A/N: Apologies for the delay. I'll try to be better is all I can say!
Hellos go out to my Reviewers and followers!
DISCLAIMER: Ms. Meyer created them and owns them…dammit! LOL
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"Mrs. Cullen. I am very happy that I was able to meet you tonight. Your presence just confirmed something for me."
"Please, call me Bella. Sit gentlemen." She says.
Emmett holds her chair for her as she sits. "I'm curious Ivan. What did I just confirm for you?" She asks.
Ivan looks from Bella to Emmett. "First I must apologize to you Emmett. I have not been completely forthcoming with you tonight. I know who you are."
"Yes? Then you must know that I know who you are too." Emmett offers.
"I'm sure you do. I need to assure you at this point that I am not here to cause any harm you or your family."
"So then why are you here?" Emmett looks at him suspiciously now. His pent up emotions starting to bubble up again.
"Emmett, please calm down. Let Ivan tell us." She turns to their guest. "Please go on Ivan."
"Lovely Bella. The tales of your beauty and compassion have spread through our kind like wildfire. I hope I can get to know you further." He looks at Emmett, seeing his impatience. "I have information for you that will not only help you in your obvious upcoming battle, but information that will save the peaceful future of Vampires throughout the world."
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He that is not jealous is not in love. ~St. Augustine
"Ivan, can we please go join my family for the rest of our discussion? Most of them are now members of The Circle and will need to hear this information firsthand." Emmett asks.
"Of course. That is preferable." Ivan tilts his head in the affirmative.
"But first, I need to beg for a few moments with my wife." Emmett squeezes Bella's hand. "There is something of importance that I need to speak with her about. I'm sure you'll hardly miss us because Carlisle undoubtedly has more questions than you can answer tonight. He can never get enough information." Emmett smiles.
"Please introduce me to Carlisle. I have heard many great things about him. Then take your time with your lovely wife. I completely understand."
Emmett and Bella walk Ivan over to the family seating area and make the introductions. Once Carlisle has Ivan safely involved in a conversation about his life in Romania, Emmett encircles his wife's waist with his arm and walks her down the hall to his office. Once inside the room, he closes and locks the door before picking her up and sitting on the couch with her in his lap.
She senses his need to let down his control. She can feel like he's about to explode.
"Emmett, please tell me wha…"
Before she can say another word, he rips off all the clothing that is coming between the two of them. She tries to slow him down to gain some control but catches a glimpse of his eyes. She's never seen them so black and so distant. Knowing that he won't or can't hurt her, she gives up her control to him and lets him continue with whatever it is he needs to do to bring himself back to her.
Once they are both free of their clothing, he lets out a loud howl before leaning down and biting into her neck, not ripping at her flesh as much as just sinking his teeth in and anchoring himself to her. His hands reach down and pull her knees up hard and drives himself deep into her without warning causing her to cry out from the force of it. Bella throws her arms tightly around her husband's shoulders and holds on while he works through what he needs to work through.
Emmett continues to make carnal grunts and growls through his teeth as they stay connected with her flesh. He keeps on pounding his body into hers, relentlessly slamming against her mindlessly. She cries out his name, hoping to bring him back little by little, but he doesn't respond to her voice at all. Instead his teeth release her neck and his cock pulls out of her just long enough for him to flip her over roughly and lean her upper body against the armrest of the couch and plowing back into her without pause. His hands start clawing at Bella's back leaving long scratches and causing her to scream out hoping he'd make the connection and calm down, but he is still lost in his need. Again she feels his teeth pierce through her hair and into the skin on the back of her neck. His nails finally stop scratching and latch onto her hips, helping steady her body as he starts to slowly gain control of his rhythm, his release eminent. A few minutes later, Emmett lets forth a roar that is heard through the club over the music and other noises.
Bella suddenly finds herself released and alone on the couch. The skin on her neck and back is burning and oozing venom from the wounds he inflicted on her in his carnal rage. She's not frightened and other than the already healing wounds, she is not hurt, but she is a bit worried that Emmett is not close by. She sits up slowly and looks around the room to find her giant of a husband hunkered down in the dark corner, his arms wrapped around his bent knees and his head resting on his legs, hiding his face from her. He is shaking and keeps repeating "Oh my God, I'm sorry. What have I done to my Bella?"
