Hi everyone, sorry I have not updated. I am back to school and it is really filling up my free time. I will update when I can. Sorry again, but I hope you enjoy the chapter. Have a good rest of your week!

Chapter 16

IPOV

I got back to the house but stayed in the tree line. I wanted to see what Garrett said about our little quarrel before I got there. It would make finding an excuse easy before I got back. I watched what the others were doing. Carlisle and Garrett were in the living room telling tales of past encounters.

From what Garrett had told me previously, Carlisle is a kind man, but is always a little apprehensive about going on adventures, so Garrett is always trying to talk him into the wild things. Carlisle always declined and after awhile he started coming to me and Peter to get his adrenaline rush, you could say.

I didn't mind. They normally end in a fight and that gets my adventure out of the way for a few years. However, the way that carlisle is telling the stories you would think he had been to all of the adventures in the last 60 years. Which I can tell you he hasn't been. He probably would have been dismembered if he had. Even I got a few new bite marks when my shield was otherwise engaged.

As I listened to the stories that Carlisle told I also sent Garrett my thoughts about our fight earlier.

Garrett, he didn't move but I saw his eyes shift a little to the left as he was engaged with Carlisle telling me that he was also paying attention to what I was saying. I was wondering what you told Carlisle about our fight. I replayed the story we had given Esme so he could see where the holes were in the story.

Hello Isa, I just told him that I had heard of the valiant General of the Southern Wars and wanted to try my hand at besting her. He said that was rather stupid, but that he was sure I must have won. I don't think you have showed off enough to your hosts my dear little sister.

Well you know how they say to never show your entire hand at one time. I just like to hedge my bets that I will always have the upper hand. I have a bad feeling that the Cullen family, at least Edward and Alice, are up to something fishy. I don't want to be caught off guard.

I began walking toward the house and gave the others time to notice me before I walked in the house. Jasper looked up from the conversation and came to give me a kiss as I got through the door. "Hello Beautiful."

"Hello Jasper, hello everyone. I am going to shower before I sit down. Garrett you fought like a true warrior, perhaps we can have a rematch sometime. It was great practice." I smiled sweetly at him and sent him a wink in my mind.

"It would be my honor General. It is no wonder legends are told of your exploits in war." He sent me a wink back in my mind.

"Please Garrett, call me Isa." I sent him an eye roll and turned to walk away up to the room I share with Jasper here at the house.

As I went up the stairs I could feel eyes on my back and glanced back as I rounded the corner at the top of the stairs. The eyes belong to Alice. The hatred and jealousy was burning deep in her soul and I knew at that moment she knew of my powers. The way she held her posture was of fear and hesitance. Her thoughts were of nonsense and she was trying to figure something out though she always left out the nouns that others use. Her gift was running through scenarios and probabilities so fast it was hard to keep up. She was a mastermind in the trouble coming my way, and I will need to confront her about it soon.

I continued to my room and into the marble shower. The beating of the water felt like pin pricks, but the warmth entered into the deepest parts of my body. Jasper joined me about half way through in one of the best sessions of post battle claiming I have ever had. It was also my first post-fight claiming, so that might have something to do with it. I will be arranging those as often as possible now that I know how good it is.

We dried off and laid in bed for about an hour before going back downstairs.

While we laid there, I wrapped us in a shield that prevented sound from exiting our bubble. We talked about what I had heard in Alice's thoughts. "I don't know who she called, but I am very concerned about what might happen to me. If anything doesn't feel right, you need to go to Peter and figure out the best course of action okay. Don't just come in and get me. I am hoping we can make it the next week and a half before Aro comes. Then we will be out of their range."

"Isa if you are in trouble, I will do anything in my power to make sure that you get safe, damn the consequences. I don't want you to get hurt." Well that sucks, now I have to tell him I am stronger and I am going to protect him. Men sometimes don't take that conversation well.

"Hey Jasper, you know that you are the one who needs protecting right now, right. That animal blood in your system won't be a help in battle. I am physically stronger and more prepared right now." I could see the Major emerging with the words I was speaking. This was going to be a bad encounter between us two. I think I will finally see what the Major actually does for my Jasper. Now I have to truly prove that I am the one who needs to care for this little group right now.

"My mate, did you want to rethink that statement really quick before I must punish you."

"Major you know that won't go over well with the General. You sure you want to keep this going?" I retorted right back at him.

The Major went to pin my arms above my head, but I jumped out of the window while pulling a tank top over my head. Here would be the perfect time to show off all that I really knew how to do. He hadn't seen everything I had and I was not about to let him go all macho on me. The Major followed out the window with only a pair of pants on and his chest exposed. I heard the phone ring in the house, but the dance had begun.

I hadn't fed in weeks and I just kicked Garrett through the mud, but I could feel that deeper part of my personality wake up once more. I wouldn't enjoy this, this whole thing will only be to prove that I am strong enough to fight for both of us. Once again I heard a phone ring in the house, that one was Jasper's, but we were not paying it any attention.

