My Strength Chapter 14

The vampires had wanted to talk more about what was to come and to contact the others in Italy to let them know of the latest development and to get reinforcements; but Bella had other ideas. Quite frankly, she was tired. It was practically almost time for her to get up… if she was going to school, but thankfully she wasn’t.

She opted to go to sleep, convinced that nothing was going to happen anytime soon. The Elders were notoriously slow in making decisions when it came to the pack and what they did. The Elders would talk and argue then get too tired to go on because they were old and then do the same thing again the next day. Bella remembered that was something the pack always complained about but couldn’t do anything because the elders were the ones that approved the funds to give the pack for food, living expenses and whatnot for their services in protecting their people. The pack had to keep the elders happy in order to keep getting paid.

Bella was sure it would probably take weeks, not days and much less hours, for the pack to do anything. They would likely want to train before attacking so many vampires. That’s not mention the whole treaty with the Cullen’s that they would have debate as well. They were probably concerned about the Cullen’s numbers, their gifts and if they could attack Bella’s vampires without agitating the Cullen’s or if the pack was cocky enough to think they could pick a fight with the Cullen’s and the Volturi. Bella knew Sam was cocky enough; he thought his pack was impervious. The elders though, they knew better and that was going to be Sam’s problem.

Athenodora, as much as she wanted to plan and plot and devise the wolf’s demise, she couldn’t keep her child awake any longer. Bella was human and while Athenodora hadn’t been a human in several millennium, she knew very well that humans needed an appropriate amount of sleep. Therefore, after Bella had insisted she wanted to sleep and they could talk after she woke up, she stopped trying to talk. Athenodora was a mother now, she needed to think about what her child needed not what she wanted.

That was harder than what Athenodora cared to admit.

As Bella laid down to sleep, thankfully allowing herself to sit in the chair by her computer and for Zafrina to lay stiff as a board next to her, Athenodora couldn’t help but think about the challenges Bella had brought to her life that she had never thought she would face. She was tempted to just call her husband and have him and several guards start to head over before Bella was even awake, but she wanted to her daughter to watch how Athenodora took care of this small crisis. She wanted this to be a learning experience for her daughter and for that to happen, Bella had to be awake. Which meant Athenodora had to wait.

That was another thing Bella was teaching Athenodora that she never thought she would be bothered with. Well, that was a lie; Athenodora couldn’t help but wonder at how much patience she seemed to effortlessly gain when it came to her daughter. Athenodora’s first instinct after the meeting was to just call her mate and be done with things, but one look from Bella after she asked for sleep, well several looks but still, and she easily caved and agreed to wait. Athenodora’s patience seemed to grow overnight when her daughter was involved; if she had been told that even just a decade ago, she’d never have believed it.

It was still frustrating that Athenodora had to sit and wait, but she would do it. Definitely not with a smile on her face, but she would. She would sit in her daughter’s room while she slept and not make any plans so that her daughter could watch Athenodora’s thought process and learn. She was determined to teach her daughter all she knew about warfare; it was her specialty and what she was known for after all. And as much as it pained her to wait; she would. Bella would learn how to survive from her, that was the best thing she could teach her daughter. And she would do it; even if that meant standing guard by her daughters’ bed as she slept because she didn’t trust the wolves not to do something stupid.

Athenodora would just suffer in silence as she listened to Demetri running circles around the property to make sure everything remained safe. Zafrina though, she was going through an entirely different type of torture outside of boredom.

Zafrina had originally thought she would just stay outside of Bella’s house to keep guard against any wolves that may show up in the night. She was determined to make sure her mate stayed safe with so many angry wolves around. She would be able to hold off her hunt until her mate was in school. But when Bella didn’t let go of her hand after she had hugged her goodnight and pulled her into bed, who was Zafrina to deny her mate’s wishes?

