrowed. "Useful how?"
Edward's gaze stayed on me. "They will arrive expecting a vampire problem. A Volturi problem. Something familiar enough to have rules."
"And I ruin that?"
"Yes."
"Rude."
"Accurate," Edward said. "You are alive. You have a heartbeat. Your scent will not match anything they expect. You are connected to us and to the wolves without being either in a way they understand."
Jacob snorted from near the window. "That should make everyone feel better."
"It will not make them comfortable," Edward said. "It may make them slower to decide."
That mattered.
I hated that it mattered.
Leah looked at me.
I saw the same realization in her face.
If the first impossible thing the witnesses met was a grown man who could stand there and answer questions, maybe the next impossible thing would not frighten them as quickly.
Maybe they would listen longer.
Maybe they would think before fear took over.
I hated being useful that way.
I hated it less than I hated the alternative.
"So I am the first shock," I said.
Edward nodded once. "A controlled one."
"Wonderful. I have become a warning label."
Jacob grinned. "That might be the nicest thing anyone has called you."
"I am choosing not to hear you."
Leah ignored both of us. "Fine. They meet Thomas first. Then they listen."
"Listen and breathe," Bella said.
Edward nodded. "Thomas first. Then sound. Then scent. Then sight."
Harry looked at me. "Do you have to go first?"
"Yes," I said.
"Why?"
Leah answered before I could. "Because grown-ups are less scared when another grown-up explains things."
Harry thought about that. "Are vampires scared?"
"Usually when they should be embarrassed instead," Leah said.
Jacob made a sound suspiciously close to a laugh.
Bella gave him a look.
He lifted both hands. "Best behavior starts outside."
Renesmee's mouth twitched.
That helped more than it should have.
Leah looked down at Nancy, whose eyes had drifted back toward the door Edythe had used.
Her voice changed. "Bella and me in the sitting room."
I looked at her.
She did not soften.
"Bella has Renesmee," Leah said. "I have Harry and Nancy."
"You should not have to be alone in there."
"I will not be alone. I will have Bella, three children, and every dangerous instinct I have ever had."
"That is not as reassuring as you think."
"It was not meant to be."
Bella looked at Leah, then at me. "She is right."
Of course she was.
That was becoming a deeply annoying family habit.
Edward's eyes moved toward the hall. "The sitting room. Door closed. Bella and Leah with them. Thomas and I meet whoever arrives. Jacob stays outside, close enough for Renesmee to know he is there, far enough that his scent does not overwhelm what we need them to notice."
Jacob's jaw tightened, but he nodded.
"And if they refuse to listen?" he asked.
Edward's face hardened. "Then they do not see anyone."
That was the first thing anyone had said all morning that made me feel slightly better.
Harry looked at me. "Do we have to hide?"
Edward's expression changed.
So did Bella's.
I answered before either of them could make it gentle enough to hurt.
"No. You are waiting."
Harry frowned. "That sounds like hiding."
"It is different."
"How?"
Leah put a hand over his hair. "Because in this instance, hiding means you did something wrong. Waiting means they have to learn how to behave before they meet you."
Harry looked toward the front door. "Are they good at behaving?"
"No," Jacob said.
Bella gave him another look.
Renesmee's mouth twitched again.
Leah put a hand over Nancy's hair. "You do not have to perform. You do not have to prove anything. You stay with me and Bella. That is all."
Nancy looked toward the door again.
"Edythe said before dark," she said.
It was the first thing she had said since Edythe left.
My chest tightened.
"Yes," I said. "She did."
"What if they come before that?"
The room went quiet.
Edward spoke before I could.
"Then we follow the plan."
Nancy looked at him.
Edward's voice stayed steady. "And Thomas stays right outside the door."
Her eyes moved to me.
I nodded. "Right outside."
That was not the same as having Edythe there.
Nancy knew it.
So did I.
But after a moment, she nodded once.
