AN: I just have to say this chapter went absolutely nothing close to the way I had planned. Just go easy on Peter, he's had a rough time lately.
AND- for my horny readers, there is a real (if short) lemon at the end. Enjoy! If you don't want to read it, skip the second half of Bella's pov and just read the last line.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line, SM owns the characters I'm just having fun with them.
Peter POV
I held tight to my mates, afraid to let them go. I knew it was a mistake to let Carlisle live, but Jasper said he didn't feel right killing him because he still saw him as a father. Well, shit. I should have done it myself. I killed my own father, and Bella's too. What was one more? Would have saved us a lot of trouble. I mean, I knew we wouldn't escape the Volturi forever, but I was hoping for more than three months of peace.
Jasper looked at me and sent me his regret. "I know, Pete. I know it's my fault. I'm sorry, I fucked up." Without warning, my rage flared up and for the first time in my life, it was directed at my mate. All the years I repressed, all the pain he put me through, both physically and emotionally, all came rushing in at once. I jerked him away from Bella and threw him to the ground.
"You're sorry?! Are you fuckin' kiddin' me? You brought the entire force of the Volturi to our back door! You once again chose someone else above your mates and now we all have to pay the price for it!" I punctuated each statement with a punch to his face and body. In the back of my mind I registered Bella screaming at me but someone must have been holding her back. Jasper just laid there and that made me even more angry.
"Fight me back! What the hell is your problem? You've never had trouble hurtin' me before! Get your ass up and fight me you coward!" I landed a kick to his ribs before he grabbed my foot and twisted, sending me to the ground. He pinned my shoulders down but forgot about my legs.
"Pete, I don't want to hurt you. Please, stop this! Think about Bella!" Wrong answer, fucker. I pulled my knees up to push him away and sent him flying into a tree. I followed immediately and had him pinned a foot off the ground.
"What the hell do ya think I'm doin'? I am thinkin' about her! I'm thinkin' about the fact that the very people I have kept her hidden from for the past sixteen years are about to walk in here and try to steal her from me. And it's all your fault!" I held him with one hand while I punched him over and over with the other. "It wasn't enough to destroy me? It wasn't enough to do everythin' you could to hurt me? Now you gotta go after my baby girl? Sorry, ain't happenin'. You've fucked me up too much. I won't let ya do it to her." I pulled back to study him for a minute and his face was downcast, self-disgust was pouring off him. He still refused to fight me but I wasn't done yet. I was gonna hit him where it hurt the worst.
"I don't even know why I looked for ya. I thought you could change, but you're still the same selfish SOB you've always been. You don't know how to think of anyone but yourself." I finally became aware of our audience again when I heard Bella sobbing and Esme comforting her. When I spoke my last piece, she gasped in anger and I heard her struggling away from whoever was holding her back.
I looked at Jasper and thought about all the times he hurt me, all the sick punishments Maria handed out, when he could have stood up for me but he didn't. He let that bitch run him around just like he did Carlisle. That's when it hit me- Jasper was never a leader. He may have had to control armies, but he always answered to someone higher up. I was just too blind to see it before. But I wasn't the same man I was before he left me. I had to stand on my own, I had to lead Edward, and then Bella, and put their safety above my own. I never once laid a hand on either of them; they were only harmed once by my misjudgment, and I corrected that immediately.
I ran my gaze over his defeated form and my eyes zeroed in on his scar-littered neck. He had marked me as his the very first time we were together, but in all our years together he refused to let me mark him. Bella and I had marked each other not long after her change, but he refused her as well. Well, no more. Before he could get anything from my emotions, I spun him around and pressed him up against the tree. "This could've been a lot more fun, but you always did have to do stuff the hard way." With that I leaned over and sank my teeth in his neck. I pumped in extra venom to let him know I was still pissed before I pulled away and let him fall to the ground.
"By the way, Major, you ain't in charge no more. You brought this threat to my family, an' I'm gonna take care of it. You wanna help, you can get your ass up and help Garrett start trainin' these folks to fight. I'll be workin' with Eddie and James on a strategy."
With more than a little trepidation, I turned to look at my other mate. "Bella, you can do what you want to. Your fight trainin' is good, so you can help Jasper out, or work with me on strategy. The main thing you need to do is work on your shield. What do you want to do, Sugar?"
