Can you see me? (Cullens x B.fem reader)

Chapter 28: Offer

             (Narrator's POV)
It is only half an hour's time from the moment Bella ran away from the dance studio, Azira opens the door at the entrance of the dance studio, taking only a few steps out before she's swarmed by three of the Cullen males with palpable worry and panic radiating off them.

Carlisle checks her over for any injury while Emmett speeds past into the dance studio in search of James who left minutes before Azira even came out of the dance studio. Edward stares at Azira with conflicted emotions flickering in his eyes as he listens to Carlisle's assurance that Azira is fine, Emmett appearing back out with relief at hearing Azira's okay.

Azira let's them get their panic out before speaking up with her usual calm smile, "Guys, I'm fine. I'm much more capable than you think but sorry for worrying you all, I won't make a habit of it.", Carlisle then asks Azira, "Where's James? There's traces of his presence here but it looks like he left.. did anything happen that we should be concerned about?", Azira shakes her head no and explains "I was able to get him to leave and quit his hunt for Bella. Negotiating was tough but we reached an agreement eventually."

"Wait, you negotiated with him and it worked?" Questions a disbelieving Edward as he stares at Azira with skepticism, Carlisle is surprised at Azira's explanation but doesn't question it as he's aware she has a lot of secrets that she may choose to share with time while Emmett is just happy she's okay, expressing it as he wraps his arm around Azira's shoulders and cheers lightly, "Successfully negotiated with and drove off a vampire, nice."

Azira chuckles at Emmett's praise and leans into his hold as she nods to Edward's skeptical question, further explaining herself casually, "I simply dissuaded him from going after Bella in exchange for me finding him a better 'prey' option. Of course, i had to threaten him a little to take the deal but it worked out in the end.", "Finding him better prey?" Carlisle asks with a concerned curiosity to which Azira reassures, "Don't worry, i have it all figured out. My line of work makes this kind of thing easy for me, so don't worry, no innocents will be involved.", she adds on before Edward can even say a thing, "And no, I'm not telling you what I do for work just yet.. a few complications involved in that process and I'd like to be prepared before I tell you all everything."

His words cut off before he could even ask the questions written all over his expression, Edward sighs with a notable hint of frustration but relents, for now atleast. As they walk away from the dance studio and head to the car they got to use here, courtesy of Alice, Azira says to Edward with an underlying seriousness to her calm tone, "Oh, and Edward? If you want to keep your relationship stable and Bella safe, you better educate her on avoiding making impulsive decisions like the one she pulled earlier in the future, especially now that she's exposed to the world of the supernatural. Had I not been paying attention to her, it may have either been to late for you to save her or she would have been seriously injured by the time you did get here."

Her words dawn a chilling reality that Edward had tried to ignore for a long while now, as they get in the car, Carlisle driving while he sits in the front passenger seat, Emmett sat with Azira in the back, Azira concludes calmly, "I'm not saying this with any ill will, i do care about you and the actions you take. But I won't always be there to look after Bella when you're not around and the same can be said for the rest, we won't always be around to pull Bella out of danger, so the least you could do is teach her to avoid it all together or atleast teach her how to survive long enough."

The car starts and Carlisle pulls out of the parking lot, driving them all back to the hotel to meet up with Alice and Jasper who are currently with Bella, ready to fly back to Forks. During the drive, Carlisle expresses his agreement with Azira's words and adds his own advice to Edward, "She has a point, Edward. This was only the first incident we couldn't have seen coming, we barely managed to get Bella out of harms way and had it not been for Azira's close attention, there's no telling what could have happened to her in that short time frame she was in there with James had she been alone the whole time before we got there."