*BPOV*
Ok, so the mansion built smack dab in the middle of the rugged Alaskan wilderness sort of gave off a druglord vibe.
Though, it was obvious that Esme had helped Rosalie with the design because she had an amazing gift of making luxurious estates seem to blend into their surroundings, no matter how wild or remote those surroundings may be.
Where Esme's tastes were pale, neutral, and understated, Rose leaned more toward grandiosity, opulence, and vanity.
Gold-gilded mirrors were everywhere which had the effect of making the place look even bigger and more maze-like than it already was.
But the most eye-catching adornment was the life-size oil painting of Rosalie and Emmett that took up nearly an entire wall.
In the painting, Rosalie, dressed like a Roman goddess, lounged ethereally in a sort of gondola on poles that would normally be carried on the shoulders of four men.
Instead, it was held aloft by a bare-chested Emmett who balanced the whole shebang in the palm of his hand raised over his head while he flexed the other bicep. Costumed as a gladiator.
"That's...um...really something," I said to Edward, standing a good ten feet back from the wall so I could see the full picture.
"I was just thinking we should commission one just like it for our next place," Edward said, struggling to keep a straight face.
"There you are! Do you have any idea how much there is to do and you're standing around admiring the art ?"
When Alice nagged, her tiny frame and tinkling wind chime-like voice gave off the impression of getting a stern talking-to from a child.
"Calm down, Alice. Now, what are you going on about? What is left to do besides the obvious?"
"What is left to do, she asks," Alice growled. She held up my hand to inspect my nails.
She then showed me her nails, trimmed unevenly and too short to keep from scratching herself in the asylum.
"None of us had time to prepare, but you do and I'll be damned if you're not flawless from head to toe before you're eternally frozen. Now say goodbye to Edward. We have women things to attend to."
Edward chuckled as he kissed me. "I'd say 'Have fun,' but I really don't think you will, so instead I'll just say I'll miss you." He kissed me again.
I frowned at him. I may whine about shopping trips and makeovers but I wasn't that unreasonable. It would just be like a mani-pedi spa day, right? How bad could that be?
"You want to wax me WHERE?" I shouted once she'd finished ripping the last fabric strip away from my perfectly arched and tweezed eyebrows.
"Trust me on this, Bella. Gillette may be 'the best a man can get,' but they sure don't hold up to vampire hair."
"Jesus, Alice, it's not enough to burn for three days, but I have to have hot wax ripped off my genitals, too?! Why not just do it after he bites me? I probably won't even notice," I grumbled.
"While you're screaming and flailing? What could possibly go wrong?" She replied, her voice thick with sarcasm.
I flinched at the mental picture but reminded myself that if I could survive six months without Edward, I could survive three days of anything if it meant I got to stay with him forever.
"Edward will like it," she waggled her eyebrows at me.
"I'm pretty sure he already does," I blushed.
I kept things neat and tidy, but being the clutz that I was, doing anything elaborate to my lady bits with a razor in a slippery shower just seemed like a humiliating accident waiting to happen. Alice just shook her head and rolled her eyes.
Of course, Alice got her way and I regretted it almost immediately.
I hissed through my teeth as her cold fingers pulled my skin taut while she swiftly ripped away a fabric strip with her other hand.
"Sorry, sorry," Alice murmured, not for the first time. "The thing about pubic hair is that it goes in and out of style just like anything else.
"Right now the shaved bare look is in because our current society thinks little girls are sexy," she growled in disgust. "But Edward is old school and does not. I recommend the landing strip. It's clean, classic, feminine, and never goes out of style," she said, ripping off another strip.
I cringed. Cool cool...Now the entire Cullen family was in the know about my pubic hairstyle.
She saw through my obvious embarrassment. "Relax. The guys went hunting. Did you really think Edward would sink his teeth into you on an empty stomach?"
"I can't believe it's really," I hissed again, "happening."
"Would I be depilating your privates if it wasn't?" Alice giggled.
"Honestly?" I teased, pretending to think about it. "Auuuuugh," I complained, writhing onto my side and squeezing my legs shut after she ripped off an extra sensitive patch using much less care.
"That's actually helpful. I was going to tell you to roll onto your side so I could do the back."
My eyes widened in terror. The back?
*EPOV*
In an effort to not deplete the island of the available game for Bella, we ran to the northern tip of the island where it was just a short jump over to the mainland. The Tongass National Forest was just on the other side where we had our fill of moose and Sitka deer.
