[ Chapter Twelve—the volturi ]

It did not rain much in Arizona, but surprisingly, on the day that I was born, it had been.

Mom and Dad were by no means rich, but they were smart with their money and where they put it. Dad worked as an electrician—most people did not realize that as blue-collar jobs were becoming less popular, they were also becoming more in demand. Because of this Dad made good money as an electrician.

Mom was a warehouse manager for a local appliance company, a job that she enjoyed enough. Her true passion back in high school had been cooking, but she failed in that industry early on.

Sam Harvelle met Christine Dwyer on a blistering day sometime in late August during '99. Their love story was nothing special, a set-up date by some friends which eventually led to a three-year-long relationship that ended with a semi-successful marriage.

I say semi-successful because Mom cheated on Dad back in 2009 when I was eight, I would know seeing as I was the one who caught her in the act.

Of course, that led to six months of tears, screaming matches, and intense marriage counseling. All in all, Dad ended up forgiving Mom because the reality was that Mom was the best thing he ever had. Her looks alone far surpassed his own, it was a miracle she even married him in the first place.

Thankfully, I ended up pulling my Mom's genes in looks. While some of my features were from my dad, the majority of my appearance mimicked Christine Harvelle née Dwyer.

Overall, my parents' situation was not the best role-model for love.

Before all of that cheating shit went down, my own history with love started two years earlier when I was six. When I was six, pretending to marry fictional characters was all the rave. My own personal preference had been a transformer named Optimus Prime who I continuously married like clockwork every Saturday afternoon for over a year.

Once I caught my Mom with Robert (that was the guy she was having an affair with) in the kitchen. The image of my mother bent over the counter with Robert behind her tugging on her hair is still seared into my mind to this day.

Mom revealed years later that she had thought I was taking a nap at the time.

To say that being exposed to that ruined me was the understatement of the year, it absolutely positively destroyed me. After that, mine and Optimus Prime's relationship was not so much "PG". Rather, my adolescent mind took notes from my mother and applied it to my make-belief relationship.

And suddenly, I was reenacting the counter scene from my mother with myself and Optimus Prime on my kiddie table in my room.

It was two years later when I was ten that I finally got over Optimus Prime and became involved with Andrew Evans. And yes, he's a real person.

Andrew Evans was the embodiment of the nice guy on the playground. His haircut—and yes, I still remember—was cut in the style of Justin Bieber and his shoes were always the same stylish custom-made converse.

Our relationship worked in one single simple manner, I was the dominant with everything. The second Andrew agreed to go out with me—after I asked during lunch by giving him part of my cookie—I controlled every aspect of our relationship.

Albeit, we were only ten at the time so I could only do so much, but the details such as what he wore, who he hung out with at school, and especially where he went were all decided by me. It is an OCD issue that I am proud to admit I no longer have a problem with.

The grand love between Jaclyn Harvelle and Andrew Evans lasted a whopping total of three months. Andrew wanted to break it off after two weeks, but I would not let him, and honestly, I think he was too scared to argue with me about it any further.

The reason we even ended our relationship when we did was that his dad scored a fancy job in California forcing Andrew to move away from where we were in Mesa. At first, I considered forcing him to keep up the relationship long-distance, but by that point—I had gotten too bored with him to continue our endeavors.

While I will not ever admit it out loud, after Andrew Evans I fell in love with every guy I ever dated. Thankfully, after the seventh grade my tendencies to act... controlling fell away. Some people were addicted to smoking, others to their phone, hell a lot of people were addicted to drugs, but me, well—I was addicted to guys.

I enjoyed being consumed by the rush of what I had thought was love, the frantic way my heart would beat when a guy smiled at me, or the warm feeling in my chest when one of the many boys' I had dated held my hand, and I absolutely loved the thrill having a companion constantly close to me.

Boys came and went alike to the wind, and as I grew—I learned certain quirks and traits that I both favored and disliked about these boys. I liked the ones who were rough around the edges but sweet inside, the boys who went out of their way to make me happy along with the ones who were not afraid to speak their mind.

I did not like how some guys were too nice though, almost as though they were going to snap one day. The boys who had weird infatuations with one day being in the military were also off-limits. Then there were the guys who spoke about wanting to get kinky in bed—and while I am not so opposed to it now, I was only in middle school during this time.

All in all, I could go on talking about my likes and dislikes about guys for eons, but somehow, with all of these quirks in mind about guys, I managed to find the perfect one. There was never a relationship I had fallen so deeply into than the one I had with Carter Valenzuela.

