HellCat: Guardian Of The Gate
by wizardtho
Chapter 10:
We ultimately had to direct the delivery men for over an hour and a half, since they seemed to be the slowest goddamn people on earth, and refused to give up their set-up. When they finally left, Peter pinned me to the wall next to the gate panel with my arms above my head, growling, "I need ya, Isabella. I can't wait any longer."
Just as I saw the gate opening to let the truck out, Peter re-commanded my attention by pulling me into a raw desire-filled kiss. The need was pouring out of him, and I was completely soaked in my own resulting need for him.
Suddenly, what seemed like only a minute later, he pulled out of the kiss with a deep inhale, then let loose a menacing growl while looking out the still-open front doors. I watched as his eyes turned a gorgeous obsidian. Captain had full reign now. I felt a shift inside me, releasing that new primal part of me, so I didn’t fight it. He smirked as he said, "Hey, Kitten. Glad ya could make it, 'cuz it looks like we have some party crashers that didn't call like they were supposed to. Cullen scents incomin' in ten seconds."
I took his hand to walk with him to the front door. As he took up a crouched position with his hand behind him on my hip, four Cullen vehicles that I knew all too well came to a stop in the driveway. They all stepped out of their vehicles, seemingly as one, without a care.
I automatically said in a steely calm and strong voice, "I'd stop right there, if I were you. We aren't in Forks anymore, and if you haven't lost all your spidey senses, you know you aren't in your territory by a long fucking shot."
They all stopped, noting Peter's stance, then I saw the pain in Edward's eyes. Carlisle was the first one to speak, offering, "Bella, my daughter. We've missed you so-"
I let out an incredulous laugh, stepping up to Captain's side just as Alice started to walk forward, then snapped my head toward her, "Do. Not. Fucking. Move. Mary Alice."
Jasper growled at me as I continued, but I ignored him as I stroked Captain's hair, "Carlisle? First of all, Bella's not here right now. If you need to address me at all, the name's Isa. Second, you sure have piss poor parental intuition, if you'd leave your so-called daughter to fend for herself in a world of mythical creatures. Every fucking one of you left me. Left. Me. Don't you dare come onto my property without calling to let us know, and think everything will go back to how it was in Forks. I'm not that little girl anymore, and you sure as fuck aren't the family I thought you were."
I looked at all of their shocked and pained faces, then continued in the same tone, "Now that we've settled that, you need to check your fucking growl, Jasper Cullen... or Hale... or whatever-the-hell you're calling yourself these days. You sure as shit aren't the Jasper Whitlock you should be, or you wouldn't have left your true brother's mate without any contact info at all. Growl at me again, and Captain here's gonna be let off the chain. You see, I met the Jasper I respect a couple of times. He was the one that told me I was worth more than any of them, the one that saved me from James. He was the one that tried to save me from Edward's bloodlust the night of my birthday. When you find him again? Yeah, then we'll talk. Until then, you're gonna shut you're fucking trap, and I'll speak to Alice any way I goddamn please."
All of their eyes were bugging out, but I saw a pleased grin make its way on to Rosalie's face after a minute. Captain growled as Alice made to step forward again, so I wound my fingers in his hair as I said, "The rules are as follows... You can hunt on the property, since it's teaming with wildlife, and I own everything inside the perimeter wall. That's a total of 670 acres. I'm not your daughter, best friend, or whatever-the-hell else you want to see me as until you can redeem yourselves. The only ones I can't fault in this are Rosalie and Emmett. Rosalie because she never once tried to befriend me or show me even the slightest attention. Emmett, because when Rosalie left, I wouldn't expect him to stay without his mate. I know how I felt with being out of range of Peter for just a short time... I would never wish that feeling on another set of mates. Everyone else is on my shitlist, as far as I'm concerned. You're here for a reason, so focus on that for now. Carlisle, you'll be helping with that, but I'm in no way a fucking lab rat. If it isn't necessary to test me for something, you don't get to do it, so don't even think of asking. I'm not your experiment, nor am I the docile little nothing you used to know."
I looked around at all of them, then said, "If you can follow those rules and keep yourselves glutted on the wildlife the property offers, you can stay. This is my one and only warning. The only teeth coming near me? Those are in Captain's mouth. If anyone else tries, I'll light your goddamn pyre myself as Captain shreds your ass.” I saw them look to each other, then back to me, so I growled deeply, “Am. I. Understood?"