The pristine forest with its millions of acres of old-growth cedar, spruce, and hemlock trees, majestic waterfalls, and untouched glacial lakes was one of the most beautiful I'd ever seen, and I couldn't wait to explore it, side by side with my Bella. My excitement was mounting.
We were on our way back to the "Colosseum", the newly coined nickname for our temporary residence, when Jasper was the first to voice his thoughts.
"Gotta tell ya, little brother, I kinda thought you'd be sitting under your own little rain cloud right about now," his smirk was mocking but his thoughts were impressed. And relieved.
"You and me both, Jazz. But you should've seen her today. I think her courage is giving me courage," I admitted. "I wonder if that will be her gift?" I pondered aloud.
"That's good, I guess," Emmett said in a surly voice. "But you really should have asked the Wizard of Oz for a pair of balls," he snickered and groped at himself crudely.
Without missing a beat, I sniped, "That's funny. I didn't see any under your gladiator skirt."
Emmett tipped his head back and laughed, extending a fist to bump. The great thing about Emmett was that he could appreciate a 'sick burn' even when it was at his own expense.
Our fists connected as we ran, shearing off the top of a young hemlock that dared get in the way with an explosion of splinters and needles.
"You wouldn't believe what Rose offered to do to get me to wear that thing…" Emmett crowed, brushing tree shrapnel off his chest.
I childishly closed my eyes and stuck my fingers in my ears which unfortunately did nothing to block out the x-rated mental images of my sister.
"...The sandals weren't that bad, though!"
"So Carlisle," I redirected, unsubtly trying to change the subject, "Any last words of advice?"
Carlisle's smile was patient. "Find the will to stop. That's it. And you've already done that once, so you know exactly what to do. I have complete faith in you, Edward."
"Yeah, man, 'cause if you two overcame all of that," he gestured broadly with his hulkish hands, "just for you to kill her now, I wouldn't not be able to make fun of you for that, no matter how sad you were."
I knew Emmett well enough to know that his crassness was his own way of showing his vote of confidence. If he actually thought there was any real possibility of that happening, he never would have made the joke. He was insensitive at times, but never cruel.
And sorry Rose isn't here. She'll be around in a few days. She wants to be supportive of you and Bella. That's why she offered up the house. She just...couldn't bring herself to be here for the screaming.
I winced. "It's fine, Em. I get it. And again, we appreciate it."
"Well, this is our stop," Emmett and Jasper slowed to a stop just as we were about to jump over Mendenhall Lake. I lurched to a stop and turned to look at them questioningly.
We're camping out here. We thought Bella would want privacy...And I love the girl, but transformations are just too painful for me to be around. My gift wouldn't do her much good when she's burning anyway, I've been around enough newborns to know.
He was trying hard not to acknowledge something I'd failed to think about. By staying away he was also saving me the torment of knowing how she felt.
I nodded at Jasper, and he in-turn absorbed my understanding and gratitude. I gave each of my brothers a bone-crushing, back-slapping hug.
"You bring that little sister of ours back here once she's fully cooked and we'll have some real fun," Emmett instructed with a wide smile.
"She'll like that," I grinned back.
Emmett peeled off his shirt and took a running dive right over the edge of a 200-foot waterfall. He tucked his broad frame into a cannonball and howled all the way down, even after he was submerged.
"Happy for ya, Ed. It's about got dang time!" Jasper drawled, jumping in after Emmett.
"Shall we?" Carlisle gestured south. I want you to know I'm only coming back with you to administer the morphine, not because I think I'm needed for anything else.
I nodded appreciatively, but Carlisle looked like there was something else he wanted to say.
"Thank you, son. I started this family with you almost 90 years ago, and it was the best thing I ever did. I couldn't be more proud that you will be the one to complete our family now." Carlisle wrapped a hand around the back of my neck and pulled me in for a tight, fatherly hug.
As I stepped back from his embrace, I bowed my head, humbled. "I'll never be able to thank you enough for this life, for her," I said reverently.
"Oh, I think Bella deserves more of your thanks than I do. And speaking of Bella, what do you say we go get this show on the road? Patience is not one of her many virtues," he chuckled.
I grinned in agreement. "I suppose I've kept her waiting long enough."
"You both have waited long enough."
*BPOV*
After Alice had hunted down and ripped out every last unwanted hair by the root, she and Esme went into glam squad mode curling my hair and painting my face and nails.
