A/N: This is the last chapter of this story and apart from an epilogue it will close out Edward's tale.
In Chapter Two Edward begged your indulgence while he told you his story so that you could form an opinion for him when he was done. This chapter ends his story and at the bottom of the epilogue he will ask for that opinion from you.
I shot off that bed like it was on fire. Bella giggled as I gave my duffel bag a mighty kick as I tore off through the house collecting the things I needed. I had the bag slung over my shoulder and my keys, her house keys, my wallet and our new cells in my possession so fast I must have moved at a blur even to her vampire eyes.
I dangled her house keys from my index finger and smirked, "Do bad girls need to be shown the way home, or do they know the way for themselves?" I asked cockily.
She leapt the four feet between where she sat on the bed to where I stood, snatched her keys from my finger, leapt out the back window of our room and took off down the back yard. I called out to the others that we'd be gone till first light then leapt to the ground myself.
She was a newborn and she was naturally fast but I could've caught her if I'd wanted to, I just didn't want to. I wanted her to get there first. I wanted her waiting for me just as she had as she'd stood on the stoop of the apartment building in Maine. I wanted her to crook her finger at me, beckon me inside. I wanted her to lead me into the room and instruct me. I wanted to recreate, as best I could, how it had all started. And whether she wanted that too or she figured that I did she didn't let me down.
I approached her dark, quiet neighbourhood at a walk but inside I was racing. Everything about me was racing. My mind, my venom and my cock were all on fast forward.
I came upon her house from the street and there she was, on the porch waiting for me. She was grinning from ear to ear and it was that same confident, arrogant grin from Maine. But she didn't crook her finger to beckon me and I found myself needing her to do it.
"Do as you did in Maine," I whispered across the drive to her so lowly no human would hear.
Her brows creased as she thought about the request and then that grin returned. She cocked her head to one side and looked directly at me and then she very slowly crooked her finger. I felt my cock twitch and blew out the unnecessary breath I'd been holding.
I joined her on the porch in half a second and I twitched again as she drove the key home in the lock. It seemed metaphorical. But then again I could've just been so horny I'd have seen anything she did as a come on.
Once inside she took the cell phones from my hand and put them on the console table in the hall. "You won't ever need to call a saviour again," she giggled.
I put my wallet and keys with the cells and dropped the duffel bag on the floor in the hall. Anything else she wanted me to do she'd have to instruct me I thought as I stood in the doorway to the living room.
Bella moved to the centre of the room and shoved the coffee table to one side. "Bring me the bag, lover," she instructed and I did as I was told. I stood at the edge of the room and watched as she emptied the bags contents onto the coffee table and inspected each item. She sniffed first the lube and then the lotion and put them both on the table. She stood the shampoo and conditioner on their ends at the far edge of the table; we wouldn't need those for quite a while. The robe and its matching pair of towels she threw onto an armchair, they were for after too.
She eyed the spreader bar carefully but left it in the bag, we wouldn't be needing that. But when she got to my favourite items she smiled appreciatively and told me what good choices I'd made.
She laid out the rope, the karabiners and my very favourite cords in their various lengths. She left the best item till last, my beloved collar. She inspected it carefully. She sniffed it and closed her eyes as she did. The leather was supple and smooth and I began to twitch again as I watched her run her fingers around the inside of it, where it was going to touch my throat. "It's beautiful," she whispered as she fingered its clasp. All I could do was nod but she didn't see it because she couldn't take her eyes off the collar. "Has anyone else worn this?" she asked.
"No. I had two. I threw the one I used on my subs away. That's mine and I've never worn it," I told her.
"Good," she said sternly and put the collar back on the table. I was disappointed, I had hoped she'd collar me first. "Shall we set some rules?" she asked as she came to stand in front of me. I was near to panting by the time her aroused scent flooded my mouth and nose as she neared. "Firstly I'll need your name?" she asked huskily.
This was new. She didn't want my name in Maine and she didn't give me hers. I toyed with just saying my own name but knew that wasn't what she was really asking for. She'd never known the name I'd chosen for myself as a member and I found that it heightened my excitement to think she might use it with me as we played. "Fifty-six," I all but wheezed. My throat was thick with venom and my voice was little more than a raspy croak my anticipation was so high.
