Reluctant Mate 7

“So how exactly did you get involved with vampires?”Athenodora asked Bella. The pair plus Didyme, Rosalie, Victoria and Sulpicia were in the castle’s kitchen. Athenodora had taken a seat next to Bella at the table with Didyme on the other side of her and Victoria across from her. Rosalie was teaching Sulpicia how to make human food. Athenodora herself was planning on doing some research on human food later because she knew certain ones were aphrodisiacs. Not that she would need to help getting the human aroused but the food could be used to set the mood while fulfilling Bella’s human needs. That meant they wouldn’t have to waste time better spend seducing her little mate.

“I actually wasn’t the one who got involved with vampires. They got involved with me.”Bella said.

“What do you mean?”Didyme asked as she scooted her chair closer to Bella’s and took the girl’s hand in her own.

Bella held back a shiver when she felt Didyme’s thumb rub the back of her hand.”I had met Edward in class and he had a horrible reaction to me.”

“We think that Bella is Edward’s singer because of how he described his reaction to Bella’s blood. He actually went to stay with the Denali for a week to gain control of himself. They tried to get him to stay away from Bella but Edward was adamant that he would be fine.”Rosalie explained.

“I can confirm that she is his singer. I saw it when I used my gift on him.”Sulpicia carefully flipped the sandwich over with a spatula pleased when it stayed together.

“Well when Edward came back after he went to Alaska he spent that first class back bugging me with dozens of questions. At first I was polite but by the end of class I had gotten to my breaking point and told him to leave me alone. He didn’t like that and growled at me. I knew right then that Edward was not safe to be around. I took my concerns to the school office and they changed my classes around so I was no longer in that class with him.”Bella had been grateful that the secretary had taken her concerns seriously.

“He is going to be pay for growling at you.”Athenodora was going to make Edward’s death extra painful for making Bella feel unsafe.

“I have no doubt.”Bella knew that based on how the queens were acting that Edward would be begging for death by the time they were done with him.

“So after you changed classes what happened?”Didyme asked getting back to the story.

“The next day at lunch Alice sat down at my lunch table. She started talking to me like we were old friends which weirded me out because she knew personal information about me. I tried to ignore her but she would cut off my friends every time one of them would say something. After that lunch period I had class with Emmet who was overenthusiastic in his attempt to be my friend. I wasn’t interested in getting to know either him nor Alice because they constantly bought up how wonderful Edward was and what a good match he would be for me. They weren’t even being subtle about it.”Bella told them.

“Was Carlisle forcing Emmet to do that through the sire command?”From what Athenodora had heard Emmet was a decent vampire.

“Carlisle isn’t Emmet’s sire. I am.”Rosalie had done it because Emmet would have never made it to Carlisle in time.

“I thought Carlisle sired you, Edward, Esme, Emmet and his mate.”Didyme was sure that was what she was told.

“Carlisle wants everyone to think that he has control of Emmet’s strength so he can be seen as some great powerful coven leader.”Rosalie didn’t care that people thought that Carlisle sired Emmet.

“Idiot.”Sulpicia was unsurprised that Carlisle lied about being Emmett’s sire. The man always thought himself more important than he was.”What happened after you dealt with Emmett, Bella?”

“I didn’t have any other Cullens in my classes so I finished my day and went home. I wasn’t even home for 5 minutes when there was a knock on the door. When I opened it Edward was standing on the other side holding a huge bouquet of roses.”Bella told her.

“Which was stupid because if the moron had actually done his homework he would have known that Bella has a very severe allergy to flowers and pollen. One that has hospitalized her before.”Victoria always thought it was stupid of Edward to not look into Bella’s medical history if he was of the belief that she was his mate. The fact that he didn’t was just more proof he wasn’t.

“I will remember that.”Didyme wasn’t happy to hear that because she wanted to share her gardens with Bella. At least after she was a vampire Bella’s allergy would go away.”Did you have a reaction to the roses?”

Bella nodded.”I began sneezing and wheezing badly and not knowing what else to do I slammed the door in Edward’s face. He became concerned and broke down the door to get to me not even checking if the door was unlocked. Which it was. That is also how I found out that Edward and the Cullens were vampires.”

