Hello! Here comes a short interlude.

Don't worry, from chapter 19 on, the chapters will come back to their usual length :)

I hope you like this.

Read you soon!

THE LOCKET

Chapter 18.

Santiago had waited for Felix to come into the backyard where Edward's execution was to take place. Felix had asked Santiago that if the task was trusted to him to wait for him before carrying the order. He wanted a chance to speak with the bastard who had dared threaten his mate's life.

What he found was more than what he was looking for.

For someone who was about to die, Edward looked too lucid, too collected, and smug. Felix didn't like that. Something in his stomach twisted.

Edward laughed when he beheld Felix. "You think you won?"

"You're about to die, your family has left, and my mate killed Victoria. I think that's self-explanatory."

Edward laughed again, and Felix's mask of indifference didn't move, no matter how hard it was to contain himself.

"Your problem, guard." Edward spat the last word. "Is that you're too arrogant to see what's underneath your nose. So, consider this my parting gift to you. You have a traitor in your mist. Sniff him out, and you'll find more interesting things." Felix hated that this asshole had more information and had decided to withhold it. Aro must know, right? He'd touched Edward's hands. Unless Aro was too focused on one event, only what Edward wanted him to see.

Fuck, what had they missed?

They had a traitor. The only ones who'd known about the army were himself, Bella, Demetri, Alec, Santiago, Renata, Jane, and the kings. No one in that group was a traitor. He'd defend those people until the very end. The kings had no reason to betray them; it would be counterproductive to their own way of living. And the rest, what he considered an inner circle, his closest friends, his mate, were the people he trusted his life with.

There had to be something they were missing. Some vital piece of information they'd overlook.

His heart broke for Bella.

Victoria was not the end.

But he'd bring her the head of the bastard who had betrayed them. That was a promise.

"Kill him."

Edward's eyes widened. So, this was why he'd given Felix the information. Edward thought he could bargain information for his life.

Santiago quickly beheaded him and made quick work of starting a fire. Soon, Edward was a pile of ashes on the ground. He'd be gone with the next rain.

"Meet me in the meeting room." He told Santiago, who nodded and disappeared inside the castle, probably to clean himself.

He pulled out his phone and fired a text to his inner circle.

…

…

…

He'd been a leader in a newborn war and had taken countless lives. He was feared and loathed by many. He bore the scars proudly. He hadn't known that another life was possible outside the death and bloodshed of Maria's camps. Peter and Charlotte had shown it to him after he spared their lives and helped them escape. He never understood why the Volturi hadn't broken those newborn armies earlier since they were so bloody and openly territorial.

Maria was still zealously protecting her Mexican territory, creating a few newborns here and there, but as far as he'd known, she hadn't started another war. She better not do so; Aro would not be so lenient.

Either way, that was not his problem.

When he escaped Maria's camp, he didn't have a mate or a companion. He was alone, and even though Peter had asked him to stay and had told him multiple times that he'd eventually lead him to his mate, he decided to wander alone.

Until one rainy afternoon when he stumbled inside that café and met a petite clairvoyant who claimed to know the future. He'd been enthralled. She was beautiful, with curves in the right places, and she didn't look at him with fear or disgust. So, he fell into the trap. Peter warned him she wasn't his mate. He knew she wasn't his mate. She knew it too. It was the first thing he said to her.

"You're not her." He'd said, disappointed.

She'd smiled, nonetheless. "No, but we could have fun in the meantime."

So, he accepted her outstretched hand and followed her everywhere since then.

Eventually, he fell in love with her, not utterly, not irrevocably, because that was reserved for his mate. But he loved her, and he cared for her, and so he protected her and supported her. They were happy; until they weren't anymore.

Alice had made a series of bad decisions, especially since Bella arrived. Jasper didn't doubt Alice's love for Bella or her intentions behind her heroic actions when the human girl was involved, but something in Alice snapped when Bella arrived in their lives. Something Jasper couldn't fix. Something that forced proximity with Bella couldn't fix. And so, Alice decided to follow Edward to whatever end. That had been her mistake.