She whispered the name to herself then nodded firmly. "You may call me Shadow inside the arena," she declared. "Second, we don't need protection, so we'll dispense with that. Third, your safe word will be Pandora. I've never given that safe word to anyone else to use and it will remain yours until you decide to change it. I doubt you'll need it, but you may use it at will. You will not be punished for doing so, I swear this to you," she whispered as she began to circle me. She slapped my ass and I let out the obligatory 'oomph' as I hoped she expected me too. "Quiet!" she hissed at my left shoulder. "You do not speak unless I instruct you to." She continued to circle me and slapped my ass a second time as she moved behind me. My cock was threatening to rip the front of my jeans open but I found I couldn't make myself move to adjust it. I hadn't been told to remain still but I wanted to please her. "Strip," she barked in that snarky, confident tone I loved so much.
I waited until she had perched on the edge of the sofa and then did as I was instructed. It was just as it had been in Maine with only one difference. She knew I was a vampire now. I hadn't ever wondered whether that would make a difference but now, as I stood there in front of my dominant mate I found that it did. I didn't need to pretend I was a human any longer. She knew what I was, she'd accepted it and she had taken my venom inside her to become as I was. I knew what approach to take then.
I shredded my shirt and threw the pieces at her feet and then I reefed my jeans and boxers from my body with one swift movement, splitting them at the seams until they too were shredded. She closed her eyes when I was completely nude and I watched as her body gave one mighty shiver from head to toe. When she reopened her eyes they were almost black. She wasn't thirsty, she was hungry.
She began to circle me again then, just as she had in Maine. She ran her hand over my rump and then up my back and over my shoulder. "Nice," she whispered, "You must have been in good shape as a human," she added without humour. In Maine she'd said I took good care of my body but she knew that wasn't the case now, she knew why I looked the way I did so she changed her role to suit what she knew me to be now. When her hand cupped my balls I swallowed hard. "I've missed you, Fifty-six," she purred. I'd missed her too but could say nothing without permission so I nodded minutely instead. When her fingers curled around my length I had to groan, punishment or not, I couldn't hold it in. She grinned but didn't slap me, "As my pet you will never touch another," she hissed possessively, "This is for your master and no other, you may reply," she instructed as she squeezed my engorged cock.
"No other, Master," I managed to choke out as she gave me another little squeeze.
She stroked me twice, gently and not with nearly enough pressure to ease the ache I'd been feeling since finding out she was alive. I had to reposition my feet to keep from buckling with need. She allowed me, without punishment to do so, but I was so in the zone I knew it would be the last thing I did without her permission.
She released me and moved to my left. She ran her fingers up over my shoulder and to the hair at my nape. I waited with unrepentant anticipation for the yank I hoped she'd give my hair. She did and I felt my balls clench. So good. "You're mine," she hissed. I wasn't likely to disagree so I simply stood there and revelled in the feeling of her fingers on my body. "I will touch no other and you will accept no other's touch," she growled and punctuated the seriousness of her statement with a mighty yank on my hair. I couldn't help the moan that escaped my throat and received a resounding slap to my bare ass for the indiscretion. Without warning she withdrew and moved away slightly. "You will remain here. Do not move. I will hear you if you do and you will be denied release if you defy me." And with that she left the room.
I didn't move a fucking muscle. I stood right where she'd told me to stay. I heard her moving about in her bedroom and then I heard the zip on her pants lowering. I wanted the pleasure of removing them myself and had hoped she'd instruct me to do so. I found myself disappointed that she'd denied me the pleasure. But my disappointment didn't last long.
I heard and smelled leather being tugged and pulled and then the unmistakable scent of her arousal wafted down the short hall.
She returned to the room after just two minutes dressed from head to toe in black leather. Skirt, boots and corset. An involuntary groan left my throat as she swished a riding crop through the fingers of her left hand.
