Bella POV
I'd wanted to try going to school out here, I'd decided a few days after Mara had asked me to stay. After all I still had some kind of future to prepare for. Mara said she was coming with me instantly, we hadn't been separated further then being in different rooms in the house, for longer then an hour or so and I was a little relieved to have her with me. She didn't look too thrilled but we both needed to be in close range until we got a better grip on our more dangerous feelings for one another.
We had a very unusual friendship, one I couldn't seem to define. Everyone noticed too. The way we'd always know where the other was or what they were feeling. Or the way we'd always just touch without even realizing it, our hands and eyes lingering a moment longer then it should if we were just 'friends'. But neither of us ever commented on it. Our brothers didn't mind much either, because it all felt natural.
Then it started happening to everyone else. I hadn't picked up on it right away, none of us had. We were too close, too connected to each other and none of us understood why. Someone would go out alone, saying we'd be gone for the rest of the night, but sure enough, they'd come back a few hours later. We also acting weird towards one another. Like we all had this big secret, and we kind of did. We were territorial, if one of us was upset the rest of us would be. It was getting out of control, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was my fault. It was obvious they hadn't been like this before I'd gotten here, but we all felt like I was some kind of missing piece.
No one else in this house was going to school, but they encouraged me to do it. Finish high school and university. They got fake papers for me, I expected to wait a few months or something. But alas, the papers were waiting for me in the kitchen counter when I woke up the next morning. I was now Isabella Pruitt, taking Chris's last name.
It was a little weird being at a school after having been gone so long. That and not being around normal people, let alone normal teenagers. It was quickly apparent that I was very different then I used to be, and I loved it. Teachers, students and even the principals would glance at me, because I felt different to them and they couldn't figure out why. I wasn't trying to hide anymore and my more twisted side had flared to life like throwing gasoline onto a fire. Sure I toned it down to stay under the radar but it wasn't making much of a difference, especially when Mara was around, not all of our classes were together either. People were even more weary about Mara. She would never be able to hide her darkness, it just fell off of her in waves. Maybe she could if she tried, she was a good actor.
So yes, Phoenix felt like a life time ago. Felt like years, probably because so much had happened in the short time span since I'd ran from Phoenix. The school thing didn't really work out well.
I was more aggressive then I had been just months ago. I should've known better. I wasn't like them because of my lack of self control, let alone an average teenager. Sticking someone like me in a building for eight hours was a bad idea. We'd been in the school for about three weeks now and so far so good.
My history teacher was kind of getting on my nerves though, mostly because she hated when I didn't pay attention. I was completely enthralled with a book Tyler had showed me, it was called the Chrysalids by John Wyndham. It was about the world falling apart because of a huge nuclear war and there maybe a few thousand people left and they got the Nazi route to save humanity. That whole purifying the human race crap and because the world has been ravaged by nuclear bombs, babies don't always come out normal, and if your born with six toes your shit out of luck. It was fascinating, the things these guys read.
A ruler slammed down onto my desk with a huge slap and I jumped a foot in the air. "Have you lost you mind, you could've hit me!" I shouted glaring at Mrs. Carson.
She pointed at me with the ruler, "at the end of this ruler is an idiot."
"Which end?" the class burst into giggles and her face went bright red.
"Get out of my classroom," she snapped angrily. I just shrugged, grabbed my bag and left. Her fault for saying something so stupid.
I'd left my last class late at the end of the day and texted Mara that I'd meet her at the car once I was done at my locker. The halls were deserted by the time I'd gotten to my locker on the second floor. "Isabella?" I jumped, spinning and looking at the gym teacher.
"Yeah?" I asked a little uneasily, a strange feeling rising. Sort of a go get Mara feeling. Though I kind of always felt like that.
"Mind coming to my office a moment, I have something to talk about with you," he looked too serious to say no to.
"Sure," I pulled my bag over my shoulder, and putting the lock back on.
He led us down the hall, and through the wooden doors. They locked automatically all the time so it shouldn't surprise me it did now, but made me even more nervous. Then he unlocked the door to his office, stepping aside for me to walk through the doorway. I sat down on one of the wooden chairs.
