BPOV

I was curled in Demetri's arms, just enjoying being held while he pretended to be sleeping. I learned over our time together that sleep was the only thing he missed about being human. A handful of hours where he didn't have to think or deal with bullshit. He could just... be.

There certainly had been a lot of bullshit going on since the fight with the wolves and Cullens. I also learned the difference between when it was fine not to listen to him and when it was absolutely necessary I day it happened someone leaked the death of Aro. There had already been three attempts at someone else coming in to try and take over the vampire world, and Demetri was having none of it. He says he doesn't want the title, but to the literal death he has defended the position. I saw him do it the second time.

I've seen him fight before, and he doesn't back down while the other guy is still moving. I slipped my babysitter, again, and watched from a distance as he met the mob head on. Just like with Alice, and without full use of my arm back, I shot forward and stepped in to help, not knowing he absolutely did not need it. When it was over, the fire set, and the one he allowed to live to tell the tale running with his tail between his legs, I found myself pinned to a tree with his hand around my throat, his eyes dark and voice sinister as he snarled at me. "The next time you come out here after I specifically tell you to stay out of it, before I kill them, I will force them to submit, and I will force you to watch."

You better believe I stayed exactly where I was told to stay the next time it happened.

When he came back from that one, he told me simply that it was to be expected, and it would stop once word of who was defending the palace made its rounds. Until then, I needed to remember he had been defending the Volturi stronghold for more than two millennia, and he was pretty damn good at it. If it were to come to him needing help, that was why there was a guard, and expressly pointed out the fact I wasn't on it, I never would be on it, and I needed to stop acting like I was on it.

I took that time to ask why, if he didn't want the title, he so adamantly stopped others from coming to take it. That was an easy answer for him. "I've spent enough time taking orders. I'll burn in Hell before I take them from someone else." I asked him what would happen to me if he died. That one took him a moment to answer, but he left it at promising me I'll never have to find out. I also asked him why he didn't want the title, and he told me he would take it eventually, but at the moment, I was more important and he didn't want to deal with the transition until I was older, but until then, he had to make sure the position was still open.

I told him he was weird, and he just laughed.

Everything happened two weeks ago, and I could now finally move my arm again, but the gashes still hadn't fully closed. I thought as a vampire there wouldn't be a need for medical treatment, but there certainly was, and it fucking hurt. It involved a lot of alcohol, venom, and elastic bands. Turns out, when Demetri said they would close, what he actually meant to say was he would be forcing them closed. One at a time, from the edges to the middle, he had painfully, and painstakingly, forced my skin back together, burning it into place with his venom, and wrapping my arm tightly in elastic to hold the gashed closed while his venom did what it was supposed to do. The alcohol was for me because holy fuck, did it suck.

In two weeks, there was still one and a half of the four to go.

Today was downtime for us because he had just finished with the torture of closing Jake's claw mark, and I refused to let him just do that shit and walk away. So, here we are, in bed, cuddling while he pretends to sleep and I pretend I'm not in unbearable pain.

Sighing, I press myself closer to him when his phone buzzed on the table. He didn't even flinch, choosing to ignore it, though how I'm not sure. Fucker was normally glued to it these days. When it stopped and started again, I opened my eyes and looked up at his chin. "You're not going to answer?"

He didn't move a muscle. "There is nothing about that call that could be more important than making sure you're alright. I know how much pain you're in right now, whether you'll actually tell me or not."

Pursing my lips, I lowered my eyes to the blue band wrapped around my arm, and grunted. "It certainly isn't awesome, but," looking back up at him, "it could be another security breach."

He merely shifted a shoulder. "Doubtful. If it were, someone would have come and gotten me personally when I didn't answer the first time. No, this is merely an annoyance." When the buzzing sounded a third time, he unwrapped his arm from around my back and rolled to his, reaching behind him and plucking the device off the table. Holding it up so he could see the screen, his brows creased. "Curious. I don't know this number." I could see the debate in his eyes over whether he was going to answer it or not, but made his choice as he flipped his phone open with his thumb and placed it to his ear. "Demetri."

I couldn't hear what was sai on the other end, for whatever reason, but I blinked when he took his phone away from his ear and held it out to me as he closed his eyes again. "It's for you."

Lip curling, I very slowly reached for the phone, but I stopped right before I took it. "Who is it?"

