My Strength Chapter 21

Jacob spent the rest of the afternoon going over everything he knew about the Uley Pack. Leah and Seth added in what they felt both when prompted and unprompted, but since Jacob was the alpha, most of the talking was saved for him to do. Jacob explained how the wolves the trained, which there wasn’t much training in the first place as they mostly went off of instinct, and about all the stories he could remember that he had been forced to memorize growing up that explained how the previous pack fought. A lot of assumptions were being made about what the wolves could and couldn’t do. Sam wasn’t one to run drills for the whole the pack or to practice fighting off vampires, his focus was on running patrols.

Athenodora was happy to hear that as it would mean not only were the wolves young and easy to have their anger cloud their judgement, but that they were very much under trained when it came to fighting in general. She felt they would be an easy fight. All the information Jacob shared told a tale of hot headed teenagers that were given too much power with little supervision and no training with very high expectations from their elders. Athenodora almost felt sorry for them for how destroyed they would be in the coming fight.

Once Jacob had explained all he knew about the pack, which was a lot since his dad had been grooming him to take over as alpha, Athenodora wanted to call her mate and finalize some details with him. While she was more than capable of getting a battle plan together and even wining the fight with what fighters they had already, per her daughter’s request, she was going to wait for more to come so she could ensure no one would be killed.

The ones that had needed to eat were fed by Esme that was all too happy to provide more than enough food for everyone and then Jacob, Carlisle, Esme and Athenodora went to Carlisle’s office to discuss the three shifters temporarily moving in while the shifters were exiled from their homes. Heidi and Seth went back outside to talk more with each other without others intruding on their conversation. Kachiri and Senna decided to go find a place they could feed that wouldn’t draw any attention to the Cullen’s and not violate the treaty with the shifters that the Cullen’s still wanted to keep in line with even though war had been declared between the groups. Bella and her mates went back to Bella’s house. As much as Athenodora would have preferred to keep her daughter close, knowing Zafrina and Victoria would be with her eased her worries. It also helped that Bella had to go home because of her human father and to get some sleep.

Bella had greeted Charlie, had some basic conversation with him that let him know she was okay, and then went upstairs to get ready for bed. Bella was happy to be able to go to her house instead of having to stay with the Cullen’s or waiting for Athenodora to finish her talk before going home. She would be able to use this time to talk more with her mates and figure things out. There was a lot on her mind since she had met Zafrina, and now with Victoria in the mix, there were a lot of things that Bella wasn’t sure what to do about but she felt the two women would be able to help her figure things out.

Bella collapsed on her bed with an exaggerated sigh and flung her arms over her face as she allowed the stress from the last few hours fade from her body. Zafrina and Victoria were already in her room when she got there. She had been initially a bit hesitant on having Victoria over, but not only did she feel comfortable around her, but she wanted the redhead there. Especially with Zafrina there, she wasn’t concerned that something would happen to her, like Victoria decided to take Bella and run. Bella wasn’t concerned that Victoria would hurt her, in fact Bella felt very safe with Victoria but she felt like the redhead could make very brash decisions and not think through all her actions thoroughly enough.

“It’s been a long day.” Zafrina commented.

A sort of pride welled up inside of Bella. Compared to when Bella had first met Zafrina, the Amazon had started talking so much more. She was a ‘Chatty Cathy’ by any means but she was talking in full sentences and not using as many grunts as Bella swore she would talk with.

“Yeah, it has been.” Bella replied, not sure how to get the conversation started. She knew what she wanted to talk about, but was at a loss of how to start it. Never mind the fact that she was going to be going back to school tomorrow, her mind was running low on steam.

“Do you regret coming back?” Victoria asked, worried that her presence was upsetting her mate. She would gladly admit, only to herself and no one else, that her initial interactions between herself and her mate were not the best way to meet ones’ mate.

Bella took a moment to think about her response. She knew the answer; it was a resounding ‘no’. But she didn’t think that was all Victoria wanted, or needed, to hear. The redhead, while very sure of herself and confident, she felt there was an underlying layer of self-doubt. Bella was a teenager, she knew all about being self-conscious and second guessing everything she did and said.

“Not at all.” Bella answered after a few seconds of silence that had seemed to drag on for far too long. “I’m just worried about what’s going to happen at school and with the pack.”

