Reluctant Mate 5

“Hey Rose how did your phone calls go?”Bella asked Rosalie when she and the three queens met up with the blond in the hallway. She was very curious to find out how not only Tanya and her mates reacted but how Victoria reacted to the situation as well. Bella doubted they were pleased with what happened and predicted that the four of them were going to request permission to beat on Alice and Edward. Edward was a regular target but they refrained from hurting the other Cullens because they hadn’t really done anything to justify it. Without causing an all out war between the covens at least. Now it seemed they may get a chance and Bella knew they all were going to be excited to do it. From what she understood they may get a chance at all the Cullens if the queens followed through on their threat to bring them to the castle to be questioned about supporting a false mate claim. Bella knew the only reason her coven hadn’t made an official complaint was because they didn’t want the queens finding out about Bella’s gift.

“Tanya, Kate and Irina are very upset of course. Not as upset as Victoria though.”Rosalie was not looking forward to seeing her mate. This was the first time the red head had been angry with her and Rosalie wasn’t sure how to calm her down. Especially because she was in the wrong and didn’t really deserve forgiveness.

“When are they going to arrive?”Sulpicia asked.

“Victoria should be here within the hour and Tanya said that the three of them were going to catch the first flight they could get.”Rosalie would feel a lot better about things once her family was with them.

“We will have rooms prepared for all of you when they get here.”Didyme wanted to make it obvious that the queens weren’t going to let them take Bella and leave right away.

Rosalie easily picked up what Didyme was saying.”I’m sure everyone will appreciate that.”

“I’m not looking forward to Tanya and Irina’s lectures.”Bella was expecting a lot of disproval from her family for her actions.

“We’ll protect you little one.”Athenodora promised with a wink.

Bella ducked her head to hide her blush.”Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”Athenodora was very pleased with the reaction. It was fun getting her mate flustered and she was looking forward to having many more chances in the future.

“I think that not only you but I deserve whatever lectures they give us.”Rosalie said.

“I know.”Bella did know. What she and Rosalie did was reckless and the pair were lucky that the queens didn’t punish them along with Alice and Edward.

“Still we will make sure they aren’t to hard on you.”Sulpicia was going to allow Rosalie and Bella’s coven mates to speak to them about their actions but wasn’t going to let them be punished.

“Until that happens let’s show you some of the amenities the castle has to offer.”Didyme wanted to show Bella all the castle had to offer in hopes that Bella would be more inclined to stay with them. Not that Didyme or her mates were going to let Bella live anywhere else. It would just be nice if Bella didn’t fight them on it.

“Good idea.”Sulpicia was thinking the same thing as her mate. She wanted Bella to see all the things that the castle had to offer in hopes that Bella would be more willing to stay.

“I think we should start with the library.”Athenodora thought that would be the best place for Bella with her love of reading to see first.

“I would like that very much.”Bella said.

“Our collection contains books that are many thousands of years old and many rare first editions. If you find that we don’t have a book you want let us know and we will get it for you.”Sulpicia stopped before a wooden door and opened it letting Bella go inside first.

Bella walked into the room and gasped in shock. The library was the biggest one she had ever seen. There must have been tens of thousands of books. Bella couldn’t imagine how long it would take to read every one.”There are so many books.”

“You can read any one you like.”Didyme was very pleased with Bella’s reaction and predicted that the girl was going to spend a lot of time in the room. She was already planning on getting some better furniture for the Bella. Mainly a bigger couch that they could all snuggle on together on while they read. They had an arm chair, love seat and desk with chair in there at the moment as it wasn’t a room they spent much time in. Now that Bella was obviously going to want to Didyme was going to make sure that all four of them would have a comfortable place to enjoy each others company.

“I wouldn’t know where to start.”Bella mumbled as she trailed her hands over the spines of the first of row of books she came across. She didn’t recognize any of titles and some of the languages.

Athenodora smiled hearing the awe in Bella’s voice. She was mid fantasy of cuddling up with Bella reading out loud to her many of the queen’s favorite stories from her human years.“You’ll have plenty of time to read all these once you are changed.”

