Bella POV

Alice saw me in the same moment and again I felt our eyes lock and that strange pull tearing at my heart. Rosalie was the one to bring me back from my daze.

„You can be with her once we get your food, no need to starve yourself just because you can't control your feelings." she whispered in my ear.

If I hadn't been that fixated on Alice I would have noticed the strange look Edward was giving me. His eyes followed my every move and he was staring so hard that it looked like he wanted to see straight through me and into my mind and soul.

Rosalie was carrying my tray with food after I tried twice to convince her that I was well capable to do that myself. Again all eyes of the cafeteria were on us and even I could hear all the whispering around us. It seemed like everyone was wondering how the shy new girl managed to get close to the ice queen of the Cullen's.

I decided to ignore them however when I was near enough to the Cullen's that I could basically fly those last steps into Alice's awaiting arms. She hugged me tight to her and buried her nose into my neck and hair. I could practically feel her humming with contentment.

Our beautiful moment wasn't long lived however when I felt Alice being yanked away from me and heard a low growl.

Edward was holding her in a death grip so that I could see her skin cracking and was growling threateningly at her. His eyes were a deep black and there was no other emotion in them than pure rage. I tried to step forward to get him to let Alice go but Rosalie put herself really quickly between us and asked very quietly „What are you doing Edward? We're in the middle of school, pull yourself together and we can talk about this as civilized beings."

I could see Emmet and Jasper standing beside Edward, ready to grab him any given moment. The cafeteria around us had gone awfully quiet and everybody was staring at us, not daring to move a muscle.

I wasn't quite sure how we actually managed to get out of there and venture into the woods but somehow we did. On the way over there Emmet managed to get Alice out of Edwards iron grip and now it was Jasper who had a protective grip on her to make sure Edward didn't get near her again. As much as I wanted to be next to Alice right now to make sure she was okay, I was also much too wary about Edward to dare move. His eyes were still black as coals and fixated on me.

„Okay little brother, spill! Why the hell did you attack Alice?"

„I didn't like her thoughts. She was trying to claim what is mine."

Rosalie raised a mocking eyebrow at that but said nothing to it, instead she just moved a little closer to me and let Emmet continue this absolute ridiculous conversation with Edward.

„What could she probably have been claiming as hers dude?"

„She was referring to Isabella as her mate and that simply can't be true when she is so clearly my mate. Now her scent is all over her and didn't you see how she was sniffing her neck? She was about to kill her in the middle of the cafeteria."

Now everyone was staring at him like he lost his mind and I felt the strong urge to lough very loudly. Before I got the chance to do anything however I felt myself being pulled into something hard and cold and a painfully hard grip on my upper arm. Edward had taken the opportunity to yank me away from Rosalie and to his chest while his siblings were still struggling with what he just said.

Alice growled loudly at the picture of Edward holding me so close and I couldn't help but to feel scared shitless right in that moment. I had an irate vampire right behind me and no idea what was actually going on. All this talk about mates was confusing because there was no chance in hell that Edward was mine. I remember clearly Cori telling me a female name at the airport.

I opened my mouth to say something but then I smelled a sickeningly sweet scent around me that seemed to dull all my senses and stuff my head with cotton candy so that I wasn't able to form a coherent thought. Then I heard a deep voice whisper in my ear: „Tell them you feel that pull too dear. Tell them that I am your mate."

My mouth formed the words without me actually realizing that I was doing it and the last thing that actually registered in my mind was Alice tormented cry of: „What did you do to her?!" before everything was engulfed by the sensation of not feeling and seeing anything at all.

Alice POV

When Edward used his powers to make Bella his puppet I felt so helpless and utterly useless like never before in my life. Her glazed over eyes and that emotionless mask was nothing like the girl I met in the supermarket and that I felt so giddy about seeing again this day.

Rosalie was the first to come to her senses and knocked Edward straight through the tree behind him.

The guy was actually surprised by her move because he didn't even get up in time for Rosalie to throw at least three punches at his face.

Next to me I could hear Emmet and Jasper growling lowly and looking nearly as helpless as I felt.

„I'm sorry I didn't feel his intentions in time Alice. You don't deserve this, you waited so long for her to come to you and now that she finally found you, you had to watch her being taken away. I promise you I will make Edward regret what he did and get her back to you."

I nodded slowly and kept staring at Bella. She hadn't moved since Rosalie knocked Edward away from her and it seemed like she didn't notice anything at all around her.

With all my hope of finally finding my mate and leading a happy life with my family drained I helped Emmet to get Bella back to her father so that he wouldn't worry about her. Jasper left for the school to alter the memories of the students who witnessed what happened in the cafeteria. It just wouldn't do having human teenagers questioning Bella's odd behavior that was sure to be noticed the next day.

When I finally returned home with all my other siblings there seemed to be an unspoken truce between us that said nobody would talk about what just happened. It was not to save Edward's sorry ass but nobody wanted Carlisle to put in his two cents and make everything seem like it was alright and therefore eventually prevent us from making the control Edward now held over Bella fade away with time.

Most of my life that I spend with the Cullen's I admired Carlisle for his excellent control around humans and his bright mind. The only sore point was his blindness when it came to Edward. He loved the boy like he was his own son and not even when Edward had killed numerous people and even children could he find it in himself to chastise Edward. I was sure what happened today wouldn't be an exception and I didn't want to hear how wonderful it was that Edward finally found his mate, so instead I went to my room and began thinking about the old power that resided inside each vampire and was used to lure in prey. Combined with Edwards ability to read minds it seemed to be much stronger and I didn't know enough about all those things to come up with a plan on my own.

So after some time I dialed a well-known number and smiled when I heard the soft purr in the female voice on the other end. She always had a soft spot for me and suddenly a huge part of my fear seemed to be lifted from my shoulders as I explained exactly what happened that day to an attentive Kate on the other end.