(Mike)
I had known about Jane's gift long before tonight.
Everyone did. Stories about the Volturi always circled back to her, to the way she could break even the strongest vampire with nothing more than a look. I had prepared myself for pain.
But this wasn't just pain.
It was like every nerve in my body had been peeled raw and set on fire at the same time. There was no single point to focus on, no place to grit my teeth and endure. It was everywhere, inside and out, flooding my muscles, my bones, my thoughts. I couldn't even scream properly, the sound ripping out of me in broken snarls as my body convulsed against the ground.
Thinking became almost impossible.
Almost.
Somewhere through the agony, something shifted. The rage that had been burning white-hot inside me, the blind fury that had sent me charging at the Volturi without a plan, began to crack and scatter under the sheer weight of the pain. Jane wasn't just hurting my body. She was forcing my mind into brutal clarity.
And in that clarity, I understood something important.
If I couldn't use my body… then I didn't need it.
The realization was sharp, sudden, and absolute.
I let go and the pain vanished instantly.
One moment I was trapped inside screaming flesh, and the next I was free, my awareness snapping loose like a chain finally breaking. My spirit surged upward, leaving my wolf body twitching uselessly on the ground beneath Jane's merciless stare.
The world expanded.
I felt the sky before I saw it. Moisture. Pressure. Heat differentials folding in on themselves as I reached outward, calling and pulling. Clouds began to gather in response, rolling in fast and unnaturally dense, stacking atop one another until the sky vanished completely.
Below, the clearing was chaos.
Leah was trying to push herself upright, teeth clenched, legs shaking violently beneath her. Tanya had one arm around her, bracing her, whispering something I couldn't hear but felt in the way Leah leaned into her support. The Cullens and Denali had shifted subtly, instinctively, retreating just a few steps as the air pressure dropped and the first low rumble of thunder echoed overhead.
They knew what was coming.
The Volturi noticed the movement immediately.
Jane frowned, confusion flickering across her perfect porcelain features as she glanced upward, then back down at my wolf body still writhing in the dirt.
"Kill it," she said suddenly, her voice sharp and impatient.
Felix and Demetri moved at once.
They advanced confidently, predatory smiles already forming as they closed in on my helpless body. Jane never once lifted her gaze from it, her power still crushing my nerves, keeping my wolf pinned and shaking.
They never looked up.
The cloud directly above the clearing had turned nearly black, thick and roiling, veins of unnatural purple light crawling through its depths like living things. The air hummed, charged so heavily it made even the vampires uneasy when they finally noticed.
Felix was the first to sense something was wrong.
He glanced skyward just as the lightning fell.
It wasn't white.
It was gold and violet, twisted together into a blinding column thicker than a bear's torso. It struck with a soundless flash, the thunder coming afterward like the sky itself splitting open.
Felix didn't even have time to react.
He was simply gone.
Disintegrated in an instant, his body reduced to ash and fragments scattered violently outward. The shockwave slammed into Demetri, sending him flying across the clearing in a violent tumble, his right arm torn away entirely at the shoulder.
Jane gasped.
The sound was small, involuntary.
Her concentration shattered, stopping her power for a moment.
My wolf body surged back to life immediately.
The instant Jane's power released it, my wolf moved on pure instinct. It was on its feet and airborne in a heartbeat, launching itself straight at Alec before he could even process what had happened.
My jaws closed around his neck.
There was no struggle.
No scream.
It tore him apart and didn't stop until there was nothing left that could move, its fury burning clean and focused now, stripped of hesitation.
Above it all, I kept the storm alive.
Another bolt tore down from the sky, slamming into Demetri before he could recover, obliterating him in a violent burst of fire and light.
Silence followed.
Jane stood alone.
For the first time, real fear flickered across her face.
She stared at the ashes around her, at the clearing where her companions had been moments before. Then her gaze snapped back to my wolf, her eyes hardening as she reached for her power again.
Agony ripped through my wolf's body once more.
It hit the ground hard, muscles seizing, snarl breaking into a pained whine as its limbs betrayed it again. Jane didn't waste time savoring it this time. She knew better now.
She turned and ran straight toward the Cullens.
I saw her intention instantly and swore.
I sent another bolt after her, but she twisted at the last second, barely escaping death. The lightning struck too close to my allies. So I couldn't risk another.
And then something happened that I hadn't expected at all.
Carlisle moved.
He was suddenly there, faster than even Jane had anticipated. Calm, precise, terrible in his resolve. He caught her mid-stride and twisted, his hands gripping her head firmly.
There was a sharp crack, and Jane's body crumpled to the ground, her head torn cleanly free, her expression frozen in shocked disbelief as the light faded from her eyes.
The clearing went completely still.
Carlisle straightened slowly, holding Jane's head in his hands, his face grave but resolute.
"It's done," he said quietly. "The only way to protect ourselves now is to erase all traces."
No one argued.
"The Volturi have lost their tracker," he continued. "That will buy us time. But one day… they will learn what happened here. And they will come for us."
I released the storm.
The clouds began to thin, dispersing as the unnatural pressure lifted. Rain fell briefly, washing ash and blood from the clearing before fading into mist.
I returned to my body.
The pain came rushing back immediately, duller now but still brutal, my nerves screaming as if they'd been scorched. My legs shook violently as I forced myself upright, breath coming in harsh, uneven pulls.
I made my way to my stash of clothes behind a tree and shifted, pulling on my clothes with trembling hands.
The first thing I did when I came back was wrap my arms around Leah.
She froze for half a second, then buried her face against my chest, gripping my shirt tightly. I held her like she might vanish if I let go.
Then I looked at Carlisle, who still held Jane's head.
"Are you sure?" I asked quietly.
He met my eyes without hesitation. "What choice did I have? They threatened our friends."
Something warm settled in my chest at that.
"Thank you," I said, meaning every word.
Rosalie broke the tension with a snort. "Well, let's burn the bitch already."
Everyone turned to look at her.
"What?" she said defensively. "I've never liked her. And Carlisle's right. We need to hide the evidence."
Emmett barked out a laugh, loud and sudden, and to my surprise, the others chuckled too. Not just because it was funny.
But because they were alive despite everything that happened.
And for now, that was enough.
…