A/N: I know most of you are probably pissed seeing a new story, but this idea took over my brain yesterday and wouldn't let go. Plus, seeing as there aren't enough Bella/Denali sister fics out there, I decided I'm going to add to it. Already wrote the first two and a half chapters of it, so expect another update soon. Love you peeps. Send me some good Bella/Denali sister fics if you have them, I'm desperate.

Chapter 1

It was a seemingly ordinary Friday afternoon for Carlisle. He had gotten a day off of work at hospital, and was lounging around at home and enjoying some extra alone time with Esme when they both heard a car coming down their long driveway. Not only was it too early for the kids to be home from school, but neither of them recognized the sound of the car's engine either. Then there was the sound that was clearly missing from inside the car; not a single heartbeat to be heard.

Carlisle frowned, immediately switching from compassionate husband to a coven leader ready to protect his territory and his mate. "Stay here," he said, or more like pleaded, with his wife as he sat up from the couch.

Esme shook her head. "You already know my answer to that, Carlisle. If there's a threat coming our way, I'm going to be by your side. You know I don't like it when you try to face a potential threat alone."

All it took was one glance at her to see the determination all over his wife's face, and he knew this wasn't a battle that he was going to win. "Take your phone just in case. If anything bad happens, you should try to call the kids. There's always a chance that Alice hasn't seen what's going to happen."

His mate nodded. "That's what I thought. I'll get my rolling pin too, in case I need to threaten anyone." In a blur that was quicker than Carlisle's laugh, Esme disappeared and reappeared with her phone in hand. Together, they went to their front door and opened it, prepared to face the potential threat just as the car, a dark blue convertible, had parked in front of their house.

The front and passenger side door opened at the same time, the passenger door thrown open with so much force it was a bit of a surprise that the door didn't get ripped right off the hinges. From the driver's side appeared one long, pale leg, then the other, before a familiar strawberry blonde fully emerged from the vehicle. From the passenger side came another blonde with long pale blonde hair, this one all but jumping out of the car in her eagerness. Finally, one of the back doors opened, and the last blonde appeared.

At the sight of the three, both Carlisle and Esme relaxed, surprised yet pleased at the sudden visit.

"Tanya, Kate, Irina! How nice to see you all!" Carlisle exclaimed with true joy, and no small amount of relief to find friends awaiting them instead of a potential fight. "I'm so sorry we didn't welcome you properly, I hate to admit I had no idea you were coming." As he spoke, Esme discretely checked her phone to find there had been no messages from Alice to tell them of the Denali sisters' arrival.

"I apologize for our sudden visit, we were close by and Kate insisted we stop by. We would have texted, but in her eagerness to get us moving, she fried our phones." She shot Kate a frown, and she had the decency to look sheepish at her mistake while Irina grumbled about Kate owing her the newest phone model. When Tanya turned back to Esme and Carlisle, she offered them a wry smile. "I suppose we're guilty of relying on Alice's gift a little too much ourselves. I take it she didn't see our arrival?"

"As far as we are aware, no," Carlisle admitted.

Before anything else could be said, Esme was jumping into action. She rushed forward, hugging each of the three women quickly. They barely had the time to give the maternal vampire a hug back before Esme started to urge them into the house. "Don't just stand there, we always have time for family. Come on in. Will Eleazar and Carmen be joining us?"

"I'm afraid not. Since we wanted to go on a bit of a trip around the country and believed we would take a while, we decided it was best to have them stay back to keep us updated on any trouble and guard our territory just in case." Tanya let Esme lead them all to the living room, where she took a seat on a chair; despite not actually needing to rest, it was always a way to show that she was at ease with the others in the room. To Tanya, it was a form of politeness. Irina took a seat on the arm of the chair Tanya was sitting on, but Kate was too excited to do such a thing, instead looking around as if waiting for someone to appear out of thin air.

"I have to say, Esme, I love what you've done with the place. It's quite impressive from when I last saw it," Irina's voice was full with true admiration as she gazed about the room. Esme had the magic touch when it came to designing and redecorating, and Irina once again made the mental note to have her design a house for her when she found her mate. If she ever found her mate, Irina couldn't help but add a touch bitterly. It had been well over a thousand years since she had been turned into a vampire, and she was still looking. She and her sisters were.

