Chapter 2

I don’t own Twilight. Big surprise there.

Alice silently apprised the beautiful angel who had captured my attention. She had been blocking me since that evening when I made my announcement. I knew she was keeping secrets from me. She avoided being anywhere near me for any length of time. If she had to be, then Jasper was with her. Jasper would spend the entire time messing around with my emotions, between giddiness, sorrow, fear, joy, depression and anything else he could throw in, so that I wouldn’t be able to focus on her mind. Jasper was her mate and as such protected Alice from any threat including my unwelcome snooping into her mind.

This was the relationship I wanted. Male vampires are fiercely protective of their mates. This instinct only intensifies over time. This is the reason nomads become violent. Without a mate to give direction and focus, the instinct short circuits and violence replaces protection. My problem was I had this same fierce need but no one to protect. My father and brothers allowed me to act as a surrogate protector to their wives when they went hunting alone. It wasn’t often as their own natural instinct demanded they keep their mates close, but it was done to keep me from going insane.

I caught the twinkle in my sister’s eye. I looked to Jasper first to be certain he wasn’t going to attack my emotions. At seeing the smirk directed at me I knew I was safe for the moment and delved into her mind to hear her thoughts. I caught a quick glimpse of a meadow before she began singing an old Spice Girl’s song in Greek. Now that was just wrong

“Alice,” I growled in frustration. What did a meadow have to do with anything? I hadn’t even seen anyone in the picture.

“Edward,” Jasper warned as he moved between Alice and me. “Do you really want to start crying in front of all these humans?”

“I didn’t mean anything by it Jasper,” I reassured him, holding my hands up in a sign of surrender. “You know I wouldn’t hurt her, but she’s got to let me see something. Anything!” I looked down at my sister to see her still staring at my angel. “Please Alice. Show me something.”

She looked up at me before leaning into Jasper, who wrapped his arms around her. “Edward, I could give you all the answers. You’re right. I do know something, but that’s not how it’s going to work this time. I let you see everything before when you searched for your mate within our kind and as soon as you saw a flaw you didn’t like, you walked away. You’re going to have to decide if she’s the one you want without your personal crystal ball. That means getting to know her the old fashioned way.”

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. “Well can you tell me at least if she’s the one and then I promise to work to get to know her first?”

She and Jasper both laughed at me before she answered. Her face lost all humor and she looked at me with complete seriousness. “Only you can decide if she’s your mate Edward. I will only tell you that if she’s the one, don’t expect it to be easy. Choosing a human wasn’t going to be easy anyway since she doesn’t know about our kind, but with her there are some external influences that are going to make your quest more difficult. In the past I knew none of the others were your true mate-“
I interrupted, “Then why did you let me spend the last 80 years going through the motions if none of them were my mate!” I was becoming frustrated and angry with her, which wasn’t such a good idea if Jasper’s growls were any indication.

“Jasper it’s okay.” Alice calmed him. She rose up on her toes to kiss him reassuringly before turning back to me. “Edward, think about it for a moment,” she smirked. “She’s seventeen. She wasn’t alive 80 years ago. You needed something to keep you busy and you had to come to the point of making this decision for yourself. What would you have said even a year ago if I told you that your true mate was human?”

I opened my mouth to respond and shut it again at her raised eyebrow. “Alright. You have a point,” I conceded.

“Of course I do. I’m always right, you should know that by now,” she smirked. Then she got serious again. “Carlisle said for you to be absolutely sure so you need to decide if you want to pursue her or move on,” she continued. “This is her life, her eternity you’re talking about. So, are you sure she’s the one?”

I looked again at my angel. She was talking with her group of friends completely unaware that her life was about to change. I knew. I didn’t need Alice’s visions.

This human - I didn’t even know her name yet, was my mate. I knew it to the depth of my soul, such as it is. Now I would just need to work to convince her. That was the tricky part. I turned back to Alice and Jasper and smiled.

“I’m certain. She’s my mate,” I stated. “Now, how do I get her?” I asked just as Emmett and Rosalie walked up.

“Edward, if you don’t know how to get a girl then maybe you should have Carlisle give you the birds and bees talk,” Emmett said.

