AN: Hey guys! I want to let all of you know that I updated the last chapter a little bit. The ending needed some work to make more sense. But I guess that's what I get for trying to post too quickly. Go check that out if you want. Also, here is a chapter from Aro's Point of View. I hope you enjoy!
APOV
I never thought I would find a mate. After thousands of years alone with only my brothers as company, I had resigned myself to the fact that there may not be a soul out there for me. The very thought of ever taking a mate was preposterous to me. Not only would my mate be a liability to the coven - to me - but I believed there was no way that I could have avoided meeting her for so long.
After my brothers found their mates in Didyme and Athenodora, I set off to look for mine. I spent years searching the world for a companion, the other half of my soul split at the dawn of creation. But I never found her. I visited coven after coven, searching for her, and after years of empty results, I came to the conclusion that there was not one in this world meant for me. That whatever God was out there, judged my misdeeds and found me unworthy of an eternal companion. There would be no one for my soul to find solace in.
But I was wrong. So so wrong.
After hours of waiting with Marcus for Caius to join us in the throne room, I decide it is time to seek him out.
This tardiness is unlike my brother. He is usually so punctual, always ready to start before I even arrive myself. But over the last few weeks, he has been late. It started out small, just a few minutes here and there, so Marcus and I thought nothing of it. But now, the minutes were turning into hours, and even though we have all of eternity to do our work, I would much rather get on with the less appealing tasks.
Tonight, in particular, there is the matter of the Children of the Moon spotted in our territory recently. Their presence is concerning, not to mention dangerous to our existence. After all, they are the reason we lost our Didyme. My beautiful, joyous little sister. She was the only piece of my humanity that I had left, everything else long destroyed by the passage of time. And in losing her, we lost Marcus, as well. He has not been the same since the day she died. Since the day those monstrous beasts took her away from us.
But the Children of the Moon are not the only villains to chat about. No, we also need to discuss the disappearances of Stefan and Vladimir. The ancient vampires are dangerous, and the mere thought that Demetri is unable to track them, makes me want to rip someone's head off.
To make matters worse, I've been agitated lately. I cannot pinpoint the reasons behind my restlessness and irritability. The feeling is relentless and my brothers have began to wonder if I am going mad. They think that all these years alone, with nothing to truly live for, have finally taken a crack at my mental health.
It started 18 years ago. One moment I was quite alright, enjoying some time out at the opera, when I suddenly lost interest in everything around me. A story of love and peril that I typically found riveting, could no longer hold my attention. I left before the climax finished it's ascent.
As time moved on, the lack of care turned into a crushing irritability and that continued to progress until I found it difficult to control. My former gregariousness gave way to a ruthlessness I never saw myself capable of. Granted, I am a fair ruler, or at least I like to think I am. But I have not been as forgiving as I used to be.
I arrive at Caius' study in under a minute. Ultimately proving that there is no excuse good enough to cover him. Without a knock, I let myself in. I could care less what sight I am met with, my focus is centered on dragging Caius to the throne room, even if that means pulling him off of a moaning Athenodora.
When I spot him, Caius is at his desk, scratching away with his quil. There is no sense of urgency about him, in fact he looks quite relaxed. So outraged at the sight, I do not even register the other presence in the room. I lay into Caius instead."Caius, brother, please divulge to me your reasons for not attending the meeting I called in the throne room."
My brother has the audacity to smirk at me. The very sight of it threatens to cut the cord on my already fraying self control, but I stifle the growl growing in my throat.
"My apologies, Aro. Presently, I have company. Miss Isabella's attentions were far too enjoyable to part with, I am afraid." The arrogant bastard looks away from me then, eyes darting to the chaise behind me. And that's when I register it. The heartbeat. The scents of freesias and honeysuckle permeate the room barely masking the aromatic patchouli I know all too well. Something wrenches at my chest, pulling me toward the object of Caius' attention. But I am overwhelmed. How did I not notice before? How did I not smell her? Because now, I cannot focus on anything else.
