When The Cat Becomes The Mouse 10

"Are you feeling better now?" Victoria asked Bella as she entered the kitchen freshly showered. She motioned for Bella to sit next to her at the small table, where Rosalie was setting down a plate of bacon, eggs and toast.

Bella nodded as she sat. "Yes a lot better. My headache is almost gone now."

"Eat up, you must be hungry." Rosalie took a seat making it so Bella was between her and Victoria.

Bella took a few bites of food before turning to Rosalie. "You said we would talk about why you were here once I got done with my shower."

"Yes I did." Rosalie was suddenly feeling very shy. She wasn't sure how to actually bring up the mate bond to Bella without scaring her away. She looked to Victoria for help.

Victoria sighed realizing it was going to be up to her to address the subject. "Bella, what do you know of the Volturi queens?"

"I don't know much other than they killed the kings and are considered usurpers who many question their claim to the throne." Bella said.

"They are not usurpers." Rosalie hissed. "They were three women who were forced into false mate bonds with the former kings."

"How do you fake a mate bond?" Bella asked.

"The Volturi had a member of the guard named Chelsea who could manipulate bonds. She could make you hate your own mate if she wanted to. Her sire was the former king Aro. He had Chelsea force the mating bonds between the current queens and former kings. The problem was the queens were actually mated to each other and their own mate bond broke the false one being forced on them. It was when they were free of Chelsea's influence they realized what was going on and killed the kings for it." Victoria explained.

Bella was confused, she didn't realize you could have more than one mate."So the three of them are mated to each other?"

"Yes, sometimes a person can have more than one mate. What do you think of that?"Victoria wanted to test the waters before deciding whether or not to tell Bella about both of the bonds.

"I think it's nice that they all love each other enough that they were able to overcome the false bond." Bella said.

Rosalie pushed a little more. "Does it bother you that they have three people in their relationship."

"If they all love and respect each other it doesn't matter how many people they have in their relationship. It's none of my business or anyone else's how they choose to live their lives." Bella was confused by the bright smiles that spread across Victoria's and Rosalie's faces.

Victoria let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. It was nice to know that her mate wouldn't be opposed to idea of having two mates. Then again she had only said it was fine for the queens, she didn't mention anything about her personal preference. "Bella would you be ok with having two mates?"

"Ummm." Bella tried to think why Victoria asked her that. Something in the back of her mind was trying to tell her something but she just couldn't figure out what. "I think I would be ok with that. Why do you ask?"

"Because Victoria and I are both your mates." Rosalie blurted out. Victoria shot her a look and Rosalie knew if she was human she would be blushing right now.

Victoria shook her head at Rosalie. They had talked about how they were going to break the news and this was definitely not what they had planned. Looking at Bella she became concerned at the blank expression on her face and the lack of response to what had been said. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah I think I am." Bella actually wasn't sure if she was or not. She knew that Victoria was her mate. She had felt it when they had first made eye contact so she didn't doubt the truth of it. Rosalie however she was confused about. She had a deep attraction to the vampire but everyone who met Rosalie did, so she didn't think to deeply about it. Now faced with being told they were mates Bella tried to explore her exact feelings for her. It was true she was drawn to her and thought about her often. She had even dreamt of her more than once but there was something she didn't understand. "I know I am mated to Victoria but if I'm your mate as well Rosalie, why did you let me believe I was Edward's?"

"I wasn't allowed to tell you." At Bella's confused expression Rosalie explained. "I told Carlisle that you were my mate but he refused to believe it. He sided with Edward and used his sire bond with me to force me to stay away from you. I have been working all this time to break free of the command and as soon as I could I came to find you. I got here yesterday after tracking you to Victoria's apartment from your house."

"So you knew but Carlisle made you stay away from me all this time. Why would he do that?" Bella asked.

Rosalie sighed. "Edward is his most prized possession. Carlisle always says that the Volturi are evil and like to collect gifted vampires but he's no better. After he sired Edward and Esme he saved me but not for a noble reason. He wanted me for my beauty. Emmett was saved for his strength. Then Alice and Jasper came along and added to his powerful coven. I knew as soon as he found out that Edward couldn't read your mind that he wanted to sire you as well to add to his collection. He only waited because Edward wanted him to. If you weren't Edward's singer then he would have easily accepted our mate bond because it would have guaranteed he had you in his coven."

