TWENTY-EIGHT

As I stared into his still-black eyes, I knew that all traces of my mate's humanity were gone at the present time. The controlled façade had melted away the moment he had left me to begin tracking his prey. In place of the normally calm Carlisle Cullen was a ravenous beast, and he was hungry for his mate.

I watched as he actually ripped away every thread of my clothing and his, before I found myself in a position that was surprising, and slightly embarrassing, to say the least.

He dropped us a good fifty feet from where we had been to some thicker, studier branches, quickly locating several that grew close together and spreading me out carefully, two branches holding my thighs apart as I straddled them, my back pressed firmly against the trunk. He was balanced precariously on two uneven branches, though I doubted that it was a problem for him, as he supported my weight with one hand spread out under my ass. The fingers of his other hand were wrapped securely around a branch above my hand, and that was pretty much all that my brain had time to register before he plunged into me.

I could not have stopped the scream that tore from my throat even if I had wanted to. The speed and strength with which my mate rammed himself into me was excruciatingly delicious. This was not just sex — he was mating with me in the roughest, most animalistic way that his body and instincts would allow him to with me still being human, and I found myself crying out for more, begging for him to never stop as I was pounded against the trunk.

His head was bowed to my chest and his venom dripped coldly onto my heated skin as he fucked me like a wild beast, and I wrapped my hands in his hair and tugged, wanting to see his face. When he did not comply, I jerked harder, earning a growl as his eyes slid up to meet mine and a twisted smile as he caught my lascivious stare. "Mine," I whispered harshly, my eyes rolling into the back of my head momentarily when he slammed into me with a painfully hard thrust of his hips. "Fuck yes… More…"

I felt his muscles tense and heard him snarl the word 'hurt', and it took me a moment to realize that Carlisle was struggling to speak through the control that the animal had over him and was worried about hurting me. I shook my head. "I can take… a little more," I panted heavily. "I'll tell you… when…" I fought to keep my gaze locked on his, pleasure overwhelming me and driving me to abandon that sense to focus on feeling. "Promise."

He accepted this and began pounding me harder and harder, until my hiss of pain and cry of 'too much' pulled him back a little. His lips went to my neck and he sucked hard on his mark, and I knew that he was fighting with every ounce of strength he had not to sink his poisonous teeth into my flesh, and that knowledge alone sent me over the edge.

I had barely begun to recover from my climax when I felt the air rushing around us and the slightest jarring as we hit the ground. I dazedly felt him pushing me down onto my hands and knees, but that haze was quickly broken as he mounted me roughly from behind. And if I had not seen the wildness shining through his eyes before and had not realized then that the animalistic part of Carlisle's nature was in control, I would have quickly been made aware when I recognized that he had me facing his kills that lay only yards away from where he was fucking me feverishly.

I groaned when it occurred to me that this human-formed beast was letting me know that he was in charge of me, that he was the predator and I was his prey, and that I had no chance of escaping even if I had the urge to, which, given how much pleasure I was receiving from our animalistic coupling, I did not.

A particularly hard thrust nearly sent me to the ground, so I quickly lowered myself to my forearms, my fingers clawing at the dirt as he slammed his dick into my aching body, over and over, the sensation of the silky hardness stroking my clenching walls causing the knot coiled deep in my abdomen to tighten.

He gripped my hips tightly — I knew that there would be bruises when he had finished with me — and began shifting his position, his legs spreading father apart around mine as he lowered his hips to a different angle, his shoulders and face pressing into the middle of my back as he hunched over me.

I cursed and yelped in the most divine mix of pleasure and pain, while he relentlessly humped me, his soft panting sending cool breaths across my skin. I attempted to brace myself on one arm, reaching between my damp thighs to rub my clit, only to be stopped by a feral growl and one of his arms wrapping itself around my waist, anchoring my body to his as he slid one hand to work the sensitive bundle of nerves.

By now, my stretched hole was clamping erratically around his thick cock as he rocked his hips furiously into me, and I was vaguely aware that it was not only my hips that would be developing bruises in the next few hours, not that I cared, because I would be damned if I did not feel like I was about to die of sheer ecstasy. And all it took was a low primal snarl and the sharp gush of cold cum deep inside me to send me crashing into oblivion, the sights and the sounds of the forest seeming to vanish as I disappeared beneath of wave of agonizing rapture.

As I slowly emerged from the hazy blanket of pleasure, I realized that he was still coming inside me, his body arched over mine, shaking with the force of his climax, his harsh grunts and growls ringing in the air as he filled my tight pussy with spurt after forceful spurt of his venom.

