My Strength Chapter 18

The plan they come up with was simple. They figured the simpler the plan the harder it would be for it to go astray. Victoria would keep a hold on Bella, something both of them were more than okay with, while Heidi walked first towards the house. They would continue to walk at a human pace until the vampires inside realized that Heidi and Bella weren’t alone. Then the part that they couldn’t decide how it would play out would happen. They would be greeted either by a couple people or the whole group in the house. Victoria said it would likely be everyone because they would recognize her scent right away and would see her as a threat. When they recognize and think that Bella was in trouble, they would act. That was the part they didn’t know, that they couldn’t predict.

Bella was confident that at least Zafrina and her sisters wouldn’t be a problem. She was sure that her Amazon would believe her without question and would ensure her sisters didn’t do anything Bella didn’t want as well. Even though she hadn’t known the Amazon coven for that long, she was sure beyond doubt that the three sisters would stand by her and silently watch how things unfold. As long as Victoria didn’t make any threating moves, which Bella high doubted she would, the three wouldn’t act.

Athenodora and Edward were another matter though.

Athenodora was more apt to act than to just wait for Bella or Heidi, or even Victoria as a last resort, to explain why Victoria wasn’t actively trying to kill Bella or threatening anyone. Bella was genuinely concerned that even if Victoria were to show up in vampire proof handcuffs, Athenodora would still attack and kill the redhead rather than ask questions. That woman was definitely someone that acted first and then asked questions later… if she ever asked a question. But if Bella could get through to Athenodora that Victoria was actually okay, everything about the woman made Bella feel just as safe as she did when she was Zafrina so she was sure the redhead wasn’t lying, she was sure it would be okay. It was just getting the woman to listen to her instead of her instincts that was going to be the hard part.

And then there was Edward.

Edward was just an idiot. He would definitely act while listening to people’s thoughts and come to conclusions that were likely not true and make more problems for everyone involved. He would read everyone’s thoughts, or at least everyone he could, and jump to conclusions so quickly that Bella was almost will to bet money she didn’t have that Edward would attack them. Honestly, the fact that Edward had to be warned to calm down already during the earlier meeting didn’t really bode well for the emo vampire to keep his cool when he realizes how unlikely Bella was to ever return even a fraction of his feelings. He would be the biggest wild card they wouldn’t be able to predict.

Therefore, Heidi would be in front of them, ready to use her gift if needed, to prevent Edward from attack the new mates. Heidi was sure she would be able to easily detain Edward with just her gift alone, never mind her fighting prowess that was required of all Volturi guards. But if Athenodora was the one to try and attack and ‘save’ Bella, well, Heidi was confident if she even thought about using her gift on the queen it would be a death sentence the second Aro read her thoughts. Therefore, that was where Victoria came in. Heidi was confident that with the redhead’s gift, Victoria would be the best last line of defense to keep Bella safe from an attacking queen and then Zafrina would step and hopefully things would die down once Bella called a stop to the angry vampires acting out in anger and lack of knowledge.

Heidi was definitely going to use Bella as a last resort, even though the human couldn’t physically make anyone do anything, her voice would be enough to make at least Athenodora stop in her tracks. The warrior queen would listen to her daughter, even if she was confused as to why her daughter was telling her not to attack what she believed to be a threat, it would be enough to get the woman to listen to what they had to say, to explain everything.

Bella wanted to ask Victoria a ton of questions that had everything to do with why the redhead let her leave and then didn’t come to her after the Cullen’s had left. For a brief time, before the pack took her in, she had been so devastated and she would like to think that the companionship would have been welcomed after being abandoned by the Cullen’s. But as they walked closer to the Cullen house, she knew that if she would to make a sound louder than just her heartbeat, they would give away they were with Victoria and could make things more difficult when they were finally noticed. Instead, she would just think up as many questions as she could that she would ask for some alone time later tonight when she went to bed to ask Victoria; with Zafrina close as well since while she felt safe with Victoria, the redhead did technically belong to the same coven that held the vampire that tried his best to kill her.

Once Bella could finally see the Cullen house in the distance, their presence was finally recognized in the house; at least the additional presence was recognized. In an instant, Bella could see everyone form a line in front of the house, just a few dozen feet away from the trio. Bella felt Victoria’s grip tighten on her waist and while it was uncomfortable for her, Bella realized it was the only sign the redhead would give that she was uncomfortable and likely concerned about what would happen next.

“Bella, dear, you’ve made a friend.” Athenodora said with a sneer, already starting to calculate different plans she could enact to make sure her daughter stayed safe and not hurt while she took care of the threat. The redhead was one of the reasons they had come to the States in the first place, and now she just so happened to walk into the laps.

“Hey, so um, some things have come up that we should probably talk about.” Bella awkwardly said, trying to keep everyone calm before someone did something stupid.

