“They’ll be here in fifteen minutes,” said Alice.  “They’re getting edgy.  They sense – they sense the humans.”

This couldn’t be happening.  Not today.  A low growl burned in my throat.

“What do they want?” asked Carlisle.

“I can’t see everything,” said Alice, shaking her head.  “But I think” – she looked at Bella – “it’s more than assurances they’re after.”

Carlisle pressed his lips together.  “How many?”

Alice’s eyes scanned something visible only to her and she replied, “Eleven – no, twelve.”

Rosalie hissed slowly, and her eyes darted to Emmett’s.  He saw her, but he turned and kept talking to Ben; his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I can take Bella away,” I said, pulling her to me.  “We can try to use our plane tickets tonight.” My mind began to whir, spinning out every eventuality, the possible pitfalls and what I could do to avoid them.

“What plane tickets – ” began Bella.

“No!” hissed Alice. Her hands shook as she reached for my arm.  “Edward, they won’t be happy.  They’ll think you’re backing out of the agreement, trying to protect her.  If you do that, we’ll all be dead when you get back, I promise you.”  She and Bella shared a look.  “Time’s up,” she added softly.

Bella nodded, and the blood left her cheeks.  I felt rage simmering inside my chest.  She wasn’t some sacrificial lamb.  We’d planned this, planned exactly how to do it our way, and that should have been two weeks from now, after our honeymoon.

Esme caught sight of my face and said, prudently, “Perhaps we should step inside for a moment.”  The merest gesture of her hand, palm down, told Jasper and Emmett to wait here with the humans.

Safely inside, varying degrees of panic, fear, and anger settled onto our expressions. 

“There’s not much we can do,” Carlisle said.  If it has to happen tonight, he thought, looking at me, do you still –

I nodded, jaw clenched.  Bella had asked me to be the one, and I wouldn’t refuse her.

“I’m sorry,” said Bella, and anguish ravaged her features as she spoke.  “It’s my fault they’re coming.  We should have done this before – ”