Author's Note: Guys, just so you all know, the amount of stories I'm writing doesn't effect my update speed. I'm sorry if you all think I'm being slow in updating or that I have too many unfinished stories, but I'm updating as fast as I can here. The truth is, even if I had half of the stories I do now, I would be updating at the same pace simply because I'm having trouble writing at the moment. If I just focused on some of my oldest stories, I wouldn't be able to update at all, and then you guys wouldn't have anything new of mine to read. I'm sorry if a lot of you or frustrated with the fact that I'm not updating some of my stories fast enough, but that's just how it is. In other news, I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 10

"Isabella," Zafrina spoke loudly in Bella's ear, waking the girl up with a start.

"Wha...what? What's happening? What's going on?" Bella asked, looking around worriedly as if expecting a threat. But she simply found that she was held tightly in Zafrina's arms, the amazon sitting on the ground and staring at the human intently.

"I love you," Zafrina declared. "You will allow me to court you."

Bella stared up at Zafrina, completely bewildered. It was way too early for her exhausted brain to come up with anything, let alone process whatever was apparently happening. So all she could say was, "...what?"

Zafrina opened her mouth to repeat herself, only for Senna to place a hand on Zafrina's shoulder, stopping her.

"You can't just wake a human up and drop a bomb on them like that, Zafrina," Kachiri chided as she sauntered over, which only confused Bella further. "At the very least, let her wake up first."

Zafrina frowned with annoyance. It had taken her hours of debating to figure out what she should do, what she should say, how she should approach the subject...and she had finally figured it out. It was only natural that something so important be told to Isabella as soon as possible. What had she done wrong?

Come on, brain, work. What did Zafrina tell me? Bella thought desperately, knowing it was important. Very important, even if Bella judged by the looks on the three amazons' faces alone. Something about a...court?

Zafrina turned to stare at her mate, still frowning. "When will you be fully awake?" she asked, trying not to let the frustration seep into her voice. She wanted Isabella to know the truth, wanted to tell her mate everything. For the first time in her life, she didn't want to wait.

Now that, Bella mostly understood. "I...I don't know," Bella said helplessly. It wasn't like she could control her body.

Zafrina let out a low hiss. Sensing the coven leader's emotional turmoil, Bella leaned into Zafrina while taking Zafrina's hand with her own, offering comfort. The vampire quickly relaxed, but not enough to stop from keeping her anxious gaze on Bella.

Senna left after a few moments of silence, and returned later with some food for the human. It was cooked and handed over to Zafrina. Even as Zafrina took it from her sister, she never removed her eyes from Isabella's face, trying to judge if the human was awake enough for Zafrina's news.

Bella, aware of Zafrina's intense gaze, started to fidget self consciously, keeping her eyes down and wondering just what she had missed hearing. Since she made no move to try to eat the food, too focused on Zafrina, Zafrina started to rip off pieces and feed them to Bella. Automatically, Bella opened her mouth for each piece of meat, which, even in Zafrina's distracted state, pleased the coven leader immensely. It had, after all, felt like an eternity since Zafrina had last done this for the human, and she had missed being able to do it.

Only when Bella started making noises of protest, trying to say that she was beyond stuffed, that Zafrina stopped feeding the human and set the remaining meat aside.

Then, once more, silence descended. Bella was still stuck in Zafrina's lap and had resumed her fidgeting, and Zafrina once again focused completely on staring at Bella, waiting to see if she was awake enough yet. It got to the point that Senna rolled her eyes in annoyance and turned away to leave the two to themselves, but Kachiri grabbed her wrist to stop her. She knew how important this moment was, and was afraid that if they left Zafrina and Isabella alone, their coven leader would mess things up greatly. So the two decided with nothing more than a glance that they would keep their distance, but be prepared to interfere.

"Isabella," Zafrina said after a few more moments of silence. The human didn't look at her, so she took the human's chin in her hand and tilted Bella's head up to meet Zafrina's eyes. "You are awake now."