Everyone nodded, then I saw the sadness in Esme's eyes. I knew she wanted to apologise, but I shook my head, "Not now, Esme. We'll get you all settled in first. Just... give it time."
She nodded as Carlisle hugged her to him, whispering something, then I said, "Now that that's done, I believe my mate has the right to a chunk of Jasper's ass, so if you don't want to watch, you might want to head inside. Captain, don't screw up my flower beds or fuck up the trees at the clearing edge, or you'll be replanting them with Mr. Growls when this is over."
Captain stood slowly from his crouch as everyone slowly made their way to the porch, except for Jasper, who was standing in the open part of the clearing with bright gold eyes, his growl mysteriously gone. I shook my head disappointedly at Jasper while giving a disgusted huff, then looked to Captain. Once fully standing, he turned to me, pulling me into his arms. He growled as he said, "That was fuck-hot, Kitten. I knew it would be, and watchin' ya put 'em in their place was sexy as hell. As soon as I'm done, I'm still holdin' ya to your earlier comment."
He suddenly bent me back, then licked my mark roughly, eliciting a deep moan from me. He licked from my mark up to my ear, then nipped the soft spot while growling sexily as he grabbed my ass, "Have fun watchin' the show, Kitten. Fightin's like vampire foreplay."
I chuckled and smacked his ass as he turned to walk down the porch steps. I leaned against the large column to watch, with my arms folded over my ribs and one leg crossed casually in front of the other. Alice took up a mirroring position at the other post, then it started.
Watching Captain try to coax out the Major was a battle that didn't last long at all, but was hot as sin. The longer that Jasper didn't seem to really fight Captain, only defend himself, the sexier my mate became in his anger at his maker. They didn't fuck up my trees or flowers, though, so when I saw Jasper's eyes turn to black, I said with an exasperated huff, "Fucking finally we get to see the real Slim Shady. Since the pansy-ass didn't have a good excuse, let's see what Whitlock has to say for himself."
That's when Major stood from his crouch, saying seriously, "I don't have one, and Captain's right to want my ass for it. The only thing I can say is that neither of us wanted to leave. The only reason we did, was because Mary Alice saw you die if we didn't." He was talking to me, but his head was bowed as he faced Captain.
Captain growled, then snapped his gaze to Alice as he said with a deadly growl, "Explain. Now."
Her voice was soft as she said shakily, "The party... it was the excuse we needed. Edward didn't want to... he loved her... still does. We all did, and still do. Victoria is still at large... the only way we could save Bella, was the party and what happened after. We had to leave, Captain, because anytime I tried a scenario where we stayed and took her on, Bella died. Bella had to think that we would never see her again, because any scenario where she knew how to contact us, she got caught by the Volturi trying to find us. Aro wouldn't have known you were mates, since we wouldn't have made it to you in time to get you to her. He would have killed her on the spot for her knowledge of our world.”
She sounded completely heartbroken as she continued. “Even being here now is a risk, since he's been keeping tabs on us, but we had to come. You needed us. We'd never leave you out to dry. I'm so sorry, but it had to happen the way it did. I even tried to tell you a few times after we left that Bella was your mate, but each time, seriously bad shit found a way to reach her before anyone could be in place to protect her. I couldn't risk her being killed, Captain. She was my best friend, my sister, a future Whitlock, and your mate. You’ve waited so long... you helped Major find his way to me. I couldn't let her be killed."
Alice was sobbing by the middle of her story, and as the fight left me, I also saw it leave Captain. He walked right up to Major, not stopping until there toes practically touched. As soon as Major lifted his head, Captain decked the shit out of him, saying, "Fucker. You're lucky that's all you're gettin', 'cuz ya know Kitten deserves so much more than the shit ya put her through. If it wasn't for ya ashin' the twisted bastard that bit her in Phoenix, I'd have your head as my right, maker or not."
There was a caved-in section on Major's jaw, along with a large crack in the skin, but Major just nodded. He must have sent Captain a feeling, because a second later, my mate said, "I know that, Fucker, but she's been through hell. It's her forgiveness ya need to be seekin'. Now get your ass in the house so your mate can tend to ya."