I was surprised at how long his release was lasting, knowing that I had to have been floating in my own personal post-orgasmic heaven for at least a good forty or fifty seconds, and from the way he secured my body to his, his hips rolling against mine as he continued to hump me, I knew that his release would continue for awhile longer. When I whispered his name, I felt his tongue lap slowly down the center of my back and heard a soft, but harsh growl of 'sorry', and I shook my head. "I'm worried about you."

His voice came out as a strained half-groan, half-growl when he spoke. "Flooding… natural…" He shifted again, forcing himself deeper as he rocked into me.

I did not have to ask what he meant, as the amount of venom he was loading into me soon became too much and began trickling down the inside of my legs. I whimpered and ground myself back against him, pleased when he immediately began flicking my clit with his fingers, and by the time I reached my third orgasm, my thighs were coated in the thick fluid he pumped into me.

When I came down from my peak, I found myself on my side, one of his arms beneath my head, the other wrapped just beneath my breasts. He was curled closely behind me, his cock still buried in my drenched pussy as he nuzzled the back of my neck, purring quietly. I hummed before taking a deep breath. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," he murmured against my flesh. "Slightly embarrassed, but quite all right." Before I could chide him about being humiliated, he continued, "Vampires, as you know, are at our most basic nothing more than animals, no matter how intelligent. We are quite interesting creatures, with minds that could surpass any genius, yet we can have the most primal responses, both emotionally and physically, of any other wild animal."

I nodded for him to continue, and I could tell from the strain in his voice that he was still embarrassed.

"In general, vampires have more intense and slightly longer climaxes than humans, but every so often a male's animal instincts become so overpowering that we flood the females, which is rather oxymoronic since we are physically incapable of what it is our bodies are trying to accomplish." While I was fairly certain what he meant, I pushed for him to tell me and felt him press his forehead into my shoulder, groaning loudly. "While it is completely impossible for me to do, I was subconsciously trying to fill you with enough fluid to ensure that I—" he cleared his throat— "impregnate you. Obviously, as I can only ejaculate venom, it is impossible, but there is still the primal drive to do so."

I wiggled in his embrace. "I don't want to sound mean, but… why does this embarrass you so much?" I could feel him propping up on his forearm and I twisted slightly, our bodies still joined intimately, to look up at his face, his now-topaz eyes wide with utter disbelief.

"This does not embarrass you at all?" he questioned. When I shook my head no, he gaped at me for a few moments before he spoke. "Bella mia, I just released myself inside you for the better part of three minutes and flooded you with over half a pint of venom, and that does not bother you in the slightest?"

"Sorry, but no," I answered with a shrug.

He bowed his head to my shoulder, pressing several kisses to my skin, before raising his head again to gaze down at me and stroking my hair from my face with his free hand. "One day, cara mia, it will fully settle in that you accept every part of my dark and bestial existence; but even when that time comes, I know that I will never stop being grateful."

We settled into a comfortable silence, him continuing to spoon me as he stayed firmly embedded inside me, and as I thought about what he said, I found myself growing pensive. "Carlisle, does it… I mean, I know it upsets Rosalie and Esme sometimes, but does it bother you that you can't have children?"

"Surprisingly, no," he answered evenly. "When I was human, men did not usually marry until they were older, and I was so busy with the raids and taking care of my father's congregation in his declining health that the possibility of marriage and children never occurred to me. When I became a vampire, trying to survive without becoming a monster was my main focus. The thought truly never occurred to me, until I was faced with the decision of changing Edward; and even then, my thoughts did not really turn to the loss of never being able to have children, but more so to whether or not I would have been a good father were I human."

I was about to express my opinion that I knew he would have been, when he turned the question back on me. "Honestly? No, it doesn't upset me. Truth be told, the idea of marriage and children always bothered me because of my parents relationship. They were not always so cordial to each other. I didn't want that to happen to me; and I never wanted a child, because I didn't want it to possibly go through the same things I did: being passed back and forth, hearing the constant bickering… I always thought it would be unfair to do that to a child."

I gave him a wicked smile as I stared up at him. "Besides, with the way our relationship seems to be going, it would be rather inappropriate having a child around our… continual and intense need to express our love. I mean, think of how much you'd have to pay out for therapy for the poor thing."

He laughed and dropped his lips to my ears so he could nibble on the shell of my ear, as he purred loud enough for me to hear, "Why did you not tell me that I was hurting you?"

