ꜱᴏ ꜱʜɪᴛ ʜɪᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴀɴ ʟᴀꜱᴛ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴇᴀʜ ɪ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴡᴀꜱ ɢᴏɴɴᴀ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴ ʙᴜᴛ ɪᴛ ᴅɪᴅ. ᴄᴀʀʟɪꜱʟᴇ ʜᴀꜱ ᴍᴇ ꜱʜᴏᴏᴋ ɪ ᴀᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ ᴀɴʏᴍᴏʀᴇ ɪ ᴀᴍ ᴀ ꜰᴇʟʟᴏᴡ ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜᴇʀ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜɪꜱ ꜱʜɪᴛ ɪ ᴀᴍ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ ɪᴛ ᴅᴏᴡɴ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴘᴏɪɴᴛ. ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴀʀᴇ ᴛᴏᴏ ʀᴇᴀʟ ꜰᴏʀ ᴍᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴛ ʜᴜʀᴛꜱ.

Anna's POV:

I couldn't even hold my own as I fell to the concrete ground. I could have sworn that I felt a sharp pain right at my heart, not quite unlike the sharp pain that I felt when I was separated from Caius on the plane. Not able to stand straight, I just curled up on the floor and allowed myself to sob.

What I really was sobbing about remained unknown. Some foreign feelings of absolute depression and loneliness washed over me as I dropped all of my letters and curled up in my own cloak.

Felix rushed over to me, having noticed that something was in fact wrong with me. "Mom! Mom what's wrong?" my covenmate and guard questioned me, pulling the cloak away from my face. I couldn't stop the small sobs that came out of my mouth.

Everything felt physically normal. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was the pull at some unknown bond. I knew it was a bond, it felt similar to my mate bond with my mates, but it was different in its own way, no romance and more like friendship and feelings of home.

"Get-Get Marcus-" I gasp out, my own feelings of utter hysteria taking over.

Felix quickly picks me up and runs me back into the main part of the castle, where Marcus was walking along with Aro, chatting about something in a language I did not recognize. Probably Gaelic, a language that I had been planning to learn and had yet found the time to sit down and get my ass cracking on it.

My mates immediately rushed over to Felix and took him away from me frantically. Their motions were blurred by the tears clouding my vision, unable to spill due to my immortality.

Aro put his hand to my cheek and took in everything that he could, gasping at what he was hearing. I couldn't tell if he was shocked at whatever was pulling at me or what Jasper and Esme had written to me.

"Her bonds!" Marcus exclaims, "Something is up with one of her bonds!"

"Which fucking one, Marcus! She has hundreds at this point!" Aro growled at his soul brother and held me up in his arms, making sure that my sobs landed on his shoulder. "Amore, don't cry. My sweetest Anna, you do not need to cry. Please darling, mio tesoro, do not be sad."

"Felix!" Marcus ordered his guard, "Get Caius out of trial and get him here now. All trials are postponed for the rest of today and for however long it takes Anna's bonds to stop reacting."

"Yes Master," was all that Felix said as he ran down the hall and into the throne room. Only a few seconds later my blonde mate was by my side, frantic as well.

"Anna," he coos into my head as he kisses it. "No, no, my mate do not cry. Please do not cry my sweet. Ti amo, amore. Ti amo tanto, cara mia."

Nothing that any of my mates said could stop the overwhelming anxiety that loomed in my chest. It was like seventh grade all over again. Nothing was right. Something was just plain wrong with the way one of my bonds was acting. Something felt so sad and hurt and worried.

Worst of all, the pain felt so familiar.

"What happened?" Caius questions rapidly, holding my right hand in his. "What happened to our mate?"

"One of her bonds is lighting up and shaking!" Marcus exclaims. "This, this kind of shake. It's a soul sibling and I haven't seen something like this happen since-"

Aro took in a deep breath. "Since Didyme. Since she died. We...we all felt it.."

"The pain, the hurt, the fucking depression," Caius says, holding onto me tighter. "Who is so damn upset as to cause this through the bonds? Who is close enough with her to be her soul sibling? Who was destined to be her friend and sibling that she has already clearly made contact with?"

"It could be across coven lines," Aro theorizes. "It doesn't make sense. She is close with Carlisle but that would be a soul parent bond, not a soul sibling bond."

"Well who over there is so upset as to cause an upset in our mate?" Marcus' voice was desperate. Hell, I hated feeling like this.

"Shit," Aro curses, "The letter. The fucking letter."

"What letter? Aro!" Caius tries to pull the answer out of his raven-headed brother.

"Jazzy," I whisper, knowing who had been so upset. The only person in the Olympic Coven who was going through something this bad.

"She cannot be away from her soul sibling. It is impossible and-" Caius stops himself. "It has been over a month since she saw him last."

"Anna was fine before," Marcus points out.

"Our mate was busy with becoming a vampire and likely did not have the bond click in the same way! She has been exchanging letters with him and that would build up a bond anyways! You know this, Marcus!"

