Chapter 51 - Why is it so hard to say goodbye?

BPOV

Saying goodbye was hard, even though I had known these people for a little while, it still hurt. Four vampires and two wolves.

Colin
Brady
Irina
Mary
Alex
Jonathan

They were laid out on four large pyres in the garden of the big house. The tribes people, the wolves and the vampires that had remained after the fight were all gathered around them. Edward, Sam and I stood slightly to the front of everyone.

'We are gathered here to take our leave of dear friends and family.' Edward started as the crowd bowed their heads in reverence. 'We called on you to fight and you answered that call bravely. The fight was brutal and hard and though we were victorious, we will not forget it was due to your sacrifice.'

'We lay you to rest for eternity. May you find peace and safety in the arms of the ones that went before you. May you welcome the ones that will come after you.'

'The tribe thanks you for your sacrifice in keeping our members safe.' Sam continued. 'You will not be forgotten. Colin Littlesea, Brady Fuller.'

'Jonathan Norrel. Alex Turner.' I continued.

'Mary littlewaith and Irina Denali.' Edward finished.

'We raise you to the heavens in the fire and hope you may find peace.' We three said in unison before lighting the pyres one by one.

The crowd started chanting. An ancient native American song for burial. It was haunting and beautiful as the pyre caught and the fires started blazing. The song continued on until the bodies were obscured by the fire completely. It was then that Edward turned around and led us back into the big house. The fires would burn the entire night. Then come morning we would gather their asses and finish the burial.

As everyone filed into the big house, the mood was heavy, yet slightly hopeful. The Volturi had been vanquished and though we had paid a price for that win, it was a win nonetheless.

'Bella?' I heard Edward call for me, from the doorway to the library. 'We're waiting for you.'

I nodded and quickly headed over there. The top members of the vampires and wolves were going to discuss the battle and what to do next. Plus there was the whole Angela-being-a-spy thing. That definitely needed to be resolved properly.

I took his outstretched hand and together we stepped into the library. Feeling all eyes focus on me was a bit unsettling to say the least.

'Right.' Edward stated, sitting down at the head of the table and gesturing for me to sit down next to him. 'Let's start.'

'Aro is dead.' Jasper immediately started. 'As are his brothers. Caius apparently got on the wrong side of Santiago a few centuries ago and he bore a grudge. They killed each other. Felix, the other brute, was done away with by Emmett.'

Emmett whooped out loud. 'That asshole had it coming! Tried taking my shoulder clear off.'

'Alright, settle down Emmett.' Carlisle gently scolded him, like a father would a son.

'The twins of course are history as are all the wives. And finally we've found the remains of Renata, Heidi, Corin and Afton.' Jasper continued on.

'That means the entire inner guard of the Volturi has been eradicated.' Carlisle summed up.

'Good riddance.' Sam spoke, his voice rough and full of anger.

I didn't blame him for those feelings. He was clearly mourning the loss of two of his pack.

'There were multiple other casualties, mostly secondary or even third ranked soldiers. A few even hired hands. It seems infighting was the cause of a lot of the casualties. Many were recovered from Benjamin's traps. And of course Benjamin's fire took out a fair share as well.' Jasper continued on. 'In the end, there seems to be no one left that could reclaim the Volturi crown or come after us in a misguided attempt at revenge.'

'Good.' Edward muttered. 'The loss was heavy and great. And I am truly sorry for it.'

'As am I' I added. 'We will never forget what they did for us.'

'Thank you' Sam rumbled.

'Aro said he used Angela to spy on us. She's apparentely a projector, strong enough to even make Bella believe outward projections. She tampered with Alice's visions by planting projections in her mind.' Edward explained.

Angela was sat in the corner of the room, her hand firmly cluthed in Ben's. They seemed to be shaking together in fear. I longed to comfort her, but I also knew we had to get to the bottom of this.

'Angela.' I called. She lifted her head. 'How long were you spying for Aro?'

She took a deep quivering breath. 'I got a message from him after you came here the first time.' she looked at me. 'It was a paper, shoved under my door. At first I didn't know what to do with it. I tried to ignore it. But then I got a message on my phone, that they had Ben and if I wasn't going to start helping them immediately, Ben would be killed. They added a video of Jane using her power on him.'

Ben winced at the mention of Jane and I saw Edward try and hide one of his own.

I nodded for her to continue. 'I didn't want to… I really didn't. But I couldn't just let them kill Ben.' She sobbed. Ben wrapped his arm around her.

'We understand, dear.' Esme's soothing voice washed over us. 'Please, take a deep breath and continue.'

'I… I started projecting to Alice. Messing with her visions. I knew the signs well enough to know one was coming, so I became her shadow and overlapped the ones she was having with my own projections. I told the Volturi what I was doing and then when you left, I told them where the family thought you were.'