“We will not lose.” Zafrina said from her spot of leaning in the corner of Bella’s room. Zafrina hadn’t seen any of the shifters in action but just based off of what was revealed earlier that afternoon, she wasn’t worried about their ability to win. The fight to come was likely to be the easiest one she had ever had in her life against another supernatural.

Bella moved her hands from covering her face to smile at Zafrina. The warrior sounded confident and while Bella was still worried someone would get hurt during the fight, she knew they wouldn’t lose either.

“I know.” Bella smiled, amused of her habitual response to Zafrina’s affirmations. “But I’m worried about what will happen to my friends that came here to help us and those that are stuck on the rez, forced to help Sam and even the rest of the pack that thinks they’re doing the right thing.”

Bella really was worried about them. She knew Athenodora, her mother, would do her best to make sure none of them were hurt, but they were going to be fighting and she knew it would be impossible to prevent any of the pack from getting hurt. She was also worried about what would happen with them and the elders. There was a lot of worrying and very little she could do. It didn’t help that she wasn’t part of the pack or the tribe and so couldn’t actually really do anything as technically, nothing affected her. But they were her friends. She was also worried about what would happen with Seth and Heidi.

“You won’t need to worry about that.” Victoria said, “Seth will likely go with Heidi back to Italy and be very well taken care of. And since Seth is mated to Heidi, chances are she will do everything he wants to make sure his family is taken care of. The Volturi very much take care of their own.”

Zafrina hadn’t stopped studying Bella since she had walked into the room and finally Zafrina figured out what she had been thinking over. She could tell her mate was worried, not about her vampires, but about the ones they were going to be fighting. At first, Zafrina couldn’t understand why her mate would be upset about the enemy. She understood the shifters were her mate’s friends and that after everything was over her mate would likely still want to be friends with everyone but the current alpha. Bella care too much for her own good.

“They will be fine.” Zafrina said from her corner, “Humans adapt and move forward.” She assured her mate. Whatever the fallout would be from this battle was not a worry for her mate, she shouldn’t stress about it like she was.

“I know that.” Bella said and she did. She knew all of that.

She was worried about what would happen after the fight, yes. But she was worried about what Heidi and Seth would do; what Leah would do. And more importantly, Bella was worried about what the Amazons would do. She was worried if the sisters would stick together and decide to continue living in the Amazon or would Zafrina leave her coven and join her in Italy? She was sure Victoria would follow her to Italy, she was a nomad after all and it was easy for nomads to move around. But Zafrina had been with her coven her entire vampire life and had been isolated for so long with just her sisters. What would she do?

“But what will you do?” Bella asked Zafrina with a worried look. While she was often frustrated with the short answers she got from the Amazon, those answers were actually starting to grow on her. She didn’t want to lose her Amazon. She also didn’t want to lose Senna and Kachiri either. She wanted to be selfish and keep everyone she had just gained. Would she be able to.

Zafrina was confused by the question. Had she and her sisters not made their intentions clear?

“I will protect you.” Zafrina affirmed once again. How could she protect her mate if she were not with her? How could her sisters protect their new sister if they were not with her? Why would Bella even be questioning their intentions after all the times Zafrina told her so?

“I know.” Bella said as she sat up and shook her head. Of course that was the answer she would get.

“I think,” Victoria interjected, very much aware that was the new one in the triad but she was definitely understanding Zafrina’s unsaid words much better than what Bella could. “She means that she and her sisters will continue to protect you, as they have been, no matter where you are. And I’m sure she means to go wherever you go and her sisters aren’t about to abandon her anytime soon.”

“You three will go with me?” Bella asked with a hopeful tone, “Back to Italy to live?” She clarified.

“We will win this battle and move with you.” Zafrina affirmed, still unsure of why her mate needed to be told everything again. “We are mates.”

Victoria could see Zafrina’s confusion that the stoic vampire was doing a very good, if albeit unconscious, job of hiding from their mate. She could also see Bella struggle to translate what exactly Zafrina meant and wasn’t saying. She could feel herself becoming a translator for the two of them between the two of them. She was sure in time, they would be able communicate better and more int the fashion of what the Amazon preferred: less words and more looks. But in the meantime, Victoria would be happy to help bridge the communication gap between everyone. Communication was definitely going to be very interesting when things started to heat up between the three of them. They were sure to have an interesting journey, that’s for sure.