I apologize for taking so long with this update. Seriously. It's been insanity trying to get with Stratan to talk WYWG lately. I'm sick, my kids are sick, he's sick; we're both busy. It's a miracle we can get anything done at all.

Thanks for the reviews and adds, and thanks to Southern FanFiction Review and Claireoth for the awesome pimpage last weekend! If you play on Twitter, this fic has a readalong scheduled (hosted by Claireoth) on Nov 26 starting at 8pm EST. You can go to the Fic Bridge's blog or find me on twitter for more info (at) JennyB0719.


Chapter 7

Edward

I stood against the piano in the living room, listening as Bella spent an hour after our announcement talking with Alice and Esme about wedding plans. Watching her argue with Alice—through the images that played in Alice's head—over how many guests and how formal everything would be had been incredibly funny. She'd finally gotten flustered and literally put her foot down. Her face went red, her foot stomped once on the wooden floor, and her hands clenched into fists on her lap.

"No, Alice," she fumed. "I don't want the whole town here, and I certainly don't want to make people to eat crap like escargot and foie gras. Besides, have you ever tasted it? I mean, before you were a vampire. It's awful!"

Alice gave her a pitiful look. "But, Bella, you can't serve the stuff from the diner, either."

"I know," she replied. "But this is Forks, Alice, not New York. No one would appreciate the effort behind it, anyway."

"Yeah," Alice agreed, her mind racing with other possibilities, "but I still get to make your dress, don't I?"

She threw herself into the Canadian National Anthem so that I didn't see anything about the design of Bella's dress, causing me to chuckle.

"And you'll be my maid of honor," Bella said cheerfully.

Alice clapped happily. "Now, we just need to set a date."

I stepped forward, finally inserting myself into the conversation. "And we will," I interjected, glancing over at Bella to emphasize my point.

"Party pooper," she muttered. "This Bella-wolf thing really hinders my abilities. I'd normally know what the two of you would decide and could go ahead and start planning everything."

Bella patted her leg, fighting a smile. "You poor thing. That must be so hard."

Alice's eyes narrowed. "You enjoy this."

Bella finally smiled—hugely. "I do."

Alice's hands flittered around, and she shook her head. "Go away now and set the date. I'll talk to you later."

We laughed and quickly said our goodbyes so that I could get Bella back to Charlie at a reasonable hour. He was being extremely understanding about the situation—and I'd caught a few vague thoughts that explained why; he knew he had no choice—but I didn't want to rock the boat, so to speak. Anything I could do to continue the easy transition into this new life for Bella, I would.

I pulled into her driveway and cut the engine. Bella exhaled sharply, and then turned to face me with a sad expression on her face.

"I really don't want to go in there."

I laughed. "I don't want you to go in there, either, but you have to."

She groaned, "But why? He knows that we're… not normal. I should be able to just tell Charlie that I'll be at your house and stay whenever I want."

"You should, yes," I agreed, "but that would be disrespectful of me. He expects us to behave as average eighteen year olds unless there's something 'supernatural' to deal with. Staying the night with me hardly qualifies as such, love."

She pouted adorably, and I couldn't help but lean across the console and kiss her. "I know," she sighed. "See you in twenty?"

I started to nod in agreement, but then changed my mind. "Actually, I think I'll walk you to the door."

She grinned. "Well, aren't you chivalrous."

"At times."

I got out of the car and was at her side before she could open the door. She rolled her eyes and got out, taking my hand as I shut the door behind her.

As we walked to the door, I could hear the wolves snort in the woods behind the house as they guarded Charlie inside. Their thoughts were light and teasing as they took their places in the woods. They hadn't been here long; Charlie had gone over to Sue's for the evening since we were away. I cocked my head to the side, listening in on his thoughts, and knew that he'd told Sue about our engagement and…

I quickly focused on something else. Hearing about my soon-to-be father-in-law's sex life was something I was not interested in.

Bella giggled as she put her hand on the doorknob. "What's the matter? You look disgusted all of a sudden."

I put a pleasant mask on my face to hide how right she was. "Nothing. Something one of the pack members said out back."

Her face scrunched up in understanding. "I do not want to know. Especially since I don't have to."

I smiled down at her. "I don't blame you."

