TRULY, I WAS NOT THIRSTY, BUT I DECIDED TO HUNT AGAIN THAT NIGHT. A small ounce of prevention, inadequate though I knew it to be.

Carlisle came with me. We hadn’t been alone together since I’d returned from Denali. As we ran through the black forest, I heard him thinking about that hasty goodbye last week.

In his memory, I saw the way my features had been twisted in fierce despair. I felt again his surprise and sudden worry.

“Edward?”

“I have to go, Carlisle. I have to go now.”

“What’s happened?”

“Nothing. Yet. But it will if I stay.”

He’d reached for my arm. I’d seen how it had...