Carter Valenzuela was the kind of guy every girl loved. He was hot but did not look like a total douche. He was athletic but played a sport that was not football (it was baseball). His hair was long and curly but did not go past a length that could be considered girly. He was well-known but not popular. Yes, Carter Valenzuela was the guy that every girl wanted but who no girl would admit themselves to having a crush too.

Carter and I met in what I liked to refer to as the Spring of my life. We were halfway through our Freshman year of high school when Carter started a conversation with me in English class. It was decided between us that Romeo and Juliet sucked because of the sheer fact that no one nowadays knew what the hell William whatever-his-name-is was talking about.

I was only fourteen when I first met him and the relationship lasted for over a year and a half. It was a year and a half that was filled with possibly the worst and best memories of my life. I do not like remembering Carter Valenzuela and the ghosts of my past that followed him.

Remembering Carter Valenzuela ultimately led me to reminisce on matters that opened a door to guilt and depression. Carter Valenzuela ruined me, he ruined any memoir of love and trust I had.

He turned love to poison for me and still to this day I was unable to have a truly meaningful relationship past a passionate night in bed.

Even so, I did not open myself to these quick endeavors until just under a year ago where I allowed myself many drunken nights with Ryan Denmark. Ryan Denmark and I shared no feelings beyond being piss drunk and horny, but around campus, we were both friendly enough with each other.

Overall, my life with love has been chaotic and this so-called "mate" bullcrap was definitely not my cup of tea.

——————

Caius Volturi was staring at me in a hard manner, everyone else in the large throne room gaping. Well, the Cullen's were gaping along with Kate and Garrett. Marcus had placed his hand on top of Aro's, Marcus still looking uninterested but Aro had both his eyebrows raised with surprise.

The small amount of guard in the room, including the witch twins, looked astonished.

No one had uttered a word for almost two minutes now, everything slowly falling into place.

Ho—ly. Shit.

This crap is not about to happen.

"Are you two together?" I finally broke the tense silence, my head lazily rolling to face where Aro and Marcus were holding each other's hands.

"Because honestly..." I looked to Marcus who was now showing the slightest bit of interest in what I had to say, "...you could do a lot better."

Aro's face twisted into one of offense, looking as though I had personally insulted him. I mean, I guess I had in a way, but still.

However, Aro soon shook it off, looking away from me and around the room in a thoughtful manner.

"Well," he moved his hand out of Marcus's, tapping his chin as if in deep thought, "this changes things immensely."

"No, this does not," Caius snapped causing me to mentally roll my eyes.

"Brother," Aro looked to the snowy-haired vampire, but Caius was having none of it.

"Absolutely not, she's a werewolf..." he spat the name with such revulsion and hostility, as though there was nothing worse on the entire planet. It made shivers race down my spine and—as much as I hated to admit it—a small feeling of rejection unfolded somewhere deep within me.

However, I was quick to destroy that feeling as I did not have time for shit like that. I was far too proud to hold anything but glee at the fact that this crusty-old vamp got what he deserved. He was stuck mated in the worst possible manner of all time, he was stuck not only mated to the very creature he so detested, but also to me—a girl who would never believe in mates.

"A werewolf who is also your mate!" Everyone turned to Bella, myself raising my brows at her outburst.

She was glaring heatedly at Caius, but Caius was returning it with a look ten times worse. I would not be surprised if Bella dropped dead just from the look Caius was throwing her.

It was a stare-off, red versus gold. Caius opened his mouth to retort but appeared to cut himself off while only shaking his head.

"Impeccable," he simply muttered before turning to me with such a sharp glare it caused me to jump. He looked down his nose at me, his full lips drawn into a line. "This should be considered bestiality..." he shook his head.

Okay, that one hurt.

Immediately, my face morphed into a scowl, a growl coming from deep within. Caius tilted his head before a sly smirk crawled up his face.

"What was that, puppy?" Another growl escaped me, rage beginning to consume my being. "Hmm?"

Slowly, I began composing myself, breathing deeply. Looking into crimson eyes that are the epitome of wicked, my back went pin straight. "I don't even want to be your mate," I scoffed, but spoke honestly, "I don't want some ancient old man to tie me down!"

Caius lost his sly smirk immediately, his eyes blazing and a fierce growl rumbling from within his chest. He was clenching his pale hands into fists and for whatever reason, it was at that moment that I took account as to just how soft his long blond locks looked.

I shook any want of running my hands through it away, choosing to simply keep a hard look upon my face. The Cullens, Kate, and Garrett watched along in anticipation with everyone else.