Renesmee looked at Edward. "Can I show them?"
Edward's face softened. "Only if you want to."
Bella added, "And only if they choose it."
Renesmee nodded seriously.
She held out her hand, palm up, then pulled it back and looked at it.
"I wait," she said.
Bella kissed the top of her head. "Yes. You wait."
That mattered to Renesmee.
I could see it.
Maybe because so much about her gift involved touching other people's minds. Maybe because she already understood that adults were afraid of what they did not choose.
Maybe because she was a child and waiting to be chosen was something children understood too well.
Edward's head turned toward the trees.
The room tightened with him.
"Someone is coming."
Bella stood with Renesmee. Leah stood too, Harry and Nancy rising with her. They all moved to the sitting room.
Jacob moved toward the back door.
He stopped beside Renesmee first.
"I will be right outside," he said.
She nodded.
He looked at Leah. "Best behavior."
"Try not to look proud of yourself for meeting the minimum."
He grinned despite everything.
Then he left.
I watched Leah guide Harry and Nancy toward the sitting room. Bella followed with Renesmee.
At the doorway, Harry looked back at me.
"So you go first," he said.
"I go first."
"And then us."
"After they listen."
Harry nodded. "Okay."
Nancy did not smile.
She looked toward the door Edythe had left through, then back at me.
"You stay outside our door?"
"Yes."
"The whole time?"
"The whole time."
She nodded once.
Not happy.
Accepting.
That was the best any of us were getting.
Then the door closed.
The sound was small.
It felt final anyway.
Edward looked toward the front of the house.
"Siobhan, Liam, and Maggie," he said.
The first witnesses.
Carlisle should have been there.
Esme should have been there.
Edythe should have been there.
Instead there was Edward by the window, Jacob outside, Bella and Leah behind a closed door with the children, and me standing in the middle of the room trying not to turn into the thing everyone was already afraid of.
There was no time to hate that properly.
A knock came at the door.
Edward opened it.
Siobhan stood on the porch with Liam at her side and Maggie slightly behind them. Their eyes moved over Edward first.
Then me.
All three stopped.
I had spent enough time around vampires to recognize the moment their senses disagreed with their expectations.
Slower than normal heartbeat. Warm skin. Wrong scent.
Not human enough. Not vampire enough. Not anything enough.
Siobhan's gaze sharpened. "Who is this?"
"Thomas," Edward said.
"That answers very little."
"I know."
Liam's eyes narrowed. "He is alive."
"Yes."
"But not human."
"Not entirely."
Maggie looked from Edward to me. "You are not lying."
"No," Edward said.
Her eyes moved fully to me.
I lifted a hand slightly. "I would like it noted that I am standing right here."
Siobhan's mouth curved a fraction. "That part was clear."
"Good. I enjoy being included in discussions about my own level of impossible."
Liam looked at me then, not Edward. "What are you?"
"That depends on which part of me you are asking about."
"That is not an answer."
"It is the most honest one."
Maggie's attention sharpened.
I sighed. "I am alive. My heart beats. I eat, sleep, breathe, bleed, complain. I am not just a vampire."
Siobhan's eyes remained on me. "But there is vampire in your scent."
"Yes."
"And animal," Liam said.
"Also yes."
His expression hardened. "A werewolf? A Child of the Moon?"
The room changed.
Not much.
Enough.
"No," I said.
His eyes narrowed. "But you change."
"Yes."
"At the moon? Into a wolf?"
"No. And no."
Siobhan's gaze sharpened. "Then into what?"
"A tiger, at will."
For one second, no one spoke.
Then Liam looked at Edward. "That is supposed to make this clearer?"
"No," I said. "It usually makes things worse."
Maggie studied me. "You are not joking."
"I almost wish I were."
Siobhan looked back at me. "You are saying there are tiger shifters?"
"I am saying there is me." I did not want to implicate the tribes in Nepal if things went badly.