"Why thank you Irina, you're always so sweet with your compliments," Esme replied, giving the youngest vampire a huge smile. In seconds, Esme and Irina were deep into conversation about redecorating, styles, and just how Esme had come up with the ideas for how to decorate the mansion. Carlisle and Tanya might have fallen into a similar discussion about their own topics, had it not been for Carlisle getting distracted by Kate, nearly vibrating in excitement as she all but stared at the front door.

"Er, is Kate okay?" Carlisle whispered as low as a vampire could to Tanya, making the other coven leader roll her eyes at her sister's antics.

"She's fine-as fine as Kate can be, that is. She's just overly excited to meet Edward's mate," Tanya admitted.

Carlisle blinked in surprise, taken a tiny bit aback. He had never known Kate to be interested in the mates of the Cullens to such a degree-she only tended to want to know how much fun they might be. "Oh, is that so?"

Tanya nodded, trying to hide a grimace as Kate all but bounced at Tanya's words. The warrior was holding herself back from speaking, but only because she could sense that Tanya was about to speak. "It's the main reason for our visit today. Ever since we got the call about Edward's mate, she's been much too interested in finding out more about the girl."

Kate couldn't hold back anymore. "Of course I am! I mean, who wouldn't want to know more about the girl destined to be with our little prude? I never thought the day would come. And for his mate to be a girl-I always thought he was gay. We all did."

Irina's eyes shot to her sister, temporarily halting her talk with Esme. "Kate!" she snapped in warning, but it only made the middle sister roll her eyes. She really didn't want Carlisle and Esme to know they had been discussing Edward's sexuality behind Edward and the rest of the family's back; it was obviously a rude thing to do.

"What? It's true; we even had a running bet on it." Kate's words made Irina groan and hide her face in her hands. Tanya offered up a quick apology to the two Cullens, and while bewildered, both assured her that it was fine and that they took no offense. Carlisle had a bit more to say.

"Kate, I know this might be quite the hard request for you and your sisters, but I would appreciate it if you don't say and try not to think about your original beliefs in regards to Edward's sexuality. As you know, he was born in a time where such things were looked down on, and he does get a bit upset about such things." Between the time he was born and his father being a pastor, he had quite the religious upbringing. Times had changed, but Edward's views hadn't changed nearly as much, and knowing that someone believed he was gay might make him...upset, to say the least.

"Don't worry about it, we've thought such a thing since he first turned us down. We know how to keep our thoughts on the subject a secret," Tanya quickly assured not just Carlisle, but Esme as well, who had grown quite distressed at the idea of Edward being hurt in such a way, even if he couldn't help what he heard.

"Besides, forget about what we thought about his sexuality; his mate is much more interesting right now. Is she as much of a prude as he is? Is she boring? He seems like the type to want a quiet doormat for a mate, but hopefully she won't be that bad." Kate couldn't help but cackle at how much Edward must be suffering right now. "But damn, to have a human for a mate...he must be suffering so fucking much right now. His instincts must be going so wild he's probably being driven insane. I don't know how you all could stand to be around him."

"Kate," Tanya sighed in exasperation, but Irina couldn't bring herself to fault Kate this time. She would never admit it out loud, but she thought the same. While she still had no mate herself, she knew enough about them to know a vampire is driven wild when their mate is unfucked and unclaimed. Not only was Edward too much of a prude to have done that, but to have a human, weak, easily breakable mate...that was something else altogether. Usually a vampire gets so freaked out and so driven by instinct and fear and need that they change their human mate immediately. If not, they're much worse to any potential threat and overprotective to a fault. Not only does it tend to put the human off if they're unaware, but it makes the vampire incredibly volatile, even to allies and family. Edward was bad enough on his own, but to have such a large family hanging around his human mate constantly must put quite a bit of strain on everyone. Part of Irina was surprised the house was still standing.

