Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Beta services provided by ElleCC and Jcat5507 of Project Team Beta. You can find them both on FanFiction.
A/N: Probably two weeks "ish" until the next update.
Did I mention I signed up for Project Team Beta's Smut University 2013? I believe that I have. First two homework assignments have been posted, and I'm working on the third. It's growing and growing. I'll have to take a machete to it.
Thanks to creative consultant Siobhan Whitlock.
I Live is posted on FanFiction, Archive of Our Own (AO3), The Writer's Coffee Shop (TWCS), and A Different Forest (ADF) — feed a tree!
Age 18 and over, please. Thank you.
Okay, the story I was looking for I can't seem to find, so I'll plug me again.
I Live side shot Jasper and Peter by GeezerWench. Posted on FFN, AO3, and TWCS.
Chapter 49, I Train
Jasper's POV
Bella stood on the boulder above me, her red Converse-clad feet a shoulder's width apart, shoulders back, and her chest out. Her deep brown hair was lifted gently in the light breeze that meandered between the trees. In the filtered, soft morning light, she was a goddess in a red T-shirt and blue jeans. I couldn't take my eyes from her.
Raising her chin, she turned her head to gaze regally at Peter stationed about twenty feet to her right. Then her eyes swept to Emmett crouched about twenty feet to her left. She slowly raised her right hand, index finger extended.
"Two men enter. One man leaves." She snapped her hand toward Peter and said, "Engage."
Instead of sprinting toward Peter to demonstrate to Bella how a newborn would directly attack another vampire, Emmett burst into laughter, grabbing his stomach with one hand and pointing at Bella with the other.
She held her arrogant pose for only a moment before she erupted in delighted cackles.
I sighed wearily and dragged my hand down over my face. Our first training session was not going as planned, and it didn't help that Rosalie and Charlotte kept tittering at all the stupid shit Bella and Emmett were doing.
The only saving grace was Peter. He had quickly become fed up with their antics. He was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, one eyebrow raised and a frown on his face.
"Look, Bubba, you need to cut the shit and pay attention," he said in a disgruntled voice. "If you don't straighten up, Emmett's gettin' sent back to the house."
"Aw! But that's bullshit, Peter!" Bella exclaimed. "You're gonna make Emmett sit in time-out in the house? I need him to help me."
"He's right, Bella," Rosalie said, trying to maintain a serious expression and moving toward her from behind Emmett. "If you can't behave, we'll hide the Mad Max movies, and there won't be any more Star Trek marathons, either."
"And we'll take away your Lincoln Logs," Charlotte added.
Bella spun toward them, flinging her arms out. "Hide the … Hey! You guys suck! I only broke half the Lincoln Logs, and I love the Star Trek marathons. I wore the red shirt in honor of Jean-Luc!"
After I had ended the call with Alice, Rosalie had suggested we should do something to lighten the mood before beginning any sort of training. My mind had immediately gone to sharing a private moment with my lover in our bedroom, but Emmett had suggested Mel Gibson movies or Star Trek, and Charlotte had grabbed the container of Lincoln Logs.
Of course, the Enterprise and a can of little pieces of wood and plastic would be more interesting than the man who loved her beyond all reason and who desperately wanted to show her how much. Bella had clambered out of my arms and skipped over to Emmett.
While he had flipped on the TV, and Charlotte had dumped the Lincoln Logs on the floor in front of it, Peter and I grabbed clean, unripped shirts to put on.
Bella had only pulverized the miniature notched logs when Captain Picard was engaged in battle or somebody was fighting — which was pretty good, I had thought.
Shaking my head, I turned my attention back to Bella.
Her back was to Peter as she glared at us. I signaled him with a quick flick of my fingers, and he leapt at her. He flung his arms around her, capturing hers against her sides, and they both sailed over the boulder. As Bella squawked in indignation, Peter managed to twist enough in the air that they landed on their sides instead of Peter crushing her underneath him. Immediately, she began to struggle against his hold.
I was instantly in front of them both and squatted down to look into her face. "And you know what happens to the red shirts." I gently caught her chin. "Bella, be still. This is serious. If he had been an enemy, he could have ripped your head off."
"But I was trying — "
"Do, or do not. There is no try." I continued looking steadily into her eyes and pushed a bit of humor at her swiftly followed by a sense of caution, letting her know I wasn't angry with her, but it was time to quit screwing around.
She held still and smiled apologetically up at me. "Peter could have ripped my head off. I know this is serious, and I'll try to behave." She sighed lightly. "When I was human, I was always the weakest one. I … I don't want to be the weakest one anymore. Now, could you tell him to quit squishing me?"
Trailing my fingers over her smooth skin, I stood up as Peter let go of her. She was instantly on her feet, and before she could reach to dust herself off, I caught her hands. "I'll help you, Darlin'." I didn't want her ripping any of her clothes off in front of Peter. She had been getting better at handling clothing, but I wasn't in the mood to chance it right then. I quickly brushed the pine needles off her as Peter hopped to his feet and stood quietly behind her.
"We'll start with defensive moves. You've used some of them already without even thinking about it." I turned her to face Peter. I didn't particularly want him putting his hands all over her, but in the interest of her safety, I thought I could set my jealousy aside — maybe. "We'll take the moves you've already used and build on them. He'll move slowly to start and pick up speed as we go." I glared at Peter to make sure he understood me, and he nodded. "Peter will swing at you. Slowly. You block the swing."