Edward added, "As far as we know, Thomas is not part of any line known to vampires."
"That is not reassuring," Liam said.
"I have noticed."
Liam's gaze moved past me, toward the house. "Is this why the Volturi are coming?"
There it was.
The wrong answer.
A reasonable one, which made it more dangerous.
Edward did not answer too quickly.
"No," he said at last. "But Aro knows Thomas exists. He knows Thomas can shift."
Siobhan's expression cooled. "Into a tiger."
"Yes."
Maggie looked from Edward to me. "You are telling the truth."
"Yes," Edward said. "Aro saw enough in Volterra to know Thomas is real. He does not know enough to understand what Thomas is."
Liam's mouth tightened. "That may be worse."
"It is," I said.
Siobhan's eyes stayed on me. "If the Volturi already know of you, then why are you still alive?"
It was a fair question.
"Because last time, they wanted Edward and Bella more," I said. "And because Aro prefers collecting interesting things before breaking them."
Edward's face went still.
He did not correct me.
That was answer enough.
Siobhan's expression changed, not softening exactly, but settling into something more thoughtful. "So this is not only about one accusation."
"No," Edward said. "It is about the Volturi deciding that what they do not control should not exist."
That landed.
I saw it in Maggie first.
Not fear.
Recognition. Realization.
Siobhan looked at me again. "And you are proof?"
"I am proof that everyone's day can get worse without warning, just because the Volturi want it to."
Liam stared at me.
Siobhan's mouth moved, closer to a real smile this time.
Edward ignored me, which was rude but probably deserved.
"Thomas is only the first thing in this house that will not match what you expect," he said. "He is not the last."
The smile left Siobhan's face.
Liam's attention shifted toward the closed sitting room door, and he made a step toward it.
Edward's voice hardened. "No. Not yet."
That got their attention.
Not because he raised his voice.
Because he did not.
"Before you see anything else," Edward said, "you need to listen."
Siobhan studied him for a long moment.
Then her head turned toward the closed sitting room door.
Maggie followed.
Liam did last.
For a moment, the room held still.
Their faces changed.
Three small heartbeats came through the wall.
Renesmee's was the fastest. Harry's and Nancy's were close together, not identical, but close enough that I knew them as easily as my own.
Leah's heartbeat was there too, steady and angry.
Bella had none.
The Irish heard all of it.
Edward let them listen.
Then he said, "Breathe."
Siobhan inhaled.
Maggie did too.
Liam waited one second longer, then followed.
Their faces shifted again.
Blood.
Warmth.
Life.
Not human.
Not vampire.
Not simple.
But alive.
Maggie looked toward the closed door.
"What is that?"
The question was quiet.
Not frightened.
Not yet.
Confused.
Edward did not answer immediately.
Good.
The silence made them keep listening.
Maggie's brow tightened. "They are alive."
"Yes," Edward said.
"They are changing."
"Yes."
Her eyes moved back to him.
"How many?"
"Three."
Siobhan's expression tightened. "Three what?"
Edward looked at the closed door.
Then back at them.
"Come see."
I moved first.
Not toward the Irish.
Toward the sitting room door.
Nancy had asked me to stay outside it.
I had promised.
So I stopped beside it and put my hand flat against the wood before I opened it.
"Ready?" I asked quietly.
There was a pause.
Then Leah answered, "No."
That was honest.
Bella said, "Yes."
That was necessary.
Both were true.
I opened the door.
Bella stood just inside the room with Renesmee beside her. Leah was a few feet away with Harry and Nancy close enough to touch her without reaching. Harry had one hand hooked into the hem of Leah's shirt. Nancy had both of hers wrapped in the fabric at Leah's side.
Renesmee stood straighter when the door opened.
Harry leaned back a little.
Nancy hid half her face against Leah.
No one told her not to.
The Irish did not move.
For one second, all they did was look.
That was the dangerous part.
I could feel it in my teeth.
Then Maggie whispered, "Oh."
