This chapter is the beginning of the reason that this story is rated M. Yes, I am attempting to write a little lemony goodness.
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The month that followed the almost accident was wonderful to say the least. I spent every night holding my love in my arms as she snuggled under her blankets, dreaming peacefully.
In school we were inseparable, except for the two dreadfully lonely hours that our schedules didn't match.
Most evenings were spent together at either my home or hers, as my family was intrigued by Bella and wanted to know everything about her, and her father wanted to not only spend time getting to know his daughter, but assure himself that I was a good choice for her. His thoughts often revolved around some sort of instinctual need to protect Bella and ensure her happiness.
The only large amount of time I spent away from Bella was the two afternoons a week that I spent hunting. I had limited myself to only hunting in the forests around Forks, not being able to bear putting more than a few miles between us.
That's why I found myself standing in the living room on a Thursday morning, arguing with Emmett who had suggested that we take an extended hunting trip this weekend. The sun was set to make an appearance Friday morning, making it impossible for us vampires to attend classes or show ourselves in public.
According to Alice, the weather would not be at all accommodating until Wednesday, so I would be forced to be away from Bella during school hours. Given this fact, Emmett thought it was a good time to head up to Canada to get a jump on culling the newly awakened grizzly population there.
"Come on Edward, you said yourself that you felt better when you were hunting. I don't see why you're so against going." Emmett grumbled again. Don't you love me anymore little brother?
"I'm not against going hunting; I just don't understand why we have to go so far away. I don't feel comfortable being more than three hundred miles away from Bella. I really think that I might go insane if I wasn't within a five minute run distance from her." I sighed, as he just rolled his eyes.
"You're going Edward." Alice stated matter-of-factly. She held her hand up as I started to protest.
"Please, just hear me out for a moment." I nodded when she paused. She smiled and winked, flitting over to the couch to sit down before continuing.
"Bella will be forced to go with her father to La Push on Saturday for some sort of picnic thing, and she will reluctantly make plans to go to a movie with Rachel Black for Sunday. Now, I can see that you will still refuse to go to Canada, but I see you compromising with Emmett and heading up to Goat Rocks Wilderness for the weekend." Besides I will be right here if she needs anything, she is my sister you know. She smiled smugly at me like she had just solved the world's energy problem.
"Fine Goat Rocks it is, but I will be back in Forks with Bella in my arms before the sun rises on Monday morning." I huffed, angry that I had to be gone for that long.
"Oh come on Ed! We can't go back to school until next Wednesday. What's the point of coming home just to sit here and be bored?" Em whined like a five year old.
"If I come back early, it will give me a chance to show Bella what I look like in the sun" I was glad to have a reasonably believable excuse to return early since I knew that simply wanting to come home wouldn't be enough for Emmett.
"Whatever! Just be ready to leave before school tomorrow." Emmett smirked, turning on the ps3 and calling Jasper in to play a quick round of Resistance before school.
Bella was already sitting in the driver's seat of her Audi TT when I arrived at her house. I sighed, once again wondering why I had agreed to this driving schedule. Looking at her sitting in her little midnight blue coupe, I got lost in the memory.
I'm glad that you found a suitable car this afternoon, love" I commented as I came through her window. The smile on my face evaporated as soon as I took in her furious expression.
"Yes, thanks to you." She sneered.
"I have no idea what you mean," I tried to play innocent, but she would not allow it.
"Do you honestly expect me to believe that you had nothing to do with the fact that all of the cars on creepy Carl's lot had less than five hundred miles on them? Or maybe you want me to believe that it's just a coincidence that the former owner of the car I chose was named Mr. E. McCarty?And I know that you don't expect me to believe that a virtually brand new Audi TT sells for anything less than twenty thousand dollars! Charlie may believe that he stumbled upon the deal of the century but three thousand dollars? I know you did this, I'm not stupid, Edward. " she practically growled he last sentence.
"Bella love, I would never think that you are anything less than brilliant. I simply wanted to make sure that you had a nice, dependable yet fashionable car. Can you forgive me?" I used my gaze to trap her for a moment.
"Yes, but only if you agree to allow me to drive you around in my car everywhere." She smiled ruefully.
After a half hour of negotiation, we came to the agreement that she would drive us to school Tuesdays, Thursdays and anywhere we went on Saturdays; while I drove us in the Volvo on the others.
