Break it
Those two words bounced around in Jasper's head, banging against his skull and actually causing him real pain; the thought nearly too much to bare. He stared at his mate and both saw the resolve to the decision in her eyes and felt it in her emotions.
She meant them wholeheartedly.
Though his eyes were locked on her, he could clearly see what Peter was doing as well. He didn't look all that shocked at the command, but he did look little apprehensive at following it. However, from what Jasper was feeling, that wasn't going to stop him from give her what she wanted. Peter was absolutely ready to sever the mating bond and if there was going to be a chance to stop him, Jasper knew he had to think fast.
Before he could open his mouth though, his own mind stood against him, forcing him to think about everything he had ignored, everything that he was responsible for. His eyes ghosted over the exposed flesh of his mate, counting and cataloging every bite, every scar that should never have been burned into her skin. He was the reason they were there. He was the reason she knew the pain and torment of the life he lived and had once said he never would again. He turned her in what he saw before him and that realization turned his stomach.
Everything moved in slow motion within Jasper's sights. Isabella turned her head to expose her neck and his mark to her sire and said sire's head began the descent.
Furiously, the dialogue of the last ten minutes flew through Jasper's mind, smashing into his consciousness and forcing him to see things as they really were and not how he wanted them to be. Every thought and sentence like a dagger to his unbeating heart because there was no dispute, no arguing a single one.
You want perfection, but that doesn't exist
I'll never be perfect. That's in the eye of the beholder and when you behold me, all you see is what needs to be changed
It makes you a taller version of Edward fucking Cullen
You never treated Alice like you treat me
I didn't ask to be your mate
You never actually cared about me, have you?
I don't even fucking matter to you
You just told me as much
You need to decide what you really want
I already have
I love you for you and you can't say the same
You want someone that I am never going to be
I'm done being treated like shit
I'm done not being good enough
I'm done being a pet
You and your happiness has always been my number one objective
Break it
Jasper's eyes followed every centimeter that Peter's head moved closer to Isabella's neck, but he was looked without seeing, his mind deciding now was also a good time to throw some of his past actions back at him.
He saw every time he removed one of her limbs for opening her mouth. He saw the look in her eyes when he did so. He actually FELT her emotions this time as he was thrust back into the past, the resentment, the anger, the loathing for him and his stance on her being seen and not heard.
While he was seeing those memories, they were compared to how he acting towards Alice. Isabella never once tried to pull any of the shit that little imp did and he acted like she, Isabella, his MATE, had done things worse than that.
More recent events then began to bombard his mind as the conversation with Felix in the Volturi Palace cropped up. Even someone that hadn't known her for a full day, that had no idea of the things that had happened over the last year, could see and point out everything that was wrong with the situation. The sad thing about it was that Felix had unknowingly hit the nail on the head. He had kept his mate away from her sire because her sire was a male.
It didn't matter that he had known Peter for over a century. It didn't matter that Peter had zero romantic interest in Bella. It didn't matter that Peter was what she needed. All that mattered for so long was Peter was a male and as such was a threat to what he wanted as a mate. No matter how many times Jasper told himself that none of that mattered, the truth was it mattered a great deal.
Jasper knew how important the bond between Sire and Childe was. He knew what happened when it went ignored and not given the chance to go as it was meant to. He knew what it was like to lose it before it broke on it's own. He also knew what it felt like to be the one to end the most important bond a vampire had.
Before Peter took on the task of killing his children, Jasper had been the one to do so. Countless vampires that he created fell to his own hands, the lack of understanding and devastation in their eyes as he killed his kids would haunt him until the day he died. He also knew what it felt like to the younger vampires when he killed their sires before the century bond was broken and here he was, attempting to force those kinds of emotions on his own mate by trying to come between her and her own.
He was an asshole.
There had to be a way to fix this. There had to be a way to make this right. He knew he didn't really deserve it, that he had fucked up so many ways and for a very long time, but this couldn't end this way. Of the two of them, Isabella wasn't the one that needed to be changed, he was. He knew that. However, he wasn't sure that this wasn't past the point of no return anymore.
