Secret Beneath the Roses

Chapter 23: A Snake Slithers its way in Between the Two Flowers

It had been wonderful, being able to bind themselves together like that. Ever since they had made love, Alice could feel the bond between them buzzing ever more strongly. It made their attraction to one another harder to control and they always found their hands or mouths on one another. It was all fine and dandy when they were the only two around but when the rest of the coven was there it made for an awkward situation. When Emmett had caught them with half their clothes on in the bathroom he had laughed and gone to inform the rest of the coven that they had finally done it: completed the soul mate bond.

Rosalie had been pissed off. Despite being more open about her relationship she was still not okay with the thought of everyone knowing what she got down to with Alice. She had chased after Emmett and taken down three pairs of walls, a table and a couch in their scuffle before Esme had come and scolded them for acting like little kids before she sent them outdoors for a time out.

Alice had been amused, not in the least bit inclined to stop her mate from pounding the snot out of Emmett. The vampire was big but he stood no chance of winning against Rosalie's ire. Esme had also scolded Alice for not stopping the two of them and then gone on to say that she and her needed to talk about what came after making love with one's mate.

Suffice to say the topic had Alice's cheeks burning bright red, with a promise from her to be mindful of all it entailed. Alice knew that by completing their bond there had been changes. Most notably in regards to space. Rosalie and Alice practically had no personal space. They were each others personal space, if that made any sense. But when it came to contact from other vampires, that was a different issue. The further back the better. Alice even found herself snapping at Bella for looking at her mate too long, despite the pixie knowing that the blonde and brunette only had animosity towards one another. The reason for this being that every new soul mate pairing had this issue. They would become extremely possessive of another. Usually the reactions were uncontrollable and could lead to awkward situations. With time, however, they would pass and get better but the amount of time for each pair depended. Edward and Bella had been able to get over it quickly, but it made sense as they had been dating before for a quite a while and once they had consummated their love the effect of the bond had sort of been tampered by the pregnancy.

Alice only hoped that her extreme possessiveness would pass soon because she loved her family and did not want to have to harm them in any way. It was very inconvenient.

And so in this way the week allocated for preparing to leave their home passed. With Alice and Rosalie nearly snapping off the heads of their family in between their amorous sessions which Emmett thought it was funny to joke about.

"He needs to get laid," Rosalie growled after lamenting about his bratty and prepubescent behavior. She and Alice were packing their essentials into suitcases. Alice had too many clothes to fit into one suitcase. Or too much of anything to do so, so she had sent all her stuff ahead to Alaska a couple of days ago. The Denali's had been kind enough to let the Cullen's stay in their home for a week or two until they adjusted and found their own space. But as according to Carlisle's plan, the coven would be separating and laying false trails all over the world in order to confuse Sulpicia and her servants from finding them before they settled down with the Denali's.

Rosalie and Alice were supposed to head out to Europe and leave a trail through Russia to Serbia to then China and Thailand before finishing up somewhere in South Africa. Jasper and Emmett where going together, Edward was going with his wife and daughter, and Esme was with Carlisle. All had their own trails to lay down. They had a month's time to get back to Alaska and Alice was supposed to keep her powers open to warn her family of any dangers to the plans.

"He's just being his usual self," Alice countered to Rosalie's earlier comment as she folded her fifth sundress into the bag.

"He needs to get a mate, is what he needs," Rosalie was not budging in her annoyance. She finished and zipped up her suitcase. They were the first group to be leaving and their plane was in an hour. The house had been cleaned out properly. It was nothing but an empty shell of itself. Alice felt sad to be leaving it but assuaged her sadness with the thought that probably in thirty years they would come back here.

When Rosalie saw that Alice didn't respond she gave up on this topic of discussion and leaned against the wall, watching her mate back.

"How can you be so calm about this?" Rosalie asked as Alice merrily packed her underwear into the bag. She was humming to herself.

"Calm about what? About the travel?"

"Yea. But it's not travel. We're on the run, leaving false trails for Sulpicia. Are you not worried about that? That we can meet her there?"

Alice shrugged, pausing in her packing. "Honestly, it sort of feels more like a honeymoon for the two of us more than anything else right now."

"Alice..." Rosalie began in exasperation as Alice pulled out one of her thongs and waved it in front of her face. "I've even packed my racier underwear. I plan to enjoy this trip. And I hope you can too."

Rosalie let out a sigh. "You don't worry enough."

"And you do. Relax. I have my powers. I can keep any eye out for her." Alice approached Rosalie at this and gave her a light kiss on the cheek when she saw her mate was still concerned. "It'll be fun."

"I sure hope," Rosalie muttered, wrapping her arms around Alice in an effort to reassure herself that everything would fine; her worried unfounded.


