Disclaimer: Not Mine

A/N: Thanks again to Dalloway5906, who keeps my prose legible. More at the bottom!

Chapter 7

BPOV

Ms. Leggy Blonde came sauntering into the room, with a giant of a man following her like a puppy dog. While she was looking at me with disdain, he had a huge grin spread across his face. He had dimples I could swim in and cute squinty eyes. Top that all off with a curly mop of brown hair, and I would have been willing to let him have me for dinner.

Blondie must have taken offense to my gaping at her man because she stepped forward and blocked my view of her beefcake . "I am Rosalie and this is my husband, Emmett."

"Bella," I squeaked out. Even without the freaky vampire strength I would have been afraid of her.

"Now Rose, be nice. You know Emmett always attracts attention." Alice said. She came over to me and whispered in my ear, "Don't worry, she is not always such a bitch."

Rosalie hissed, making me wonder if super hearing was also one of their special traits.

Emmett walked over to me and gave me a tight bear hug, being cautious of my cast encased hand, lifting my feet off the ground.

"Welcome to the family Bella!" He bellowed, turning his head towards Edward, he said something too softly for me to hear.

Jasper chuckled from his perch on the counter as a low growl came from deep in Edward's chest. He was glancing between me and Emmett, as if accusing us of something. Hey, all I did was think about offering myself up to this hunk. Emmett had finally put me down and returned to stand behind the platinum spitfire. What's the deal Edward, it is not as if you are showing me any attention?

Alice stepped between the drama. "Bella, I think it might be time to explain about mine and Jasper's gifts." Oh God, what now?

"I am not sure if you figured it out yet, but I can see the future. The visions are subjective though. If you change your mind, the future changes as well. That is why I could not see Jasper attacking you until it was too late, it was a split second decision."

"Jasper is an empath, he can sense the emotions of the other people around him. He can also make you feel certain emotions. Sometimes if the feelings are strong enough, he can't control them and they spread to the people around him." She explained.

"And remember, Edward can not only hear, but see the thoughts of others. So Jasper was thinking about your emotional reaction to Emmett, and Edward could see that and whatever Emmett was thinking as well."

Well shit, talk about getting your hand caught in the cookie jar. Nice of them to tell me about this now.

I had just turned to Edward to apologize when Carlisle came into the kitchen with another gorgeous woman. She was taller then I was and had beautiful walnut shaded hair and eyes the color of saffron. She came over to me, breaking the tension and enveloped me into a tender hug.

"I'm Esme, the unfortunate mother to these hooligans. I hope they have not been harassing you too much. They can never resist a new toy."

She must have realized what she said, because her perfect face was horrified as she pulled back from the embrace. I could only laugh. That was exactly what I felt like, a new toy, and no one had the instruction manual. I tried to tell her not to worry, but I was interrupted by the doorbell.

Every head in the room shot towards Alice. She looked dumfounded. "I have no idea who it is. I can't see anything."

Edward moved swiftly from the room, heading towards the front door. We all followed, with Emmett and Jasper keeping me safely between them. Edward opened the door to find a well dressed man holding a large envelope. On closer inspection, I noticed his ruby colored eyes, and realized he was not a man, but a vampire.

"Edward Cullen?" He asked, keeping his eyes pasted on Edward.

"Yes, that's me. What can I help you with?" Edward replied.

"Aro sent me to give you this. You left in such a hurry after the auction last night, he did not have a chance to give it to you." As he handed Edward the envelope, his eyes strayed to mine. I could almost feel the violence rolling off of him. Jasper was cringing next to me and I realized that I was not imagining the emotion. Jasper was unable to handle the extreme rage, and was broadcasting it to the room.

"I'm Felix by the way," he said, extending his hand to Edward.

Edward gave him a slight nod, ignoring his outstretched hand. Felix looked unaffected as he brought his hand back to his side.

"Well, I hope to see you again," he said with a wink in my direction. I cowered back behind Emmett.

"I wouldn't count on it," Edward said, slamming the door in his face.

He turned the envelope over in his hands as he walked into the living room. I abandoned my hiding spot behind Emmett and walked over to Edward.

"What's going on? Why couldn't Alice see him? Why did he hate me so much? What is in the envelope?" I fired off. I was drowning in information but still felt completely lost.

Edward dropped the envelope on the coffee table and turned to me, grasping my upper arms in his big hands. "I'm not sure why Alice could not see him Bella. His thoughts were hard for me to read until he looked at you, then they..." he stopped talking and just look down at me. His grip on my arms was starting to hurt, but I could not be bothered to care. His expression was tortured and I could only imagine the thoughts he had seen in Felix's mind.

Carlisle came over and put his hands atop Edward's on my arms. "Let her go now son, she is fine."

Edward dropped his hands as if they were on fire, realizing how tight his grip had been. I was still frozen, unable to tear my gaze from his face. I could appreciate that Emmett, Jasper and Carlisle were all gorgeous, but that is where it ended . With Edward, the more time I spent around him, the more I felt like I needed to be near him. It was almost as if there was a magnetic force pulling us together.

"Edward, you really need to open the envelope." Alice said.

He turned his body towards the table to retrieve the envelope without breaking eye contact. He finally looked down at the object in his hand. He tore the flap open and brought out the papers that were folded inside. There were at least 10 pages, and he flipped through them in seconds, reading everything. He looked devastated as he handed the papers over to Carlisle.

"What did it say? What is going on?" I demanded, grabbing onto his shirt front as well as I could with my left hand in the cast. He just continued to stare at Carlisle, refusing to meet my eyes.

Carlisle finally pulled his eyes from the papers in his hand. "It is a contract. Apparently when Edward had the winning bid for Bella, he entered into an agreement with The Volturi. According to this document, Edward will be required to return her to Volterra in one month if she is still alive. The auction was only for vampires looking for a... long-term blood donor. "

My knees finally gave out and because I still had Edward's shirt clenched in my hands, he came down with me.

"No, please. You can't send me back. I would rather you kill me than do that." I sobbed into his chest. Gone was my confident attitude, I was petrified .

Edward gently wrapped his hands around my throat, using his thumbs to tip my face up. I could see my future there in his eyes. He would never let me go back, yet he could never kill me. He would fight for my safety without a second thought. And I realized I would rather die than be apart from him ever again.

Although it would be nice if we could avoid the whole death thing.

A/N: So as a bribe for your reviews: If you review, you will get an EPOV from part of that chapter. And coming in the next few chapters you are going to want to see what Edward is thinking! :)