Bella hadn’t explained her reasoning beyond whispering that she was finally able to sleep with an ice block next to her. Zafrina didn’t understand it, but when Bella immediately fell asleep next to her and then while asleep gripped her tightly, Zafrina wasn’t sure if she should be happy about being cuddled by her mate or upset about being trapped by her mate.

Zafrina hadn’t been so close to someone in some time. She had of course had her fair share of bedmates in the past; although her previous bedmates were always dead before the end of the night. She had never bothered to leave her bedmates alive in the past. She didn’t know what it was to cuddle or to just lay next to each other. She had never done that before; she just took her pleasure and then killed the human.

But she couldn’t do either of those things now. She couldn’t even imagine ending the night without Bella breathing; doing what she used to do to end her night with her bedmates wasn’t an option or even a thought for her. But the former option, what she would do before she ended her night, well, she definitely wouldn’t turn Bella down if she offered. In fact, she had to fight her body from instigating anything as they laid and she slept.

Zafrina’s hands her itching to cradle her mate to her body, as her mate was doing to her. Oh, it would be so sweet would it be to pull her mate into her and feel their bodies so close together. But that would be too much temptation; even for someone with as much patience as Zafrina loved to claim she had. Zafrina already knew her inner beast wouldn’t be able to resist pushing things with her mate in hopes that her mate would wake up and take things further… and then she would remember that Athenodora was sitting in the corner, glaring out the window but definitely paying attention to every sound and move her daughter made.

That, even beyond what her mate’s possible reactions would be, was what made sure Zafrina didn’t move a muscle. She stayed positively still in the bed, not daring to move an inch case the warrior queen believed Zafrina was trying to do something untoward with her daughter. That was another conversation that Zafrina would prefer to wait until Zafrina actually did make a move on her mate. At least then Zafrina would suffer Athenodora’s wrath and actually have something to show for it.

Until that happened though, Zafrina would not cross any lines or boundaries, imaginary or not, until she was sure Bella was ready and willing… and when Athenodora was not just feet away from them.

So Zafrina would lay in silence as the night slowly phased into morning and morning slowly turned to afternoon. She was fortunate that when her mate’s father had woken up and had inched closer to the door, had decided at the last second not to, quietly muttering to himself that Bella must be tired from her trip. She was grateful because while she would have been able to easily and quickly move away from mate, regardless of how much she didn’t want to, it hadn’t looked Athenodora was the least bit interested in moving away from her spot of glaring out the window.

Bella stirred from the best sleep she had ever remembered having. She knew, once she had gotten used to the cold, sleeping next to Edward had been nice; but she was starting to think she enjoyed that because it meant she wasn’t alone, not so much having anything to do with Edward himself. But sleeping next to Zafrina was amazing. While Zafrina was as cold as Edward, she didn’t feel cold. She felt nice.

“We need to call home to update them on the meeting.” Athenodora said once she heard her daughter wake up, not bothering to turn away from the window.

“But there is no rush.” Zafrina murmured when Bella groaned as she stretched, moving closer to the Amazon at the same time. “Some humans need time to wake up.” Zafrina said, unsure if it was true or not but wanted her mate to know they weren’t going to rush her.

“Thank you.” Bella said while giving Zafrina a hug, “But I just need to take a shower and get dressed and then we can talk while I cook something for breakfast.”

Without giving them a chance to respond, though they easily could have since they could talk much faster than Bella could move, the human got off of Zafrina, grabbed her things to take a shower with and walked to the bathroom. She was moving as fast she could without tripping, so Bella didn’t realize she had a shadow until she went to shut the door… in Zafrina’s face.

“Um, I can take a shower by myself.” Bella said with just the barest of blushes starting to illuminate her face. Bella would never admit it out loud, but she was definitely thinking of what might happen if she would have let Zafrina in with her.

“I want to make sure nothing happens to you.” Zafrina said in her normal stoic voice but with a lot more words. Both Bella and Zafrina were actually a little proud of the Amazon for her new ability to use more words.