"Brother," Aro cut in, causing Caius to stop growling and bring his attention to Aro, "this girl is your mate and as such, it is in your best interest that she remains here..." Aro paused before hastily adding something that had my skin crawling with nerves, "...alive."

That did it. Shit officially hit the roof.

Everyone went berserk, but no one was ranting more loudly than Caius who had quickly got into it with Aro. Except, both brothers were not arguing in English, they were speaking in quick-paced Italian. Marcus stood between them with an annoyed expression on his face as though this happened often.

The guards were all on alert as Bella, Alice, and Edward were spewing curses about how unfair that was. Carlisle had taken a more respectable route by attempting to plead, but no one was listening to him. Jasper was simply trying to remain calm with all the rampant emotions, and Kate and Garrett were standing silently with wide eyes.

"Hold on!" Somehow Bella's voice was heard above all the other ruckus and she successfully gained everyone's attention. "Don't you already have a wife?" Bella's tone was accusing and I could practically imagine voices shouting "ooh" and "oh, she just went there!"

Caius's face twisted with even more fury but he also looked as though he could not believe Bella would address him how she did. I, on the other hand, suddenly felt a rush of inexplicable rage. Small amounts of jealously reeled its green head.

What the actual fuck? If he was already married then why was this mate crap such a big deal? At this rate, the Volturi might as well kill me and get on with it, after all, I would much rather die than be stuck with this blond asshole for the rest of my life.

Caius opened his mouth to retort, but I beat him to it, my own voice sounding shrill.

"WHAT? You are already married? I will not be some side hoe if that's what you think is going to happen!" I shouted, my face most likely turning red as the familiar feeling of my eyes changing from brown to blue engulfed me.

I swear I saw Caius flinch when this happened, but it was so small that I was not sure whether I was imagining it or not.

"I assume you are referring to yourself as being a mistress of sorts?" Caius hissed, his voice eerily calm. "Do not be foolish, you are heavily mistaken if you believe yourself to be up to my standards."

I was gaping, everything in me screaming to attack the blond douchebag.

"You fucking son of a bit—" I never got to finish my sentence as a powerful demanding voice boomed.

"SILENCE!"

Everyone went quiet, all the chaos immediately dying down as our attention went to the previously bored King who had shouted. His face remained passive and yet there was a look in his eyes that showed he was not fucking around.

All the Volturi looked amongst each other, a sheer sign that Marcus did not often speak like this.

It was silent for a few more moments, myself allowing my anger to boil away.

Marcus spoke up again after seconds, his gaze sliding between myself and the rest of the Cullen's.  "My brother and his wife are no longer together," he paused, the ancient vampire's gaze rounding back to me, "their marriage was consummated so long ago that it no longer holds any true binding value in this modern age."

I had nothing to say, but a small part of me was relieved.

"Well," Edward spoke up with a tone that portrayed something akin to sass, "is she still within the walls of your castle?" it was obvious what Edward meant.

Perhaps Caius and his so-called ex-wife were no longer together, but was she still living in this castle? If she was, I would not be surprised if she and Caius have simply decided to bring their relationship status down to "friends-with-benefits".

"No, Athenodora no longer resides in Volterra," Caius hissed lowly, his voice sounding as though he would snap at any given moment.

Aro, who foresaw this, quickly placed a calming hand on his brother's shoulder and addressed him.

"Brother," Aro spoke quietly, but Caius cut him off, looking to Aro but speaking to us all.

"No matter the circumstance, the law is the law and the werewolf cannot avoid her fate," I furrowed my brows when Caius spoke of me as "the werewolf" and acted as though I was not currently here.

"Uhm, hello, I am right here!" I exclaimed but was ignored as the Cullen's quickly began arguing in my favor.

All our voices echoed throughout the throne room, bouncing across the walls.

"Is that really your verdict? That is not fair!"

"How dare you!"

"Please, do not do this!"

No one's opinion mattered until one of the actual Kings spoke up. It was near impossible for anyone to ignore Aro, especially in this situation.

"Caius," Aro had a displeased look written across his face, "you know as well as I that you physically would be unable to allow her," he motioned to me causing me to give mocking wave which Caius scowled at, "to befall to any harm, let alone perish. Furthermore, this is a newfound discovery as no vampire and werewolf have ever been a mated pair, therefore, this is above even our laws..." Aro's words truly sounded wise and suddenly I was no longer confused as to how or why exactly he along with this brothers' were the leading trio of the vampire world.

