Hello lovelies,

I have decided to make this a slightly longer story so there will be another 2 or 3 chapters after this.

Warning - there is a lemon in this chapter.

Hope you enjoy.

Damon PoV

A few hours later, Bella and I were curled up in bed, basking in the afterglow of our reunion, her head lay on my chest, my arms wrapped around her as her legs were entwined with mine. Her head tilted so she could look up at me with a smile playing on her lips, I squeezed her tighter to me. I could hardly believe that she was here, with me after all these years. I needed to find a way to make sure she stayed with me, I needed her with me like a human needed oxygen.

To lose one's mate was a horrible experience, not only did you lose the one you loved but you also had the mating pull to contend with. The painful throbbing that stayed with you, reminding you that the other half of you was missing. This was the first time in 5 years that the pull has been contented. The others thought that I was just an angry, selfish bastard, none of them, not even Stefan had ever once asked me why I acted how I had. He should have noticed the difference, why I was so angry. They just thought that is who I was, the drunken idiot who liked to piss people off, but they would never understand so I didn't feel like telling them. It was my pain, my story, I did not need them gossiping about me, trying to figure out how to 'save' me.

Bella shifted slightly and looked at me with concern in her chocolate orbs, I tried to smile and reassure her but I don't think it worked as she grimaced. She moved so she was straddling me, the sheets falling away from her body as she leant her head against mine, her hand reaching up to stroke my cheek.

"I love you Damon," She whispered.

"I love you too Bella, so much," I replied, placing my lips on her.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't want to leave you," tears filled her eyes.

"It wasn't your fault, I'm just sorry that I couldn't protect you better."

"Damon, you did all you could, I remember you trying to shield me, I don't blame you, it was all his fault," she reassured me.

I reached up and tangled my hand in her hair, pulling her back down to my lips, she deepened the kiss, pressing against me harder as her tongue brushed my lower lip. I willingly allowed her entrance, her tongue moving against mine. Her hips rocked forward slightly, both of moaned at the friction. I almost wanted to stop, to tell her that we needed to find a solution, but I needed her as much as she needed me, we needed to reaffirm our bond once again. Her arousal permeated the air around us, I felt myself growing hard under her in response.

The kiss became deeper, harder, our lips, teeth and tongue were battling one another, her hips shifted against mine again, causing me to growl, she smirked against my lips before reaching down and running her hand along my most sensitive member. She gripped me and started to stroke me, I groaned and ran my free hand up her hips, her waist until I reached the swell of her breast. I palmed it, feeling her nipple peak under my hand.

She shifted slightly, before sinking down onto me, a sigh left her lips as I entered her. I bit her lower lip, she growled back in response. She broke the kiss as she rose up before sinking down on me again, taunting me with how slow she was moving, I grabbed her hips in my hands before lifting her and pushing her back down.

She threw her head back, moaning softly as I continued to move her at the pace I needed, I saw my mark on her neck and quickened our pace, she began to roll her hips when I was fully seated inside her. I rolled us in one fluid movement, so I was on top and grinned down at her, she wrapped her legs around my waist automatically. I set a pace, sealing her lips against mine, swallowing her gasps and moans as I moved my hips, just the way I knew she liked it. It wasn't long before I could tell she was close to climaxing, her breathing became erratic and I could feel her tightening around me, I quickened the pace, feeling myself begin to hit my peak.

"Mine," I growled as I moved faster.

"All yours Damon," she cried out.

I reached down and rubbed her clit, her moans became louder and she moved her hips against mine harder, she came with my name leaving her lips and her teeth puncturing my mating mark. As soon as her teeth punctured my neck, I reached my own climax, I could feel myself spurting deep inside of her, covering her in my scent before she removed her teeth from my neck and tilted her neck so I could bury my own teeth into her mating mark. I stayed inside her, relishing in just being one with her, she grinned up at me, her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkling.

I collapsed on top of her, knowing she could take my weight as we both came down from our highs. Our breathing soon evened out as I just held her close to me, breathing in our combined scents. I withdrew from her slowly, regretting it instantly, I just wanted to bury myself in her over and over again but I had to find a way to keep her with me.

I could hear the others downstairs, laughing and joking whilst Elena was whining to whomever would listen to her about how long we were taking and how we should be focusing on her problem with Klaus. I saw Bella's eyes narrow in response and I couldn't help but think those two would never be the best of friends.

"Should we get dressed and head down there? We need to see if the others have any ideas on helping you, Kol and Lexi," I asked, Bella sighed before nodding.

"Yeah, I think we should."

She wriggled out from underneath me before placing a chaste kiss on my lips, she made her way over to the bathroom. I could hear her washing up before coming back out and redressing in my button down shirt and boxers she was wearing earlier, I got up and redressed as well, a thought came to me as I grabbed my phone.

"Hey Bells," I called out, she turned to me, her hand on the door handle.

"Yes?"

"Before we go down, do you want to call your dad, I know he still misses you every day, we talk at least once a week," I asked.

Bella's eyes lit up and a beaming smile took over her face, her eyes sparkling with joy, I held my phone out to her, she took a step forward, her hand reaching towards it before she froze. The smile died on her lips and tears filled her eyes, she shook her head dejectedly. I tilted my head and looked at her, confused as fuck.