"Actually, quite the opposite," Esme admitted, which was a surprise to all three sisters. Her eyes glowed with a type of joy and love for Edward that only a mother could have, a soft, sweet smile on her lips as she thought about how much of a different person Edward had become. "He's so much happier now. I've never seen him laugh or smile as much as he had when he's with her. It's like a weight no one knew he had been carrying had been lifted off his shoulders. He's almost like a different person."

All of the sisters could only stare at Esme in shock. Everyone knew finally finding your mate could change someone, but to hear of such a change was a different matter. No matter how much they teased Edward or thought of him as a grumpy prude, they were admittedly quite happy for him as well. He was family and they cared for him quite a bit; while perhaps a bit sad that they still didn't have their own mates yet, they couldn't help but want to celebrate the boy's happiness along the way.

"Well, now I really have to meet her," Kate breathed. "Where are they all, anyways? I can only wait so much."

Carlisle glanced at his watch. "School is already out, so it shouldn't be too long now; only a few minutes, give or take how much they break the speed limits getting home."

Kate groaned at the apparently torturously long wait time, but she was ignored.

"Oh yeah, how do the rest of you all feel about your new addition?" Irina asked, her curiosity getting the best of her. She knew how Rosalie viewed humans and found it hard to be around them, and how hard it would be for Jasper to be around a human as he struggled with bloodlust. Another reason to quickly turn the girl, in her opinion; even if Rosalie hated the idea of someone giving up their humanity. While she knew Edward also hated himself and all vampires to a degree, saw them all as soulless monsters, even he wouldn't be stupid enough to let his mate get old and die without him, surely? So why was she still human?

"Everyone loves her. Us included, of course," Carlisle said, which was another surprise. Tanya almost said "Even Rosalie?" with quite a bit of doubt, but had enough of a mind to keep her mouth shut.

"Bella is already a daughter to me," Esme added. "There's just something special about her; something that draws us all to her. She's so bright, and her smile lights up a room. She obviously favors Edward, being his mate, so the other kids have to fight over who gets to spend any of Bella's free time with her."

"Rosalie and Alice are usually the winners," Carlisle added with a chuckle. "Alice isn't above using her power to cheat, of course, and Rosalie is more than happy to intimidate anyone, even Bella herself, into letting her have her way."

"Bella only puts up a performance," Esme was quick to add. "She definitely enjoys spending time with Rosalie just as much as Rosalie does. Alice claims the best friend seat for Bella, but Rosalie apparently claims the best sister. Emmett gets the best little brother spot, despite him being older, and currently, Bella is wavering on whether to put Jasper in the best big brother spot or in the sage grandpa position. It's quite the adorable running joke between them all."

"Although Rosalie doesn't joke around when it comes to her position. Alice has learned how scary Rosalie can get when she once tried to claim she was Bella's favorite sister as well as best friend. She almost lost half her wardrobe as well as part of her wall." Carlisle winced at the memory, but his eyes still twinkled with laughter.

Now all of the sisters were even more intrigued. To not only be Edward's mate, but to have won over Rosalie to such a degree? It was something that should have been impossible for anyone to accomplish, let alone a human.

"Carlisle, from one coven leader to another," Tanya started, and just like that, the atmosphere took a serious turn. "What are your plans in regards to Bella's humanity?"

For a moment, the Cullen patriarch frowned, but eventually sighed. He decided he was going to be completely honest with the Denalis. "Originally, I wasn't so sure about what we were going to do. There was something about her humanity that we all loved and clung to. When put to a vote, Edward and Rosalie always seemed to want her to stay human. Even Esme wavered on what to do. Emmett, Jasper, and Alice wanted her to become a vampire, but Emmett would waver because of his mate, and it left things at quite the standstill in regards to what we would do." Seeing how tense all three Denalis became, he knew it was best to rush on. "However, that didn't last long. Bella insisted on being in on one of the meetings and quickly put an end to any quarreling."

Carlisle remembered the moment like it was yesterday.

Bella stormed in like a general about to command her troops, standing at the front of the living room table as she listened to each person's beliefs and opinions one by one. Both the pros and cons of being changed, and then their final decision on why they thought it was best to keep her human or turn her. Finally, she had slammed her hands on the table when a fight had started to erupt between family members, ending it as quickly as it had begun. Then Bella had simply addressed Rosalie and Edward, looking them each in the eye for so long that both had nearly squirmed in their seats.