"Darlin' I am not going to stand for this I am stronger and more powerful." Oh god he was going to go about this the way that cavemen did huh, try to convince me it is all for the right reason. What bull.

"Well Major, let's find out if that is just your ego talking or if there is some warrant to that claim." I wrapped us in a bubble and teleported us to a place I had built in the desert of New Mexico. No one would hear or see us tonight. I would be at full force as he would be also. The Major was slightly disoriented at the location change but accepted it as I got into a deep crouch.

We started to circle each other, but tonight I did not have the same patience as I normally do. Tonight we were fighting to prove strength and the element of surprise and shock was on my side. As he came around my right side I opened up the ground where he stepped. He faltered a little, but recovered quickly enough to lunge at me. I spiraled out of the way and threw a ball of rock at his chest. He was too late in realizing the mass was headed his way to fully avoid the hit, but it glanced off of his shoulder.

"Now General, I didn't know we were playing with powers here. I guess it's only fair I use mine then." I felt bad for him honestly. I hated the one gift that I got from a little girl in China, but it helped when I was in a pinch and today I am not going to be bested. I will do anything to help my mate even if that means knocking him down a peg.

I felt his power grow. It was building behind him as we engaged in hand to hand fighting. I blocked and attacked as he did earning a few glancing hits as I focused on my counter attack to his emotional cocktail growing in size. I also succeeded in getting him as I grabbed the arm he had swung to attack with and I went between his legs to kick him in the back. It was successful in distracting him, but that loss of focus released the emotional attack onto me.

Fortunately I had anticipated that and my shield was fully engaged and ready to end the attack. I stood at the edge of the compound clearing and waited for Jasper to recognize I was not sitting helplessly next to him in a state of compliance.

I had experienced that as a child and knew when I became strong that weak girl would not be me any longer. My power worked perfectly as they always do and the emotional signature changed as they were sent back to the Major. The despair and compliance hit him hard. As he rose to charge at me I wrapped him in a shield that held him in a bubble. That bubble began to constrict until it formed to each part of his body and flattened him to the ground. I increased the pressure slightly so he could not get up nor was he hurt, but he felt the crushing power of the shield I keep handy at all times.

"Listen, Major, you may be a male and have a desire to do what is best for me, but I have been taking care of myself for a long time. I am a powerful vampire woman and I will not be made subservient to you. We will be safe, but I am not taking any chances, so please do as I say until you are back to full strength. We will need every amount of strategy and strength we can get."

The Major's face started to slip. My Jasper was making a return. The Major held a sneer as long as he could, but eventually I could see reason had talked him through the words I said. None of that really mattered though, because the last look before Jasper surfaced were of a broken man. The Major had been bested by his mate and that would haunt him for all his time in the back of Jasper's mind.

"Isa, what happened? Where are we? Why can I not move?" The questions kept coming, but I was in shock. Repairing the damage with the Major would be a challenge in and of itself, but I knew it was necessary.

"Nothing Jas. The Major came out and needed to be contained and proved that I have strength in droves. I teleported us here so the Cullen family wouldn't see all the powers I have. I am going to send you back and get something to eat. I will be back after that okay. Go hunt with Emmett and Rose. You will need it after the energy The Major spent." My voice broke on that last little bit, but before Jasper could speak I sent him home and I went inside the compound for new clothes.

I needed a meal tonight that deserves to die and I know just the man for the task. I changed into a long sleeve and some skinny jeans with riding boots. The October air was cool, but of course my body didn't feel temperature anymore. I walked into the nearest city and looked for my target. I had been keeping tabs on him through many different gifts, but he didn't know that I existed.

My target is a slimy looking middle aged human trafficker. He is currently going to his shipping headquarters to prepare the latest shipment for transport. I located him using a tracking power I picked up from some nomad. He was in the seedy district at the edge of town. The property backed up next to the coast where ships came in from the west dropping off helpless people who spent their last little bit of money to go to the free world only to be sold into even worse slavery than they could have imagined. He would, as his coworker did 3 months ago, and I would be one step closer to taking down this ring of human rights destroyers.

I found him and followed him to the warehouse where I inflicted the worst pain he could imagine. I filled him with all of the pain of every girl on the lot and I implanted thoughts of his own torture as I drained him of his blood. I try not to be too sadistic when I kill, but sometimes these humans are so disgusting. I called the cops as I walked away from the crime scene and teleported back to the Cullen household.

They would see my freshly red eyes, but I didn't care. Now that I was back to full strength I had to go try to mend the bridge that I lit on fire with my mate. I couldn't live without him and he needed to know that I valued all of his strength. It wouldn't be much longer and he would be back to full strength.

Then we would be an unstoppable force that could settle into roaming the world and partaking in new adventures every day. We would be happy and he would be pain free. We would be living the best life as the best version of ourselves.

As I entered the room I noticed two things. First Alice and Edward were yelling at each other in Carlisle's office and Jasper's signature presence in my shield and mind was not anywhere near where I was.

For the third time in one day, my beast purred in glee, someone was going to tell me what happened to my mate and it was going to be now.

Thanks for reading. Until next time!