“Bella, you need to get away from her, she’s going to kill you.” Edward said in a commanding tone that irked the hell out of Bella and most everyone else that heard his command.

“Don’t tell me what to do Edward.” Bella bit out, “Contrary to what you think, I know what I’m doing.” She seethed, her previous anger over Edward coming back.

“Clearly you’re not thinking clearly if you think that woman wants anything but to kill you in front of me to taunt us.” Edward said and Bella, and most everyone else, rolled her eyes at how conceded the man child sounded. For someone that was supposed to be a hundred years old with perfect memory, he certainly hasn’t learned much from his experiences in life. Bella truly hoped that she would be stuck with the same mindset for the rest of her eternal life like he was.

“Isn’t she the vampire that was hunting you Bella?” Seth asked as the three wolves finally joined the others, pushing their way forward to see what everyone was staring at.

“Look, there a lot of things that were revealed that-” Heidi started but quickly cut herself off as she caught sight of the tall boy that had finally shown himself. “Well hello there, and who might you be?” Heidi purred, her mind completely forgetting why she was standing in front of Bella and Victoria and instead focused on getting to know the younger wolf that had just taken up all of Heidi’s attention.

“Shit.” Leah muttered as Seth struggled to say something.

“He’s just a kid, this can’t be happening.” Jacob said, clearly upset with what had just happened.

“It figures the Volturi would do something as sick as mating a young teenager.” Edward sneered, “This just proves that the Volturi aren’t the best options for you to be around Bella.”

Bella immediately felt her hackles rise at the insults towards the Volturi that had been nothing but kind to her and had done everything they could to make her happy and keep her safe. But before she could call Edward any names, Athenodora spoke up.

“If you knew anything at all about shifters, you would know that the bond would not stick a child with an adult, you imbecile.” Athenodora grumbled, already figuring out what had happened while her daughter had been away. These people really needed to give her more credit about being able to ignore her anger and think though the different possible scenarios. “He will age until he matches Heidi and in the meantime, while he is too young, Heidi will be nothing but a tease. The mating bond for both vampires and shifters would insure nothing so vile as what you are insinuating would ever happen. Heidi would sooner kill herself than to let something like that happen when he is technically just a child.” She sneered at the boy and gave a quick glare to Carlisle for not properly teaching his coven the proper meaning of a mate. It was disgusting what Edward was thinking and if Carlisle had done his job, Edward would have never thought Heidi would be capable of something so digusting.

“Not that my love life is of any concern to you,” Heidi said, glaring at the bronze haired vampire, “I would never do something like that until he is an adult, you disgusting pig. If you had been reading my thoughts properly, you have figured that out.”

Carlisle put his hand on Edward’s shoulder to stop his son from saying something that would likely get him in more trouble and decided to refocus the group, “While we are all genuinely happy that you have at long last found your mate Heidi, we still need to know why Victoria is here and what her plans are.”

“I’m not happy about it.” Leah grumbled, more annoyed that he imprinted on someone so much older than him than the fact it was a vampire. Leah knew that since he imprinted on a vampire, it meant he wouldn’t stop shifting and therefore wouldn’t age once his age matched Heidi’s physical age, and so she didn’t have to worry about Seth dying too soon. He would live a nice, long life and that was really all Leah had wanted for him.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Zafrina said as she zoomed to stand right in front of her human. She put a hand on her human’s cheek and then looked Victoria in the eye; it was more a studious look than a warning look. “She has found her mate as well.”

“What!” Edward yelled in total disbelief at what Zafrina was saying.

“That’s so hot.” Emmett muttered, earning himself a slap on the back of his head from his mate.

Senna and Kachiri only silently stared on as they studied their coven mates. Zafrina was clearly not upset and Bella seemed perfectly at ease in Victoria’s hold. With those observations, the two other Amazon’s had not problems with the new revelation.

“You really do like to flirt with danger don’t you Bella?” Jacob asked, struggling with the new information but if Bella’s own mate didn’t object and saw it for herself, Jacob had even less of a foot to stand on to object to the news. At least he knew Bella would be more than safe for the rest of her life.

“You all are just going to believe her, just like that?” Edward asked, sounding completely skeptical of how things were progressing and was upset that more people weren’t fighting to keep Bella away from Victoria that he had been so sure was mated to James.

Athenodora turned to him and gave him a steely glare, “You see Edward, that’s something people do in families that you apparently haven’t learned: we trust each other unconditionally. If Bella and Zafrina both say Bella is mated to Victoria, then I will not fight it because in the end, it is Bella’s life and denying a mating bond would only end in disaster. Have you not learned anything from your previous actions in how you treated my daughter?”

Nothing else was said as everyone slowly filed into back into the house to not only continue talking about the wolves new sleeping arrangements that the blonde queen was forcing on the Cullen’s, but to now also talk about what exactly Victoria’s role had been when James had tracked and attempted to kill Bella was.