The next morning, I woke up and saw that Edward was no longer next to me. I looked around the room to see that we had caused quite a bit of damage. The pillows were destroyed and I think the headboard was cracked. I sat up, immediately feeling sore but in the best way possible. I slipped on one of Edward's shirts, quickly brushed my teeth and set off to find him.

I found him in the kitchen cooking dinner. As soon as I came into view, he whipped his head towards me, almost dropping the spatula he was carrying. He put it down and walked towards me, looking me up and down. He lightly traced my arms, looking upset.

"What's wrong?"

"I hurt you," there was pain in Edward's voice. I looked down at where he was looking and gasped. There were several bruises down my arms, clearly in the shape of hands and fingers. I was surprised that I didn't notice right away and was even more surprised that it didn't hurt in the slightest.

But Edward seemed to think that it was worse than it was because he took a step back.

"I am so sorry, Bella," he hung his head.

I quickly ran to him and forced him to look at me.

"No, Edward. Don't ruin this. I'm not hurt, it doesn't hurt. I just bruise easy," I shrug. "You didn't hurt me. Although I am a little upset."

"You should be upset with me," Edward wouldn't meet my eyes. I threw my hands up in frustration.

"I mean I'm upset that you're ruining this with your mopey attitude. We both knew it was going to be tricky, right? I mean I think we did amazing. At least, it was amazing for me," I bit my lip, looking to the side.

"That's what you're worried about? That I didn't enjoy myself?" Edward gave me a disbelieving look.

I sighed. "I know it's not the same for you, but for a human I can't imagine it gets any better than that."

Edward sat down on the barstool and pulled me down onto his lap. He tilted my chin up to meet his eyes.

"Last night was the best night of my existence." I give him a small smile.

"I know you're scared to touch me now but we'll get better at it. We just have to keep trying."

"I think I can manage that," Edward smiles. I lean in to kiss him and he deepens it. We aren't able to get very far before my stomach growls.

"Breakfast time?" Edward asks. I open my eyes wide and place my hands around my neck. Edward widens his own eyes before glaring at me.

"Bella," he groans. I jump off of him, laughing. He comes up behind me, grabbing my ass and making me squeal before winking and continuing with my breakfast.

The next two weeks went by much too fast for my liking. We spent the days hiking and swimming and just relaxing on the beach. It only took a couple of days to convince Edward to try again although I definitely felt like he was holding back even more this time. We were both pleased to find that I didn't end up with any new bruises this time.

"I wish we could stay here forever," Edward tells me as we lay on the beach, me against his chest. He kissed the top of my head.

"I would love to just stay here with you forever. But your family expects us back for Christmas and I'm sure Esme would be devastated if you weren't there."

"Our family, love. And I suppose you're right," Edward sighs.

"But we do have to come back sometime," I looked up at him. "Although I don't know if Esme will ever let us back after what we did to all of her bedrooms."

Edward chuckles. "It would have been well worth it. Besides, there are a million different places I'd still love to take you. Paris, Tokyo, London, Rome, all of it."

"You can take me wherever you want as long as it's with you."

Edward had just started to lean in when his phone rang. He groaned, leaning his head against my shoulder. He reached into his pocket to grab his phone.

"What, Alice?" He grumbled, putting it on speaker.

"I am so sorry to interrupt you two on your honeymoon, but we have a problem. The Denali's are here," her voice sounded panicked.

"So?" Edward impatiently asked.

"They said the Volturi are coming."

Edward shot up like a bullet, his entire body suddenly stiff.

"Edward?" I pushed myself up? "What's wrong? Who are the Denali's and the Volturi?"

"Alice, we can't go back there," Edward's face was tight.

"You have to," Alice said, sympathetically. "It's the safest way. They're not coming to see Carlisle. They're coming to see you. Carlisle let it slip that you were on a honeymoon to the Denali's and Irina spilled to the Volturi that you were married. They want to meet your wife."

"I'm going to kill them," his voice was laced with venom. No pun intended.

