THE VAMPIRE KING TOOK TEN PACES BACK BEFORE GULPING, SCARED TO DEATH BY THE OVERGROWN WOLF.

If Carlisle had told him that there were wolves in these forests he would have never come here. Aro probably would have told him to go fuck himself and sent a few of his best guards to deal with Victoria and this asshole, rather than himself.

Ever since dealing with the Children of the Moon, Aro had been abnormally horrified by wolves. Sure, they were not the same, but the idea of them still was a terrifying thing for the ancient vampire.

This was no Child of the Moon, Aro would have been comfortable running away if it had been. He had no idea what this massive wolf was, though, or if it listened to reason. Surely he would have been notified by someone if there were rabid massive wolves in the middle of Washington State. There would have been cryptid legends of them from humans.

This was why Aro was never invited to Forks, then, why nobody had been visiting Carlisle in the past hundred years. This was rediculous, why did Carlisle need to make his home in a place like this if there were... wolves. Was Carlisle becoming like his self-righteous son? That would be horrible if true, and Aro really didn't want to start analyzing with this creature in front of him.

He was wholly unprepared for this, seeing this near monster in front of him. If a human thought vampires were terrifying, what would they think of this creature. Yet there had been no stories coming back to Volterra about a new species.

"I will be on my way," Aro whimpered out, trying to take a few more steps back. The wolf growled loudly and the man stopped immediately. "I only wish to get back to the house. Uhm, I did not mean to encroach on your territory."

This seemed to calm down the wolf for a moment.

Aro laughed awkwardly, trying to take more steps backwards. "Yes, uh, I will not be coming into your forests again. You will have no problems from me, I assure you. I am not from here-"

Another wolf came from the side, meaning he could not move back anymore. Aro really hated the idea of potentially being torn apart, the last time that had happened he hated the process of being put back together. The whole thing just sucked, and beyond that he was just terrified of these things.

The wolf at his side was smaller than the one that was now coming towards him again, sniffing the air.

"I swear, I will leave if you give me the chance to. I will make sure nobody else from my Coven ventures into these parts." Aro still wasn't sure what these wolves wanted, if they wanted to eat him or just analyze him. "Do you speak-? Or are you just wolves? Very large ones?"

Perhaps them just being wolves would have made more sense than the smaller one at his side turning into what appeared to be a teenage boy not much older physically than Alec.

"Oh- well, that is interesting," Aro sputtered as the large wolf got much too close for his comfort. He was relieved when the boy put a hand out to stop the wolf from coming any closer.

"Why are you in our territory?" The boy questioned him.

"Well, I hunted in Seattle then I got a phone call and freaked out so I ran into the forest," Aro admitted to the boy, wondering why he was speaking so fast. "I really should be going. I promise nobody will bother you in your territory again. The laws clearly state that whoever comes first, gets the territory."

"What laws?"

Aro laughed awkwardly again. "Oh, well, you aren't vampires, but as long as you aren't destructive the laws should apply to you, if only just about territory."

The boy didn't seem very convinced. "Your kind seem to talk about laws a lot. Who makes your laws?"

"I do," he admitted, leaving the boy a bit puzzled. He explained further, his eyes still on the wolf that was keeping its distance, "My brothers and I are the leaders of the Volturi, the leading Coven of the Vampire world. Our most common issues are involving territory disputes, so I do know the issues that come with people encroaching when they should not be. We have not met your species, but it would be very simple to write you into our laws."

"How simple?" the teenage boy crossed his arms as he asked.

"As simple as me getting a pen and paper and writing it down? I am a king, my word is law across the world. If you have an issue with vampires-"

Aro was cut off by the wolf that had kept his attention. He had turned into a young man with short black hair and a stern look on his face.

"We do have an issue with vampires," he said as he walked up to Aro. he was shorter than him, but not by much. "What are you going to do about that?"

Great. Aro didn't like being put on the spot much, especially by people he didn't know. He had nowhere to run, they could just turn back into wolves and hunt him down. Aro wasn't the fastest runner in his Coven, he doubted he could outrun such large animals.

"Depends on the issue." Aro rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "It always depends. Are vampires giving you a hard time?"

"Yeah, they have been," the young man affirmed, "for five centuries."

That was why they were so annoyed with his presence, it seemed. Well, he couldn't exactly blame them much, he would be pretty peeved if his species had a problem with another for five hundred years and the species' leader had stumbled into his territory.

Gods, why did it have to be now, though?

He would have preferred any other time.