He was still going to try though. Bella's mind was made up. She was finally doing what she wanted, what she felt was best for both of them. However, this came down to Peter's decision, and even as his teeth made ready to slice into her flesh, he was still on the fence on whether or not this was a good idea. There were massive consequences of breaking a mating bond and Peter knew it. He was prepared to deal with them if he had to, Jasper knew that much. But, he also knew that Peter didn't want to put Isabella through what she was about to go through if he didn't have to.
As Peter's teeth made first contact with Isabella's neck, Jasper nearly whimpered. "Wait."
*X*
Peter had been watching Jasper ever since Bella made her request, watching as the last year pass over his eyes. He saw every emotion filter through, showing him that Jasper was actually thinking about the ramifications of his past actions and the toll they had taken on Bella. He saw his own sire nearly brought to his knees over what he was about to do and he would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it. Jasper was now like a brother to him but unfortunately for Jasper, the Little Lady right in front of him was far more important to him than Jasper was.
For thirteen months Peter had been forced to watch as his sire attempted to destroy his child and he was just this side of the line of killing Jasper out right for it. There were countless time in those thirteen months that Jasper came very close to losing his head and had no idea. It wasn't even so much the fact that Isabella was made of his venom, it was the fact that she was a she. You don't treat females the way Jasper had been treating Bella, it wasn't right. Female's lacked the ability to have a snowball's chance in hell at defending themselves in anyway against it.
They were designed by their nature to be smaller and weaker than the males of the species. No one really knew why that was, but it was the way it was. Normally, it was the male's pleasure to use their larger size to shield their female and to use their strength to defend them. Peter couldn't say that Jasper didn't do that when it came to his mate, he did. However, he also used those things against her as well and that was where Peter had an issue.
For the unlife of him, Peter could not figure out where the fuck Jasper's behavior came from. Jasper was from a time where female's were treasured and protected. For as long as Peter had known him, he had always gone out of his way to defend any female he came across. Nothing of the last thirteen months made the damnedest bit of sense, but it didn't have too. Peter saw it with his own eyes and it was going to stop.
Period.
With his teeth pressed to his daughter's neck, Peter cocked a brow. This was what his kid wanted and he was prepared to give it to her. It wasn't like this was a forever thing anyways. It would only last until her first century and really, what was a hundred years to a vampire that had forever? Be that as it may, however, just because he was prepared to do it, didn't mean he wanted to. Bella was hurt and angry and was reacting out of emotion rather than actual want. If she really knew and understood what she was asking for, he was positive she wouldn't want it, or at least, would think about it a little longer before asking him to do this.
When Jasper remained silent, looking lost for the absolute first time in his entire life, Peter found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. He didn't want Bella to think he was on Jasper's side in this because he wasn't, but she needed to hear what he had to say before this happened. Jasper had dug himself a deep grave this time, but Peter knew that she would listen to him if he would grow the balls to say what was on the tip of his tongue.
Deciding to take matters into his own hands, he shrugged a little. When he shifted his eyes away from Jasper, he concentrated on his emotions and hardened his own resolve knowing that it would also harden Jasper's enough to get him talking before his teeth broke skin.
Peter always could play Jasper like a well tuned fiddle.
All it took was a small flex of his jaw to get Jasper out of the fog of uncertainty and open his mouth.
"Please, Peter. Just... wait a minute."
Not picking his head up, Peter turned to look at Jasper, that brow still cocked and full of challenge.
Jasper looked at Peter and his mate, who wouldn't look at him, and swallowed hard. "Is there anyway to change your mind, Bella? Any way at all?"
Bella pressed her lips together and closed her eyes, refusing to look at him knowing she would do just that. She was convinced that this was for the best. The only way for him to ever see her as more than he has was for this to happen. It was the only way that he would ever be able to think clearly and productively and what he really wanted. She would never say it, but she was terrified that after her bond with Peter was broken he still wouldn't want her for her and only for what he could turn her into. After a torturous pause for all parties, she finally shook her head 'no'.
Looking down and crossing his arms, Jasper bit his lip slightly as his mind raced. That wasn't true, her emotions said as much. Now though, he had to figure out what it was that would change her mind and he had to do it without forcing her to.
After a moment, he looked back up and, after a quick glance at Peter, Jasper clicked his tongue quietly. "How about a compromise?"