Her eyes were narrowed but her expression was unreadable. She glanced between me and Jasper before crossing her arms and jutting her hip out. "Well, Jasper obviously needs my help in training since he has forgotten basic self-defense. However, you fucked him up enough he's not gonna be much use today. Real smart move, Captain." Uh oh, I'm in trouble. And she did have a good point. "I think I need to borrow you for a minute before you start your all-important strategy meetings. This coven needs to know they have a leader they can count on, during peaceful times, and in a fight. Think you can take me?"
Well, fuck. This isn't good. She's a lethal fighter. She has all the strength of a newborn, with mine and Jasper's training put together. Her size and speed put larger opponents at a distinct disadvantage. I had sparred with her a few times since her change but we both held back. Jasper had yet to fight her, but I was sure she could beat him. His ego always got in his way and he would severely underestimate her. I just hoped I wasn't doing the same thing.
We faced each other as the rest of our coven spread out around us. I was a little surprised no one had tried to interfere yet. Jasper just dragged himself to a sitting position where he had fallen, rubbing the bite on his neck. Bella brought my attention back to her by taunting me, "Come on, Captain? Scared of your baby girl? Scared I'm gonna show you up in front of your new coven? I'm just a newborn, nothing for a war-hardened veteran to be scared of..." She gave me a wink before charging me. She glanced to my left so I lunged to counter, when she pivoted and jumped over my right shoulder, grabbing my arm and twisting it up behind me. "You holdin' back, Captain? You know I won't. Don't go easy on me like you do Jasper."
I managed to get out of her hold when she tried to knock my legs out from under me. I pinned her to the ground and felt a brief burst of satisfaction before I realized my error. She smirked at me and flipped me over, sinking her teeth into my mating mark. Damn, that stings. "Come on, Pete! You taught me how to break that hold when I was twelve! You givin' up already?" She was laughing when she hopped up and reached down to give me a hand. I took it warily, only to have her pull me up high enough to wrap my arm behind my back and pin me again, face-down this time. Her teeth grazed the back of my neck and she whispered in a deadly calm voice, "Is that all you got? You beat the crap out of my mate and expect me to follow you when this is all you can do? Not good enough."
Shit, I knew I was in trouble. She hopped up and circled me, waiting for me to get up. "Bella. Sugar, I- "
"Shut up. Get your ass up and fight me you coward!" she threw my words back at me and I knew I had no choice. I saw the satisfied gleam in her eye when I stood up to face her. She sank down in a crouch and I decided to lead off this time. I feinted to the right before spinning to the left. When I reached to grab her I caught nothing but air. She danced and spun around me for several minutes before I realized she was just toying with me. I wasn't holding back anymore but she obviously still was. She was herding me in Jasper's direction before she finally kicked my legs out from under me and hauled me up by neck to kneel against the tree he was under. Her teeth pierced my neck again and I bowed my head in defeat. Jasper met my eyes and nodded, sending me his shame.
Bella finally pulled back and dropped me down to sit next to Jasper. We both had our heads hanging down, ready to be chastised by our tiny newborn mate. She knelt down and brought a hand to each of our cheeks, making us look at her. "Now. Are your stupid male egos sufficiently crushed? I may be the youngest but I was under the impression that ours was a relationship of equals. I made it perfectly clear to both of you that no one is in charge here. Yes, we need to lead the others, but we work together when it comes to us. If you haven't noticed, we have kind of a big threat coming our way. If the two of you can't provide a solid front in our coven, how are you going to do it with the Volturi?
"You better get this worked out between you. We need your heads in the game now; I have no intention of losing either one of you to this fight, understand me? Now, you two need to get work on your strategy and crap. Jasper, you can train the others, I'm not that great at teaching. You need someone to spar with, feel free to ask me. I'll be working with my daddy on my shield. I think the two of you have provided me with plenty of motivation. We will discuss this between us tonight. And in the future, if you have problem, don't take it up in front of the entire coven. Got it?" She was standing as she finished, glaring down at us. We answered in unison with a soft, "yes, ma'am."
She started to walk off before turning back to look at Jasper with her eyebrow raised. "You gonna let me mark you tonight, or do I need to do it now, in front of everyone?"
He nodded and smirked a little as he said, "Tonight will be just fine, darlin'. I'll be lookin' forward to it." After she was gone, he turned to me cautiously. "What's goin' on, Pete? I thought we were past all that. Do you really hate me that much?"
I sighed and looked down, trying to organize my thoughts. As I glanced up I noticed we still had the majority of the coven surrounding us, trying their best to pretend that they didn't have vampire hearing. "Look, we'll talk about it later, ok? When it's just us. But no, I don't hate you. I love you." I ran my hand over his now-healed face and leaned over to lick his fresh bite mark. His shiver made me smile and I pulled him in for a deep kiss. Bella interrupted us by clearing her throat and tapping her little foot.