"But why doesn't he just try to punch me?"
I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. "Because I don't think I could stand to watch him hit you." Opening my eyes, I placed two fingers under her chin to lift her beautiful face. "And he would hit you."
Peter just grinned.
I stepped back away from them both, raised my hand, and waved him toward Bella.
He cocked his head and smiled maliciously at her as he crouched slightly and lifted his fists. "Now, Bubba-san, show me wax on, wax off."
-oOoOo-
It turned out that Bella was a quick study once she had finally convinced herself to settle down and pay attention. I controlled myself the best I could while watching Peter gradually increase the speed of his punches and kicks. I never realized how difficult it would be to stand by and watch while someone else was trying to hit my mate. Of course, it had never bothered me when Peter and I were training Maria's newborns. The more pain we inflicted on them, the quicker they learned.
I just couldn't do that to Bella. Or let anyone else do it either.
Bella was ready to keep going, but I couldn't take it anymore when Peter's teeth were at her throat, making her instantly stop trying to kick him. He had caught both of her hands in his right and held the back of her neck with the left. He had lifted her high enough so that only her toes were touching the ground. She wasn't afraid, but her eyes were wide, and she held her arched body rigidly still so she wouldn't move and end up slitting her own throat.
I clenched my teeth and shoved down the flare of jealousy. His mouth on her looked entirely too intimate to me. I suppressed the urge to attack him, but I thought that my shaking fists might have given me away. The twinkle in his eyes, and the flutter of mischief I felt from him, told me he knew I was pissed off.
He lowered her so that her feet were flat on the ground, and he lifted his teeth from her skin, and then the fucker winked at me. "Well, Bubba, looks like I won. Again. You need to work on sand the floor and paint the fence some more, but you're doin' good. I think it's time for a little break." He drew his hand from around her neck, her hair sliding through his fingers, and he let go of her hands. He kept his eyes on her in case she decided to claw him. Then he bent to whisper in her ear, "I think Jasper needs a little break. Go get 'im."
She smiled up at him, and as she punched him in the arm and turned away, he swatted her ass.
I nearly fucking lost it, but then she was in my arms. I clutched her to me and buried my nose in her hair, trying to ignore the traces of Peter's scent on her. That fucking asshole just laughed at me.
Her hands slid firmly up my back, and she whispered to me, "Jasper, take it easy. I can feel you're upset, but you don't need to be. He didn't hurt me."
Even when I tried to keep my feelings from her, she still caught a sense of them. "I know, but … I smell him on you, and …"
"And you're not going to carry me off and rub yourself all over me are you?" She pulled back from me and smiled knowingly, one eyebrow raised.
Rubbing my body all over hers sounded like an excellent idea. "Now that you mention it …"
Peter clapped his hands together loudly. "Break's over — before Jasper runs off with our student. I know what you were thinkin'." He waggled his finger at me in admonishment. "We got some stuff to work on. Bubba and Rose — I want you two to work together for now. Em and Char — come on over here. Jazz and I will observe for a while then you'll switch."
Things weren't going too badly, though with each blow that landed on Bella, I grew more stressed and edgy. I tried to suck it up while Peter and I stood back out of the way until we needed to adjust a stance or make a suggestion as they all practiced throwing punches and blocking. It gave me a strange sense of déjà vu — standing next to Peter, watching our charges lunging and snarling at each other. Difference was no one had had an arm ripped off yet.
It was going well until they traded partners. Of course, when it was his turn at Bella, Emmett had to piss her off by grabbing her hair and throwing her to the ground or yanking her to his chest. Several times. My mate being manhandled, even by Emmett, was setting my teeth on edge, and I had to keep reminding myself that he wasn't really hurting her, and the practice was good for her.
"Dammitt, Emmett! I am gonna kick your ass!" she shrieked after he had tossed her into some low shrubs. She burst through the bushes and sprang toward him.
He whooped at her, and with the speed of a snake striking, he knocked her hands aside with his right while with his left he slapped her to the ground. Then he fell on her to keep her from trying to attack him again. "Ha ha, Bells! I just got you twice with paint the fence!"
She was screaming bloody murder and managed to throw him off. Before he had a chance to completely regain his feet, she was on his back, her arms around his ribs and her teeth at his throat.
"Oh, shit," Emmett gasped, eyes wide.
It was good to know that move worked on him, though I didn't know how many more little discoveries like that I could take.
"Well, that escalated quickly," Rosalie said disdainfully. Then she and Peter were laughing at them, but Charlotte was fuming.
"That's what ya get for slingin' her around by her hair, Emmett." Charlotte pressed her lips together in a straight line, fists planted on her hips.
"Hang on, Char," I said, walking over to my growling mate. "It would be a rare vampire that didn't use every advantage he could even if it was grabbin' a handful of hair — you'd be crazy not to use it against her. She's gotta learn to watch for that, too."
I'd used the tactic more times than I could count against vampires — male and female — who had hair long enough to grab, including Charlotte when she was a newborn.
