Author's Note: Hey guys, thanks for the wait! Hope you all enjoy it, and as always, please tell me what you think. Oh, and I'd like to apologize in advance for doing something a little bit mean. If you don't know what it is by the time you finish this chapter, then that's good for me.

Chapter 7

Feeding was quick and painless––for Bella, anyways––and it wasn't long before she was rushing back to Irina. Irina, her mate. Irina, who was totally starting to accept her despite her misgivings about the whole Volturi thingy.

Just the thought of her blonde angel brought a smile to Bella's face and made her run faster. She was definitely going to woo the Denali coven, but she was going to go all out for Irina and show her just how amazing of a mate Irina had gotten.

Her grin widened, turning a bit goofy, as she imagined all of things she would get to do to Irina once they were alone and Irina had been properly seduced. Just the thought got Bella all hot and bothered, so just thinking about what the actual sex would do...

As she approached the Denali house, she quickly realized that her plans might need to take a detour when a stoic yet clearly angry Tanya met her in the clearing in front of the house. Arms crossed, body tense, and Irina nowhere in sight. Immediately, Bella's shoulders slumped, and a "Fuck" slipped from her lips.

"Fuck indeed," Tanya said, baring her teeth at the ancient. "You told us that the Volturi wouldn't notice you were missing."

At that, Bella got a little confused. "Yeah, I did. They shouldn't be missing me yet, especially not this soon. Why would they?" Unless Bella had fucked something up more than she thought before she had come to Denali, there really shouldn't be a reason for them to come after her.

"Well, then might you explain why the Witch Twins are on their way here, and should be here within a few hours at most?" Tanya hissed, her fury brought to the surface by her need to protect her coven.

"The Witch Twins? Alec and Jane?" Bella asked, brightening at the thought that they had actually come after her. Maybe they had even defected, and Bella could have the two adorable munchkins all to herself! Bella's excited smile dimmed, however, when she realized Tanya didn't look happy with the news. "I like the Witch Twins. They're fun," Bella said, a little apologetically as the woman before her was her mate's sister.

"The Witch Twins helped kill our mother! And now they're coming here…" Tanya trailed off, all but shaking with anger and grief. "If it wouldn't make the entire Volturi come after us, I would do everything it took to burn them where they stand!"

As Tanya spoke, Bella felt her heart sink. Damn it all to fuck, things were a lot worse than Bella had thought. Not only did the coven have a huge reason to hate the Volturi, but now two objects of their hatred were coming here because of her.

Aw, come on, she had just met her mate. Why couldn't things just go smoothly for more than a second?

"Maybe I could get them to leave?" Bella suggested half heartedly. She really loved the twins and would do anything to keep them, but this was her mate and her mate's coven she was thinking about here. One day they might at least come to terms with what happened, but Bella knew that it wasn't going to happen soon.

"Sure," Tanya said, but Bella could tell the coven leader didn't believe it was possible for Bella to do so. In fact, a part of Tanya might have even hoped that Bella would get harmed by the twins, simply because it was Bella who brought the twins on them in the first place.

"Right. Then I'll go do that," Bella said, heading in the direction she assumed the twins would be coming from. She was going to put some distance between the house and the meeting point, of course, and she expected the twins to catch her scent before arriving at the house. It's not like they were some stupid newbie vamps or anything.

"You will do so where I can see and hear you," Tanya stated, and Bella almost went all Queenie on her at the order. But she reminded herself that this was her mate's sister and the coven leader, that they were just nervous, and...yeah. Bella still wanted to go all levels of Queenie on her. She couldn't help it, after so many years getting her way and all, and showing other vampires, quite violently, just what would happen if someone tried to actually order or control her-well, Bella had instincts and urges she couldn't just toss out the window.

"Got it," Bella said, glancing towards the house. It hit her harder than she liked when her eyes met a very worried and scared looking Irina in one of the windows, and then she felt a murderous rage start to boil when Laurent put a comforting arm around her angel and smirked in Bella's direction. In a soft voice, Bella muttered, "Bitch, I won't even need my final form to rip off your fucking head. Hell, I don't even need my arms and legs-"

"Excuse me?" Tanya asked, rather sharply.

Bella didn't even bother trying to pretend to be repentant. She simply gestured towards Laurent, never taking her eyes off of the man, and said, "Bitch boy here doesn't seem to know to keep his hands to himself. I know you're pissed at me and all, but can't you just chain him to a wall or some shit?"

Tanya stared in the direction of Laurent, only a few seconds before Irina had shrugged off Laurent's arm. Tanya and Bella weren't close enough to the house for them to be overheard, which only made Bella prouder that Irina had shrugged off the booger without actually hearing what they were talking about. That's my girl. Still, Laurent was standing as closely and possessively as possible, and it was clear the coven leader could see that. Bella could too, obviously, and it was quite hard for her to not go over there, punch a hole through the window, grab Laurent by his all too spiffy collar, and drag him right through the glass and out of the house so she could then work on her skill of embedding people's heads, and maybe their entire bodies, into the ground. She had seen someone do that in a manga once, and she was all too happy to try and perfect the skill on Irina's ex-lover.

