Rosalie

Fred and I met Jane at Alec at the airport the next morning. It was odd seeing them in normal clothes instead of their black cloaks, but there was still no color in their outfits. Jane wore a long sleeve black shirt, black pants, and black combat boots. Alec's outfit was similar, but with a dark grey shirt and black sneakers. I almost didn't recognize them.

"Good morning, Rosalie." Alec greeted me. "Is this the friend you mentioned?"

I nodded toward him. "This is Fred. Fred, this is Jane and Alec of the Volturi."

He shook Alec's hand, but Jane declined. "It's nice to meet both of you. I work for Angela."

"Oh? Rosalie told me you were both doing this to save your mates."

"That's true. Angela pulled me from the army that's been assembled to move against the Cullen's. She told me that she will spare my mate in exchange for my cooperation." Fred explained.

"And what will become of you?" Jane asked.

He looked away. "I think we all know what my fate is. Rosalie has promised to protect my mate if she survives, and that's all I can ask for."

"I've no interest in killing you." Alec told him. "So long as neither of you are being dishonest with me, I'll see to it that you're both reunited with your mates."

I hated Alec for promising that. I knew Jane and Angela would not let him live, but I wouldn't destroy Fred's hope.

We boarded the plane and I saw our destination. We were flying in to Portland instead of Seattle. I knew they'd taken me far from Forks, but Fred had kept me unconscious through most of our travels. He called Angela before we took off and reminded her of when we'd be landing.

"Wait." Bree interrupted me. I had almost forgotten my audience as I was telling the story. "Is Fred alive?" She asked.

Paul shoved her lightly. "Let her finish and you'll find out." He told her. "Keep going, babe."

We landed and the bond between Alec and Angela could be seen as soon as their eyes met. I've never seen vampire mating mimic imprinting so much. Jane seemed displeased, but I assured her that she'd love Angela once she got to know her.

Alec softened toward me a lot after he realized I hadn't lied to him about his mate. We went back to the small house Angela had held me at before our trip to Italy to discuss what would happen next. The four of us sat down around the dimly lit room, but nobody spoke. Angela sat very close to Alec, and Jane looked at them distastefully.

"I'm going back to my family now. I've kept my end of our agreement. Fred is going with me, he can be a new addition to our coven." I tell them.

Angela's face falls as she looks at him. "Freddie, about that. I got a call from Victoria earlier and your mate is gone."

He sinks to the floor and cups his face in his hands. "What happened?" He asks. I can't imagine the pain he's feeling. He did all of this to save her and she died anyway.

"They're not sure. Do you still want to go with Rosalie?"

He stands and shakes his head. " I need to be alone. She was incredible, everything I'd ever wanted. She didn't know how I felt but I know she was my mate." He looks over at me and hands me his cell phone. "Put your number in, please. I promise to find you after I've had some time. I want to be like your family."

My heart aches for him. He was willing to give his life for someone he hasn't even confessed his feelings to. If I lost Paul, I at least could find comfort in knowing he understood the magnitude of my feelings for him. I had so many memories with Paul that Fred would never have the chance to make with his mate.

I take the phone and enter my number, and Carlisle's too. He writes his number on a slip of paper and hands it back to me.

"If you ever need anything, Rosalie, I'll always be there." He stood and ran out the door. I was glad Fred escaped. I was glad they weren't going after him.

Jane started to follow him, but Alec stopped her. "We will let him go in peace, sister. He's fulfilled his purpose."

She nodded and sat back down next to him. "Don't think you're going anywhere, Rosalie. It doesn't even make sense to let you go back now anyway."

Doesn't make sense? I was livid, but I tried to keep my composure. "Why wouldn't it make sense?"

Angela looked dumbfounded. "Do you know what day it is?"

"Of course not." They hadn't given me a cell phone and kept me unconscious for hours on end, how was I to know?

"The fight is tomorrow." Alec replied. "Angela has to get back to Edward tonight. You'll go with Jane and I to forks in the morning."