Charlotte ran her fingers through her own pale blonde hair. "I remember." She narrowed her eyes at me. "That's why I'm a bit irked." She inhaled deeply. "You do need to watch for that, too, Bella. Your hair is beautiful, but that won't keep vamps from tryin' to get a handful and use it against ya."
Bella jumped down from Emmett's back and shoved him away from her. "Well, getting my ass kicked over and over again was getting boring. Maybe we should — "
At the word "boring," Emmett launched himself at Bella, and I automatically went for him. I didn't get a chance to get my hands on him though. Peter knocked me to the side and shouted, "Stop!"
Everyone froze, staring at us.
He hissed and grabbed my arm. "You all carry on. Me and the Major gotta discuss strategies." He dragged me away while Emmett and Bella proceeded to drop into a crouch and begin to circle each other, Emmett rotating his shoulders and Bella flexing her fingers and baring her teeth at him.
"Look at me, Major." Peter yanked me around so I couldn't see what Emmett and Bella were doing to each other while Rosalie and Charlotte cheered them on. "You need to stop your fuckin' growlin'. I know how goddamn hard it is to see your mate get beaten and thrown around. Stop!" He jerked me back again as I started to twist around toward Bella. "Look at me! And they aren't even hittin' her that hard." He let go of my arm and stepped back. "You've been growlin' for the past hour-and-a-half, and you're distractin' Bubba. They keep gettin' hits in because she keeps lookin' at you."
"Peter, I can't — "
"You can. I know how hard it is."
I studied his hard gaze and knew I was being an overprotective, hovering asshole. Peter did know how difficult it was. He'd had to stand aside while Charlotte got beaten, bitten, and dismembered for a year before they ran to escape Maria. "I have no fuckin' idea how you did it. I have no idea how you kept Charlotte bein' your mate from me."
"It wasn't fuckin' easy," he said, shaking his head slightly. "I did everything I could to keep it from you and Maria because I knew Maria would have killed us both. Or had you do it. I had to let the other newborns — and you — abuse her to save her. It's just a good damn thing she can fight like a fuckin' tiger. That kept her from being shit on as much. Hell, she gave better than she got." He blew out a breath and ran his hand through his hair. "Jasper, you know as well as I do that Bubba needs to learn this shit. Maybe if she can fight, she'll quit runnin' when she gets upset." He shook his head. "If you can't take watchin' it, then maybe you shouldn't. Hell, I don't even like it, but you know I can do it."
He could. That was why he had always been my second-in-command. He had trained the newborns with me. "I know you can. I just don't think I can handle watchin' it."
"You have to, Major. You have to separate yourself from it just like you did when we were with Maria. You can't look at her as your mate right now. She's just a newborn." He cocked his head and lowered his voice. "Just like I was just another of Maria's minions." He placed a hand on my shoulder. "You know we're going to have to go over holds some more and how to break out of them, and I don't want ya rippin' parts off me when I do it. How 'bout you go back to the house? Maybe we'll do better without you here."
Be away from Bella? That shit wasn't going to happen. Growling at him, my first instinct was to punch him. I stopped myself and took in a deep breath. Bella had to learn how to defend herself without the use of her shield. My holding back was causing them all to hold back. It wouldn't do her any good.
I knew going in that in order for her to learn, we would have to hit her, but Peter was right: I hated to do it, but it was necessary. I'd just had no fucking idea how seeing her being struck would affect me. I was going crazy, while she was having a great time. But there was nobody who could train and teach her better than I could.
Once I got my head out of my ass.
"I'm not goin' back to the house. Nobody's trainin' her without me." I turned back to my mate and our coven.
-oOoOo-
After Peter's little pep talk, training went fairly smoothly. I got a grip on myself and stopped growling every time Bella was hit, slapped, or punched because she didn't get her hands up fast enough. Fortunately, she learned very quickly and could soon block or side-step almost anything we threw at her.
At first it was maddening to see Bella and Emmett pound the living daylights out of each other, but as time went on, she bested him more and more often, and she kept him from dragging her around by her hair.
It was absolutely infuriating that Peter seemed to take advantage of the fact that he could catch her in holds more often than anyone except me. Then there was that last one which had me ready to snap his damn hands off. Bella escaped from Emmett, ran up the trunk of a tree, and leapt at Peter while he was fending off Rosalie. He shoved Rosalie away, spun, and caught Bella in his arms. That, in and of itself, wasn't so bad. It was when he crushed her to his chest with one hand at the back of her head and the other at the small of her back, and his teeth at her throat again, that I nearly lost it. From my position, it looked as though he was embracing her and kissing her neck, and I just could not take that shit.
As soon as I snarled, he released her. Sneaky little demon that she is, she kneed him in the ribs. He fell over, gasping and clutching at his side, while she landed on her feet, spun to face me and drew her fists up with her hair swirling around her.
"Don't kill him." She glared at me, and then her eyes quickly scanned everyone else.
Their wide eyes were on me, their faces frozen in varying degrees of fear and concern.
That effectively ended our first session.
Because Bella said I had scared them, throughout the remainder of the night, Bella kept me away from Peter and everyone else by reminding me I had some online business to attend to. She sat quietly, curled up in the old blue recliner that had been moved into the main floor library, carefully turning the pages of the little books that Charlotte had brought her, while I added her name to several accounts and holdings.