Trekking through the countries turned out to be more fun that Rosalie would have thought. But she supposed that had more to do with Alice than with anything else. Alice was astounded and intrigued with everything they visited. And they visited a lot of places. Alice hadn't had much chance to travel out of the US as a human and even when she traveled as a vampire it was mainly still in the US. Now she had a chance to check out famous places that were mainly pictured on travel brochures. She took to taking photos of them so that she could put them in a scrapbook dubbed the 'Honeymoon guide' that they would keep as a keepsake of their first year together. Rosalie had laughed at this. They weren't even married. So technically they shouldn't call this their honeymoon trip. Alice had merely stuck out her tongue at this and winked. "Then we'll just have to have another honeymoon when we do get married."

This had surprised Rosalie. Did Alice want to get married? Should they? Could they? Edward and Bella had, so why should they be any different. They deserved happiness too.

The only question was, what kind of wedding should they have?

It made Rosalie nervous to think of this. Should she propose, and when? Was it too early? Maybe Alice wanted to propose? She tried to push these thoughts to the back of her mind but they would occasionally pop back up again. It worried her. It made her stress unnecessarily. She loved Alice. She was sure of it. But would marriage be a good step for them right now?

Maybe they should wait a bit...

And this was the way Rosalie's thoughts circled around the issue, not giving her any rest. Every time she held Alice's hand she couldn't help but think what kind of ring would work best on her finger. A big one, for her big personality? Or a small delicate one, delicate just like she was?

One day, the last day they were in Thailand before they went to South Africa, Alice had laughed at Rosalie as they sat in the airport waiting for their flight.

"What?" Rosalie had huffed, deep in her thoughts about marriage and not noticing that Alice had been staring at her for the longest time period.

"Rosalie, it's cute."

"What?" Rosalie had arched a brow, confused by this.

"The ring you picked for me."

"Oh," Rosalie said when she realized that Alice had used her powers to look into the future. "Well, I haven't settled on it." Rosalie had been thinking of special ordering a ring. One that would be of plain silver with a pearl on top. Inside would be their names inscribed together.

Alice wrinkled up her nose at this. "Don't try to play it off. I know your heart is totally settled on that. And you can stop worrying about the marriage thing. I didn't mean to stress you out so much with that little comment."

"Well it did," Rosalie said a touch grumpily. "I don't know what would be a good time to-"

Alice put a finger up to the blonde's full lips to shush her. "Whatever you pick I'll be happy with. And I promise not to peek into the future to get a sneak peek of it."

Rosalie wasn't fully assured by her mate's words but let the topic go for now. A loud speaker announced that their flight was ready for boarding and they both got up to get on, hands intertwined.


"I was hoping it wouldn't end up like this," Alice sighed heavily as she watched Rosalie death glaring and snarling at Tanya, who had made the mistake of running up and hugging Alice. Alice had had several visions of how a meeting between Rosalie and her past lover would end up as and most of them had been bad, but there had been a couple good ones and she had hoped that fate would allow the good vision to persevere but it looked like fate wasn't on her side.

"Rosalie, stop this," Alice chided her mate, tugging harshly on her shoulder to keep her from attacking again. She had launched herself at Tanya, knocking the blonde to the ground painfully. This had soon escalated into a full fight, with Irina and Kate joining in as well. Alice too had jumped in to the defense of her mate and if Edward and Bella hadn't arrived days beforehand, then the fight would not have ended any time soon. The couple had pulled apart the warring vampires and now stood in the middle of the two groups, as Rosalie and Tanya growled and bared fangs at each other. Kate and Irina were more ambivalent to the situation but they still didn't like the idea of a coven they were giving shelter to, attacking one of their own.

"But she touched you," Rosalie insisted, but despite her anger and surge of protectiveness and jealousy over Alice, she was trying to reign herself in. Alice had more easily recovered from her flare of mate jealousy but only because it was outweighed by the feeling of awkwardness that accompanied her right now.

"Alice, what is this? You are mated?" Tanya's voice was a mix of anger and betrayal and her sister's held her by each arm, to make sure she wouldn't rush towards the blonde Cullen.

"I, Tanya, I-" Alice stumbled over what she should say. Her and Tanya had a past and last they had left off they had been dating.

"You disappear for years, and I worry for you, as you are stuck in the Volturi's clutches and you come back, come back with her?" Tanya spits venom on the last words and this causes Rosalie to take another step forward. Edward, who is in between the two upset parties, sends Rosalie an evil glare. "Don't even think about it."

Alice sensed that Tanya was due for an explanation, a proper one, so Alice sent Edward a mental message as to what she wanted to do. The boy got it and nodded his head. "Rosalie come with me. Let's put your luggage inside." Alice's and Rosalie's luggage lay discarded where the two had dropped them in the snow before diving into the fight.

