Chapter Seventeen

Peter

Well, she was intelligent without being a smart ass so I was beginning to like her but I still didn't trust her. The Volturi always made me nervous and I really thought when we saw them come through the mist in Mexico that it was the end for all of us. We'd known there was always the possibility that Aro might take umbrage at our actions but if we didn't do something then sooner or later one or all of us would find ourselves in Maria's clutches once more and that spelt death or worse. It had been difficult enough to escape the first time and we only did it then with The Majors help, this time he'd be in enough trouble himself and certainly wouldn't be a trusted member of her inner circle. The only reason she wanted us back was that her commanders were all second-rate, she'd never been able to replace The Major and I knew that galled her.

As Bella and I ran I quizzed her about her time as a human, as Edward Cullens girlfriend, and she gave me her account of the party that had caused all the trouble and been responsible for The Major leaving them. It tallied with his account except that he blamed himself for their leaving while Bella blamed the whole family and even excused his behaviour, I liked her a little more for her clear-headed vision of the whole thing.

"So you don't blame The Major? I must say I'm surprised to hear that because he blames himself for the whole fiasco and I don't think any of the Cullens rushed to disabuse him. You know he's never seen or spoken to any of them since?"

She looked shocked,

"Not even Carlisle? I would have expected him to see what really happened. Not Emmett or Rose? He was so close to them. I know he and Alice broke up, he told me about that but none of the family? Why?"

"Bella, I don't think you know the Cullen family very well. Their power is in their unity, they stick together, they cover each others backs, and they close ranks if anything happens. You just happened to be the thing that happened and they closed ranks. Edward pointed the finger at The Major and as a new member of the family, well relatively so, he got the blame. They could all sit there patting each other on the back and say how wonderful they were for not attacking although human blood had been spilled. What they failed to understand, or decided not to, who knows, is that they projected their thirst onto the weakest member of the family, the one who couldn't control all the incoming emotions well enough not to make a move but he stopped himself, he wouldn't have completed his attack. Edward the idiot threw you into the glass making everything much worse than it should have been. So you see all that glitters ain't necessarily gold and the Cullens who think their shit don't stink delude themselves on a daily basis."

"What about Alice though? She wasn't stupid and she loved Jasper. Why didn't she see it all coming and try to prevent it, after all she was the one who organised the party, she put all the glass out."

"Don't even get me started on that particular bitch, she and I never hit it off. Alice does what's best for Alice at the expense of anyone who gets in her way. Now Bella, do you think Aro is just going to sit back and smile to think his favourite new toy got away and showed it was even more shiny and exciting than he'd thought?"

"No, I think he'll come looking and probably sooner than later but I can protect myself, what I need help with is discovering whether I can protect you and Jazz too."

"Me?"

"If you're Jaspers family then yes, I need to protect us all. If not I can't stay, I wont be responsible for putting any of you in danger, especially but not exclusively Jazz"

"I'm liking you more every time you open your mouth Bella. You're going to be a valued member of the Whitlock family."

"Wait until I prove myself first Peter. Then trust me."

When we finished hunting and started back she started the quizzing and I had a barrage of questions fired at me, about my past, how I met The Major and Charlotte and what I'd done since I escaped from Maria.

"Are you always this nosy?"

"I think I caught it from you. Besides how can I trust you if I don't know anything about you?"

"Cheeky bitch. My loyalty isn't in question here"

"It is as far as I'm concerned Peter. I trust no one with my Jasper until I feel I know what makes them tick. He's far too valuable to me to put him in any danger, even from a friend"

I didn't know what to say to that, she was right of course, we both had a lot to learn about each other but I was liking her more and more. The closer we got to the house the more anxious she became as if they'd been parted for far too long and when she saw him she ran into his arms with a sigh of relief and pleasure. From the look on his face he felt the same way and Charlotte was beaming,

"What? Why are you not running into my arms like that woman?"

"I thought I'd let you do the running for a change"

"Me? I'm the hunter, the provider. You are supposed to be relieved I'm back from the hunt alive and intact"

"Peter, you could talk a dinosaur to death, I never worry that you won't come back. Anyway how did you get on with Bella?"

"I like her. She makes sense"

"Now that worries me. When someone makes sense to you its time to start looking for trouble."

I picked her up and slung her over my shoulder,

"Woman you are far too lippy, you need a good seeing to"

I slapped her rump and ran into the trees leaving the love birds alone for a while, we'd make our own fun on the forest floor for now.

Jasper

I knew Charlotte believed Bella but Peter was another ball game entirely and I was concerned but when she reappeared and ran into my arms I knew everything was going to be OK. Peter was far too relaxed to still be worried about her, she'd won him over and at speed. Once the other two had gone I pulled back to look into her eyes,

"You made a good impression on Peter. I'm beginning to think you must be a witch"

"No. I just know how to handle men. I showed him he had as much to prove to me as I did to him. We're gonna get along fine but lets not talk about your friend now, let's make some time for us."

She pulled me into the house and upstairs into the bedroom where she almost threw me onto the bed and smiled down,

"Its been too long since I felt a man's arms around me and I can't wait any longer Jazz so if you have any reservations you have about ten seconds to state them",

When she finished speaking she began to strip off and I watched mesmerized and unable to breathe let alone speak.