“This is the second floor, I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine.” Bella said with a skeptical look on her face. Bella knew that was a weak excuse Zafrina had and while it was endearing to Bella, she wasn’t about to let that give Zafrina a free pass to be in the bathroom while she showered; they technically hadn’t known each other that long after all.

“There may be a window.” Zafrina said, and while her words were questioning and unsure, her tone was anything but. Bella had to fight off cooing at the warrior because she knew that would embarrass Zafrina and the taller woman may hesitate to say anything similar for a while.

But Athenodora took Bella’s opportunity to respond from her by grabbing Zafrina by the shoulder and literally dragging the woman down the stairs. Zafrina was clearly not happy to be moved from her spot.

“I swear to god if I even get a hint of you trying to take advantage of my daughter I will tear you apart and hide your body all over the world.” Athenodora threatened with a growl, ignoring her daughter’s mumbled ‘gross’, “I don’t care if she is your mate or not, I don’t want to hear it and I especially don’t want to see it.”

Bella couldn’t stop the chuckle from her mouth as she closed the door, at least she didn’t have to worry about awkwardly letting Zafrina in the bathroom with her because she just looked so cute with her eyes begging to be let in. She could just barely make out Athenodora chastising Zafrina for attempting to use such a disgraceful excuse to get in the bathroom; Athenodora even admitted she was embarrassed for the Amazon.

Bella made sure to go as fast as she could so she could join the others and get their talk started. She wanted to talk not only about the wolves and the looming fight that was sure to happen, she wanted to talk about the Cullen’s as well. She was worried that, while their treaty was probably null and void as far as the wolves were concerned, the wolves would attack the Cullen’s while they were off guard and hurt one of them or worse. Bella wouldn’t be able to live with herself if that happened. While she was definitely still mad at the Cullen’s for leaving and for everything Edward had done, she was sure that the rest of the Cullen’s hadn’t thought Edward was lying.

Bella quickly shook her head of the thoughts of the Cullen’s, she was over them and dwelling on them would only make her thoughts spiral and she didn’t want that. She was actually enjoying her time with the Volturi and the Amazon’s and thinking about the Cullen’s would only ruin her mood. But the one thought she didn’t mind having was what her vampire mother would do when they finally meet up with the Cullen’s.

Bella went downstairs and found both vampires plus Heidi and Zafrina’s sister’s sitting in the kitchen. She didn’t pause her steps as she started to find the cereal and things she needed to eat the cereal with as Athenodora started to talk.

“We will call my mate, whom I’m sure is pouting either with his brothers or with the entire crown.” Athenodora said as she pulled out her phone, “We will explain what happened and see what he wishes to do; although we already know what he will want.”

“Should we call the Cullen’s afterwards?” Heidi asked as she casually leaned back against the chair she was sitting in; Heidi seemed more at home in Bella’s home than the human did. “We did kind of start a war on their land after all.”

Athenodora snorted before replying, “Honestly, I don’t want to call them. But Aro would bug me for a century if I didn’t and one of the Cullen’s, his precious friends, got hurt.” Athenodora said and then rolled his eyes, “He hasn’t even met most of the Cullen’s, only Carlisle and his mate.”

“I’ve always wondered if Aro has a bit of a crush on Carlisle.” Heidi wondered outloud as Bella finished getting her cereal put together.

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Athenodora said with a dry tone, as she truly wouldn’t be surprised if her brother did. Then again, Aro was fascinated with the oddities of the world and a self-proclaimed vegetarian vampire was certainly an oddity.

“Are we going to call the Cullen’s also to let them know what happened?” Bella asked as she sat down next to Zafrina, the warrior non-too subtly moving her chair closer to her mate.

“It is only fair.” Zafrina said with a nod of her head, wanting to call the Cullen’s simply because her mate did. Truthfully, it would be fair for them to call, only proper. She was proud that her mate wanted to do the right thing and a small part of her was looking forward to seeing her mate challenge the Volturi’s lack of morals in the future.