Victoria growled at the thought of Carlisle getting his hands on Bella. She wouldn't let it happen. Her mate would be changed by either her or Rosalie not some man who wanted Bella for megalomaniac reasons. She would have to get in touch with Riley and Laurent soon because the more she found out about the Cullens the more she wanted revenge not only for herself but for Rosalie and Bella. Bella could have been happy with Rosalie this whole time until she came along but they were both denied the opportunity. She heard the table cracking under the pressure of her grip on the edges but paid it no mind in her rage. It wasn't until she felt a warm pair of lips against her own that she was able to come back to herself.

Bella smiled when Victoria kissed her back. She had tried getting the red head's attention having felt her anger through the bond but she was to far gone in her emotions. As grabbing her hand and calling her name wasn't enough. She tried the kiss as a last resort happy that it seemed to break Victoria out of her thoughts. Pulling back she looked into dazed red eyes. "Are you ok?"

"I'm a lot better." Victoria smiled and stole another chaste kiss.

Rosalie cleared her throat trying to get Bella's attention. She didn't feel angry that her mate had kissed Victoria but she did feel jealous that she hadn't gotten the chance to kiss Bella yet. "Bella can you forgive me for what happened and maybe try to be open to exploring the mate bond with me as well?"

"I understand why you did what you did and I'm not angry with you.I'm angry at the rest of your family. I will admit that I have always felt drawn to you but I dismissed it has just teenage hormones. I'm not saying I don't want to explore the bond with you, I'm saying that it might take me a little while to start thinking of you as more than just a high school crush." Bella said.

"I'm fine with that. I will gladly go at your pace. As long as you give me a chance. Maybe we could go on a date by ourselves?" Rosalie asked hopefully. She was happy Bella didn't dismiss her outright and felt hopeful that if they spent some time together their bond may strengthen.

"I'm not opposed to you guys going out on a date but before you do we have other issues. Mainly Bella's gift. As I told Rosalie while you were sleeping I have no way of helping you control it." Victoria told them.

Rosalie sighed disapointed that their alone time was going to have to wait. "I actually have an idea about that. My excuse for leaving my coven was to visit our cousins in Alaska. One of their members has a gift. She can control electricity. I believe she would be the best person to go to for this."

"Can we trust them?" Victoria didn't want to have to deal with hostile vampires.

"Yeah we can trust them." Rosalie assured them. "They hate Edward and Carlisle more than anyone I've ever met. I don't even know why they put up with either of them. None of them would tell a soul about Bella if we asked them not to and Edward doesn't visit them often."

"Can you leave right away?"Victoria asked Bella. "I don't want to be pushy but your gift is dangerous. It also wouldn't be good if humans caught on to it.

Bella thought through everything that was going on. She understood her mates worries and really didn't see a problem with leaving. "I don't have to worry about Charlie. He is just waiting for me to graduate to kick me out. School I can drop out of as I'm of legal age. So I am free and clear. I'll just text my friends and tell them I had a medical emergency and needed to leave for treatment."

Rosalie was impressed."Wow, you are already good at building a cover story."

"I'm afraid my car won't be able to hold everything and us so we need to come up with a mode of transportation." Victoria said.

"Bella's truck could make it easily with the work I've done on it. It would be a slow drive but then again Bella has human needs so it would work out just fine." Rosalie told them.

"You did work on my truck?" Bella asked Rosalie. She always thought her truck ran better than when she got it but could never understand why.

Rosalie looked down shyly. "I didn't want anything to happen to you. I could never forgive myself if you got hurt and their was something I could do to prevent it.

"Thank you Rosalie." Bella leaned across the table and kissed Rosalie's cheek, causing Rosalie to look up and smile at her.

"Ok that's all set. Why don't you two take my car while I pack what I need and tie up some loose ends. When I'm finished I'll run to your house to get my car and then we can leave."Victoria said as she stood and pulled Bella into her arms and gave her a kiss. "You be safe. I'll be with you as soon as I can."

Bella kissed Victoria again and pulled away holding her hand out for a very willing Rosalie to hold. "We'll be fine. I'll make sure to keep my phone close the entire time."

"I'll keep her safe." Rosalie promised as they made their way to the door.

Victoria sighed as she watched them leave. After hearing everything about the Cullens from Rosalie, Victoria wasn't comfortable not being close to her mate. She did however trust Rosalie to protect Bella with her life. It was with that reassurance in mind that she began packing up her things.