“How did him breaking down the door lead to you learning about vampires?”Athenodora asked.

“When he came into the house he dropped the flowers outside. After using my inhaler I calmed down enough that I was able to confront Edward about being at my house and breaking down my door. He went into this long winded speech about being a vampire and how he always thought he was soulless monster but once he met me he knew that he was favored by god for making me his mate. When I asked what he was talking about he explained what mates are. I knew I wasn’t his right away.”Bella didn’t even consider it for a second.

“Of course you aren’t.”Didyme said.”Did you tell him how you felt?”

“I did and it pissed him off royally. He made a move to what I’m sure was to hurt me but Rosalie showed up and restrained him.”Bella was still extremely thankful that Rosalie had saved her.

“I had been in my garage when I heard Alice scream. I immediately rushed into the house to find Alice explaining she had a vision of Edward killing Bella. The others said we shouldn’t worry because a vampire could never hurt their mate but I knew Bella was not Edward’s mate so I ignored them and ran as fast as I could to Bella’s house. When I grabbed him Edward tried fighting me and after wrecking Bella’s living room I took his legs. I made sure Bella was ok and promised her I would be back to take care of the mess then grabbed Edward and his limbs and took him home.”Rosalie had remembered how panicked she felt when she got to Bella house and had seen Edward making a move on the human.

“The boy has many times thought of hurting Bella not only because of her blood but because he believes it’s a man’s right to hit a woman if he wants to.”Sulpicia figured he got his caveman views from Carlisle.

“Myself, Rosalie and the Denali have stopped Edward from hurting Bella numerous times.”Victoria had taken on the role as Bella’s protector the first time she met the human. Initially it was because Rosalie cared about Bella so much then after getting to know Bella it was because Victoria cared about Bella so much.

“Well you no longer have to worry about him.”Sulpicia said.”Is it done?”

Rosalie looked the grilled cheese over.”It’s done.”

“Bella your lunch is ready.”Sulpicia put the plate with two sandwiches on it in front of Bella and took a seat on Athenodora’s lap so she would be close to the girl.

“Thank you.”Bella was very aware of Sulpicia’s eyes on her when she took a bite.”It’s really good.”

“I made that one by myself.”Sulpicia was pleased that she had successfully provided for her mate.

“What happened when you brought Edward back to your house?”Athenodora asked Rosalie. She was enjoying watching Bella eat. Especially when Bella would lick her lips to catch any crumbs.

“Everyone was pissed that I interfered. Carlisle went as far as taking away from driving privileges. I was also told it was my job to fix the damage to Bella’s house and while I was there to explain to Bella that she was Edward’s mate. The wanted me to do it because Bella hadn’t seemed comfortable with Alice or Emmet and they thought that hearing it come from a woman would make Bella believe it. I was already going to take care of the damage but I had no intention of supporting the false mate bond.”Rosalie would never support a false mate bond.

Didyme took the napkin off the table and used it to wipe some crumbs from Bella’s cheek. She smiled when Bella blushed.“Did Carlisle use the sire bond on you to make you do it?”

“For some reason he didn’t. I did go over to Bella’s house and cleaned up the mess. I then took her shopping so we could replace the furniture that broke. While we were doing that we talked about everything and I told her outright that she was not Edward’s mate. It wasn’t because she was human she didn’t feel the bond it was because there was no bond to feel. Bella didn’t believe it anyway so I didn’t have to do much to convince her.”Rosalie told them.

“Even though dealing with Edward was horrible I did have a good time with Rosalie.”Bella said.

“How did the Denali get involved?”Sulpicia had seen it from Edward’s point of view but wanted to hear the real story.

“After the incident with Edward things started escalating. The Cullens changed all their classes around so I had one of them in each class. Even Jasper and Alice who were a year ahead of me. They were constantly bugging about spending time with Edward and meeting Carlisle. I ignored them the best I could. Carlisle however didn’t like that he was being ignored and showed up at my house. I declined to invite him in and that pissed him off even more but he tried to hide it. He then gave this long drawn out invitation to come to dinner at his home and how nice it would be to spend time with a new family member. I politely told him I wasn’t a member of his family and I had no interest in having dinner with them. I then shut the door in his face.”Bella smiled when the queens laughed.

