Battles of the Heart

Chapter 13

Jpov

Previously…

"Jasper, please don't take this the wrong way because that was the most incredible experience of my whole life. Lights flashed before my eyes and everything. But that wasn't normal. You're not normal. I've been watching you, Peter and Char for that last week. What are you?" she felt curious and sated but nothing else. Not scared, not worried… nothing.

Here we go…

Watching? What had she been watching? We had all been super careful not to do anything remotely inhuman around her or the guys. Well, until just now that is. But there is no way she could have seen anything out of the ordinary.

"What do you mean, Bella? There was nothing to have seen." God I was being such a gaslighting dick and I hated it, but she couldn't know about us. If she did then all choices but one was taken away from her. Become a vampire, or die. There was no other way.

"Japer, don't do that. Don't make me seem like I'm some crazy woman who doesn't know what she's on about. I don't actually care what you are, and I'm pretty sure that I know anyway. I just want to give you the chance to tell me yourself." She half shrugged as she spoke, as if this was all no big deal to her. I guess to her it wasn't, as she didn't know the consequences if she was right. "Nothing you tell me is going to scare me away, Jasper. I know where I belong."

She was looking deep into my eyes as she said those last words and I knew that she was telling the truth. I could have sworn my dead heart took a beat right there.

"Bella, I really need you to make this clearer for me. What have you seen? What do you know? And more importantly, you feel like you belong with us?" I had to get all the information before I just blurted out the big secret.

"I see you. And Charlotte and Peter. Pale, white skin. Cold as ice. Hard as rock. You never eat and Peter has that weird thing where he knows everything. Your eyes change colour a lot and that speed and the growling… as hot as that was, that was most certainly not human. And please don't get me started on the little 'silent' conversations you all have together when you think we're not paying attention. Plus, I know what all this means because Charlie married into the Quileute tribe and now my stepsiblings are part of the pack there. Don't pretend that you don't know what I'm on about again, Jasper. Use the word and tell me what you are, before I use it for you."

She had started strong and confident but that last part of her little tirade of things she had noticed about me and my family was spoken softly, almost as if she didn't want me to know for whatever reason. I was shocked. I had known that Charlie had remarried, but I hadn't cared enough to pay attention to who he had married. I don't think any of us had. Small town stuff never really bothered us and we didn't get involved. The only reason we knew Charlie was because we had to get to know him so we at least had the chief of police on our side when the people in town inevitably started gossiping about how strange we all were. That made me feel guilty as hell. But she had said that she hadn't seen her dad in a long time. How would she know all about the tribe's legends?

"Bella, you said you hadn't seen your dad in a long time. Why would you know about the legends of the Quileute people if you've not been around? And pack of what?"

"Wow, maybe I was wrong about you Jasper. Maybe you're not the good guy I had thought you were." She covered herself in the sheet and stood up off the bed. I rolled onto my back, running my hands down my face before I sat up and confronted her.

"Please don't twist this around. You throw all these accusations at me, tell me I'm inhuman and then say I'm a bad guy? I'm the same person I've always been, Bella. That seemed to be enough for you just 10 minutes ago."

I had spat this out with just a little too much venom in my voice and her face fell.

Oh shit. No no no no! This wasn't supposed to happen. Please don't cry!

She was supposed to tell me what she thought I was so I could just get it out there and let her choose what she wanted from us. Upsetting her was never supposed to happen. I rushed to her, not even trying to act human anymore. It was clear to me that she knew, whether by her being told outright and the pack breaking the treaty, or she really did know the legends and she had cleverly pieced it together herself. It didn't matter to me anymore. I held her close, and surprisingly she let me.

"Say the word, Bella. Say it and I'll tell you the truth."

"Dirty, no-good, lying, manipulative vampire." she spat at me, moving back so she could look into my eyes as she said it. She looked angry, very much so, but all she felt was hurt. I had done that. I had made her feel this way.