She opened the door and started to walk inside, but the scent of an unknown vampire was strong and stout, causing me to freeze and instantly grab a hold of Bella and pull her toward me.

My body instantly stiffened defensively, and I scanned the area, listening for a sound or an errant thought that would give away the position of the vampire, but found nothing.

"Edward, what is the matter with you?" Bella asked, squirming beneath my grasp. "You're freaking me out."

And then she caught a whiff of the scent.

"Oh, God," she said, nearly gagging. "It burns my throat."

"What?" I asked, perplexed.

"The scent. It burns my throat."

"You don't seem to mind my family's scent," I said questioningly, staring down at her.

"They sort of smell like you. They don't really bother me. Not like this. Maybe it's because I spent so much time with them before?"

"Possibly…" But I'd have to dwell on it later. "Stay here," I commanded, gently moving her aside. "Paul, Jared, someone's been here. One of you, keep an eye on Bella. The other, track the scent."

One of the wolves, Jared, was instantly standing in the shadows of a nearby tree. I could see where Bella and I stood in his thoughts and hear the anger and protectiveness that radiated in his conversation with Paul as he ran over to where we stood. He breathed in deeply, and then rushed off to find the trail of the vampire in question.

"I don't know," I murmured, answering their unspoken questions automatically. There was no need to be any more specific; I knew nothing right now. "I'll be right back."

"Edward," Bella said again, her eyes darting over to the tree.

"Just stay here. I'll explain when I know more."

She nodded once and leaned against the side of the house, letting me by. I squeezed her hand once as I walked inside and shut the door behind me.

Charlie jerked up from where he was lying on the couch. "Where's Bella?"

"On the porch." My hands curled at my sides as the scent grew stronger. "Notice anything suspicious?" I asked flatly.

He arched his brow with my tone. "Should I have?"

I shook my head. "No."

The heater turned on, causing the air in the vents to stir. My head snapped to the stairs. "He was in her room," I growled.

"What?" Charlie shouted. He was focusing on the implication of that statement, rather than how… inhuman it sounded. "Who was in her room?"

I didn't bother answering, just launched myself up the stairs and to Bella's room. I opened the door and recoiled at how strong the scent was here, and how many of Bella's belongings had been touched by him.

Her pillow was missing, and clothes were scattered all over the floor. I wasn't entirely sure what that meant, so I pulled out my phone and called Carlisle. I recounted everything and listed off what had been tampered with or taken from her room, all while Charlie waited impatiently beside me.

I slipped the phone back in my pocket and turned to him. "There was another vampire here while you were at Sue's. The house is going to need to be watched at all times now."

He blanched. "What did they want?"

"I'm not sure. They could have picked up my scent here, wondered why I found this place so fascinating. It's strongest in Bella's room…"

"That's probable."

"It is. But… why take her pillow?" I ran my hands through my hair. "I need to speak more with my family about this. Jasper, specifically. They're on their way now."

I brushed past him and bounded down the stairs. I opened the door and found Bella waiting nervously outside.

The wolf howled in the distance, signaling that he'd caught up to the vampire and needed backup from the pack.

"Go," I said to Jared urgently. "Go now. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"What is it?"

"I need you to go through your room. I need to know how many things of yours are missing."

Her eyes widened. "Missing?" She squeezed her eyes and shook her head violently. "Wait, you said 'how many'. What's missing?'

"At first glance, your pillow. But your room has been thoroughly searched. Maybe it was for something specific, but it just… It's ransacked."

Bella hurried past me and to her room, bringing her hand up to her neck, unconsciously massaging. I silently followed behind her.

"It wasn't this messy when I left," she breathed.

"I know."

I could hear my family's footfalls in the distance. "Alice, stay here and guard Charlie and Bella," I said as soon as she could hear me.

"Where are you going?" Bella asked in frustration. "You're not leaving me here."

"I'm not taking you. Paul picked up his scent and is hunting him down in the woods. I'll-"

"I'm coming with you," she said stubbornly. "Alice can stay with my dad."

I opened my mouth to argue, but quickly realized that it was a literal waste of time. "Fine," I groaned, "but you're to do nothing stupid."

"Me?" she said, smiling playfully as we hurried back outside. "When have I ever done anything stupid?"

I rolled my eyes and ran to the edge of the woods. "Hurry it up, will you," I called back at her, laughing as she ran at a human pace across the yard.

