Chapter 14: Adoration

ad·o·ra·tion [ad-uh-rey-shuhn] - fervent and devoted love.

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Carlisle and Jasper poured themselves into research, even going so far as to call up any friends they knew that might have any idea of what was going on with the strange relationship between Edward and Bella.

So far, they hadn't had much luck.

Every so often, Edward would lead Bella towards his father's office so that they could ask if they had found anything that could explain it. Every time, they were met by the same words.

"We haven't found anything yet, but we'll keep looking." No matter if it was Jasper's calm and stiff voice that said it, or Carlisle's patient and kind one, the words still had the same meaning – nothing had been found.

Not wanting his mate to worry, he would quickly take her away from the tense atmosphere of the study and distract her with other topics of conversation. Very often their talk would turn to music, and they would spend hours closed away in Edward's – their – room and listen to it, enjoying each other's company and trying to pretend that everything was alright and that nothing was wrong.

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Jessica Stanley was excited for the events that were to take place soon.

James Tremblay was an old business partner of Martin Stanley, Jessica's father. He was known for his rather outlandish company, a girlfriend – not his true mate, but somebody he kept around – and her cousin. Victoria and Laurent Williams were their names. They were rather strange, always moving, never keeping still. Some people said that it unnerved them to speak to any of the three, because it always felt like they were going to attack you.

James was a tiger, which was not as different from Edward as you might think. He had the same protective instincts, except that he had yet to find his mate. He found use for his skills as a fighter; he rather enjoyed beating somebody until they were near death. He had only killed two people before during his fights, and in his mind, they deserved it.

Victoria was a panther, one of the main reasons James kept her around for so long. She was able to hide in the shadows very well, and could creep along silently. He had met her in one of the warehouses he goes to for fights, and was impressed with her ability to take down offenders who were more than twice her size. They had agreed to remain with each other until one of them found their mates.

Much like how you might notice that the other members of their little makeshift family were large, jungle cats, Laurent was a jaguar. If you looked at it from this angle, you might think that James didn't like to be associated with a creature that was so unlike his own, though that is untrue.

Jessica's father was a Rottweiler, though he didn't often lose his temper. He had learned how to keep his cool. Martin Stanley was one of James' greatest friends – they had made a pact with each other to always help the other out if they were in need of aid. The pact had stretched as Martin found his mate, and Jessica was born. The dog gene had passed to his daughter, though instead of a Rottweiler they were met with a yappy, little Chihuahua. Suits her rather well, don't you think?

Cassandra Stanley, Jessica's mother and Martin's mate, had used all of her built up frustration that comes with being a Rottweiler to gossip about anything and everything she heard. If a young boy had fallen in the Thriftway parking lot, the story would morph into the idea that the mother had fiercely abused him and pushed him down, not caring that there were witnesses. She was the worst kind of gossip; the kind that changed all the information before she has even spread it. Usually, stories would change subtly as it gets passed on, but she made sure to change them before anybody else even found out.

When James had received the call from young Jessica, he had naturally been curious about why she was spending all this time and effort doing this for a man who had already found his mate. He became more interested as she told him that they weren't true mates, they couldn't be, because they didn't share the same spirit animal. Jessica thought that of all people, little, insignificant Isabella Swan didn't deserve to socialize with the God that was Edward Cullen. She thought that she was obviously the only person worthy of spending time in his presence, as she was pretty, and smart, and all that.

Admittedly, James didn't exactly believe her. He had seen many people meet their mates, and the way she described the relationship between Edward and Bella seemed like the real deal. However, he had promised to do anything to help Martin and his family, and the idea of taking on a family of eight was exciting to him. Of course, he knew he couldn't do it alone, so he told Victoria and Laurent that they were heading to Forks.

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Climbing out of the cars, James smiled as he saw his friend's young daughter waiting for them, just as she said she would be. He had to admit that she was rather good-looking, though at this point in time nobody could compare to Victoria. She may not be his true mate, but he wasn't going to cheat on her; he truly did feel something for her.

"Now, what is this plan you have?" He asked Jessica, getting straight to the point. He had explained what was happening to Victoria and Laurent on the drive up, and they were anxious to start fighting as well; it had been a long time since they had a challenge such as this one to look forward to.

"Well, I was kind of just hoping that you could just, you know, fight them? Get close to Bella, and when you have the opportunity, destroy her. If you need to take down any of the other's then do so. Just, don't harm Edward too much. I don't want him to have many scars, or anything, that would just take away from his looks, if it's even possible for him to look bad, or anything..." she babbled on, though the three just tuned her out. They had gotten the gist of the plan.

