When the Cat Becomes the Mouse 23

“Tanya just texted saying Kate is waking up.” Rosalie told Victoria as she read the message she received on Bella’s phone. While it was good news that Kate was awake Bella still hadn’t even twitched or made a sound. They had put her in three more snow baths but her temperature refused to go down. It had gotten two degrees higher than the first time and even though the snow bath cooled Bella’s body it was only temporary. “I think I should go down stairs and see what she has to say about what happened. Maybe she could help Bella somehow.”

“I don’t want you near them, especially Kate.” Victoria couldn’t hold back the growl that came out saying the irresponsible blond’s name. It was Kate’s fault Bella was now unresponsive.

“I know and I don’t want to leave Bella but I hope Kate can at least tell us what happened. If there is even just a slight chance she could help Bella I’m going to take it.” Rosalie understood Victoria’s concern and was touched that Victoria put her safety on the same level as Bella’s but they needed any help they could get.

“Leave the door open so I can hear what’s going on.” Victoria didn’t like Rosalie being away from her and Bella but Rosalie was right even a small chance of helping Bella was worth dealing with the Denali. That didn’t mean that Victoria wasn’t going to listen in case something happened. That was why she asked that the door to their soundproof room be left open.

“I won’t be long.” Although they would be in the same house Rosalie wasn’t going to be away from her mate that long. With Bella being hurt her anxiety was already high but not having Bella in sight was taking it to a whole different level.

“How is Bella?” Tanya asked from her seat next to Kate on the couch. Although awake her sister was still not back to full strength.

“Still unresponsive. We can’t get her fever to stay down.” Rosalie told them.”How are you feeling Kate?”

“I imagine this is what humans feel like after a night of intense drinking.” Kate said.

“Can you tell us what happened?” Tanya asked. Kate still didn’t look that great but they really needed answers. When Tanya had contacted the queens to explain what had happened to cause all the panic they heard during their first call they had asked Tanya to get in touch with them once everything was figured out. She had a feeling they were interested in Bella’s gift and Tanya didn’t want to be the one to bring it up to Victoria.

“Well the last thing I remember is Bella attacking me then a blinding pain in my head. I have never felt anything like that before. Jane’s gift is like being tickled compared to what Bella did to me.” Kate’s head was still throbbing. The pain was easing slowly but she wished it would go away faster.

“Did you try to use your gift on her when she tackled you?” Eleazar asked.

Kate nodded her head. “As soon as she touched me I tried to stop her. I only shocked her with enough power that she would have felt like she had been tased but as soon as I activated my gift the mental attack happened. I don’t know if I was still using my gift but it does work to keep me safe so it’s possible that the more Bella attacked me the more I attacked her back. I just know that the pain started out not that bad and then it got to the point that it was so excruciating I felt like my brain was being boiled in molten lava.”

“Jesus.” Irina mumbled. “A human that is strong enough to not only deflect your gift but attack you mentally to the point that you pass out not being able to be woken up at all by any of us. Do you realize how powerful Bella is going to be when she is turned?”

“Now you see why we wanted to get her away from Carlisle.” Rosalie said.

“I am worried about how this will affect Bella. You said she only slept 17 hours last time. It’s been 20 hours now and her fever isn’t going down. Does anybody have any ideas about what we could do to help her?” Tanya didn’t want anything to happen to the human. She had grown fond of Bella and in no way held her responsible for what happened to Kate. It was just a freak accident.

“I don’t know anything that could help in a situation like this. If it were just fighting off a fever there are many things we could do but the fact that this was a result of her using her gift puts it outside the lines of human medicine.” Carmen wished that she could help Bella but even with her studies in human medicine over the years she had no idea how to approach this.

Seeing that no one had any ideas Eleazar decided to bring up a sensitive subject. “I think we should talk about the queens.”

“What about the queens?” Rosalie asked.

“Unfortunately the whole event with Bella and Kate happened while myself and Eleazar were on a video call with the queens. They heard the sounds of the pair breaking the house and saw the shelves shake from the impact. I excused myself to see what was going on with a promise I would inform them when I had the information. When I got back in touch with them I explained what happened with Bella and Kate.” Tanya paused for a second thinking about a way to say this without getting attacked by the newly mated vampires. “I think the queens are interested in Bella. I suspect that all of us will be receiving an invitation to Italy very soon.”

Rosalie flinched hearing the sound of Victoria’s growl. “Is there anyway to put them off?”