Typing "Isabella Marie Whitlock" over and over again into the different accounts made me feel so proud and warmed my still heart.
She was right in front of me, and I was having a difficult time keeping my eyes on the laptop. When I suggested we go upstairs, she just looked over the top of her book and told me to buy us some more clothes, and that she wanted a pair of cowboy boots and a pair of purple Converse.
Immediately, my mind imagined her wearing nothing but a pair of cowboy boots. Add a nice Stetson to that, and she could ride …
Oh, my fucking God.
My mouth watered at the thought of her sinking down onto my lap, and if I didn't let go of the arms of the chair, I'd crush them.
Swallowing quickly, I said, "Uh … but I don't know what size boots, Darlin'."
Holding the book up in front of her face, she looked at me from the corner of her eye. "Buy three pairs of brown ones in different sizes. What doesn't fit we'll send back."
Hearing two sets of feet coming down the stairs, we paused to listen.
The front door swung open and we heard Peter's voice. "Me and Char are gonna run the lines."
"Right," I answered him quietly.
After they had gone, I turned back to Bella. "Are you sure you don't want to go upstairs?"
"I'm pretty sure," she said without even bothering to move the book from in front of her face.
"Are you mad at me?"
She peeked over the book. "You know I'm not. It's just that I know you were thinking about killing Peter again." She rolled her eyes and sighed. "You're always thinking about killing him. How can we practice fighting if every time he gets his hands on me you snarl, want to kill him, and scare the shit out of everybody?"
Blinking a few times, I really didn't have an answer to that. "I'll try not to kill Peter."
She wrinkled her nose at me. "Besides, there's things to do. When you're finished there, we'll go out back and clean up all the glass and broken deck rail pieces. Probably about time to fix that door, too. Maybe Emmett can fix it tomorrow … er, later today." She frowned slightly. "That's the second time I've broken that railing. Maybe we should just put some stairs there instead."
"Yes, my love." I grinned up at her.
She grinned saucily back. "After we clean that up, then I think there's some laundry to do. Folding clothes is good practice for me." She promptly stuck her nose back in her cardboard book. It had a puppy on the cover. "We should change the sheets on our bed, too."
"But I like our scents on the bed." I lowered my voice and purred. "We could go put some more of our scent on the sheets right now."
She peeked over the top of her book again and loudly cleared her throat. "We need to run the vacuum, too. I think I can do that without breaking it. Er, maybe." Her eyes dropped back to the book. "After we do all that, we can go weed the gardens and maybe clear out a spot so Emmett has a place to make fire before we go back out to train some more. Maybe later we could burn the broken pickets and boards."
"They're pressure treated — poison, but we could burn them. The smoke won't hurt us."
"Oh. I didn't know they were poisonous. Never mind. We'll put them wherever Emmett put the other ones. We'll have to take them to the landfill. Is there a landfill around here?"
"I imagine there is," I said, sighing in disappointment.
My woman was a cruel slave driver. Evidently, she was going to keep me busy with everything except going upstairs and re-scenting the sheets.
-oOoOo-
The next training session went without incident until we were a few hours in. We'd gone a few miles northeast to take advantage of a treeless area. I had thought it would be good to work out in different types of terrain. Scrambling across dusty, rock-strewn cliffs would be quite a bit different from leaping through pine trees.
Once again, the stony, dry environment stirred memories of my time with Maria. I forced them away.
Bella was enjoying hopping around the craggy cliffs, if the volume of her gloating hoots was any indication, until Charlotte caught me staring dazedly at Bella in the moonlight. Bella broke Rosalie's hold, tossed her away, and bounded gracefully over a crevasse. To say I was merely distracted by her graceful form would have been an understatement. With deadly silence, Charlotte was on my back, her legs locked around my waist, hands gripping either side of my head, and her teeth at the back of my neck. She could have easily torn my head off.
I was twisting around, reaching to grab her forearms, when I felt a blast of furious jealousy from Bella. All I managed to get out was, "Char, look out. Here she — "
Bella struck before I could turn back to face her.
All three of us tumbled across the ground, churning up a huge cloud of dust. The next thing I knew, Charlotte was gone from my back, and I heard her hissing. Bella was growling, and Peter was yelling from somewhere up the hill, "Dammit, Bubba!"
After rolling to my feet and crouching beside Bella and Charlotte, I realized I couldn't feel Bella's anger or jealousy anymore.
I had to admit, Bella had Charlotte in a good hold. They were on their knees, and Bella was behind Charlotte, her lower legs holding Charlotte's calves down to the ground. Her teeth were sunk into Charlotte's arm just below the curve of her right shoulder so Charlotte couldn't reach to bite her. Bella had hold of each of her wrists and was holding her arms out away from her body. With Bella's superior newborn strength, there was no way Charlotte could get out of that. I didn't think Emmett would have been able to — though he probably would have fallen over backwards on her. I wondered why Charlotte hadn't.
I tried to hit them with a cocktail of apathy, utter boredom, and a sense of aversion, but it bounced right back to me. Bella had made her shield strong enough to block any influence from me.
Peter suddenly drew even with my right side, and I threw my arm out to stop him from trying to grab either one of them.
"What the fuck, Jasper? She's bitin' my mate. Knock 'em the fuck out."
