Skye felt here eye twitch at the sight before her. Aro had promised that he would only call for a few of his coven members, so that she didn't feel suffocated by the presence of too many vampires, all keeping a close eye on her and making sure she was well protected.

She couldn't help but think that he'd gone a little over the top. There was four of them, all filing into the cottage and standing too attention in front of the three brothers. Why had they needed so many? When, surely, her three mates should have been enough. Apparently not. It hadn't even made a difference to the three vampires when she had insisted that she could handle herself perfectly well, considering she had been trained in weaponry from a young age, been in some of the most hostile situations a person could think of and escaped torture in China. None of these facts had made a blind bit of difference in Aro's decision.

"Mia Amore, allow me to introduce the elite of the Volturi guards. First, we have Felix. He is Caius' personal body guard and also believed to be the strongest vampire, physically, in creation"

The man names Felix smiled charmingly as she looked at him, feeling dwarfed by the colossal height of the man as he gave a slight bow. He must have been about 6ft 8 inches tall compared to her meagre height of 5ft 6 inches.

"The masters have told us much about you, my lady. Is it true that you have hyper regenerative abilities?"

She felt slightly sheepish at his question. She'd never really thought that either of her abilities were a good thing or something to boast about, so finding out that the brothers had been speaking about such things made her feel a little unsettled. She looked too Aro quickly, her hands fidgeting with nerves, suddenly feeling uncharacteristically shy. He gave her a slight nod of encouragement, all three of the kings smiling fondly at their mate, secretly startling the four guards. Never had they seen such open displays of positive emotion from their kings, especially Marcus. Having Skye in the coven could only prove to be a good thing in their minds.

"Yes... It's saved my life on a number of occasions"

"So if I cut your arm off, it would grow back?"

Felix's question had everyone staring at him in disbelief, a look that screamed 'are you serious?'. Skye felt any drop of shyness drain from her as she looked at him.

"Do I look like a salamander? You cut my arm off, I lose a limb! Unless you're going to be the one to hold it back in place whilst the tendons, nerves and the severed bones and muscles reconstruct and rejoin"

It had been an incredibly stupid question but, as Felix grinned even wider at her reply, she found herself unable to hold back her own chuckle of amusement. Something about the giant man made her like him, almost as if she were looking at a brother that she had known all her life.

"Moving swiftly on"

The three kings were each sending a rather pointed look towards Felix as Marcus spoke. Skye couldn't quite understand why the giant had a sudden look of concern in his eyes, almost as if he were afraid of the three brothers. What would such a colossal man have to fear if he possessed the strength that they credited him for?

"Next, we have Demetri. He is my own personal body guard and also the best tracker amongst our kind. Once he has the tenor of your mind, there is nowhere on this earth that you can hide. He will always find you"

At Marcus' words, the second man stepped forward. He must have been at least a head shorter than Felix but he was clearly just as well built. He was smiling softly as he took Skye's hand within his own, bowing low before placing a kiss against the knuckle.

"An honour to meet you at last, my lady. You are even more lovely than I could have imagined"

Skye felt her cheeks light up at his smooth tone of voice and actions, clearly he was a bit of a lady's man. The sound of an enraged growl rumbling within Caius' throat caused Demetri to step back as Skye turned to look at him.

"Be careful who you speak such flattery too, Demetri. Or did you forget who she is the mate of?"

He had moved to stand behind Skye, his broad frame shadowing her petite figure as he placed his hands on her shoulders and glared menacingly towards Demetri. Skye sent him an apologetic smile, relieved that he didn't seem offended by the fair haired brothers behaviour. If anything, he seemed used to it.

"And finally, we have Jane and Alec, the twins. They are both Aro's personal body guards and, due to their rather... deadly... abilities, they are both classed amongst the most dangerous of our species. Jane is able to create the illusion of unimaginable pain in a person's mind, whilst Alec is able to cut off all senses and, ultimately, paralyze an opponent"

At the mention of the two vampires gifts, Felix and Demetri gave a slight shudder. Skye got the impression that both men had been on the receiving end on more than one occasion. The girl that stepped forward could not have been any older than fourteen when she had been turned, her lovely golden hair held up in a tight bun, only a shade or two lighter than her brothers hair, and wide ruby eyes set upon a perfectly pale, unblemished face. She and her brother could have made even the Botticelli angels weep in jealousy at their beauty.

"My queen, we swear to protect you from the threats that the masters have briefed us on..."

"Rest assured, we shall not fail, my queen"

Skye wanted to laugh slightly as Alec completed his sisters sentence, earning a look of mock annoyance from the young girl. It didn't take a genius to see that the two were extremely close.

"Thanks... I'm sorry that you all got dragged into this... Wait, why are you calling me 'queen'?"

Their words had dawned on Skye as she sent a confused look towards each of the brothers, not liking how each of them avoided her gaze and pretended to be looking at something else. What had they not told her?

"Did the masters not tell you, mistress? The Volturi is viewed as the royal family of the vampire race, it is the largest and the most powerful of all the coverns. As the leaders of the coven , your mates are the three kings that reign over all of our kind, passing down punishment for any crimes and enforcing the rules that have been in effect for thousands of years. As their mate, upon your change, you will become their queen"

Skye felt like screaming blue murder at Demetri's words. How could they have failed to mention something like that? They weren't just vampires, but the god damned kings! She turned slowly to face the three fully, an aura of high annoyance surrounding her as she noticed that they were still not looking at her.

"I thought we agreed! No more secrets on either side. What the hell made you omit this little detail?"

"We forgot"

Caius had to be kidding? How could they forget that they were royalty! She gave a disgruntled groan passed her lips as she pointed an accusing finger at the three kings, not noticing the amused looks in the four guards eyes at the sight of a human reprimanding their leaders.

"We'll talk about this later, understood? I've got to go and meet Daniel for tonight's talent show. If you three don't turn up, at 8pm at the community hall, then not only will you have pissed me off by hiding information from me, but you'll have hurt my feelings for not coming and seeing my act. Got that?"

She turned on her heels, stomping towards the front door as a mumbled 'Yes, my love' came from her mates. They really didn't like the fact that the guard had seen how much sway the little human woman held over them all. But what could they expect? The mere thought that they had upset their true mate would make any vampire feel a little sheepish.

"Mistress, what will your act entail?"

Skye looked over her shoulder at the sound of Alec's voice, starting to feel annoyed at how formal the guards were behaving with her.

"Guys, seriously, just call me Skye and drop all the 'mistress' and 'my queen' crap. And my act is going to be a singing and dancing routine. Daniel is singing and I'm dancing... Burlesque"

With that said, she had bolted out of the door and away from the cottage, leaving the three kings to stare in shock at where she had stood before going into a frenzy of jealousy and slight panic. Their mate would be doing a burlesque routine... In front of others and they would have to tolerate it.

Felix was grinning madly as he nudged Demetri in the arm, gaining the others attention.

"I think I like that girl"

"She'll certainly spice things up back in Volterra"

Jane rolled her eyes as she gave the two men a swift whack, watching as her brother attempted to calm their leaders. She smirked as they both clutched their arms in mock pain.

"You're both complete idiots"

So that was chapter eleven :) Hope you all enjoyed it. Coming up in the next update, Skye and Daniel's performance, a steamy moment between Skye and the three kings as well as disaster at the hotel.

A huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed and favourite/followed. Keep letting me know what you think of the story so far and I promise that a fresh update will be up as soon as possible.

Thanks again everyone :) Happy reading! X