CPOV

Every day with Esme I think that this is the best it can be, and then the next day it gets even better. Esme drifted off to sleep shortly after she fell apart in my arms. I can't believe that she trusted me with her whole body, and I couldn't be happier about it. After all of my years, I have seen naked women before, whether it's at the hospital or accidentally walking in on one of my children with their mates, but nothing could have prepared me for Esme's body. She is perfect. Her small frame fits just right next to my big one. Her breasts are big for her body but they fit just right in my hands and I can't wait to feel how they fit in my mouth. Her growing belly is perfect and leads right to her womanly hips. Even her center is gorgeous. Everything about her turns me on, and I love every inch of her body.

She's snoring softly against my chest and the smell of her arousal is still thick in the air. I just close my eyes and enjoy the intense sensory overload of being in this room cuddled up with my love. I don't know how long we lay like that until I'm startled by the chaos downstairs.

"Carlisle we need you down here, now." Edward says and it sounds like he's gritting his teeth.

"What's going on?" I whisper. I hate being ripped away from Esme, especially now.

"Charles is here." Alice whispers. "He's coming up the driveway now."

I can't help the growl that erupts from my chest. I've never heard this growl come from my body before. It's a sound of deep anger and protection of my mate. The sound snaps Esme awake on my chest and she looks up at me confused.

"Esme, stay here." I tell her before standing up and putting my shirt back on.

"What's going on?" She's confused and scared, and I understand, but right now I can barely speak. The monster in me is coming out, and I'm desperately trying to hold him back until I get downstairs.

"It's fine, please just do as I say and stay in this room." I grit through my teeth and run downstairs at vampire speed.

"Where is he now?" I bark at Edward.

"He's walking up the driveway. He's about halfway. He's hoping it's dark enough for him to hide in the trees. He's almost sure that Esme is here and he plans to stay until he finds her."

"He's mine." I growl and let my vampire take over as I walk outside and disappear into the darkness.

I stay hidden in the trees as I walk down towards Charles. I'm moving at human speed. There's no need to make this quick, I want to drag it out. The hunt is half the fun.

I can hear his breathing and his footsteps. Knowing I'm that close to him makes venom pool in my mouth—I want him dead. I purposely walk right behind him. When I step on a stick, he turns around quickly, but I'm faster. Deciding to toy with him a little bit, I run past his left side fast enough and close enough to him that he feels the breeze. He turns to the left only to find nothing but darkness and trees. I do the same on his right and I can smell his sweat as he gets nervous. I enjoy the scent of his fear and I relish in it. We are coming into the yard now and I watch as he slinks along the front of the house like the snake he is. I move to stand directly behind him before speaking.

"Can I help you?" My voice is deeper than normal and I'm sure to him, I sound dangerous. Good.

He turns around quickly, for a human, and takes a step back when he sees how close I am to him.

"I…um I'm looking for someone." He stutters out and his voice makes me sick.

"Well I don't think I can help you with that. This is my property. You shouldn't wander where you're not invited." I can see the fear in his eyes before his pride takes over and he straightens his spine before speaking again.

"Look man, I'm looking for my wife. She's been missing for over a month. You know how women can get, jumpy and shit. I just wanna get my wife and go home."

"No I don't know how women can get, man. All I know is that you're a disgusting, poor excuse for a human being and you don't deserve to breathe the same air as that sweet woman you imprisoned for years."

"Hey! You don't even know me, dick. She's my wife—mine. I'll treat her as I damn well please and you don't get to do anything about it. You got me? I'll do and say whatever I want to my wife. Oh and don't believe all the lies she tells. I can see it in her eyes—she likes it." He leans in to whisper to me like we're best friends. "She gets off on it."

The sound of shattering glass shocks us and we both turn our heads to see Edward barreling through the large window on the front of the house with a look of murder on his face. I don't even want to know what Charles was thinking to make him react like that. I raise my hand to tell him to stop and he does. This is my fight and he understands that, but as the boys file out after him, I appreciate that they have my back.

I get up in Charles' face and spit my next words at him.

"Esme is the sweetest, most loving person I know. She is mine. She has never and will never belong to you. She is my mate, my soul, my love, and the one that I would kill for."

His eyes grow wide in fear, but his anger takes over once again.

"That bitch is mine and no one can keep me away from her."

Esme's scent wafting past my nose stops me from ripping his head off in that moment. Glancing over, I see her come out onto the front porch with Bella right on her heels. She's wearing sweatpants and one of my hoodies. There's no way she's warm enough.

"Esme please go back inside. It's too cold for you out here." I tell her and I hate how detached my voice sounds.

"Carlisle, what's going on?" She asks, her voice shaking.

I nod my head over to Edward who comes and grabs ahold of Charles keeping him right where I want him while I go comfort my mate.

"Let go of me you bastard!" Charles yells behind me but I ignore him. I pull Esme into my arms and hiss as I feel how cold she is.

"Baby please go inside. It's freezing out here. I don't want you to get sick. Please. If you are sick than peanut is sick."

"Carlisle I'm not going anywhere!" She tells me, surprising me as she stands firm in her decision. "Now tell me what the heck is going on!"

I smile at her as her eyes blaze with anger.

"You're extraordinarily beautiful when you're angry." I smile wide and kiss her lips softly. "Charles came looking for you. I can't let him go. I made you a promise that I wouldn't go looking for him, but this is too much." I whisper to her begging her to understand.

"Okay." She says simply.

