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𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐎𝐁 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐋𝐄, 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐊 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐀 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐃 𝐍𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐄. A broken growl slipped through as he pried the girl's hands from his soon to be bruised jugular.
"What the hell are you doing?" Jacob managed, propping himself upright on the walls. "Are you fucking crazy?"
"Get away from the door," Windy said, her Italian accent thick. "The princess will not appreciate a wolf breaking into her chambers. I will not warn you again. You are not wanted here, werewolf. Your stench will plague her poor nose."
The Shapeshifter had to take a few seconds to strategize. This vampire was vile, but she was doing her best to protect his imprint. To that, he had to give her credit. Pondering over his options, Jacob thought it best to disclose his bond with the princess.
"She's my imprint, which I think is your version of mates." This new reveal left Andromeda's protector and best friend stunned. Her mate? So early on in her immortal life? Windy hadn't found her soulmate yet and she was nearing five hundred years old. Jacob took the light brown-haired vampire's shock as a chance to continue. "I'm not here to hurt Andromeda and she hasn't complained about my scent. Please, she said I could come over."
Windy sent Jacob a suspicious look before peering her head into Andromeda's room. The princess was confused as to what was making such odd vibrations, so she turned to the door, finding Windy's head popping in.
"You're mated to a wolf?" Windy questioned.
"Yeah... Is he here yet?" Remembering her friend's temperament and experience with any wolves, she let out a long sigh. "Did you attack my mate, Windy?"
"Perhaps." The answer annoyed Andromeda, but it was water under the bridge now. Nothing to be done. As long as Jacob Black remained relatively safe, Andromeda could rest easy. "Do I let him in?"
Before Andromeda could nod, Jacob peeked inside of the girl's room, smiling once he saw his imprint. Strolling into the room as if he hadn't almost been choked out, the wolf sat down on the silky white sheets that lined Andromeda's bed. Windy stuck her nose up at the pungent stench of Jacob. He smelled much different to the Volturi princess, who thought he was perfect in every way.
"Just let himself in." Windy sighed, fumbling through the pristine white purse that hung from her shoulder.
"Hey." Jacob found himself face to face with both his imprint and her terror of a sister. What kind of human just grabs at their deaf sibling to get their attention? Jacob questioned internally. "Everything okay here? Is she giving you a hard time?"
"She's jealous," Andromeda noted, giggling. "What do you want to do? I know we saw each other like two hours ago, but I want to hang out."
"Don't just ignore me!" Bella "exclaimed, hating her sister's giggle, her jovial expression. Why should she get to be happy when Bella was horribly depressed, isolated, and nearly comatose? "Jacob, what's going on with you? Who is that girl? I don't want any more vampires in this room!"
Windy had to take a step back, assessing the situation. A human with knowledge of vampires? The girl thought, Lord, this is so much worse than I thought. She's not supposed to be exposed. I wonder how she found out about immortals. I don't remember any vampires living in this area. I'll have to consult the kings tonight. Aro will know what to do.
"Does she sign?" Windy asked the wolf, who shook his head. "Hell. I'm supposed to be here with Andromeda, Bella. I am her guard and her best friend. There isn't anything you can do about me, for I am tasked to protect and serve my princess. Although I will have to ask how you learned about the existence of immortals."
"It doesn't matter," Bella hissed out, increasingly annoyed by her sister's title. "Wouldn't make any difference anyways. I know. So what?"
"Her ex boyfriend was a vampire," Jacob informed the immortal guard. "Bella, you know why this is bad. Apparently it's illegal for you to know about this stuff, so be careful. Everything can and will be used against you━"
"━This isn't a damn court! I'm not on trial and I'm not being arrested because I haven't done anything wrong!" Bella's voice hitched with her growing upset. Her chest tightened at the prospects of being taken to jail, or whatever vampires did to lawbreaking humans. Her life was on the line, with her sharpening tongue working against her.
"What is she saying?" Andromeda had to ask her mate. "Is she upset with us?"