Not horror.
Something closer to grief.
Siobhan's eyes went from Renesmee to Harry to Nancy, then back again. Liam's jaw tightened so hard I heard it.
Bella's hand settled on Renesmee's shoulder.
Leah's eyes stayed on the Irish.
"You heard them," she said.
Her voice was calm.
It was also a warning.
Maggie nodded slowly. "Yes."
"You smelled them."
"Yes."
Leah's hand moved over Nancy's hair. "Then remember that before you decide what you are seeing."
Siobhan looked at Leah then.
Really looked.
I saw the moment she placed the heartbeat, the warmth, the scent, the threat, and the children standing against her legs.
"You are their mother," Siobhan said.
Leah's expression did not change. "Yes."
Harry frowned. "She is Mom. Edythe is Mom too."
Leah glanced down at him.
For one second, something moved across her face that was not warning or anger.
It was softer than that.
"Yes," she said. "Edythe is Mom too."
Harry nodded, satisfied.
Nancy did not move.
Maggie's gaze softened slightly when she saw her.
That helped.
A little.
Liam looked at Edward. "What are they?"
Edward did not answer.
He looked at Bella.
Bella's chin lifted. "Renesmee is my daughter."
Siobhan's gaze snapped back to her.
Bella did not flinch. "Edward's and mine."
The silence after that felt sharp.
Liam's eyes moved to Renesmee again.
Then to Edward.
Then Bella.
"That is impossible," he said.
"I carried her while I was still human," Bella said.
That changed the silence.
Siobhan stared at her.
Maggie's attention sharpened.
Bella's hand settled more firmly on Renesmee's shoulder. "She was born. She grows. She learns. She sleeps. She eats. She has a heartbeat."
Renesmee looked up at her. "I do not sleep very much."
Bella's mouth tightened like she was holding back several feelings at once. "You sleep enough for the point."
Renesmee considered that.
Then nodded.
Maggie watched Bella for a moment.
Then she looked at Siobhan. "She is telling the truth."
Siobhan's posture shifted.
Liam's did too.
Not relaxed.
But different.
Maggie turned to Edward.
"So is he."
Her gaze moved to me.
I did not know why truth had to keep making eye contact with everyone, but apparently it did.
"They are not lying," Maggie said.
No one spoke for a second.
The words did not make the impossible easier.
They only took away the option of calling it false.
Maggie looked at Harry and Nancy next. "And these two?"
Harry pressed closer to Leah.
Nancy disappeared another inch behind her.
Leah's hand stayed on Nancy's head. "They were born to me and Thomas."
Liam looked at me.
Then Leah.
Then me again.
I could see him trying to make that fit beside everything he had already learned and failing.
I sympathized.
I had lived through it and still had days like that.
Maggie looked from Leah to Harry and Nancy, then back to Siobhan.
"Them too," she said softly.
The words did not make the impossible easier.
They only removed the option of calling it false.
Harry pressed closer to Leah. Nancy stayed half hidden, watching Maggie from behind the safety of Leah's shirt.
Maggie noticed and did not move closer.
Good.
She was learning.
"I will not touch them," Maggie said.
"You will not," Leah agreed.
Harry looked up at Leah, then at Maggie. "She can't?"
"No," Leah said. "Not unless you say yes."
Harry thought about that and nodded. Nancy did not move, but her hands loosened slightly in Leah's shirt.
Renesmee looked at Maggie, then at Bella.
Bella bent toward her. "Only if you want to. And only if she chooses."
Renesmee nodded solemnly.
She stepped forward one small pace and held out her hand.
Palm up.
Waiting.
Maggie looked at that small open hand for a long moment. Then she stepped forward and touched Renesmee's palm.
Her eyes closed.
Renesmee's face went serious in the way it did when she was trying very hard to be understood.
I did not know what she showed Maggie. I could guess pieces.