"Yeah, it's like Nessie," Garrett pointed out.

"Exactly," Edward added causing all attention to fall on him, "this is something which should be further investigated and studied. Aren't you an advocate for investigation, Aro?" Edward looked to the dark-haired King with a raised brow.

I had been told that Aro was by far the most curious of the three Kings. Therefore, using this anomaly that had popped up between myself and someone so close to Aro was a perfect way to rope Aro into encouraging this rather than preventing it.

It appeared Aro's interest was in fact peaked by the look on his face. However, we were all taken off guard by the inquiry which fell from his mouth.

"How is young Renesmee fairing?" It was a random question, one that even appeared to take Caius by surprise by the look the blond threw at him.

Bella's face turned even more stony, my cousin baring her teeth. Edward was the one who answered as it was obvious Bella refused to speak.

"Renesmee is well. She is now fully grown for the most part," he said softly, Aro looking toward the ceiling as though the gorgeously crafted artwork had captured his undivided attention.

"Very good indeed, but young Renesmee doesn't she..." Aro slowly brought his eyes down from the artwork and back to me, "does Renesemee not have a wolf mate as well?"

He was talking about Jacob.

"Actually, he's a shifter. Similar but not quite the same thing," I spoke.

"ENOUGH!" Caius roared, his voice thundering. "I refuse to accept this abomination as any so-presumed mate of mine!"

I was officially done.

Taking a slight step in Caius's direction successfully caught his attention. "Back at you, blondie! I will under no circumstances ever be with you. I would rather die than be forced to live knowing you are who I'm destined to—!"

"Who would like to fulfill her wishes, who will do the honor?" The vampire who was supposed to be my mate questioned with a cock of his head.

Aro began to interject as the Cullen's panicked. Bella, who had apparently had enough, rushed over and threw her body in front of me acting as a guard. Alec, who was behind me, hissed warningly, but Bella only enhanced the feeling of her shield as a silent reminder that their powers would be useless on her.

Once again, the guard crouched and got into ready positions. I, on the other hand, had a much better idea at the forefront of my mind.

My own anger was prominent and with all the chaos going on, my own sense of humor could not help but be thrown in.

"BITCH!" I hollered in such a loud tone that I swear the room shook. Everyone turned to me with wide eyes full of apparent shock, Aro's mouth actually falling open. "If you don't like me, kill me right now!" I held my arms open and paused, daring anyone to kill me.

Nobody made a move which caused me to smirk. Caius saw this as well and growled in response. In a sudden flurry of motion, Caius surged forward with his teeth bared. He moved so swiftly that he managed to catch Bella off guard and tossed her into the wall on the other side of the room.

"Bella!" Edward shouted, moving at the speed of light to where Bella had been flung.

A large crack appeared in the wall from where she hit, Bella landing on the floor with a thud. Edward was quickly by her side helping her off the ground as Aro grimaced at the size of the crack in the pretty wall.

Carlisle, Garrett, Jasper, Alice, and Kate had all leaned down hissing in warning, each watching Bella with worry. My attention was on my cousin as well, relief filling my chest when Bella got up stating that she was fine.

My relief was short when I turned back around only to come face-to-face with the reason Bella was flung into the wall in the first place. Caius stood in all his hot head glory less than three inches away from me with his hand raised dramatically above his head.

Our eyes met in a clash of passion and fury, both of us glaring heatedly at each other. Standing this close, it was impossible to ignore the tangy but sweet scent of citrus wafting from him in waves. Being this close, that was when I realized just how soft his cloak actually appeared and how nice his dark suit truly fit him.

Not to mention how well-craft those leather loafers were. What can I say? I am a sucker for shoes.

It was apparent his fist had been raised for a while as it suddenly began shaking, Caius getting an extremely frustrated look upon his face. We stood for what felt like hours, but in reality, it was seconds.

A loud roar ripped its way from Caius's throat as he suddenly turned around and punched the wall closest to him causing rubble to fly everywhere as he punched a hole straight through the middle.

And that is when it became all too obvious to me. Caius could not fucking do it, he could not kill me. That factor gave me a hell of a lot of power.

Smirking, I crossed my arms addressing not only my so-called mate but everyone in the room. "...Otherwise better pipe down..." I finished my statement from earlier, Tokyo's Revenge running through my mind as I said this.

If looks could kill, Caius would have certainly had me seven feet under. However, in an instant, his steaming expression went away and was replaced by a chilling smile.