"Edward, do you love me?" Bella had asked.

"You know I love you, Bella! How could you even think otherwise?" Edward had asked, sounding almost hurt at the question.

Bella hadn't answered him, instead turning to Rosalie. "And you, Rose. Do you love me?"

Rosalie's response had been as immediate and vehement as Edward's as the blonde crossed her arms over her chest. "Of course I do." Rosalie had said with a roll of her eyes, as if the question itself was stupid.

"Well then, I suppose I should just walk out this door. Never to return. Never to talk to any of you again. Never able to see any of you again. You all will never be able to see me either. I'll just be gone." With Bella's words, everyone had become alarmed, but most had known to be silent about it. Rosalie and Edward had become the most freaked out, and as soon as Bella had finished, both had erupted into protests. They had never heard Rosalie shout so loudly or hear Edward's voice crack so much. Even after Bella had held her hand up for silence, it still took them a while for them to quiet down.

"Why would you do that, Bella? Why would you want to leave us?" Edward asked, his eyes filled with tears.

"If this is some sick joke…" Rosalie had added, and while she had attempted to be threatening, her eyes were too glossy and her voice had cracked. It made her sound more broken than anything.

"Because that's what's going to happen. If I stay human, I'm eventually going to die. Whether it be of old age or an accident or anything else, I'm going to die unless someone turns me. As a very, very clumsy and danger prone human, I'm more likely to die right now than pretty much anyone else on the planet. And I won't always have a vampire around to save me when something goes wrong." Realization dawned on Rosalie and Edward's face, as if they hadn't even considered that angle. Or maybe they just hadn't realized how easy death could come to the human? That a human's life-or this particular human's life-was possibly not as long as they believed it to be. "So it's really quite simple; how much do you love me? Is that love passing, or is that love enough that you can't imagine your life going on without me in it? Because if it's the latter and you still don't want to turn me, you're only setting yourselves up for an eternity of suffering."

It had only taken seconds for Rosalie and Edward to realize that they already couldn't imagine continuing to exist in a world where Bella was gone, and that had been that. The vote would always be unanimous from then on-something Bella would make sure of by randomly calling for "humanity checks" by yelling "Who wants me to be a vampire?" when hanging out alone with the Cullens. If a single person didn't raise their hand-whether it be because they were playing video games or during that one time that Rosalie had tried to argue that the checks were stupid as Bella already knew their answer-Bella would remind them of what she had said earlier. One of her favorite things to say was "I just wanted to see if you really do still love me enough to keep me forever." And then of course everyone would have to raise their hands or assure Bella in some way that they really did love her enough.

"Everyone is now in complete agreement in turning her," Carlisle said as he was pulled out of the memory by a touch to his shoulder from his mate. "In fact, Rosalie in particular is eager to turn her as soon as possible; I'm pretty sure Bella has hammered the fear of premature death into her to the point she believes a building can potentially fall on the human at any moment now."

Strong enough to face a crowd of vampires, win over Rosalie, and even make Rosalie fear someone keeping their humanity? This girl was getting more and more interesting to the Denalis by the minute.

"So if this is all true, why is she still human?" Tanya asked once she was sure Carlisle wouldn't say more.

"Quite frankly, it's a bit dangerous. Her father is the Chief of Police, and if she goes missing, we're afraid of the attention it will bring to us. That, and the fact that Bella cringes at the idea of being seventeen forever, made us decide it would be best to wait until after high school to change her. That way she could 'go off to college' far away, and it would be much easier for her to be changed and fake her death in a way that can only be seen as an accident." There was also the problem with the wolves and the treaty, but Carlisle didn't bring it up. Only two wolves had popped up so far, and quite frankly, she wouldn't be changed in the state of Washington. Even if it was technically breaking the treaty just by changing any human at all, Carlisle would easily give up being able to come back to Forks if it meant having Bella as his daughter for eternity.

