Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line, SM owns the characters I'm just having fun with them.

Chapter 2- The Hunt

James POV
We had been traveling through the Pacific northwest on our way to Canada when I caught a faint scent that stopped me dead in my tracks. My instincts told me there was only one person who could smell this way to me; I was finally going to meet my mate. She smelled like wild strawberries and the roses that my mother carefully tended beside our front porch. She smelled like home.

Vickie and Laurent were thrilled when I told them and started off with me immediately. They were hoping I would find my mate; I had been their third wheel for far too long. We traced her scent to a house on the edge of the forest in Forks, Washington. I froze when I realized this was her home- there were smells of other vampires everywhere and something that smelled remarkably close to a werewolf. I hadn't seen one of those since my trip to Siberia decades ago! Now I was starting to worry about my mate. Why were there so many supernatural creatures around her? Her scent was definitely still human and the thought of my fragile mate being surrounded by these predators made me sick.

I closed my eyes and focused my gift on her scent, reaching out to see where she was right now. "Ten miles due north. I can sense other vampires with her; I really hope we don't have to fight. Vickie- I may need you to help us get out of there quick." Victoria's gift of evasion was quite helpful on my tracking missions, as were Laurent's skills as a fighter. With luck, we would not need those tonight.

Laurent and Vickie exchanged a glance that reeked of worry. I pulled myself up to my full height, unimpressive as it was, and looked at them both. "Please? It's my mate, guys. What would you want me to do if it was one of you?" They sighed and nodded. Laurent bowed with a flourish and said in his slight French accent,

"Lead the way, boss man." I chuckled and shook my head at his dramatics. He and Victoria were well suited to each other. I could only hope my mate would be more calm and level-headed like me. I don't think I could handle another drama queen in this coven.

Following my gift, we found the clearing and entered cautiously. My eyes immediately honed in on my mate, and I was shocked to see her guarded by the God of War. Her appearance was quite lovely; soft brown curls, huge chocolate eyes, and a petite frame that would fit easily with mine. She seemed to recognize me as well and looked pleased as she studied me. When she met my eyes I found myself smiling and waving her to me. I needed to separate her from this coven and I just hoped I didn't have to fight the Major to do so.

He nodded at me and stepped aside, allowing her to walk towards me. As she took her first step, the Major's eyes shot to a tall, lanky boy who was looking between me and my mate in pure hatred. She was still walking when I saw the boy sidestep the Major and head toward my mate. My eyes filled with a red haze and I roared as I shot to my mate. I pulled her behind me, noting her fragility, and crouched in defense. I whipped my head back and forth, gauging my opponents and growling lowly.

Laurent and Victoria came up to flank me and surround my mate. I relaxed a little when she was safe with my coven, but her warm hand on my back almost had me turning around to take her in my arms. I had never had a human touch me, other than when I was hunting, but this felt so right. Like something inside me just clicked into place and my world settled back on its axis. I was home. For the first time in 200 years I was home.

I felt the heat of her body as she moved closer to me and I was pleased that she wasn't afraid of me. I reached back slowly and put my hand on her hip, tugging slightly to pull her flush with my back. Her heart rate and breathing picked up as soon as we were connected, and I immediately started purring. Gasps from the vampires in front of me brought my attention back to the threat at hand. I noticed they had paired off, the tiny dark-haired girl was peeking around the Major, a giant black-haired vampire had his arms locked around the boy who had charged my mate, and a tall blonde woman was standing behind him. In the middle was blonde man with a brunette woman. They had gasped the loudest and the blonde male spoke first. "It's not possible! I thought she was Edward's mate! What is this?"

I growled loudly when he referred to my mate as someone else's. Her warm hand rubbed circles on my back and she whispered, "Shh, it's ok." We were interrupted when the boy growled at me again and tried to speak to my mate.

"Bella, Bella, look at me! This is all a trick! They're trying to steal you away from me. Look at my eyes, you know you belong to me!" What the fuck? He said "to me," not "with me." What has he been doing to my mate? I purred again when she tucked her head into my back and whimpered.