"I wanted to talk to you about joining the basketball team, we could really use a girl like you," he said giving me a warm smile. His eyes were wrong. Mara always said to trust their eyes, because eyes can never lie, unless your Mara. But even in a second you could still a flicker of truth in them.
"Um, I don't think so. My family doesn't like me spending too much time away from home," it was true. They wouldn't want to sit around watching practice, and I doubt if Mara or anyone else could handle it if it looked like it was getting rough on the court.
"You could be great Isabella, fast, strong, so graceful," he said, eyes gleaming even more. Now he looked like a starved hyena. He moved towards me and I tensed, "you could be the star, and the star would receive some perks."
"I should go, I need to go," I said in a rush, standing up so quickly I knocked the chair over.
I turned to run for the door, when a strong grip grabbed my arm and pulled me back hard. I stumbled backwards, crashing into the desk before I regained my balance. My mind went completely blank in terror as he locked the door, trapping me. "I'll scream!"
"Go ahead, no one can hear you in here," he said in delight.
He moved towards me and my eyes skittered across the room and I remembered the blade in my back pocket. I lifted it out right as he descended on me and I struck out. He let out a pained gasp when my fist met his jaw, but didn't falter at all. I moved to stab at him and he jumped out of the way and then threw himself on me.
His weight sent me backwards and made my lower back ache painfully. I let out a surprised yelp when the desk suddenly disappeared from beneath me, sliding across the ground. He wrestled the knife away from me and when he couldn't pry it from my hands he back handed me. I felt my eyes water and cheek sting as dread settled in me once the knife vanished from my grasp.
It was thrown across the room and I began throwing punches blindly. My movements were too wide and sloppy from my terror. He had a look in his eyes again, a look I wanted to never see again. He hit me again and in the shock of the blow he'd flipped me and then his right hand went down into the front of my pants. He ripped my pants down a little and fingers entered me roughly. I felt something warm slide down my thigh and knew instantly it was blood.
My eyes watered even more and I let out a sob, using all the power I could to get away. But it was futile. This was all felt too real and that only made everything hurt more. Then he was gone and I scrambled away, tears streaming down my face. I stared at the person who'd come to my rescue, relieved and wide eyed. It was Mara, she had her back to me so I couldn't see her face but I was willing she was pissed.
She punched him with her right fist, and then kneed him in the gut. As he hunched over, she brought her fist down on his face, sending him onto the ground in a heap. He grabbed her by the ankle pulling hard and she toppled to the ground. She got up right after he did and as he rushed her, she grinned, revealing my blade and shoved it up into the bottom of his jaw. He froze, eyes widening, I could see the blood covered metal in his mouth. She pulled the knife out with a slicking sound and he dropped in slow motion.
I had to admit, seeing her ruthless destroy someone on my behalf was kind of a turn on, if it hadn't been for the horrible situation anyways.
She turned to me slowly, features showing nothing but a primal rage, more so then I'd ever seen in her eyes before. Then they softened and she dropped the blade and moving towards me. She helped me stand up and I pulled my pants up the rest of the way before throwing my arms around her. "Thank you," I said, voice breaking in the middle.
"Sorry I didn't let you kill him yourself," she said quietly, looking back at his lifeless body.
"It's okay," I whispered, a few more tears breaking free. I looked around the room a moment, an unfamiliar pain in my gut. My eyes landed on some bats standing up in the corner. I went towards it, picking up the heaviest and hardest one I could. I felt Mara's eyes on me, and when I glanced to her on my right, she said nothing. Her gaze and posture said it all though, she knew exactly what I was thinking and what I was going to do and she wasn't going to stop me. I moved towards the body, lifting the bat over my shoulder and then brought it back down.
There was a sickening crack and blood burst from his now split skull. I brought the bat down a second time, and a third and a fourth. I did it until every piece of him was crushed and broken. She wrapped her arms around me when I started to get carried away, tugging the bat from my hands and then dropping it with a loud clatter.
"Come on, let's go home," she said, draping her arm over my shoulder and I leaned into the embrace. Safety and relief washed through me under the touch and I swallowed thickly, squeezing my eyes shut and letting her guide us.