Tanya nodded in understanding. It looked like Carlisle and his coven had really thought things through, and as long as Bella would in fact be changed and no laws would be broken, she was fine with it.

"You sure know how to pick your new additions, don't you Carlisle?" Irina murmured. "It's a good thing this particular human is worth it." If she hadn't been Edward's mate, Irina would have called them foolish for telling a girl who has such a potentially dangerous parent; the human police were not the type of people any vampire should get involved with for any reason if they could help it. Even if everything went exactly as planned, the father would still have questions, still have access to whatever accident scene they planned that any other normal human parent wouldn't. It could still cause quite a few problems down the line.

Carlisle offered a small smile. "Yes, I believe I do.

After hearing such things about Edward's mate, Kate was more eager than ever to meet this Bella. Before she could once again voice how the wait was absolutely killing her, she and the rest of the vampires in the room heard it; the sound of two cars pulling into the driveway. While Kate herself had only heard the particular engine sounds a few times before, she still recognized them as Emmett's jeep and Edward's volvo. And from that volvo, they all heard a single human heartbeat accompanied by Edward's laughter. She would have bolted out to meet them, but Irina reached out and grabbed Kate by the wrist before she could get anywhere.

"Let them get into their own house before you bombard them, Kate," Tanya said when she opened her mouth to complain about Irina stopping her. "Despite how childish you act, you are over a thousand years old. You can wait another minute or two."

Kate huffed. "Fine, but if they take more than two minutes to bring the human in, I can't be held responsible for my actions."

Tanya almost reminded Kate that this was 'just a human' before realizing that might offend some, if not all of the Cullens.

The vampires inside listened in silence as the vampires and human outside got out of the car. It was only as the last car door slammed shut that they paused, nearly driving Kate insane with suspense.

"Who's car is that?" they heard Rosalie ask tightly from outside, already suspicious and ready for a fight.

They could almost hear Alice wince. "Oh, shoot! I had a vision of the Denali sisters visiting earlier, I completely forgot to tell you guys."

"How could you forget about having a vision as important as that?" Rosalie demanded, a tad incredulous.

"It's not like I meant to! Right after I had the vision, Bella distracted me!"

"Wait, me? What did I do?" a relatively normal human voice asked.

"That she is," Edward said with complete adoration in his voice-a sound that the Denalis never would have imagined coming from the mindreader. Irina wasn't sure whether to rejoice for the boy or gag at the sappiness of it.

"You can't blame my wife for when it was just the other day that you screwed up on my car, Rose," Jasper piped up, most likely in reply to Rosalie opening her mouth to say something scathing about Alice's forgetfulness.

"Excuse me? I realized my mistake and fixed it right away. It was not my fault that Bella distracted me," Rosalie's tone as she replied to Jasper was scathing.

"What?" Bella asked, but was currently being ignored.

"Exactly." Pleased to prove his point, Jasper and Alice started back toward the house, Alice going so far as to stick her tongue out at Rosalie.

"Looks like you lost this one, Rosie. It's not your fault; you know Bella Bear is a huge distraction," Emmett said with a chuckle; he certainly wasn't doing the best of jobs at making his mate feel better, especially given she hissed and snapped her teeth at him even as she cuddled closer to him.

"Wait, me again? Is today blame Bella day?" Bella squeaked.

"Sorry Bellsy-if something is your fault, you have to be expected to get called out on it." With one last laugh, Emmett was leading Rosalie inside, leaving Bella to grumble in complaint about how she didn't even do anything. Edward did his best to reassure her, but Bella started to say how she would kick Emmett's ass if she could and how the only one at fault would be him because Bella would "get her shoe stuck in his ass after she shoved her foot up there."

Thankfully for Kate, Edward and Bella also started to head toward the house, and while the pace was way too slow for Kate's liking, she at least knew they would be in the house in the next minute.

"Oh yeah, by the way, who are the Denali sisters?" Bella asked, a touch nervously. "Should I really be meeting them?"

"You'll be fine," Edward assured her, then hesitated. "Just...be careful around Kate. And don't let her touch you, just in case."