I smiled to myself in the mirror, remembering this same scene from when they'd dolled me up so that Edward could take me to prom as a surprise. Before I knew where we were going, I'd vainly hoped he was going to change me then.
You thought that would be a black-tie occasion, did you? Edward had teased.
I wasn't in a ballgown, but I wasn't far from it either. It was a long, sparkling silver sheath dress. Its fabric loosely draped down into a scoop neck over my décolletage, showing off a tasteful amount of what little cleavage I had.
It fit snugly over my hips and flared out below the knees. On my feet, I teetered on one of the new pairs of strappy heels that Alice and Rose had given me for my birthday.
"It'll be the very last time your clothes need to sparkle for you," Alice said, looking me over in the mirror as she hugged me from behind.
"Oh!" Esme let out a little squeal of excitement. "I thought this day would never come and here we are! I don't think my heart will be able to take it when he sees you," she said with shiny eyes, sounding broken up.
"I hear them coming. I'm going to go weep all over my son now, and make sure he looks just as perfect for you! Sit tight, Bella. It won't be long now!"
I could feel the nerves setting in. My stomach was full of butterflies and my hands were starting to shake. Courage, don't fail me now.
This felt so much like our wedding night, but different, because I wasn't worried about knowing what to do or how to please him. But just like getting married, I knew that once this night was over, he'd be mine forever, as I'd be his, but after tonight, nothing would ever be able to separate us. Not even death.
I did have one worry, besides my own imminent suffering, and that was Edward. I remembered how unbearable it had been to watch him tortured by Jane for just a brief moment. Witnessing it had been its own form of torture.
He would watch me writhe and burn for days, probably blaming and hating himself the entire time. I didn't know what state I'd be in, or how much control I'd have over myself, but I needed a way to be able to get through to him.
I could see Alice's body freeze in the mirror for just an instant and then she trilled, "Ah! I was wondering why I needed that." She crossed the room to retrieve something from her newly acquired Birkin bag.
When she passed in front of the far walls, which were floor-to-ceiling windows-standard Cullen design, her pale figure seemed to glow green from the aurora borealis that bloomed across the starry sky like a celestial watercolor painting.
Alice placed a small, smooth object in my palm and closed my fingers around it, though she didn't immediately release my hand.
"Don't worry. I'll be here, right next to him, smacking him in the brain with all the happy days ahead like a cheerful little fly that won't buzz off. You know how I get," her smile was confidence itself. "If he's determined to be emo, he's going to have to work for it."
"Thanks, Alice. That does make me feel better," I said sincerely with a tight, close-lipped smile.
"Well, I can see that you're about to ask me to buzz off, so I'll give you some room to breathe.
"And just so you know, I really would have done it myself if it came down to it. I love you, Bella. You're my sister no matter what skin you're in," Alice gave my hand a little squeeze and kissed my cheek.
I could feel the tears stinging my eyes and my chin start to wobble. I really didn't want to cry, because if I let the floodgates open, I wasn't sure I'd stop. "Aww, Alice, I love you, too. And I know you would have. And just like you, I'm glad you didn't have to."
Alice smiled and nodded as she slipped her slight, cool hand out of my grasp and glided gracefully out the door, shutting it behind her with a soft click.
I stood up from the ornate claw-footed vanity and paced the room anxiously a few times before I sank down heavily on the bed.
The regal furnishings were fit for a palace in Versailles. Matching the vanity, the bed was bone white and embellished with gold accents and scroll-like carvings.
The soft mattress felt too inviting under my weary body, so I kicked my heels up, crossing my ankles overtop of the champagne-colored bedspread. The very long day of travel was finally starting to wear through the adrenaline that seemed to keep me going.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on all of the involuntary bodily processes that we mere mortals usually barely ever noticed. I tried to remember exactly what it felt like to be human.
I felt my heart thumping steadily in my chest, and the blood rushing in my ears. I felt the sweet relief of oxygen as it filled my lungs and the bluntness of my teeth worrying at the inside of my lip. Finally, I felt one hot, rogue tear ooze from the corner of my eye, and the cool stone of the finger that wiped it away.
I gasped in surprise at the unexpected touch and opened my eyes to see the buttery gold of his just inches from mine.
*EPOV*
I almost thought Bella was asleep, lying there with her soft auburn curls spilled across the pillow and her sparkling dress that shimmered green under the northern lights. But her breathing was slightly too deep to be asleep.