Once Jessica stopped talking, Victoria asked for directions to the Cullens house, and they drove there. Not wanting to alert the Cullens to their presence to early, they parked the car in the driveway of some abandoned house and ran the rest of the way. They stayed close to the driveway, but not too close just in case somebody drove on it. They followed it to the clearing which opened up onto the Cullens house – er, mansion – and there they stayed in the shadows, just watching through the windows.

They would wait until Jessica sent word that they should attack – she would most likely wait until nightfall, when everybody else was sleeping and people were less likely to come and visit the Cullens or Bella. James smiled sadistically as he set his sights on the little lamb that was the reason for all this planning.

Soon... he thought to himself, his smile widening. Very soon.

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In another act to try to pretend that everything was fine, and that there was nothing wrong with the workings of their relationship, Bella asked Edward something that she had been thinking about.

"Edward?" She asked, and he hummed in response to let her know that he was listening. "I know you were born in the mating season before mine, but what did you do all those years in between?"

He was a little shocked at where she had led the conversation, but he knew she would have eventually asked. He was happy that this was turning into another chance to get to know each other better, instead of just a meaningless conversation.

"Well, mostly, I just waited. Waited for you, I suppose, though at the time I wasn't sure what I was waiting for. I watched as my brother and sister found their mates, and I watched my parents act around each other. It wasn't until Rosalie joined our family, however, that I truly became jealous at what my family had. Each one of them had somebody to complete them, and I didn't. Every town we moved to, I convinced them to go to high school with me – not wanting to be completely alone – and there, at school, I would begin looking for another lion that could possibly be my mate. Every time, as you may guess, I was disappointed. Sure, every once in awhile I would come across a female lion, and we would talk, and immediately realized that there was nothing between us. Of course I never found anyone, because you weren't alive yet.

"I spent my free time reading, listening to music, and hoping that I would find someone... no, not just anyone, you. I hoped that I would find you someday, so that I wouldn't need to envy my family any longer. I longed to know how it felt to hold your other half in your arms. I began to think that there was nobody out there for me, that I would never find you. I didn't understand what I had done to deserve a life without you; I thought I had been good enough to deserve the love of a mate. For a while, I thought I was wrong.

"Of course, I couldn't stop a small part of me from hoping that you were my mate when I heard that the Chief's daughter was joining the population of Forks. Nobody here, besides your father, seemed to know what your spirit animal was, so I didn't have the chance to think that you weren't my mate, because you weren't a lion.

"And, then, you stepped out of your car. I had been feeling the pull towards you ever since you had gotten closer to the school, and I couldn't deny myself the opportunity to look at you. And you glanced up as well, and when our eyes met, everything changed. You were suddenly everything to me, and I couldn't even dream of not being near you. I walked up to you, as you remember, and we completed our mating, and I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I noticed that you weren't a lion, but a lamb.

"As you know, nothing like this has ever happened before, but I didn't care, and as I looked back into your eyes, I saw that you didn't care what my Tier in Geist was, either, only that we were together. You made me so happy in that moment, Isabella, so happy that I had finally found the one person on the entire planet that could complete me in the way you have."

Edward turned his eyes to watch her face, boring his emerald depths into her very soul. She could practically feel that he was looking into her thoughts, dreams, hopes, everything about her. She knew that he was glimpsing everything that made her who she was, in that moment. And then his gaze softened, and the moment passed, and he raised his hand up to softly brush against her rosy cheeks.

"Over the years, nothing could fully distract me from the... emptiness I felt not having you by my side. I assume that this may be one of the reasons why our connection is so powerful, and though I realize now that it isn't precisely healthy to not allow you to live a life separate from me, I cannot bare for you to leave me side. It tore me apart when Alice took you, even for that brief amount of time. I do not want to spend more than a second away from you, my Bella."

He leaned forward, finally allowing his lips to meet with hers. Almost the same as when they had first mated, when everything had literally clicked into place for both of them, there was another sensation. It was as if they both realized that they were born to kiss each other. Edward concentrated on how soft and warm her lips were on his, and Bella thought about the way her lips moulded to Edward's. They fit perfectly together.

When he realized that Bella needed to breathe, he pulled back, and pressed his face into her curls, revelling in her scent. He had imagined many times since meeting his mate how it would feel to kiss her, and now that he knew he realized that no daydream of her lips against his could possibly compare to how reality felt.

A goofy smile spread over his face as he realized that they would have all eternity to continue kissing, and hopefully make each kiss better than the last.

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There, another chapter written. I have the plots for the next few chapters all sorted out, and hopefully I'll get to them soon. Review and tell me how you like this.

As I promised her, I want to thank westernem for helping me update this quickly. Though it may not seem like you did much, you helped a lot, and I'm sure you recognize your ideas in this chapter.

I leave you with this:

'A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice.' - Bill Cosby