Chapter 26 – Wanted & Unwanted Family

Felix remained in the antechamber, reluctantly letting me go back to our bedchamber. He didn't want me out of his sight. But Aro needed to speak with his fighters. Felix fought today to keep me alive and it felt weird being a part from him. I went to survey the damage from the fight. The other Guards were already there. "How many people do you think fled from that?"

Chelsea shook her head, "I think that was the point of the attack. To expose us. But they exposed themselves too. What are we going to do?" "The same thing we always to," Marcus said as he entered the room, "Live in secret and shadow. If any human question our existence, we silence them."

Everyone, including me, stood in silence as Marcus spoke. Bree and I looked at each other, sharing the concerns of everyone in the room. What if the humans began to question what this fray was about? The Volturi has been here for centuries and they weren't going to leave anytime soon.

All of us moved in blinding speed to clean up the shattered glass and destroyed furniture. Bree clutched at my hand as we went to my bedchamber to see if there was any damage. She was still shaken up from the fight. "I knew about werewolves," she confessed, "but I didn't know they were that big." The image of the bear-size beast came to mind. One fell too easily when I punched it.

I huffed out a laugh, "I know. They were bigger than horses." Bree was shaking her head. Though the fight with the wolves was one of the scariest events of my life, it was finding out that I was a descendant of Helena; that was scarier.

I didn't let her complete the thought, but she had a point. If Felix was with her, ugh! I wanted to kill her. I wanted to see her suffer, but now, what? I'm part of her family. It was the reason she and I look alike. Bree and I walked into my bed chamber. Nothing was damaged. Bree was close behind me looking around the room. She was still shaken up from the wolves.

Everything was fine in the room. Nothing was broken and there was no lingering scent of the wolves. After surveying the room, my body slumped down onto the bed. The weight of Helena's confession was crushing me. Bree found me running my fingers through my hair. My pale fingers were nervously pulling at the dark strands. "Are you okay?" My eyes closed and a long breath blew out of my from the news I just received.

Helena was my ancestor. Her family, the ones Felix wrote about, was my family. The woman that my husband once loved gave life to the generations that led to my birth. It was almost serendipitous that she and I were meeting now, as immortals. Helena and I hated each other, but she knew I was her descendent. She knew we were family when she attacked me, when she pretended to be me and watched as Felix attacked me, believing I was her.

Bree sat next to me, "Bella?" I didn't move, "I'm okay, I guess." Bree sighed, "Today was pretty bad." My shoulders jerked with a shallow laugh, "You're absolutely right." Bree poked my arm with her elbow, "You and Helena are related. Didn't see that coming. That's crazy." Crazy, that described this whole thing perfectly.

The room was so quiet after the day's events. More sounds came from behind the silence. It was other couples, in their intimate embraces. They wanted to be together, fueled by the fear of losing one another. I knew that fear. The image of Felix standing to protect me in the antechamber haunted my mind. My head leaned down, touching my knees.

My heart ached as the scene played over and over, eating away at me. Bree shifted her weight as she got up, "I'm going to my room. I have to check it." I looked up, "Ask someone go to with you, just in case." The last thing I needed was something happening to Bree.

As Bree departed, my arms wrapped my legs, curling myself into a ball. My mind shied away from the sounds of the others. Where was Felix? I needed to know he was safe. Being away from him was wrong. Every instinct told wanted to find him, but my body was held down from the horrors of Felix's tumult with that monster. Seeing him pinned by two wolves, their teeth near his throat, ready to kill. The sounds of his groans in pain during the fight.

My eyes pinched shut, trying to dispel all these awful things. The mental war ravaged my mind; seeing the images and trying to fight them off. My body was motionless, with my arms locked around my legs. I was locked in place.

A cool breath blew on my skin and a warm hand brushed my hair. My eyes opened to see Felix kneeling next to the bed. Seeing him changed everything. The images were gone, my body unlocked and I was free. Felix was safe. The promises we made to each other were true. My fingers unlocked, letting my body move. My hand crept across the sheet to let my fingers glide along his jaw.

Felix's hand held mine to his face. He kissed my palm, before he stood up showing his bare chest. The tendons in his arms tightened a bit as he sat on the edge of the bed. Felix leaned over to brush my lips with his. His lips held mine as his hands pulled down the zipper along my back, moving with slow deliberation. His eyes smoldered into mine after he released my lips.

His fingers pulled at the last bit of clothes on my body. Delicately, he kissed my shoulder and pulled me into his chest. Felix pulled the thick quilt over bodies. His arm slid under my head to pull me closer, pressing my body against his. Neither of us moved further. We only stared at each other. Felix's arm tightened, holding me in place. There was no need for words. It was in his eyes.

Thinking about today and this past year, Felix did all he could to protect me. To show that he loved me, that there could never be anyone else and we would be together. In this moment, on our anniversary, I wouldn't tell Felix what I did. I know I was wrong; egregiously wrong. It was what I thought I needed, but all I needed was Felix. I only needed the man that was holding me.