I approached her silently. Her face looked almost as peaceful as if she were sleeping, but upon closer observation, I noticed the slight crease between her brows and the way her full lower lip was pulled nervously between her teeth.
I felt my own brows knit together at the glint of a teardrop dewing up on her long, dark lashes before it rolled wetly down the side of her face. I brushed it away with my thumb before it could be absorbed by her hairline.
Her teeth released her lower lip as she gasped. I'd startled my sleeping beauty. Cupping the side of her face, I brushed my thumb moistened with her tears over the petal-soft pout of her lower lip.
The initial surprise vanished from her eyes and was replaced with the warmth and affection I usually saw there.
Sitting down next to her on the edge of the bed, I leaned down and closed the distance between us kissing her softly on the lips and tasting the saltiness of her tears on my tongue.
"You're here," she whispered, eyes still closed, her warm breath washing over my face like a summer breeze.
"I'm here," I murmured in the same low tone. "And you, Mrs. Cullen, are a vision," I said as my eyes hungrily roamed over her. How could this exquisite creature be mine?
Bella raised her hand to touch the smooth silk of my tuxedo lapel.
She laughed once, it was an amused sound. "So I guess it's a black-tie occasion after all."
"Alice." We both said the name at once, then laughed. I said the name as an explanation, she'd said it like an expletive.
Our quiet laughter died out, replaced by a silence that stretched between us.
"Are you afraid?" Bella asked a bit shyly, looking up at me with wide eyes thickly framed by the dark fringe of her lashes.
"No," I breathed. "Not anymore." I didn't ask her the same because I didn't need to. She'd be certifiably insane if she wasn't afraid, no matter what she said.
"Why not? What changed?" Her curious eyes searched mine.
I paused for a moment, carefully considering my answer.
"Bella, I've spent nearly a century hating myself for what I am. I never wanted that for you. But now... I have a hard time hating the very thing that made it possible for you to love me. So, no, I'm not afraid anymore. Just...grateful. Extremely grateful." I took her hand in mine and brushed my lips across her knuckles.
Her answering smile was blinding in its radiance. She pressed her warm palm against the side of my face.
"Make love to me, Edward. Make love to me, and then give us our forever…" Her eyes blazed with some unidentifiable emotion. Determination maybe?
I leaned down to kiss her again, but she stopped me with two fingers over my lips. "Just as soon as I have a human moment," she amended sheepishly, blush creeping up her neck.
*BPOV*
Edward chuckled and gestured with an open palm toward the door of the en suite bathroom.
I surreptitiously palmed the Sharpie marker Alice had given me as I passed the vanity on my way to the bathroom.
It might've been silly, but I lived in fear of soiling myself after he bit me. The waste in my body had to go somewhere, didn't it? So I tried to pee one last time, not shedding any tears for the blasted toilet I would never need again, and hurried back to Edward.
He was there where I left him on the bed. From where I stood, I finally was able to get a good look at him, sitting up straight and proper in his slim-fitting tuxedo.
He looked like a movie star plucked from the pages of a celebrity magazine. And the craziest thing was that he was looking at me in exactly the same way.
When I blinked again, he was gone. And then, from behind me, I felt the press of his lips against that small purple bruise on my throat where he'd marked me in the airplane bathroom. All the while his fingers tugged the tiny zipper down my back with maddeningly slow and measured movements.
Once the back of the dress fell open, he swept the thick curtain of my hair over one shoulder so that he had access to my neck. He wrapped an arm around my middle and pulled me flush with the front of his body, letting me feel the hardening bulge of his arousal straining against his slacks.
I gasped at the sensation as he slowly ghosted the tip of one of his ice-cold fingers down the side of my neck and dragged the now loosened strap over the curve of my shoulder. He then repeated the action on the other side leaving me topless.
The bodice of the dress hung down around my waist while the fitted midsection clung to the swell of my hips. With one last gentle tug, the dress puddled around my ankles.
The arm around my waist released me, and he extended that hand for me to hold as I carefully stepped out of the dress in the towering stiletto heels.
With a small jerk of his wrist, he twirled me around so that I was now facing him, wearing nothing more than the diamond heart on one wrist, my Cullen crest bangle on the other, and the strappy heels on my feet.
My loose curls, still tucked over my right shoulder, hung down over my right breast, hiding it. But the other was obviously pebbled by my arousal and the chill of his touch. I watched as his gaze broke from mine and traveled hungrily down the bare length of my body.
