Chapter III

I woke up with a start and sprang into sitting position. I looked around the room for the source of my sudden awakening and visibly relaxed at finding nothing. My room looked exactly the same as it had the night before.

From the view outside, it seemed to be the early hours of the day. I looked at my alarm clock at saw it had just gone half past six. I hadn't remembered setting my alert last night, so I was lucky to have woken up in time.

Phil and Mom were still asleep judging by the soft snores that could be heard on the other side of the wall. My wound was feeling a whole lot better and when I got up to inspect it at my vanity mirror I looked to see that the bleeding had stopped but it was still very swollen. I quickly dabbed the powder I had stolen from Mom's room the night prior onto the area to conceal to bruising.

The sound of footsteps down the hall drew my attention, as my mother's heels clinked across the wooden floor and I hurriedly opened the first draw quickly shoving in the compact makeup disc.

"Bella," she called, "time for school, wake up or you're gonna be late."

"Already up mom, I'll be down soon."

After a few seconds of not hearing a response I threw my legs out of the bed and made my way to the wardrobe.

I quickly laid out a pair of converse, light blue t-shirt and jeans. For a girl I sure got ready fast, I wasn't like the others in my grade, a face full of make-up and gallivant hairstyles were unnecessary preliminaries that I didn't care much for.

I had a shower yesterday night to attempt to remove the feeling of Paul's hands crawling all over my skin, and decided to take another one for safe measures. There was still a dark aura in the air - I didn't even feel safe in my own home. My stomach grumbled at the smell of bacon and eggs being fried wafted into the surrounding air, temporarily taking my mind of the occurrences of yesterday.

I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen, taking a seat in one of the empty chairs at the breakfast table. It was fairly large, considering we were only a family of three, but then again this was Renee Dwyer we were talking about. A phase of interior design happened to be one of her many escapades in the past. She had still managed to keep a sense of home through it though, I thought, as I looked around the various walls to see many of my childhood drawings and paintings hung. I wasn't the most creative child, but Mom had still managed to make me feel like the next Van Gogh, and that's what I loved about her.

"You look better," she mused, momentarily drawing my from my moment of haze.

"I feel better," I returning her smile widely. I was going to be or at least look as if I was in a happy mood today, and nothing, not even Paul, would ruin that.

I grabbed a plate and piled on two pieces of toast, bacon and eggs onto it. Missing dinner meant I was as hungry as ever and I was glad mom thought to rustle something up before school.

When I finally had enough on my plate I dug in quickly - I couldn't be late. The hall monitors were the worst. I placed my empty plate into the sink and caught sight of my mother's wide round eyes.

I was slightly taken aback for a second, "Bella, is that makeup you're wearing?" Her eyes zeroed in on my neck. A small smile lit her face.. Figures she'd be happy; she was always drowning on about how I should be more girly, not that I paid much attention. I grabbed my backpack and made a run for it and out of the house before she could say anymore.

School was a ten minute walk so I didn't worry so much about Paul approaching me. It was broad daylight, and there was a few people around, what was the worst he could do? That hope was short lived however, when a deep and familiar timber sounded through the air.

"Bella."

I could hear my pulse crashing in my ears. How stupid was I to walk to school. I didn't want to turn around, it's almost as I could picture that stupid smirk on his face. It made me feel sick. Why me? Why couldn't he have chosen some other girl to harass. I hoped with everything that if I carried on walking he would just move on and think he was mistaken.

Boy was I wrong. "Don't walk away from me. Turn around, and that's an order." My muscles began moving at their own will, almost as if my body was being controlled by someone else and within seconds I was facing the devil himself.

"You didn't tell me you walked to school on your own." He said looking annoyed.

"You were too busy biting me to ask about myself, let alone school," I bit back bitterly, finally finding a backbone, "Besides, like its any of your business what I do."

"You're my mate. Anything and everything that concerns you is my business." He growled, his eyes growing darker by the second.

"Pfft, we are not friends, so please don't refer to us as mates; as if I wanna be friends with you." I replied, my voice etched in sarcasm.

"Don't deny me." His eyes narrowed, his voice expressing how his patience was thinning, and suddenly all the courage I had built up also began to dissipate.

I took another step back as his earlier threat of beating me into submission coursed through my mind. I causally searched around to find a place I could escape to if needed. There was nobody around to save me, so it looked like it was every man for himself. The block I was walking on was big, but bushes on both sides concealed a view of Paul and I from the world. There was no way anyone would be able to see me from here. The thought alone made my eyes sting. Why the hell did I walk alone? I wanted to scream at myself for being so stupid.

"We're leaving." He said bluntly, pulling me out of my frantic muse.

"What?" I said taken aback.

"You heard what I said. I'm taking you home."

I visibly relaxed a little at this until he continued, "My home."

"You can't be serious." I laughed humourlessly, "You can't take me away from my home, my parents, my life.. Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Because Bella, like I told you yesterday, you're mine. Even as a sister, a friend, and someone that I have to protect for now at least, you're still mine."

I stare up at Paul, angrily my hands clenches into shaking fits. I hates him. How dare he. How dare he think he could boss me around, what right did he have? "I am not yours, I don't belong to anybody, we are not friends, we are nothing, and we never will be!" I semi-shouted at him, I needed to get out of here fast, but causing a scene wasn't the best way to do it.

He bent down to my height slowly and patted my head affectionately. "Is that all you needed to say?"

"Yes." I hmphed triumphantly.

"Good. I don't want to hear that again." He growled again, "That mark on your neck ties you to me. The mark on your neck means you can never escape me. That mark on you're neck makes us mates. That mark on your neck means if I give you an order, it has to be obeyed. And I expect it to be. Understood?"

When I didn't respond, he grabbed my arm. " I said, understood?"

"Understood." I replied.

Paul sighed and fiddled with his car keys. "I can't wait for you to learn to submit." He mumbled absentmindedly.

"Right." I mumbled back sarcastically.

"I'll have to talk to you about the legends, maybe then you'll understand better." He said ignoring my sarcasm.

I hadn't even realised we had began walking, and when I caught my eye on the familiar grounds let's just say I had never been so happy to see the school building in my life. I ran towards it an attempt to escape Paul.

His hand shot out, grabbing my arm and halted any further movements. "Remember what I said Bella. I'll see you tonight."

He dropped his hand and I could feel his stare on my back as he watched me run into the building.

Don't ever run from me, Paul's words echoed through my head.

Please review and carry on following the story! New chapter will be up soon. Sorry for any spelling mistakes and grammar etc, but I checked it as well as I could.

For the record, if I haven't mentioned this already, Alice isn't going to die in this version, but that doesn't mean she's not going to get hurt. Sorry Alice lovers!

Hope you enjoyed!

-L