Once Mated, Twice Loved

Chapter 3: Bonding

AN:  Okay, so I vastly underestimated the popularity of this story and I am humbled by your responses!  Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and review!  I'm not sure how long this fic is going to be, but I know it's going to be pretty high up there in the word count.  I don't have a regular update schedule, sorry to say.  I've always been pretty bad at keeping to a set schedule in the past, as many can attest by my WiS fic's super inconsistent updates.  

I've written up to chapter 6 so far and that's already 44k words.  Hopefully, I'm going to stay on this writing streak and really pump out the updates.  Thank you again to you all!  I'm still having so much fun with this story.  I'll try to develop the intrapersonal relationships between Bella and other non-main characters but I can't promise anything.  This being 1st person POV shifting between only 3 people makes it difficult to really flesh out any side characters lol.  But we'll see!

As always, please feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think.  If you feel like something is missing, let me know and I'll see what I can do.  

Alice

After we arrived back home, we were immediately intercepted by Esme who gave us an earful for attacking Edward. Her focus was on the attack itself until we informed her of the source of our ire. Then she just went on to berate us for openly demonstrating our otherworldly strength in public, which we also consoled her by iterating that we were the last students in the lot.

"Fine," she ground to a halt, still looking irritated. "But Rosalie, you have got to learn to control your instincts where your mate is concerned. Things are going to be difficult as it is since the girl is human, we don't need to add the risk of exposure to the list."

"Yes, Esme," we both chimed at the same time, a crinkling at the corner of Esme's eyes when she looked at me to include me in her glare reminding me she knew about Bella also being my mate. Rosalie and I would need to be more careful until the time comes where we can induct Bella into our world.

"And ladies?" Esme's voice pulled us up short as we turned to leave. "Edward knows what every one of us looks like naked. Try not to fault him for something he can't control."

I couldn't help but snicker as we continued on our way up to our room. "That poor dear," I cried out dramatically.

"Yes," Rosalie replied, "It would be a mercy if we just put him out of his misery."

I was full-on laughing as I tumbled onto our bed, snorting as Edward's voice filtered in from his room on the second floor. "I know where you don't sleep!"

"Yeah, and we know where you sulk!" Rosalie called back with a smirk as she took up her place on the loveseat.

"I don't sulk, I brood!" he shot back. "Stop laughing Alice! I know who your mate is!"

"I will end you!" I screamed back, out of the room and down a flight of stairs in an instant just as his door slammed in my face. His high-pitched giggle from the other side of the door almost had me tearing through the barrier to get at him before Esme's voice drifted to me from downstairs.  

"If you break that door, I will let Emmett choose your outfits for the next month!" I froze, my hand hovering in front of the door like a dead weight. Oh that was just evil!

"Do it, do it, do it!" was Emmett's two-cents, and I'll admit I was sorely tempted. But fashion eventually won out over the need to throttle my asshole of a brother.

"I know your secret," I whispered just loud enough for Edward to hear, his gasp satisfying as I grinned at the wood.  I returned to my room, pouting while Rosalie hummed from her seat.  "I would threaten to scratch up his Volvo if I didn't know you would have to fix it."