"A little warning would be nice," she giggled, just before she shoved her ring in her pocket, stripped off her clothes—which made me suddenly and extremely thankful for vampire vision—and phased.

We followed the scent of the other wolves deep into the woods, eventually passing my family, with the exception of Alice, and catching up to where Sam and Jacob had headed him off, and now had the vampire pinned to the ground, just at the edge of the cliffs in La Push.

The man—Riley, I deduced from his thoughts—fought against the wolves as soon as he heard us near, causing them to snap and snarl in his face. Jacob caught his cheek with his fang, and a metallic screech rang out in the air, causing Bella to cringe.

"You okay?" I asked her.

She gave a quick nod and kept moving forward.

I slowed until I was walking at a lazy human pace toward them while Bella trotted over to where Jared and Paul were circling the group, no doubt trying to get information out of them. It was infuriating to be unable to hear her at a time like this.

I took stock of the vampire; I'd learn all his secrets before he could blink. His eyes weren't quite the deep, ruby color of an aged vampire that fed off of humans, indicating that he was still a newborn… still strong. Stronger than me, judging by the struggle Sam and Jacob were having, just to keep him on the ground.

"His name is Riley, love," I said, cocking my head to the side and giving him and sardonic smile. "Riley Biers."

Riley's mouth dropped open. "How did you know that?" he asked hesitantly.

I tapped my temple. "Mind reader. Have any neat tricks, newborn?"

If a vampire could pale any further, he'd have done it. "No. Not that I know of."

"Oh, you'd know it."

The rest of my family arrived, filing in behind me. I could feel the anger rolling off of them in waves, thanks to Jasper's emphatic powers, until he'd calmed them just enough so that no one made any mistakes while dealing with this Riley.

I let out my breath and nodded at him. "Thanks."

A knowing smile slowly lifted his lips. "Distracting, isn't it?"

I laughed once under my breath, unwilling to answer that, and turned my attention back to Riley.

Jasper and Emmett took the places of the wolves, standing Riley up and holding onto his arms so I could see his face clearly. I followed Bella's lead and began circling around him, stalking him, until his thoughts raced and his unnecessarily labored breathing came out in sharp gasps.

"Going to escape by way of the ocean, I see. Smart. The wolves can't swim like us."

He said nothing, simply glared at me.

"Where's her pillow? Her shirt?" I asked evenly.

He stiffened in Emmett and Jasper's arms. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hmm." I closed my eyes so that I could concentrate and sifted through the mess of thoughts. "Contingency plan. He dropped them off about three miles south when he realized he was being tracked."

"No!" he bellowed in panic, fighting against Emmett and Jasper. Jasper twisted his arm; the sound of it being bent echoed around us, and he cried out in pain.

On it, Jared said, nudging Paul. Paul gave one last baleful look at Riley, and then followed Jared into the woods.

Riley snarled and thrashed, his panic and fear of failure consuming him, as the wolves disappeared from sight.

"You failed, Riley," I said tauntingly, using his thoughts against him. "Victoria will kill you now, won't she?"

He groaned and slumped in my brothers' arms; his thoughts became increasingly clear as he began to admit defeat.

"So Victoria's plotting to kill Bella," I said lowly, fighting to stay calm, "to make me suffer. Although, she's lying to Riley about the reasoning. She says it's out of fear… but really, it's retribution for killing her mate."

Riley's mind blanked with shock.

"Oh, yes," I murmured with a smirk. "You're not her mate. That was reserved for someone named James." I took a step closer and leaned forward so that we were merely inches apart. "And we killed him."

A deep growl rumbled in Riley's chest.

"How?" Jasper asked, tightening his grip on Riley.

I straightened up and focused on his thoughts again. "Newborns?" My eyes snapped to Jasper's, and he nodded. "The numbers keep changing. I can't…" I stopped trying to figure out how many and honed in on the when. "July. Late July."

Bella whined softly next to me, but all I could do was reach out and touch her. Images from Jasper's past came hurling at me so fast, I couldn't make any sense of them; no matter how hard I concentrated.

"What is that?" I asked, glancing at him with wide eyes.