"Perhaps I cannot kill you, mate," his hissed in a malicious tone, "but I certainly will kill the people involved in befriending a werewolf."

And like that, any power I thought I had was gone. Caius may not be able to kill me, but he could and fully intended to kill my family.

"What?" My eyes were wide, any confidence suddenly draining away. When it was myself it was different, but he could not kill all of the Cullens! "No! You can't do that!" I raged as Caius quirked a single brow.

"On the contrary, I can. Whether you are my mate or not changes nothing about our laws, no involvement with Children of the Moon other than for termination purposes. The Cullen's should have killed you the second they knew of your nature. You being mated to me, unfortunately, has spared your life, but it has not spared any of theirs."

"But you are then breaking your own law by allowing me to live!" I spat in outrage.

Caius tittered. "Uh, uh, uh, as the ones who uphold this law, rules may be bent as we see fit. In this case, we will bend the law for ourselves, but not for any of you." Caius's eyes narrowed as he turned away from me and faced Carlisle.

"What a surprise!" Edward scoffed. "The Volturi are not as honorable as you so proclaim yourselves!"

Aro was quick to jump in, his voice airy as he acted as some sort of peace-maker. "Of course not, my dear friends, but you must understand the situation. It is clearly against the law and seeing as it would be physically impossible for Caius to kill his own mate—" Aro cut himself off while shaking his head, as though it were simply a horrible thought.

"Nevertheless, arrangements can always be made, especially for a dear friend such as yourself, Carlisle," Aro smiled at the blond doctor who returned it with a hesitant one of his own, "Now, I shall make a proposal," Aro turned to me, "if you remain here, Jaclyn," I did not like the way my full name sounded on his tongue, "then consider any and all charges against the Cullen and Denali clan forgotten..."

Oh. Fuck.

This was how they got me. If I refused, it was obvious I could kiss the Cullen's lives goodbye and consider myself trapped within the walls of this damn castle forever. Though, if I took the offer, I was still trapped; yes, but this way the Cullen's at least got to leave.

The choice was obvious, I did not need to think much on it. Either way, it sounded as though I was to be trapped forever within the walls of this tomb, at least this way my family got to live. Besides, it was not like I could not plan an escape.

"What?" Caius's voice was flat with barely concealed rage, as though he could not believe what he was hearing.

"Dear Caius, you must understand the pain your mate would go through should we decide to punish all responsible," Caius's look said it all, he did know, he just didn't care.

"Very well then," Marcus's voice was barely a whisper as he addressed me, "what shall your decision be, young wolf?"

"Yes, whatever you want," I could not get the words out quick enough, "ju—just don—don't kill them, alright, don't—" my waterline brimming with tears made of frustration, "—kill them,"

Bella was at my side engulfing me in a huge bear hug faster than I could comprehend, myself doing everything in my power to not burst into tears. It was amazing to think that at this time last year I was blissfully unaware of the happenings that went on with this entire supernatural world.

Last year, I was a perfectly normal girl who thought she had the world at her fingertips, not some werewolf who was about to be trapped for all eternity.

"Oh, of course not, dear one," Aro soothed, his face twisting as though he genuinely felt pity for me, "you have agreed and so your family is free to go."

Bella was clutching me to her, her cold lips pressed firmly to the side of my head. My backpack was still on my back, and yet it felt weightless with everything that was going on.

"Don't worry," Bella was frantically whispering, her hands rubbing up and down my arms, "I love you, we're sisters, you are a part of our family," she was attempting to calm me and it had begun to work until Caius had decided he officially had enough of this.

Caius turned toward the mountain of a vampire along with the sandy-haired one and waved a lazy hand, "Felix, Demetri," the blond's well-accented English ordered, the two vampires in question immediately at his side, "take her away."

Bella clutched me harder as Felix turned to me but Demetri remained facing Caius. "To the tower, master?"

It was Aro who answered immediately with a small snarl, "Absolutely not! She is not to be anywhere near Sulpicia while in this state of mind!"

Caius nodded in agreeance, "Of course, she is to be in an isolated room on the opposite of the castle to the tower," he explained as Bella and I said our final goodbyes.

In seconds, Bella was being held back by both Jasper and Edward from attacking Demetri and Felix as they held me up by my arms. My feet were dangling aimlessly, animalistic growls mixing in with my tears.

It was like slow motion as I was taken out of the large room, everyone watching me being dragged away.

Meeting gazes with my so-called mate, I made sure to release a wailing "fuck you!" just as the doors closed and I was dragged off to a different part of the castle, which also served as another part of my life.