When The Cat Becomes The Mouse 28

“Should we have gone with her?” Bella asked Rosalie as they were laying in bed. They had spent most of the day making love only stopping when after giving Victoria a rather powerful orgasm Bella all but passed out due to exhaustion. After sleeping for a couple hours Bella woke up to Victoria getting dressed so she could go hunting. She had left as soon as the sun went down claiming that it would take her a while to get far enough away from Denali as to not cause suspicion. Bella hadn’t wanted her to leave but understood that her mates needed to hunt. It didn’t stop her from not wanting them to leave her side though.

“With Victoria to hunt?” Rosalie asked.

“Yeah I mean I know she can protect herself but wouldn’t it have been better for all three of us to go?” Bella would have preferred if at least someone went with Victoria.

“Bella you don’t need to be around a vampire hunting for humans even if they are your mate.” Rosalie wanted to say she couldn’t believe Bella would want to witness Victoria feeding on a human but knew Bella had weird views on how vampires survived. Victoria had told her that Bella didn’t care if she fed off of humans and her only objection was feeding on children. It didn’t matter to Rosalie if Bella approved of Victoria’s hunting habits there was no way that she was letting Bella be around that.

“Victoria would never hurt me. I just don’t like being separated from her. It was the same with you when we went grocery shopping.I felt like something was missing and didn’t feel whole until I saw you again.” Bella told her.

Rosalie liked that Bella felt that way because Rosalie did as well. When Bella wasn’t near her she felt anxious and worried and the only thing that made her feel better was seeing Bella again. “I know sweetheart but it isn’t a good idea for you to go. Not only is it not safe but the weather isn’t the greatest for you to be out in. It’s winter in Alaska it even feels cold to vampires.”

“I just hate that she is all alone. Someone should have gone with her.” Bella said.

“How about this, next time she needs to go I will ask one of the Denali to go with her.” Rosalie hadn’t had a chance to talk to the Denali about Victoria’s feeding habits but it seemed like they were willing to overlook them because they weren’t official members of the coven yet. Rosalie wasn’t sure if one of them would volunteer to go with Victoria but if it made Bella feel better she would ask.

“Thank you Rose.” Bella leaned forward and gave Rosalie a kiss. She was just about to deepen it when her stomach growled.

Rosalie smiled at Bella. It was just like her mate to ignore her basic human needs to be intimate with them. “I think you need to eat.”

“I know.” Bella grumbled.

“Just think of it this way. By eating the food you will gain more energy and then we can come back upstairs and keep each other company until you fall asleep.” Rosalie said.

“I hate seeing you put clothes on.” Bella hoped that eventually she, Rosalie and Victoria would be able to get their own place. It would be nice to have some privacy and not have to worry about someone catching them doing things she would rather others didn’t see.

“I hate seeing you put clothes on as well. However I don’t think I can control my temper if anyone other than Victoria sees you naked.” Rosalie definitely didn’t want a repeat of what happened when Kate pissed her off. She was still getting used to Bella’s eyes and didn’t want anything else to happen to the human.

Bella sighed as she got out of bed and made her way over to the closet where the three of them kept their clothes. She looked through Victoria’s shirts and decided to borrow a t-shirt that smelled faintly of her mate. Bella knew Victoria wouldn’t mind as she had put on one of Bella’s shirts before she left. “Do we need to shower?”

“No we don’t have to. The human food will cover any scent we have.” Rosalie selfishly didn’t want Bella to shower because she wanted to keep the evidence of their love making. She may trust the sisters but they were still unmated vampires and Rosalie and Victoria had yet to have a chance to mark Bella. It caused Rosalie’s vampire side to demand she do everything she could to lay her claim on the human.

"Let me just wash up first and use the bathroom then we can go downstairs. I’m sure Kate has been waiting impatiently for me to come down and see her cake.” Bella said.

“I think you’re right.” Rosalie figured Tanya had stopped Kate from bothering them because she had no doubt if she hadn’t Kate would have already been knocking on the door.

After Bella finished in the bathroom and Rosalie took her turn cleaning up the pair dressed and made their way hand and hand down the stairs. As predicted Kate was the first to great them. “Finally, I thought you guys got lost between each other’s thighs and we would have to send a search party.”

“Kate, leave them alone.” Tanya hissed. They didn’t need Kate provoking anyone especially the newly mated triad. They still had to repair the wall and kitchen floor from the last incident.

“I didn’t say anything.” Kate held up her hands in defense when she caught Rosalie glaring at her. “I mean I am very sorry and will watch what I say in the future.”

“You better.” Rosalie growled. She had had a wonderful day with her mate and wasn’t going to have Kate ruin it with her innuendos and teasing.

“Bella dear are you hungry?” Carmen figured it was a good idea to get the attention off of Kate. Rosalie didn’t look like she would put up with much and even though Kate had been warned numerous times it was almost inevitable that Kate would provoke them. Carmen just hoped that she didn’t push it to the point of violence.