“Wouldn’t want to be a bad influence on your new child, would you, your majesty?” Heidi asked with no small amount of sarcasm and joy as she looked at her mistress. She rarely called them by that title, usually when she was teasing them and it always seemed to irk Athenodora the most, which only added to Heidi’s amusement.

Athenodora growled lowly at the guard, reigning in her temper to make sure she didn’t scare her daughter, “I’ll speak first to quickly tell them what happened in our speed then we’ll discuss what to do so you can hear Bella.”

Bella nodded her understanding as she kept eating, wanting to finish eating as soon as possible to make sure she joined the conversation.

The phone call was picked up quickly from what Bella could hear and within ten minutes, they finally moved onto what they were going to do. Thankfully, Zafrina had told her that they had taken so long because Caius and even Aro were threatening bringing the whole guard to Forks to kill the entire wolf pack which Athenodora had threatened castration if they did.

“We know they are not Children of the Moon, but they are still wolves, we know they will not do anything alone.” Athenodora said, everyone’s mood turning serious, Heidi even losing her smirk. Everyone, including Bella, sat up straighter to pay closer attention.

“But they may attack in small groups.” Caius said, the haughty tone was surprisingly out of his tone and he sounded very serious and invested in the conversation.

“Likely in groups of three or four, but no more than that if they want to be stealthy and no less than two for safety precautions.” Aro added, apparently they were all on the call now which made sense.

“I doubt it.” Bella scoffed with a fond shake of her head, “They aren’t really that skilled. They very well may go out alone or in groups of five.” She explained, saddened that she was giving information to help fight her friends. She didn’t like it, but she would do whatever she could to make sure Zafrina stayed safe. “I think they’ve only managed to kill one vampire.”

“Just the one?” Zafrina asked in a rough tone, not liking how she knew that answer.

“Exactly.” Bella replied; she was sure if there had been another vampire around, the wolves would have warned her not to go out alone or away from people for safety reasons. “And I’m pretty sure they only got Laurent because he was distracted by you three.”

“So they are unexperienced and young.” Sulpicia murmured, “That likely means they may act rashly and make foolish mistakes.”

“It would make them easy targets to take out if we attack in force.” Marcus dryly remarked.

“Not in force.” Athenodora quickly said, “This is a very small town, too many of us and we will be noticed very quickly.”

“So just our elite will go and be rid of the wolves?” Aro asked.

“They will be easy targets.” Caius snarled and Bella could imagine he was glaring at the phone.

“Wait,” Bella said, sure that all the vampires were already picturing the wolves deaths and she couldn’t have that. “We can’t kill them. They’re my friends.”

Zafrina and Athenodora growled in the disapproval while Heidi couldn’t hold back her laugh. Caius practically roared and the other royalty only verbally expressed their displeasure. Before Bella could try and explain herself, Demetri showed up in the kitchen with a serious and concerning look on his face.

“There are three wolves on their way over here in a car. One of them is one of the wolves that was at the meeting.” He said, looking Athenodora in the eyes, clearly only talking to her.

“You can’t hurt them.” Bella immediately said as she stood up with wide eyes worried about what might be about to happen. She was sure it was probably Jake which meant the other two had to be Leah and Seth and she definitely didn’t want them hurt.

Athenodora stared at her daughter and as much as this was likely about to piss off her mate, she wanted to see what they wanted and how Bella would handle the situation. She was teaching her daughter the intricacies of war after all and meeting with the enemy was something that sometimes needed to happen.

“Husband of mine, you will be on mute but you can all listen,” Athenodora quickly put them on mute already knowing that her husband would yell and curse until Athenodora either changed her mind or put him on mute anyways, “We will follow your lead little one but we will not leave you alone with them.”

Zafrina stood and put her hand on her mate’s shoulder, “I will stand with you.” Zafrina promised.

Bella’s eyes teared up at the warrior’s simple words that carried so much weight. Edward had said very kind things all the time when they were together, but Zafrina’s simple words meant so much to her. She took a deep breath and waited for her friends to get there.