Major nodded without a word, following as Captain came directly to me. He pulled me up to wrap me around his waist, then kissed my neck several times. I chuckled into his shoulder, then said as he walked us into the house, "Downstairs is partially set up. Billiard room, poker tables, bar, and the game room. The alcohol's in the bar on the first floor if you want it, seen as we haven't had the chance to stock up yet. We'll.... yeah, be back... in a bit."
I heard Jasper and Ali chuckle as Em let out, "Not so little now, is she, Eddie?"
Rosalie smirked as she eyed us appreciatively, "Go get him, Hellcat. It's nice to finally see the real you."
In response, Peter growled, "Hellcat," pulling me into a passionate kiss right in front of everyone, before he practically slammed open our bedroom door.
After our shower a few hours later, Captain had asked me to leave my hair down in its natural chunky curl, stating he liked the way they caressed my curves. I did, so he ran an anti-frizz serum through it with his fingers for several minutes. I dressed in a military-style olive green v-neck tank, a pair of dark BT dirty-wash skinny jeans, a black lace thong, and my Michael Antonio 'Langston' buckle-detail pumps. After applying a light touch of makeup, I walked out of the bathroom to find my sexy mate waiting for me on the bed.
When we emerged on the lower level, I was sporting a matching mark to my original at the joint of my collarbones. To put it mildly, Captain was very pleased with himself. Everyone had heard us quite clearly as Captain claimed and marked me, so he was pleased that all of them would know for a fact that he was the only one for me. Jasper chuckled as he spotted my new mark, "You just had to bite her breast to start with, didn't you, Captain?"
Captain chuckled in return while shrugging, "Ya know I was always a tit man, Jazz."
I growled as I grabbed Alice's hand to smack him upside the head, saying, "Mine better be the only ones you look at, touch, or even think about, Whitlock! If not, you'll be missing more than my tits for a month, and I'll make sure that month includes at least one heat and two cycles!"
Captain's eyes went wide in fear, causing Alice to chuckle as Rosalie said to her with a cheeky high five, "Damn, I like this Bella. She knows how to punish."
When I nodded in acknowledgment to Rosalie, I heard Edward mumble, "Sucks to be you, man. She smelled so irresistible then that I couldn't even be around her."
That comment got me, so I whirled on him in an instant, "I may not be able to hit you without help, Edward Anthony, but I have more than one titanium baseball bat in this house that I know how to use. Keep your comments about those things to yourself from now on, because my mate doesn't need my past with you thrown in his face."
Edward nodded, the shame on his face clear as he offered sincerely, "I apologise, Isa. You're right. It won't happen again."
I felt bad immediately. The Edward I knew would never make a comment like that to hurt someone, but I couldn't shake this edginess I felt. It was like all my senses were hyper-aware, yet I couldn’t figure out why.
Captain sat on one of the stools, pulled me to straddle his lap, then said as he cupped my cheek, "Hush now, Hellcat, it's alright. He didn't mean it that way, and I know your heart. Ya know he didn't mean for his comment to hurt me. I understand you're edgy right now, but it's okay to let Isa go to the background. We're not in danger... we can both be out lickety-split if the alarm sounds. We'll set it together, just to be safe, then explain to everyone."
My face buried itself into his neck as I inhaled deeply, then Captain kissed my shoulder lightly several times as he stroked the visible part of my spine.
After a couple of minutes, I was a lot calmer. I let out a breath when I felt the shift. I kissed my mate's neck, then whispered, "Sorry, Edward. I didn't mean to go off on you, but all this is just going to take time."
I looked up into the deep red eyes of my Peter, brushed my thumb under one, then whispered, "We need to get on those donated connections. You're getting thirsty."
His eyes closed with a soft smile as Alice said hesitantly, "Bella? Um... I had Carlisle pick up a large cooler full before we left. That should be more than enough to tide Peter over until we can make the pick ups with the connections."
I nodded, then said, "Point the way, please. I want to get them put in the walk-in cooler down here where the rest will go, then get Peter fed."
She nodded but offered, "Stay with Peter and set the alarm to help your nerves. I'll bring it right down." With an ok from me, she dashed out of the room. Peter walked with me over to the wall panel right near the stairs to set the perimeter alarm.