Kate only had a moment to be offended, and then the door was opening and Jasper and Alice were entering their home, dropping their backpacks on the floor in preparation for a potential slamming hug from Kate. Kate glanced over at Irina and Tanya, pleading with her eyes to be let go. Irina rolled her eyes at Kate's desperation, but then also looked over at Tanya to see if she should let Kate go yet.

Tanya shook her head. "Let's let everyone come inside first."

"Esme, Carlisle, we're home!" Alice shouted. "I'm sorry I forgot to tell you about the Denali's visit!"

"That's alright, dear," Esme called back. Her motherly instinct made her want to get up and properly greet her kids, preferably with a plate of food in her hands for Bella, but seeing just how wound up Kate was made her hesitate to potentially get in the way once Kate was let loose. She hurried to the kitchen regardless to put together a snack for Bella while also keeping an eye on the children as best as she could from her position.

"Honeys I'm home!" Emmett called out with a laugh, earning a light smack on the chest from Rosalie in the process. Both also dropped their backpacks off at the door, a bit surprised to find that no one had been tackled by Kate yet.

Again, Kate looked at Tanya pleadingly, and again, Tanya shook her head.

Finally, Edward and Bella also came inside, Edward holding the door open for Bella before closing it behind her.

"Carlisle? Esme? Everything okay?" Bella asked, and it was easy to hear the frown in the human's voice. She wasn't used to Carlisle and Esme not greeting her at the door. "I heard you have guests? Other than me, I mean."

"Welcome back," Carlisle said. He stood to greet the kids with a smile, and then glanced at the Denali sisters, wondering if he should get between his kids and Kate's exuberant hugs or not. It wasn't as if she would give such a powerful hug to Bella as she did to his other children, but he still worried that Kate might be a little over the top when meeting Bella. There were times when Bella would hesitate or become unsure when faced with affection of any kind, and getting such affection and excitement from a stranger might scare her.

"She'll be fine, Carlisle," Tanya said, knowing her sister better than anyone. "Despite how she can act, my sister knows how to read the room."

"She's talking about you," Kate told Irina, which made the youngest sister snort in a mix of humor and disbelief at Kate's audacity.

"You wish it was," Irina murmured in reply.

Tanya waited until Carlisle gave Tanya a hesitant nod to say, "Irina, let her go."

The second Irina released Kate, the warrior blurred to the entrance of the living room, nearly tackling Alice and Jasper-who had just emerged from the hallway and managed to take a step back just in time. Kate didn't bother to apologize or excuse herself, too fixated on seeing the strange enigma of a human that had been hyped up to her and her sisters since the moment she was mentioned. Her gaze moved right past Jasper and Alice, past Emmett and Rosalie, who had frozen in the doorway in a slightly protective stance, willing to take the full force of Kate's tackle hug in case she were to try it with Bella. Finally, her eyes found the human girl, a brunette, clinging lightly to Edward's arm with both of hers. Her body language seemed nervous, hesitant, unsure, even shy. Nothing like the Bella Kate had heard about so far. Disappointed, Kate gave her a once over, starting with her feet and working her way up. She was pretty, shapely, but even her physical form appeared weak. Kate was becoming more and more deflated the more she studied her-then Kate's gaze met the human's.

Bella's eyes were like two pools of milk chocolate, a swirling light to them that gave those eyes so much depth. They were the most beautiful thing Kate had ever seen, such power in them that the breath left Kate's lungs and never returned. She was lost, falling into those pools, drawn to them yet unable to move. Those eyes were beautiful. Bella was beautiful. Perfect. The most amazing thing Kate had ever seen.

And she's all mine.

The thought made Edward freeze himself, and he realized with dread what had just happened.

Of course, everyone noticed the way Kate had frozen and deflated, how she stared at Bella without remembering to blink or breathe. While she didn't need to, the fact that she had stopped an act that had become so natural over the years was telling enough that something was off. Just a glance at Kate's face made it clear the warrior was completely dumbstruck.

No one knew what to make of Kate's behavior, and so all of the Cullens tensed. Could Kate have been hit harder than they thought she would by the scent of Bella's blood? What else would cause her to react in such a way? Regardless of the unknown, each and every Cullen were ready to protect Bella with their lives.

