When we left the plane, I grabbed Bella's arm and moved her behind me. There was a low growl coming from her, but not loud enough for the humans to hear, yet. But if she gets anymore worked up, that will not be the case.

"Calm down Pet, I'll take care of this. You just stay behind me for now." The little thing was trying so hard to calm down, but when you cut off one of their senses, it tends to make the young ones skittish. "If you don't do it yourself I will have to do it for you, and I know you don't like it when I do. Settle the fuck down."

She looked up at me with eyes that were begging me for something. "You said not to breathe. I can't calm down without breathing." I didn't think so.

I reached behind me and grabbed her hand. "You're fine darlin'. Nothing is going to happen here. I know better, and they wouldn't dare." I shot her with calm and took away her aggression. It was then that the last people that I ever wanted to see flagged us down.

With a fake smile plastered in place, Aro clapped his hands together. "Well, this is a wonderful surprise. Major Jasper Whitlock, how wonderful to see you again, and with a female's company. This is truly fantastic." God is he annoying. He was trying to get an eye full of Isabella, but I was not having that. I positioned myself so he could not see the short shit behind me.

"Aro, pleasure as always. You'll have to excuse her; she is still quite young and still very skittish."

"She has nothing to fear from me, Major, I assure you." Yeah, no fucking shit.

"I didn't think she did. Aro, I don't think that this welcome is for us. What brings you here all the way from Italy?"

"I was informed that a few of my dearest friends were coming here and I thought that I would greet them on their arrival. I was not expecting you to disembark." No, I bet you didn't.

"Seeing how we are not friends, I would not assume you would."

"Now now Major, that's not very polite. Are you going to introduce me to this young lady?"

"Nope, wasn't planning on it. But if you will excuse us. It was a long flight and she has gone to long without feeding."

"Yes, of course. Don't be a stranger Major. I would so love to get to know your companion."

"Mate, Aro. She is my mate, and it will be a cold day in hell before you 'get to know her', of that you can be sure."

"Mate? Now I must at least know her name. Any lady that can capture the heart of the most revered vampire alive must be special."

"Her name is of no consequence to you."

"Be careful Major. You forget to whom you are speaking to."

"Again, nope. I know precisely to whom I am speaking. I think it is you who forget who you are talking to. I can personally guarantee that you will be seeing more of what you did 70 years ago. The Southern Major is back, and that makes me and my mate off limits to you."

"No one is off limits Major. There are still laws, no matter what you think. You might be back to your old self, but you were not above them before, and you certainly are not now." I smirked. Wanna bet on that old man.

"If that is what you need to think to get you through your day Aro, go right ahead. I can feel your fear, and it is like balm to me. I find the fact that you are having a hard time not shaking in your boots a pretty good indicator that no matter what I do, you would never go against me. I have no problem proving my theory. That is, if need be." I cocked my head to the side. "Is it?"

"My guard is very capable to keep even you in line." At that I out right laughed.

"Your guard can't even look me in the eye. How the fuck are they to do anything if that tiny little feat can't even be accomplished? My newborns might know they are going to die in battle, but they show no fear and will look you in the eyes even while you are tearing off their head. Aro, I must say, you are getting soft. There was a time that even I feared you. But that was when you lived by the fact that there are things that can happen to us that are far worse than death." Bella was starting to shake behind me. I turned my head to look at her and her head was down. I could feel mirth coming from her. I can't believe she found this shit funny. I just shook my head. "As I said Aro, we must be on our way. I have a mate to feed, and you have people to meet."

"I do expect you to bring her to meet me Major. That is an order, not a request."

"Good thing I don't take orders from you, then. The only orders I follow are that of my mistress, and even then it's a bit iffy. Enjoy Paris while you're here. It is a lovely city." I pulled Bella along with me. "Come on Darlin', let's get you fed and a nice hot bath, yes?" She just nodded, probably not trusting her voice to talk with out laughing.

When we got outside it was cloudy enough to get to the car without sparkling like a fairy. That was also the point that my little instigator could not hold it in any longer. She was laughing so hard that she stopped walking and grabbed onto my arm to keep from falling. I just looked at her with a smirk, wondering what the fuck she found so funny. When she calmed down enough to talk she looked up at me. "Was that THE Aro? The king that Edward told me about?" I nodded. "Wow. Edward said that everyone was so afraid of him."

"I'm not. I don't know anyone from the south that is. Sure, they like to think that they can control what goes on there, but everyone knows they can't. They tried once, but they lost more guards than they killed off armies. Aro is a pansy ass. I know for a fact that my army could destroy his guard, and so does he." I opened her door and helped her in. when I got in the car I looked back over to her. She was feeling curious about something. "Something on your mind?"

"Why didn't you want to tell him my name?"

"With Aro, the less information you give him the better. He is one of the fuckers that would use you against me in order to bend me to his will."

"What does it do to our trip now that we know he's here, and he knows that you have a mate?" I closed my eyes and sighed. I knew she would pick up on that.

"Unfortunately, it will cause a problem. He has a tracker that will be able to follow us wherever we go. What that means is, my dear, you are not allowed to leave my sight. Or better yet, my side. If you get more than three feet away from me, I am going to be pissed. And I know that I promised it was going to be just us, but I am going to have to call Peter to come here as well." Her face dropped. I reached over and cupped her cheek. "I'm sorry, but while they are in the same country, I can't take any chances that would put, or lead, you to be in any danger. And as long as they are here, that is precisely what you are in."

"I don't understand. If you're so powerful, at least enough for him to be so afraid of you, why would he be stupid enough to do something like that?"

"Power makes the power hungry stupid. If he has his sights set on someone, he will do whatever he has to do to get them."

"And his sights are on you?"

