Wedding Part 3 :)


"Get away from him," snapped Erica and I looked over to glare at her.

"I don't know what the hell-"

"He's playing you," she said simply and had the words backing up in my throat.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"He's playing you Arabella," she repeated so gently that it made my chest hurt. I looked over at Atian, who was sitting up now.

"I'm not. She's lying," he said, reaching out to me, but I shifted out of reach.

"W-what do you mean...?" I asked Erica, a sinking feeling beginning to weigh down on me.

"Arabella," she said gently then sighed.

"It's Atian's fault that Alexander broke up with you."

Chapter 55

I didn't want to believe her.

I really didn't, but Erica was my best friend. Why would she lie to me?

"W-what do you mean?" I asked hoarsely, my hands tightening on the bouquet I still held.

Eric looked down at me with a look that was full of sympathy and pity. She reached down to touch my shoulder, but I didn't actually feel the contact of her heated skin.

"Let's go inside," she said gently and I shrugged her hand off, getting to my feet.

"No. Tell m-me," I demanded.

"I'll tell you once we're inside, I swear-"

"Tell me now," I shouted, and my voice seemed to echo through the garden. Everything was so silent, so still. The only thing I could hear was the raging beat of my heart in my ears. I was so focused on Erica that I didn't notice Atian until he stepped right in front of me and took my shoulders.

And immediately I knew something was wrong.

His touch was different.

I tried to back away from him, but his fingers tightened on my bare shoulders until I released a soft whimper.

From the corner of my eye I saw Damen shoot to his feet and Erica start to take a step towards us, but they were both beat by someone else.

"Get your hands off of her," snapped a cool, lethal voice.

As Atian dropped his arms, I slowly moved my gaze off of him and over to Alexander who was looming over the both of us. I could read the anger on his face, but I could also read the guilt.

"What did you do...?" I found myself asking him in a tiny voice. Immediately his hard expression seemed to crumble and his beautiful face contorted into a pained look.

"Arabella-" he started, reaching out to me, but I took a jerky step back.

"Don't. Don't touch me," I stuttered, wrapping my arms tightly around myself. "Just... just someone tell me what is going on-"

"I'll tell you what the fuck is going on; my wedding!" snapped Katherine and I looked over just in time to see her storm over. Before I could respond Alexander turned an icy glare on her.

"Shut the fuck up," he very nearly growled and I actually saw her hesitate for a moment before settling for silently glowering at me.

Turning back to Erica, I pleaded with her silently to give me some sort of a hint as to what was happening, because I felt as though I was missing something big. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, looking back at Nathan. When he only gave her a sad little smile she turned back to me.

"We were at an Elder's meeting with Nathan's dad and we ran into Jacob Black, who came with his father," she started, and I frowned. I had heard of Jacob from Nessie, but I didn't see how he had anything to do with any of this.

"We were just hanging out afterwards and he mentioned something... He uh, told us that he got a call from Alexander, asking about The Book of Elders."

Again, I frowned.

I knew about The Book of Elders only because Erica had spent nearly a year reading the thing from cover to cover to try and find a cure for the Chosen curse. Disappointingly enough, there wasn't one.

But how did Alexander know about the book?

I looked over at him and saw that he had a stricken look on his face as he focused intently on Erica. I knew that he was reading her mind, but I couldn't even begin to imagine what he was hearing that could have brought on that look.

In a split second, however, his face changed again and this time it darkened with pure fury.

"You fucking bastard," he snarled and before I could blink he launched himself at Atian. They both few backwards and into the rows of chairs. It was a good thing most of the guests were vampires, because they all moved before they were run over by the two.

I watched open mouthed as they fought, moving so fast that I could barely see either one. There was a loud grunt and I looked over just in time to see Atian slam into an oak tree, snapping it in half. The tree fell back and landed with a ground shaking thud and I watched as Atian started to shake.

In a matter of seconds he was changing into a wolf, the remains of his suit fluttering in the wind. He gave a low growl and crouched, getting ready to attack.

Of course Alexander's family rushed over to his side to help, but he only barked at them to stay the hell away. So with not much choice, they backed away, but still remained close enough to intervene should the need to do so arise.

Erica and Nathan were both standing at my side and I could practically feel them shaking with the need to morph themselves.

"You fucking bastard," Alexander repeated furiously as he and Atian circled.

Alexander's POV

Pissed off didn't even begin to explain what I was feeling.

He lied.

It was all a big lie. All part of his stupid, twisted plan to get Arabella.

And it worked.

I growled and launched myself at him again. At this point, I didn't even care whether or not I was fighting strategically, I just wanted to rip Atian limb from limb. My blinding anger was probably the reason why he was able to dodge the wild attack and send me flying back. Rolling to my feet once again I glared at him.

What? He thought to me, sounding very smug.

"You know exactly what," I spat. "You told me there was a cure. You fucking lied."

I heard a soft gasp just then and I turned just in time to see Arabella drop her bouquet, bringing both of her hands up to her face. I could see from here that her entire body had started shaking. I didn't need to read her mind to know that she was finally piecing everything together.