I don't know, Bella thought desperately, the stress of Zafrina's dark gaze on hers getting to her. I just don't know. But the eye contact...if you'd just stop doing that...I can't focus on your words when you look at me, so...god, what was I saying?

"Zafrina," Kachiri spoke up, sensing the problem. "Let her look away from you."

Zafrina frowned at that, glancing up at Kachiri with annoyed confusion. Bella let out a breath of relief as she was released, but Zafrina didn't notice, focused on her coven mate. "Why? Eye contact is necessary for serious discussion. Especially in mates."

Bella stiffened as she heard and processed Zafrina's words, and then her gaze flew up to Zafrina's face in shock. "In what?" she squeaked. "What do you mean, in mates?"

Oh. Perhaps I have made a mistake by announcing it in this fashion, Zafrina thought, turning her gaze back to her now agitated human. But at least Isabella was clearly awake now. "You are my mate, Isabella. Therefore, I need to court you. You will allow this." There, that was a much better way to tell her.

"What?" Bella exclaimed, still in shock. "So you mean to say...I'm your mate? Since when? Why? How? What do you-"

Zafrina let out a frustrated noise as she covered Bella's mouth with her hand, silencing the confused babble. Then she stared down at Isabella, not sure what to do next, and stupidly on Bella's part, she had made eye contact and now was nearly as lost as Zafrina was. However, Zafrina was certainly more confused and lost in every regard. The vampire hadn't expected this response from her mate, but then again, she didn't know exactly what she expected Isabella's response in the first place. It appeared that she should have come into the situation more prepared.

"You are my mate," Zafrina repeated, staring intently into Bella's eyes, like that would help Isabella get over her intense emotions. In her mind, nothing else mattered; not the how or why or when, even if it could all be explained. It was simple; Bella was her mate, and that was all there was to it.

Kachiri sighed, knowing that Zafrina wasn't about to try to explain things. Walking over, she took hold of Isabella's chin-something Zafrina hissed at her about, but Kachiri ignored that-and turned the girl's head towards her. She then had to wait for the dazed look in Isabella's eyes to clear before saying, "She knew the moment she saw you, Isabella," Kachiri explained. "That's what happens with vampires. The second their eyes meet their mate's, the bond is formed, and often undeniable from the get go. The only reason you don't feel the same way is because you're human."

"But then…" Bella started, memories from her time with Edward surfacing in her mind. "I...the other coven I was with. There was this boy among them, and he said I was his-"

"Mine!" Zafrina snarled, arms snaking around Bella's waist and jerking the girl tightly against her body. All she had to do was hear the words "I was his" and that was enough. For anyone else to try to claim her mate...never before had Zafrina felt such an intense urge to slaughter someone.

Bella looked up into Zafrina's black eyes, and thankfully this time, she wasn't hypnotized; most likely because those eyes weren't focused on hers, but instead, an imaginary threat. As if Edward was about to pop out and try to take Bella away from her.

"Whoever you're speaking of was never your mate," Kachiri explained gently. "The proof is right in front of you. No vampire could ever willingly leave their mate, yet this coven of yours abandoned you. The boy who said you were his," -this got another immediate hiss from Zafrina- "was either incredibly deluded or outright lying to you."

"I see," Bella murmured. And she really did understand, as the proof truly was right in front of her. Not only was Edward not here, but Zafrina was, clutching tightly, almost fearfully, at Bella at even the thought that Bella could be taken away.

Without thinking, Bella reached out and caressed Zafrina's cheek with her fingertips, eyes never leaving Zafrina's face. She got to watch and feel as Zafrina calmed, body loosening, lips once again covering her teeth, which had previously been bared in a snarl. The previously black eyes lightened and warmed, once again focusing on Bella. For the first time, Bella met those eyes without a fear of losing her mind. Instead, she focused on what she saw-the warmth and love in Zafrina's gaze-and felt overwhelmed with a sweet heat she had never felt before. Thankfully, she wasn't even badly hypnotized, as Zafrina wasn't staring at Bella with that dominant intensity that she usually did, so Bella truly didn't have any worries.