"Good morning, Edward" Bella called through her open window, bringing my consciousness back to the present. I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face at her greeting. She always greeted me this way, acting as if I hadn't just left her bedroom only an hour before.
"Good morning to you too, my love" I chuckled, sliding into the passenger seat.
Bella was depressed when I told her that we would have to spend the weekend apart, but perked right up when I told her that I would show her why I couldn't go out in the sun when I returned.
My bleak attitude about being away from Bella deepened when we got to school. Mr. Banner was arriving just as Bella and I. He was planning a blood typing lab for the day. I would have to skip. I growled lowly at the idea of spending even more time away from my love.
I tried to relish each moment that I did have with Bella, but I found that harder than it should be. I could already feel the impact that the three days away would have on my fragile hold on my instincts.
Bella decided to skip biology with me, stating that she had a horrendous reaction to the smell of blood. The fact that Bella was a human that could smell blood further proved how unique she was.
Bella suggested that we go to her house so that we could spend the next few hours alone. I was happy to have her all to myself, so I eagerly agreed.
Bella led me to her room when we arrived. She took off her shoes and plopped down on the edge of her bed. I joined her, taking her hand in mine.
"I'm going to miss you so much while you're gone" she sighed, looking at the floor.
I lifted her chin so that our eyes met.
"I'm going to miss you too, but we have hours in which to make sweet memories to hold us over." I winked, as I leaned in to capture her lips. When I pulled away to let her catch her breath, her eyes were intense, and I could see a blush beginning to creep across her cheeks.
As I registered the passion in Bella's eyes, I was suddenly assaulted by a foreign heat that seemed radiate through my entire body.
I was speechless. I couldn't have been more conflicted. My morals, which I had stood by for almost a hundred years, urged me to put some distance between us, while the new urgent heat that was pooling in the pit of my stomach was begging me to pull Bella into my arms and ravish her.
Seemingly by themselves, my hands reached out to her and wrapped themselves around her waist. I leant down to meet her mouth with my own again. The instant our lips met, a surge of electricity pulsed through me, matching the rhythm of Bella's racing heart.
I felt my chest heave with an all-consuming desire that I never knew that I was capable of. I opened my mouth against hers, pushing my tongue into her mouth wildly, only to be met by hers searching out my own. I was only just aware enough to keep the erotic dance of our tongues in her mouth, safely away from my teeth.
She broke away from my mouth with a moan, throwing her head back to allow me to hungrily kiss down her throat and over her collarbone and back up to her lips once she had regained a somewhat normal breathing pattern.
Her chest moved with her heavy gasps as my mouth moved lower, until my face was buried as low into her cleavage as her shirt would allow, kissing at the skin there, frantic in my need for her.
"Edward..." I felt her trying to pull me over onto her body as she lay back on her bed. I moved my body to hover over her as her legs moved to wrap tightly around me. It was when I realized that I was now grinding my throbbing erection against the heat I could feel coming through her jeans.
I growled loudly at the intensity of the feelings coursing through my body. I had no will to stop my hips from continuing the rocking motion they had begun to make against her body. I gasped as I felt her hot hands on my lower back, trying futilely to pull me closer to her, moaning my name repeatedly in my ear. Her scent was magnified and sweetened by the addition of her arousal.
"Bella" I purred. My hips began to move harder and I was gasping for unneeded breath. I wasn't sure I could stop now even if I tried, but I needed to know she was okay with what was happening.
"Talk to me Bella, please. Is this okay, love?" I ground out through clinched teeth. The delicious heat in my lower abdomen was beginning to spread through my entire body.
"This is prefect, Edward. I need you to touch me." Her breath was raspy, and the urgency in her tone made me impossibly harder. She was enjoying this as much as I was.
I groaned as her smell deepened again as I palmed her left breast. I ran my icy thumb over her already pebbled nipple that was visible even through her shirt and bra.
Her needful moan sent a shock straight to my groin, and my hips began to buck faster against her. My fully clothed body was aroused beyond the point of all return.
"Bella.... I can't….please Bella…I'm so close," I couldn't articulate a single coherent thought as the pleasure was nearing an explosive climax.
"Edward," she moaned, "Oh, oh, oh, I'm coming" Her head flew back against the bed as I felt her body spasm under me. The sounds of Bella's orgasm tipped me over the edge along with her.
