Once the plane landed in Alaska, Steve drove me and my suitcase to Denali. I'm not going to lie, it had to have been one of the most stressful drives I'd ever been on. My fear of heights really wasn't getting along well with the fact that we were driving directly on the edge of the mountain, and every time I looked out of the window I felt like I was going to be sick. Okay, so in hindsight I probably should've thought the trip through a little more, but I was still convinced it was going to be fun regardless. That is, once we got away from the edge of the mountain where we could plummet to our death with the slightest swerve.

The drive was quite awkward, and quiet. One thing I'd learnt from the plane was that Steve was a man of few words, rather, few interesting words. For example, he decided to begin a little lecture about sycamore trees, which even included a monotone laugh from him. He really was a vampire, an energy vampire, that is.

After twenty or so minutes of driving through the mountains, we finally made it to what I could only assume to be the Denali's house. The house itself looked incredible, the roof covered in a layer of snow. Steve stepped out of the black BMW along with me, handed me my suitcase, and drove away, but not before warning me to be cautious of the different types of snow and the dangers they could pose (it confused me too, I know).

This left me standing in the snow on their driveway, awkwardly holding my black suitcase in one hand and my cloak draped over the other arm.

"Are you coming inside or not? Because you can stand out here if that's what you'd prefer."

I snapped my head around so that my gaze met Kate's. She'd now taken my suitcase from my grip and was giving me a strange look. Probably because I was just stood staring at her home for a few minutes straight.

"Oh yeah, of course, sorry, easily distracted," I babbled as I followed her up to the front of the house.

"Why do British people apologise for everything?" she asked almost exasperatedly.

"…sorry," I muttered.

The three of the other four coven members were stood just outside the front door while Irina was stood just inside, almost…hiding? I began to walk up to them but slipped on the way, tripping so that I fell into the snow on my hands and knees. Carmen laughed lightly and helped me up to my feet.

"Are you okay?" she checked to see if I'd injured myself.

"Yeah, just clumsy," I continued to dust off the powdery snow from my dark clothing.

Tanya smiled. "It's nice to see you again, Eliana."

"You too, but you can just call me Eli."

"Eli?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, it's just the…my mates, technically," I still wasn't used to saying that out loud so my face scrunched up a little in confusion, "are insistent on calling me by my full name for some reason."

Tanya hummed lightly. "Irina, could you please show Eli to her room?" she asked politely and shot a warm smile at me.

Irina seemed a little uneasy but agreed in anyway. "Of course, this way," she took my suitcase from Kate and led me through the house.

The inside of the house was even nicer than the outside, if that was even possible. Irina led me straight past all of the rooms downstairs, although I did take a peek at the front room and saw that it had such a nice organic-kinda feel to it. The bedroom I was staying in was upstairs on the left, and she placed my suitcase down gently beside the bed.

"If you need anything, feel free to ask," she spoke as she turned on her heel and strutted back out of the room.

Once she left, I stepped over to the large window facing my bed and leant on the windowsill, admiring the breathtaking view. As much as the Denalis having their house on the top of a mountain gave me constant anxiety, it was definitely worth it for the extraordinary view of the rest of the mountain landscape. There was even a perfectly green pine forest just a few kilometres away from the house which I was tempted to explore.

My phone suddenly buzzed, and I opened it up to be met with the group chat. You see, maybe a week or so before, I'd had the idea to create a group chat with the kings. Aro was ridiculously enthusiastic about the prospect of us being able to message each other all at once, so I quickly set one up.

I'd struggled to decide on a name for the group, so instead of being sensible and calling it 'Volturi' or something like that, my dumb, tired brain decided to title it 'Lobster'. Oh, and it only gets worse. At the time, Aro and I were sat on his sofa facing each other while he flicked through some paperwork, and I managed to take a photo of him at the perfect moment when he had his 'surprised' face. I then, for some reason, decided to photoshop his face onto a lobster and make it as the group chat icon.

Aro found this absolutely hilarious, of course, but Marcus thought the photo of the 'Aro-bster', as he put it, was terrifying and so he refused to open the chat. Caius, on the other hand, deleted himself from the group chat time and time again, and I re-added him after every sad attempt. Basically, it was chaos, but we made it work. This time, the message was from Aro.

Eliana?

aloha.

Did you get to Denali safely, cara mia?

obviously aha, why wouldn't I? xx

This time Marcus was the one to respond.

We felt the bond tug a little for a moment while you were on the aeroplane and again a few minutes ago. Did something happen?

ohhhh, that was probably when Estella showed me her ability. for a second she turned into each of you and I almost screamed
and the one from a few minutes ago was probably from when we were driving along the edge of the mountain and I thought I was going to die, not to be dramatic

So you are not in danger, tesoro?

um…no?

Just clarifying.

Caius decided to chip in, and I could almost hear his angry, eternally pissed-off voice in my head.

Group chats are such a pathetic way for humans to communicate. I wish you would just relieve me from my misery and delete me from this chat.

Rolling my eyes, I began scrolling through my camera roll and managed to find the photo I was looking for: the meme 'splish splash, your opinion is trash'. I sent it to the chat and closed my phone, flopping backwards onto the plush guest bed tiredly. Only five more days to go before you see those crazy sons-of-bitches again.

I was sat in the front room of the house on the sofa with Tanya and Kate that evening, my legs crossed underneath me. Carmen had made me a mug of hot chocolate and given me a blanket to keep me warm considering how unusually cold it was for the time of year, while the fire crackled in front of us.

"So it's true? You're really mated to the Volturi?" Kate asked almost in disbelief.

