Chapter 7

Zafrina was so still, Bella was sure she had actually turned to stone. Her eyes weren’t pitch black, but Bella wasn’t sure if that wasn’t about to happen or not. If anything, Bella was actually really impressed that Zafrina was clearly controlling herself so well to not try to run away again or do something like growl at the royals or something else to piss them off. Bella was sure the Amazon was completely out of her element both physically, since they weren’t in her jungle, and emotionally since not only did she claim a bond with Bella but also the royals were claiming the same thing. Past what Bella thought about the whole thing both parties were claiming, Bella could realize that it was probably a lot more of an emotional toll than the Amazon had had to deal with in a very long time.

Then they were just told they weren’t allowed to leave.

She could understand how overwhelmed it was because Bella was sure that her emotions just turned off because she had no idea what she should be feeling at the moment either. First and foremost she wanted to be angry about what had been told. She was basically being told, once again, that vampires were going to take control of her life and tell her how, or where in this case, to live. She had enough of that with the Cullen’s, she didn’t want to deal with that with new vampires that thought they were also better than everyone else.

She also wanted to feel happy. That was something she wasn’t entirely expecting. Caius, quite frankly, the king just annoyed her. But she felt a kind of kinship to him, like he would understand her annoyance in all things vampires because he had an annoyance for all things. But she was also happy with the connection towards Athenodora. Realistically she understood she didn’t know the queen beyond her name and her being blonde. But there was a part of her that screamed the woman would be an integral part of her life and that Bella had a lot to learn from the stern and strong looking ancient. Was it weird that she thought she could learn a thing or two about being a complete jerk and then wanting to use that knowledge against Edward?

But she couldn’t think about that at the moment. She was still technically being held against her will, just because she wasn’t fighting and yelling about having to stay there because she knew the vampires could physically make her do whatever they wanted didn’t meant she actually wanted to stay there in Italy or the Amazon for that matter. But after her time with the Cullen’s, she was smarter than to just whine about not being able to go home. Vampires loved their mind games, she had to be smart. And throwing a fit about being held captive with a bunch of vampires that claimed they had bonds with them wasn’t a smart thing to do.

Bella put a hand on Zafrina’s hands that she had clenched in her lap, apparently not trusting herself to have her arms around Bella any longer, in hope to give some sort of calm to the vampire. As far as Bella was concerned, Zafrina had been upfront about everything thus far, regardless of how horrible she was at actually articulating what was happening, Bella had a fond sense of safety with the dark skinned beauty. Out of all the vampires she had met, present royalty included, she felt safest with Zafrina and so would do her best to keep in her company.

“What exactly do you mean by that?” Bella asked, mentally rolling her eyes. She was trying to buy time to think through her options instead of having an awkward silence suffocate them, not sound like the young child she was.

Caius immediately scoffed at the question; was he bound to someone so dense for the rest of eternity, he hoped not. “What do you think?” He asked, trying his best to keep his snarl out of his tone lest he get on the bad side of his mate. The look he received from said mate said he wasn’t as successful as he would have hoped but at least she hadn’t hissed him and he was more than willing that take that as a victory.

Bella immediately felt her hackles raise. Something about Caius just always seemed to get to her, like he somehow knew every tone and every word to say to just irk the hell out of her. “I think that I’m stuck with a bunch of vampires that like keeping their secrets yet can’t seem to remember that I’m very much a human child with parents that would go looking for her as soon as she didn’t come, oh say, I don’t know, a few hours ago!” Bella yelled, nearly rising to her feet if it wasn’t for Zafrina’s arm shooting out to act as a seatbelt and stop her from moving away from the stoic vampire. But Bella was on a roll and the shocked look on Caius’s face let her know that the ancient king wasn’t used to someone talking to him like she was and the pride she felt about being able to just made her want to keep going.

“I also think that said vampires haven’t even begun to think about other possible dangers humans knowing I’m missing might pose. For instance, as my father is the police chief and so obviously it isn’t like he had a lot of tools at his disposal to figure that only real place I could go to disappear so quickly would be the airport; especially since I actually have a history of literally flying away when life sucks.” Bella could help but internally cringe as she thought about the trip to Phoenix she had quickly been ushered on as had fled to get away from James. “But let’s not think about anyone outside of our little bubble because they obviously don’t exist if they don’t live here.” She said with a sneer that she was proud to say matched Caius’s. If he was her supposed parental bond person, she could say she was imitating him and imitation was flattering right?

For just a few, very long seconds, Bella was sure time had stopped. She was sure if she wasn’t breathing or moving much less the vampires. The looks both Caius and Athenodora were giving her were undecipherable and that was making Bella nervous. All of her bravado seemed to swoop out of her in a quick breath as she slunk down and embarrassingly leaned into Zafrina whom she was sure was smirking at her suddenly being uncomfortable.

“Well, I can honestly say we had briefly thought of that.” Athenodora said with just a hint of hesitancy before she steeled her look. “But there is nothing we cannot resolve.”