“Yes Carmen I am very hungry.” Bella hadn’t eaten since breakfast and had missed lunch due to being occupied with other things.

“How about I make you some dinner and then you can have some of the cake that Kate and I made.” Carmen said.

“I can’t wait for you to try it. I of course did an amazing job decorating it so I’m sure you will love it.” Kate was confident of her skills and knew the cake looked good.

“I look forward to it Kate.” Bella was actually kind of dreading it but she wasn’t going to tell Kate that. She was a little afraid of what kind of concoction the vampire had come up with.

“So I figured while you ate that we could watch a few fights I found online. If you have already seen them we can watch different ones but I thought it would be fun.” Kate said.

“I wouldn’t mind watching some fights.” Bella looked around the room. “That is if everyone else wants to watch them.”

“I’m ok with it.” Irina said.

“I know that myself and Carmen would like to watch with you.” Eleazar wasn’t a huge fan of fighting but knew that his mate wanted to spend time with Bella and since it was something Bella liked he knew that Carmen would put in the effort to learn about it.

“I’m fine with it as well.” Tanya didn’t really care what they did. Her role for the evening was to keep the peace.

“If that’s what you want I will happily go along with it.” Rosalie said as she pulled Bella onto her lap. Even though she wasn’t jealous of Bella’s relationship with Victoria it was nice to have a chance to have all of her mate’s attention. Once they were able Rosalie had been planning on taking Bella on a proper date and hoped Victoria wouldn’t mind. Rosalie thought it was only fair seeing as Victoria got to have one all ready. Victoria also got to hang out at Bella’s house which was something Rosalie never got to do. She knew it was petty but she was jealous that she hadn’t had a chance to romance her mate. Hopefully she would have that chance soon though.

“Great. I found some of the original mma fights when they didn’t have weight classes and it was basically a free for all.” Kate said as she cued up the fight on the tv.

“I haven’t seen those.” Bella was excited to get a chance to enjoy something she liked with someone else who was interested as well. None of her friends liked watching the fights and Charlie didn’t like anything that wasn’t baseball or football so she never got the chance to watch it with anyone.

It was during the third fight that Tanya’s phone rang. Looking at the caller id she hesitated before answering. “Hello Carlisle what can I do for you?”

Kate paused the tv and moved to sit closer to Bella. She felt protective of the human and knew this was not a curtesy call. That meant that it was probably something that was going to endanger her human sister. “Put it on speaker.”

Tanya nodded and put the phone on speaker and set it on the coffee table. The vampires in the house may have been able to hear what Carlisle was saying but Bella couldn’t and Tanya wasn’t going to leave her out. She had a feeling she knew what this call was about and looking at the expression on Rosalie’s face the blond was thinking the same thing.

“I’m just calling because we haven’t been able to get ahold of Rosalie. She said she was going to visit you but we haven’t heard anything since she left.” Carlisle said.

“Alice hasn’t been checking on her?” Tanya asked.

“That’s the thing. Alice claims that she can no longer see Rosalie’s future. The fact that she can’t and we haven’t been able to get a hold of Rosalie is causing us great concern.”Carlisle was trying to sound concerned but it came across as fake.

“Interesting.” Seeing Eleazar motion to her Tanya put the phone on mute. “What is it?”

“I think that Bella’s shield is blocking Alice’s visions. Ask him if Alice can still see us.” Eleazar was curious to see how strong Bella’s shield was and if she could only protect her mates or others as well.

Tanya unmuted the phone and spoke. “Is she having trouble seeing all of us as well?”

“Yes, that’s another reason why I called. I was wondering if you had come across a new vampire that was gifted and they were somehow responsible for this new development.”

Tanya bristled at the curiosity in Carlisle’s tone. It was obvious he was calling not about Rosalie but this new vampire he thought they found. Tanya wasn’t going to tell him anything though. “No we haven’t come across any vampires nor have any come to visit.”

“Really.” Carlisle drew out the word. His tone indicated that he definitely didn’t believe them. “Are you sure someone hasn’t been lurking around that you haven’t detected yet?”

“We have not been contacted by anyone nor have we found signs that we have a foreign vampire on our lands.” Tanya told him.

“What about Rosalie? I assume she is with you as well if Alice can’t see her future.”

“Rosalie hasn’t shown up here and we have not been contacted by her. We will however help you look for her if you want.” Tanya wasn’t going to tell Carlisle that Rosalie was with them because she didn’t want him thinking he could show up and take her away. They were still waiting on word from the queens on how they wanted to handle the situation and didn’t want to provoke Carlisle before they were told what to do.

“So you are saying that not only has Rosalie not contacted you or come to visit but you have not interacted with anyone that would have the ability to block Alice’s gift.” Carlisle’s voice was laced with controlled anger.

“Like I said we have not seen Rosalie and no one has been around. As for Alice’s gift that is something that only she can explain. Myself and the rest of my coven do not have the ability to block such a gift as you know.” Tanya said curtly.