"I think he's been glamourin' her, Tracker. She complained of a headache earlier tonight." I looked from the Major to the boy and back again.

"You know who I work for?" I asked him.

"I'd heard the rumors. Is it true?" he replied

"Yeah, they put me over North America. Strictly contract work, but they will back me up on this." I knew Caius would especially be interested in someone harming my mate. Marcus would want to rip his head off himself.

"You gonna bring 'em in on it? The boy's the only one who done wrong. My mate tried to tell him but he wouldn't listen. He convinced the others she was his. I knew better. His emotions weren't right. All possessive, no protective. My mate saw ya comin', and I told her I'd make sure you got her. I don't break the law if I can help it." That was the longest speech I'd ever heard from him. Judging by the looks from his coven, they were surprised as well.

I turned my gaze on the boy, who was still glaring at me. "You fucked with my mate, boy." I heard a gasp behind me and turned to wink at her. She must have just caught on to why she was drawn to me. I patted her hip as I turned back to the boy. "Your life is forfeit. Any last words?"

The brunette woman began sobbing and cried out, "Please, no! Not my son! He didn't mean to do anything wrong! Please! Don't kill him!"

"Esme, listen," the Major stepped in, "He has the law on his side. He works for the Volturi. If he don't kill Edward, Aro will find out and then they'll come for all of us. Are you willin' to sacrifice us all for your favorite son?"

The blonde woman interrupted in a nasally tone, "Can someone please tell us what the fuck is going on here? What did Edward do and why do these savages want Bella?" I stifled a laugh when I heard a very human growl from my mate at the word "savages." Apparently she didn't judge on appearances like the blonde bitch.

"Rosie, keep up! Eddie isn't Bella's mate! He glamoured her this whole time to keep her with him and now her real mate, the blonde tracker dude over there, is here to get her and he works for the Volturi so he can have them all come kill us if we don't let him kill Edward!" The huge guy was smiling through his whole description. I guess he didn't care much what happened to his coven mate.

"But why would he glamour her? She's just a stupid human, what would he get out of it?" Blonde bitch is really getting on my nerves now.

Victoria spoke up for the first time, standing behind me and next to my mate. "He was drinking from her."

Growls erupted all around and I whipped around to look at my mate. Her eyes were wide with confusion and she shook her head no, but my eyes zeroed in where Victoria was holding up her arm. As she tilted it, the light hit and illuminated dozens of tiny white venom scars in neat lines going from her elbow all the way down to her wrist. "What? What is it?" my mate truly had no idea. What kind of sick bastard was he?

"Oh, my god! How could you, Edward! I thought you loved Bella! How could you do this to her?" The brunette, Esme I think, was crying. She reached a hand toward my mate but pulled back at my instinctive growl.

"Love a human? How on earth could I love a human? She's just a pet. Her silent mind and delicious blood were made just for me." And, now he's dead. Deader than he already was. He was cut off as growls and roars filled the clearing. The big guy holding him tightened his arm around his neck, while the Major came over and punched him square in the mouth.

"That's my sister, you asshole. You ain't worth shit next to her. I'm gonna help her mate tear you to shreds and if I could still take a piss I'd do it on your ashes." The Major spit a mouthful of venom in his face and walked back to his mate. A small whimper from behind me brought my attention back to my mate and I turned to look at her.

I brought my hands up to cup her cheeks and said, "Sweetheart? Bella? Is that your name?" I paused while she nodded. "That's a beautiful name. I'm James. Can I ask you something? Do you trust me?" She nodded again and I couldn't help my smile. "I want you to go with my friend Victoria here. I want you to turn around keep your eyes closed and your ears covered. Can you do that for me?" She looked from me to Victoria, then over my shoulder to the Major. I followed her gaze to see him nod at her and smile slightly.