"File a complaint and send it to the castle address. Carlisle has the address and you should know how to send a letter. A hearing will be held over the issue whenever the alarm stops blaring and we are not under lockdown," Aro said with false joy.

He hated his life right now. This was terrible. He wanted to go home.

"What is your name?" The boy asked.

"Aro Volturi. My brothers are Caius and Marcus," Aro answered.

"I'm Seth Clearwater and that right there is Jacob Black. We expect you to handle our complaint properly."

---

ARO'S WALK HOME HAD BEEN TERRIFYING AND HE WASN'T SURE HE WASN'T BEING WATCHED THE ENTIRE TIME.

The wolves had let him go unscarred physically, but Aro was still reeling from seeing that large wolf right behind him, the fear trickling down his spine in cold spurts that reminded him that he was indeed a man who could and often did, feel fear.

Carlisle had opened the door before he could, hugging his friend as he got through the house safely. Aro made his way to the couch and sat down.

"We're so glad that you're okay-"

Aro cut him off, becoming sick and tired of the half-truths and blatant lies by omission that this man had been telling him.

"Why the fuck did you not tell me that there were giant wolves in the woods that have allegedly- but I do believe they are credible because of how pissed they were at me being there- been having issues with our kind for five hundred years? Was that not something to tell your King as he stays in your home? Your friend? I could have been torn apart had they not been so reasonable!"

He doubted that Carlisle was ready for that sort of reaction from him, but he laid it on thicker, "Time and time again this Coven has been dishonest with me, said things that if you people were any other Coven would get you killed. Freedom of speech does not exist for vampires! You either suck things the fuck up or die! These wolves are a new species that have no laws associated with them because of your foolishness! They deserve rights just as much as you all do!"

The man felt crazy for having to explain some of these things to them all. It felt like explaining such a simple thing to a child who constantly lied. There were laws for a reason and if they had any hope of coexisting with this new species, they had to gain some rights.

Victoria and now these wolves, Aro wondered if it was the Cullens that were the problem. They seemed to be the common denominator in these messes.

"Aro, we didn't know how Caius would react," Carlisle desperately tried to explain to him, but he wasn't having any of it.

"Caius is a grown man with the ability to suck it up too, you know. He has never once defied an order from Marcus and I and you know that, Carlisle. You should know better, you lived with me for a decade. I thought I taught you better, but clearly I haven't. Now that the lies have piled up and everyone is leaving you for it, are you happy?" Aro asked bitterly.

"This isn't purely my fault, Aro. They have antagonized us from the start."

"Yeah, of course they antagonized you, Carlisle!" Aro threw his hands up in the air. "You're in their territory! Wolves are territorial! Not to mention they said they've been having issues with us for longer than you've even been alive. For a century longer, I'm afraid. And now I have to get back home to clean these messes up and wait for that complaint."

"You told them how to file a complaint?"

"They're getting the address from you, you better give it to them." Aro heard a knock at the door and heard two heartbeats. "Give them the goddamn address to the castle. I'm so sick of this shit."

Aro really did not want to talk to any of them, so he wandered up to the guest room, shut the door, and flopped down on the comfortable bed. In the time that he'd been gone he'd felt more like an idiot than ever.

He wanted to be back home, to know whether or not the issues in the castle had been resolved. Aro desperately wanted to hear from his girlfriend (mate) who must be going through a terrible time with the alarm going off. She didn't deserve this, having to handle all of these messes. It was up to Caius and Marcus to calm her now, but no doubt they were losing their minds.

The man knew that the wolves were downstairs, but he couldn't be bothered to greet them in any way. He was on the verge of losing his mind over the various things happening in his life.

His mate was all the way across the globe, and he felt her hurting through the bond as he laid on the bed. He hated that he wasn't there for her as he should be. He also knew that Caius and Marcus were struggling, especially Caius, his poor brother.

Aro knew that he had to leave Forks and let someone else handle things here. Perhaps Aro could send a few guards down to fight, some of the older members of the lower guard who knew how to fight Newborns.

Yes, that was a better plan than this. He had stolen the documents from Carlisle already, now he only had to slip out and head back to Volterra. It would be better to go by foot, he would get there faster. It wasn't like he could tire as a vampire.

So, it was settled. Aro packed his things up as quickly as he could. The Cullens were going hunting later that day since Edward had not been managing well around Isabella.

Once he was gone, they would realize what a powerhouse they pushed out.

Once Aro was home, he would be appreciated.