Nothing could have prepared me for the sight of her. Nothing. When I finally face Caius' company, I am overwhelmed by the beauty curled up on his chaise. Long, chestnut hair frames her porcelain, heart shaped face. Her cheeks are full and pink, kissed by the angels. And her eyes, oh god, the melted chocolate depths sparkle with streams of gold. I am lost. She is everything.
I have no control over myself anymore, I lost it when I caught her scent in the air.
My beast is in control now, and he does not hold himself back from getting close to her. I am in front of the girl in an instant, unable to resist the urge to smell her sweetness so close to the source. I dip my head to her neck, almost purring at the feeling of the warmth radiating off her skin. My beast begs for a taste of her, just a drop. But the way the blood rushes to her cheeks due to my proximity sends me wild. I move my head up, breathing her in as my nose nearly grazes the skin of her neck. I stop at her ear, unable to pull away from the sight of her cheeks growing red. Filling with such sweet smelling blood.
Caius clears his throat, and I react on instinct. With a quick turn, I stand in front of Isabella, blocking her from my brother's view.An uncontrollable need to protect her comes over me along with a burning desire to rip Caius' head off. What has he done? He watched me pine for a mate for years, even tried to help me find her myself. Mates carry the same scent, or at least a variation of the same scent. This marks an individual as a mate of another even before the two have met. Caius would have known she was mine the second he smelled her.
"Caius, brother, why would you keep something of such great importance from me?"
"Whatever do you mean, Aro?"
I rush at him and slam my hand down on his desk. Livid now, I level my face with his and bare my teeth. "I mean, you should have come to speak with me the second you were made aware of her existence."
"Maybe you should visit me more, Aro. The girl has been here for a few weeks now, and I have not seen you in my study during that entirety."
"Is this all some ruse to force me into visiting you, Caius? Because I know perfectly well that Dora has no qualms with spending her days in your company, and you still turn her away."
Caius laughs at me. The sound is deep and humorous, only furthering my anger with him. But he is unaffected by my glares, and stands to his feet. "If Dora spent her days here, I am afraid I would never get anything done, brother."
"And so you choose to spend your days with what is mine, instead?"
"Yes."
I growl at this, and crouch down, ready to pounce on him. It would be an even battle, but in my fury, I would triumph. "Not anymore."
Caius smiles. "I believe that is up to Miss Isabella. After all, the poor girl just needs a place to read. She's quite brilliant, you know."
She is mine. I cannot believe he kept her from me, got to know her in ways that I've only dreamt of.
"I rather like Master Caius' study," the girl voices, practically whispering. "And he makes for good company. I am tasked to this room, so I see no reason why I shouldn-"
The soft cadence of her voice is too much for me, and I stop her from speaking any further.
"Enough," I snap. My anger towards the situation is still so raw, scraping away at the new ache in my chest. Patience left me long ago, and I almost feel remorseful for my behavior, but my instincts have a stronger hold on my actions than anything else right now. And my vampire wants nothing more than to lay her out on the floor and worship her. To drain her, bringing her to the brink of death, before making her his entirely.
"Isabella." Her name leaves me with a rumbling in my chest. "You will soon learn, I am not one you should argue with."
The last thing I need right now is an insolent little mate. No, she will need to be trained. I will show her just who she belongs to. Her narrowed eyes meet mine, ferocious and feisty.
Meeting her changed everything for me in an instant, but I made a mess of the situation entirely. Every molecule in me screams out for her. So much so, that I cannot seem to get a grasp on my emotions. It's as if all the tension of the last 18 years was building up to this moment. And instead of taking the presence of my mate in stride, I mucked it up gloriously. Her humanity alone makes the bond difficult. She does not have the same instinctual drive to mate as a vampire would. Mates are not even a concept a human would grasp without much explanation.