“Shut it Emmett,” I growled. “I know how to get a girl in general. But how do I get a human girl? She’s not going to understand our world or my need for her. I can’t walk up and just announce that I choose her to become my mate and take her home. It’s a little more complicated than that.”

It was finally decided that Alice would be the best to try and approach her to learn more about her. Out of all of us, she was the least intimidating.

“Alice, don’t be obvious about it. Just see what you can find out. Is she with that boy or not? Has he claimed her as his mate? If so, is she committed to him or can he be removed easily? I need to know if he’s going to be a problem or not.”
I could already feel my instinct kicking in. I could feel the tightening in my stomach and the narrowing of my eyes taking in this pathetic human boy touching my mate. I heard the growl surface from within before being distracted by a hard punch against my shoulder from Emmett just as a wave of calmness hit me from Jasper.

“Knock it off Edward,” Emmett warned. “You really don’t want to start something right now. Hell, she doesn’t even know you exist.” He paused glancing toward my angel, who was looking my direction again. “Well, I take that back. Maybe she does know you exist. But,” he stressed, “you don’t even know her name yet. She isn’t aware of your claim. So chill.”

“Edward, I’m warning you,” Rosalie finally decided to make her thoughts known. “Don’t you dare attack or hurt that boy. You screw this up and make me move again right after I unpacked and I’ll hurt you myself. I told you I don’t like this.”

I glared at my sister in response, which only earned me another punch from Emmett. “Damn it Emmett! Stop with the punches or meet me in the woods later. I’m not going to hurt anyone. Geesh, have a little faith.”

“Edward,” Alice laughed as she skipped away, “I don’t think teenagers call them mates. I think they prefer boyfriend & girlfriend.” She skipped off before I could say anything else.

Jasper chuckled at me. “You know they’re just messing with you don’t you? But really Edward, lighten up already.”

I watched as Alice “bumped” into her making her spill her drink on Alice. My sister must really love me to let someone ruin her outfit.

APOV

It was finally the right time. I knew when we were at Tanya’s wedding that he’d finally make his decision. I’d known all along my brother was going to choose this path. He never liked to do things the easy way so why would the choice of mate be any different? I knew Forks was where the girl in question would be. I didn’t know her name yet but I knew she was for Edward. I’d seen her a few times over the years in my visions. I knew she and I would become close friends. I saw their wedding and she would fit in perfectly, even before she knows the truth about her place in our family.

However, it wasn’t going to be easy for him. She was probably the most difficult choice for a mate he could make and this wasn’t the place to tell him either. He’d cause a scene that would terrorize this entire town. Hell, when they found out our entire family was going to have a fit even worse than the one when he made his announcement. Jasper didn’t even know everything and I hated that I’ve kept this secret from him, but I didn’t want him to worry about me. I know Jasper and his first instinct would be to take me far away from here to protect me and I knew Edward and my family was going to need my visions. I knew keeping things secret was the best decision until this girl was fully accepted by everyone in our family. Edward was going to have enough problems; he didn’t need his own family to fight him also.

It was decided I should be the one to approach her first to learn more about her. Of everyone, I was certainly the least intimidating. The guys were completely out and Rosalie, I knew wasn’t completely on board with Edward’s choice yet.

I walked by her, pretending to bump into her and causing her to spill her drink on my outfit. It was the easiest way to start a conversation.

“Edward you owe me for this one. I love this outfit!”

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry.” The girl looked at me in horror at the spreading stain on my shirt. I had to admit she was beautiful. “I’m always so clumsy. Please let me help you clean it up. We have some napkins over here.”

“Oh, and it’s my favorite. I don’t think it’s going to come out of my blouse.” I felt bad trying to make her feel guilty, but figured that was the best way to keep her talking.

“Well, please, you have to let me make it up to you. I can pay you for it if you’d like,” she said.

“Good choice, Edward. I like her.”

The people she was with turned to see what was happening. The tall boy with blonde hair came up and put his arm over her shoulder. “So what did you do now, Bella?” he asked chuckling. She grimaced. I felt bad that he was laughing at her, but figured that was only going to help Edward in the long run.

I stuck my hand out to her to introduce myself. “Hi, I’m Alice. We’re new in town. We just moved here from Alaska.”