She strode towards me with the confidence of an expert dominant and when she was once again in front of me she slid herself gracefully onto the arm of the sofa. As a vampire nothing would ever be an uncomfortable position for her ever again and as my brain began to throw up images of her reclining on every piece of furniture in the house I began to pant. That must have pleased her because she grinned but she said nothing as she hiked that sinful skirt to her hips and gave me the first glimpse of the black lace thong she wore beneath it. "On your knees," she instructed and I was there, face to face with those panties in a tenth of a second. As she had in Maine she used one finger to tug those panties aside and there was her glistening sex exposed for me for the first time in four years. "Long strokes," she instructed but she needn't have. I knew how this part went. I remembered every second of the routine she'd followed so long ago and like me it seemed as though she wanted to repeat it now. I made to bring my hands in front of me and open those ripe, swollen lips with my fingers but she continued with the routine. "Hands behind you, keep them there," she instructed and I had to grin at that.
I slid my hands down my thighs and rested them there and did as instructed. I closed my eyes as I raked my tongue across her flesh. Her scent had changed since her transformation and I delighted in the fact that her taste had too. She'd been ambrosial before but as I licked, in long strokes, through her lips and towards her clit I decided that her new taste was akin to heavenly now. It was now tinged with the spiciness of her own venom. I lapped at her with abandon as her juices coated my lips and tongue.
She hadn't allowed me but a few strokes in Maine. I'd felt disappointed at that back then. We had no time constraints now and I hoped she'd allow me to give her pleasure before we moved on to anything else. Thankfully she did.
I licked and sucked and tongued that swollen little bud and those plump lips for what seemed like hours but may have only been minutes in reality. Unlike Maine she did mewl and moan as her release neared. I increased the length of my stroke with my tongue as she writhed and earned another hard yank on my hair as my reward. Her scent strengthened the closer she got to climax and I found myself desperately needing to feel her come undone for me. But it wasn't what she wanted and as she instructed me to cease I felt disappointment flood my system.
I wanted her release, I wanted to give it to her, I didn't want her to strive for it herself. I wanted it to be my tongue and lips that gave it to her. But that wasn't the way of the dominant, nor should it be what a submissive wanted. But it was. Perhaps I had more to learn from her yet.
I stayed on my knees where I'd been instructed to be and Bella did as she'd done in 6C. She released the cups of her corset by undoing the clips at her shoulders and that allowed her breasts to spill out of it. She told me to tilt my head back and open my mouth and I did so willingly. I knew where this was headed this time and I couldn't wait to have each rosy, peaked nipple between my teeth.
With them cupped in the palms of her hands she lowered each breast into my waiting mouth in turn. She hovered over me so I had no way to control the amount of her flesh I could take into my mouth and with my hands still behind my back she knew it. She controlled her own pleasure, and any pleasure I could gain from the act too.
When her next instruction came I almost climaxed involuntarily. "Bite, don't suck," she sneered.
I'd waited a century to be given that order and spared a second to thank god for giving me my mate at last. And then I bit down on that pert little nub for the first time. Her moan was throaty and hearty and it increased my own pleasure tenfold as I allowed my venom to wash across her breast. She arched her back and thrust it harder against my mouth and I bit harder still.
Another flood of her scent washed over my face as she approached her release again and for the second time she denied herself, and me, the pleasure of realising it. She arched her back and returned to her full height but left me on my knees.
But I knew what would come next. I knew what she was going to do to me. I wanted it. I needed it. And she knew it.
The pleasure I'd given her was evident on her face as she stood but was quickly replaced by the arrogant sneer of my dominant as she moved towards the coffee table. She returned to where I knelt with the riding crop in her hand. She ran it over my ass, between my legs over my shoulder and then down my throat and over my abs. The smell of the new leather mixed with her arousal made me shiver but what she said next had my body quivering.
