Edward

“Emmett?”

Although some people might not consider Emmett a very good councilor for controlling rage, he was the one who understood me better. Carlisle was more righteous with self-control, of course, but he probably never felt the same horribly human emotions that attacked me at that moment.

Emmett bounded to my side a bit slower than usual. His eyes were narrowed.

“What?” I asked as he approached. By the expression on his face I’d say he was suspicious.

Emmett scrutinized me for a minute then shrugged and swung his huge form on top of the boulder.

“Nothing.” He said. “You just seem…not yourself.”

I drew in a long breath. “I guess that’s a conventional way to put it.” My eyes admired the thin wisps of cloud sailing across the navy blue sky. They were slightly lavender. The would’ve been beautiful if the atmosphere hadn’t been polluted by so much tension.

“I don’t know if I can handle confronting Jacob Black alone.” I confined. Alice had done good on her promise to inform Carlisle about the wolves and Victoria. Her horrid news was what had brought the rest of the Cullens back to Forks.

“Who’s Jacob Black?” Emmett said the name with mockery. He was already offended by the idea of me being afraid to confront anybody.

“Bella’s friend.” I said in the humblest manner I could.

“Oh. The werewolf.” Disgust flooded Emmett’s face.

“Why are you worried? Just let him know that he can’t get close to Bella or else we’ll be forced to break the treaty.”

“I’m afraid that’s not the only problem.” I explained to him, cautiously. Every time I thought about the truth I had to control my breathing.

“What are you talking about? Victoria?”

I shook my head.

“Then what is it, damn it?!”

I clamped my hand on his shoulder.

“Settle down. I’m the one who needs to control myself before I explode.”

“Fine.”

He wasn’t going to wait long.

“Jacob wanted to be more than friends with Bella.” I decided to keep it basic. My control wasn’t so perfect to absorb everything that Bella had told me and I was positive that I was couldn’t repeat the details without snapping a branch in half or hurdling a boulder off the hillside. “Bella just wanted to make him happy but he took advantage of the care she has for him.”