She took my hand smiling, startled a little at the cold. “Hi, I’m Isabella, but my friends call me Bella.” She took her hand and gestured to her friends. “These are Mike” poking the laughing boy in the side, “Angela, her boyfriend Ben, Jessica, Tyler & Eric.”

I smiled, knowing my plan would work to separate her from her friends briefly so we could talk. The boy with her got distracted again talking about sports with the other boys in their group and was not paying her any attention. Hard to believe this idiot boy was going to be such a problem for Edward.

We walked over to a nearby table to get some napkins. “So, is that guy Mike your boyfriend?” I asked.

“No, he wants to be, but I haven’t decided yet. He’s really sweet, but sometimes he can be a little annoying,” she stated. “It’s hard when you’ve grown up with everyone so you remember every embarrassing or annoying thing they’ve ever done.” She shook her head like she was clearing a thought and looked at me brightly. “So, if you’re new here that means you’ll be going to Forks High in the fall, right? I’m going to be a senior this year. So are my friends.”

“Yes, we’re all going to be there. I have 3 brothers and a sister.” I pointed out my family. That’s my sister, Rosalie and the guy standing behind her is my brother, Emmett. Then Jasper,” my voice naturally softened at the mention of my love, “He’s the blonde one. The other one running his hand through his hair, looking all intense is Edward.” I knew he was struggling to stay away from her. I looked at her for a response to seeing Edward.

She was looking at all of them and her eyes got wide when she focused on Edward. She blushed and cleared her throat.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s nothing,” she said. A small smile was playing at the corner of her mouth. I knew she had been sneaking glances at Edward since she first noticed him. Who wouldn’t, my brother was good looking. Not as yummy as my Jasper, of course, but still very nice to look at.

About that time Mike walked over to where we were standing and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her cheek. “Hey, Bella, you ready to go dance some more?”

He looked at me frowning, having overheard me pointing out my brothers. He was obviously trying to mark Bella as his. That was fine, it’s not like he was going to get to keep her.

“Sure Mike, just a sec, okay?” She turned back to me. “It was nice to meet you and I’m sure I’ll see you around over the summer before school starts. It’s a small town so there’s not much to do. Again, I’m really sorry about your blouse. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”

I smiled. This was exactly what I was waiting for. “Well, since you obviously know everything there is to do and where to go…do you think you’d want to hang out tomorrow and show me around some? I’m really desperate for a shopping trip.”

“Sure, that would be fun. I can show you the only hangouts we have here. We would need to go to Port Angeles if you want to shop though. I’m not much of a shopper, but I do owe you a top and I need to pick up a few new books to read.”

“Edward, she just keeps getting better and better. A reader just like you.”

“Great! Here’s my cell and give me yours. I’ll give you my number and call you in the morning to set it up.” I handed her my phone and took hers to punch in my phone number.

Mike was frowning the whole time. “Bella, I thought we were going to the movie tomorrow?”

“Oh”, she said looking over her shoulder at him, “we can still do that in the evening. I’m sure we’ll be back in time. I’ll call you when I get home, okay?”

He pouted a little and said, “Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll just hang out with the guys then ‘til you call. Now, come on they’re starting up another song.” He started to tug her arm.

She waved bye to me as they walked away. “I’ll see you tomorrow Alice,” she said as he spun her out onto the floor.

I skipped back over to everyone smiling. “Well, Edward, what do you think?”

He just looked at me with a far away look in his eyes and smiled.

Emmett bellowed, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I think we have a winner!”

Rosalie just smacked him and rolled her eyes. She turned to Edward and frowned. “Edward, don’t screw this up. You better make damn sure. You know I don’t like this, but I want you to find someone the same as everyone else.”

Edward frowned at Rosalie. “Just shut up. I know what I’m doing. I know she’s my mate. I want her.” He then grinned, lightening the tense atmosphere. “Unless of course we find out that her idea of reading material is fashion magazines or cheesy romance novels,” he smirked.

Rosalie & I both smacked him at that. “Hey! Watch it. That’s sacrilege you know.”

We stayed a while longer so Emmett could dance a few more songs with his wife. Jasper was even confident enough in himself to spin me on the floor for a couple of songs. I warned Edward not to approach Bella tonight, so he just stood there on the side watching his future in the arms of his rival. I admired his restraint. He was going to need it.