"Because you weren't," I replied simply.

"Mia passerotta," he cooed firmly, "I can see the bruises forming on your hips and I can smell them forming inside of your body. You should have told me to stop."

I rolled my brown eyes and shot back, "All because it's going to hurt tonight, didn't mean it hurt then. And it didn't. I enjoyed myself immensely, if you didn't notice." I stretched against him. "Besides, I'm fairly certain that when we get back, Charlie will have left some less-than-happy messages saying that I'm suspended and wanting to know why I squashed Jessica's nose. And if I've been suspended, which is probably the case, than I have at least a week to recover in peace… probably two. They don't really like it when students break other students' faces."

He growled deeply in my ear. "I will must make certain to tell him that I will ensure you are punished properly then." I grinned at him like a maniac, before he quickly stole my breath away with a passionate kiss and began to show me just how long a male vampire typically climaxed.

…Sixty-two seconds was what it took the first round and fifty-three seconds was what it took the second round for him to have a regular climax; and while he only produced about one-third of the amount of venom he had flooded me with earlier during each single ejaculation, by the time I came down from my second high, I was absolutely drenched, the sticky poison flowing from my body and down my thighs, leaving me feeling deliciously dirty and divinely satiated.

I knew that I was grinning like an utter lunatic as he supported my weight easily while I rested against the tree he had pinned me to, but I did not care in the slightest. My mate had been holding out on me about this delightful bit of information, and I let him know that I was rather annoyed that he had not shared this earlier.

Of course, it was no surprise when he told me that he had not allowed himself a typical release before out of embarrassment, particularly since he felt, as we had just discovered together was true, that even his normal climax would take longer than the average male. When I inquired about this, I learned that the average climax for male vampires lasted between thirty-five and forty-five seconds, and that even Emmett had not surpassed forty-eight seconds.

While I was slightly horrified to learn of my brother's longest orgasm, I took great satisfaction in knowing that I played a large part in my mate's extended release, and my declaration of that pride seemed to obliterate yet another layer of Carlisle's hesitance about how I viewed his bestial status.

I was severely disappointed, however, when my hopes for yet another round was shattered by him telling me that Angela would be arriving at the house within the next hour or two. But naturally, I had to remind him that it was he who invited my friend, and smartly informed him that he could have dinner with her, while I stayed here in the woods and took care of my own business… Thankfully, this got me exactly what I wanted.

The run back to the house was interesting to say the least, as we both had no clothes due to his having shred them while in the tree. The coldness of his hard body between my cool sticky thighs was enough to have me aching again and, sensing my growing arousal, I was given the promise of a very interesting shower, a promise that he made good on once he had scaled the house and had us under the warm spray, the combination of the hot water and the sensual magic of his hands and lips easing my tension, as he also used the time to examine my body for any serious damage.

Apparently, I was mostly just bruised with only a small number of already-healed minor tears, the biggest being as long as my pinky nail was wide. None of them, obviously, were large enough to allow the thick venom into my blood stream, the seemingly oxymoronic regenerative properties of the usually fatal poison having sealed them into silvery-pink scars, probably on contact from his theory.

When Carlisle opened the doors to the closet, to my surprise, there was a dress hanging in the front with a note pinned to it: I originally got this for you for something different, but I recently saw a different dress for that occasion, so wear this. If not for you, definitely for Carlisle. Oh, and I would go with either the ballet slippers or the boots. ~Alice

It looked simple without being plain and elegant without looking formal. The dress itself was incredibly soft, made of bamboo fibers, with capped sleeves and a moderate v-neckline. The heavenly-feeling black material would fall a couple inches above my knees in a lovely flowing a-line skirt, while a dark sapphire sash would be tied under my breasts, the ribbons trailing down of the front. Beneath the garment were a pair of ballet-esque slippers and a high-heeled pair of black, knee-high boots. One glance back to my mate made up my mind.

While he dressed in nice jeans and a steel-blue buttoned-up shirt (tucked in and sleeves rolled up, this time), I slipped into a little, naughty matching bra and panty set of green lace, much to Carlisle's enjoyment, and afterwards, he helped me zip the dress up. However, when I reached for the boots, I found myself on the edge of the bed, my mate's cool hands sliding over my calves and up my thighs, before he stood slowly, towering over me and cupping my aching heat through the lace with one hand as the fingers of his free hand gripped my collar, pulling me toward him.