"I can't." I knelt in front of them and spoke softly but firmly. "Bella, look. I'm fine. Charlotte didn't hurt me or anything else. Let her go."
They were both growling.
"What the hell do ya mean, 'or anything else'?" Peter had crouched down beside me.
I glanced at Peter from the corner of my eye. "She was jealous."
Emmett walked up slowly on my left. "Our Belly-welly seems a little fussy."
"Fussy?" Charlotte exclaimed. "She's bein' downright cranky!" She snapped her teeth together and hissed again. "It hurts like a bitch, Jasper! I can feel her venom goin' up into my shoulder."
"Yeah," Emmett added. "It's runnin' down your arm, too. She's droolin' like a dog at a butcher shop." Then he crossed his arms and propped his chin in his right hand. "Well, look at the bright side, Bells …" He extended his hand, fingers spread wide. "You got a full set now. You've bitten everybody here. Though maybe you oughta bite us all in the same place so we match. It'd be like our club symbol."
Rosalie had joined us. "Emmett!"
Bella snatched her teeth from Charlotte's arm. "Shut the hell up, Emmett, or I'll — "
My left hand shot forward, and I grabbed her jaw, thankful her shield wasn't at full strength, or I wouldn't have been able to touch her. I spoke to her in a low, smooth voice. "Darlin', please let Charlotte go. I think we need to go hunt."
Her black eyes snapped to mine, she growled again, and then I could feel her internal struggle to slow and contain the spin of her emotions.
"That's good, Darlin'. You're doin' good. It's okay." I moved my right hand to brush over her hair and sent her my pride and love. "You're doin' well," I whispered as she let go of Charlotte's wrists. I cupped her face with both hands as Charlotte maneuvered awkwardly away from her.
As soon as Charlotte was free of Bella, Peter snatched up his mate and pushed her ragged sleeve up over her shoulder to examine the fresh bite. He wiped away the superfluous venom and began kissing her arm. "You're okay, sugar. It's not too bad. It's just that venom pours outta Bubba like a fountain. She slimed ya." He rolled his eyes at Bella while he dragged his hand across his jeans to remove the excess. He licked over the bite, kissed Charlotte's cheek and repeated his actions.
I started to stand up, gently urging Bella to follow me. "It's all right." I looked into her deep black eyes. Even wildly jealous, she was beautiful. Maybe even more so with her tangled hair and shining eyes. She looked fierce. It was entrancing.
Her breaths were slowing as she watched me, and the shining black in her eyes was gradually lightening. The agitated whirl of her emotions had nearly settled into their usual soft hum, when guilt bubbled up over the edges.
"Charlotte, I'm so sorry!" Bella was filled with remorse.
I took my hands from her face and pulled her into my chest, kissing the top of her head. "Bella …" I began, but she interrupted me.
"I was jealous, but that's no excuse for biting her! I was fine, and then I … wasn't," she finished weakly. She leaned into me. "I saw Charlotte on you, and it … it just went blam in my head, and I had to get her off you." She turned toward Charlotte. "I am sorry, Charlotte. I didn't even think about biting you — it just happened."
Charlotte peeked around Peter's arm. "Bella, I know how it is. I do understand. I was a newborn once. It's a wonder we don't go crazy with all the … turmoil in our heads." She nodded slightly as she said, "Sometimes I forget you're still a brand new vampire and … well, things are so different here than they were the last time I dealt with 'em." Charlotte gave Bella a small smile. "But I'm thinkin' maybe ya'll should go catch ya some Bambi."
Bella stepped back from me, lowered her head, and looked up at Charlotte. Embarrassment joined her guilt. "I … I am a little thirsty. I should have noticed. I should have realized … I mean, I know you're mated to Peter, and you wouldn't … You were on Jasper's back, and I just thought … Well, I wasn't thinking." Bella backed farther from me and squeezed her eyes closed. Her hands formed into fists, and she held them rigidly at her sides.
"Bella," Charlotte said softly. "Don't be mad at yourself. It's not your fault. The first time you attacked Peter … or was that the second time?" She brought a finger to her mouth in thought. "No, I think that was all part of the same time, but anyway, when you bit Peter the first time, I was so mad I coulda eaten you up and spit you out."
Peter's chuckle rumbled low in his chest, and he wrapped his arms more tightly around Charlotte. "She woulda done it, too."
Bella just nodded her head in agreement and glanced up, her eyes moving over everyone. "I keep trying to control myself." Her fists uncurled, and she roughly brushed her hair out of her face. "I am thirsty."
I reached for her and slid my fingertips down her arm. "Yes, Darlin', we should hunt."
Her eyes snapped up to my face, and as I watched them, the dark red filled again with the shining, liquid black. She took another step away from me. "Yes." Her eyes met mine. "Hunt."
The very corners of her lips turned upward, and she took yet another step back, holding my gaze with hers. A low, throbbing purr began in her chest, and she took another step.
The shift in Bella's moods from enraged jealousy, to mortification, to coquettish was dizzying.
But I liked it.
From the corner of my eye, I took note that Peter and Charlotte started moving away. On my left, I heard Emmett and Rosalie shuffling quietly back away from us.
"What the hell do you call that noise?" Emmett asked, clearly puzzled.
"Foreplay?" Rosalie said innocently.