When we got back to the house we went straight upstairs. The guys must've known something had happened because all of them appeared when we got home. "What happened?" Adam asked as Mara gave me a worried look, and neither of us said a thing as we made for the bedroom.
We went into the bathroom, as she began running steaming hot water I smiled a little, as if she'd read my mind. But who wouldn't want to wash away what had just happened? She gestured for me to move towards her and I did so silently. Then it occurred to me. Did she only understand because this had happened to her before? I mean, she knew exactly what I wanted and what to do. Mara was understanding, about everything, but there has to be a reason right?
With gentle hands she lifted my shirt and bra off and then began sliding my jeans down. I blushed a little, knowing she'd probably see the blood smeared across the insides of my thighs. Her eyes darkened a little, realizing what that meant for me, and then just slipped off my underwear.
I wasn't embarrassed about being naked in front of her, I never had been, not even after we'd met. It felt natural, as if we'd known each other our entire lives. I watched her undress, fascinated as she revealed her creamy skin, reminding me so much of moonlight. God she was beautiful, like a Goddess of Night. "Like what you see?" she asked teasingly.
I blushed a little more, "who wouldn't?"
She intertwined our hands and then tugged us into the shower stall, letting the scalding water wash away the blood of my attacker and my own. She pulled her body close to mine, kissing the side of my left eye, "that will never happen again Bella, I'll make sure of that," she promised.
"I know," I said, chest bursting as I gave into my impulse and pressed my lips to her. It was gentle and light, unsure if she would pull back or not. She did, eyes widened in surprise, and I don't know why, it was long overdue. She met my gaze, for once there was an overwhelming emotion in her own and we stood their silently for a moment. She smiled, finally, and then lifted her hands through my hair and pulled me closer, give me a deeper kiss and making my entire body buzz and my heart soar.
Mara POV
We were all sitting in the back of the top floor of the bar, playing cards. But Bella had something else in mind. She strolled into the room, a determined look on her face and I shared looks with Chris and Tyler. Everyone had noticed her demeanor. She wasn't good at the poker face thing just yet, but she'd only been here about two months now. She was doing pretty well with the learning stuff, so I wasn't worried about her being on her own. She'd even taken to street racing pretty well.
"What's up B?" I asked, tossing in a five dollar bill as she walked around the table to me. She gave me a deep kiss, drawing the attention of every male in the room. People still weren't used to seeing me with someone for so long, let alone be so open about our relationship together.
"Came to talk to you," she said seriously, not sparing the rest of the table a glance.
I glanced at the others around us, even our brothers were frowning. If Bella was interrupting the game just to talk it was clearly important. But she didn't look freaked, just dead set on something. "Can you guys give us a minute?" I asked after a moment. Everyone gave me a scowl or just shrugged and stood up.
"Everything okay with you two?" David asked, standing and raising his eyebrows. He was the most vocal about our relationship outside of the pack. Well him, and Alex anyways.
"Just fine," Bella said, still not looking away from me.
They all left the room, the door clicking shut more audibly then it should. "Why does everyone seem to think I'm a phase?"
I stared at her in disbelief, "what? What are you talking about?"
"Are we together or not? Because I'm sick of not knowing whether or not you belong to me! Want to know what else I'm sick of? You getting jealous when you can't even make up your goddamn mind."
"Chris Bella, would you fucking drop it? Of course were together, we've been over this! what's this really about?" I asked eyes narrowed.
"I saw you with Ashton! Pretty friendly for someone you just fucking met," I quirked an eyebrow, a mixture of surprised and confused.
"Whose Ashton?"
"Seriously, now your going to lie to my face?" she was pissed.
"Bella, I really have no idea what your talking about," I really didn't. I didn't know any Ashton. At least if I had, I couldn't recall anyone by that name, I knew thousands of people. If they had no direct link to our family, they were basically nameless.
"Then why is everyone bringing up one name after another now? Ashton, the girl you got nice and friendly with twenty minutes ago!"
"The girl I just killed?" I blurted out, suddenly clueing into what she was talking about. Ash, I knew her name was Ash, but I wasn't a hundred percent sure what her full name was. She had managed to pick my wallet and had no idea who I was. Then she had the guts to flirt with me, so I'd led her on and then guided her into a less crowded area and finally out the back door. Her body was laying in the alley, her guts hanging out all over the ground.