"A newborn army." He fed me images of his past in Texas again, images that paralleled what I'd just seen in Riley's mind. Scarlet eyes, the uncontrollable burn of thirst a newborn feels, fights among themselves, their numbers growing, then depleting because of it, followed by the annihilation of another coven… the increasing reign that followed. "Yes?"

"Yes," I breathed. It explained every single discarded and drained corpse found in recent days. It was more than one careless newborn causing the damage, and there was no one teaching them how to be secretive. They were left to kill at will.

My prediction of it catching the attention of the Volturi couldn't have been more right.

"We need to find out everything we can about Victoria's plan. I want all the details imaginable," Jasper returned determinately. His own plan of defense was slowly forming…

"She's not getting within a hundred feet of Bella. After you've learned everything you need to, dispose of him," I said ominously. "I think I've gotten all I want. You find out the mechanics."

He nodded.

"I'll take Bella home and let Alice know what's going on." Bella growled beside me. "And Bella, too," I chuckled. "But I think she'd benefit from hearing it from you," I said to Jasper.

He was a little reluctant in his agreement, still feeling guilt over his attack on her and the separation that followed it. He cleared his throat before finally answering, "Sure."

"Edward," Carlisle said quietly. "Are you sure you don't want to hear what he has to say? You brothers can handle it, yes, but…"

"Carlisle, I can't look at him. Not without wanting to tear his eyes out and rip him limb from limb. He threatened my mate," I seethed. "I wouldn't be able to give him the chance to talk. And we need everything we can get from him."

He nodded in understanding. "He's so young, Edward. Is it necessary to-"

"You wouldn't keep him around if he'd been after Esme," I responded with a wry smile upon hearing his plan of trying to rehabilitate this vampire and bring him into our way of life. It was just like Carlisle to be so compassionate. "It'd eat you alive, wondering if he was trustworthy—changed."

He cast a glance over at Riley. "It just seems like such a waste."

"It is. But it's Victoria's waste, not mine."

"I suppose you're right," he replied, still unconvinced that disposing of Riley was the right thing to do.

"Carlisle, he loves her. It's not quite the love he would have if she were his mate, but he doesn't know what that feels like; he's never experienced it. To him, she is his mate. His loyalty will always be to her."

Carlisle sighed. "Then I suppose we have no choice but to kill him."


Bella

"Okay," I said, pacing the kitchen of the Cullen's large mansion. "Riley's… gone."

"Yes," Edward and Jasper said in unison, finally… reanimating after what seemed like hours of being at a standstill. Neither of them had moved since we'd gotten here. They just stood frozen, only letting their eyes move while I processed everything. Edward had always referred to it as resting. Standing or lying in one, unwavering position for hours, unblinking—sometimes not even breathing—since a vampire was unable to sleep.

I'd never tell Edward this, but sometimes—i.e. now—it was a little creepy.

I hadn't been able to settle down since Edward and I had left the majority of the Cullens in the woods with Riley. Adrenaline coursed through my veins from the moment I'd shifted, and my heart still pounded loudly in my chest because of it, even hours later. With everything going on in my life, Victoria's threat had seemed… distanced. She would dance around the treaty line and disappear, almost like a tease. Coming face to face with one of her newborns had made it finally feel terrifyingly real.

Pacing, stupidly, was the only thing keeping me sane right now. I didn't have anything else to do. The pack and the Cullens had already starting making arrangements to prepare for Victoria's inevitable return, and Alice had my room completely spotless by the time we got back. She'd been trying to help, but the reality was that she just made it easier for me to focus on all my worries since I had nothing useful to do with myself now.

Knowing how close Charlie had come to a vampire—a vampire that fed off of humans—was a little more than I could handle. He was the only thing in my life that hadn't changed. Everything else had changed so drastically in such a short amount of time, even my relationship with Edward. To have something happen to him…

"We should just skip graduation tomorrow and catch the next flight to… I don't know," I said abruptly. "Where's someplace remote and cloudy?"

"That's unnecessary," Edward replied.

"But it worked with James," I argued, glancing down at the scar on my hand. "Well, it wasn't perfect, but-" I cut myself off. "Maybe we can convince Charlie to take a vacation?"

"You think he'd honestly leave, knowing that Victoria wants you dead?" Edward asked. "I'm beginning to think that being stubborn is not a genetic trait at all, but a learned behavior. He's just as bad as you are."

