I owe nothing, everything belongs to Stephanie Mayer

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Chapter 4

The Warlord's Mate

Jasper Whitlock .P.O.V

"As for Isabella's safety, you have nothing to worry about. They would never hurt her, they know how much we love her and you know very well that they only hunt criminals, not the innocent. They always hunt far from any of our locations. And I do not think that anyone in this family would discriminate someone based on his diet. They are good people, and their control is excellent. I would rather die than let someone touch Isabella inappropriately, or harm her in any way, and the whole family will be here to protect her if needed, you know that, Edward."I was projecting sincerity in every direction, but my prolonged manipulation of his feelings had a profound effect on him, he was incapable of seeing reason, of accepting what I or anyone else was saying. He couldn't believe anything but his own certainty that she was in danger and that it was his job to protect her. His mind was so paranoid by now that he had ceased all rational thought. In his mind he was right and we were all wrong. He would not give up; of course I would make sure of that. He was happily digging his own grave and I was handling him the shovel with a beaming smile.

"Jasper, you cannot say that, you know that accidents happen. You know what a danger magnet she is. And you know how good she smells they may lose control. I will not put her in danger, she will not meet them, she will not come near them or them near her. You have no saying in this, neither anyone of the family, and that's final. If I need to, I will take her away from Forks for the duration of their visit" anger and determination were flowing freely from him, animosity shooting straight at anyone who dared to contradict him.

I adopted a defeated posture and looked at my Isabella with a sad smile on my lips, hitting her with enough anger, confidence and determination, to help her say what she needed, but not strong enough so that she thought I was messing with her emotions, or to make Edward suspicious. She jumped at the opportunity I was giving her. She had been watching this little exchange of ours, with a sense of incredulity and exasperation at what Edward was saying.

"Well Edward" her tone was cold and hard, her eyes sparkling with anger. "That's where you are wrong; you are not my father, or my owner. I have had enough of this, I love you, I really do, but you are becoming to controlling. I have to breathe, I need space, I need my life back, and I need time away from you. I will not let you whisk me away for the duration of their visit, because we are done. You have to grow up; you have to learn to trust me, and to respect my wishes. Until then I don't want you near me, and if you can't do that then there is nothing left for us." She looked at him straight in the eyes, determination pouring from her every pore.

She meant it. I was ecstatic, this was her first step to get rid of him, even if she didn't knew it yet; mentally I was cheering and clapping. Months of careful manipulation and waiting were baring his fruits. She was starting to let him go. Edward just stood there looking dumbfounded; his worst fears were coming to life, and even without him being an empath he knew this was the beginning of the end for them. The grief coming from him was crippling, and for the first time in his life he had no words, because somewhere in his mind he knew she was right. I almost felt sorry for him, almost.

Before I could say anything, Alice jumped in, frantic and desperate; her emotions so strong and so all over the place that I could not stand to feel them for long. Fear, loss, anger, regret, worry, love, longing, hate, all mingled, radiating from her. She grabbed Isabella's hands and turned her looking pleadingly into her eyes.

"No, Bella, don't do this, you are wrong. You don't want to do this. He is only trying to protect you, he loves you so much, you can't even realize how much. Don't make a mistake you will regret, listen to him. If you do this the consequences will affect all of us. Don't be so stubborn, you will ruin everything, your whole life will be wasted for nothing." She was desperate, her eyes filled with venom, why? I thought to myself. She would have same explaining to do tonight. What she was doing sounded almost like a betrayal to me. I don't take betrayal well; there would be severe consequences to her because of her actions. She looked at me, meeting my eyes for the first time since this started and I saw the fear in her eyes. Bella glared at Alice and replied in an outraged voice, betrayal seeping from every word.

"Even you, Alice, my supposed best friend, you are never on my side. I'm so tired of this. It is always the two of you. Always planning and scheming to get your way, it is always your will, your wishes, your visions, and Bella has to go along, the poor child, who doesn't know what's best for her. You have to stop this; I love you very much, I think of you as my best friend, but I don't think you know how to be a best friend. I don't want my life and decisions to be ruled by your visions, I am my own person. I want to make mistakes and learn from them, I want to screw up, worry about that and then clean up my messes. I want to meet Jasper's friends, and I will, I want to take time away from Edward and I will, and most of all, I want you to think about our friendship, and what does it mean to you, because so far you are not being a very good friend to me, you don't even respect me ." She was furious, looking her straight in the eye. Alice was speechless, she never saw this coming.