There was a time when being this vulnerable in front of him would have made me want to run and hide. But the look of raw need in his eyes and in the sound of his growl only made me stand taller and prouder.
Trying my best to move gracefully, like a model on a catwalk, I sashayed across the short distance between us. Tipping my head back to kiss the dimple on his chin, I simultaneously thumbed open the button of his tuxedo jacket.
Placing my right hand on his right shoulder, I made a little lap around him, my wandering hand feeling the solidness of his upper body beneath the thin wool of his tuxedo jacket. I stood behind him now, my hands curving up and around his shoulders until I felt his lapels.
Clutching the fabric in my fingers, I peeled the jacket back over his broad shoulders until it slipped off his arms. I tossed it aside, satisfied, and walked back around to face him, to see what could be done about the rest of his clothes.
Edward held his wrist up in front of his chest, unhurriedly unfastening his cufflinks, eyes never leaving mine. His sexy smirk was downright sinful as he watched me watching him. The pose made him look more like a fashion model than he ever had.
While he untied his bowtie, I made myself useful by going to work on his belt. Once I had it unfastened, I tugged hard on the sleek silver buckle, pulling the black leather strap smoothly from the loops until it came free in my hands. It joined his tuxedo jacket fanned out across the armchair in the corner.
His pants were the next article of clothing to hit the floor, and it would seem I was not the only one to forgo underwear that night.
Edward's voice was rough if velvet could be rough, when he asked "Do you have any idea how badly I want you right now, Bella? Any idea of the things I want to do to you?" His rigid manhood twitched as if in agreement.
Pleased by his obvious affectedness, I flashed a sultry smile and turned on my heel to strut haughtily toward the bed, watching him coyly over my shoulder as I walked.
Edward's eyes darkened as he watched me. One at a time, the buttons of his shirt popped off and plinked onto the floor as he tore it effortlessly from his body. The silken shirt fluttered to the ground in tatters and then, with a wicked smile, he pounced.
*EPOV*
Bella's shapely legs looked about a mile long in those heels. And the way she was looking over her shoulder at me, daring me to come get her was making me wild with need.
I needed to keep my focus, stay in control, now more than ever. This was the last time I'd need to be so careful with her, but also the last time for so many other things that I wanted to savor until the very last.
Bella's blush, her heartbeat, her warmth, her mouthwatering scent. Somehow I would have to learn to live without those things that had become synonymous with her very wellbeing.
And then the little vixen put her palms flat on the bed, slightly bent over it, and wiggled her bottom enticingly at me. A little too enticingly, because I was airborne in the next half-second.
I landed on my back with Bella securely in my arms with enough momentum to slide the heavy wooden king-sized bed several inches across the hardwood floor with a shrill scraping sound. She scrambled to straddle my hips, trapping my straining erection between our bodies.
Throwing my head back in pleasure, I let out a long, protracted groan as Bella rocked her hips back and forth, sliding her moist heat along my hard length.
I reached a hand between her legs and moaned, feeling the silky softness of the recently waxed skin.
I muttered a low oath. "That is so sexy, Bella...I hope it didn't hurt too badly, though" I added softly with concern.
Bella grimaced. "Let's just say I'm glad I'll only ever have to do it once. But I'm glad you like it...That was sort of the idea," she said with a short laugh.
"What I'd like is to get a closer look," I said with a seductive voice and smoldering eyes.
"Well, then I guess you should've landed on top because now it's my turn." Her eyes were hooded with lust and her grin was devilish. She rocked her hips over me again, making me growl with delicious frustration.
The room was darkened by the invading blackness of the winter night pouring through the windows. Even so, her pale skin glowed warmly in hues of pink and orange, bathed by the soft flickering light of a dozen or so dripping white candles placed around the room.
Perched atop my hips with a halo of light around her soft brown curls, Bella looked every bit the angel she accused me of being. A goddess. The telltale blush of her arousal bloomed up her neck, coloring her cheeks.
I reached up to cup the side of her face, memorizing the feel of her heated skin under my fingers and the exact shade of her blush. Dusky rose.
I whined as she scooted backward on her knees, away from my touch, away from my need.
The sound was cut off by my sharp inhale.
I propped myself up on my elbows and watched, riveted, as she lowered her mouth over my cock and licked the underside from base to tip, tasting her own arousal on my painfully hard erection. It was the most erotic thing I'd ever seen her do.