"You're right," I groaned, still pacing feverishly around the room. I decided to go back to my original line of thought, because this was getting me nowhere. "So Riley's gone," I repeated, "and there's no way that Victoria could know that he was caught?"

"Well… I'd say she knows by now," Edward replied with a dark chuckle, exchanging a satisfied look with Jasper. Vampires and their revenge… "It doesn't take us that long to get to Seattle from here."

I jabbed the rolled up newspaper in my hand toward him. "Don't start with me," I warned. "I just spent two hours trying to explain all of this to my father… who was extremely ticked off that he wasn't told about this earlier."

I'd honestly thought he was going to stroke out when Edward casually mentioned that the vampire we'd told him about a couple of days ago was actually here to act out some elaborate plan of revenge against Edward—one that would result in my death, if she was successful. His face had gone purple; he'd stopped breathing… And then he blew, demanding to know why he hadn't been told before—insisting that he could have been doing something to help. Although, I think he knew that was impossible. He hadn't even realized that anyone had been in our house to begin with, when Edward and I had both been able to sense it immediately.

For the first time in his life, Charlie Swan was way out of his league. Hey, I was out of my own league, and I was at least physically able to keep up with this mess.

"With everything he's been told lately, I was hoping that this could wait a while. Obviously, not," Edward replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Yeah, the timing definitely sucks," Jasper agreed.

"Would you two just shut up?" I snapped. "Timing? Really? That's all you two are worried about?"

"Yes," they said in unison again.

"This," I rolled out the newspaper so that tomorrow's headline could be seen clearly and shook it around for emphasis, "is not all right. This… is worrisome. This… is-"

Twenty-four people reported missing in the last six months. All of them likely turned by Victoria and let loose to feed on whomever they pleased. All of those names… Their names, along with their victims; the people found dead and drained dry in recent weeks. The thought had my stomach rolling.

Edward yanked the newspaper out of my hands and threw it across the room, startling me. "There's no way she'll ever get to you. We know her plan, so we can ready ourselves for when she shows. Not only that, but we have something that she'll never be able to anticipate. We have the wolves on our side. She'll be in for quite a surprise when she sees that we're working together, instead of fighting one another like we've done all this time."

"How did no one see this? How did no one know that she was building… an… an army? " I asked, using Jasper's earlier term to describe it. "What the hell does that mean, anyway?"

"Because until Charlie told you two about the unexplained deaths in the area, we didn't know anything was going on. The police have kept this quiet," Jasper explained. "Nothing has been close enough to Forks for Carlisle to catch wind of it as the hospital. And we certainly didn't know to tie it all to Victoria. Even if we had, it would have done no good. Alice can't get anything but flashing images. She can't see anything involving you, and Victoria's figured out how to use Alice's power against us."

"She just keeps changing her mind," I muttered.

"Exactly," Jasper said.

I finally stopped pacing and headed over to the bar in the center of the room, plopping down on one of the stools and letting my head fall to my arms.

"I think I'm going to be sick," I moaned, feeling nauseated all over again.

"I can help with that. Calm your nerves," Jasper suggested.

"No! I don't want you to zap me with anything to calm me down," I growled. "I hate that."

Edward laughed.

"Ah, now, Bella," he drawled, "that's not how it works. I simply will you calm."

I waved him off. "Whatever. Don't 'will' me anything."

A breeze of cool air rushed passed me, and Jasper's hand was suddenly on my back, rubbing large circles. A wave of sudden relief came over me, and I sighed as all the tension left my body.

"Jasper…" I didn't know whether to thank him or be mad at him for not listening to me.

"You're makin' me anxious, too. Jittery. I need to be able to think clearly."

"Oh," I said dumbly.

"There, that's better." His lips twisted up on one side, but it didn't have near the effect that Edward's lopsided smile had on me. "Listen, Bella, before I start explaining my past to you, I need to say something."

"Which is?"

"I'm… sorry. About everything."

I glanced up at him in confusion. "Sorry about what?"

He gave me a look. "You know…"

I sat up and nodded. "It's okay, really. It all worked out."

His entire face turned down as he shook his head. "No, it's not. Edward should've been here for your first phase. He should have helped you get through it."

"I'm here now, Jazz. Like Bella said: it all worked out," Edward interjected with a shrug.