"Oh yes, I'm sure she's dead Mara. Trying to save your new little girlfriend before I go after her? Your a fucking liar and a cheater," she spat, and then turned and walked away.
"Bella, wait your-," but she was already gone, having the slammed the door behind her. I had no idea this was what was about to happen when she'd walked into the room. One moment she's more or less fine, a little stressed, the next she's tearing me a new one. I turned and punched the wall, swearing heavily.
"What's going on?" Tyler asked, weary eyes finding my own pissed off ones.
"Bella thinks I fucking cheated on her. She's going off on me because we haven't labeled what we are yet," I said, the words spilling out grossly, I lifted a bottle of vodka, whipping it across the room and into the wall. It shattered, clear liquid spilling across the wall.
"That's what you guys have been arguing about lately?" Chris asked, eyebrows raised in slight worry and amusement. David and Alex were both just listening in curiously. I wasn't worried about them running to the press with our family drama. They were as close to family as outsiders could get. They had our trust, to an extent and I wasn't concerned about them betraying our loyalty. They were friends. Best friends even. If we had any that is.
"I don't understand what the fuck that girl wants from me! She knows she belongs to us now, what more confirmation does she need?" I blurted out utterly exasperated and frustrated. This was getting old. I thought we'd gotten past this just yesterday. We'd had a nice long discussion about how much she belonged to us.
"Have you been telling her she belongs to us, or to you, because it seems pretty clear she wants you to say she belongs to you," Alex pointed out, sitting back down at the table and beginning to deal. It had been his turn last. The rest of us joined the table, and I took a hearty pull from my own bottle.
"It's the same shit to me," I said as if that meant it should be the same to her. It clearly wasn't, but why? I didn't need some kind of verbal assurance that she belonged to us, and more importantly to me. I just knew she was mine, she was ours. Why did she need more? Then again, Bella had always seemed to need the words said to her before it became real. "Fuck it. Whatever, let her cool off, I'll talk to her about it later."
We must've continued the game for another half an hour when an unsettling feeling washed over me. It was like I needed to be somewhere and here was not it. I glanced around the table, my brothers had given me uneasy looks when I'd paused as soon as the feeling hit me. I'd been midway to dropping down another bill into the center of the table. "You okay?" Tyler asked me frowning.
I scowled at the table a little. Maybe I was more bothered with Bella's rage after all. I wanted to make her happy and I was doing a shitty job of it. "Yeah, I'm fine," I poured myself another drink, hoping it would settle my nerves.
It didn't. I kept shifting in my seat and the feeling was worsening. Like something was going on. "Would you relax, your making us all paranoid," David said irritably. I glared at him and then jump a foot in the air when Brandon had opened the door.
He was looking at me only, "something happen between you and Bella?"
"Why?" I asked confused.
He cringed a little, "you need to go downstairs then. Before things get worse."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" I said standing instantly and going for the door in a rush. He stepped out of my way and I didn't bother to wait and see if he answered. I moved down the stairs and out onto the dance floor of the bar. I couldn't see Bella anywhere, but I could feel her, she was in here somewhere. I would've known by now if she'd left.
I felt people glance at me almost expectantly and then I knew something was definitely going on. Then I found her. She was almost completely shielded by someone I recognized as Quinton, an acquaintance of Adam's and if there was someone more dangerous outside of us, it was him. She was flirting with him, and he had his hands on her.
"Mara, stay calm, we don't need-," but his words died as white hot fury blinded me.
I moved forward, everyone jumping out of my way. As I got to them, I tapped on his shoulder and struck out as hard as I could. I heard a resounding crack and he hit the ground, clutching his shattered jaw. I hit kicked out at him, so hard that he just toppled backwards onto the ground unconscious and bleeding.
I turned to Bella furiously and without thinking, my fist flew forward right next to her head, more or less trapping her. She didn't even flinch, she even looked triumphant. The entire bar had gone silent the moment I had gotten to them. Everyone knew what I could be like when I was angry and not a single person was stupid enough to touch me. I couldn't be reasoned with and I sure as hell couldn't be stopped. Not when I was like this.