"I'll accompany you back, Angela." Jane offered. "It will give us a chance to get to know each other a little bit better."

Angela nodded and the two of them walked out the door, leaving me alone with Alec. He was a lot less aggressive than his sister, but I was still being careful around him.

"Shall we go for a hunt?" He asked me.

I scoffed, forgetting who I was dealing with for a moment. I could almost hear Jasper telling me not to underestimate my enemy. "Who's diet are we following?"

He sighed. "I suppose I can follow your diet for an evening. You'll regret this tomorrow if I'm less powerful on animal blood."

I followed him out the door and took the lead as we went to the forest to hunt. "You must know that's not true, right? Sure, human blood is more satisfying, but my brothers are two of the most lethal of our kind in combat alone."

"I assume most of what our masters tell us is misleading. Aro craves control. Me and Jane could easily overthrow the Volturi if we wanted to, but it's nicer than how most of our kind live. She's afraid I may change my mind about staying with her in Volterra now that I've found my mate." He stopped for a moment and looked over at me. "Would you abandon your family for your mate? You wouldn't, would you?"

It was an odd feeling, having one of the most powerful of our kind coming to me for advice. I had always feared and hated Alec and Jane, but he was just trying to make his sister feel safe. My entire outlook on them was changing.

"Of course not, but please believe me when I tell you Angela would never ask you to do that. She wanted to be part of our family, Edward just wouldn't allow it." I told him. I was angry with Angela, but I knew she was ultimately a good person.

The night passed quickly hunting with Alec. Jane came back after a few hours and the three of us talked about strategy. I had to tell them about the pack; they'd meet them soon enough anyway. Jane agreed that she would protect Esme, Seth, and Quil. They were the three I worried most about. We left Portland hours before we needed to so we'd be there before anyone else arrived.

Alec made small talk with me the entire way while Jane mostly stayed quiet. His plan was for Jane to cover the pack and my family and see if they could all survive, but promised that if it got to be too much for her he'd paralyze everyone and we'd take them out one by one.

I wanted to leave them. I wanted to run to Paul, or home to Jasper. But I didn't. I knew we needed their help, and I was growing to like Alec. He was willing to sacrifice anything to make his sister happy, and I could respect that.

My heart twinged as the sun rose and I saw my family standing in the clearing. I should have been by their side. I noticed them move out of their formation and I wanted to go to Paul and see what was wrong, but I couldn't. Not yet.

"Rosalie." Alec said softly beside me. "I appreciate you coming to Italy to unite me with my mate, even if you had an ulterior motive. I promise, nothing bad will happen to them."

I nodded in response and we watched as the newborns arrived and the fight began.

"I think you know the rest of the story from there." I told everyone.

Paul ran to me and pulled me tightly in his arms. "I'm so, so sorry Rosalie. I didn't know they had taken you." I could feel his tears soaking through my shirt.

Being in his arms after thinking I'd never see him again for so long was the most amazing feeling in the world. "It's okay, Paul. I would've let them kill me if I thought it would save you. All of you."

When he finally let go, there was a line of people waiting to apologize. Leah felt a lot of remorse. She had phased and was ready to attack me without understanding what had happened. I didn't blame any of them. I understood how hard my death must have been on all of them, and how confused they must have been when they discovered I wasn't really dead.

Esme asked everyone to come inside and have dinner, and we all followed. Carlisle told us all to sit and talk and he'd bring the food in to the pack in a few minutes. I wasn't worried about being around the guys, none of them would stay mad for long. The girls I wasn't so confident in. Bella and Bree had both been glaring at me since we sat down, and I didn't blame them for their anger. I didn't plan to confront either of them though. Paul was holding on to me like he might lose me again if he lets go. Emily and Kim both seemed calm enough, but I knew neither of them were happy with me.

"The answer is yes, Rosalie." Bella spoke up.

"Bella, now isn't-" Jacob stopped talking to when she kicked him under the table.

