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Rosalie Hale's POV

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The engine's purr faded behind me as I pulled into the Cullen garage, but its echo hummed in my bones. Not from the drive but from him my mate Atlas.

Even his name sat differently on my tongue, like a spark I wasn't expecting to taste. I hadn't stopped thinking about him since I pulled away from the roadside, pretending not to notice how long he watched me go.

I stepped through the front door, already knowing she would be waiting.

Alice barreled down the staircase, her steps too fast to belong to anyone else in the house. She practically glided through the door.

"You met him!" she squealed, bouncing with every word left mouth "You met Atlas!"

Of course she knew. She saw it before it happened like she always does everything about him. At this point it feels like Alice has already lived a seperate life with him through her visions

"Don't play coy, Alice. You've seen his arrival multiple times by now."

She grabbed my hand and twirled me in a circle like we were ten-year-olds again. "I saw you with him in the woods, beside the car. I saw the way you looked at each other. How did it feel, Rose?"

I hesitated, then let the truth slip past the dam. "Like the world flipped."

Alice's face lit up.

"I know now," I whispered. "I know what you meant all this time. The ache in your chest when you thought about him. That strange pull toward someone you hadn't even met yet."

She nodded, eyes wide. "You felt the bond, didn't you?"

I didn't say yes nor did I need to. She already knew the answer.

Alice has been talking about him and our bond ever since she first saw him in her vision. She had been feeling it before meeting him unlike me who couldn't feel or see the bond.

Not the way Alice and Atlas could. I couldn't trace its threads like he claimed he could with those impossible blue eyes nor could I felt it beforehand like Alice. But now after meeting him? I felt it anchored in my ribs, raw and real.

"Does it bother you?" I asked softly, dropping my voice to a whisper only Alice could hear. "That you're not the only one?"

She blinked once, then smiled quietly, sincerely. "Not with you. Never with you."

A pause then a deep breath.

"I've loved you like a sister since the day I opened my eyes in this family," she said. "And when I first saw the vision of me and Atlas, and then you and him I didn't feel jealous. I felt happy. We share everything and every secret Rose, and I know what you have went through, and I couldn't be more happier when I learned you will find your happiness with him, even more so when it includes me."

The ache in my chest eased a little and I nodded to her.

"Sister-wives," I said with a small, dry smirk.

Alice giggled. "It's a little old-fashioned, but… I like the sound of that."

I allowed myself a chuckle, and for the first time in a long time, my laugh felt like natural not the ones I practiced to appear polite.

We walked into the living room side-by-side, still sharing the quiet glow of possibility until a voice made my skin crawl.

"I didn't know you could blush like that, Rosalie," Edward said, leaning against the window with his arms crossed. "Although you didn't when he brushed your hand."

My stomach twisted.

"What?"

His smirk faltered as he met my glare. "I saw it your conversation with him. I caught it when you came in."

"You read my mind?" My voice was cold enough to frost the windows.

He had the decency to look vaguely ashamed. "It wasn't intentional. I was already-"

"Don't," I snapped, cutting him off. "You think that makes it better? You trespassed. On something intimate. Something that was mine to share."

Edward looked caught between defensiveness and guilt. "I just-"

"You just violated my mind," I hissed, knowing fully he could now control his power unlike before.

The room was suddenly full. Esme stood by the doorway, concern etched into her gentle features. Carlisle moved behind Edward, his eyes narrowing in quiet caution.

Alice stood between us like a protective shadow.

"I'll say it again," I growled. "Don't. Ever. Do that again."

Edward said nothing. The silence pressed in.

Carlisle finally spoke, softly. "I know you're upset. And you have every right to be. But… there's more we need to discuss."

I turned slowly, jaw clenched, letting him change the subject lest I attack the self-suffering hundred years old brain dead teenager.

"I've seen only one other like him before," Carlisle said in a measured tone. "A damphir. Half human, half vampire. It was over a hundred years ago. The Volturi sent a team to eliminate him."

My heart fell like a stone. "Why?"

"They fear what they don't understand. They viewed him as unnatural. A threat."

"He isn't a threat," Alice said firmly. "He's… kind and gentle and caring."

"And we'll protect him," I added, steel coating every syllable. "Even if that means standing against the Volturi themselves."

Carlisle held my gaze. "You'd go that far?"

I didn't blink. "Yes." I said with determination and Alice echoed with matching steel of my own, "Yes."

Esme tried to gently redirect the storm. "There's more. Edward… had a moment of his own today. With a girl."

Edward, still subdued, nodded. "Her name's Isabella. Isabella Swan Chief Swan's daughter. She's… different. My singer. And…" he looked away, "my mate."

That drew a pause. I blinked, surprised.

Alice, ever curious, tilted her head. "And you're not trying to drink her dry?"

Edward's voice was low. "I barely stopped myself, she is danger to my self control."

"Well," I muttered. "At least we'll have quiet around here while you're off brooding."

Alice stifled a laugh.

Esme stepped forward gently. "He's going away for a few days. To keep the poor girl safe."

That I welcomed. "Good."

As Edward moved to leave, I followed Alice toward the stairs. But before I disappeared, I looked back at Carlisle.

"If Isabella stays human for long, the Volturi will come anyway."

Alice added, "So talk to your golden boy, Carlisle. Don't waste your breath on us."

I chuckled at her cute fierceness. And with that, we climbed the stairs, leaving behind our coven in silence, each busy with their own thoughts.

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[An: So there's already 20+ Chapters on my Patr**n. So if you guys want to read more. Go to my Patr*on/41_Claws. There are currently 20 advance unedited chapters on it…]

Ps~Donate Powerstone for extra chapter tomorrow.

Hundred stones for an extra chapter. Guys and Gals when are you gonna complete the target. Comeon just once you gotta give it your all… powerstone-pfff!

Peace.

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