We ultimately had to direct the delivery men for over an hour and a half, since they seemed to be the slowest goddamn people on earth, and refused to give up their set-up. When they finally left, Peter pinned me to the wall next to the gate panel with my arms above my head, growling, "I need ya, Isabella. I can't wait any longer."
Just as I saw the gate opening to let the truck out, Peter re-commanded my attention by pulling me into a raw desire-filled kiss. The need was pouring out of him, and I was completely soaked in my own resulting need for him.
Suddenly, what seemed like only a minute later, he pulled out of the kiss with a deep inhale, then let loose a menacing growl while looking out the still-open front doors. I watched as his eyes turned a gorgeous obsidian. Captain had full reign now. I felt a shift inside me, releasing that new primal part of me, so I didn’t fight it. He smirked as he said, "Hey, Kitten. Glad ya could make it, 'cuz it looks like we have some party crashers that didn't call like they were supposed to. Cullen scents incomin' in ten seconds."
I took his hand to walk with him to the front door. As he took up a crouched position with his hand behind him on my hip, four Cullen vehicles that I knew all too well came to a stop in the driveway. They all stepped out of their vehicles, seemingly as one, without a care.
I automatically said in a steely calm and strong voice, "I'd stop right there, if I were you. We aren't in Forks anymore, and if you haven't lost all your spidey senses, you know you aren't in your territory by a long fucking shot."
They all stopped, noting Peter's stance, then I saw the pain in Edward's eyes. Carlisle was the first one to speak, offering, "Bella, my daughter. We've missed you so-"
I let out an incredulous laugh, stepping up to Captain's side just as Alice started to walk forward, then snapped my head toward her, "Do. Not. Fucking. Move. Mary Alice."
Jasper growled at me as I continued, but I ignored him as I stroked Captain's hair, "Carlisle? First of all, Bella's not here right now. If you need to address me at all, the name's Isa. Second, you sure have piss poor parental intuition, if you'd leave your so-called daughter to fend for herself in a world of mythical creatures. Every fucking one of you left me. Left. Me. Don't you dare come onto my property without calling to let us know, and think everything will go back to how it was in Forks. I'm not that little girl anymore, and you sure as fuck aren't the family I thought you were."
I looked at all of their shocked and pained faces, then continued in the same tone, "Now that we've settled that, you need to check your fucking growl, Jasper Cullen... or Hale... or whatever-the-hell you're calling yourself these days. You sure as shit aren't the Jasper Whitlock you should be, or you wouldn't have left your true brother's mate without any contact info at all. Growl at me again, and Captain here's gonna be let off the chain. You see, I met the Jasper I respect a couple of times. He was the one that told me I was worth more than any of them, the one that saved me from James. He was the one that tried to save me from Edward's bloodlust the night of my birthday. When you find him again? Yeah, then we'll talk. Until then, you're gonna shut you're fucking trap, and I'll speak to Alice any way I goddamn please."
All of their eyes were bugging out, but I saw a pleased grin make its way on to Rosalie's face after a minute. Captain growled as Alice made to step forward again, so I wound my fingers in his hair as I said, "The rules are as follows... You can hunt on the property, since it's teaming with wildlife, and I own everything inside the perimeter wall. That's a total of 670 acres. I'm not your daughter, best friend, or whatever-the-hell else you want to see me as until you can redeem yourselves. The only ones I can't fault in this are Rosalie and Emmett. Rosalie because she never once tried to befriend me or show me even the slightest attention. Emmett, because when Rosalie left, I wouldn't expect him to stay without his mate. I know how I felt with being out of range of Peter for just a short time... I would never wish that feeling on another set of mates. Everyone else is on my shitlist, as far as I'm concerned. You're here for a reason, so focus on that for now. Carlisle, you'll be helping with that, but I'm in no way a fucking lab rat. If it isn't necessary to test me for something, you don't get to do it, so don't even think of asking. I'm not your experiment, nor am I the docile little nothing you used to know."
I looked around at all of them, then said, "If you can follow those rules and keep yourselves glutted on the wildlife the property offers, you can stay. This is my one and only warning. The only teeth coming near me? Those are in Captain's mouth. If anyone else tries, I'll light your goddamn pyre myself as Captain shreds your ass.” I saw them look to each other, then back to me, so I growled deeply, “Am. I. Understood?"