"I will have a talk with him," was all Tanya said, but Bella knew that would have to be enough. The vampire queen nodded and sighed, turning reluctantly away from Irina. She had zeroed in on a nice boulder nearby that she figured was as good a place as any to wait, and was going to do it quick, but definitely sexy-her mate was still watching after all-jump and flip maneuver onto it, but Tanya's voice stopped her. "Wait."

Bella paused, then turned towards the blonde, not wanting to show the coven leader any disrespect. Then she waited, quite patiently, she might add, for Tanya to finish examining her and say whatever she needed to say.

It took what felt like forever for Tanya to meet her eyes in a serious, and no longer searching way. "Before you try to talk to them," because clearly Bella wasn't going to actually get through to them, at least in Tanya's mind, "Is there anything you would like to tell me?"

Bella cocked her head in thought, wondering what the blonde could possibly be getting at. Then she gave up with a shrug and said, "Nope, not really."

Apparently Bella's answer wasn't enough for Tanya, because the woman seemed to only grow more insistent. "Well, is there anything you would like to say to me? Something perhaps involving this situation, the Volturi, and even Irina?"

Once again, Bella thought, only to realize what she needed to say with a huge grin. "You've got seriously hot sister. And I'm talking the hottest woman I've ever seen here."

Tanya stared for a second, and then her lips quirked up in a half smirk. "I'll be sure to inform Kate of your appreciation. Now, if you'll excuse me, I will be returning to the house. I really do not wish to have any contact with them if I don't have to."

Bella blinked, stunned at Tanya's words. "You better be joking!" she shouted after the coven leader.

"Not at all. I really do not wish to have any contact with the Witch Twins," Tanya threw over her shoulder as she continued to walk towards the house at a human's pace.

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it!" Bella shot back, knowing better than to follow her when Alec and Jane could be here at any moment. "I was never talking about Kate!"

"Really? I couldn't quite tell," Tanya said with a laugh. "Well, I guess I'll just tell Irina what I heard and we'll see how she feels about that."

"Evil. You are one evil, evil vampire," Bella said with a shake of her head. "Evil worthy of me, even." That generated more laughter from the coven leader, who grew further amused when Bella clearly pouted and started towards the rock. While Bella could be stupid at times, she wasn't stupid enough to even accidentally mess up her meeting with Alec and Jane. "You better at least make it clear to her that you're joking."

"Let's see how this plays out first," Tanya said, and then she was through the door and in her house. The window opened a moment later, probably to have a clear visual sign that Tanya and the rest of the coven would be listening.

"Damn, I really can't catch a break." She almost muttered about how much Tanya and Jane would get along, but she obviously didn't want to open another can of worms for the coven. So instead, she kept her mouth shut, hopped up onto the rock, and waited for the twins.

It felt like an eternity to Bella, an eternity that was almost torturous, as Bella could feel Irina's stare on her. The feeling never left, and Bella had to constantly resist the urge to simply go to the blonde. Yet she didn't even turn around, afraid of what she might find.

All she could hope was that Tanya was at least making sure Laurent kept his hands off of Bella's mate. If not, she really couldn't be held accountable for her actions.

Would Irina forgive her for killing him if she pled momentary insanity?

Like Bella, Alec and Jane had felt like their run towards Alaska took a thousand times longer than the actual trip. They were just filled with so much anger and annoyance-although that was directed at the Cullens-as well as anxiety. Anxiety that they would miss Bella somehow, and then have to torture the information out of the Denalis as to where she might have gone next.

They really needed to find Bella soon. Not knowing where she was and what she was doing was all but killing them. At one point, Jane had went on a five minute rant about Bella being stuck in the past and the stupidity that Bella refused to have a cellphone. Not that Bella was stupid, Jane would never say such a thing. The situation, however, was very stupid indeed. The stupidest.

Five minutes might not seem like a very long time, but when you're a vampire and able to talk so inhumanly fast, anyone would be surprised how much could be said in a single minute, let alone five.

While it wasn't too long for a vampire, it still took a good chunk of time until they were close enough to catch the scent of one of the Denali coven. And then, miracle of all miracles, they caught Bella's scent as well-running away from the Denalis and their home.

"Fuck!" Jane hissed, and although her brother never said a word, his lips thinned with Alec's suppressed emotion. Thankfully, Bella's tracks weren't too old, so they didn't feel too hopeless as they quickly focused on their new lead.

Pouring on the speed, they took off in the direction that they believed would lead them to Bella.

If only they had found Bella's returning tracks sooner, or even thought to check the house first. Maybe then they wouldn't have had to deal with such an...excitable queen when they finally reached their true destination.