"Stop trying to make me feel better," Jasper laughed. "Let Bella answer."

"Um, okay." I glanced down and wrung my hands together, trying to figure out how to answer him honestly. "I'm not mad," I started hesitantly. "I know you struggle the most with control and on my birthday, it'd been a while since you'd hunted. I don't blame you for Edward leaving. It wasn't you who made that choice; he did. But I missed him so much while he was gone. I just… wasn't me anymore. And, you're right; I did need him when I went through that first phase. I had so much going on; Jacob, Billy, Renee, Charlie… I could have used some consistency—one constant when everything was in the middle of a massive upheaval."

I stared at him evenly, trying to convey my sincerity with the next part. "I meant what I said, Jasper. It really did work out. For whatever reason, this is how things are supposed to be." I paused, letting my breath out loudly. "Like maybe we could appreciate each other more, now that we know how it feels without the other."

Satisfied with my answer, he nodded.

"Can we talk about the important stuff now? You know, the vampire army that you somehow know so much about? The part-human in this house needs sleep for tomorrow."

Jasper smiled, and I suddenly felt refreshed, like I'd slept for days on end.

I groaned. "Jasper, this won't do any good, but…" I reached out and smacked the side of his head, thankful that I could do so now without breaking my hand. "Stop manipulating me."

He held up his hands in surrender and laughed. "Fine, fine. So you want me to tell you how I know so much about Victoria's newborn army?"

I nodded, prompting him to lower his hands while pulling one of his shirtsleeves to his elbow.

I gasped as the light hit the scars that littered his pale skin. "What happened to you?" And then it hit me that his scars looked identical to mine. "You were bitten."

"My beginning wasn't as easy as our boy's over there," he said, motioning over to Edward with his head. "Mine was volatile. I was always fighting someone over something."

"But… why?" I asked, flabbergasted. Jasper was the calmest person I knew.

"Survival." He leaned forward, staring at me intently. "Bella, I was made a vampire for the same reason that Riley was. I was a soldier, both before and after I was turned."

I gulped when I finally understood what he was about to tell me. "You were in one of these armies."

"I was in the most powerful of armies in the south," he responded. "And I hated every second of it."


"So what do you think?" I asked Edward, biting my lip as I set the copy of my speech down.

"I think no one will be paying attention to that speech if you give it like that," he answered, broadly gesturing to the fact that I was naked.

As was he.

It was all I could do to not trip over my words as I recited the speech I'd spent so much time on. As always, he was in the forefront of my mind. The mating instinct made it so difficult to think about anything else, especially with him… on display like he was. I was nearly consumed by the drive to tackle him—well, attempt to, anyway—to my rickety little bed and have my way with him, regardless of the fact that we'd already partaken in that little activity once this morning.

"Edward," I blushed and glanced away, "be serious."

"Okay. I think it's great. You have nothing to be nervous about."

"I'm not nervous." He arched his brow challengingly. "Well, maybe I am a little."

He laughed at the face I made as another wave of nausea rolled over me. I was going to throw up as soon as I stepped on stage if I kept this up. "You need to give your heart a rest, baby. It's been flying all morning long."

I got up from the seat at my desk and moved across the room to where he was deliciously sprawled out on the bed. Thankfully, Charlie had decided to go fishing early this morning to decompress, taking the wolf sentinels with him. Edward and I had the house to ourselves, for once, without another being with preternatural hearing listening—or trying not to, depending on who it was.

"Maybe I don't want to give my heart a rest… yet," I murmured playfully.

He smiled widely. "And what did you have in mind?"

I shrugged nonchalantly and crawled onto the bed to straddle him. The moment my body brushed against his, he moaned a little. "Taking advantage of the fact that we're alone… and not lying on the ground somewhere?"

He reached up and cupped my face; his thumb stroked my jaw line. "I'm proud of you, you know," he said softly, taking my surprise.

"For graduating high school?" I asked incredulously. "Please."

"No, not that. I had no doubt that you'd graduate high school," he responded. "For going a little out of character and agreeing to give a speech. We both know how you'd rather let someone else have the spotlight."

"Well, Mrs. Cope kind of guilted me into it," I admitted.

"Want me to kill her?" he deadpanned.