"And this is the last time I want to know about your visions. Keep them to yourself if they concern me. It is annoying as hell to not be able to do anything without being spied on, and don't try to control or influence my decisions, because if you do I will end our friendship, Alice, I love you, but I sewer it. " The only reaction across the house was shock. Pure and unadulterated shock. Bella had grown a backbone and finally stood for herself. I was so proud, and I sent a small sample of my pride to her, my mate was brave.

Just because I want her submissive to me, like a woman should be to a man, doesn't mean that she should bend to the others, who are nothing in her life. The bending and submission is for me only. My little girl gave me a small, tired smile; she was shaking from her explosion and the overload of emotions that she had felt.

From upstairs we heard cheers from Rosalie and Emmet. Well that was unexpected but welcome, Isabella's smile widened, and shaking her head, she turned to Edward who still hadn't moved from his position and said in a soft but determined tone, looking at him in the eye.

"Edward, please respect my whishes, and leave me be for a while. I need to think; I need time and space to figure us. I need to clear my head, and think about my life and I need to see if there is anything left between us. You are overwhelming me with your presence. I love you, but now, it's just too much. Please don't follow me and don't come to my room at night. I need my space. When I want to talk to you again I will let you know. The same goes for you, Alice" Alice and Edward just stood there with their mouth's hanging open not knowing what to do, so shocked that their emotions were a complete blank. After a few minutes they looked at each other and them back to Isabella, who was patiently waiting for an answer, they nodded to her, and then turned on their heels jumping out of the window but going in separate directions.

Bella took a deep breath to calm herself, and then turned to me and sighed. I could see she wanted some comfort, either a hug or some words to take her out of her misery.

A small part of me wanted to comfort her but I didn't know how to do it. It has been long since I had comforted anyone. Maybe when I was human, I didn't remember. but in my vampire years the comforting included a bed, her naked, me on top of her, or under her, or behind her, and her screaming in pleasure or pain, better yet, both, hummm, yeap, that's my kind of comfort.

But the fluffy stuff, the cuddling, the soft words, nope that is not me, I am not the warmest person in the world.

I believe in carrying the burden of our actions and taking the full responsibility for them. Isabella has to grow up fast, to be able to be at my side. And that includes standing for what she believes. It will be my job as her mate to correct her wrongs and teach her. After all, I must not forget that she is only 17 years old.

I am considered by most of the people that know me as cold, heartless, manipulative and most of the time a real jerk. But what they don't understand is that having my gift allows me to feel everything, from everyone. It can be maddening if I don't keep my cool and a constant grip on my own emotions. My position in the vampire world and my own nature as a man, demands of me a lot of control. So the possibility of showing to others my real feelings may turn out to be a weakness. A weakness that I can't show and won't afford to have. Isabella might as well get used to this side of me because within a few days she will be at my side.

I love her but I will not change my ways not even for my only love. I will not let her see or anybody else, that she is my only weakness. Showing my love in the way most mates do, could turn out to be dangerous for her and for me.

So now, in front of her I acted like the bastard that I am, and I let her stand there, in the middle of the room, alone, coming to terms with her choice, while I watched her carefully. She lifted her sad eyes to me and whispered.

"Wow, I really did it this time, Edward and Alice…" she trailed, unsure of what to do or say, well, with that I could help.

"They had it coming, Isabella, they can't continue to treat you like a child. We all have talked to them about this, but they didn't listen. As a matter of fact, the rest of the family was waiting to see when you would finally come to your senses and put them in their places. Took you a while, but you know what they say, better late than never." She was feeling relief, sorrow, and fear, what the hell? Why is she feeling fear? She is afraid of me, her mate? I asked myself, frowning at the thought.

This angered me and I had to control myself in order to keep my growl low and my face even, not wanting to scare her even further. I would never hurt my mate. She was everything to me and I had done nothing for her to be afraid of me. It kind of hurt to know that she didn't trust that I would never hurt her. She must have seen the change in my demure because she reached my hand timidly and squeezed it.

"Jasper, what's going on? You seem upset, are you mad at me too?" her voice was barely a whisper, looking at me with soft eyes, her emotions expressing confusion and worry.