“I think we can use Bella being ill as an excuse to give us some time but I don’t think we can put them off for that long.” Tanya may not fear the queens but she did feel protective over Bella and didn’t want her to get caught up with the vampire royals. The queens were much better than the kings had been but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t try to get Bella to be part of the guard.

“Great now we don’t only have to worry about the Cullens but the queens want to take away our human as well.”Kate didn’t want the queens to get their hands on Bella. Even after what happened Kate considered Bella her new best friend. The fact that Bella hurt Kate as bad as she did impressed the blond and she hoped that they would get to have a rematch once Bella was a vampire.

“No one is taking away Bella.” Tanya wouldn’t let it happen. The triad was part of the Denali coven now even if it hadn’t been made official. “If they are summoned by the queens we will go with them.”

“Of course we will.” Carmen wasn’t going to let someone take advantage of Bella. She had been making progress in her relationship with the girl and she wasn’t going to let anyone take that away from her or Bella.

“Rosalie she’s waking up.” Victoria’s voice called out.

Rosalie followed by the Denali raced up the stairs to see Bella. Rosalie ignored Victoria’s growl and went to check on her mate. Placing her hand on her cheek she spoke softly. “Bella can you hear me?”

“Rose.” Bella mumbled as she reached out her hand. Once she found Rosalie’s she snuggled back into Victoria’s side.

“Bella sweetheart can you open your eyes please.” Victoria ran her hand through Bella’s hair as she tried to get Bella to wake up.

“Tired.” Bella said.

“I know you are tired but I need you to open your eyes.” Victoria said.

Bella didn’t want to open her eyes. She wanted to sleep. She had never been this tired in her entire life and didn’t understand why her mates were trying to make her get up. Hoping they would let her go back to sleep she sat up on the bed and opened her eyes. Bella was confused as to why everyone gasped and looked at her in shock. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

“Bella your eyes….” Rosalie didn’t know how it happened to Bella’s eyes but both of them were outlined in black around white iris’ and black pupils.

“What’s wrong with my eyes?” Bella asked.

“How is your vision?” Victoria wasn’t sure what happened but hoped that this change didn’t hurt Bella in any way.

Bella blinked a few times and looked around. “I see just fine. Seriously what’s wrong with my eyes?”

“There is nothing wrong other than them looking freakin awesome.” Kate thought Bella’s eyes looked freaky. She bet that Bella would scare not only humans but vampires alike if they saw her looking at them.

“Great so now that we have established my eyes are awesome can I go back to sleep?” Bella didn’t care about her eyes. She was exhausted.

“First you should drink some more water and eat something.” Rosalie wanted Bella to stay awake for a little while so they could monitor her. The change to her eyes might not be the only side effect of using her gift.

The idea of eating something made Bella feel sick to her stomach. “I’m kind of nauseous. I don’t know if I could actually hold any food down.”

“I’ll make you something light.” Carmen rushed out of the room happy that she could help.

“How do you feel about taking shower?” Victoria asked.

“That would actually be nice.” Bella wanted to wash off the grime from sweating so much.

“I think that’s our cue to leave. When you are done would you please come down stairs. I know you aren’t feeling well but we really need to discuss what happened.” Tanya could tell the girl wasn’t feeling well but hoped that Bella would have some insight on how everything went down.

“Do you need help in the shower?” Although Rosalie had fantasied about showering with Bella on many occasions this time she was offering out of concern not lust. Looking at her mate she looked weak and small. Rosalie’s protective instincts were kicking in and she didn’t want to be apart from Bella.

Bella could feel her cheeks heat as she thought about showering with Rosalie. “That would nice actually.”

“Why don’t you and Rosalie shower while I change the sheets and bedding.” Victoria offered. She could feel Rosalie’s need to connect with Bella so she figured that she give them the chance. She would ask for private time with Bella later. Victoria hoped that Rosalie realized that it was important to have some one on one time with Bella for each of them.

“Thank you.” Rosalie could easily see what Victoria was doing and she felt extremely grateful. Her vampire side was feeling possessive and she didn’t know if she could handle not having Bella’s complete attention. She was happy that it seemed Victoria knew she wanted the alone time. As she walked into the bathroom to set up the shower Rosalie thought for what wasn’t the first time and definitely not the last how lucky she was that Victoria was Bella’s other mate. If it was someone else Rosalie doubted they would be so understanding about sharing their mate with another vampire.