"I'll bind you now," she announced. This time I didn't wonder why she wanted to bind me and I didn't balk when she swished that crop across my ass and told me to stand. "Put your hands together at your lower back," she instructed and I did it without hesitation. I heard the slap of the crop as it hit the table and shivered again. She chose cord and I shuddered as she bound my hands with it. I loved the feel of it, the texture of its thick threads, the smell of it and knowing that it was Bella who was finally using it on me. She tied much tighter knots this time and gave the result a good, hard yank when she was satisfied. It satisfied me too. I'd never felt anything to rival the feeling since she'd done it the first time and I knew I would never be able to duplicate it, nor would I want to, with anyone other than her ever again.
Another cord was retrieved and then the order for me to turn and she was on the balls of her feet binding my ankles. These knots were much tighter than they'd been that first time too and they gave me even more sensual gratification because she now knew that she'd never truly hurt me. She knew she didn't need to tie them that tightly but she knew me well enough to know that I needed her to. I couldn't play like this with a human, she could never play this way with a human and use this much force or strength and it made me crave her more than I already did. She was perfect for me in every way.
As good as it felt to have her bind my wrists and ankles it was nothing compared to how good I felt when she snicked that collar around my throat.
"Lie on the floor, face down," she whispered when my feet were bound to her liking. There was no feeling of bewilderment as I got onto my stomach on the rug of her living room floor because I knew why she wanted me prone. I was no longer a newbie.
She took her time installing the thick band of leather at my throat which only increased my pleasure. She drew out the whole process and I loved her for it. She caressed the leather before she slid it under me and then she caressed me when it was around my neck. It was Bella who squeaked when she slid the clasp shut and she moaned audibly when she looped the karabiner and its length of cord through the loop in the collar.
I couldn't see her from my position so I was denied her facial expression but I could smell her and hear her moan as she gave a little tug on the cord. I felt it loosen then tighten as she wound it around her wrist. And then she tugged it again, hard.
"Oomph," I groaned and earned a slap to the ass for it. It was totally worth it.
"Your safe word is?" she hissed as she leaned over me.
"Pandora," I told her with a groan as she pulled on that fucking cord again.
"Again," she hissed, "Address me correctly," she demanded.
"Pandora, Shadow," I moaned.
She stepped away a little and I waited with barely concealed anticipation for whatever it was she'd reached for. It was the crop and I found myself once again panting in expectation. As the crop came down on my ass I had to clench my thighs together to stave off the orgasm the sting induced. "You are mine," she hissed so quickly I nearly missed it. Another sting of the crop against the backs of my legs had me drooling venom onto the rug under my face. "I am your Shadow, your master. Your first, your last," she barked as she whacked me again, harder this time and right across the cheeks of my ass.
The delicious sting made my body tremble and shiver. I fucking loved it and she wielded that thing like an expert. She waited just long enough between blows to allow me to suppress the need to cum and then she'd hit me again in another location and the whole process would start again. By the sixth strike I was panting and by the eighth I was so close to cumming I had to whisper my safe word.
She immediately withdrew and got down onto the floor beside me so she could see my face. She ran her hand across my ass to soothe what she must have thought was my pain and she asked me very carefully if I wished to be untied and then gave me permission to answer.
"No," I rasped between my clenched teeth. "But I'll cum if you continue," I told her truthfully.
She smiled and I got a glimpse of the wicked glint in her eyes before she got to her feet again and ordered me 'up'.
I didn't need to move in a human way with her anymore so I got to my feet easily. I didn't need to make it seem like it was difficult whilst bound anymore and although I was bound I found that strangely freeing. I could finally be what I was.
The instant I was on my feet she began growling new orders at me. "You will not orgasm until I do. Nod if you understand," she told me as she circled me. You better fucking believe I nodded. "Use your safe word only to alert me to your impending climax. Nod if you understand." I nodded again, violently.
With a shove to my shoulder she got me to move to where she wanted me. When I got to the back of the sofa she shoved me again and I assumed the position. Back to the sofa, ass against its upper edge.
She fronted me and we were eye to eye again. She craned her neck then licked her teeth releasing a waft of the venom in her mouth. "I'll have you now," she growled and gave a mighty tug on the cord.
As she knew it would the tug had me bent over at the waist slightly and as she turned her back to me she reached between her legs and pulled the thong from her body. The sound of it tearing made me groan and as the tiny scrap of lace hit the floor I took a deep pull of her scent.