“Of course there isn’t.” Caius said and to Bella, it sounded just a hint on the side of patronizing and that made Bella sit up straighter, pulling slightly away from Zafrina. The Amazon moved her hand to wrap back around Bella and the human wasn’t sure if that was meant to be restraining or comforting. “She is human and as such, much more in danger from everything, she stays here.” He said while looking directly at Bella while not talking to her at all and that just pissed Bella off.

Once again, Bella tried to stand and for a second time, Zafrina kept her grip solid and unmoving. Bella opened her mouth to retort back to Caius but to Bella’s shock, which did cause her voice to leave her, Zafrina placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke in her defense.

“My sister’s and I had spoken about it.” She said in a tense voice, clearly not okay with talking but more than willing to talk for her mate’s comfort if nothing else, “Before coming here, we were to take Bella back to her home and let her finish her time there and then allow her to leave with us as soon as we could get her to leave after we fake her death.” She said, then her eyes turned to steel. “But the wolves there made us reconsider.”

For just a second, just the smallest of seconds, Bella smiled as she thought about the pack and the fact that they were probably still looking for her. She was sure since they knew she was taken by vampires, they wouldn’t let Charlie stop looking for her; not that she thought he would stop anytime soon. But just as soon as that thought entered her mind, it was immediately wiped away by the snarls from both Caius and Athenodora. The snarls and sneers on their faces made her realize there was a reason they were still alive after so long and vampire royalty: they were to be feared.

Zafrina started a soft, constant growl as she pulled Bella into her, sensing her mates fear at the two older vampires that were not happy with the news Zafrina had shared. Clearly, Aro hadn’t thought to tell them anything before they had left the throne… never mind that Zafrina hadn’t given them a chance to have any sort of conversation before she had panicked and ran.

Caius took a step closer towards Bella, prompting Zafrina to growl just a little louder in warning. She didn’t want the angry kind anywhere near her mate. She knew the royalties history with Children of the Moon and that was why when she could, she told them about what she had seen. But just because they were upset and likely worried about their child having lived in an area with the wolves, didn’t mean they could get close to her while they were so upset and very clearly scaring her.

With a quick glare towards the Amazon for daring to growl at him, Caius took a step back, but only because he was sure his mate would have wanted him to heed the warning because she had always admired the Amazons and wouldn’t them upset and Caius didn’t want his mate upset. “You were around Children of the Moon and yet you want to go back? I doubt there is even a town to go back to.” He said with a snarl.

“The Children of the Moon are not known for their restraint.” Athenodora added, taking deep breaths to calm down. Thus far neither of their eyes had gone completely black, but they were walking a thin line and the last thing she wanted was to scare her child. She was better than that.

“What are Children of the Moon?” Bella asked, not having heard that term. She knew the pack called themselves werewolves, was that the same thing or something different? Children of the Moon sounded awfully tied to the moon… hence the name, and she knew for a fact that the wolves weren’t tied to the moon.

“They were in wolf form during the day when we protect Bella.” Zafrina said in a tense voice, revealing information that immediately wiped the snarls off the royals faces.

They were stumped. The only wolves they were truly aware of were the Children of the Moon. That was Caius’s obsession after all after they had nearly killed Marcus’s wife and Aro’s sister Didyme. Caius didn’t take viable threats towards their lives lightly. He had been sure he had killed them all.

But Athenodora was thinking of something else. She had thought she had heard Carlisle mention a treaty of some sort in one of his check-in’s with Aro a few decades ago. The topic had been glossed over and not much details were requested or brought up. But perhaps these wolves that could be wolves during the day were what Carlisle had a treaty with all these years and if that was the case, they were definitely not Children of the Moon.

“Do you know what they are child?” Athenodora asked, mentally cursing herself at how tense her tone sounded.

“Friends.” Bella immediately answered, not bothering to elaborate at the silent command from Caius. The human even had the nerve to smirk when Caius silently snarled at the lack of words coming from the human.

But Athenodora was find with that, there was a reason she was the oldest vampire after all: she was good at thinking on her feet and strategizing quick plans to her advantage. This was situation was no different, especially when it involved her daughter.

“Well then, there’s really only one thing for us to do.” She said as she took a deep and unnecessary breath, she knew her husband wasn’t going to be happy, but she was okay with that. In the end, she got what she wanted and her mate would learn to live with it. “We need to see what exactly these wolves are and you need to go home to not arouse suspicion from your human father.” She said, growing a smirk on her face that said she knew she won. “We will not force mates to be away from each other and we cannot leave you alone so soon after meeting, therefore, Zafrina, I and a trusted guard will accompany you back to your home where we will stay long enough for you to say goodbye and give you a death. Zafrina’s sisters will stay here and work with Caius as they come up with a plan to deal with that vampire that should be here in Italy looking for you.”

“I will not stay behind and stay here while you both go someplace that could very well hold dangerous Children of the Moon.” Caius said with a snarl, losing his battle on keeping his eyes from going black.

“Too bad.” Athenodora said in a tone that deflated the king’s bravado in an instant.