“That’s definitely something to look forward to.”Bella was already planning on spending months on end reading everything she could get her hands on.”I’ll have learn some of these languages.”

“We will be more than happy to teach you anything you want to know.”Sulpicia told her.

“Anything.”Athenodora smirked at the blush Bella was sporting. It was to easy to get Bella flustered. The queen hoped that wouldn’t change when Bella became a vampire. Bella’s shyness was endearing and Athenodora found the idea of corrupting her very arousing.

Bella held back a shiver hearing the tone of Athenodora’s voice. It held a promise of pleasure and an absolute certainty that she would deliver on the promise.”Umm.”

“You are so cute.”Didyme cooed. It was taking everything inside of her to not take Bella in her arms and kiss her senseless.

“What do you think of the library Rose?”Bella asked trying to get the attention off herself.

Rosalie smiled at her friend. Bella was completely in over her head and it was only going to get worse once she found out about the mate bond. It was obvious the queens were restraining themselves from acting on their instincts but Rosalie knew as soon as they were able then Bella was going to be hunted like prey. She would have felt bad about it but knew that when Bella was caught she was going to be spoiled within an inch of her life with not only material items but with pleasure and attention. Something her best friend more than deserved.”I think you are going to like spending time here.”

“I do to.”Bella agreed.

“Why don’t we show you the theatre next.”Didyme said.

“I would like that.”Bella was interested in seeing what kind of entertainment room the queens had set up.

“Like we told you before we have a large collection of films but it is very easy to get our hands on anything you would want to watch.”Sulpicia told her.

“If your movie collection is even half as impressive as your book collection I doubt I will run out of options anytime soon.”Bella figured the queens had been collecting since the creation of films and expected them to have a better collection than the library of congress.

Didyme led the group down the hallway stopping at a solid wood door. She opened it and ushered Bella inside first.”If you don’t like the way it’s decorated we can change it to add new furniture or a different color scheme.”

“It’s perfect.”Bella couldn’t imagine a better place to enjoy a movie. The room itself wasn’t that large. It had space for about two dozen people to sit comfortably and standing room for just as many. What caught her attention the most was the large couch that took up the entire front row. Bella suspected that was where the queen sat when watching the screen. She felt her cheeks heat again thinking about what else the queens probably did on the couch. It was certainly big enough for more than sitting.

“Tell us Bella, what are you thinking about that has your face so red?”Athenodora suspected that Bella was having dirty thoughts about what they could do on the couch if the way her focus on the piece of furniture meant anything.

“Well…I..I mean…Nothing.”Bella stuttered out.

“You are going to be so much fun.”Sulpicia was looking forward to corrupting their young mate the first chance she got. She wondered if the girl was a virgin. The very idea that Bella was had her beast calling at the surface to claim the human. Something that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon as not only was it obvious Bella wasn’t ready for that yet, they needed to negotiate the conditions of the mate bond with Bella’s coven leader.

“What does that mean?”Bella asked.

“Don’t you worry about that yet.”Sulpicia said.

“Alright.”Bella had a feeling that she wouldn’t be getting any information from the queens until Tanya and the others showed up.

“Let’s see what else could we show you that you might like?”Didyme tried to think of anything else the castle had that would entice Bella to want to stay.

“Honestly seeing the library and the this room has me convinced that I could have a lot of fun here.”Bella couldn’t think of anything else she would need to stay occupied in the castle. It made her wonder if when they moved back to Alaska if she could convince Tanya to add a movie theatre. If she was lucky maybe the queens would let Bella borrow some books when they left to go home.

“We still have the rest of the grounds for you to explore.”Athenodora reminded her.

“That’s right.”Bella hoped that she would get the chance before Tanya decided they had to leave. Bella doubted they would want to stay in the castle with the queens and the guard for that long.

“Do you have any hobbies you would need space for?”Sulpicia wanted to make sure that Bella had a place to do things she enjoyed.

“Not that I can think of.”Bella didn’t really need her own space.