Peter snorted. "Almost. More like the matin' call of the aggressive yet elusive Red-Toed Mountain Hellcat."
"Yeah. They're still a newly mated pair." Charlotte's voice sounded distant.
I was barely aware of the words they spoke, because Bella's crooning purr pulsated into my center — calling to me, urging me, enticing me. I'd never heard a sound like it before. It vibrated through my skin and down through my bones. It pulled and tugged at me. I took a step toward her and saw the deep black of her eyes shift to a glittering obsidian. Like Pavlov's dog salivating at the chime of a bell, when I saw Bella's eyes harden, venom pooled in my mouth and a blazing heat spread through my groin; which, when I thought about it, was odd because we were the epitome of cold-blooded creatures, but … who fucking cared?
Bella dipped her head, keeping her eyes on me. "Jassssper," she hissed. "Hunt?"
Almost faster than I could detect, Bella spun and disappeared into the night. Some part of my mind registered the fact that the rest of them had gone, but I couldn't recall exactly when it was they had left. I really didn't give a shit. I just wanted my mate.
I took off, following her to the west.
-oOoOo-
After re-entering the forest, Bella had scented and silently tracked a small herd of whitetails through the dark forest. I trailed after her. Like before, her emotions were whirling, but instead of anger and jealousy, there was need and there was anticipation. She was on the hunt, she was focused, and she needed. She disappeared over a small ridge, and by the time I caught up with her, she had waylaid four young bucks, scattering the rest of the herd.
I stood, transfixed, watching my savage mate drain her first kill, my dick growing harder with each of her swallows. When she couldn't pull any more blood from him, she angrily threw his limp body aside and eagerly snatched up the second, still ravenously thirsty. She growled in warning when she spotted me, but when I returned her growl, hers shifted back into that bewitching purr.
All I desired was to get my hands on her smooth skin, rip her clothes off, and fuck her, but I still didn't approach her, wanting her to drink her fill. She soon finished with the second deer and tossed him aside. She jumped toward the last two young bucks and cocked her head as she studied them. She hefted one and darted toward me, offering him to me, purring seductively and at the same time feeling a mix of care and concern. She wanted to provide for me. Though normally, I could have waited another couple of weeks to feed, it was unheard of for a newborn to share. There was no way I would turn her down. Not even if I had just fed on an entire herd.
Bella's thirst surged into me, setting my throat aflame. Battling to control the speed of my movements, I reached cautiously forward to take the deer. She had brought one that still had a sluggish heartbeat.
As I lowered my mouth to his throat, Bella felt a small thrill of accomplishment and turned away to the last remaining buck. Had she projected a sense of thirst to me on purpose?
She clutched the deer to her chest and snarled as she bit into him and drank greedily. She finished before I did and then was behind me, her hands flat on my back. Her firm touch slid down from my shoulders and around my waist. Her trills grew louder and then modulated into a deep growl. I drained the deer and shoved him from me, but before I could turn around to capture her in my arms, she pressed her body to my back and her hands worked their way under my shirt.
I sighed in pleasure, at last feeling her hands on my skin, but I had to make sure she was satisfied. "Did you want to hunt some more?" I asked quietly over my shoulder.
"No." Her hands advanced up my stomach. "I like this shirt. I like black on you. Take it off."
I quickly obeyed while she stayed behind me. As soon as the shirt was gone, she was pressed up against my back again, her lips drawing scorching trails over my skin. "I love you, Jasper. I want you."
Hearing that, another surge of sensuous need coursed through me, and I started to turn toward her again, but she held me still. "Bella, I want to touch you." I put my hands over hers.
She purred again, her lips pressed against my shoulder blade, and her hands started to slide down my stomach. My breath caught as they rippled over my belt and down. I could feel the throb of those erotic sounds though my back.
"Bella …" I ached to pull her body to mine. Why was she behind me, teasing me?
"I love the way you smell," she whispered, and her breath tickled my skin. Her tongue was on my back, licking over one of the many scars there. "You taste even better than you smell."
Then, with my hands over hers, her fingers ghosted lightly over the bulge of my hard dick in my jeans, and I gasped. When she squeezed, I groaned and my grip tightened over hers. I pushed against her hand. "Bella, please."
She nipped me, and then her lust flowed over and through me, sending my own even higher. She must have been holding back from me. More teasing?
As I moaned, she squeezed my dick again, and her hand slid up its length. "Now, I want …"
"What?" My chin dropped to my chest, which was heaving with my slow, deep breaths, pulling in as much of the scent of my mate as possible. The sight of her hands on me was so erotic. "What do you want? You know I'll do it."
"I want you to … catch me!" She yanked her hands from my body, and she was gone, leaving me gasping at the loss of her touch.
My little hellcat was not only cruel, she was pure evil.
-oOoOo-
With a raging hard-on, it wasn't easy running and trying to catch a newborn, but I did it. I finally caught her at the edge of the clearing around our house.
She shrieked as I yanked her to me and held her arms down across her chest. "Why must you run?" My dick had calmed down during the chase, but it was back at full mast, and I shoved it against her ass. My nose was buried in her hair at the back of her neck so I could breathe in more of her scent. The aroma of her arousal was already driving me insane.
"You like it." She forced her head back against my shoulder. "Did you bring your shirt?"