My body stiffened, managing two or three more thrusts against her as she rode out her orgasm before my body exploded in ecstasy. My hands moved to grip the headboard of her bed, my eyes clenched shut and my head arched back, overwhelmed by the power of my orgasm. The growl that escaped from my lip was raw and animalistic.
I rolled us so that we were lying on our sides facing each other. I tucked a wild strand of hair behind her ear, smiling crookedly at the euphoric look on her lovely face.
"Bella, that was just… there are no words."
"I think 'wow' sums it up quite nicely" she giggled. I laughed with her, feeling weightless.
"I love you Edward."
"I love you too Bella."
We lay together, tangled in an intimate embrace for some time. Every now and then kissing or touching, but mostly quiet, watching each other. Reveling in the glow of our love.
I waited for the inevitable disgust at myself for what I had just done. I waited for the horror I should feel for showing so little respect for Bella's body. I was surprised that it never came. I was just completely content, blissful even.
We did not move from our position on her bed until her father was on his way home.
I made sure to leave the jacket that I had been wearing all week with Bella so that she could have my scent to calm her, taking back my sweater that she had been wearing. I planned to wear it as much possible during the weekend to keep her scent close to me.
Alice was a giggling fool when I arrived at the house. I could tell from her thoughts that she hadn't told anyone about my intimate moment with Bella. I was thankful that Emmett didn't have this knowledge, for he would definitely use it against me.
I decided to ask Alice to keep my secret indefinitely. She saw my intention and quickly agreed, but only if I talked Bella into going shopping with her. I very reluctantly succumbed to her terms, hoping that Bella would understand. After all, she had met Emmett.
Emmett was very impressed that Friday passed us by without me bolting back to Forks. I gave myself over to my primal hunting instincts and began to feel somewhat less agonized. My soul could still feel the powerful pull to return to my love, but my body answered the call of my predatory nature.
I had just taken down a fairly large bear when I felt a presence behind me. I was shaken to my core when I heard the thoughts running through his head.
I didn't pause to speak to him, I couldn't. I had to get home. I had to find Alice and make her tell me that she was wrong.
I felt Emmett giving chase as I darted through the lush forest. I heard him shouting at me in his mind, but the words never registered.
I had heard all I needed to. Alice had seen Bella go to the beach on the reservation, and then her vision went black. She couldn't see Bella anymore at all. Bella had simply disappeared.
"Alice" I yelled, as I entered the house. She instantly began replaying her vision for me.
Bella was sitting on a fallen drift wood tree beside her father, when Jacob Black and his sister approached them. They exchanged pleasantries, Bella making plans with Rachel just as Alice had seen earlier. Rachel asked Bella to accompany her somewhere. They got into a red car, which seemed like it was being held together only by the grace of god and some duct tape and headed away from the beach. When they reached their destination, Bella stepped out of the car and the vision went suddenly black.
Alice searched again and again for Bella, but she couldn't find her. My body was half way to the door when my mind caught up, making the decision to go to the reservation to look for Bella.
"Stop him Emmett," Alice shouted, as I reached for the doorknob. My brother restrained me, as Alice reminded me over and over about the treaty we had with the Quileute tribe.
"I don't give a damn about the treaty, Alice. I just want to find Bella" I growled.
Jasper tried to sooth my nerves but I was entirely too worked up to allow his influence to penetrate my being.
I fought to free myself from Emmett, but he only tightened his grip on me. He was begging me in his thoughts to calm down. He hated to use his full strength against anyone he cared about.
Esme looked like she would be crying if it was possible, and from her thoughts I could see that her worry was not only for Bella and me, but for the rest of the family as well. She was afraid that if I went to La Push and broke the treaty that the Quileute's would tell our secret and we would be in danger from the Volturi.
I forced myself to calm down upon hearing her thoughts. I couldn't be the cause of so much pain for my family. I would find another way.
Rosalie suggested that we call Carlisle. Her spoken thought was that he had the contact information for Harry Clearwater and Billy Black, two of the elders of the tribe.
Her internal thought was that we could check to see if Bella had been brought into the ER.
I felt the panic well up inside me at the vision that she inadvertently caused to flash through my mind. Before I could stop myself, I imagined Bella lying in a hospital bed covered in blood, her limbs twisted in unnatural angles, tubes and wires running from her broken body to monitors and bags of fluid. I fell limp in Emmett's arms as my mind heard the unmistakable sound of a human heart flat lining.