Bella runs to him and sits on the floor next to him trying to coax him out of this self-imposed punishment he's in. "Baby, please, look at me. I'm here with you. I'm fine. You didn't hurt me."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I DIDN'T HURT YOU??? LOOK AT WHAT I DID!" He yells not lifting his head.
"Emmett, I'm already mostly healed. It doesn't hurt at all." She lies a little. "I need you to look at me baby. Look at my face. LOOK AT ME EMMETT." She quietly growls trying to get him to look up. He slowly raised his head to bring his eyes to meet hers. He sees the mark on her neck. It is noticeably deeper and more ragged than his normal love bites. It scares the living daylights out of him. He starts shaking uncontrollably, terror showing in his eyes that have slowly started to lighten.
"Bella, you're my life, but I hurt you. I lost control and I hurt you. I couldn't stop what I was doing, hell I didn't even KNOW what I was doing." He can't look at her again.
She reaches out and gets her hands on either side of his dropped head. He fights her but she eventually gets him to look up again, to look into her eyes. They lost track of how long they sat there silently eye locked. Her eyes showing as much love and compassion as they possibly could. His eyes still so full of hurt and disappointment. The knock on the door brings them out of it.
"Emmett, Bella? Are you guys alright in there?"Jasper asked obviously worried.
"Hold on Jasper." Bella says to the closed door. She runs her fingers through her husband's hair. "Baby, I am going to talk to Jasper. Please come over and sit on the couch."
Bella walks over to the door and opens it just wide enough for Jasper to see her face. "Hey, we need a little while longer. Can you see if Carlisle will take Ivan to the house and we'll meet up with you all there in a little while?"
"Bella. Tell me, what's wrong. This is me you're talking to here. I've never felt this kind of thing from him before."
"Honestly Jasper, I don't know. It was like he needed to prove something, but it really wasn't him. It just wasn't my Emmett. He's back now, but he's in a lot of pain. Please, just give me a little while to calm him down and we'll meet you all at the house. Please give our apologies to Ivan and if he needs to reschedule, we understand."
"Are you sure you don't want one of us to stay behind to help?" Jasper asks as he sends Emmett some calming vibes to help him feel better.
"Yes Jasper, he and I will get through this and be home in a little while. If I need you I promise I'll call." She starts to close the door as Jasper walks away. "And Jazz? Thanks!" He smiles and walks down the hallway.
Bella turns back into the room to find the love of her existence has moved to the couch, his hands resting on his knees and staring out into nothing. She sits down next to him and cups his cheek in her hand, rubbing her thumb across his cheek. "I love you my handsome Prince." She leans in and gently places her lips on his. "Can you tell me Emmett? Tell me what happened."
Emmett blinks his eyes several times as if to bring himself back to the present. He turns his face into her hand and looks at her, pain and sorry still flowing in his eyes. "I hurt you."
"Baby, you have to stop. You didn't hurt me. I'm fine. I'm worried about the pain you are in now. If you hurt, then I am hurt, so talk to me so we can work past it."
He takes in a long, deep breath to steady his nerves and calm himself. "All I could see was red. Not like when bloodlust takes over, no this was different. The first time it's happened to me so I can only guess, and my guess is…" he hesitates to even finish his thought.
"What baby, what do you think it is?"
"Jealousy. I don't want anyone else's hands on you. Rationally I know it is nothing to get upset about. I know you would never…"he starts shaking his head as if to try to erase the images of Ivan touching her, dancing with her even if it didn't look like her, it was still her. "Damn Bella. How am I ever going to be this great leader if I can't even keep control of my jealousy? What you did tonight was amazing and will be a great weapon in our arsenal and its moot if I can't handle seeing some man go near you."
Bella crawls up in his lap but he doesn't pull her in like he usually does. He's afraid to touch her. "Damn it Emmett. I'm a Vampire. You can't hurt me like that. You lost control. It happens. Chances are it will happen again, but we will work through it. We know what to look for now and you'll be able to control yourself next time. Please trust me, love. It is okay."
He slowly tightens his arms around Bella pulling her head down to rest on his shoulder. "I love you baby. I just don't like the thought of losing control on you like that."
"I can imagine. We will just have to talk with Carlisle and Jasper about this before we end up in a situation like that again. But right now, we need to get to the house and talk with Ivan. Are you going to be okay with that?" She picks her head up off his shoulder to look him in the eyes. They have completely returned to their gorgeous liquid gold color again.