I heard him snort softly before he dropped the phone without looking, forcing me to catch it or get hit in the face. "Say hello, Agapimenos."

Glaring at him, I brought the phone to my ear, though I wasn't exactly happy about it, and my voice showed it. "Hello?"

"Well, howdy ta you too, Little Lady. 'Member me?"

I licked my lips, brows drawing down as I placed the heavy accent. "Demetri called you 'Captain', right?"

"Peter'll be just fine. I'm callin' 'boutcha daddy."

If my heart still beat it would have stopped. Slowly I sat up and looked back at Demetri, who was looking at me through a cracked open eye. Scratching the back of my neck, I tried to swallow the lump that formed in my throat. "Is he alright?"

"He gonna be just fine. Jasper gonna hang 'round while an', he gonna make sure a it."

I cleared my throat as I ran the side on my thumb under my nose. "I... I'm, uh, I'm dead to him, aren't I?"

"By now, you gotta know it fer the best, Little Lady. He can't be lookin' for ya no more."

I closed my eyes and sighed. I did know that, but it didn't make it make me feel any better to know it happened. At least my mom had Phil. My dad had no one. Unable to think about it anymore, I scratched my temple. "What does everyone think happened to the guy from the reservation?"

"You mean them pups? I ain't got no idea, but I imagine those that know what they were know they ain't comin' back. Happens when boys think they bigger than they britches."

"But... they took on an army."

"Sure, a army a babies that don't know what the fuck they doin'. That what the Major trained 'em ta do. They weren't eva gonna be ready ta take on that fella ya yers and walk away from his army. It just wasn't gonna happen in a week. 'Sides that, rumor has it you took down one a 'em."

I blinked, snapping my head around a looked at Demetri, a smirk on his lips. "Wow... rumors sure develop fast, don't they?"

My lip curled in the corner and my eyes narrowed. "You did something."

He snorted, and Peter's voice was back in my ear. "He don't need ta do shit. That fella aside, you just 'member this, Little Lady. I owe ya fer whatcha did fer my mate and me. Jasper owes ya to, and he know it. You eva need anythin', don't you hesitate ta let us know."

I clicked my tongue a few times as I thought, and glancing back to the vampire behind me, I licked my lips. "The attempts on Demetri's life are pretty fucking annoying."

I wasn't sure what it was, but there was a change in the tenor of Peter's voice when he chuckled. "Consider it done, Little Sugar. I promise ya, by this time tamorra, ain't no one gonna be wantin' none a that fella ya yers."

I blinked. "You can do that?"

"What? Ya think I can't? Little Lady, you ain't got no idea who the fuck you talkin' to. You let me take care a them pests that comin' afta ya man, you just let that man take care a that arm."

"How did you..."

Before I could finish the question, Demetri plucked the phone from my hand and put it to his own ears. "Goodbye, Captain." With that, he closed his phone and tossed it back on the bedside table before wrapping me back in his arms and laying down. "That vampire never did know when it was time to stop talking."

Squirming around so I could see Demetri's face, I made a noise in the back of his throat. "How did he know about my arm? How did he know about Jake? He wasn't here for any of it."

He opened his eyes and looked down at me. "So is the annoyance of Captain Whitlock. It's merely something that comes with knowing the man. He has his uses, though. Sometimes, however, you just want to fucking throttle him."

Next thing I knew, I was on my back, Demetri perched above me, and his eyes that were bright red a moment ago were now pitch black. His voice took on a growl, and I bit my lip in the face of his demon. "Now, since you just had to request he take away my fun, I am holding you completely accountable for replacing it."

He settled himself between my legs, and my breath caught when he rolled his hips. "You said not until my arm was healed."

He dipped his head and bit my neck where his mark laid. "I said until you could move it."

The look in his eyes when he pulled back was one I truly hoped I saw all the time. It was so reminiscent of how he looked at me when I was human that I couldn't appreciate at the time. It was the same one that settled on his features the first time I ever saw him in the alley the day I saved Edward. Possession, want, love... it was such an odd combination, but it was a combination I hoped to never tire of.

His lips descended to mine, and I melted beneath him at the contact. I guess I really had always been his, and since he spent the last two thousand years waiting for me, seems I had a lot of time to make up for.

~Thanks for reading!