But I did not treat her as a mate should. In fact, I found myself going as far as wrapping my hand around her throat. The beast inside of me was outraged by her resistance, angry that she would not submit like a good mate should. But as my fingers squeezed the supple skin of her long neck, I realized that I could not read her thoughts, not a single one. She was an enigma to me. In the state I was in, that only served to send me further off the rails when I should have been gentle with her.
I did the only thing that I knew would tie her to me forever - I told her what I am. I told her the secret of our kind, effectively damning her to death or an eternity by my side. And even now, I hold no regret for this action. She was bound to me, bound to find out what we were eventually. And if the girl is as smart as I think she is, she would have found out soon enough.
I left her in the rooms for an hour before I sent Jane to fetch her. In hindsight, I should have given Isabella and myself the night before dragging her before the entire guard. I didn't even allow myself to process the true nature of the day's events. Instead, I paraded her before the guard in an instinctual fit of possessiveness, all the while claiming that I had no intention of taking a mate. When in reality, my feelings on the matter are quite the opposite.
It wasn't until she fainted on my throne, that I realized how fragile she truly is. That my treatment of her was not befitting of a mate. She is not a vampire, she does not feel this connection in the same way I do. And my lack of patience, my swinging emotions, overwhelmed her. When her eyes fluttered shut, sheer panic surged through me, to the likes of which I never knew before. And I quickly scooped her up and whisked her away to my chambers, not bothering to consider what conclusions my guard might draw from my actions. The panic, the irrational fear that she was lost to me, served as a reality check.
Marcus and Caius were hot on my heels, following me all the way to the room and demanding to check on the girl. I hovered over her while Marcus searched for the possible cause of her fainting spell. Each pass of his hand across her skin put me further on edge, the monster in me so desperate to claim her. Mine.
Yet she is human. So small, so fragile, so helpless compared to our kind. Too quick of a motion, too hard of a nudge, and her bones could break. All it would take is one small accident and she could cease to exist. The very thought sent my hands into fists.
After a a few tests, Marcus let out a sigh of relief, and turned to face me.
"Aro, I need to speak with you, now." Marcus shows more emotion than I have seen from him since Didyme left. "My study. Caius can watch over Isabella in the meantime. She will be fine.
"While I am hesitant to leave the young lady. I am aware that there are pressing matters to discuss. Matters involving her. I have done more than enough to upset her today, and I need to get control of myself before I see her again.I nod at my brother. He turns, and I follow him out of the room.
When we arrive at his study, we each take a seat. Marcus sits behind his desk, a glare fixed on his face.
"What the hell do you think you are doing, brother?"
I open my mouth to speak, but Marcus silences me. "Do you understand what kind of repercussions your actions have? You rejected the mating bond in front of our entire coven. You used her as a prop for the night. A toy."
Marcus growls lowly, earning a similar one from me in return. But he doesn't relent. "I watched your bond to the girl fray, Aro. The bond you've scoured the world for. The bond you mourned. I watched while your very actions began to chip away at the already so feeble strings between the two of you. So I will ask you again, brother, what the hell do you think you are doing?"
"I don't know." I am angry. Angry that those words are the truth. Angry that my mate is this little human. Angry that I don't know what to do about that. But more than that, I am furious that I could let this happen. That I could screw things up so terribly in less than a full day's time.
"Well I recommend you figure that out. Sooner, rather than later, otherwise you will lose her. And we will lose you, dear brother."
I look away from him, unable to take the despair once again visible in his irises. "I must apologize to her."
"Make things right," he concludes, brushing me out of his study. "But be gentle with her."
I leave Marcus with a newfound determination. Ready to use the remainder of my night to come up with a plan. A plan to win a second chance from Miss Isabella Swan.
A/N: What do you guys think? Aro has a lot going on and a lot to work on before he can be a good mate to Bella. Not sure when the next update will be out, as I don't have a posting schedule. But I will be back.
Please favorite, follow and review if you can. I would so appreciate it!
Xoxo Isaolde