I will spend eternity making it up to him, though he wouldn't know. Felix moved my body under his. He twirled a curl in my hair around his finger and his other hand held the side of my face. His eyes never left mine as he kissed me. He brushed his lips along mine, almost playfully. "I love you, Bella." My hands rested on his forearm and my fingers brushed along the ripples of his muscles. Felix moved slowly, letting me feel every part of him. My eyes closed as I moaned when Felix bonded himself to me.

Each move was deliberate and slow, emphasizing his love for me. My fingers dug into his arm and my eyes shut. His lips pressed into the hollow at the base of my neck. Being with Felix, his passion poured out from every touch. His breath tickled my ear, as his tongue lightly traced my lip. His arms pulled me closer as he moaned my name. My fingers moved across his shoulders, up his neck to caress his face, "I love only you, Felix."

The female wolf, whose name is Kristine, was interrogated by Aro and his brothers. She wanted revenge for the death of her brother. He was unknowingly lured in by Heidi and me. The humans in the group masked the boy's scent. Kristine knew it was me who killed her brother because, as she called it, her twin intuition. She was the elder of the two of them and she changed into a wolf long before he did.

Aro kept me away from the interrogation because he didn't want to risk her changing to wolf form again. Felix agreed and asked that I spend the day away from the tower. Kristine would be dead before I returned. Alice took this opportunity to spend the time with me before she and her family left. Things were almost ready for the Cullens to move to their house in England.

Helena was in the garage, getting out of Demetri's Maserati, "Hi Bella." She said my name cheerfully. I was standing by my Ferrari F430. It was sleek red, with a black interior. Rosalie was in love with my car. Emmett was planning on getting her one. "Helena." She walked over to me, trailing her fingers along the glossy paint, "This is an amazing anniversary gift. Felix was always so sweet."

I smiled, "Yes, he is." I was still uncomfortable around Helena. Was this another one of her ploys? Alice came into the garage, "Bella, ready? Oh, hi Helena." Another car pulled into the garage, a black Aston Martin Vanquish. Helena beamed, "Hi Edward." He stepped out of his car. He looked at me for a moment, "Ladies." Helena waved as she followed after Edward. I watched them depart, my eyes narrowing. "Bella," Alice called me from the passenger seat, "come on." As I drove, I thought about the feeling welling up inside of me. Helena with Edward. The two of them walking together. I didn't like it.

"England will be nice. The summers are pretty much like Forks," Alice prattled on about her new home. My eyes rolled. They can never seem to escape the climate, but it served a purpose; normal lives. Alice and I were Milan and she was losing her mind. She made her way through the clothes and haggling with the store owners.

"Bella, you will visit, won't you?" Alice looked up at me, with her eyes pleading. "Alice," I chided, "you're going to be a few hundred miles away. I think I could see you often. I could run and be there in a few hours." She jumped up to wrap her arms around my neck. Alice bounced around the boutique, looking through some stylish jeans and twirling dresses.

I wonder if she realized that the clothes she was picking were all in my size. She was trying to be sneaky. The pile she had reached my knee. "Alice, don't you think you have enough? Or should I say, I have enough?" Her honey eyes narrowed as she looked at me. My hands rose in surrender, "Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to."

It took two cars to take back all the things Alice purchased. So, we went to a dealership and she paid cash for a bright yellow Porsche Turbo 911. Alice giggled wildly as she drove her car, "This is fabulous!" Alice confessed that she wanted me to have some things until I came to see her again. "I think I'll have enough to last me for at least," my eyes looked over the shopping bags in front of the couch, "five years."

Alice scowled at me, "Well, then, in that time, I would have to come see you. You know, have a girls weekend, or week or month." I laughed, "What about Jasper?" She shrugged, "He's had me for 50 years. It's time to share."

I laughed out loud again, "That's what I tell Felix, but we've only been together for a year." Alice smiled, but it began to falter, "You know you were supposed to be my sister." I smiled, she didn't get it. I was still Carlisle and Esme's daughter and Emmett, and now, Jasper and Rosalie's sister. "Alice, I am your sister, just not in the way you hoped. I may not have ended up with Edward, but that won't change out relationship." Her tiny arms folded, "I could kill him for even thinking…." I wrapped my arms around her, in a sisterly hug, "What would that solve?" Her arms came around me, "It would make me feel better."

"Look," I stepped back, "you and I are best friends and sisters. Nothing and no one can change that. Even when you were gone, it wasn't just him I missed. I missed our sleepovers, driving to school, going through old pictures and so many other things. I've never really had a best friend before you. I never had a big brother like Emmett and Jasper. But now, we have plenty of time to make up for those tortuous weeks."

Alice leaned her head on my shoulder, "We could stay longer, you know. Start making up for lost time." I tapped my forehead to hers, "That's up to you." Alice smiled, "I'd better finish packing, before I think of any more reasons to delay us leaving." Alice left, her shoulders slumping. Before this, I didn't realize that I didn't want Alice to leave.

I didn't want Esme and Carlisle to leave. They were my parents now. But, like all people, I had to leave my parents and family, to focus on Felix. Felix and my new life.