"The answer to what, B?" Paul asked her.

She grimaced. "Paul felt every bit of your pain, and more. He was in agony. Carlisle had to keep him drugged constantly or he wouldn't have even had the strength to walk."

Jacob had touched on Paul's pain a little when he saw me but he didn't explain in much detail. "Bella-" I started to speak but she cut me off.

"No." She responded. "You do not get to give me some bullshit answer. Paul is my brother and I watched him suffer for days. I know that being kidnapped wasn't on you. But Fred was your friend, right? You couldn't have asked him to come here? You couldn't have found a way to call? You cannot convince me that the resourceful Rosalie I know couldn't have escaped in Italy, where you knew your way around but Fred didn't." She was angry, and her face was turning red.

Sam walked around the table and knelt next to her with his hand on her shoulder. "Bella. Think about what you're saying. What would the pack have done if we knew Rosalie was alive?" I was thankful for Sam. He seemed to understand where I was coming from.

"Well, you would have went after her, but-"

"Right. And would knowing she was alive have stopped any of Paul's pain?" He asked her.

She looked down at her feet. "No."

"I know you're hurting, Bella. It was hard to see Paul that way for all of us, but I know it was worse for you. Rosalie did what she had to do to keep us safe. If not for Rosalie, I don't believe any of us would've lived through the battle today." He told her.

She looked back up at me, tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry, Rose. It was just so hard to see him that way."

I reached across the table and grabbed her hand. "Don't apologize, Bella. I'm glad you care about Paul. Thank you for being there for him when I wasn't."

I did appreciate Bella. She had really stepped up for my mate in my absence the way I'd hoped someone would.

"Oh, the beauty of imprinting." Quil chuckled as he finished talking and I let go of Bella's hand quickly.

Jake slapped him and I heard a few growls. Imprinting? Was Bella Paul's imprint now? She was Jacob's imprint so I didn't understand how that was possible. I wasn't going to leave Paul. We weren't that couple anymore; the one that would fight and go days without confronting the problem.

"What is he talking about?" I asked Paul.

Paul started to tear up, and my heart sank. "Rosalie, not here." He said.

I looked around the room. It was all pack, and they would hear about this anyway. "We both know there are no secrets in this pack." I responded. Except the one they'd been keeping from me.

"Rosalie, you're my heart and soul, you know that. None of us understand what this is between me and Bella. You're still my mate, and Jacob is still hers." He was pleading with me. "Please believe me. I went to Sam as soon as it happened."

"When?" I asked him.

He started to cry. "Rosalie.."

I turned to Embry, knowing he'd be honest with me. "When was it, Em?"

He looked at Paul and back at me. "It was the night Emmett proposed to Leah. But Rosalie, you need to listen to him. He suffered more than you can imagine when you were gone. The bond he has with Bella.. it's basically how we all feel about the imprints but more intense." He stopped for a moment. "You know I'm always on your side, but if anything you should be grateful for this. I think the spirits knew you'd be gone and he'd need her. He wouldn't have survived without her."

If I was capable of crying I would be. I looked back over at Paul as tears streamed down his face and held his hand tightly. "I'm not mad at you, I was just confused."

He nodded but didn't say much else about it. I knew we'd have to talk about it later when we were alone.

"I know the rest of you have your own feelings about what happened, let's her them." I said to the rest of the pack. "I think we've all learned that life is too short to leave anything unsaid. Let's just air it all out today. Don't hold back, just pretend Jasper and Paul aren't here. I don't want this tension in the family to drag on longer than it needs to."

Paul squeezed my hand and nodded, agreeing with me.

"Fine. I'm mad at you, I'll admit it." Seth spoke up. "I'm grateful that you saved us. I appreciate that you told Jane to look out for me, because she saved me more than once. But Paul is my big brother and I can't unsee all of the hell he went through. I can't get over that just because I know you had noble intentions."

"Agreed." Bella added.