"Edward," I could feel my voice shaking. What did this mean for us? What did this mean for Edward? Would he be safe?

"Alice, when do we need to be back?"

There was a brief pause. "You should come back now if you want some time in between the Denali's leaving and the Volturi coming. Otherwise it will be more vampires in a room with Bella," Alice explained.

"Okay," Edward hung up. Not even a second later, he had scooped me up in his arms and carried me back to the house.

"Edward, what's happening?" I tried to get his attention, but he had placed me in a chair in the kitchen while he zoomed around, packing our stuff.

"Edward!" I tried again, but nothing. It was like I wasn't even there.

I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. "Edward, you're scaring me."

That seemed to get his attention. He halted, shirt in his hand, then he suddenly was in front of me.

He carefully grabbed my face in his hands. "I'm sorry, love," he apologized. "I promise I'll explain everything on the plane," he leaned in, placing a soft kiss on my lips.

"Okay," I let out a deep breath, soaking in his comfort.

It didn't take Edward long to finish packing and we were already at the airport, boarding our place within the hour.

"So who are the Denalis?" I finally asked, once we were settled into our seats. Edward pulled me into his arms the best that he could given the airplane seats. It seemed like at that moment, he needed my comfort more than I did. Some reassurance I was physically there.

"They're our cousins. Not by blood of course," he clarified when he saw my confusion. "They are a vegetarian family much like ours in Alaska. There are Elezar and Carmen, the heads of the coven. Elezar can sense people's talents. Then there are the sisters, Irina, Kate, and Tanya."

"Tanya?" I've heard that name before. "Oh! That's the one Emmet mentioned. The one who's been chasing after you."

"Nothing ever happened," Edward assured me.

I had complete trust in him. "I know," I smiled, kissing his hand.

"Kate is the only one of them with powers. She can physically shock people," he shudders, as if remembering something.

"Okay, and the Volturi?"

Edward's expression turns dark. "Think of them as the ruling party of the vampire world. They keep order, or so they say, but what they really like is power. Basically they deal with any threat to our secret and keep any one coven from getting too large. Carlisle and Elezar used to be a part of them."

"So what made them leave?"

"I am not a hundred percent sure about Elezar but Carlisle did not agree with their ways. They always thought that it was unnatural for vampires to drink from animals, that it goes against our very nature. But Carlisle could not change to fit their ways, so he left."

"You mean…" My eyes widened. I guess I had gotten so used to the fact that the Cullens drank from animals that I hadn't considered there were actual vampires who did otherwise.

"Yes," he nodded, before continuing. "The Volturi consist of many powerful vampires with their own abilities much like Alice, Jasper and myself. That is how they are able to stay in power. They have been trying to get Alice and I to join them for years, but they would never force us, at least not in the traditional sense. They have known to use less ethical ways to get others to submit to them. Luckily, they respect Carlisle too much to go against him in that way. Which is why we are always weary of them. If we let our guard down even for a second and the Volturi find some 'legitimate' excuse to wipe out our coven, they will. They will never admit it, but the size of Carlisle's coven worries them."

I took a second to try to process everything. "So what's the issue? Alice said Irina told them you were married but what's the big deal?" The dots still weren't connecting.

"Bella," Edward grabbed both of my hands. "Humans and vampires, they're not supposed to interact much outside of using them for food, let along fall in love and get married. Already what Carlisle has build, living among humans, is an anomaly. But what we have is unheard of."

"So are they going to kill you?" I could feel the panic building up.

"Me!" Edward seemed shocked at my question. "I tell you that you're in danger and the first thing you ask is about me. What am I going to do with you?"

"Love me?" I know this wasn't the time to be so cheeky but I couldn't help myself.

"Forever," he promised, kissing me. "But unfortunately, my love, we do have bigger things to think about at the moment."

I know," I leaned my head against his shoulder. "But there's not much we can do until we get back right? So can we just enjoy this moment before everything gets crazy?"

Edward hummed in agreement, kissing the top of my head. No matter what happened, at least I had him here and that was all I needed.