"Yeah, I'm fine now. Let's go see what Ivan has to say. But first…" His hand snakes its way up to her neck and pulls her up for a deep kiss. "One more time, I'm sorry. I love you."
"I love you too honey. And we…kiss…will…kiss…get…kiss…through…kiss…this…kiss…." She kisses him one last time on the nose then jumps up off of his lap and holds her hand out to him. "Come on. We need to get dressed and head out to the house."
"The house?"
"Yeah, I asked Jasper move the meeting there since I didn't know how long you and I needed here."
"That makes sense. That's why you're a leader too. Well, let's get going then." He stands and picks her up carrying her to the large walk in closet he had installed with the office. They learned a while ago to keep clothes in all their locations for times like this. As long as they are still in the first decade of their relationship, the urge to rip through each other's clothes and fuck each other senseless at the drop of a hat can and does hit them constantly so having spare clothes around is essential.
Emmett is quietly contemplative on the drive home. His thoughts are fully on Bella and what he can do to make this up to her. Of course he knows she won't want him to, but she should know by now that he will anyway, but they pull up to the house before he can come up with a decent idea.
Walking up the porch steps Bella stops two steps above Emmett and turns around to look at him face to face. "Remember that no matter what, I love you. You are everything to me and you can't do anything to change that."
Emmett can't think of anything worthy to say right now so he just smiles at her and steps up to kiss her.
"Come on Mr. Cullen. Time to find out what we need to know to protect the whole world." She smiles.
"Oh, no pressure there, Mrs. Cullen." He chuckles as they walk into the house hand in hand.
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The living room is alive with people talking. Nothing in particular, just a couple small general chit chat conversations. Jasper feels Emmett and Bella walk up and meets them in front hallway.
"How are things? I can tell you feel a bit better big brother." He winks at Emmett.
"Yeah, but we need to talk about it sometime. I need understand what is happening so I can fight it next time. Oh, and thanks for the calm earlier. Its times like that that having an empath around is a real blessing."
"I'm glad I could be of service. We will talk about it soon. Right now, Ivan is chomping at the bit to tell his story.
The three walk into the living room and everyone welcomes them in. "Sorry we're late. My wife was just too enchanting. I couldn't resist her anymore." He winks at her and she squeezes his hand in support.
"Damn new-mates." Edward shakes his head. "You'll have to forgive these two Ivan. They are less than a year mated. Between that and the fact that their connection is so strong, we had to kick them out of the house."
"Ahhhh to be newly mated again. The perfect excuse to have property destroying sex anytime you want." Ivan sighs.
"Yeah, but we seem to get interrupted a lot. Hell, we only got to have the first day of our honeymoon. Oh well, I guess that is part and parcel with the mantle of leadership." The people around the room laugh. "So, speaking of which, I guess it's time to get down to some business. Carlisle, did you by chance fill in our new friend here about how The Circle is going to work from now on?"
"Yes son I did."
"Thanks, Dad. So," Emmett turns to Ivan, "First of all, why is it you are here to talk to us instead of with your brethren in Romania?"
"I have never really agreed with the Brother's ideology on overtaking The Circle and becoming the ruling class. Their ultimate goal of coarse being to take what they believe is their rightful place at the leaders of the Vampires. I wouldn't have a problem with that except that they don't plan on being fair and just leaders. I believe in a democracy of sorts. They however believe in something more like cruel dictatorship. They will torture and kill all those who will not follow them blindly and will make examples of those who seek to oppose them." Ivan's voice trails off as he seems to get lost in his thoughts. After a few moments, he starts talking again.
"I am here representing a small group of Vampires who have been following you as you are brought into your new positions. We agree with the goals you have set forward so far and would like to offer ourselves to you. Several of our ranks, including myself, are still close with the brothers and know what they are planning."
Emmett looks over at Edward and Jasper. They both nod slightly giving their signal that the thoughts and feelings they are reading from their visitor seem to be genuine.
"Ivan, how are you going to explain your presence here? Won't they be suspicious?" Bella asks.
Ivan chuckles. "Actually, it was their idea that I come. They think they sent me here to gather some information on your group."
"Ahhh the old double agent switcheroo." Emmett laughs, his constant need to lighten the mood coming forward again.
"Something like that." Ivan agrees. "I will of course have to give them some information, but that's easily fabricated. In the meantime, here are some things you will need to know.