"No." Her refusal was to be expected.

"Rosalie please. I need to talk to Tanya-" Alice's pleads were cut off.

"I will not let you be alone with the woman who you had relations with!"

"Rosalie, you are being insufferable!" Alice couldn't help but get irked at the vampire's behavior. "If you don't let me talk to her then nothing will get resolved and we will remain in this violent standstill. Let me just talk to her. Please."

Rosalie's eyes fluttered closed at this and she took deep inhales and then exhaled slowly. Alice watched as did Edward and the Denali sisters. Would the blonde be able to calm herself down? When she opened her eyes they were a dark gold, not light like usual, but not black with anger.

"Okay. I'll let you talk to her. Because I trust you. But...I want Edward to be nearby just in case something goes wrong," Rosalie says in a strained voice. It's going against her mate bond's call to say this and the stress of it shows.

"I thought you trusted me. Why does Edward need to be close by?" Alice couldn't keep the hurt at the blatant distrust despite the blonde saying she trusted her.

"It's her I don't trust," Rosalie growled out low, low enough for Tanya not to be able to hear. Rosalie kept her eyes glared to the blonde in front of her and Tanya's lips curled up. She knew the Cullen had said something disparaging about her but she couldn't figure out what. Alice was worried as to what Rosalie didn't trust Tanya not to do. Was it to not attack her? Or to not approach her romantically?

"I'll be fine," Alice ran a soothing hand down her mate's arm before she pulled her around to face her. "Rosalie, it'll be okay. Just a quick chat. Tanya doesn't want to hurt me. Or kiss me." Alice cupped Rosalie's cheeks and looked into her eyes, trying to reassure her with her gaze. In her mind she told Edward to stay away, that she wouldn't need him watching over her just cause Rosalie thought he should. She also begged her brother to keep the other occupied until the talk was over.

Rosalie gave a small smile at that before Alice pecked her quickly on the lips and then bounced away to approach Tanya. Edward and Rosalie blurred away into the house with the suitcases. "Tanya, I'd like us to speak together. Just the two of us. To help clarify things."

Tanya had calmed down now that Rosalie was gone and her sister's could let go of her arms. "Of course." Her eyes were hard and Alice dreaded this talk, but it needed to happen or else nothing would get resolved.

"We'll be inside the house," Kate said and then she and her sister left, Bella following after them, but not before she had placed a comforting hand on Alice's shoulder. "Rosalie sure is a handful as a mate, huh?"

Alice couldn't help but laugh at this. Trust Alice, who was gentle and kind, to have a mate who was temperamental and violent. Then Bella left, seeing that she had helped cheer Alice up a little.

"Let's go somewhere out of ear shot," Alice suggested and the two of them walked ten feet from the house, pausing by the beginnings of the outskirts of the woods. There were two stumps there, conveniently placed, and the vampires sat on them.

"Look, I feel terrible. I truly do. I just want you to know that," Alice started, fiddling with her thumbs and looking up at Tanya with wide pleading eyes. The blonde's face was impassive and her legs crossed over one another. She didn't say anything so Alice continued.

"When I went back that day, that day when Bella was hurt, I had every intention of coming back to you when all the issues got resolved. But the issues didn't get resolved. They only got worse, which you know about since you were there on the raid against the Volturi. And during the course of this stay with the Volturi I was forced to do many terrible things. I had to help them destroy other villages. I had to kill vampires and I was even mentally and emotionally tormented by Sulpicia, not to mention abused at the hands of Jane. But of course you already probably had some idea of this. What you really want to know is why I'm with Rosalie. Why she's my mate."

Still Tanya hadn't made any different facial expression, or moved. She was as still as a rock. Alice went on, hoping that the other would say something. "I think we were meant to be mates for a long time. But none of us acknowledged this. Or wanted to acknowledge it. For we were too scared. I was more open about my feelings, whereas she wasn't. She broke my heart and I tried to give up on her, figuring she wasn't interested in me. But then she started acting weird. Flirty. And I didn't know what to think of it. So I decided to give up on her and to clear my head and go visit you guys. And here I met you." At this Alice gave Tanya an experimental smile and reached over and squeezed the top of her hand.

Tanya didn't pull away, so Alice figured that was a good thing. "And I loved you. You were everything that Rosalie wasn't. You were kind, respectful of me, and open about your feelings. You made it clear how much you valued me and I loved that."

"So then why?" Tanya's voice is a soft whisper, fragile like glass, and it looks like if she speaks more it will break.

