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Chapter 3

The Warlord's Mate

Jasper Whitlock .P.O.V

I was taken out of my musings over the past 50 years, by the noise of a car parking in the garage of the house followed by the monstrous roar of a 1950 truck, Isabella's red monster. I loved that beast, and so did Isabella, which in turn made Edward frown like a child every time we talked about it and how much personality it had.

It was a brilliant, sunny and warm day of late July, and since she was in summer vacations Isabella spent almost all of her days here with us to my delight, pleasure and pain; yeap, what can I say I am a sick and masochist bastard, but I prefer to have my enemy close and my soon to be lover even closer, where I can keep an eye on them and prevent things between them from going too far.

The family was scattered, Emmet and Rosalie were in their room, Alice was somewhere around the house, moping because last night I had to make her remember what was her role in my plans, and I had to make her understand that she is not to deny me anything. Esme and Carlisle were out for the weekend. And within a day Peter and Charlotte would be arriving in Forks to spend some days with us. This was the final part of my plan, having them both here with me, finally meeting my Isabella; soon they would be her family too.

Isabella had healed well from the James incident and was fully recovered, at least on a physical level, but Edward was still immensely protective of her careful and controlling, and to say that all of that hovering pissed her off was an understatement. In reality it was the cause of innumerous arguments between them lately.

I extended my capacity to feel their emotions and at the same time put my mental block in place; I need to know their feelings, but had to hide my thoughts in order to continue with my plan. The first feeling to reach me was anger, coming from Isabella and, huummmm, directed at Edward, followed by irritation, exasperation and boredom. This was almost too easy for me, like taking candy from a child. They were fighting again and I knew what about, I had "innocently" caused the reason. I chuckled at the thought, as I made my way downstairs, to great my woman. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs watching them.

"Isabella, please, you must be reasonable. I only want what's good for you, I don't want to upset you, I love you" Edward whined, trying to hold her hands and keep her from storming away from him. His emotions were a mixture of determination, fear of upsetting her, irritation at her stubbornness and worry.

"Edward, please stop that, since when did you became my father? You are my boyfriend, not my caretaker, I am a grown woman and I have been taking care of myself and others since I can remember. I don't need my boyfriend to control my life and tell me what I can or not do, where to go and with whom," she glared at him, and her anger was delicious. I could stay here and feel it for the rest of the day but I needed to intervene quickly, and take advantage of another mistake of my brother. The game was on; it was obvious that the argument had started earlier, in her house, and with my "help" it would only escalate. I decided to make myself known to her and ignored Edward.

"Hi darling, how are you? Did you come to spend the day?" I spoke softly and flashed a smile I used to attract my human prey. I had noticed that every time I let my accent slip together with this smile, she reacted in a most delicious way, her heart beat would pick up and she used to look at me dazzled.

She did not fail me this time, taking a step towards me and looking at me trough her eyelashes, a wonderful blush all over her face. I noticed what she was wearing; a blood red tank top and tiny white shorts that showed miles of her legs. Hell yeah, I want this woman. I just have to wait a few more days until she is mine for good.

"Hi, Jasper, I'm fine thanks and …" she looked at me with a beautiful smile on her face, but Edward didn't let her finish as he grabbed her hand forcefully and turned her to face him. I growled low in my chest hardly controlling myself and thought to him.

"What the hell, Edward, behave yourself, that's not a way to treat a woman, and she is even more pissed at you now, than she was when she arrived, fuck man, get a grip on yourself" and I sent him a sample of the anger and irritation that she was feeling.

His eyes widened slightly and I smirked at him"I told you so, Edward, you are screwing things up with her, you will end up losing her and another men may take her from you for good". Knowing that this would only upset him more I continued with my all knowing smirk, Peter's influence, and added unnoticed to him a small dose of insecurity and worry. He started growling at me uneasy with the feelings and I just continued to stare at him. Before we could continue our exchange Isabella spoke, glaring at him and with even stronger feelings of anger and exasperation emanating from her like a beacon.

"Stop it Edward, don't be rude. Jasper has nothing to do with our problems and I will not allow you to act in this manner towards your own brother, who did nothing to us but say hello to me, please step back. I cannot argue with you anymore. Frankly, sometimes I just think we are not worth it," She sighed and looked at me, a wonderful blush spreading and a soft smile in her lips as she revived the memory of our first real conversation, our first bonding time while hiding from James. If my heart had been beating it would have stopped because from her I felt a strong burst of affection and was that longing?

Could it be possible that all the months of careful manipulation of her feelings, so that she could realize the truth about us and about Edward, finally were breaking through to her? I could not dwell on that thought. I would not allow Edward to notice it so I stored it for later. I made an effort to concentrate on this discussion. Things were worst between them than I thought if she was telling him in front of me, that maybe their relation wasn't worth the effort.

Edward looked like he had been hit by a truck. His face showed all the shock and incredulity at what was happening. His emotions were all over the place as the understanding of Isabella's words sunk deep within him. He radiated strong waves of regret and fear; I could bet that he regretted upsetting her and was fearful that since she was so stubborn, one day she would just leave him. Lately he had been feeling like that a lot, courtesy of my manipulation of his feelings. I could see that he was about to give in to her and I had to strengthen his resolve in remaining unchanged from his point of view so that they just continued to argue even more. Slowly, I sent him feelings of stubbornness and confidence and I felt his resolve strengthen. He didn't even realize that he was being played. Nothing new to me, I had been playing his feelings and emotions for the last 50 Years.