"Have been for almost as long as I have been alive; well, a vampire anyway. If he gets his hands on you, he knows that I will go where you are. He also knows that I will do whatever he asks to ensure your safety. Even if it is working for him till I can get you out of there without harm coming to you."

"Why though?"

"Why though what? You're my mate, you belong to me and I don't take it well when people fuck with what's mine. How the fuck have you not learned this yet?"

"Gee, I don't know. It could have something to do with what you said on the plane. I think it was something along the lines of you not loving me. I think it could be…" I slammed on the breaks. When the car stopped, I got out. I walked way more calmly than I felt around the car and opened her door, grabbed her arm, pulled her out behind me and drug her into the woods on the side of the road.

When we got far enough into the woods that we could not be seen or heard, I whipped her around to face me. I didn't want to hurt her so I let go and took a few steps back. She went to put more space between us. I don't even fucking think so. "Move an inch, I fucking dare you." She stopped dead in her tracks. "That's what the fuck I thought. I am going to give you the chance to finish what you were going to say, and then I am going to handle it. Go ahead. Say whatever you want to."

She shook her head no. That pissed me off even more. "I'm not asking, I'm telling. Finish your goddamn thought." I was growling and I knew she was scared. At this point, my inner demon was basking in it, drawing on it, thriving on it, using it against her. If she had a heartbeat, it would be through the roof. I crossed my arms, stood at my full height, and waited. "We aren't moving from this spot till you do what you're told." I'll give her this much, she knows when the fuck to suck it up and take whatever I have in store for her. I knew when she gave up; her shoulders slumped and her head dropped.

"I was going to say, I think it was something along the lines of you not loving me. I think it could be," she took a deep breath, blew it out her nose, and shifted her eyes to look at me, carefully avoiding eye contact. "It could be something more about sharing a new toy that you're not done playing with yet." Her voice was no louder than a butterfly's wing flapping, but I heard her like she was screaming.

I stopped breathing. I felt my eyes go pitch black and hard as granite. "Anything else?" Jesus, I didn't even sound like me anymore. At this point, I know I can't touch her, because I know I will hurt her. She was hesitant before shaking her head no. "Isabella, right now is not the best time to lie to me." Her eyes widened slightly. I have never called her by her name when I'm pissed at her. It is always Pet. Then again, I have never been this pissed at her before. She shrank a little when my eyes narrowed on their own accord. "Well?"

"Umm, uhh, I can't Major."

"You fuckin' better. This is your last chance to do it willingly. It will be far worse if I have to make you." Her eyes dropped and started shifting back and forth. I know that look; I have seen it so many times before. "If the next thing out of your mouth is a lie, so fucking help you, you better make your peace with whatever God will listen. I'm done with your games." Her head snapped up and shock took over her face and eyes. A dark chuckle worked its way out of me, and I dropped my head. Not moving from the position I was in my eyes moved and locked with hers. A slow smirk downed my face and my eyes sparked with amusement as I saw her gulp. I still recognized my mate, but I was getting a very sick pleasure and even sicker satisfaction out of her fear. "Are you going to talk or am I going to have to get it out of you my way?"

She was literally shaking when she was able to muster up enough courage to talk on her own. "I don't understand how or why you would do all that for someone you don't love and only see as a Pet."

With my head still down, I turned it to the side. "A Pet? You have not been seen as a Pet in a very long time. You stopped being my little pet when I bit you the first time. You became much more than that when that shit happened. We have been over this, but perhaps, since you got all pissed, you stopped listening, or trying to understand how this shit works. So I will explain it one last time and God fucking help you if you ever pull this shit again. You are my mate. You mean the world to me. Not only would I kill those that try to harm you, I would die to do it. Your safely is my number one priority. God help those that try to harm you. I think the biggest thing you are having a problem with when it comes to understanding this concept, is I never told you WHY I chose you. And it was a choice. It's not a love at first sight thing. Not at all. There's no pull, there's no looking at them and just knowing, no shift in our chemical makeup. All that shit is just that, bull shit. We choose our mates based on how easy it is to make them into what we want, and their scent. That's it. The only draw we have is to your sent, and guess what the fuck. As soon as our venom is introduced into your system, your sent changes."

"But, the Cull…" I shot forward, had her neck in my hand, and her feet off the ground before she could finish the thought.

"Forget about the fucking Cullens! I am doing my best here to keep from doing anything to you, but I only have so much control and you're testing it worse than you did as a human. Everything you learned while with them is fuckin bogus. I have told you this I don't know how many times. What the fuck do I have to do to get this through your fucking thick ass skull, without literally beating it into you? Jesus H Christ Isabella, I swear you do this sit on purpose just to see what the fuck your limits are. Do I need to map them out for you?" She shook her head no. "Could have fooled the fuck out of me." I rubbed my face with my free hand. I looked back at her, shook my head, and took a deep breath. It was with that breath that I found out we were not as alone as I thought.

My head snapped in the direction the wind was coming from. I felt her tense in my hand and a growl built up in her chest. So she could smell them too. I set her on the ground and spun around so she was behind me. I was crouched down, muscles tight, ready to spring. I knew those scents, knew them very well. She didn't know who was coming up on us, but I did.

"Who is that, Major?"

A sick, sadistic smile came to rest on my lips. "Well my dear that would be Aro's dear friends." She was peeking over my shoulder, squinting her eyes, and trying to see into the dense forest. "Don't try so hard. You'll see them in a moment. But I'll bet anything you're not going to want to." I tested the emotions coming from them. Shock, wariness, curiosity. A very bad combo for a vampire to feel when approaching a fellow vampire. Then they came into the clearing, and the looks on their faces were enough to make me chuckle, but their mere presence was enough to set off my little lady. There is a reason I call her my little instigator.

"You have got be fucking kidding me." So eloquently put, I must say.