"Fuuuuuck," I groaned, deep and guttural, as she swirled her tongue around the head.
As she licked, sucked, and stroked me into an absolute frenzy, I suggested that she flip her body around so that we could enjoy each other simultaneously.
"Sixty-nine?" she asked, eyebrows arched and her voice piqued with interest as she pumped her fist up and down my shaft. In reply, I merely cocked an eyebrow and smirked.
She shimmied around so that she kneeled over my face and tentatively lowered herself down to my mouth. I was not nearly as tentative.
I clapped my hands around the back of her thighs and lapped greedily at her slick folds as she bucked and squealed over the enthusiasm of my tongue.
It really was quite a handy thing, not needing to breathe. With her swollen bundle of nerves sucked between my lips, I moaned feeling her hot mouth resume its own exploration of my body.
She seemed to realize that this new angle made it easier for her to take me more deeply into her mouth.
Though I was pleasantly occupied elsewhere, I wish I could have watched her as I felt her soft lips descend further and further down, taking nearly all of me in her hot, wet throat.
When I heard her pained whimper, I immediately released my too-tight grip on her thighs, furious with myself for losing concentration. I rubbed the angry red fingerprints soothingly with my palms until they faded, apologizing with my touch as well as my words.
"I'm sorry," I murmured, turning my head to kiss the inside of her thigh. "So sorry."
"It's fine, don't stop," she urged, returning her mouth to my scrotum. Low, throaty, unintelligible noises bellowed out of my chest. I fisted my hands in the bedspread, not trusting them anywhere near her when she did that.
"Bella," I begged. It was a plea for release.
"Brace yourself, Edward," her husky whisper filled my ears, "because I'm going to make you come and I'm not going to stop."
My mouth busy on her, I moaned and thought briefly about objecting. But was it so different from finishing inside of her without crushing her hips? I moved around a little underneath her, planting my feet and hips firmly into the mattress.
Bella took that as confirmation, and her suction and speed intensified. Groaning, I redoubled my efforts on her, because I'd be damned if I finished before she did.
Inserting a first, then a second finger inside of her tight entrance, I stroked a slightly rougher patch of her interior wall, moaning approvingly as she quivered and pressed herself harder against my mouth and fingers.
That's it, sweet girl, let go. I moaned encouragingly around her swollen nerves. I could feel her walls start to constrict around my fingers and then she pulled her mouth off of me unleashing a long, drawn-out groan that was a good octave or two below her normal speaking voice.
It was the sexiest fucking thing I'd ever heard.
The second she was coherent again, she went right back to finish me off, though she climbed off my face and swiveled her hips back around so that she could watch me. Or maybe so that I could watch her.
I returned my hands safely to the bed linens, balling the fabric up into tight pucks beneath my iron grip. I was already so unbelievably aroused that I was grunting out in orgasm seconds later.
The force that it took me to physically hold myself still beneath her eager mouth could have tipped over a freight train as easily as if it were a sleeping cow.
Watching her swallow my release, licking it off her lips while she smiled brazenly at me...now that was the most erotic thing she'd ever done. Even after I was finished, my erection never wavered, if anything it just got harder.
Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she raised up so that she was in an upright kneeling position between my legs when she asked, "So how was that?" with a knowing smile.
My chest was still heaving as I returned to orbit, and not yet able to form words. Grinning idiotically, I shot two thumbs way up into the air. She giggled delightedly in response.
Then her smile faded, and she raised her hand to cup her throat and shrieked in a panicked voice, "It's burning!"
I was upright in an instant, gaping at her in wide-eyed shock and horror. Then she fell into my arms in a fit of giggles. I collapsed back onto the bed clutching my chest in relief.
"That was not funny," I glowered at her, still in stitches. But her laughter was contagious and I found myself smiling despite myself.
"It wasn't," I contended, chest shaking with my own unbidden laughter.
"You're right. It wouldn't be funny if we didn't get to do this one more time before all the screaming starts," she teased as she threw her leg over my hips and lowered herself down onto my hard length.
I groaned as she sank all the way down to the hilt. "The screaming started a while ago, actually, you just weren't paying attention," I snickered and leaned up to take her nipple into my mouth.
Her perfectly o-shaped mouth gasped as my tongue swirled over the sensitive bud.
I let her rock on me a few times before I rolled us over so that I was on top. Bella wrapped her legs around my waist and raised her pelvis to meet me thrust for thrust.