"Nope." I released her arms. I slid my left hand up her stomach to massage her breast. "What I like is the catchin' part. Do you want me to make love to you here or in our room?" My right hand traveled down and slid to her heat. I didn't care where we were; all I cared about was getting rid of her clothes.
She moaned and squirmed against me, her ass pressing deliciously against my dick. I unbuttoned her jeans and slid down the zipper. I worked my hand under the waistband of her panties and slid my fingers home. She was so ready for me, I started drooling again. I needed to be inside her. I needed to taste her.
"We don't know where everybody is," she said, panting. "They might come outside."
"Doesn't matter where they are. They won't be in our room." I scooped her up in my arms and ran for the house. I did stop just long enough to open the door, step inside, and close it gently. Then I bolted up the stairs to our room and kicked the door shut. I couldn't sense Emmett and Rosalie, but Peter and Charlotte seemed to be watching TV.
I had her clothes off in an instant, and then had her on her back on our bed.
"But I'm dirty," she complained as she tried to scoot away from me.
"I fuckin' hope so." I held her down and dove for the soft curls of her sex. One long, slow lick, and she was squirming again, her hands reaching for my head.
"Oh … oh, yes." Her hands fisted in my hair and tried to pull me even closer.
I kicked off my boots and peeled off my jeans one handed. It wasn't easy.
Her legs drew up, and she started squeezing my head with her thighs.
"Darlin', you're gonna crush me. Put this leg down." I pushed down on her left knee and began licking and nibbling the silky skin of her thigh.
"Don't stop. Why'd you stop?" she whined.
"I just got started."
-oOoOo-
I had to admit it: I was pouting. Along about sunup, Bella had decided it was time for a bath, but she still wouldn't let me in the tub with her. She said we would break it.
She had a point.
We would have to remodel that bathroom as soon as possible to put in a bigger bathtub. Esme would love to help with that. I could send her the measurements and a sketch of a floor plan, and she could get started on a design. The bathroom was a lot wider than it was deep, but I wouldn't mind losing the closet on the right.
While Bella was in the tub listening to the iPod, I decided it would be a good time to finally change the sheets on the bed. They were thoroughly saturated with our scents and venom, which I fucking loved, but the smears of deer blood and the dirt and pine needles had to go.
I was studying the sheets, relieved we hadn't ripped them, but trying to decide if it was worth attempting to get the blood out, when the front door opened and slammed shut.
Emmett and Rosalie must have come home.
"Bella, Emmett's home. I'm gonna go talk to him and Rose for a bit, okay?"
"Okay. I'll just be here in the tub!" she chuckled.
"I know." I couldn't help smiling. "If you need anything, just yell." I yanked on a clean pair of jeans and pulled on a grey T-shirt, gathered up our dirty clothes that had been thrown all over the room, and headed downstairs.
Rosalie and Emmett were in the family room.
"Jazz, it's just beautiful here. I hadn't seen the whole territory yet, and running through last night was really something." Rosalie smiled at me as I walked through to head for the laundry room past the kitchen. "One of these days, you'll have to show me where the actual property lines are."
Emmett followed me through the kitchen. "What's with the blood on the sheets, Jazz? Gettin' a little kinky with Bells?" He waggled his eyebrows at me.
"No." In the laundry room, I spread the bottom sheet out over the washer and dryer and started spraying it with the pre-treatment. "When we got back last night, we still had blood on us. We're gonna need some more of this shit." I shook the nearly empty bottle.
Emmett was leaning against the doorframe. "Yeah, we go through a lot more of that since Bella became a vampire. Should buy it by the fifty-five-gallon drum."
Rosalie came up behind him. "And that's even after we've thrown away the clothes she's destroyed."
I had to agree with them. "So, how's it look out there?"
"Just beautiful, like I said." Rosalie leaned against Emmett's arm. "It's been nice not being rained on all the time, though I've caught myself missing the clouds. It would also be nice to go to town once in a while."
I stuffed the sheets in the washer, turned it on, and followed Rosalie and Emmett to the kitchen. Peter had appeared and was sitting at the island, playing with the Tinker Toys.
Emmett pulled out a stool and dropped his bulk onto it. "Besides all that natural beauty and shit, we didn't see or smell any sign of any other vamps." He grabbed a handful of the brightly colored sticks and wheels and started putting them together.
"Good." I sat down next to him. "I can't figure out why Demetri would be here. I can see that he might show up in Forks to check up on the Cullens, but we drove here. We didn't leave a trail."
Peter was adding more pieces to what looked like a spider. "You know that sumbitch crossed over the line to let us know he'd been around. The Volturi are arrogant bastards." He added a few more sticks to lengthen the legs. "Are ya sure he hasn't been close enough to any of ya to get a fix on ya?"
Rosalie walked around the island and sat next to Peter. "Emmett and I haven't ever met him. Only Carlisle, Edward, and Alice have been near him." She frowned as she looked over Peter's creation. "What is that?"
"It's the spider thing they rode on in the Wild Wild West movie."
I shook my head and looked at Emmett's … I didn't know what it was. "We'd always heard that the Volturi kept an eye on Mexico after they cleaned it out, but I never caught a whiff of them while I was with Maria. If he didn't come within my range, he wouldn't have been close enough to me, Peter, or Char." I realized she was missing. "Where is Charlotte?"
