Chapter Text
Jasper was in a bad mood. The hunting of nomads in the territory, nomads no one in the family could seem to get a location on, put the entire family on edge. Carlisle, ever the compassionate one, had instructed everyone to hunt the nomads between Forks and Canada, with the intention to negotiate with them. How successful that would be, Jasper was not at all sure. So, he may have slipped into his more intimidating persona as he scanned Seattle on foot.
If he hadn’t been a vampire for as long as he had, he would have called it luck when his sight landed on silvery scars so much like his own as he walked. He slowed, turning with the crowd, and his golden eyes met strange brown. It was like he had been punched in the chest and pulled forward all at once.
The woman was gorgeous, long mahogany hair, twisted up into some updo, chocolate brown eyes with a hint of red at the edges, and a figure that did sinful things to his mind, even fully clothed. Those strange eyes widened, and she took a step toward him. It was all it took to make him snap. He moved into her, and pressed her into an alley.
She wasn’t human, he knew that. Her skin was hotter, her heartbeat too fast, but he was too far gone to care what she was, only who she was and what she was to him. His hands fell to her hips, as fought every instinct in his body that was screaming for more. “What’s your name, darlin?” He managed, voice rough, as he took a deep breath of her scent.
Bella had noticed the man right away when they passed each other. It was rare to see a vampire from outside her coven, especially one whose scars could rival her own. The moment their eyes met, however, she felt like she was in Jane Eyre, with a string somewhere under her left ribs. She had never been able to see the strings of others, but she could feel her own, and this, this, was amazing.
So much so that she didn’t mind the grimy wall of the alley, or how quick it had happened when she looked up at him, all golden. She was flushed with heat, desperate beyond her own understanding for more than just his hands on her hips. She purred, nosing at his neck, drawing in his scent. Her hands looped around his neck, playing with his honey curls. “Bella.” She breathed, lifting herself closer to him. “You?”
Before he could answer, the comm in her ear buzzed to life, and with vampire hearing she knew he’d hear every word.
“Belle?” Victoria demanded. “You’re not in position. You know damn well James can’t track you! Are you okay? Do you need James?”
“Fuck!” Bella cursed, dropping her arms. “Goddammit Vic, gimme a minute.”
“Are you all right?” Laurent’s lightly accented voice came next. “You’re late. You’re never late.”
“I’m fine. I’ll be there in a minute.” She blew out a breath. “Just saw something I had to have.” She eyed her mate hungrily. He was definitely something she had to have, and soon.
“Freaking klepto.” James muttered in her ear.
Ignoring her covenmates, Bella pressed her lips chastely to her mate’s neck. “I’ll find you.” She swore, low enough that the comm wouldn’t pick it up.Jasper, who had started growling at some point in the overhead conversation, shook his head. “Stay.” He said, but it came out as a plea.
“I’ll find you.” She promised again, and despite his grip, a second later she was gone, leaving Jasper feeling bereft. He could only hope she would, and travelled home in a fog.
The family was nearly frantic when Jasper arrived back at the house and it burnt away some of the foggy hurt. “What’s wrong?” He demanded.
Rosalie quickly crushed him in a hug. “Alice lost you.” She explained. “She said your entire future went black. We thought you found the nomads and...”
“No,” Jasper replied comfortingly, to the woman who acted as his twin sister, the one he was closest to in the family.“Though I think I found the nomads...but I also found my mate.”
“Glad to see you’re all right, son.” Carlisle said, clapping him on the shoulder as Rosalie released him. “And happy with the news that you found your mate, she’s one of the nomads?”
“I don’t know what she is.” Jasper admitted. “She smells enough like a vampire that she doesn’t smell like food, but she has a heartbeat, and her skin is warmer than humans, but cooler than one of the wolves. She has brown eyes, but they’re rimmed in red.” He looked around at them. “What I do know is that she’s mine.”
“Where is she?” Carlisle asked.
Jasper was almost embarrassed. “She was late meeting her coven and ran after swearing she’d find me. By the time I processed the shock, I couldn’t see her in the crowd, or find her scent.”
Alice let out a growl, hitting a wall and making it quiver in her rage. “I can’t see anything!” She shrieked. “It’s all just...black!” Jasper would have been angry if he couldn’t feel the fear and panic pouring off of Alice. With no memory of her human life, Alice lived her life based on her Sight. Not being able to See made her feel lost and out of control. So, he sent her a wave of calm.
Esme bundled Alice into a hug, and unsure of what else to do, Jasper took a seat on the couch, where he could watch the drive, trying to understand how and why she had walked away from the pull of the mate bond. It hurt in his chest, and he watched for her to find him like she promised, although he had no idea how she would do it.
Bella threw the bag with the take at Laurent, missing the usual adrenaline rush of a good heist. She was distracted and she knew it, the pulling of the strand of the bond was paining her, and she couldn’t get his expression out of her mind when he had asked her to stay. She knew it would be worse if she had been a full vampire and not a hybrid, so she couldn’t imagine what he was feeling.
Now that the job was over, she knew what she had to do, but she was cautious. She didn’t know enough about her mate or his situation. She had to go to him, but there were enough people who considered her existence an abomination that she worried for both her own and her mate’s safety if she went alone. She glanced over her coven quickly, assessing what would be the best strategy. Taking the entire coven could be seen as an aggressive move, especially since her coven was rather large.
Taking Laurent was absolutely out of the question. They worked well together and had a tight alliance, but Laurent was all about power. She wasn’t about to expose her mate to him until she knew what would be happening, not only that, but taking an unmated, unrelated male with her to meet her mate would be a good way to see him ripped to pieces and burnt to ash.
James, while mated, was not much better. He would case the place and poke at anyone there, or at her mate, to check for perceived weaknesses. He was a brilliant tracker, but he liked to play with his food. Many people found him offensive or creepy, and he could be overprotective of the members of his coven. She let him labour under the delusion that he was in charge, as did Laurent. It kept him happy, and he was a good warrior.
That left her best option. Victoria, like her, could escape almost anything -- that was her actual gift, where Bella’s abilities had been developed from experience and need, combined with her natural shield and stealth. If they needed out, she knew they would both get out. As a mated female, Victoria would pose no threat to the bond on either side, and as her best friend, it would be nice for Bella to have someone to talk out all the things going through her mind. That in mind, she grabbed Victoria’s jacket and threw it at her. “Vic and I are going out tonight. You boys have fun.”
“Awww.” James groaned. “But babe…”
Victoria dropped a kiss on James’s mouth as she caught the jacket. “Sorry love, I promised Belle.”
Bella shrugged on her own leather jacket, and smiled at Victoria, the two set off at a run.
Victoria waited until they were far enough away that the boys couldn’t hear them, before she asked: “What’s up with you, Belle?”
Bella took a deep breath. “I ran into my mate on the way to the job.”
Victoria’s red eyes went wide. “That’s why you were late? Shit, girl, how’d you leave?”
“Well, when you were asking if I needed James, I didn’t exactly have time to even get his name.” Bella admitted. “But it hurts Vic.”
“Well, yeah.” Victoria admitted. “You saw what it did to Marcus. How are you going to find him?”
Bella smirked, and held up a wallet with a family crest on it. “Stole his wallet.”
Victoria shook her head and laughed. “Crazy bitch.”
Bella grinned. She had learned to pick pockets and lift things early and well. “Takes one to know one.” She shot back. “We’re headed to Forks.”