"Bella is in denial that her knowing about vampires is illegal." Andromeda nodded. The girl didn't want to drag her sister all the way back to Volterra, but the law was true. A vindictive thing, really.
"When I come back to Volterra we will face her anger. I am not just a princess, but a member of the rule-enforcing coven, meaning I must bring her in for trial. This vampire that exposed Bella will face arrest as well, for he played a part in this sticky mess."
Andromeda's smile faded. This was not how she planned spending her month's vacation with her long lost family members. The princess expected peace, quiet. Now she was faced with an impossible decision that could break any possible chance for a sisterly bond with Bella.
The girl knew the law. It had to be done.
"What do I tell her?" Jacob asked. Jacob's mind was plagued with anxiety when he thought of informing Bella of her fate.
"The plain and simple truth. Lying to her will do no good," Andromeda signed. "Bella does not seem very happy with my existence here in her home. As much as I wish to remain on good terms with my sister, if she is to speak with disrespect on her tongue I cannot tolerate her presence. All I want is respect, and she may be unable to give that fundamental value to me right now. She is young, we both are, but even I have more sense than to speak poorly of a vampire, especially one that is a member of the Volturi."
"Bella." The girl whipped her head to see Jacob frowning at her. Anxiety pillowed in her heart at his face. "Since it's illegal for you to know about vampires, Andromeda has to take you back to the Volturi to conduct a trial. I know that this isn't what you want, but if you don't listen to your sister another vampire from her coven may come down here to take you themselves, or perhaps just kill you outright. She's giving you a chance at bargaining for your life, please take it."
Her face scrunched up in upset, her nostrils flaring. "No. I'm not going."
"She'll drag you there, you know that," Jacob tried to reason with his childhood friend. "Look, Bella, you don't have a real choice in this. Stop trying to say no and just listen to the people with power━"
"━Andromeda has no power over me!" Bella exclaimed in frustration. She couldn't let her sister think of herself as powerful. In Bella's eyes, her sister is horrifically vain, cruel, and selfish, taking away everyone that Bella cared about. Charlie, Jacob, and maybe more people if she allowed Andromeda to keep at this pace of relationship-stealing. Bella thought that her twin was trying to steal her life, the life she once cherished. "She can't just come swooping in here to take everything I have! I won't let her steal my life, my friends, my family. She doesn't belong in Forks, she belongs with those prissy Italians she's been raised by."
"You could at least show her some respect, Bella. She wants to get to know you. If you would just take the time and learn how to sign you could communicate with her the way the rest of us do," Jacob says to his former crush. "She just wants to be in your life!"
"That's the problem, she just comes in here and steals my life. I don't want to learn another language!" Jacob could barely believe that Bella just said that. Anger pulled at his chest. This was his imprint Bella was talking about.
"Are you daft?" Windy questioned the girl, crossing her arms. "This isn't about you at all, Bella. Just because Andromeda found her mate doesn't mean this is all a plot to steal your life. What kind of self-serving narcissist are you? Who actually thinks that their twin sister who has been missing their whole life is trying to spoil their very human existence. Newsflash, Isabella Marie Swan, you aren't that special and nobody wants your life."
"How damn privileged are you?" Jacob hissed out grabbing Bella by the arm. "YOu have the ability to hear. You can hear things, Bella, she can't. You've been given a damn blessing. It isn't just another language for her, it's the only way she can verbally communicate. It isn't that hard of a fucking language to learn either. I think you just want to act out because there's finally someone who can overshadow everything that once made you special. You're upset that Andromeda wants me, that she has me. Guess what Bella, I had a crush on you for so long. You knew that. You used me. You've just been using people."
Bella choked back a sob at what Jacob had just unloaded on her. All Bella ever wanted was to be special, to be beautiful and loved. Unremarkably plain with few interests that set her apart from others, Bella Swan had fallen prey to her own form of vanity, jealousy becoming the route of everything she did.
"Andromeda isn't a villain, she's another person." Jacob continued with a snarl, "I don't care if she's a vampire or if she's deaf, Bella, because she's mine and I'm hers and that's all that matters to me."
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