Peter started taking apart his not-quite-steampunk spider-mobile. "She went to see Bubba. Girl talk and shit." He dropped the pieces back into the can. "Char feels bad because she made Bella bite her."
I blew out a breath in exasperation. "She didn't make Bella bite her, for Christ's sake. She knows how newborns are. Like she said, at times it's easy to forget Bella is still a brand new vampire. She's a lot calmer than the ones we had to deal with."
"Calmer? Are you kiddin'?" Emmett added a few pieces to his whatever it was. "She's bitten the shit out of everybody that's gotten near her." He rolled his eyes. "Except Carlisle."
Rosalie leaned forward over the countertop. "Em, she didn't exactly bite Alice."
"You're right. She didn't bite 'er, she clawed 'er up."
Bella had managed to mark everybody; it couldn't be denied. I shrugged and looked again at the thing Emmett was fooling with. I just could not figure out what the hell it was supposed to be. "What is that?"
"Fred Flintstone's car."
It was about that time that we heard mischievous giggles and chuckles from upstairs.
Peter looked up toward the ceiling in the family room. "Ahhhhh. See? All kissed and made up."
I could feel Charlotte's and Bella's relieved and happy emotions, but the conspiratorial laughter made me wonder what else was going on. Hovering underneath, there was a definite seed of familial love very like what Bella felt for Rosalie. I found I was pleased that all of our coven-mates got along, seemed to fit together, and in Bella's case, loved everyone. I wasn't sure what Peter's feelings were for everyone. He played those cards very close to his vest, but I knew he didn't hate them. He and Emmett got along well and even seemed to like each other, though Emmett was a lot like Bella in that he was usually willing to give everyone a chance. Emmett had always liked Peter. I turned toward him, "Compared to the newborns I dealt with, she's quite a bit calmer and much better controlled. It helps a lot to keep her busy and fed."
Peter winked at me. "I know you'd like to keep her busier."
I just raised one eyebrow at him. Keeping my beautiful, sexy mate as busy as possible was a goal.
Peter turned to look over his shoulder out the shiny, new sliding glass door. The sun was breaking over the treetops. "Me and Em ordered materials for Bubba's greenhouse, and I ordered some parts for my truck. We gotta go to Casper to pick it all up. Take about three hours to get over there, so it'll take all day." He turned back to me. "Tomorrow good? Supposed to be cloudy, though we won't be gettin' any rain."
"Tomorrow's good with me. Rose, are you goin'?"
"No, actually, I thought I would start painting my room. Peter bought plenty of paint." She smiled at him. "But if you and Bella want to train some more, that would be fine."
"Since it'll be cloudy tomorrow, we might patrol the perimeter during the day. She'll probably want to mess around in her gardens. They'll need water."
We heard Charlotte coming down the stairs, and when she came through the doorway to the kitchen, she had the biggest shit-eatin' grin on her face.
"Jasper, Bella's out of the tub," she said in a sing-song voice. She patted my shoulder as she went past me to go to Peter.
She was definitely up to something. Then I heard a thump upstairs, and Bella called to me.
Not wanting to make her wait any longer than she had to, I bolted for the stairs.
"He is so whipped," I heard Emmett say through a laugh.
I heard what sounded like Peter slapping his hands together. "Let's go ride the ATVs through the woods. We won't be seein' either one of them for the rest of the day. Or night."
I was curious, but not enough to go back and ask them what they were talking about.
I rounded the wall at the top of the stairs and headed for our room. I wondered if there was something in particular that Bella would like to do.
"Bella," I called to her before opening the door to our room. I stepped inside and looked for her.
She took a hesitant step out of the short hallway to the bathroom, and my jaw just about fell to the floor. My stunning mate was dressed in only a sage green towel and my tan cowboy hat, and that was so fucking sexy I could have just died — again — right there.
I was struck stupid and dumb, and stood there staring at her for so long she became uncomfortable and started to fidget.
She dipped her head and was picking at her fingers. "Um, Char said she would let you help me get dressed, though I'm getting a lot better at it, and then she said I should try on your hat. She thought it was really cute and said I should show you." She glanced up at me and back down to her hands. "But if you don't want me to wear it, that's okay. I'll just put it back in the closet."
"N-no," I managed to choke out as I raised a hand toward her. "I don't mind. I, uh, don't mind at all." I pushed the door closed behind me and took a step toward her. "I like it. I fuckin' love it." It was a little big for her, but she was so fucking adorable and sexy, and … I'd have to tell Peter to pick up a few when he went over to Casper.
And boots. She had to have boots.
"You do?" She gave me a tentative smile.
"Fuck, yes," I growled out. I grabbed her and crushed her body to mine. "Little girl, you can ride me all day and all night." I darted to the bed and growled again as I pulled the towel from her. "Leave your hat on."
..
"Two men enter. One man leaves." ~ Aunty Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
"Engage." ~ Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
"Do, or do not. There is no try." ~ Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back.
"Show me … wax on, wax off." ~ Mr. Miyagi to Daniel in The Karate Kid with Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio.
"…sand the floor" and "…paint the fence" from the Karate Kid with Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio.
"Leave your hat on." ~ from the song "You Can Leave Your Hat On" by Joe Cocker from the album Cocker.