I spared only the merest thought that all my hopes and wishes were about to be fulfilled and as she positioned me at her entrance with one hand and tugged on the cord with the other any further logical or rational thought was impossible.
I'd never had sex with another vampire, and Bella had never had sex as a vampire, so neither of us knew what to expect. Her scream as she impaled herself on my cock startled me and mine startled her. The clench of her inner muscles nearly undid me then and there. The soft, lusciousness of her lips as they parted to accept me made my head spin. The warmth inside her moist, creamy depths floored me.
Whatever she felt as she pushed herself onto me fully must have overwhelmed her as much as it had me because she cried out and her whole body shook and shivered as she seated me tight inside her body.
And then she began to move. Long, languid strokes that made my balls tighten. The delicious sound of her wet flesh sliding across my marble hard length assaulted my ears and the scent of our combined excitement hung in the air like fog.
Knowing I could break the bindings and take her as I wished was the furthest thing from my thoughts as she rode me. I wanted her like this. I wanted her to take me like this.
All too soon she changed tempo. She went from smooth, measured strokes to writhing and bucking and I did the only thing I could. I stood there while she fucked me. I stood there bound at the wrists, ankles and controlled by the collar and its cord and I watched as my mate took her pleasure from my cock.
She rocked and screamed. She thrashed and screamed some more. All nonsensical verbal clues to tell me that she loved it. And all the while I watched. I kept my eyes trained on where we were joined. The perfect orbs of her ass, the long length of her spine and her moist lips sliding back and forth on my dick. Gone was the thumping of her heartbeat but in its place was the rhythmic grunting as she got closer and closer to her climax.
I felt the spasm begin deep inside her and closed my eyes as her release rushed through her and through my cock as she came on it. She screamed my name, my true name, and I felt her knees give just a little as the full force of her orgasm took her over. She whimpered and mewled her way through it.
As it had been in Maine it was the rhythmic tugging on the cord that undid me. As each pulse of her release washed over her she involuntarily tugged the cord in time with the throb of her muscles. I couldn't handle it. Feeling her pulsate from inside her, watching her ass push back and forth in perfect time with it and then the cord tightening and slackening was too much for me and I too screamed her real name as my climax crashed through my body.
I felt it in my balls first and as my seed burst out of my body and in to hers she screamed again which only heightened my pleasure. It went on and on. The feeling engulfed me. Jets of my cum streamed out of me and into her and with each pulsing beat of it she rocked and tugged the cord.
I'd never felt anything like it. It was such a complete indulgence of every one of my senses I too buckled at the knees as I rode it out.
We stayed like that for a long time. Totally silent but both lost to the sensation overload. After a few minutes she took in a deep breath that she didn't need. She never let the cord slacken as she slid off me, and she kept it taught in her hand as she stood to face me.
She cupped my cheek with her free hand and smiled. "That was wonderful my love," she whispered and it made my heart sing. She kissed the corner of my mouth and gave the collar a little tug, "Let's get you cleaned up."
Bella still had the cord in her hand as she led me from the living room and into the bathroom. I waddled along, just as I had in Maine, with my ankles and wrists still bound and followed where I was led. Once inside the tiny room she had me sit on the edge of the tub while she undid the bindings.
Now that I knew she loved me I could feel the tenderness to her touch. I'd thought it was care and affection at our first encounter but now I knew it to be so much more. Gone from her countenance was the fierceness and dominance and in its place was the sweet, kind hearted girl I knew her to be. She caressed and kissed my flesh where the cords had been even though she knew for certain now that they hadn't hurt me. I hoped she did it because it gave her pleasure to care for me and because she knew I craved it from her.
I didn't know if it was odd, or stupid, but I found myself worrying about the removal of my collar. I felt so comfortable in it, with its leash around my mates wrist, and I didn't really want it just taken from me now that the sex was over. So when she reached for it I stilled her hand with my own.
"Leave it?" I asked softly.