Alice tried to see into the future despite knowing she most likely wouldn't succeed, not with Bella there, but cursed all the same when she found it to be too blurry and warped to see clearly.

The only one who had any idea what was happening was Jasper as he was slammed with a wave of such love, worship, and adoration he nearly got knocked off his feet. Yet even that left him confused and bewildered. After all, while the signs pointed to the obvious, the obvious couldn't be true; Bella was Edward's.

"Kate?" Tanya asked with a concerned frown when Kate didn't shake herself out of whatever had taken hold of her. Irina was just as concerned for their sister, and was more than thankful when Tanya gestured to her to go check on the warrior, Tanya knowing better than to go herself in such a tense atmosphere.

Irina blurred to Kate's side, touching the other blonde's shoulder. "Kate? Are you alright?" Irina asked softly, but there was still no reply. Irina glanced the way Kate was staring in hopes of finding the source of Kate's behavior, and once again, gold eyes met brown. And just like with Kate, Irina was lost just as quickly as she gasped in shock.

Mate. The recognition was immediate and all powerful, enough that Jasper would have fallen to his knees if he hadn't used a hand to prop himself up against the wall. Already, Irina was completely and utterly in love with the little human before them, and in that moment, Irina could have sworn her dead heart beat once, just for Bella.

Of course, once more the thought was so loud and clear, Edward couldn't have ignored it even if he wanted to. On the outside, the mind reader appeared only tense, but on the inside, he was struggling to swallow a large lump of dread. He knew what was happening, but he wasn't sure how anyone would react to the news.

Seeing Irina react in the same way left everyone more confused. Tanya knew she had to do everything she could to smooth things over as best as she could, but she also had to see what the potential problem was.

"Excuse me for a moment, Carlisle," Tanya said as she rose from the chair.

"Of course," Carlisle murmured, but didn't bother to hide his anxiety. Esme left the kitchen to join Carlisle, and both of them followed Tanya to her sisters. Tanya couldn't fault them for the behavior, not when her sisters were behaving so strangely.

"What is the problem, sisters?" Tanya asked as she took a spot between them, immediately searching out what had both of her sisters so enraptured.

Tanya met the confused gaze of Bella, and just like Irina and Kate, she immediately fell victim to the beautiful brunette. For the first time in her life, she felt complete. It was as if her entire life had built up to this moment, and now that the moment was happening, Tanya couldn't begin to comprehend how breathless and ecstatic she was because of the girl before her. The human girl who held Tanya's heart-and apparently the heart of her sisters-since the moment Bella had been born. For Tanya and her sisters, the girl held an eternity of happiness, and the brunette had no idea. Now that the three of them were here and knew who Bella was to them, they were all going to start showering Bella with all of the love their amazing and perfect mate so clearly deserved. If the girl wanted the moon, Tanya and her sisters would do everything in their power to give it. All Bella had to do was say the word. Say anything, really, because Tanya yearned to hear her mate's voice again.

"Uh, Edward? Why are they staring at me like that? Is this normal?" Bella whispered under her breath, shifting closer to Edward so that her breasts accidentally pressed firmly against his bicep. Just like that, reality came crashing down around them.

That's right, Edward. The Cullens had all said Bella was Edward's mate. Edward had put some kind of claim on Bella, a claim he had no right to have, because Bella didn't belong to them. Bella was theirs.

Jasper, who had thought he might be the first vampire to ever pass out from the strength of the three's love for Bella, nearly got whiplash as the three became nearly feral from their fury. Thankfully, while the emotions were just as strong, that level of anger was something that activated the soldier in Jasper, made him straighten to face the threat.

Edward's eyes widened at the sudden violence in the three blonde's thoughts, and had he been able, he would have turned a sickly shade of green at the creative ways the three women came up with to make him suffer the most. Of course he realized what they were about to do. He didn't need to be a mindreader to know that being driven by so much anger and possessiveness would lead to them trying to attack him. And of course, three vampires trying to launch themselves at him in such a cramped hallway would have potentially dangerous consequences for the human attached to his arm. Even if she was their mate, accidents happen, and Bella drew accidents to her like a vacuum drew in dust.