“I bet that made him even more pissed.”Athenodora wished she could have seen Carlisle’s face when a human of all things slammed the door on him.

“Oh he was beyond pissed. When he came home he began ranting about how Bella needed to be taught manors and respect and once he sired her she would never to tell him no again. That’s when I knew that something needed to happen to save Bella from them. I had never seen Carlisle that angry and I knew that he was likely going to change Bella against her will.”Rosalie told them.

“Why didn’t Carlisle report Bella to us?”Sulpicia asked.

“The same reason the Denali didn’t do it. He was afraid of you finding out about Bella’s gift. Although he wanted her gift for nefarious purposes when the most the Denali wanted Bella’s gift for was to go to the beach.”Rosalie said.

“Somewhere I have taken all of them individually.”Bella didn’t mind taking her family places.”I remember the first time I discovered I could do it.”

Rosalie smiled at the memory.”I’m keeping that car forever.”

“What happened?”Didyme wanted to know about what could make Bella smile as brightly as she was.

“We were at my house in the back yard enjoying the nice weather. I had never been around any of the Cullens when it was sunny out but knew that they sparkled. We were sitting under a tree and I asked Rosalie if she would show. When she walked into the sun nothing happened. I got angry thinking that she had lied and was making fun of me for believing it. It wasn’t until she moved further away from me did we realize what had happened.”Bella explained.

“We then tested how far away I could get and discovered that if a vampire stayed within 10 ft of Bella they don’t sparkle. Once we figured it out Bella asked me what I would do if I had the chance to be the sun again. I told her I would love to drive a convertible with the top down. When she said let’s go rent a convertible it clicked in my head I could actually fulfill my dream so I grabbed Bella and the pair of us drove to Seattle, stopped at a BMW dealership and bought a red convertible. Then we spent the rest of the day until the sun went down driving around with the top down.”That was one of the greatest days of Rosalie’s life.

“It was a lot of fun.”Bella had a great time riding with Rosalie listening to the radio cruising around without a care in the world.

“I didn’t even think about driving in a convertible.”Athenodora was already mid fantasy of having Bella go down on her while she drove with the top down where anyone paying attention could see.

“Unfortunately it was also finding out about Bella being vampire sun block that made Carlisle so keen to change her as soon as possible. He was using the mate bond as an excuse to break the law but I fully believe he knows it’s false and is just humoring Edward. I don’t know what Alice, Jasper, Emmett, his mate and Esme’s game is but they have been pushing the narrative this whole time. I do know that Alice fully believes it because Jasper confirmed Edward’s feelings but I don’t trust Jasper or his motives.”Rosalie didn’t trust any of the Cullens and had only stayed with them because of the sire bond. Once Bella broke it she happily took her place with the Denali like she had always wanted.

“I did not read Alice but I should have.”Sulpicia was kicking herself for being so distracted with Bella she didn’t get the information from the seer.

“When did the Denali interfere?”Didyme asked.

“After Carlisle came home that day from Bella’s house I knew she wasn’t safe. I also, no offense didn’t want you three knowing about Bella. Something I am kicking myself for not bringing her to you sooner.”Rosalie regretted not helping Bella find her mates sooner.

“We understand.”Athenodora completely understood why Rosalie and the Denali didn’t report Bella like they were supposed to. Rosalie only knew about them from the Cullens and the Denali so she wouldn’t have trusted them. The Denali had bad history with their sire and Carlisle wanted to keep Bella for himself.

“Anyway so knowing that I needed help to keep Bella safe I contacted Tanya and explained the whole situation to her. She was appalled that Carlisle would treat anyone even if they were human that way and unsurprised that the coven was supporting Edward in a false mate bond. She pledged to me her support and after hanging up with her I went to Bella’s and waited until the entire coven showed up.”Rosalie told her.

“How did they react to you?”Sulpicia asked Bella.

“I could tell they hadn’t been around humans much but they tried to make me comfortable which I found endearing. When they got to my house we all talked for a while and Tanya asked me if I would like to be an official member of the Denali Coven. I agreed knowing that I was going to have to change or be killed. I thought the Denali were a better to coven to be attached to than one that was trying to force a false mate bond.”Bella was all too happy to join the Denali knowing if she didn’t she would be stuck with the Cullens.