I didn't know why, but I had this irrational idea that when she found out the truth, she'd be relieved, happy.

She looked anything but.

In fact, she looked almost worse than she did when she first found out about 'Katherine and I'. If I thought she broke my heart then, it was nothing compared to what she was doing to me now.

She isn't going to forgive you... Came Atian's taunting thought. You know it's true.

Dammit.

Arabella seemed to crumble in front of my eyes, covering her face with her hands. Erica was there immediately, pulling her into her arms as her shoulders began to shake and her quiet sobs began to batter at my heart.

Erica was whispering into her ear, telling her that everything would be okay. It didn't seem to help much, however, because she continued to cry and I just wanted to go right over there and wrap her in my arms.

But I knew that if I did that, she'd only push me away.

I didn't think I could take seeing hate in her eyes as she looked at me. Besides, she still had questions about everything. She couldn't voice them because she was crying so hard, but I could read them in her mind. Thankfully, so could Edward and he walked over to her. Erica gave him a warning glare but let him duck his head to her level and whisper the answers to her unasked questions.

They only made her cry harder, her bare shoulders shaking so hard that I thought she'd break.

When Atian made his escape into the forest, I didn't even bother to try and stop him. Instead I took a tentative step towards Arabella. Erica watched me as I approached and I was surprised to find that, though she was furious with me for hurting her best friend, there was also something else there.

Admiration?

Gratitude?

But why?

My confusion must have shown on my face because she started to direct her thoughts to me.

I understand why you did it... Her words rang in my head and I finally got it. She understood me only because she would do anything to break the curse that threatened to kill Arabella as well.

We were united in our willingness to do whatever it took to help her.

She gave me a very slight nod and shifted slightly so that Arabella's face wasn't buried in her shoulder anymore. I assumed that this was probably my chance to try and make things right, try being the operative word. I didn't know if there was ever going to be anything I could say to make her forgive me.

"Arabella," I said, my own voice sounding foreign to me. She flinched at the sound of my voice and shrank into herself.

I felt like the biggest jerk in the entire universe.

"Please listen to me..." I started, coming up right in front of her, close enough to touch. From the corner of my eye I saw her brothers start to protest, but Erica, Nathan, and Alice somehow managed to calm them down.

She cowered away from me and stepped back, but she stumbled, nearly falling over. It was pure instinct that caused my arms to shoot out and grab her gently, steadying her. At my contact she whimpered, trying to back away from me again. I dropped my arms, but remained close to her.

"Please Arabella, just- just try to understand-"

"How c-could you?" she asked accusingly, staring up at me with big, tear-filled grey eyes. I swallowed a lump in my throat, trying to figure out what to say to her to make this all right.

"He said there was a cure..." I said finally.

"There isn't a cure Alexander!" she shouted, dislodging more tears. "I told you that. D-didn't you think that if the wolves had some sort of a cure I'd have it a-already?"

She was right.

Why didn't I think of it before?

If the wolves truly did have a book that held the cure of Arabella's curse, Erica and Nathan would have gotten to it long ago.

I suddenly felt an intense, anger towards Jacob and his father. In all rationality, it really wasn't their fault because Billy said that he wasn't sure about there being a cure in the book. But I wasn't in any mind set to be rational, and found that I had to direct my anger somewhere.

"I just... I didn't- I- I'm sorry..." I finished lamely, clenching my fists.

"How could you just let me go like that...?" she whispered brokenly and I nearly dropped to my knees at her feet.

"Do you remember that night, the day of your history exam?" I asked and she frowned for a moment before nodding. "Do you remember what I asked you?"

She shook her head, the cute little frown still on her face.

"I asked you what you would do if my life was in danger and the only way to save me was for you to do something you really didn't want to do..." I saw the exact moment that the memory clicked.

"And I told you that it wouldn't how much I didn't want to do it or how much it would hurt me as long as it meant that you were safe..." she whispered, staring down at her feet.

"You did. Please try to understand Arabella," I pleaded with her. "I know I hurt you, and I know that saying that I did it all for you won't take away the pain... But-but there wasn't a single second in the past few weeks that I haven't thought about you. I honestly thought I was helping you. Please..."

I swear, if I was human tears would have been streaking down my face right then. The anguish I felt when I thought about the very likely possibility that she would not forgive me was indescribable.

"Please don't hate me... I already hate myself for what I put you through. I don't think I could take it if you hated me..." I said brokenly, my voice cracking twice.

She looked up at me wide eyed, and from her thoughts I could tell that she was conflicted.

On the one hand she was so angry at me for everything, understandably so of course. She was also very hurt and felt betrayed, again, no surprise there. But what I was surprised at was a little tiny twinge of something, lurking in the corners of her mind. I could tell that she was trying to force those thoughts back, but it was no use. I was so attuned to her that I could pick up on that tiny little voice, and what I heard nearly had me passing out in pure euphoria.

She still loved me.

"Arabella," I whispered her name, mustering all of the love I felt for her into my voice. I reached out and took her icy hand in my colder one. Waiting until she raised her still-teary eyes up to mine, I took a deep breath.

"I love you."