"I love you, Bella," I murmured, kissing her as I rocked into her. "So much that I don't know how to contain it sometimes."
"I can think of a place for the overflow," she growled, squeezing her muscles around me. My eyes squeezed shut and my mouth dropped open, though the only sound that emerged was a sharp exhale. She was already so impossibly tight.
I heard her giggle and then she did it again.
"Bella," it came out as a whine.
I reached down between us and applied pressure to her pubic bone while also working over her swollen nerves with my thumb. It wasn't long until she was the one whining.
And when Bella begged? I could refuse her nothing, but most especially then.
"Please, Edward," she pleaded as I kept her right on the edge of her climax.
"Please what?" I chuckled darkly.
"Please can I come?" She almost sobbed.
I thought she'd tell me to make her come, not ask for permission! But for the love of... if that wasn't the hottest thing ever.
She whined again, frustrated, snapping me back to her frantic need, so of course, I obliged her.
"Yes," I urged. "Come for me, love. I want to feel you explode around me." I circled my thumb over her more firmly in the way I knew she needed and then she was sobbing as she climaxed for the second time.
The tightening of her muscles around me had me quickly chasing after my own release. I clenched my fists and concentrated hard on maintaining a gentle pace, though it took about the same force of will to not lose control this way as it did that first day in biology.
With one last thrust, I pushed all the way inside of her and climaxed, a feral-sounding growl tearing its way out of my chest.
Panting, I rolled over onto my back and pulled her into my arms. I brushed her hair back off her forehead and pressed soft kisses everywhere my lips could reach.
Unexpectedly, when my eyes refocused on her, she was wearing a slight frown.
"Bella? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" My anxiety started to spike.
She rolled her eyes. "No," she growled. My eyes widened at her frustrated tone. What had I missed? "It's just...why didn't you bite me?"
"Why didn't I…?" I spluttered. "Because you haven't had the morphine yet! Carlisle...Any of that ringing a bell?"
A look of comprehension flashed in her eyes, and then she squeezed them shut and muttered a curse. "I totally forgot about that," she smacked herself on the forehead.
"I had it all built up in my head that you were gonna, ya know, and then change me, and then you didn't...I wish you would've said something. I would've passed on the morphine."
I looked at her completely gobsmacked. "What on earth do you mean 'pass on the morphine.' This is hardly the time to be a hero Bella," I scolded. "If the drugs help…"
She gave me a withering glance. "I just don't think it's going to work, that's all. If you recall," she said with a slight edge in her tone, "I've had morphine and venom in my body at the same time," she raised her eyebrows pointedly at me.
My expression went flat when I realized she was right. "Humor me," I said flatly. We could always give her more, but trying was better than nothing wasn't it? My anxiety was building again.
She threw her hands up in acquiescence. "Ok, but I'm going to take a quick shower to help me relax. And so I don't smell like sex," she snorted. "Maybe you should open a window..." she said hopping off the bed
I stared at her in amused bewilderment. "You are utterly absurd, by the way. But I'll let Carlisle know."
"Carlisle already knows I'm absurd," she called back with a laugh, shutting the bathroom door behind her.
I scrubbed my hands over my face and reluctantly got to my feet. I opened one of the suitcases that had traveled with us from Florida and pulled out a fresh set of clothes for myself which I threw on and pajamas for Bella.
I then dug my phone out from the pocket of my tuxedo pants and after staring at the cursor blink ten or twenty times, I typed in a message to Carlisle. And after the cursor blinked another ten or twenty times, I hit send.
I was in this weird state of paralysis because changing Bella meant immortality in the long term, but unimaginable agony in the short term. Agony that I'd inflict on her myself.
It was like an extreme version of the time when she'd dislocated her shoulder in New Hampshire and I wasn't sure that I could bring myself to pop it back in knowing it would hurt her terribly in the short term. She spared me from doing that and asked to be brought to Carlisle at the hospital, prolonging her own suffering.
But Carlisle couldn't be the one this time. She wanted it to be me, and I wouldn't let her down.
In some primal way, I wanted it to be me, too. I wanted it to be my venom that flowed through her veins, cementing her into the immortal world, my world, forever.
Even if she hadn't gone through with marrying me, I would have never let anybody else but me be the one to turn her. Not that I'd ever tell her that, I smirked a little guiltily.
I sighed. Soon Carlisle would be here with his doctor face and his needles and this night would turn from a romantic comedy to a horror in the blink of an eye.