"Isabella, please don't say that. Of course we are worth it. You don't mean that, you are too young, I love you, but you are being irrational, you just don't understand…" he couldn't even finish before Isabella jumped and yelled in his face.

"I'AM NOT A CHILD, I'AM NOT STUPID, AND I DON'T NEED YOU TO TREAT ME LIKE AN INCOMPETENT, STOP THIS SHIT, THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO ABOUT MY AGE, WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" this was priceless, even the noise coming from Rose and Emmet's room ceased, and that was a feat in itself. Isabella was seething magnificent in her rage.

I had never laid my eyes on anything more beautiful, and it was difficult for me to control myself and my emotions and not to grab her and kiss her senseless. But I had a role to play and a game to win.

Looking at Isabella, I gave her a sad smile and with a sigh told them in a low voice.

"Hummm, I think its better if take my leave. You obviously have things to discuss and I don't want to cause discomfort to anyone. I better leave you alone, we will talk later Isabella, Edward" I said, while giving her with my best worrying and pained eyes, hell, what an actor I could have been! I flooded the room with sadness and from the corner of my eye I saw Edward glaring at me. He hated not being able to read my thoughts when Isabella was around.

We had never been good friends, less even brothers. He was a good kid, had a good heart, but with his ability came also a certain arrogance that made him often think that he knew all about life and people. We get along well, never too close but without problems.

I always could feel that he was weary of me, even after all this years. But when he tried to take what was mine, what I loved, what I have been waiting for one and a half century now, he became my enemy, an obstacle to destroy. He didn't stand a chance against me and in the end I didn't care if he would spend eternity alone. Isabella was mine, even Marcus had said so.

"No Jasper, please don't go. Your actions caused this problem between me and Isabella, not directly, but it is still your fault" Edward said, looking at me, his expression hard. His eyes were trying to penetrate my soul, poor child, but, at the same time his all stance was pleading, pleading for help. My help. Sorry, but no. I did my best to sound surprised.

"Me?" I asked, my eyes wide, my face serious and stern, yes, bring the Oscar. "Did I do anything to cause an argument between the two of you? How? When?" I looked at both of them my eyes showing innocence and pain, and then to Alice, who by now had come into the living room standing next to the stairs, her expression unreadable but with her emotions all over the place.

Her vision on everything concerning Isabella was always blurry and confusing at best. But, I knew her so well that I just sensed that she knew something, and she was not happy about it. Maybe I slipped something, somehow. It was not good. And more important, I had not been informed but I could tell she was blocking Edward also. Good.

Isabella jumped again on Edward, her face filled with anger and disgust. Oh, how I liked to see her defending me, such devotion already, directed at me. Those were already the feelings of a female mate, she was not aware of that because she was still human.

"How can you say that, are you insane? Jasper has nothing to do with this, all he wanted was to bring his brother and sister to meet me, and spend time with him. It's my will to meet them, I want to do this. Stop thinking you know what's best for me, Edward, they would never hurt me Jasper and the family would never allow it."Her tone was hard, and her eyes were boring a hole in his face. My unbeating heart was actually the size of a watermelon swollen with my love for my mate. He gave no sign that he heard her, not surprising, since I was still feeding him the same emotions.

"Yes, you did Jasper." He told me, rage, determination and worry flowing from him like a river.

"Why did you invite Peter and Charlotte, two human drinkers to come here to Forks, to stay in our house, when you know Isabella spends all of her time here? And you decided to tell her that they came to know her. You know it's not safe for her to be near them, they may lose control and hurt her. You know she is stubborn and that she would want to meet them, what were you thinking? "By the end of his rant, there was desperation in his voice, and he was clenching his fist at his sides.

I had no pity for him, he had what was mine and he was a weak, pathetic creature, which could not even control his human girlfriend, just because she was stubborn. The day Isabella accepts me as her mate, will be the day that she, like all the females in our world will understand that we males are in charge in a normal vampire society, that she has to obey me without question.

"Edward" I spoke to him, with a soft, calming voice, talking to him like I would talk to a child, making sure that Isabella could see who the real man in here was.

"I never meant to cause problems between you two; I never thought you would react this way. Peter is my brother, my brother in arms, and brother by venom. Charlotte his mate is my sister, in both ways too. I love them dearly and they love me the same way. You know that every summer we take same days to visit with each other's and catch up. They have been good friends of our family and they never, ever, gave us reasons not to trust them. Last year we visited them in Montana, and this year they came to Fork's. They are anxious to meet Isabella, because we talk so much about her and I think that they love her already." I continued to speak to him, all the while feeding him with doubt and again determination, while at the same time I started projecting calm in the room for the others. Isabella visibly relaxed, and was looking at me with admiration and understanding, and, yes, love, yes; it was there, a tiny sparkle of it.

I had to continue, I had to destroy him. The prize was everything. If she was a vampire my bite mark would be on her neck and my venom would flow through her body. That and the mating pull would make her bend to her nature and feel the pull to me, as I do to her. But with her being a human it was harder.