"Get behind me," Edward said, and despite it sounding almost like an order, Bella listened.

All three sisters saw it as Edward trying to keep Bella from them, and they all crouched, prepared to launch themselves right over the other Cullens and rip Edward limb from limb. And if the other Cullens got in the way, they'd tear them to shreds too; anything to get their human away from so many vampires, so many threats, and bring the human safely to their sides. Once their human was safe, they were going to destroy any and all foolish vampires who dare lay any claim to her.

"How about we all calm down-" Carlisle started, trying his best to get some kind of peace, but only got three hisses from the blondes in response.

"This is bad," Edward muttered. "Bella-"

Something about Edward saying their mate's name sent Kate over the edge. Baring her teeth at the mindreader, Kate snarled, "I'm going to enjoy ripping you apart piece by piece, you little-"

"Did you just threaten him?" The voice, so clear and strong and almost icy in her anger, was the complete opposite of the girl's voice from before. It was enough to make the three Denali's pause in shock that their mate would take such a tone with them. What made everything more bewildering was the way Edward seemed to cringe while Jasper grimaced, Alice straightened enough to take a step away from Bella-as if the human was something to be feared-and Rosalie's eyes widened, followed by her cursing lowly under her breath as she realized just how upset Bella had become.

"Uh oh, Bella Bear is gonna go Momma Bear," Emmett said with a whistle, torn between pressing himself against the wall to get out of the way, or to ready himself to be another line of defense between the Denali sisters and Bella's rage. While Bella couldn't actually hurt any of them, a furious Bella was still something to be feared, and there was still the general concern regarding the Denalis and their reaction.

"Oh dear," Esme murmured, glancing back and forth between the Denali sisters and her children. She had absolutely no idea what to do, especially as she had no idea what was going on, and Carlisle was just as lost.

"Oh, I'm a bear alright, but I'm nobody's momma," Bella all but growled under her breath as she stormed around Edward and started toward the Denalis.

"Bella-" Edward pleaded-actually pleaded, something that the three blondes had never heard before-as he tried to grab her hand. Tried being the operative word, as with one cold glare at him, she froze him in his tracks.

"Don't you even try to stop me Edward, that one," she said, jabbing her finger at a bewildered Kate, "threatened you. Nobody threatens you, not when I'm here." She turned to face the Denalis fully, so much fire dancing in her eyes the Denalis struggled between feeling turned on or upset at such anger being directed at them from their mate. "Now, as for you three- I don't know who you are and I don't care. What I do care about is that you dare come into Esme's beautiful home, act all weird, start to vamp out for no goddamned reason, and then you have the gall to threaten my boyfriend?"

Edward's eyes widened at the use of the term "boyfriend" knowing it would cause even more trouble for him, and he was right. The Denali sisters' eyes were already black from the moment they realized that their mate was Edward's girlfriend, but the single word made their eyes turn impossibly darker. Irina bared her teeth and Tanya let out a low growl in her throat, Kate preparing to lunge all over again as all three pairs of eyes fixated on Edward. Their minds came up with new, even more creative ways on how to torture him, but Bella snapped her fingers in their line of sight, demanding attention come back to her. She tried to storm toward them, possibly kick a few shins, but Emmett decided to risk his life by putting out an arm to stop her progress. She glared at him for a moment, silently commanding him to move his arm, and while the force of the glare made Emmett waver, he didn't back down. With a snarl that was quite impressive for a human, Bella focused her glare back on the Denali sisters.

"I don't know what your problem is, and I don't care. What I do care about is you threatening and trying to attack Edward." Bella was working herself up to an even bigger rage as she thought about it, and she didn't care. If anything, she welcomed the anger. "Seeing as you have no fucking manners, I think it's about time someone teach you some. And that someone is going to be me."

It was at that moment that the Denali sisters got the shock of their vampiric lives when Bella-tiny, fragile, human mate Bella-ducked under Emmett's arm and lunged at them with only purpose in mind; delivering a Bella Beatdown.