The kiss was firm, but I could sense the passion simmering just beneath, a sigh of contentment escaping from my mouth as his lips left mine and began sucking and nibbling on my ear. "Mi carina micina…" I hummed in question as his teeth and tongue worked alternately on my ear then my neck, while the hand between my thighs continued to slowly rub me into a frenzy. "It means my pretty kitty, or in your case," he purred to me with a quick flick of his tongue to my pulse, "my pretty pussy."

I groaned in surprise and pleasure. I had never heard Carlisle speak like that out loud, and hearing the naughty word roll of his tongue so easily had me shivering in delight. But to my irritation, he suddenly moved away to slip the black boots onto my feet, zipping them slowly around my calves. "You are horrible," I growled unhappily at the loss of erotic contact, which caused him to chortle loudly.

He reached out for my waist then stood swiftly, yanking my body to his as he smirked down at me, his dark citrine eyes twinkling mischievously. "Of all of the things that you could have quarrel with, it has not been my desperate cravings to drink your blood and your menstrual blood nor has it been my wanting to rid the world of your infuriating admirer or your other obnoxious acquaintances; you have had no negative words as to my dark bestial nature or the destruction you have seen with your own angelic eyes. No… No, of course, the only time that you would accuse me of being such a terrible creature is for not allowing you the release you so urgently crave."

The hem of my dress was up around my thighs before I could blink, his cool fingers beneath the lace of my boy shorts as he worked my clit feverishly, murmuring into my ear as my orgasm rapidly approached, "Mia passerotta, if you think me horrible for that crime then you will truly think me an atrocious monster for this—" His hand was gone from my body, the dress falling back to my knees.

I had to grip one of the bedposts as my balance was abruptly thrown off a bit as he flashed away from my side, and when I finally regained my equilibrium, I glared at him. "You really are an evil bastard."

He smirked brilliantly at me. "Now, now, m'uzzola… Your father is about to walk through the front door. Surely, you do not wish for him to hear you making all those lovely and loud noises you were making for me earlier, do you?"

I took a deep breath and resisted the urge to throw something at him, then smiled at him wickedly as a thought occurred to me suddenly. "At least I can be happy in the knowledge that I'll be too sore to do anything tonight and you'll spend the entire time with a raging erection—and tomorrow too! And let's face it: between the two of us, it's going to be a lot harder on you than it is me." I stuck my tongue out and watched his face drop at the reminder that I would be 'out of commission' for a few days due to the bruising I had sustained during our feral mating earlier, and I briefly wondered if my words were a bit too harsh, despite their teasing tone, when his crestfallen look stayed for a few moments more.

To my surprise, a filthy leer quickly lit up his face and he slowly stalked toward me. "I will wager you absolutely anything your heart desires that I can hold out longer than you, my pet."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Anything?" When he nodded and repeated 'anything', I thought carefully about the challenge. "What are the rules?"

The gleam in his eyes, I was certain, was enough to make Devil himself blush. "Any form of titillation, be it physical or mental, is allowed. Orgasms mean an immediate loss." He flashed before me, his six foot-two inch frame towering over me as he purred, "The first one to beg for it loses."

Feeling confident and bold, I let my hand reach out to grip him through his jeans, smiling at the small taste of triumph that his hiss of pleasure brought me. "Shall we start now?"

"Yes…" he panted heavily, before taking a step back and composing himself. "What is your price, m'Isabella?"

I gave him an intensely salacious stare. "The first hunt after you lose, you take me with you again… And you hunt completely naked." The look on his face was absolutely priceless, and I wished to God that I had a camera to capture the moment. After a good minute, when he still had not recovered, I chuckled and asked, "If by some miraculous twist of fate, you win, then what do you want if I lose?"

That seemed to break his trance and with an unreadable expression, he bowed his head to my lips and whispered his request in my ear, and I gasped, jerking away to gape at him. "Carlisle! Are you… Do you…" As a crack in his stoic façade appeared, I sighed, a blush painting my face and a smile tugging at the corner of my lips. "You don't have to bet me for that…" The look on his face reminded me of a little boy at Christmas, and I could not help but laugh. "In lieu of that, is there anything else you want?"

What he asked me next astonished me beyond words, and my mouth fell open as I stared at an invisible spot just over his shoulder, while seriously pondering his second request. I took several long moments to try to comprehend that Carlisle was willing to go that far, before blinking up at him. "Carlisle Cullen, that's just filthy as hell!"

.

TBC

A/N: Welcome to 2021! Let's hope it is better than 2020.