Jasper was warned to stay away from Bella, and he obeyed. Stupidly and blindly, he'd obeyed. He could feel her curiosity. She didn't look at him with fear or disgust. He knew some of his scars were not visible to the human eye, and his clothes hid most, but he was never allowed to approach her, which was idiotic.

Then her eighteenth birthday arrived, and that's when the shit hit the fan. The more he thought about it, the least sense everything made. How many times had someone cut themselves in school and bled? How many scrapped knees, bloody noses and injuries had he seen and not reacted? How could it be, then, that a single drop of blood from Bella had him crazed? Everything had been so fast, no one had time to process the accident, to process the smell, and no one had time to feel bloodlust.

But then, what happened?

When he'd said goodbye to Bella, when he'd tried to apologize, she simply said they'd been set up. And he didn't want to grasp on fool's hope based on recent events, but when Bella spoke of never seeing the Cullens again, it somehow felt like he was not being included in that group.

He sighed in his seat. Alice took his hand and squeezed. Alice was not a bad person, but she was unstable and needed guidance to get on the right track. Sadly, he would no longer be that compass. Perhaps Emmett and Rose could help her. Now that he'd found her and knew she'd been through a traumatic experience, he wanted to be there for her. For his mate. He wanted to get to know her, love her, laugh and cry and fight and fuck and exist in peace, without pretenses and impossible and ridiculous standards and fake morals.

He'd fight for his mate. He smiled into the car window, unable to focus on the road taking him to the Cullen mansion. Not home. Because that was no longer his home.

…

…

…

Esme was drowning in grief. She'd lost one of her children today. But she'd held herself remarkably. Carlisle and Alice had tried to negotiate Edward's life like fools they were. If Aro had been avoiding Carlisle and he had the last word, there had been nothing Bella could have done.

He was glad Bella had not backed down against Carlisle or Alice. It had been her life on the line that day, and he was glad she had her mates backing her up. One word from her, and the world would burn because they would burn it for her. He'd felt the love, trust, and loyalty in those four.

Once they scattered around the house, Jasper went straight to business. He emailed his lawyer and asked for divorce papers to be drawn and posted to a PO box in his name in 3 days. He wired enough money to the man to warrant the speed and urgency. He was not wasting another minute.

One thing he'd listened to from Peter's list of advice was not to mix his assets with Alice's or the Cullens. So, there was nothing else for him to sever except his relationship with them. Mostly Alice and Carlisle. He felt sorry for Esme. She was so sweet and motherly, and Jasper knew Carlisle worshipped the ground she walked on, but he was too set on his ways.

Honestly, he would miss Emmett and Rose the most. They'd always felt like true siblings. But not even for them would he stay longer than necessary.

You were right. Jasper texted Peter while he started packing his belongings. He would stay in a hotel close to the castle before requesting an audience with Aro through Gianna. He'd paid the hotel enough money to receive his belongings and store them in any available room. He didn't care which.

Alice gasped, and Jasper turned around, too distracted to hear her enter the room. Her eyes scanned the luggage and the computer on the bed. Her eyes went blank for a few seconds, and when she came back, her eyes were sad. She saw his future and that it didn't include her.

Damn Peter and his all-knowing gift.

Jasper felt Esme's sadness at the news of his leaving and her surprise at the news of his and Alice's separation.

Alice had signed the papers without hesitation but with immeasurable sadness. He didn't apologize, and she didn't ask for it.

Was this how Bella felt when she decided to stay in Italy? Had she felt the pull of the mating bond while she was human? He had so many questions for her. He'd seen the change in her, she held herself differently, and it had nothing to do with her being a vampire now. It was like an inner strength.

…

…

…

On the other side of the ocean, back at the castle, Bella's surprised face was met by a grinning Chelsea. "Talk about plot twists, right?"

Holy Fuck! Not only was it a surprise that Alice and Jasper weren't mates since they'd always been close, but to hear that she'd saved Jasper's mate unknowingly. That was the real shock.

"Did you know? When I offered her to come with us, that she was Jasper's mate?" There was no way, right? Jasper and Bree hadn't met yet, and they were distant enough, but Bella didn't know how far Chelsea's gift traveled.

"Not really. Since I was focused on her not killing you or me, I didn't follow her bond. I knew she had a bond with someone close. I learned who it was when I took her to the car to Afton." Bella nodded.