She was completely still for a moment, and I actually started to get worried when her heart started skipping beats. But then her eyes welled and the tears spilled over onto her cheeks yet again. She brought her free hand up to her face as she struggled to hold back her sobs. I could tell that she wanted to cover her face with both hands, but there was no way in hell that I was letting go of her hand.

"I love you," I repeated when she started to shake her head. "I have never stopped loving you, and I never will."

I took her other hand, and forced her to look up at me again.

"For as long as I live, I will love you, and only you," I said with conviction, praying that she understood how much I meant it. I was definitely not one to profess my love in front of an audience, but at the moment, I wanted to scream it loud enough that the entire world could hear me.

"Please believe me..."

I watched the pale skin of her throat ripple as she swallowed. Her hands flexed in mine and she opened her mouth as if she was going to say something.

"I-I lo-"

When she was interrupted by a low growl I nearly exploded. I wanted her to continue, but her eyes were now focused on something behind me. So, with a deadly glower on my face I turned, ready to rip someone's throat out.

Atian was back, and this time, he brought his friends.

The large wolves stalked out of the line of trees and I shifted in front of Arabella protectively without even thinking about it. I snarled low in my throat as they approached us, and this time, when my family offered their support, I accepted it.

"Leave," I demanded, but instead of doing so, he lunged at me. With a curse, I braced to take the blow, silently thanking Edward for moving Arabella over to the side. Once I confirmed that she was out of harm's way, I fought back savagely, using all my anger to back me up.

Atian had no chance in hell.

Seeing this, his friends jumped in, but my family was there instantly, fighting them back. When I saw a wolf snap at another wolf, I realized that Erica and Nathan had both joined the fight as well.

We were doing very well, and I could tell that in a short while the wolves would either give up, or be killed. I could tell that Carlisle was hoping they'd give up, because killing them would break the treaty and cause a species war.

Out of habit I looked over my shoulder to where Arabella was standing.

Or rather, where she should have been standing.

I frowned and turned to look at where her brothers were, but she wasn't with them either.

A weird feeling started to grow in the pit of my stomach when I realized that I couldn't find Katherine either.

A couple of the wolves gave in and ran into the forest, and I grabbed Rosalie's arm.

"Where is she?" I demanded and she frowned.

"Who?"

"Arabella, dammit," I muttered and dropped her arm, looking around frantically. Some of the other guests were looking at me oddly, but when I asked them about Arabella, none of them knew where she was. How the hell did a group of vampires not notice a human girl being dragged off by a sadistic bitch in a scarlet red dress?

The more I thought about what could have happened, the sicker I felt.

Katherine was ruthless. She would do anything to get what she wanted. She had no morals and no guilty conscience what so ever.

My fears were only confirmed a moment later when I heard a soft grunt and then scented Arabella's blood in the air.

Battling back the hysteria, I shot like a bullet towards the smell, barely even registering the fact that everyone else followed. I ran down the path and behind a tall hedge. What I saw had me freezing in horror.

I saw Katherine first, standing there with a satisfied smirk on her face as she wiped her hands off on her dress.

They were stained red.

I then turned my gaze onto Arabella.

At first nothing seemed to be wrong. Sure, she had this weird expression on her face, and she was oddly still, but she wasn't on the ground screaming in pain.

But then I noticed the rapidly growing red spot on the front of her pure white dress. I heard someone behind me gasp and people started whispering, but I tuned them all out. Ever so slowly Arabella's eyes flicked over to me and she gave me a confused look. She looked down at herself, at the huge stain on the dress, and then looked back at me.

Her eyes fluttered for a second and she teetered on her feet. That snapped me out of my daze and I flashed to her side.

Katherine disappeared at some point, but I just didn't care. What I did care about was the fact that Arabella was looking as pale as a sheet and that her heartbeat was very irregular.

I stopped right in front of her, reaching out, but stopping my hand mid-way, almost too afraid to touch her.

"A-Alex?" she asked in a tiny voice and I had to choke back a hysterical cry to answer her.

"Yes baby?" I responded hoarsely, finally giving in and touching her face.

She felt so cold.

"I-I don't...I can't feel... I don't-"

I stopped her disoriented rambling with a gently finger to her lips.

"Shh, Arabella, just relax okay? We're going to get you to a hospital. Or you know what? We'll get you to Carlisle. He's better than any ER doctor in the world. He'll fix you right up. And then we can get back to what you were saying before we were so rudely interrupted."

I realized that it was now me who was doing the rambling, but I couldn't seem to stop myself.

"Alex..." she whispered and her eyes began to well up again.

"Don't cry baby," I crooned to her, cupping her face gently in my palm. "You'll be okay."

But she shook her head, tears splashing onto her cheeks. I tightened my grip on her face, feeling the panic bubbling again.

"You'll be fine," I repeated, but my voice shook, just as her hands did as she raised them to wrap around my wrists.

I didn't need to read her thoughts to know that she thought that she wouldn't make it.

"Alex," she repeated, swaying on her feet. "I-I love you."

And then she collapsed.


LOL yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa I'm a horrible human being :O

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Peace, love, and Alexander's declarations of love.

Xoxo thedarkangel22