Bella's face above her. Edward's hands. The house. Running in the trees. Jacob laughing. Carlisle measuring her growth. Esme brushing her hair.
Maybe fear too.
Maybe Irina across the river.
Maybe the way adults went quiet when they thought children were not listening.
Maggie's mouth trembled once.
Only once.
When she opened her eyes, confusion had left her face.
Anger had taken its place.
"She was born," Maggie said.
"Yes," Bella said.
"She grows. She remembers. She loves you."
Bella's eyes changed. "Yes."
Maggie released Renesmee's hand and looked at Siobhan. "She is not what they will say."
Siobhan's gaze stayed on Renesmee, then moved to Harry and Nancy. "No. None of them are."
Liam's mouth tightened. "The Volturi will not care if the accusation is useful."
"No," Edward said. "That is why Carlisle asked you to come."
Siobhan turned to him.
Edward looked toward the children before continuing. His voice stayed controlled, but there was nothing cold in it.
"One moment of seeing them will not be enough. Aro can dismiss a single explanation. He can claim fear confused us, loyalty blinded us, or that we prepared a lie before you arrived."
Maggie's expression hardened. "He would."
"Yes," Edward said. "But if you stay, if you hear their hearts day after day, if you smell the change in them, if you watch them eat, sleep, learn, get tired, argue, ask questions, and grow even in the short time before the Volturi arrive, then you will not be repeating our claim. You will be speaking from your own knowledge."
Siobhan looked back at the children.
Not quickly this time.
Not as if she was searching for danger.
As if she was counting proof.
"They need witnesses to their growth," she said.
"Yes," Edward answered. "The Volturi will come prepared to name them a crime. We need witnesses who can stand there and say they have watched them live."
The room went quiet.
Harry looked down at himself, then up at Leah. "Can they see growing?"
Leah's mouth tightened. "Not like watching grass."
"Oh."
"You do grow fast, though."
Harry seemed to consider that. "My sleeves got short."
Nancy peeked out a little farther. "Mine too."
Maggie looked at them both, and something in her expression softened without turning into pity.
That mattered.
Pity would have gone badly.
Siobhan saw it too.
Her decision settled into her face before she spoke. "We will stay."
Liam looked at her, then at the children again. Whatever objection he had, he swallowed it.
Maggie nodded once. "We will witness."
The words were simple.
The room changed anyway.
Not enough to make us safe.
Enough to make us less alone.
Harry tugged lightly on Leah's shirt. "Do they need anything?"
Leah looked down at him. "No."
Nancy peeked out just enough to look at Maggie. "They do not even need hugs?"
Maggie went still. Siobhan's mouth softened, and even Liam's expression shifted before he controlled it again.
Leah's hand rested over Nancy's hair. "Not unless they ask for one."
Nancy thought about that very seriously. "Because touching is choosing?"
Renesmee nodded before anyone else could answer. "Yes."
Nancy accepted that, then looked at the Irish again. "What about blankets? If they are staying?"
"No," Leah said. "Vampires do not need blankets."
Harry looked relieved. "Good. I did not know if we had enough."
Renesmee made a small sound and covered her mouth with both hands.
Jacob laughed from outside.
Loudly.
"Best behavior!" Leah snapped toward the wall.
"I am outside!" Jacob called back.
"That is not a defense!"
"It should be!"
For one thin moment, the room felt less like a trial.
Then Edward's head turned.
The humor left him immediately.
I knew that look.
Someone else was coming.
Bella noticed. "Edward?"
He did not answer right away.
Jacob appeared outside the back window, already staring toward the trees.
Leah drew Harry and Nancy closer. Bella's hand moved over Renesmee's shoulder.
Siobhan stepped slightly aside, placing herself between the children and the front door without making it obvious enough to frighten them.
That small movement mattered.
Edward listened for half a second longer.
Then he looked at me.
Not Bella.
Me.
His expression was too still.
"What?" I asked.
His voice came out low.
"The Denali coven is here."