Edward let out a small rumble of a growl at that bit of information. I squeezed his hand gently. But my own blood ran cold as well. I always thought it had been my own foolishness in not covering my tracks that had led the Volturi to me the first time. But it had been Angela who had fed them that information. My heart sank.

'I had hoped that was the end of it.' Angela whispered. 'but when you escaped them, they got back in contact. And I had to continue.'

'Why didn't you come to any of us?' Edward asked, his voice slightly strained.

'They told me the Cullen coven was infiltrated and that if I were to tell anyone what I was doing, or tried to get someone to help me, they would kill Ben.'

'What about coming straight to me? Or Rosalie?'

'We could have helped you directly Angela, you were close enough to us that you could talk to us privately without anyone getting suspicious.' Rosalie said, her voice saddened.

'I…' she was stuttering now, but nothing else came out.

Edward took a deep breath. 'Angela. We need to know your motives here. We need to know if we can trust you moving forward.'

'I just wanted to keep Ben safe.' she sobbed, her tiny frame shaking by the intensity of them.

Edward stared at her a while longer, probably reading her thoughts and trying to find out if she was hiding something. After another moment he pushed away from the table and stepped over to her. He crouched down in front of her. Ben seemed to tense and I tensed in return narrowing my eyes at Ben in warning.

'Angela.' Edwards voice was soft and smooth and calming. 'Look at me.'

Angela raised her head slowly.

'Are you hiding anything from us?' he demanded point blank, his voice still kind and gentle, but there was no mistaking his tone. He was serious and did not want to be deceived. Angela trembled in her seat.

She closed her eyes.

Edward let out a freal growl, making Ben lean forward hostily towards him. I was out of my seat and next to Edward in a flash.

'Angela.' Edward said through clenched teeth. 'Please say that out loud.'

'I…' her voice was trembeling, and Edward seemed to be shaking as well. I put my hand on his shoulder, hoping to be able to calm him down some. 'Tanya had bugged all the rooms in the house.' She said her voice quacking.

Emmett hissed and Jasper snarled.

'How did we miss this?' Carlisle's voice rose above the noise in the room.

'Thank god that bitch is dead.' Rosalie snarled.

'Fucking hell, Edward. You sure know how to pick them.' That came from Sam.

'Alright. it's clear that Angela was coerced, the threat of her mate's death haging over her and the Volturi watching her every move gave her no other option. She had no choice but to relay information to them.' Edward concluded, getting back to his feet.

Angela hung her head an dher shoulders sagged.

'I agree. We can't hold wanting to keep your mate safe against her. Anyone of us would have done the same in her position.' I said, taking Edward's hand in mine and squeezing it tightly.

'Do either of you harbor any fealty to the Volturi?' Edward asked them both finally. Immediately their heads started shaking no with vigor.

'No' their voices rang out clear and strong.

Edward cast a quick glance to Jasper who nodded once. Edward nodded back and then turned back to his seat, taking me with him.

'That's settled then. Angela and Ben are welcome to rejoin the coven, with the express understanding that if something were to happen in the future they will both immediately bring it to our attention.'

They both nodded immediately.

'Good.'

'The next point of business then.' Carlisle said. 'With the Volturi coven destroyed, the vampires of the world need guidance. There might be a power struggle in Europe, and we need to be prepared for that.'

Edward nodded in acknowledgement. 'The Romans?' he asked. I frowned. Who were the Romans?

Carlisle nodded.

'Alright. We'll need to keep an eye on it. But to be honest, I would like to hold off on planning our next steps until tomorrow night, to give the fallen a proper rest and let the wounded regroup.'

Jasper frowned at that. 'We need to stay ahead.' He countered.

'We do, but tomorrow will be soon enough. The first word will spread tomorrow. By that night we'll be able to get intel on how it is being received and where any potential danger might be coming from.' Edward replied. Jasper turned thoughtful for a moment, but finally conceded.

'I agree.' Sam added. 'We need a day to recover from this, before deciding how to continue.'

'Then I suggest we move on to our last point before we can all retire and find solace with family and friends.' Edward stated, looking around the room and seeing everyone agree.

He took a deep breath and then turned to me. 'Bella.' He said, his eyes burning with a fire I hadn't seen before. 'You were invaluable to this coven this battle. Not only did you protect everyone from Jane and Alec, you single handedly killed them both and managed to turn the tables on the Volturi. You destroyed our greatest threat and without you we all would not be sitting here today.'

'hear hear.' Was murmured throughout the room.

'You have been our unofficial Coven mistress these past few weeks, but after today, I want to ask you formally to please honour us and this entire coven by taking your rightful place as our true Coven mistress.'

I looked around the room in shock. Everyone was staring at me with such intensity. It seemed everyone truly wanted me to be their mistress. I was touched by his declaration.