"I...I don't know. I don't know why I was mated to her. It just happened. It all clicked together one day. And it just seemed so right. I never would have imagined I would end up with Rosalie. After all she had broken my heart, trampled on it and then toyed with my feelings. I knew just how cruel and unfeeling she could be, yet I was still meant to be with her. And she rejected the bond at first. It's how I ended up with the Volturi in the first place. She wanted to go to them to reverse the bond, but because they've been looking for anyway to get to me, they used that opportunity to get me to serve them in exchange for them 'helping' us." Alice's lips curled up at this and she retreated her hand from Tanya's.

"She tried to ruin your mate bond?" Tanya's voice was equal parts disgust and shock.

"She...she was confused," Alice hastened to explain her mate's hasty actions. "She was hurt and angry and I had acted rudely to her so she was acting out because of that. But we resolved that issue, and she has come to terms that her mate is a woman, which she never would have expected it to be."

Tanya was quiet as she digested this information. Her eyes fluttered closed, then opened. "So there is no chance of us ever reconciling?"

"We are. Right now," Alice said.

"No. you know what I mean," Tanya said and Alice swallowed deeply. "No. Not in that way. I cannot...we cannot."

There was a heavy sigh. "I see. I hope that she treats you well and that you are happy with her."

"I am. She's gotten better at the whole being more open about emotions ordeal," Alice couldn't help from smiling as she thought about Rosalie, struggling to be more honest and open, but doing so for Alice's sake.

Tanya considered this with a low hum. "Just...one last question," Tanya said hesitantly, almost afraid to ask it, but needing to know. "Did you love her, while you were with me?"

Alice should have foreseen this question coming. It had come every other time in her visions. Still, it didn't make her any more prepared to answer. Or any more comfortable with being asked it.

Her suddenly sullen demeanor, however, was enough evidence for Tanya because she got up, brushing the snow off of the back of her jeans. "I really wish things had ended differently between us. But at least now I can stop feeling bad about this failed relationship and can finally move on." With that she strode off and Alice let out a huge sigh, her breath clouding around her. Well...things could have gone worse.


The next four months passed in a blur. For the first week or two, the Cullen's all lived with the Denali's, Carlisle using his connections to get a new house for his coven and some jobs secured for him and Esme. The kids of course were to go back to school excluding Bella and Edward who were raising their child in the meantime. Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett ended up going to school, transferring into the junior year. Classes were the same as in Forks. Boring and easy. And the kids were predicable, shallow and too wrapped up in their own world. Yet Alice enjoyed it, for she had her normal life back even if it meant listening to teachers drone on about topics she had already memorized word by word decades ago. The best part was that she and Rosalie could be together. Often times the two of them would spend time skipping classes and making out like some teenaged girls, but it was fine because they had all the time in the world to be in school, and felt spending time lip locked was a better investment then spending time sitting in gum covered desks.

Jasper and Emmett too took to making the best of the situation. They were considered the studs of the school, just like Rosalie and Alice were admired for their contrasting beauty. One was tall and model like, the other like a whimsical magical fairy. Emmett actually found a love interest in one of the Denali girls, Kate. Alice wasn't really favorable towards Kate, no one except Emmett really was, as she took to insulting Bella whenever the girl was around. Even Rosalie, who should have no qualms with Bella getting insulted as she didn't like the girl, rose to her defenses. This was more due to Bella being a part of Rosalie's coven, the blonde feeling the need to defend the members in it rather than actually because she was starting to like Bella. But they tolerated Kate for the sake of his happiness.

"Maybe now he won't make fun of us and try to interrupt us during sex," Rosalie had said with a smirk, looking to the ceiling as loud thuds came from second floor where Emmett's room was. "Since he'll be too busy on his own with Kate."

"Maybe we should interrupt him as pay back for all the times he bothered us," Alice suggested with a mischievous grin and the two girl's rushed to go upstairs.

The days and nights of those four months passed by in a blur as the Cullen's slowly got used to their new life in Alaska. The state was certainly beautiful and had a huge bounty of wildlife that they could feed on. None of them approved of Kate's culinary tastes but they figured that if the relationship was successful enough then they could include her into their coven and change her diet to animals.

The family was slowly sinking into a sense of comfort, the earlier danger and concern over Sulpicia fading to the back of their minds. Even Alice stopped looking for her in her visions. The vampires felt secure in that the Volturi would not find them and so focused on the little things in life. Rosalie and Alice spent as much time as possible next to one another. Emmett and Kate did the same. Edward and Bella raised their daughter who had aged up yet again, a thing that half breed children tended to do. Jasper took to spending his days chatting with either Tanya or Irina, the former vampire bonding with him over their shared loss of a relationship with Alice. Alice and Tanya managed to get along fairly nicely but it was never the same level as it had been before. Still, Alice was just glad they were on speaking terms.

But the peacefulness had to come to an end and it was heralded by the arrival of one very bloody looking Jacob Black.