"I'm sorry. I never wanted to lie to you. We have one law of our kind that is upheld above all else and that means that we must follow it, or die. Humans are not supposed to know of us. If they do they must die or be changed and I never wanted to force that decision on you." I took one hand from her back and stroked down her face. "I hate that I've upset you like this. I'm so sorry, my Bella."

I closed my eyes and hung my head down in shame. I felt her moving out of my embrace and my head shot up, eyes searching for her. She had only moved to stand next to the bed again.

"So I was right. I wasn't being crazy. Jasper, why didn't you just tell me?"

"Oh yeah, because I start a conversation with every beautiful woman I meet with, 'Hello, my name is Jasper and I'm a vampire. Want to come back to my place?' It's a hard life, Bella! Living like this is not a game. You have to hide, live in secret, and lie. I don't want to lie to you anymore. I don't want to live without you anymore truthfully. Until you came along, I only existed. You're bringing me back to myself." Too far Jasper, rein it back. "I want you Bella. I've been waiting for a long time for you."

Way to rein it back moron. If you hadn't already scared her off then that was definitely the way to do it.

Bella stood still, staring at me. Her emotions were yet again gone and I didn't like that I couldn't tell how she was feeling. This was new territory for me. Had I ruined it all? Had I really scared her away?

"You said it. You said the word. I knew I was destined for something other than being plain old me. All this time, it was you I've been waiting for." She smiled brightly at me, and then suddenly her face dropped again. "You want me, I want you, but my brother and sister… my dad. What am I supposed to do here? I could never tell them this."

"You'd have to leave them, Bella. I'm so sorry. If this is truly the life you want then all other human relationships would have to be pushed away. Give yourself some time. Don't jump into a decision. No matter what, I'm not going anywhere. No matter what life you choose, I'll be here with you. Always."

She seemed to be deep in thought. She still held the sheet to herself and knowing she was naked under it was a big distraction. I could see the outline of her perfect body underneath, the swell of her breasts and the curves of her hips. She really was my perfect woman. I eyes moved back up to her face and I saw that she was also staring at me. I looked deep into her eyes and it was like there was a magnet drawing me into her. I moved closer and closer until I had closed the gap between us completely, my hands automatically finding their places on her cheek and on her hip. I pulled her closer to me, not wanting there to be any distance between us at all. She continued to stare into my eyes and I was drawn in again.

Our lips met with such gentle caresses, eyes finally closed. It was like a spell had been broken and took my lips off hers, keeping my eyes closed but resting my head against hers.

"What are you doing to me, Bella?" I asked quietly, more to myself than to her.

"I know what I want. And it's you."

Bella closed the gap again, a little more firmly than I had just seconds earlier. Her hands moved up my jaw and into my hair and I was painfully aware that the sheet she had been holding to herself had fallen to the floor. I groaned and pulled her into me, her nipples pebbling against my cold skin. I had to pull away; I didn't trust myself not to take this further. We had time to be together, I wasn't about to take her virginity in a rush in a hotel suite. We would wait. Be together a while first, learn about each other. I would do this right. I moved away from her, holding her hands so we weren't completely separated.

"Maybe we should both get ready and go and meet everybody so you can have breakfast with your friends. I'd like to get to know each other better, and I really don't trust myself with you held against me all sinfully naked like this."

Like she had come out of a trance, she shrieked and grabbed her sheet off the floor and covered herself with it again. Her blush was deep and spread to her chest, disappearing beneath the sheet. I just chuckled. We both rooted through our bags, looking for things to wear. I decided on blue jeans and a tee today. It would be warm so Bella chose a pair of shorts and a camisole with a thin cardigan to wear over it. She went to the bathroom and hopped into the shower so I just dressed as quick as I could and went to wait in the sitting area. Not long after I had sat at the dining table and got myself situated with a newspaper, Peter waltzed back into the suite and sat opposite me.

"So, it finally happened huh? The Major got under someone to get over the ex."

A small growl left my throat but I refused to look up from the newspaper I was pretending to read. He laughed heartily and as he did so, Bella emerged from the bedroom fully dressed with no makeup and wet hair. She looked towards Peter.

"Good morning, my pale little people eater. What are you laughing at?"