Everyone nodded, then I saw the sadness in Esme's eyes. I knew she wanted to apologise, but I shook my head, "Not now, Esme. We'll get you all settled in first. Just... give it time."
She nodded as Carlisle hugged her to him, whispering something, then I said, "Now that that's done, I believe my mate has the right to a chunk of Jasper's ass, so if you don't want to watch, you might want to head inside. Captain, don't screw up my flower beds or fuck up the trees at the clearing edge, or you'll be replanting them with Mr. Growls when this is over."
Captain stood slowly from his crouch as everyone slowly made their way to the porch, except for Jasper, who was standing in the open part of the clearing with bright gold eyes, his growl mysteriously gone. I shook my head disappointedly at Jasper while giving a disgusted huff, then looked to Captain. Once fully standing, he turned to me, pulling me into his arms. He growled as he said, "That was fuck-hot, Kitten. I knew it would be, and watchin' ya put 'em in their place was sexy as hell. As soon as I'm done, I'm still holdin' ya to your earlier comment."
He suddenly bent me back, then licked my mark roughly, eliciting a deep moan from me. He licked from my mark up to my ear, then nipped the soft spot while growling sexily as he grabbed my ass, "Have fun watchin' the show, Kitten. Fightin's like vampire foreplay."
I chuckled and smacked his ass as he turned to walk down the porch steps. I leaned against the large column to watch, with my arms folded over my ribs and one leg crossed casually in front of the other. Alice took up a mirroring position at the other post, then it started.
Watching Captain try to coax out the Major was a battle that didn't last long at all, but was hot as sin. The longer that Jasper didn't seem to really fight Captain, only defend himself, the sexier my mate became in his anger at his maker. They didn't fuck up my trees or flowers, though, so when I saw Jasper's eyes turn to black, I said with an exasperated huff, "Fucking finally we get to see the real Slim Shady. Since the pansy-ass didn't have a good excuse, let's see what Whitlock has to say for himself."
That's when Major stood from his crouch, saying seriously, "I don't have one, and Captain's right to want my ass for it. The only thing I can say is that neither of us wanted to leave. The only reason we did, was because Mary Alice saw you die if we didn't." He was talking to me, but his head was bowed as he faced Captain.
Captain growled, then snapped his gaze to Alice as he said with a deadly growl, "Explain. Now."
Her voice was soft as she said shakily, "The party... it was the excuse we needed. Edward didn't want to... he loved her... still does. We all did, and still do. Victoria is still at large... the only way we could save Bella, was the party and what happened after. We had to leave, Captain, because anytime I tried a scenario where we stayed and took her on, Bella died. Bella had to think that we would never see her again, because any scenario where she knew how to contact us, she got caught by the Volturi trying to find us. Aro wouldn't have known you were mates, since we wouldn't have made it to you in time to get you to her. He would have killed her on the spot for her knowledge of our world.”
She sounded completely heartbroken as she continued. “Even being here now is a risk, since he's been keeping tabs on us, but we had to come. You needed us. We'd never leave you out to dry. I'm so sorry, but it had to happen the way it did. I even tried to tell you a few times after we left that Bella was your mate, but each time, seriously bad shit found a way to reach her before anyone could be in place to protect her. I couldn't risk her being killed, Captain. She was my best friend, my sister, a future Whitlock, and your mate. You’ve waited so long... you helped Major find his way to me. I couldn't let her be killed."
Alice was sobbing by the middle of her story, and as the fight left me, I also saw it leave Captain. He walked right up to Major, not stopping until there toes practically touched. As soon as Major lifted his head, Captain decked the shit out of him, saying, "Fucker. You're lucky that's all you're gettin', 'cuz ya know Kitten deserves so much more than the shit ya put her through. If it wasn't for ya ashin' the twisted bastard that bit her in Phoenix, I'd have your head as my right, maker or not."
There was a caved-in section on Major's jaw, along with a large crack in the skin, but Major just nodded. He must have sent Captain a feeling, because a second later, my mate said, "I know that, Fucker, but she's been through hell. It's her forgiveness ya need to be seekin'. Now get your ass in the house so your mate can tend to ya."