She cocked her head to one side and stared at me for a second or two then nodded her agreement. She did undo the karabiner and put it and the leash with the other cords, but the collar stayed right where it was. She ran a finger beneath it and rubbed my skin slowly. "It's beautiful on you," she whispered as she ran her fingers over it and under it again, "I love how it looks against your skin." She bent to kiss me softly on my lips just once. "Will you wear it for me here, in this house, where we play?" she asked somewhat hesitantly.
I closed my eyes and ran those words through my mind. She knew me. This girl knew me. She understood me and she knew how wonderful her acceptance of what I needed was to me. When I opened my eyes she was still there, close to me and I smiled and nodded my acceptance of her wishes. I took her cheeks between my hands, kissed her softly in return and told her how much I loved her and how thankful I was that we'd found one another.
Her smile was radiant. Even in the gloomy half light of twilight it lit up that tiny room like a star. She fussed with the taps on the tub a little then asked me to sit tight while she returned to the living room to fetch what she needed.
Her beautiful smile was still present when she returned with the towels the robe and the bottles she'd need to complete the ritual. She laid each item out neatly by the edge of the tub and then turned the water off.
"Let me bathe you, sweetheart," she whispered and took my hand. She kept it in hers once I was settled into the tub and then she climbed in with me. She sat perched between my knees and we laid back and just relaxed into the hot water for a few moments.
There was no need to speak. There was nothing that could be said that would convey how we felt about one another any better than how we held each other tight and languished in that tub. It wasn't huge and we both had our knees bent so we'd fit but it worked for us. If we'd had a bigger tub we'd miss the extreme closeness of the space and I was grateful for the intimacy we could share in it.
I found I didn't miss the opulence of the boudoir in 6C. This was Bella's home and everything in it was hers, just hers. She'd told me already that she didn't play in her home so I knew that this was the first time and I would be the first and only submissive to ever enjoy it with her there.
Everything in her bathroom still carried her human scent but I knew that that would fade and be replaced by the spicy freshness of her vampiric one. This was her space and she'd filled it with the things she liked and loved. The towels that awaited our exit from the tub I'd purchased in Maine but everything else was pure Bella. The collection of perfume bottles lined up on the windowsill, the wicker basket that still held her dirty clothing. The vanilla candles that lined the shelf over the tub and the hair bands and makeup brushes that sat in containers on the vanity counter. She'd marked her territory with bobby pins, as all human women did, and I found it comfortable and charming to be cared for in that space.
Without too much warning Bella reached over the lip of the tub and took the liquid soap bottle into her hands. My anticipation of what was to come made my senses ignite once again. This was the part I'd waited for for so long. She squeezed a small amount of the gelatinous liquid into her palm and began bathing me at my feet. She massaged where the bindings had been around my ankles and dug her thumbs expertly into my calves as she travelled up my legs.
I laid my head back on the tiled tub surround and closed my eyes while she cared for my body. Turning slightly, as much as the tub would allow, she slid her hands over my thighs and washed the evidence of our coupling from my manhood with a gentle caress. I moaned at that, revelling in her touch as she moved on to my abs and then my chest. She giggled when I startled as she washed under my arms and giggled again when she ran the tip of her finger around my navel. She might not have known that I was ticklish – or capable of being ticklish as a vampire – but I hadn't known either. I'd never let anyone touch me this way before.
And then I came to a startling realisation. Without love being a part of the aftercare I'd still been missing an essential part of the experience. Bella loved me and it showed in every touch of her hand and every kiss she placed on my body. She showed me that love as she explored my body for the first time. She'd had sex with me in Maine and she'd bathed me afterwards but she'd never taken the time to discover my contours for herself. As she did I came to see that even the dominant's I'd allowed to care for me over the years hadn't really wanted to learn anything about my body, they'd simply been fulfilling their obligation to complete the rituals and to discharge their responsibilities to me as their submissive.
But as Bella used her fingers to learn about my body I felt the warm rush of contentment work its way through me. This was what I'd been missing. I may have found my place in the world order by discovering that I was a submissive, but there had still been something not wholly fulfilling about it. Not until I was being cared for by the woman who truly loved me. The woman who was my mate and my forever.