"Seeing him would have made it final. She needs to see him now. It is reacting like this because he is upset and he specifically wants her to comfort him. He is reaching out to her through the bond, is he not, Marcus?" Marcus nods his head at Aro, who now held me close on his chest, shushing me as I cried.

"Take her to Helios. He may be able to make her feel a bit better," Caius suggests. "Please stop crying, amore, it hurts us all to see you upset. We want you to be happy. We love you, Anna."

"I love you too," I choked out, sobbing into Aro's chest, unable to do or say much as my emotions overwhelmed me.

"Aro, take her to Helios and go call Carlisle to figure out what the hell is happening on his end," Marcus orders.

"Of course, brother."

__________________________________________________

Aro's POV

I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand for this! My mate was hurt on the inside and I would not allow her to feel such pain. It was not fair for her when she was the most beautiful and perfect queen in the world!

Wasting no time after dropping my mate off in the nest with our son, I took to the phone and dialed up Carlisle.

Almost immediately, he answered the phone.

"Aro, I was about to call you-"

"Zip it. What the hell is going on on your end because Anna is having a meltdown over a shaking bond and it has something to do with soul siblings and Jasper!"

"My son has been stressed out over everything and we just left to go to Italy to see you all because I am afraid that if I stay in Forks that he will go insane and I will murder Edward and everyone who tries to stop me from doing so."

"What. Did. He. Do."

"Just the usual. Belittling Jasper and myself only to claim that Anna is somehow a monster. I stopped it. I'm done. I'm at my wits end. I was actually going to kill him if he stepped anywhere near me. I will if he even dares speak to me again."

This behavior was not that of the Carlisle that I remembered. No, this man was tired, pushed over the edge and dangerous.

"How is he right now? Can you try to calm him down a bit? I can't have Anna like this in front of our so-our guard," I stop myself before I reveal our secret much too early. I guess that the secret will be out soon enough. Better that my friend have another species revealed while on the castle grounds. It has been a long time since we have seen each other in person.

"I would if I could, Aro. Rose and Emmett are trying to calm him but we can't sleep and that would be the only way to calm him so that Anna can have some calm as well. What is happening over there?"

"Crying, she's absolutely depressed in ways that not even Marcus could be. Her anxiety is through the roof and I can't seem to calm her at all! I'm her mate, Carlisle, why can't I calm her?" I cry out in frustration. Through the mating bond I should be able to calm her at least a tiny bit, but she just wouldn't budge in her emotions.

"I don't know. I haven't seen something like this with Jasper. Ever. Esme and I have always been able to calm him down once things get even a little bit close to becoming this."

"How many of your coven are coming?"

"All of us that are left. I'm cutting Alice, Edward, and Bella if she obeys the law and becomes a vampire. I don't want them in my family. God, Aro, what did I do to let this happen? I should have just kicked them out when this all started. I was so stupid."

"You weren't stupid, you were overly kind and optimistic like you always are. It is a blessing and a curse."

"Now it's a curse."

"In this specific case yes but that is not the point-"

"It is the point, Aro. I am not fit to lead a coven of vampires. I lack the strength that you do."

"What are you trying to say, Carlisle? What is a group of vampires without a coven?"

"I don't know, okay. We will get there in like half an hour. We took a private jet of mine. We literally just landed. How long has Anna been freaking out?"

"About half an hour at this point."

"He knows he's close to her and is calling out. He just wants his sister."

"I know. I do crazy things when away from my brothers. It is why we have stayed together for over three thousand years."

"What will we do? Soul siblings cannot just stay apart. They have to be together as a family."

"Well, from what his letter says, he would be willing to join Anna."

"Thank God. Would you take him? He is gifted, which would be quite useful-"

"Carlisle, I would take him because he is a good person and because he is my mate's soul brother, regardless of whether or not her is gifted. Get that through your thick immortal skull."

"You always were harsh."

"Only to you when you make me sound like an ass."

"Are you not just that?"

"Did you call me an ass without actually saying the word ass? Carlisle, you are much too gentlemanly for your own good."

"Oh, you're going to love this then."

"Tell me more."

"I may or may not have called Edward a 'fucking failure of a fucking brother.'"

I gasp, The great Carlisle Cullen swearing at his own covenmate. Oh Gods, I never thought I would see or hear the day!

"I have the memory to back it up as well. I knew you would love it, judging from your gasp."

"I wish I could see it in person."

"You do get the next best thing. Front row seats, as you once called it. To the show of someone's lifetime."

"Oh, for you it is just a melodrama. Caius is an action movie, and for my mate it really could be considered a romance. I would love to see what our lives have become."

"You, the king of memories and the king of drama."

"I do quite like the memories of a mildly unhinged and broken man."

"You think I'm broken?"

"I think that you literally just called your old covenmate asking for entryway into his coven and got his acceptance."

"Why would you think that, my old friend?"

"Let's see, you are making small talk with me, already allowed your soul son into the coven, and now are speaking with me just the way that you did when you were with the Volturi, less formal and much more like yourself."

"Damn, you really are clever, Aro."

"Still the same way with words, I see."

"Only for you, brother."