Jasper groaned at my pain as I began to sob. Emmett moved us over to the couch, making sure to keep me in his grasp. He sat me down and took a seat beside me. He rocked me back and forth, humming a tune in his head that I had heard him hum to Rose when her human memories had been too much for her to handle. He kept murmuring that Bella was fine and that she would be in my arms before I knew it.
Rosalie was making plans to go after all of the people who were with Bella when she disappeared. I realized with a jolt that she was planning to avenge Bella's death if need be. Her mind called Bella her sister over and over.
Jasper was doing almost the same thing. The only difference being that his plans were more precise due to his military background. He never stopped pushing peace and patience at me. The contrast between his thoughts and the emotions that he was peddling was almost comical.
Alice was searching the future like it was her life that depended on it, not mine. It was that moment when I truly realized how wonderful my siblings really were. Their love and devotion was truly staggering. I opened my mouth to thank them when Alice gasped.
I saw it at the same time she did. Bella, my Bella. Her face was red and splotchy. Her sadness was like a third person in her father's car it was so strong. She was alive. She was in one piece, and most importantly, she was on her way home, where I would be waiting for her.
"Let him go Emmett," Alice laughed in relief, as I bolted out of the door shouting my thanks to the family over my shoulder. I heard Alice explaining what she had seen in her vision as I ran towards my heart.
Bella was lying on her bed crying into her pillow.
"Bella" I whispered, as I lowered myself to her bed beside her, rubbing my hands gently over her back.
She turned her head to look at me. Her watery eyes swollen and red met mine before she dissolved into gasping sobs.
I swept her up into my arms, gently rocking her as I pressed my lips to her forehead.
"What has you so upset, my love?" I whispered into her luscious brown locks.
"Paul knows what you are" she whispered brokenly, as she pressed her face into my chest.
"How do you know?" I asked her, already guessing the answer.
"He told me that you and your whole family were a bunch of disgusting bl-bloodsuckers." She sobbed. He had broken the treaty. Did he know what he had done? Did he realize that I was now free to go on a murderous rampage through La Push? Not that I ever would mind you, but he had no way of knowing that. Did he think it was just a story, a superstition?
"I'm sorry if he upset you by using that derogatory name for my kind. Or are you worried about him breaking the treaty? If that's the case, I can assure that no one in my family would ever dream of hurting him or any of the other people in La Push." As long as you're safe that is, I mentally added.
"No, Edward. He knew that he broke the treaty. He wants you to come after them. He said that he and someone named Sam were prepared to defend their tribe if need be. He said, oh Edward… he said that he knew ways to take care of a vampire, and that he was watching you, waiting for you to hurt me so that he would have reason to k-k-kill you." She sobbed loudly, clutching my shirt tightly in her small hands.
"Bella, please calm down. I promise you that there is absolutely nothing that a human can do to hurt a vampire. It's just not possible." I ran one hand soothingly down her back as I moved the other to cup her cheek.
"That's what I said, but he laughed at me then said 'it's a good thing I'm not human then isn't it?' He took off running towards the woods behind Rachel's house. He paused just before the tree line, shaking like crazy, and then all of a sudden, he exploded and a large gray wolf stood in his place. He turned to stare at me for a moment before he disappeared into the forest." She shook violently with the force of her sobs.
"Bella, I swear to you that no one is going to hurt, let alone kill, anyone else. We will simply have to meet with the pack of wolves and renew the treaty. Does that ease your worry?" She nodded and exhaled a sigh.
The wolves were once again prowling, and they are angry and looking for a fight it seems. We would need to defuse this situation as soon as possible. I lifted Bella into my arms and jumped from her window. I just hoped that Carlisle would be able to reason with this set of shifters like he did the last ones.
Bella quickly ran through what she had told me when we got to my house. Carlisle was intrigued that Paul seemed to be able to control his shifting so completely, since he was so obviously a new wolf. I had seen him only just over a month ago, he had smelled completely human at that time.
Carlisle called Billy Black and made arrangements for the family to meet with him, the other tribal elders and all three members of the pack.
It was decided that Carlisle, Jasper and I would go to represent the family, seeing as there were only three wolves. Emmet was going to be in the forest about a mile or so away waiting in case he was needed.
Bella insisted that she come with us to the meeting, and Carlisle agreed stating that she had every right to be there since Paul had actually threatened her mate. My every protest was shot down, so ten minutes before one in the morning, I found myself running through the forest towards my enemy with my very existence clinging to my back.