I giggled and shook my head, spilling my hair out around us. "And give up the satisfaction of doing it myself? No way."

He chuckled and pulled me down for a kiss. "What were you saying before I changed the subject?" he mumbled against my lips.

"Mmm…" His icy fingers skimmed down from my face to my hips, and my mind went blank. "Can't remember now."

"That's a shame. It sounded dirty."

I kissed him again, and then broke away to move my mouth over his jaw and to his neck. "It was," I replied simply.

He shuddered as my breath washed over his skin and gripped my hips, suddenly speeding everything up as he rolled our hips together.

"Oh, my God," I breathed, completely consumed by him. His hands were… everywhere, and I screwed my eyes shut so that I didn't start gasping and moaning embarrassingly.

"Bella," he whispered, dragging his mouth down until he reached my breasts. "You taste so good."

His hands came up to palm my breasts as his mouth closed over one of my nipples. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply against my skin. With a deep, guttural sound, his eyes opened back up and traveled to mine. The way they slowly dilated, blackening as he nipped at my skin, resonated through me.

"Edward," I moaned, slowly unraveling above him.

"I could look at you—touch you—all day," he murmured back.

God, how I wanted that. I pushed my hips into his and just… let it all fade away—Victoria, Jasper's plan to teach us all how to fight the newborns, graduation, the upcoming wedding. Our bodies moved fluidly together, climbing, burning. His fingers dipped between my thighs to tease me, driving me to the edge, only to pull back just as I nearly reached peak.

I groaned in frustration, causing him to chuckle. Unable to stand it any longer, I started to lower myself down on him, only to find that I was suddenly lying on my stomach with Edward behind me.

Stupid vampire speed…

He ran his hands over the swell of my bottom, kneading the flesh there as he spread my legs apart with his. He hovered over me for a moment, trailing kisses up my back as he positioned himself.

In one smooth move, he was inside me. I groaned and buried my face in the covers as he drove into me over and over again… harder with each pass. The bed creaked and groaned in protest, and for a fleeting moment, I thought it was going to collapse under our movements. Edward must have been thinking the same thing, because he shifted so that his weight was on one of his elbows and rolled us slightly, giving him just enough access to my clit while simultaneously taking the majority of the strain off of the bed.

I hitched my leg up around his and pushed back against him every time he thrust into me, desperate to relieve the pressure building within me. He dropped his head and grunted as my body tightened around him, and with one last circle of his fingers, I came.

He quickly followed, stilling as he came inside me with a groan. I stayed as I was for a while, trying to regain my bearings. When I was finally able to move again, I rolled over and faced him, tipping my head up so that I could kiss him.

I pulled away with a contented sigh and looked up at Edward. "Well, that was new," I said with a laugh.

A mischievous look crossed his face. "Yeah, I have to say… I'm starting to think doggy style is my favorite."

At this, I burst out laughing and chucked a pillow at his head, which he neatly ducked away from. I lunged at him and continued our kiss.

"I cannot wait until we're married," I stated as I broke away from him again, causing his eyes to widen marginally.

"Why's that?"

"This bed sucks."

He chuckled and shook his head. "I promise, you can pick out our bed. It's not like I'd be the one benefiting from it."

"I like your bed."

"Mine?" He smiled crookedly. "Well then, we'll keep it."

I grinned back. "Okay." And then a sudden thought crossed my mind. "Your birthday's coming up, isn't it?"

He blinked and frowned, clearly confused. "My human birthday? It's in a few weeks, but I don't celebrate it. I haven't since…"

"We should fix that," I whispered, chewing on my lip again. "It should be something you celebrate."

"I don't know… I'd rather give you the attention, love."

I rolled my eyes. "But what if we celebrated the day together?" I hedged, trying so hard for him to guess my idea for himself.

"I don't follow you…"

Of course not.

"Our anniversary," I finally sighed. "I think we should get married on your birthday."

"You what?" he laughed. "What made you think of that date?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. It's soon… and you said that you thought we'd get married sooner than later… If you don't like it, just tell me."

"No. Any day is perfect, Bella, so long as it's what you want."

"That's what I want, baby," I said resolutely.

"You're sure?" he questioned, brushing my hair off my face.

"I'm sure. That's our wedding day."

He leaned forward and kissed me again. "Then I'll tell Alice."