“Then you wouldn’t mind if we visited you.” Carlisle wasn’t fooling anyone they could tell he was trying to get information out of Tanya.

“Now isn’t a good time. Myself, Irina and Kate are planning to go on a trip to Europe and Eleazar and Carmen are in Spain at the moment.” Tanya lied.

“Maybe we could come before you left. It would be great if you could help us locate Rosalie.” Carlisle was grasping at straws now but Tanya wasn’t going to give in.

“Although we are concerned with Rosalie’s absence I doubt she is in danger. She probably was excited for the opportunity to travel by herself for a while. I know she has always wanted to find her mate so maybe she decided to travel hoping to find them.” Tanya wanted to test the waters by talking about Rosalie’s mate to see what Carlisle would do. He didn’t disappoint.

“Rosalie has better things to do than go looking for a mate. As a matter of fact she has mentioned to me and the other members of our family that she would be happy never finding one because she didn’t want to lose her independence.”

All the heads in the room snapped to Bella as they heard the human let loose a growl that sounded a lot like a vampire. Tanya motioned to Rosalie to hold Bella back and returned her attention to Carlisle. “Well then it seems that her disappearance is a big mystery.”

“I didn’t recognize the voice growling who was that?” Carlisle asked.

This time it wasn’t Bella that growled it was Tanya. “Carlisle I don’t know what you are implying but I don’t know where Rosalie is. If there isn’t anything else you would like to discuss then I’m going to end the call now.”

“No there wasn’t anything else. What day did you say you were leaving? And where to?” Carlisle quickly added before Tanya could tell him off. “I just want to make sure we have a way of getting ahold of you if we find Rosalie.”

“You can call my cell.” Tanya said ignoring the man’s questions.

“Of course. Well have fun on your trip.” Carlisle said before hanging up.

“They are definitely coming here.” Kate said.

“Yup.” Irina agreed.

“What should we do?” Rosalie didn’t want Bella anywhere near Carlisle.

“I’m going to contact the queens again and tell them about this. They said they would look into what the Cullens were up to and would probably want to know if they were going to visit.” What Tanya didn’t say was they didn’t want anyone getting to Bella while she was still human. None of them said it outright but it was heavily implied that if it came down to it the queens wanted them to either come to the castle or they would send protection for Bella. Tanya didn’t want either of those things to happen and knew that both of Bella’s mates would feel the same if they knew.

“Do you think they will just take care of the problem for us?” Carmen asked.

“Do we want them to?” Kate didn’t want the royals or their minions anywhere near their human. She would rather face the Cullens alone than let Bella be exposed to the queens who would probably use the opportunity to take Bella away from them.

“Whether they do or don’t get involved will be completely up to them. I personally hope they get to him before he and the rest of them even finish getting ready to come here.” Tanya said.

“I don’t think we have to worry about him coming immediately. It’s obvious he believes that not only do we have Rosalie but that we have a gifted vampire with us that is very powerful. If what Rosalie said about him collecting gifted vampires is true then I imagine he is calling in reinforcements to either help recruit the vampire or eliminate them based on the fact they can block Alice’s gift.” Eleazar figured Carlisle had already reached out to his allies and told them about the situation.

“I really wish you had been turned already.” Irina told Bella. She liked the human and as she predicted it was fun having the triad at their home. Irina just wished that Bella wasn’t in danger. She was worried about how Bella would react if they were forced to fight because Irina knew without a doubt that Bella wouldn’t hide away while the rest of them confronted a threat to her and her mates.

Bella had wished that also but knew it was to dangerous for that to happen yet. “Me too.”

“Well I’m going to go call the queens and let them know what is going on. I don’t think it wise to start planning anything until Victoria gets back.” Tanya didn’t want the redhead mad that they were making plans for her mate without her being there.

“In the meantime Bella should eat her dinner so she can have some cake.” Kate wasn’t going to let the Cullens bring down her mood. Even if the queens didn’t get involved she doubted that they would be able to get any kind of army on their side and an army they would need if they thought they could take Rosalie and Bella away from them.

“That sounds like a good idea.” Rosalie agreed. They couldn’t really plan anything out until they had more details of who they had on their side. Tightening her arms around Bella Rosalie felt grateful the Denali stood with them and hadn’t turned their back on them when they first got there. She felt bad that she was putting them in danger but after watching them interact with Bella she knew the Denali would have protected the human even if Bella wasn’t Rosalie’s mate. It was obvious that each had a soft spot for Bella and Rosalie was glad that her mate seemed to be receptive of the coven’s attention. Even now Kate was almost sitting on Rosalie’s lap she was so close to Bella. Rosalie let it happen because she knew Kate just needed to make sure Bella was safe. It wasn’t a romantic bond that was forming it was more like Kate acted with her sisters. That was the only reason Rosalie hadn’t killed her. She quickly added yet to that thought because even if Kate wasn’t being annoying right then there was no doubt she would be later. Hopefully Victoria would be there when it happened because Rosalie was sure she would need to be held back.