"This is insane!" She still couldn't believe it. She'd offered Bree the opportunity to come, not because she had an awesome gift, but because she was innocent, and Bella would have hated for her to meet the same end the other newborns met. Who would have known that she was saving Jasper's mate?

And Jasper, why had he walked away like that? He had to have known what the girl was to him. He'd asked Bella about her. If it had been so incredibly hard for Bella, who knew nothing about mates, it had to have been excruciating for Jasper to have to walk away from her. But the Jasper she knew was buried inside him, that soldier with the scars; he didn't cower from a challenge.

Jasper had a good reason to walk away from his mate. She had severed ties with the Cullens but had told Jasper she forgave him because she believed they had been set up. Now, Jasper, a member of the coven she wanted nothing from, was going to be in her life one way or another. She would have to learn to tolerate that and learn more about that soldier.

Chelsea bid her goodbye with an amused expression, and Bella stood in the empty throne room for a few more minutes processing the day's events. It was over. Finally. Victoria was dead, Edward had been executed, and she could finally breathe peacefully and enjoy eternity with her mates.

She grinned and skipped out of the room, halting when her phone vibrated in her jean pocket. She picked it out, frowning at the message. It was from Felix in their group chat.

Meeting room. Now.

No explanation. But the urgency was there.

She sighed, changing directions and going to the meeting room instead of Alec's room like she desperately wanted.

She met Alec along the way, who grabbed her hand. "So much for some alone time." She pouted and nodded.

Felix was already in the room when they entered, and Alec made her sit on his lap. She raised an eyebrow. Alec had always been reserved when it came to PDA. "Since I can't have you naked right now, at least I can get my hands on you." Bella's eyes widened. Where has this Alec been all this time? Where did her sweet, quiet mate go? She liked this version of him, but holy fuck, was it 180 change.

"Is this meeting coming with a show?" Jane asked, sitting opposite his brother on the table.

"What are you doing here?" Alec asked gently.

"He summoned me." She pointed to Felix.

"What's going on?" Bella asked her mate, who looked like a caged lion.

"I'll explain it shortly." Bella didn't like his curt reply. Alec caressed her arms, comforting her. Something must be bothering Felix greatly if he was this curt with Bella. He'd seen him put his foot on his mouth a few times, but it was always by saying the wrong thing, not by being curt or short with her. Felix would rather cut his own dick than hurt Bella.

Soon, the rest of the party arrived, which only served to confuse Bella more.

Felix explained then about a traitor and everything Edward said and everything he'd thought about since hearing those words. A fucking traitor. Another threat over his mate's life.

"Do you know who the traitor is?" Bella whispered.

"Kane." Alec answered for Felix.

Bella turned in Alec's lap to meet his eye. "What? Your friend? The one who spied on Victoria's army in the US?"

"The timing doesn't match, darling. How could Victoria destroy one army while commanding the other at the same time?"

"So, the army in the US is still operating?" Renata asked.

"Yes, it is. We need to get rid of this threat." Demetri nodded his agreement.

"How do we do that?"

"We go there." Demetri answered.

Fuck. Not again.

"Do we know who is commanding the army?" Bella hoped for a name—something to give them leverage.

"Not yet." Felix shook his head.

"Who is going to go? We can't all go." Santiago intervened.

"Jane and Alec should definitely go. Demetri and I should go too. Santiago and Bella can stay here guarding the fort."

Bella bolted out of Alec's lap.

"If you're going, I'm going. I'm not staying here, Felix. Don't ask me to stay here while you go out there." She pleaded. If they didn't know who this new enemy was, they were coming in blindly. This was not Victoria they were talking about. Someone else was commanding this army she created, someone they didn't know.

Demetri had been overpowered once, almost costing him his life. She would not stay back and worry herself into grey her – so to speak.

"Fine. You come with us, but you'll stay behind your mates at all times. Are we clear?" She nodded. She knew he was asking this not out of some machist belief that a woman could not protect herself. He was asking this because she was a newborn, inexperienced, unpredictable, and who had not mastered either her gift, her strength, or hand-to-hand combat. She was a good guard, but against a fucking army, she was a kitten in a lion's den.