And I would sit by her side and hold her hand, and wipe her brow while she screamed and flailed and begged for death. And I'd be wishing for the same right alongside her.
I heard the water shut off at the same time as Carlisle knocked on the door. I placed the PJs in the bathroom while she was still wringing the water from her hair. I noted the slightly elevated rate of Bella's heart. She was excited, or anxious, or afraid. Probably all three.
Slipping back out of the bathroom, I then let Carlisle in. He had with him an IV-stand which he rolled through the door.
"I thought an IV would be best because we can keep administering the morphine until her veins expel the needle. Once you bite her, if her veins seize up, we may not be able to get a needle into her a second time."
I nodded in understanding and agreement. "She'll be thrilled," I muttered with heavy sarcasm.
The door slowly creaked open and light and steam spilled into the room before her. Somewhere in the recesses of my brain, the song Dreamweaver played.
"Thanks for grabbing my paj-...Oh, hi Carlisle!" she said, a little flustered, eyeing the IV-stand. Bella moved to nervously tuck a strand of hair behind her ear but was foiled by the towel twisted on top of her head.
"Good evening, Bella! Edward informed me that you were ready to move forward, but please don't let me rush you," he said pleasantly.
"I was just explaining to Edward that an IV would be our best bet at keeping you medicated for the longest amount of time before your veins seize up from the venom."
Bella yanked the towel through her hair, drying it hastily before tossing it aside. She then climbed back into bed and sat cross-legged, leaning against the headboard. She took a deep, centering breath and then met both my gaze and then Carlisle's.
"Let's do it," she nodded.
Carlisle wheeled the IV stand to her bedside and started prepping her arm for the IV. She looked away as he inserted the needle so expertly that she barely felt the pinch.
He started the drip and then instructed me on the proper dosage and frequency to ensure that the drugs didn't stop her heart before the venom did. I shuddered at the thought.
Carlisle turned and took Bella's hands in his own. "You have always been part of our family, but I couldn't be happier to have you join us...a little more permanently," his smile was warm as he leaned forward to kiss her forehead. Bella smiled and blushed. For the last time, I thought morosely.
"You don't need me, but I'll be right outside just in case," Carlisle said out loud more for Bella's benefit than for mine.
I thanked him and he let himself out.
My feet felt frozen to the floor as Bella looked at me expectantly. I woodenly approached the bed and slid in it next to her. She settled into the circle of my arms and laid her head against my chest.
Burying my nose into her hair, I inhaled deeply, letting the flames engulf my throat for the last time. I held her as tightly as I dared, wishing I could cry. She deserved my tears. She deserved everything.
Bella seemed to sense me struggling to find the words when she pressed her hand to my face and looked compassionately into my anxious eyes.
"It's like you said, 'No measure of time will be long enough, but let's start with forever." She swept her hair over her shoulder revealing the small purple bruise on her throat.
I cupped my hand around her neck, brushing my thumb over the mark as I gazed deeply into her warm brown eyes. I kissed her softly at first, then harder, pouring all of the love and passion and joy and grief I felt into that one kiss.
With a shaky voice, I took her hand and repeated the promise I'd made to her when I asked for her hand in marriage.
"Isabella Marie Cullen, I promise to love you forever. Every single day of forever."
Then I kissed her there, on her pulse point, hearing her breath catch in her throat and her pulse quicken...the same way it had when I'd pressed my lips to her throat at Prom.
I smiled against her skin at the memory, feeling the rush of her blood pumping under the paper-thin membrane of her skin. The familiar, metallic taste of venom invaded my mouth.
I squeezed my eyes shut, opened my mouth, and heard her soft gasp as my teeth sank effortlessly into her carotid artery, her hot, sweet, intoxicating blood filling my mouth.
*A/N* I toiled over this chapter, guys, I really did. I knew from the moment I decided to reinterpret BD that I wanted Bella to be turned purely on her own terms. Her baby killing her was just as tragic as any of the other Cullen demises, and she was supposed to be different. This was as close to "What was supposed to happen if not for Renesmee" as I could imagine. I hope I did it justice. Did you imagine it happening any differently? I'd love to know how!
Also, the purpose of the Sharpie marker will become clear in the next chapter.
And I definitely plan on continuing this story well past her transformation, so nobody worry about that! But it will be written as a sequel because 200k+ words is plenty for one fic 😁
'Til next time, lovelies! Thanks for reviewing! They make my day. And also for all the sweet birthday wishes. 💜