The evening before the battle I had realized that beside Eward was my place in life, although I had been apprehensive whether I could fully trust Edward after everything he had put me through, but this battle had proven I could. He did nothing without my input, he guarded me, but trusted me to handle myself. He looked to me before making big decisions. In everything he had done he had treated me as his equal, his coven mistress whose opinion mattered, no… was invaluable to him.

I gently grasped his hand in mine and squeezed it softly. 'I accept.' I told the room with a clear voice.

Cheers broke out throughout the room and Edward didn't hesitate. He pulled me into his arms, and planted his lips firmly on mine.

'Tomorrow we'll infrom the coven of your decion.' Edward told the room when we broke apart. I nodded still trying to catch my breath. 'Meeting adjourned.'

Then before I could respond, he had lifted me into his arms and sped away from the library, down the stairs and into his private room.

We wasted no time, my hands were frantic as they tore the clothes from his body. His were impatient as they tugged on my tight clothes. He hissed as one of his broken fingers tangled in the straps of my shirt.

'Careful with your hand.' I muttered against his lips. 'Let me.'

He growled but acquiesced. I stepped back and quickly pulled off my jacket and shirt and bra. Then my leggings, socks and panties until I was naked before him. His eyes were dark and hooded as they trailed up and down my body. He reached out and swept my hair away from my face, before bringing his mouth closer to mine.

'I love you.' he whispered before crushing his lips to mine.

I quickly made work of his clothes, leaving him bare before me as well. His good hand trailed over my body, caressing everywhere he could reach, while his other hand wrapped around my waist and crushed my body closer to his. His hand circled my breats, plucking at my nipple and squeezing roughly. I moaned into his mouth. My own hands kept busy as well, they traced the hard planes of his stomach with gusto, before heading down and down until I met the hard ridge of his erection. I wrapped my hand around the head, squeezing softly relishing in the moans and soft growls coming from Edward. He moved us backwards until my knees met the soft edge of the couch.

He pushed me down onto the cushions and wasted no time to follow me down. 'You're amazing.' He muttered, trailing kissed down my neck, my breasts, flicking his tongue on my nipple repeatedly until I was gasping for breath.

He headed lower and the first swipe of his tongue on my sensitive folds had me arching off the couch. I moaned out his name as his tongue swirled my sensitive nub repeatedly, before plunging inside. He explored every inch of me with vigor and I was teetering on the edge. My legs shook as his fingers started trailing down my tigh, my stomach, my hips. I moaned louder as his finger joined his tongue in his onslaught. I felt myself climbing higher and higher until finally I fell off.

My legs clamped together, trapping his head in place against me, as my orgasm exploded through me. I panted and moaned and screamed his name as pleasure flooded my senses and I was left momentarily stunned. I gasped and trembled as the aftershocks ran through my body while his tongue lapped up my juices eagerly.

'Edward.' I panted out when I had slightly come down. He looked up at me with such adoration that it took my breath away for a moment. I beckoned him closer. He slid up my body, trialing wet open mouthed kissed along my body until he reached my mouth. Our tongues danced together and soon he was at my entrace. I pushed down slightly, wanting him to fill me and stretch me and claim me as his in the most primal way possible. But he pulled back slightly causing me to whimper.

'I love you so much. I feared for your life so much today. I wanted us to win.. I did. but I wasn't sure we would get through it… and then you turn around and kill both Jane and Alec on your own… I'm so damn proud of you, Bella. You're an amazing woman, vampire and coven mistress. I'm lost without you.' he was looking deep into my eyes and I saw the depth of the emotions he was feeling in them.

'I love you too' I whispered. Putting both hands on his face. 'I worried you were going to do something stupid when you ran at Aro. But knowing you were making sure Angela's mate was safe… You're an amazing coven master Edward, and I can't wait to start our life together.'

His eyes closed for a moment as a dozen different emotions played across his face, love, lust, elation, pride… it was amazing. When his eyes opened, they were filled with lust and he crushed his lips to mine, while at the same time burying himself inside of me to the hilt. I screamed in pleasure at the sudden invasion. He started moving, his hips drawing back until he was nearly all the way out of me, before plunging back in.

It was hard and fast and wild. It was mating at its finest. I clawed at his back trying to get him closer. His lips devoured mine and as his hand found my sensitive little nub and started stroking me, I lost it. My muscles contracted and fluttered clenching around him as he continued pumping in and out of me. I cried out and grabbed the back of neck, pulling him into a searing kiss as I gave myself over to my second orgasm. Edward thrust once, twice more before groaning into my mouth as he found his own release.

'I love you.' I mutered through my pants.

He smiled against my lips. 'I love you too.' He muttered back, before pulling out of me, sweeping me into his arms and carrying me over to the bed where we started all over again, and didn't stop until dawn broke.