Chapter 13: Truth

Bella

It was cold. A kind of cold I had never felt in my life, one that pierced my soul and numbed everything in its wake. I was vaguely aware of being touched, but maybe Victoria would get bored if I gave no response. I waited for what felt like hours to no avail.

"Victoria please...just stop. I told you, I'm not your mate." I croaked out, tears closing my throat at the thought of her trying to get me to love her. There was a metallic squealing, followed by rustling. More noise than three people were capable of making, my eyes snapped open, and I was momentarily blinded by bright lights. Lights that they didn't have in the warehouse I was being kept...I whipped my head around and was met with midnight eyes, the passion burning within them searing away the remaining numbness.

"Mate?" I was frozen, I had never meant for anyone to learn that painful part of my experience and now I'd announced it to the entire house.

"I-" Before I could even attempt to explain a growl sounded from somewhere outside.

"It would appear that your brother is awake, maybe we should move this conversation elsewhere." Carlisle looked at me, sympathy clear on his face, I swallowed deeply and nodded. My feet didn't get a chance to touch the ground as I soon found myself in the arms of Rosalie. Fear gnawed at me, a knot tightening in my stomach, there was no way I would be able to look into her darkened eyes again. She didn't say anything as we moved to the living room and I felt my anxiety spike with each second that passed, the inevitable break up weighing down on me. After all why would she want someone who had been claimed by another? Even if it was one-sided I could never wash off her touch, I would never escape the mark she left. I felt the couch under my thighs, unable to look at anyone I stared at the floor. A small cold hand wrapped around my own.

"Honey, I know it's hard but I think you should tell us what happened with them. Everything. We're going to protect you but it would help to fully understand the situation you're in." Esme's voice was soft, comforting, and I gripped her hand as though I would drift away if I let go.

"I didn't know at first, that none of what had happened was a coincidence, but eventually she, V-Victoria," I shuddered over her name barely managing to swallow the bile that had risen, "let it slip. They had been watching us...watching me, waiting to strike. The attack on my pack, they were behind it. It was all just so Victoria could get to me, at first it was just a fascination that she had. However it quickly morphed into an obsession, it wasn't until probably two years in when she deluded herself into thinking...thinking I was her mate." I wrapped my arms around myself, steeling myself to continue the story, they deserved to know everything. "After that she stopped letting James and Laurent...have their alone time with me. She was possessive, deranged, there was a time she even fought James because she caught him alone with me. I thought they were gonna kill each other, hoped they would, but Laurent stopped it from getting that far. After that she was the only one I saw for a long time, though she eventually enlisted their help to try and turn me into a more...obedient mate. She would beg for forgiveness after each time she let them touch me, saying it could stop if I just...loved her like I should. She would, s-she. I-" I broke down at that point, I wanted so badly to tell them but I just couldn't relive that nightmare out loud. "I'm sorry,I'm so sorry. I can't I can't I can't" I cried into my hands, rocking back and forth as I was overcome by sorrow, self hatred, and fear. The room was suffocating, everyone too afraid to move. None brave enough to cut through the negativity I had introduced, I knew this would happen. They'll leave, force me out, even Jasper will-

"We still love you." No hesitation, no reluctance, the statement was as strong as the arms I found myself in, as steady as the gaze I was forced to meet. Honey eyes boring into my own with a wordless promise, a promise of forever. It should have been comforting, and it was, but only to part of me, the other part was furious. How could they just act as though I weren't a complete mess, like I hadn't brought danger right to their front door?

"Why!? I'm a disgusting piece of shit that's been claimed by an even more disgusting woman! People are fucking dead because of me! My family, my friends, good people just gone and it's all my fault! Why can't any of you understand that!?" I ripped myself from Rosalie's arms. "My best friend's parents are fucking dead because of me, James killed them because they knew who I was...that's the only reason why. It's all my fault." Before any of the Cullen's could respond a large hand made contact with my cheek, snapping my neck back from the force. A growl resonated within the room, no one paid much mind to it though as Rosalie was restrained as soon as Jacob had stepped into the room.

"Shut the hell up, don't you dare talk about my best friend like that!" He yelled in my face, "It is not your fault some sick fuck fixated on you! It is not your fault that that same sick bastard took it upon herself to hurt the people around you, to hurt you! Isabella none of this is your fault, you are just as much a victim as those who lost their lives!" He pulled me into his warm arms as a sob ripped through my body, or maybe it was his I couldn't tell anymore. "You're some of only family I have left...you don't get to push us away. I'm not going to let you."