Sam scoffed. "I'm not surprised that they're mad, but I couldn't be more proud of you Rosalie. You've stepped up time and time again to protect us and you've proven that you'd give your life for the pack. You left your own mate, missed your best friend's wedding, and put your life in danger on the off chance that Jane and Alec would come to our rescue." He looked around the room. "I'd like one of you that fought today to tell me we would have won without them."

Nobody responded to him and he kept talking. "You can be angry with her, but she's the reason you're here. She's the reason your imprints still have a mate. She's the reason your family isn't burying you."

"I agree with Sam." Quil said. "Rosalie, I didn't know that nobody told you about Paul's imprint on Bella. I didn't mean to cause a problem, and I'm sorry. But I knew you weren't dead that first time I saw Paul after the fire. From what we have in our legends the death of an imprint doesn't cause the wolf physical pain like that; it's physical separation that does. When you were being tortured he felt it too, that's the power of your bond. Every time I saw him suffer I knew it meant you were fighting. I'm sorry for not sharing that with the pack, but I needed you to make it back before I did. I couldn't give them hope in case something went wrong."

"I'm with them." Jacob said. "I'm proud of you. What you did was incredibly brave and you saved us, regardless of if anyone else wants to admit it."

That left Jared, Embry, and the girls. Paul would talk to me later, in a more private setting.

"You already know how I feel, sis." Jared told me. "I'm just glad you're back."

I looked over at Embry and he scoffed at me. "Like you even have to ask. You know I love you, Rose. I never gave up hope that you were out there fighting for us."

Leah smiled softly at me. "I'm sorry I misunderstood what happened. You know you're my best friend. Thank you, for saving everyone." She stood up and ran around the table to me and hugged me tightly. "I missed you so much."

She sat down on the other side of me and ran through how the wedding went. She told me all of the small details, and it sounded perfect. I was excited to see all of the pictures.

Rachel was glaring at me. "Well I'm not happy and I don't forgive as easily as everyone else seems to. I've never liked you Rosalie and I don't believe your story. It seems to me you ran off to Italy with your friends and you didn't care what happened to any of us here."

Jasper pulled away from her and started to walk out the door. "What?" She called after him. "She said not to hold back and I'm not. Nobody else can see through your facade but I can. You've never fooled me, Rosalie." She stood from her spot and ran after Jasper.

Jacob laughed as she walked out the door. "She's insane. Ignore her Rose, that's what the rest of us do."

Bree was the only one that hadn't spoken to me yet. "Anything you went to add?" I asked her.

She nodded. "Thank you. For what you did for Fred."

Carlisle, Esme, and Sue walked in to the dining room carrying trays of food for the humans. I hadn't even noticed Sue was here until now. She sat her tray down on the table and walked around to hug me.

"I came here to yell at you, you know." She chuckled. "I love you, Rosie. Thank you for saving my boys."

Dinner with the pack felt so much better now. We didn't have the imminent threat of Victoria looming over our heads. Bree invited me on a quick hunt while everyone ate and I agreed. She was still adjusting to our diet so I showed her some of the places I liked to go to find deer or mountain lions if I was in that type of mood. She had such a sweet personality after she got over her initial anger toward me.

She told me about running across Embry and Kate in Seattle. She was grateful to them for giving her a chance. She talked about how mean Paul had been to her at first and that he only started to come around after their covert mission behind Sam's back. I wasn't surprised Paul would do something like that; I'm sure he had acted very carelessly in my absence. We were the same that way. If something happened to him, my life wouldn't hold the same value it does with him in it.

Rachel was cordial when we returned and I knew we'd learn to get along. I had to admit that I wasn't the most fond of her either, but she made my brother happy and that's all that mattered.

Paul came to me as we walked in the door and hugged me tightly. "Ready to go home?" He asked me.

I smiled back at him. "Of course I am."

He took my hand and we walked together through the woods and back to his house next to the Clearwaters in La Push. It felt amazing to finally be home.