Full Moon

Chapter 3

Nessie, sweet, innocent, beautiful, little Nessie. I could never help but marvel over the fact of her existence. Curled up as she was in the airport chair beside me. Long lashes brushing her pale cheeks, bronze curls framing a halo around her face. She clutched the only Christmas present she ever received from Edward. An mp3 player with over five thousand of his favorite songs inside. She had fallen asleep listening to Bella's lullaby.

Thinking of my best friend brought with it a swelling of rage and crushing grief. As soon as I had been able to I phoned Billy. Though it did mean breaking into someones house. Lucky for them they were on vacation. They wouldn't miss a few articles of clothing and some food that would go bad before they returned. I hoped at least.

Billy had been more than relieved to hear I was okay. Though surely someone had told him something. The pack had never tested how far our connection went, but I thought I would have heard something from them by now. Billy filled me in with as much as he knew. Many in our pack had been lost. Seth was hurt bad and Leah was MIA. Sam had taken an even bigger hit. Embry made it out but Paul and Jared and our youngest were lost.

Grief is a funny thing, it hits unexpectedly and can be debilitating. Or it can fuel a rage so powerful it'll drive you towards an end goal.

The Cullens were gone. Bella's shield had worked until Demetri got his hands on her. Without that intact it was easy pickings. Seth had watched them fall one after another. The only one he couldn't be positive of was Emmett. He had disappeared. Many of the Cullen witnesses had been destroyed as well. Some got away. The singular bright spot in all of this misery was that Billy could tell me Demetri was gone. With the Volturi tracker gone Nessie stood a better chance. She was my reason for living now. My sole purpose.

I couldn't tell her, I couldn't crush the hope in those chocolate brown eyes, the same color and shape Bella's had been. Let her sleep. Let her hope.

Rio was ahead of us. I would protect Renesmee Carlie Cullen with every breath I took. I wouldn't let those deaths mean nothing. She would live a full and long life if I had anything to say about it. A purpose welled within me pushing down the grief and the sadness, I would always live with the loss but I needed the strength to move past it. The strength to live with it as a part of me. But I couldn't tell Nessie. She was too fragile, she didn't have my strength inside her, but she did have it beside her. I would tell her when I think she can handle it. A small cowardly part of me was glad I could weasel my way out for a time at least. How could I break what fragile hope she clung to?