Major nodded without a word, following as Captain came directly to me. He pulled me up to wrap me around his waist, then kissed my neck several times. I chuckled into his shoulder, then said as he walked us into the house, "Downstairs is partially set up. Billiard room, poker tables, bar, and the game room. The alcohol's in the bar on the first floor if you want it, seen as we haven't had the chance to stock up yet. We'll.... yeah, be back... in a bit."
I heard Jasper and Ali chuckle as Em let out, "Not so little now, is she, Eddie?"
Rosalie smirked as she eyed us appreciatively, "Go get him, Hellcat. It's nice to finally see the real you."
In response, Peter growled, "Hellcat," pulling me into a passionate kiss right in front of everyone, before he practically slammed open our bedroom door.
After our shower a few hours later, Captain had asked me to leave my hair down in its natural chunky curl, stating he liked the way they caressed my curves. I did, so he ran an anti-frizz serum through it with his fingers for several minutes. I dressed in a military-style olive green v-neck tank, a pair of dark BT dirty-wash skinny jeans, a black lace thong, and my Michael Antonio 'Langston' buckle-detail pumps. After applying a light touch of makeup, I walked out of the bathroom to find my sexy mate waiting for me on the bed.
When we emerged on the lower level, I was sporting a matching mark to my original at the joint of my collarbones. To put it mildly, Captain was very pleased with himself. Everyone had heard us quite clearly as Captain claimed and marked me, so he was pleased that all of them would know for a fact that he was the only one for me. Jasper chuckled as he spotted my new mark, "You just had to bite her breast to start with, didn't you, Captain?"
Captain chuckled in return while shrugging, "Ya know I was always a tit man, Jazz."
I growled as I grabbed Alice's hand to smack him upside the head, saying, "Mine better be the only ones you look at, touch, or even think about, Whitlock! If not, you'll be missing more than my tits for a month, and I'll make sure that month includes at least one heat and two cycles!"
Captain's eyes went wide in fear, causing Alice to chuckle as Rosalie said to her with a cheeky high five, "Damn, I like this Bella. She knows how to punish."
When I nodded in acknowledgment to Rosalie, I heard Edward mumble, "Sucks to be you, man. She smelled so irresistible then that I couldn't even be around her."
That comment got me, so I whirled on him in an instant, "I may not be able to hit you without help, Edward Anthony, but I have more than one titanium baseball bat in this house that I know how to use. Keep your comments about those things to yourself from now on, because my mate doesn't need my past with you thrown in his face."
Edward nodded, the shame on his face clear as he offered sincerely, "I apologise, Isa. You're right. It won't happen again."
I felt bad immediately. The Edward I knew would never make a comment like that to hurt someone, but I couldn't shake this edginess I felt. It was like all my senses were hyper-aware, yet I couldn’t figure out why.
Captain sat on one of the stools, pulled me to straddle his lap, then said as he cupped my cheek, "Hush now, Hellcat, it's alright. He didn't mean it that way, and I know your heart. Ya know he didn't mean for his comment to hurt me. I understand you're edgy right now, but it's okay to let Isa go to the background. We're not in danger... we can both be out lickety-split if the alarm sounds. We'll set it together, just to be safe, then explain to everyone."
My face buried itself into his neck as I inhaled deeply, then Captain kissed my shoulder lightly several times as he stroked the visible part of my spine.
After a couple of minutes, I was a lot calmer. I let out a breath when I felt the shift. I kissed my mate's neck, then whispered, "Sorry, Edward. I didn't mean to go off on you, but all this is just going to take time."
I looked up into the deep red eyes of my Peter, brushed my thumb under one, then whispered, "We need to get on those donated connections. You're getting thirsty."
His eyes closed with a soft smile as Alice said hesitantly, "Bella? Um... I had Carlisle pick up a large cooler full before we left. That should be more than enough to tide Peter over until we can make the pick ups with the connections."
I nodded, then said, "Point the way, please. I want to get them put in the walk-in cooler down here where the rest will go, then get Peter fed."
She nodded but offered, "Stay with Peter and set the alarm to help your nerves. I'll bring it right down." With an ok from me, she dashed out of the room. Peter walked with me over to the wall panel right near the stairs to set the perimeter alarm.