"They plan on working slowly and precisely. They will be cruel in their attempts to break you all, but especially you Emmett and Bella. They will work hard to find your weaknesses and when they do, they will play on them and rip you apart. Now, I can try to keep you apprised of their plans, but I will only be able to do so much."
"Of course, and we appreciate any help you can give us. Do the Romanians have any special powers?" Carlisle asks from his corner of the room.
"It is said that they do, but they only manifest themselves when the brothers are physically touching. Once their physical connection is severed, then whatever power they have disappears."
"What are their powers?" Emmett inquires.
"No one really knows for sure. Rumor has it that Aro might, but it has been so long since they have even shown their faces outside their own castle, that no one knows much about them anymore." Ivan looks around the room. Everyone is just soaking up the information.
"Well I guess we need to call Aro." Carlisle offers.
Emmett looks up and says, "No, I think Bella and I will take a trip to Italy this weekend. We need to visit them anyway."
"That sounds like a better idea." Carlisle agrees.
Bella looks over at Ivan. "So what are your plans now? When do they expect you back?"
"I have three more days before I leave. They will start narrowing down their plans when they hear from me." Ivan goes on to tell them that he had no real plan for the rest of his stay.
Esme enters the room at that moment. "You are more than welcome to stay here with us. There is plenty of room."
"I wouldn't want to impose."
Carlisle speaks up, "It's no imposition at all. The only thing we ask is if you need to hunt, you take it out of state. We like to keep our immediate area intact if you will."
"Of course. But I think if I visit your club in the evenings, I should be fine. Besides, I hope to run into that lovely Sophia again before I go back to Romania." His eyes sparkle at the memory of the lady he spent the last evening with.
Emmett, out of pure reaction, tenses up. His hand digging into Bella's hip where it has been resting.
Bella quickly tries to diffuse the flair in Emmett's temper before Ivan can notice. "Could you excuse us for a moment?" She grabs her husband's hand off her hip and pulls him out the backdoor and runs toward their house on the back edge of the Cullen property. She shoves him through the door and against the far wall of the front room.
"You need to calm down…NOW. He has no idea that Sophia was me and there is no reason for him to know. But if you don't get it together, he will know everything. Just because we let him in doesn't mean we should trust him with everything, and Sophia may turn out to be our biggest asset when it comes to him." She holds his head steady as she looks into his eyes.
Emmett breathes in deeply as he stares back at his wife. "Yes, I know it. I KNOW it. I just can't seem to control the need to keep you to myself."
Bella's emotions are now warring. On the one hand, it is incredibly sweet that he loves her this much. That he wants to protect her so ferociously even though he knows she doesn't really need it. But, the emotion that is winning the war right now is anger…
"Damn it Emmett. You have nothing to fucking worry about. He's not going to lay a hand on me more than he has. He thinks he's just getting to know some woman at a bar. He would never be this interested if he knew it was really me." Bella's anger starts to fester even more now. "And what about me? Don't you fucking trust ME, Emmett? Trust me not to let things go too far. Trust me to be able to take care of myself."
"Bella, it's not that at all. I trust you with everything in me. But I can't help it. The thought of another man just thinking about you like that is enough to send me over the edge."
"GET OVER IT! My role is to be a leader every bit as much as you. I may have to do some things that you won't approve of. There may come a time when you have to do something I won't like too, and I would hope that I can handle it without losing my grip."
"Yes, I know you're right, baby. I will work on it. I will do better by you I promise." He leans in for a kiss. Bella hesitates kissing him while she is still seething herself. "Please baby. Please say you forgive me. I need you to kiss me and tell me you love me." The little boy in him, the side that only Bella sees when he need to escape from being so strong all the time, is showing himself. He leans his head down on her shoulder to wait for her to calm down.
"You know I love you Emmett. That will never change. I promise you that. I just need you to trust me, okay. Tell me you trust me."
"I do trust you. Always. And I love you. I promise I will do my very best to remember all of this if and when you have to be in that situation again." He looks at her with those puppy dog eyes that do nothing but enhance his irresistible dimples.
"Oh, come here and kiss me you big baby." He grins widely and presses his lips to hers.
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A/N: Okay…I know I wrote Emmett with some issues. I just want to show that just because they are Vampires, and just because they were thrust into the role of leaders of the Vampire race, it doesn't automatically make them perfect or without problems. Emmett's jealousy is primal and in a weird way from a place of love. Trust me, this won't be the first or last problem they run into!
Please let me know what you think!