"Okay?" I'm confused.

"Yes, okay. I knew that if this happened that you would kill him. I can't ask you to deny your instincts anymore. The only thing that I will tell you is that I'm not leaving. After everything I've gone through, I will watch him die. I'm not leaving you."

My heart soars at her instincts to protect me, but I also worry about her.

"I don't want you to see the man I become tonight." I whisper, suddenly becoming vulnerable. "I won't hold back."

"I'm not going anywhere. I love you. You're not killing for sport or entertainment, you're going after him because of what he did to your mate. I understand, but please understand my mating instincts and don't make me leave you." She begs and I can't say no.

"Okay, love, but promise me you'll go inside if it's too much."

She nods and I kiss her softly.

Behind Esme Bella appears with a thick, heavy coat for her to wear and I nod my thanks to her. Esme peeks over my shoulder at Charles who is still yelling and trying to get away from Edward.

"You little bitch! Get over here! I'm going to kill you for running away from me. Don't you know that you could never hide from me? You're MINE! I own you—your whole body including that disgusting thing growing inside of you." Esme flinches back at his words and the fear in her eyes fuels my anger. I can feel my demeanor change as I turn around and watch Charles shift in Edward grasp.

"Let him go." I order and Edward does as I say.

Charles starts to run towards the road and I stand in front of him before he can take two steps.

"How did you…"

"You don't get to ask questions. You don't get to speak." I order walking forward forcing him to walk backwards. "I'm going to kill you for what you did to that angel up there, and I'm going to do it painfully because of what you tried to do to my child inside her."

"That bastard is not yours! She should have killed it when she had the chance. It will come out just like her—weak and pathetic."

With those words, I land a kick to his abdomen hard enough for him to fly across the yard and land on his back. The sound of his bones snapping is very satisfying and a small smile appears on my face. His body is laying right in front of Edward and I nod to him. He deserves to get a few blows in. Besides Esme, Edward is the only one who knows exactly what he did to her and how it felt. Edward punches him in the face and kicks him across his legs. The sound of his nose and tibia breaking echoes through the yard. Charles is laying in the grass whimpering like the dog he is when I walk calmly over to him. I lean down so that all he can see is my face and all he can hear is my voice.

"You are the biggest coward and imbecile in this world. You had the most beautiful, perfect angel for a wife and instead of cherishing and loving her, you abused her. You tried to break her, but I'm here to tell you, it didn't work. She's the strongest woman I've ever met and she came out the other side an amazing person. We're going to live an eternity of happiness together with our child and I'm going to make sure she's so happy, she doesn't know what to do with herself. You will never know what it's like to live a happy life with a wonderful woman at your side. I almost feel sorry for you, but then again you did this to yourself." With that I snap his neck and watch the life drain out of his eyes.

I don't know what to do so I just stand breathing hard and looking at the ground. I've just gone against everything I've believed my entire existence, but I don't regret it. He deserved to die. What must Esme think of me? I am a true monster.

"Carlisle?" Esme's small voice calls to me from the porch, but I can't look at her. I don't want her to see me this way.

A warm hand lands between my shoulder blades and I flinch. I didn't even hear her walk over to me.

"Is he dead?" she whispers.

"Yes"

"Are you okay?" she asks, her voice still a whisper

"No."

"Come on." She takes my hand and I let her pull me through the house. I can't think about anything right now. All of my emotions are exaggerated and I'm mentally exhausted. Esme pulls me up the stairs and into our room. She takes off my shirt and shoes while I let her move me around like a doll and then takes off her own sweatshirt and pants leaving her in just her underwear. She pushes me back on the bed and climbs in next to me pulling the blankets over us and cuddling her skin against mine. Just having her in my arms and her scent all around me is calming me, and she knew that it would. She knew exactly what I needed. We lay there for a long time, my head between her bare breasts and her fingers running through my hair. There's nothing sexual about this, it's just our souls reconnecting and rejuvenating through touch.

"I love you." I whisper against her skin.

"I love you too. Are you ready to talk about it?" she asks. Her fingers never stop in my hair and the effect is very soothing.

"I don't know who that was tonight." I tell her softly. "I've never been that way before. I guess I scared myself. I didn't know I could be so cruel and full of rage. I don't regret it at all and I think that might be part of the problem. Even when I kill animals I feel guilty, but my first time killing a human, I don't feel an ounce of guilt. What does that say about me?"

"It says that you love me so much that you were willing to go against everything you are to make sure I was safe. You love our baby enough to ensure no harm comes to him. You did what you needed to do. Let me ask you something, if I had asked you to stop would you have?"

"I would have tried as hard as I could have to stop. My instincts were on high alert, but I think if you would have asked me to stop, I could have controlled myself enough to listen."

"But I didn't ask you to. Does that make me a monster?"

His head shoots up and he looks horrified.

"No! You're the most pure thing in the world."

"And you're my angel. Don't ever think that I don't love you—every part of you. You're a vampire, your instincts and emotions are a part of you. Without them, you wouldn't be the man I fell in love with. I love that you're overprotective of me. I love that you want to take care of me and peanut. I even love that you would destroy anything or anyone who hurt me. It's all a part of who you are. Don't doubt the absolutely goodness in you, because it's there—its the core of who you are."

"Thank you." I tell her. I don't know what to say. I never thought of it that way. I lay my head back on her chest and let myself relax.

"Thank you for saving me." She whispers in my ear and in that moment, I realize everything's going to be okay.