“They were very taken with Bella and Irina adopted her before Bella even said a word. Kate and Tanya told us they felt the same way. That they were drawn to Bella like she was their own child. I myself wonder if they a familiar bond but none of us has ever encountered anyone who has one to find out what it’s like.”Rosalie was hoping that they would find out when sisters came to the castle.

“I think of them as my mothers. Even if there isn’t a bond I will continue to.”Bella had accepted Irina, Tanya and Kate as her parents quite easily. They were a heck of a lot better than her biological mother and father.

“We will find out when they come here.”Sulpicia hoped they didn’t have the bond because it would cause problems when it was decided where Bella would live.”Did the Denali confront the Cullens after they met Bella?”

“Yes after they met Bella all of us the sisters, myself, Bella, Eleazar and Carmen all went to the Cullen’s house to confront them. Carlisle tried to bluster and claimed that the false mate bond but also tried to claim ownership over Bella. That pissed the sisters off and they in return challenged that claim going as far as having Bella tell Carlisle that she was a member of the Denali. Once she said that Carlisle gave the order for the Cullens to kill the Denali. It was a rather laughable attempt and the Denali had them in pieces in a few minutes. After the fight was over was when we found out that Bella broke my sire bond because Carlisle was yelling about it being impossible for me to fight off his commands.”Rosalie told them.

“Your gift is truly magnificent.”Sulpicia was already making plans to speak to Eleazar about staying in the castle when Bella was turned. That way he could tell them the extent of Bella’s gift once she was a vampire.

“I already grand plans for many romantic getaways for us to go on.”Didyme said.

“Why would I go on romantic trips with you guys?”Bella thought it was weird the queen wanted her to go away with them.

Athenodora reached around Sulpicia, took Bella’s hand in her own then brought it to her lips and kissed Bella’s knuckles. She smiled when she heard Bella’s heart start to race.“Don’t you worry about that just yet.”

“Uh.”Bella stared at the queen dumbfounded.

Victoria chuckled at the look on Bella’s face.”I think you broke her.”

“Well then maybe some mouth to mouth recitation is needed.”Athenodora scooted Sulpicia off her lap took Bella’s face in her hands and kissed her softly on the lips. Pulling back she smirked at Bella’s dazed expression. She was very happy that she had gotten the first kiss like she had wanted. Now she just had to be the one who conquered Bella’s body.

“Are you ok darling?”Sulpicia asked in concern when Bella didn’t move.

“Bella come back to us.”Rosalie laughed when Bella looked at her in confusion. Based on Bella’s reaction to a chaste kiss the human was going to be in way over her head when the queens began to properly court her.

“What is going on?”Bella asked in frustration.

“Everything will be revealed when Tanya comes as this is a matter that needs to be discussed with your coven leader.”Sulpicia told her.

“In the mean time finish your sandwich and then we can finish the tour of the castle and you can tell us how Victoria came into the picture.”Didyme wanted to show Bella the queens’ wing of the castle to find out if she wanted to make any changes to it.

“Alright.”Bella was not happy that she wasn’t getting her questions answered but she wasn’t in the position to be able to make demands. They may have been nice to her or in Athenodora’s case forward with her but they still the queens and in charge of everyone. Including Bella in a round about way. Plus she had a coven leader who made decisions concerning what went on in Bella’s life. Not that Bella minded that Tanya made decisions as it was nice to have someone looking out for her. Even when Tanya was stopping her from doing fun stuff like riding a motorcycle it was nice to know she cared. Bella was starting to see that the queens cared as well. Why and in what regard is what confused Bella. They were mated they shouldn’t be cheating right in front of their mates. Bella thought that maybe they were interested in her because they wanted a human pet. That was why the Cullens wanted her. Well everyone but Carlisle, Jasper and Edward wanted a human pet. Carlisle wanted a weapon, Edward wanted a housewife and who knew what Jasper wanted. The man kept his motives to himself. Luckily Bella wouldn’t have to deal with them anymore because for some weird reason the queens had taken an interest in her and they seemed dead set on killing anyone who wronged her. Something Bella was more than ok with.