I couldn't hold in the laugh and finally decided to look up from my newspaper to see Peter with his mouth open, staring at Bella. She joined in with the laughing, and came and sat on my lap. I wasn't going to complain about this. She smelled amazing.

"I missed you. I was only feet away from you and I actually missed you." she whispered into my ear, kissing along my jaw. I knew how she felt. I had picked up the paper in some lame attempt of distracting myself from her absence. "Is it normal for my chest to hurt like that when I'm away from you? It isn't like this with the wolves."

Immediately we were on our feet and I was checking her over.

"She's fine, Major. She's feeling the mating pull, but because she's human it hurts instead of telling her where to go to find you. There's nothing wrong with her. Now my sweet, would you mind explaining to me what you meant by that wolf remark?" Peter asked, still sat in his seat but leaning forwards and paying close attention to Bella. I didn't like it. He noticed me glaring and sat back but kept his eyes on Bella.

"The wolves, from the pack in the Quileute tribe. You know about them, right Jasper?" She looked up at me as she asked and I nodded, never taking my eyes from Peter. I knew he wasn't a threat but my animal side seemed to want him away from my mate. "They shift from human to wolf but don't need a full moon to do so. My stepsiblings are part of the pack. I was given all the legends as my first Christmas present from my stepmother, Sue. Plus we had a tribal bonfire as a welcome on Charlie's wedding day. That's how I knew about you guys."

Well that explained it.

"Wait so you meant to tell me that you're mated to a vampire AND you're related to shapeshifter wolves? I knew there was something special about you but god damn woman. You could be the person to help bring the supernatural worlds together and stop the fighting."

He was talking more to himself by the end but Bella had heard him. She looked up at me, shocked.

"Is he right, Jasper? We're mated? Is that like when the wolves imprint? Like there's no other person on this planet for you and they're it? Like its fate?"

I finally looked at her. She was smiling up at me warmly, and I couldn't help but smile back.

"Yes darlin', you're it for me. There's nobody else that I would ever want. Together we make each other stronger and there's no way I could ever be separated from you."

Her eyes shone with tears as she smiled wider.

"Then I've made my decision. I belong with you and Peter and Char. You're the family I was fated to have. If you all agree to it, I'd like to stay with you and eventually turn to be like you. But I'd like some more time to say goodbye to my other families first. I'm not sure how the wolves will take this news, but I'm sure in time they'll understand. Is this okay? Would you be willing to do this for me?"

My dead heart soared. She wants us. She wants me. She's chosen a life with us instead of a human life.

"Sweetpea, Charlotte and I would be honoured to have you with us." Peter said with a warm smile.

"I would move heaven and earth to give you what you want, my Bella. Yes of course I want you with us! We can do everything whatever way you want to do it."

She moved to press her lips to mine and it deepened quickly. Our tongues danced together and I picked her up, holding her to me as her legs wrapped around my waist. I had everything I wanted. Life was working out for me.

She is mine. She is mine. SHE IS MINE!

We were brought out of our bubble by Peter clearing his throat and the door opening. Our heads all turned to look at who had arrived at the door and we were greeted by the shocked looks on the faces of Bella's friends, her brothers.

Aaron and Sky both looked at us together.

"You owe me $50." Aaron blurted to Sky and laughed at him.

"For fucks sake, Bella. Could you not have waited like 3 more days to get together?! I would have been up $50 then." He said to her, grinning to show that he was joking with her.

We all laughed together and Bella got down to hug her brothers and was joined by Char who had come in with the guys as well as Peter. The familial love flowing from them made me feel all warm and fuzzy. This was how I wanted to feel from now on. This was the family I was meant to have. This was fate.

VERY IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE!

Wow... it's really been a while since I've updated this huh? Sorry! The holidays and festive season kicked my ass and then the whole UK went into lockdown so my kids are home ALL THE TIME! Getting any time to myself to write for you all has been impossible but I promise that I will start trying harder for you all. And thank you if you have stuck around and waited this whole time! I really appreciate it

Love to you all! Stay safe out there