How could Bella have not noticed Zafrina's feelings before, even when hypnotized? The woman's feelings were so clear, with no effort made to hide them, and Bella knew that Zafrina's eyes had always been this way. It made Bella feel bitter towards herself, knowing that she had been avoiding that gaze for so long, despite the risks.

But still...now that Bella had thought back on everything that happened, even if Bella had never once looked into Zafrina's face, Bella should have felt Zafrina's love for her. How could she have been so dense? Sure, Zafrina didn't exactly help matters along due to the fact the vampire was so clumsy in expressing her emotions, but still. Bella felt she should have picked up on something by now.

The only reason she could think of as to why she hadn't picked up on Zafrina's love for her was Edward. He had so destroyed her with his parting comments before abandoning her in the forest that it had destroyed her emotionally. Had made her so believe that she couldn't be loved, that she would ignore the most blatant of signs telling her otherwise, whether those feelings came from Zafrina...or whether those signs came from Bella falling in love with the amazon herself.

Bella didn't let herself linger on that fact, no matter how true it was. This was about her and Zafrina, and Bella refused to let Edward ruin that.

Lifting her other hand, she cupped Zafrina's face with both hands, continuing to stare up into her eyes. "So, Zafrina…" she started, "Say it again?"

Zafrina stared down at Bella, once again starting to frown and cocked her head to the side, clearly confused. What did Isabella want her to say? What could she have said that made Bella need to hear it again? It took her a few moments of thought, but then she remembered something from her own experiences, what she had made Isabella say every day as much as she could. And now that Isabella's thumb had brushed her lower lip...she could only want one thing, right?

"Isabella," Zafrina whispered, saying the name like a prayer.

Bella felt her entire body warm at Zafrina's words, even as she let out a low laugh. "That wasn't what I wanted you to say, but thank you."

Now Zafrina was even more confused than before. She turned to look for Senna and Kachiri for help, but didn't even manage that, because Bella's grip on her face tightened, keeping Zafrina's eyes on her. And while Zafrina could easily ignore or break the hold, she didn't; something deep inside was telling her not to. And even if she had ignored Bella's hold on her and looked to Kachiri and Senna, it wouldn't have done any good. Sensing that pretty much nothing could go wrong at that point, the two had fled, leaving Isabella and Zafrina alone.

"Oh, no you don't," Bella said once Zafrina's eyes met hers again. "This is just between you and me, we don't need any outside help."

"But I do not know what you want," Zafrina said, a touch of desperation to her voice. She wanted so badly to please her mate, that was clear, and it was beyond adorable to see the big bad coven leader trying so hard. Of course, Bella would never say that out loud; something told her that Zafrina would get pretty grumpy at being called adorable.

"Tell me, what am I to you?" Bella said, helping Zafrina along.

"My mate?" Zafrina replied, the hesitance in her voice making the words sound like a question.

"Right," Bella murmured with a small smile, her voice soft, overwhelmed at what those two words did to her. Never in her life could she believe she would feel this good. "Now, say it again for me?"

"You are my mate, Isabella," Zafrina stated, confidence blazing not just from her voice, but her eyes, temporarily making Bella fall into that hypnotized state again. Who would have thought that was what Isabella wanted to hear? If she wanted to hear Zafrina say those words, Zafrina would say them. Every day, as much as she could, for the rest of eternity, in fact.

Bella swallowed hard as she continued to stare into Zafrina's face. Now that she knew of Zafrina's feelings-not to mention her own-it was nearly overwhelming. So overwhelming, in fact, that Bella just had to kiss Zafrina.

So she did.

Author's Note: There, the moment you've all probably been waiting for. Hope it was okay.