His Cat, Her Major ~ Jasper Hale

Plotting

Marcus let out a sigh as the pilots let him know that his daughter niece had gotten into the air okay and was headed home. He was sad that her visit was being cut short but was also glad that it meant that she wouldn't be around to see the fit her two uncles were going to throw. Not to mention the tantrum Jane was likely to have as she fed off Aro and Caius's energy and worked herself up.

They had all done a good job at hiding it from Maya, but Marcus had seen the signs of the impending storm. What surprised him though was that it wasn't the fact that their little girl had imprinted. No, their anger stemmed from Charlie's human daughter.

Even Marcus had to admit that he had wanted to kill the human the moment she had stepped through the door. Over the years and in recent months he had heard plenty of stories from Maya about just what sort of person Isabella was and they had not endeared the human to the kings or their coven. Maya may not have cared all that much about what the girl said about her, but it had certainly angered them.

Unfortunately, outright killing her hadn't been an option. At first it was because she was just a young child and as rulers of their world they had to set an example and then later it had been because of Charlie. Not only did they not want to upset the man they had grown to respect for his acceptance of Maya and his willingness to accept that he couldn't know everything, but they also weren't sure that Maya would choose them over him.

As much as the kings might not like it Maya was his daughter, not theirs. And if something happened to cause him to no longer want Maya near them they couldn't be sure that Maya wouldn't listen. Sure she would be upset and try to change his mind, but they didn't want to put her through that.

Which left them where they were now; angry at the human but unable to act on it without upsetting Charlie and risking losing Maya. Something that Marcus was sure would be disastrous for the vampire world. Maya had charmed them all and somehow managed within the first year of living with them to make herself an irreplaceable member of their family.

Because of that, the first summer that she had returned home to her father had been disastrous. They had all grown accustomed to having her around and with her suddenly gone it was like practically the whole coven had lost their minds. Caius had raged practically the entire two months that she was gone, trying to sentence any vampire they tried to death before the poor fools even had a chance to open their mouths. His reasoning being that there was a chance that they might travel to the States and potentially come across Maya, something he could not allow. Aro had gone along with it, if only so that he would have more time to go on his spree of redecorating, attempting to make the castle as child-friendly as he could in order to make it so Maya would never again want to leave. The guards, particularly the ones that claimed the role of her siblings had been brutal in their jobs, beating any vampire they were sent after beyond what was called for as a way to vent their frustration at not being able to see their little shifter. While the queens had joined Aro on his shopping spree, buying all manner of things for their little girl and excitedly talking about how much she was going to love the new wardrobe they bought for her and how cute she would be in each outfit. And as for Marcus himself, well he could admit that he had regressed into something similar to what he had been like those first few centuries after he lost his wife; a man devoid of happiness and life.

They had of course gotten more used to her absences over the years, which was the only reason why they had been okay with her moving back to Forks to finish school, but none of them wanted to risk losing her forever because of their own actions. Which is why they had reluctantly allowed the human to live; her death would have meant the potential loss of their child.

Though as he entered the library just in time to see Caius heave their heavy ornate table across the room as he snarled Marcus knew that doing what was needed to keep Maya in their lives and happy did not mean he didn't still have practically an entire coven of enraged vampires to handle.