"It's alright darlin'. They won't hurt ya none. Do ya want Alice to come with ya?" At her timid nod, the pixie-sized girl bounced out from behind him and over to take Bella's hand. I reluctantly let her go and stepped back, nodding at Vickie to take her. The girls each wrapped an arm around her and led her to the edge of the trees where I could still see her, but I was aching to be near her again. She started to glance back at me, but caught herself and shook her head. She settled down in the grass between Alice and Victoria with her head down on her crossed arms. They each rubbed her back and murmured softly to her but I couldn't make out the words.

Satisfied that my mate was well-cared-for, I turned back to the task at hand.

Bella POV
Wow. My mind was moving a million miles an hour. I felt like my whole world had been picked up, shaken around, and dumped out all over the ground. My boyfriend, Edward, who I thought loved me, just thought of me as a pet and his personal vending machine. I thought I was going to be sick when Victoria pointed out the scars to me. They were nearly impossible to see with my human eyesight but I could feel the difference in temperature easily. Was this what he did when he was "watching me sleep"? Was he doing it before we got together? There were too many scars for it to just be the past few nights.

Then there was the whole "glamour" thing. Alice explained to me what that meant and I remembered Edward in the meadow saying something about his tools as a predator- everything about him drawing me in. He claimed he didn't need those tools but apparently he had been using them. Basically, he was using his eyes and scent to hypnotize me and make me agreeable to him. My mind had cleared since my mate showed up and I was remembering more and more times that Edward had been cruel to me. Tonight with Jacob was not the first instance by far. He had already ordered me away from Tyler and Mike at school, and any time I disagreed with him, he literally blew my thoughts away with his overly-sweet breath. I felt completely disgusted. Alice said it was only meant to be used to lure prey away, and they weren't sure what harm would come from using it long-term. Apparently my headaches were a side-effect.

My mate hadn't had to use anything to draw me to him. My body and soul recognized him immediately. He didn't even know me yet, but he had been nothing but tender and protective with me. Jasper seemed to know him somehow, but Alice wasn't sure where they had met. Victoria said it must have been on one of James missions but she didn't elaborate much. She wanted him to tell me about himself. She did verify that he did contract work for the Volturi and was good friends with Caius, one of the kings. I saw Alice startle a little when she said that.

I fought the urge to turn around when I heard something that sounded like metal being torn apart. I pushed back my panic that James had been injured, but Alice assured me that he was just fine. When I smelled smoke I asked the girls if we could get up now and after glancing over their shoulders they helped me to my feet. I turned and immediately spotted my mate, standing next to a smoldering bonfire that was giving off purple-black smoke. I felt a little sick when I realized this must be Edward. I knew nothing about destroying vampires but there was no other explanation for the fire.

James turned to look at me as we approached and if I didn't know any better I would say he looked scared of me. Jasper leaned over toward him and whispered something and he visibly relaxed before running to me. He took my hands in his and pulled me close to kiss my forehead. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I wish I didn't have to do that right after we met but I have to look out for your safety and he was a definite threat to you. Can you forgive me?" The irony of this red-eyed vampire giving me puppy dog eyes almost had me laughing but I held it in and managed to answer him.

"There is nothing to forgive! If you hadn't come here tonight, who knows what Edward would have done to me. Thank you!" He sighed in relief and pulled me in for a gentle hug. His scent was so comforting- tobacco and worn leather. He smelled like a man, where Edward had smelled like a candy factory. I felt so safe in his arms, so completely relaxed. I felt like I was home. In all my years of being bounced between parents, I had never felt like I belonged anywhere. But here, in James cold embrace, my soul found rest.

He pulled my chin up and lowered his face to mine. I was expecting a small, chaste kiss like Edward had given me. But he covered my mouth and demanded entrance with his tongue. His taste overwhelmed me and for a moment I felt like I was drowning in him. He backed off slowly and then pressed his lips gently to mine twice more, before pulling back and giving me a sheepish grin. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get carried away. You just don't know how long I have waited for you. I can't believe you're actually here!"

I smiled and kissed him again. "You can get carried away with me anytime! I'm so glad you found me. I'm finally home."