"Yeah, crazy right? I was dragged along to Volterra with Alice and Bella in March, and all of a sudden I became the true mate of a bunch of emo vampire overlords," I laughed at how ridiculous it sounded out loud.

"I would've never guessed though," Tanya mused, "you're just so…"

"Naïve? Innocent? I'm aware, it confuses me as well," I shrugged my shoulders.

"Maybe not naïve per se, but definitely innocent considering the nature of your lovers," she chucked.

"So what are they like? To you, I mean?" Kate questioned.

I paused for a moment to try and think of an answer. "Well, Aro's a strong cup of coffee but he does care about me a lot in his own over-enthusiastic way, Caius is very argumentative but will do anything in his power to protect me nonetheless, and Marcus is the quieter one but he's just as insane as the other two," I replied honestly, "but I love them though, I'm used to it."

"I'm surprised they haven't changed you yet. Surely it's dangerous to keep you in your human form for so long?" Carmen asked curiously while leaning against the doorway.

"They plan to transform me when I hit 21, but for now I have guards following me everywhere I go," I responded.

"Are they here now?" Tanya seemed alarmed.

I grinned at her sudden worry. "Please don't be mad, but there are ten of them somewhere around here. It's fine though, if anything they're keeping your house even safer."

"Ten?" Kate's eyebrows drew together.

I sighed and held my hands up with my palms facing out. "Caius' idea, not mine."

"He sent ten guards?" she clarified.

"I meant it when I said he was protective. Just be glad I managed to talk him out of coming with me, just imagine how much more awkward this conversation would be with blondie around," I laughed.

"They're very patient if they let you talk to them like that to their faces," Tanya spoke with a slightly cautious tone.

"Eh, I'm always giving them nicknames, they've just gotten used to it. I even call Jane 'Jane-y-Pain-y', and I call Felix and Demetri 'Tweedledum and Tweedledee'. Aro is 'my little psychopath', and I think I called Marcus 'cinnamon roll' once," I listed humorously, "can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," Tanya answered.

"When your coven came to Volterra a month or so ago, I was told that you have a dark history with the Volturi?" the sentence came out as a question.

She sighed. "Yes, that is true. I assume you would like to know?"

I nodded. "Only if that's okay."

Kate began to explain. "Our coven was founded during around 1000 AD by our mother, Sasha. Are you aware of your coven's laws?"

"Some," I responded.

"Well, there is a law against the creation of immortal children. Their development is frozen at the age they are turned, meaning they cannot be taught or restrained. Our mother, we do not understand her actions, but she created an immortal child. The Volturi were forced to intervene…" she trailed off sadly.

There was a depressing pause. "I-I'm so sorry, I-"

"Again with the apologies," Kate tried to laugh to lift the mood a little, "The only reason we were not found guilty is because we weren't made aware of the child, fortunately."

"If I would've known, I wouldn't have pried-"

"It's okay, Eli," Tanya placed a hand on my knee, "it isn't a secret. We still have complete respect for the Volturi and understand their laws, but our coven paid the price."

"Please don't attack me when I say this," I jokingly placed my hand up in front of Kate, "I'm so so sorry you had to go through that."

Kate pinched the bridge of her nose exasperatedly. "Please stop apologising, Eli."

"I can't help it," I laughed.

"Anyway, let's change the subject," Tanya brightened up again, "Are you excited for Edward and Bella's wedding? I hear you're a bridesmaid."

"I can't wait honestly, I've been excited for it all month. I sort of feel bad for bringing my mates with me though," I winced.

"They're coming too?"

"Yeah, I was on the phone to Bella and she insisted it was okay, but I still feel a little guilty," I admitted.

"Don't feel guilty about bringing your mates, I'm sure it will be okay," she assured, "Either way, you are still our favourite Volturi."

"Don't let Aro hear that or his ego will be permanently damaged," I giggled.

I heard my phone buzz and realised it was on the other side of the sofa beside Kate. She pulled it up and frowned at my screen confusedly.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You have a message from Aro in the… 'lobster' group chat?" she seemed utterly bewildered.

Carmen laughed under her breath and shook her head. "Lobster?"

"What do you have against lobsters?" I challenged her.

"But why?" Kate seemed amused.

"Everyone loves lobsters," I shrugged and took my phone back from her to see the message sent from Aro.

Are the Denalis treating you well, il mio amore?

"Would you say you are treating me well?" I asked them.

"…yes," Tanya responded hesitantly.

yes. yes they are. xx
I even asked Tanya for confirmation and she said yes

How?

I asked them 'would you say you are treating me well?' and she said yes

Hmm, interesting approach, but not quite what I was going for, cara mia.

"You are very lucky to have met your true mates in your human life, and at such a perfect age," she spoke with longing in her tone.

"Everyone keeps saying that, but I don't get why it's such a big deal."

"It's a 'big deal' because of the rarity of it," she responded, "Supposedly, unlike the mate bond, the true mate bond is completely invincible, unbreakable, eternal love stems from it. I used to believe it was simply a fairytale, and I have only ever met one other true mated couple before in my 1000 years on this planet."

"I have to share myself with three mates, though, and it does get a little tiring at times when they all want my affection at once."

"Would you want it any other way?" she asked me.

I thought about it for a moment.

"No."

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Author's note: This is a bit of a filler chapter to be honest but it was quite fun to write regardless. Also, please don't judge me for the lobster group chat. I was planning out this chapter at 3am and that's what my dumb brain came up with. Now I'm really tempted to photoshop Aro's face onto a lobster and attach it to the next chapter haha.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because I love to read your thoughts, stay safe, and ily lots!