"Why are you afraid of me, Isabella? Do you think I would ever hurt you? Did you even listen to what I said to Edward?" I snapped, more harsh then I intended, but it was hard to control myself. My beast was not happy with our mate. She jumped at my outburst, eyes wide with incomprehension.

"I am not afraid of you Jasper, where did you get that idea?"She really didn't get it. It was impossible to lie to me, but yet I could sense her sincerity.

I was trying to hold on to my anger, to get to the bottom of this and make her understand that she didn't need to fear me. But, with her holding my hand and looking at me like that, her warmth seeping into my cold body and stirring my feelings of love, my anger was fading.

"You are forgetting my gift, Isabella? I can feel your fear, you were afraid just now before they left, and you were left alone with me." Comprehension dawned on her and she blushed.

" Oh, I see " and her blush intensified, so good, so warm, she must be so warm all over, my lord, I had a hard on so painful already, but before my mind could enter the gutter even further, she continued, still holding my hand rubbing her thumb over my skin.

"But you are wrong, I am not afraid of you, how could I? You have always been here for me; you have always taken my side, and defended me, even with your own life. I have listened what you said to Edward just now. And it meant so much to me; it gave me so much strength. I don't know if I can explain it to you. But I will try. My fear is that I can feel and see that something is happening to me, and I don't understand what it is. I feel that every hour of every day I am changing, and turning in to a different person, my feelings and emotions are changing minute to minute. "

"I feel that I am loosing myself and I don't know who I am anymore. But, I want to find out; I want to figure this out, because I know that this is growing up, this is me turning into a woman, and this change and how I take it will make me the person I will be for the rest of my life." She frowned as if trying to make sense of what she was saying. Ah, yes there it is, she was really growing up, and she starting to get unsatisfied with her fairy tale romance and life. I nodded, for her to continue still holding her hand.

"But with Edward and Alice it becomes even more difficult, they don't let me be. Edward is always saying that he wants me to live human experiences and to live all that I can, but he doesn't want me to grow up. And that just saddens me; I feel that I am going to a place where he cannot follow me."

Again I nodded. Yes; Edward would be always 17 years old, a teenager for eternity, frozen, and she was a woman, human, already more mature than him, and growing up and evolving fast. In a few months emotionally and mentally she would reach my age, 20 years old. I knew there was more, but I could sense her embarrassment to continue, so I sent her some confidence and squeezed her hand. She smiled, and then lowered her eyes to the ground speaking so low, that if I was not a vampire I would not have been able to listen to what she was saying.

"And, I 'am afraid that my changes will make you all go away, because you don't like to change. I am afraid of losing you guys if I am no longer with Edward." She was opening up to me for the first time. This is how it is suppose to be, her, leaning on me, finding support in me, her mate. I grabbed the hand that was still holding mine, in both of mine; careful with the pressure I applied, and looked into her eyes.

"Yes, that is called growing up; it is making decisions, sometimes hard ones, and stick by them. It is making mistakes, and learning from them. It is seeing where you want your life to go, without the interference of others and led it that way. It is being you and sticking by yourself." I filled her with determination, pride, a bit of love and happiness, and smirking to her mischievously, I let her feel it.

"And you don't have to worry; I will never let you leave me. I will never leave you, neither the other's in this house. You are important to me, to us, I will never go away" She looked at me, acknowledging the manipulation of her emotions and smiled at me. A beautiful wide smile, all the worry in her eyes gone, replaced by happiness and awe. Good, happy is good; happy with me was even better.

The assurance that she was feeling after my little speech was amazing. She trusted me completely already; I wonder if I could stop the manipulation of her inner feelings and start showing her that that there are other alternatives to Edward, that I am here, ready and waiting for her, and if it is the right time to move.

Fuck, where is Peter when I need him? I thought to myself, while starring into those deep brown eyes. Well, if anything I am a man of action. I will make my move today while everything is still fresh, and she had not the time to think things over. I will start to tease her; I will feed all those bottled feelings until there is nothing more than want and need for me. It will be her to come to me; it will be her to surrender to me, to beg to me to take her and to make her mine. This is a war and I thrive in war. I will deal with Alice and Edward, this time I will not be stopped. You are already mine Isabella.