“Bella you need a place that you can paint.”Rosalie told her.

“You are an artist?”Didyme asked.

Bella shook her head.”No I just do some doodling sometimes.”

“That’s not true and you know it.”Rosalie wasn’t surprised that Bella was downplaying her art. The girl had come a long way in gaining her self-confidence but Bella still struggled with knowing her own self worth.

“I’m really not that good.”Bella denied.

“If you weren’t that good you wouldn’t have won that contest with the painting you did of Tanya.”Rosalie had submitted the painting on Bella’s behalf without Bella knowing about it. Rosalie knew Bella would have never done it herself but wanted to prove to the human that she did have talent.

“You won a contest.”Athenodora was impressed that their mate had such a talent.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal.”Bella didn’t think her painting was worthy enough of first prize and didn’t understand why the judges chose it.

“It was huge deal. You won $5000 for it and your painting was featured in an exhibit about rising new artists at one of the top ten galleries in the United States.”Rosalie and the Denali had all gone to support Bella’s piece. Bella hadn’t gone because her father wouldn’t let her. He refused to let Bella take the time off of school to travel. Rosalie suspected that the man really didn’t want Bella to leave because it would have left him to do all the housework and cooking on his own. It was only the fact that they knew Charlie would fight for custody of Bella and search for her if she went missing that kept the Denali from adopting Bella officially. Charlie didn’t love Bella he just wanted her because him having custody pissed his ex-wife off. Not that the mother cared either Rene just didn’t want to have to pay child support.

“You must show us your art sometime.”Didyme was already planning places in the castle that they would display Bella’s paintings.

“I don’t know about that.”Bella didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of the queens.

“Regardless we will have to set up a studio for you with all the materials you need to create your art.”Sulpicia would have one of the rooms near the royal wing of the castle remodeled. She wanted Bella’s studio to have a lot of light and a good view of the gardens.

“You really don’t have to go to that much trouble.”Bella said.

“Nonsense. We want you to be comfortable here. Giving you a room to paint is easy to do and it would make us happy to be able to provide for you.”Athenodora told her.

Bella sighed knowing there was nothing she could do to stop them from doing it. If they felt like giving Bella a studio was providing for her then that meant that their vampire’s sides were driving the decision and wouldn’t be persuaded otherwise.”Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”Sulpicia was about to say more but stopped when a member of the guard interrupted them.

“Excuse me your majesties.”The guard said.

“What is it?”Didyme asked.

“A vampire named Victoria has arrived and is asking to see Rosalie and Bella.”The guard told them.

“Bring her to my office and we will meet her there.”Sulpicia wasn’t pleased that their time touring the castle was over but was happy that Bella’s coven was showing up. Hopefully this meant that the Denali trio would be arriving soon.

“Of course my queen.”The guard bowed and left.

“I guess that the tour is over.”Bella wasn’t looking forward to seeing Victoria because she knew that the red head was going to be pissed at her and Rosalie.

“Don’t worry we can finish it after Victoria is dealt with.”Athenodora promised.

“Let’s get this over with.”Rosalie hoped her mate was in a forgiving mood because Rosalie wasn’t sure what to do to gain forgiveness. The looks of pity she was receiving from the queens wasn’t giving her any confidence that her mate was going to let her off the hook. Not that she blamed Victoria. If their roles were reversed Rosalie would have been just as angry. Probably more as she had a closer relationship to Bella than her mate did. Then again Victoria wouldn’t put herself in this situation in the first place. She would have called Rosalie and together they would have talked out their options. Something Rosalie should have done right away. Instead she let Alice of all people dictate how things would play out. A fact Rosalie was horrible embarrassed about. If anyone out of the Cullens couldn’t be trusted it was Alice who was constantly manipulating everyone around her to make the future play out to her own preferences. There was nothing Rosalie could do about it now however. She had made her choice and even though everything had turned out in her and Bella’s favor Rosalie knew that Victoria and the rest of Denali were going to voice their displeasure to both of them. Rosalie would take everything they threw at her because she knew she deserved it.