"Uh, guys? Volturi coming? Mass destruction? Any of this ring any bells with you? Let's go!" The rest of the group broke into laughter when we couldn't stop ourselves from giving out another "yes, ma'am."
Bella POV
We spent the rest of the day doing various things to prepare. Jasper and Garrett taught the Cullens, along with Victoria and Laurent, some complex fighting skills. They had all learned the basics before, but we wanted them better prepared. I worked with Alistair on stretching my shield further. By the end of the day I could cover every single member of our coven, spread out all over the property, although it did exhaust me after a few minutes. James, Edward, and Peter drew up battle plans that we hoped we wouldn't need. The plan was for me to shelter the less loyal Volturi members, along with the two mated kings, from Chelsea's gift. With their bonds severed, hopefully they would be more willing to turn on Aro.
If it came to fighting, I had to shield our own coven until Jane and Alec were down. I really hoped it wouldn't come to that, because I felt a certain affinity to the triad I had never met. I knew they were being forced to serve the Volturi and I knew how they felt- I would do anything if my mates were threatened. I hoped I wouldn't have to find out exactly what I would be willing to do.
As night fell, half our group went hunting and everyone else split off with their mates. I met my boys in our bedroom, where I found them curled up in bed together, talking quietly. Peter had his shield up so the rest of the house couldn't hear what they said or did, and I appreciated their effort. "Are you two good now? Or do I need to whip you into shape?" Jasper just laughed and reached his hand out to me.
"We're good. Come over here, Darlin'. You're too far away." His smooth voice melted the last of my tension and I crawled up between them, noticing they were naked under the covers.
"Well, looks like you did work out your problems. Sorry I missed it!" I really wasn't. I knew they needed some time alone together to work through their issues. Now it was my turn. I leaned over to kiss Peter, and he held me to him gently. He tasted like Jasper and my lust shot through the roof. I felt Jasper's hands pull my shirt up and I broke away from Peter long enough to take it off, before Jasper pulled me back to his mouth. This time Peter's hands were opening my jeans and pulling them off. Jasper pulled me over onto his chest as I felt Peters' mouth between my legs. "Damn, I should fight you more often!"
"Shh, darlin'. Let us take care of you." He swallowed my answer with his mouth and his tongue stroked mine gently. Peter's mouth moved further back; hmmm, looks like I'm getting both my boys tonight. Jasper's hands caressed my breasts before he lifted me slightly, and he groaned as Peter grabbed him and guided him into me. I pulled my knees up close to Jasper's side and leaned down to kiss him again. Peter's mouth was back on my other entrance, running his tongue from where Jasper and I were connected, all the way up and back again.
His fingers entered me slowly, while his other hand reached around to massage my clit. My orgasm exploded almost immediately, and as I was coming down I felt him pull his fingers out and kneel behind me, slowly pushing his cock into me. We paused for a moment, just enjoying the connection, before the boys started moving. As Peter pulled out, Jasper bucked his hips up into me, and when Jasper pulled out, Peter pushed back in. They sped up as Jasper pushed our lust and love around. I felt myself getting close and I leaned over to lick Jasper's neck, on the other side from where Peter bit him earlier. He growled lowly, knowing what was coming, and pushed into me even faster.
Peter leaned over and licked his mark on my neck, while his hand returned to my clit, and pushed me over the edge. I growled and bit into Jasper's neck, causing both boys to come simultaneously. My orgasm seemed to drag out forever and I realized Peter had bitten me at the same time I bit Jasper. I pulled back when he did and licked Jasper's new mark. He shivered and looked up at me with hooded eyes. "Now you're mine." I whispered to him. Peter leaned over and ran his hand up the other side of his neck. "Mine too." he growled.
"I was always yours. Both of yours. Only yours. I'm sorry I was so stupid. I love you both so much, and I'm proud to belong to you, proud to wear your marks." I started to sit up but he pulled me back down, and Peter as well. "Please, just stay for a little while. I just want to be with you. Be with my mates. I need you now."
We laid together, cuddling, and talked softly for hours until we were startled by several sets of running feet and Edward's panicked voice yelling for Peter. We jumped out of bed and threw our clothes on as fast as we could before running downstairs. "What is it, Eddie? What's wrong?" Peter asked.
"It's the Volturi! Alistair was watching for them to move, but now they're moving too fast! They're flying in! They'll be here within the hour!"