"What's the problem?" she asked innocently.
"You know damn well what the problem is," I said icily, "what are you trying to prove Bella? How man times do I have to fucking tell you that you belong to me before it finally gets through your thick skull?"
"Oh so you can run around fucking whoever you want and I can't have a little fun without your approval?"
"Fucking right, and the girl you think I fucked is decomposing in the alley as we speak," I shouted, resisted the urge to pull out my blade and kill everyone in the room. Everyone that had witnessed her pull this stunt and kept it from me, however short the scene had been.
"Bullshit Mara! I'm not someone you can push around, you don't scare me! You made it perfectly clear no one owns you, so you don't get to own me," she shouted, shoving me away from her. "Don't expect me to keep my hands to myself if you don't care enough to do the same."
I gave her a dark look that she returned, "that blonde bitch stole my wallet when we got here and had the nerve to try and screw with me afterwards. So yeah, I indulged her a bit before I taught her a lesson. If you'd waited ten seconds to hear me out I wouldn't be two seconds from blowing up. But no, you run out and half an hour later I find you cozying up in a corner with this no good piece of shit just to get back at me."
She glared at me and as she opened her mouth so speak, I felt movement behind me. Heard it, sensed it, felt it, whatever. I side stepped, spinning and flipping my butterfly blade out and slitting Quinton's throat before he was even standing. He'd had a gun in his hand, too kill me by the looks of it. I'd cut so deep blood just burst like he'd been a water balloon, and all over Bella. I'd been out of the way for all of it. Sadly, because of his height, it had gotten all over her face, hair and chest. His body toppled over heavily.
No one spoke for a long time, not a single person in the bar said a word. Bella and I continued to stare at each other and I felt more calm then I had in a long time. "Whether you like or not, your ours and that makes you mine. Don't play games with me, because you'll lose every time. Go home."
"Give me the keys," she said furiously, disgusted with he blood all over her, but not freaked out. She seemed to handle the gorier side of my violence well. Most of the time. She sometimes commented about my taking things too far.
"No, you can fucking walk."
"I'm covered in blood, I'll get arrested," she protested.
"Then you should've thought of that before you decided to fuck with me," she hit me hard, and I took the hit, watching her exit the building before I could even straighten up again. My jaw was throbbing now, though I got the feeling I deserved it. She'd hit me pretty fucking hard too. It was a good hit.
I looked at my brothers, "kill them all."
-xxxxx-
As my brother finished cleaning up the mess we'd made I returned home. I'd taken my rage out on the bar and we'd each had our own share of fun. We were twisted when we were angry and I tried to satisfy my sadism when the opportunity arose and now I was completely calm. I knew exactly what was I about to.
I had no doubt in my mind Bella would've gone nuts on her way home, probably take a cab, probably killed the cabbie too. I knew it wasn't wise to blow up in front of an entire bar full of people. Emotional displays like that could be consequential for everyone. I wasn't left with a choice after the argument. I couldn't leave witnesses and I needed an outlet. Now a club would've been too difficult a venue to have gotten control of. Not everyone know me and know to keep quiet if we'd left them alive and there were too many people. I'd gotten lucky, everything having gone down at such a small place.
Bella was indeed home when I got there. Showered and dressed in fact, reading a book in our bedroom. She was in a blood red silk robe, ironic considering how long she'd probably been covered in blood before she'd cleaned off. More so that I'd spent the last thirty five minutes ripping my way through a bar full of criminals with our brothers.
I didn't care enough to close the door behind me and just moved towards her. She was still angry, and then irritated when I plucked the book from her hands and tossed it over my shoulder. She stood up, "what now?"
I moved quickly, shoving her and pinning her against the wall. "If you ever touch someone else again I will flip on you, do you understand?" her lips parted in a quick intake of breath, and her pupils dilated with a sudden onslaught of lust at how territorial I'd become. "You are mine Bella. You always will be, as much as I will always belong to you. Don't pull a stunt like that again or were going to have more problems to work out then a bar full of dead witnesses."
I didn't wait for a response and just kissed her ferociously, hard, demanding and primal. Pouring everything I'd felt in the last two days into this kiss.