We switched places in the tub so Bella could sit behind me to wash my hair. I moaned my way through the whole process as she rubbed hard with her fingertips against my scalp. That same warm contented feeling washed over me again as she made sure I was clean and relaxed. It felt so good that by the time we were ready to exit the tub I was rock hard again.
Bella smirked as I stood from the cooling water but said nothing. She'd yet to experience the ease with which I could rebound from an orgasm and I was looking forward to initiating her to that in time.
But first she needed to dry my body. She took one of the towels between her hands and began with my hair, just as she had in Maine. It was tricky to wipe down the leather collar, and my skin beneath it, but she didn't suggest I take it off and I wouldn't have unless she insisted. She simply did her best and I couldn't help but notice the grin on her face each time she touched it. When it was as dry as she could make it she moved down my body carefully and deliberately, drying my skin as I stood on the bathmat. When I was dry she held the robe out for me to slip my arms through and then she tied it at my waist. She got onto her toes and kissed me then. A lingering, loving kiss and I held her to me tightly while we stood there totally immersed in one another.
There was no makeup strewn dresser for me to sit at here so when she broke the kiss and tugged on my hand I followed her into her bedroom where she sat me at the dresser in there. She asked me to take the robe down off my shoulders and once I had she did as she'd done in Maine and rubbed me down with the scented lotion. She massaged my shoulders and back with her magical hands.
She kissed me randomly. Sometimes on the tops of my shoulders, sometimes at the temple but always with a smile for me in the mirror as she did it.
When the ritual was complete I began to wonder what would happen then. I didn't think she'd bring me my clothing and ask me to dress before ushering me out the front door and I began to worry that she might when she left the room again.
I heard the front door lock being turned and then she returned to the bedroom with both our cell phones in hand. She placed them on the nightstand, pulled the covers on her bed back and then she came back to where I sat.
She reached for my hand and gave a little tug. "Come to bed sweetheart," she whispered.
We wouldn't sleep but it didn't matter. I followed her to the bed and took her into my arms. We talked and laughed and made plans. I laid there with my mate in my embrace for hours. I laid there collared and more securely attached to this girl than I'd ever been and ever would be to anyone else ever again.
There was never likely to be tender, passionate sex for us because that wasn't who either of us were. There wasn't likely to be soft caresses and whispered love confessions as our bodies joined because that wasn't what either of us needed from the other. Her safe word was exactly what she was to me. She was my shadow. The other half of myself that was only visible when the sun was shielded. And that's what our physical relationship was destined to be. When the sun rose above the horizon we'd be any other couple. We'd work and live and play within the family. We'd touch and comfort each other, show one another affection and respect. But when the sun slid behind the mountains and the darkness made itself known she'd become my shadow. We were both made up of light and dark and as one shone the other cast the shadow.
She was perfect and she was mine.
And as the sun rose the next morning I started to form a plan. Bella carried my venom in her veins and her flesh would forever exude my scent while we were in close contact. We'd vowed to one another that as dominant and submissive we'd never seek another arena to play in, or other players to play with. And yet there was still one way left for me to claim her. As a woman. Not a vampire female or a dominatrix, but as a human woman.
After a few moments of silent contemplation Bella asked what I was thinking. I didn't answer right away. Instead I rolled her so she was on her back, kissed her sweetly on her plump lips and placed a hand to her cheek. I waited until she'd nuzzled it and taken a hit of my scent and then I lowered my mouth to her ear.
"Marry me, my shadow?" I whispered.
She gasped but in the half second it took me to withdraw and look into her beautiful crimson ringed eyes she was smiling. And it was the cocky, calculating arrogant one I'd first seen on her face in that random club, on that random night in Maine. "Ah, your shadow...For a shadow to be cast there first must be light. You are my light, Edward, and yes. Of course I will," she whispered, "anything to please you," she added as she yanked on the hair at the back of my neck and pulled my lips to hers.
A/N: Thank you for reading.
I hope to have the epilogue posted in a few hours. I have a few things to change and a bit of editing to do and then it will be yours.
Please review.