"No, I can't, not yet," her voice caught at the end.

"Why not?"

"I don't know how long I have before I'm pulled back to the other side, we know it's going to happen, me coming back was too easy. I cannot fill him with hope just to have me ripped away again. It's bad enough that it's going to hurt you," a sob caught in her throat.

I crossed the room and pulled her into my arms, rocking her gently as she sobbed quietly, her tears making my shirt damp, but I didn't care, I just needed her to smile again.

"I understand love, don't worry though, we'll figure something out, I'm not going to let you go again okay, now let's dry those eyes and we'll go figure out a solution," I smiled down at her, she nodded before drying her eyes. She gave me a timid smile before taking a deep breath and opening the door, heading downstairs.

We walked back into the living room, hand in hand, everyone looked up at and smile at us, Lexi and Kol were on the sofa, Stefan was leant against the wall. Caroline and Bonnie were huddled together, whispering and Elena was pacing in front of the fire. Elena scowled at us.

"Finally, we have some important stuff to discuss, we need to get Klaus off my back," Elena whined.

Bella rolled her eyes as she made her way over to Kol and Lexi who made room for her on the sofa, smothering their grins. She sat next to Lexi before smiling at me, I went to the bar to pour myself a drink.

"Could you get one for me as well please Love?" Bella asked, I turned my head to see her grinning, her eyes flickering to Elena who looked jealous as hell. I smirked at her before wagging my eyebrows.

"Of course Amore Mio," I replied, pouring her a drink as well before crossing the room to give it to her. She stood up and pushed me on the sofa before climbing into my lap, snuggling up to my chest.

"You know, I never thought I'd see the day where Damon was cute with someone," Caroline gushed, her eyes on Bella.

"He has his sweet moments but never forget he's a sarcastic arsehole," Bella replied chuckling at the mock offended expression on my face.

"As sweet as this is, we really need to look at the problem here, how do I get Klaus to leave me the hell alone?" Elena spat the word sweet like it was foul. Bella rolled her eyes.

"So is this Klaus Elena keeps fretting about, your brother Niklaus?" Bella questioned, leaning past Lexi to look at Kol, who nodded.

"He is indeed Poppet," Kol answered with a grin.

"Do you think he'd be willing to help us three? You say he has some powerful connections, he may know something or someone," Bella asked, hope lighting up her face.

"I think he should know someone or find someone that could help us, he's all about family so I think he'd willingly help me and I think I can persuade him to help you two, you may owe him a favour at the end though," Kol warned, Bella smiled in return.

"I'll do pretty much anything at this point," Bella replied, Lexi nodded with her.

"I'll owe him one too, especially if he can bring my mate back to me," I told him, taking a sip of my drink, ignoring as it burnt on the way down.

"If we speak to him, you may want to leave the Scooby gang here, it'll have to be just the four of us," Kol told me.

"Why's that?" Bella asked, Elena huffed in the background.

"Because he's a psychopath, you shouldn't trust him," Elena scoffed.

"I'm sure it doesn't help that you've tried to kill him and my family multiple times, including actually killing off my older brother Finn and myself," Kol replied.

"What?" Bella asked, raising her eyebrows at Elena.

"He was trying to hurt me and my friends, I had to protect myself, I mean them," Elena quickly corrected herself.

"And how was he trying to hurt you?" Bella asked.

"He needed me as part of some ritual to release his wolf side, he's psychotic, just because I said no, he started to hunt down my family and friends. I also had to die as part of this ritual, I didn't want to die," Elena responded, flicking her hair over my should.

"Now Elena, don't forget that Klaus and Elijah actually gave you a tonic to bring you back to life after said ritual," Damon spoke up, Elena shot him a glare.

"We didn't want to risk it being a phoney and leaving me dead," Elena huffed.

"So then you forced Damon to give you his blood, which then nullified the tonic anyway but since you wanted to remain human, your biological dad gave his life to keep you alive," Kol retorted.

I froze when he said that and Bella went rigid in my arms, she looked livid as she went to stand, I tried to pull her back down but she shook me off. She glared at Elena.

"You forced Damon to give you his blood," my very pissed off mate hissed at the very human doppelganger. I sat back, watching as my mate became possessive over me, it was a hell of a turn on.

"I hardly forced him, he did it willingly," Elena whined.

"You forced him Elena, remember? I was there," Bonnie spoke up.

"Yeah, he was definitely not willing," Caroline spoke up.

"What did you do?" Bella growled.

"She bled him after tying him up with Vervain ropes," Stefan answered, watching my mate carefully.

"So? He forgave me, it's not like I did anything to hurt him, he would do anything to protect me, he would do anything for me," Elena proclaimed.

"Oh crap," Kol facepalmed.

A rabid snarl left Bella's lips, I could see the veins pop out from beneath her eyes and her fangs descend. I rose to my feet instantly, ready to calm my raging mate. Elena had definitely said the wrong thing there, she was almost claiming me in front of my bonded mate. Female vampires were usually the calmest of the couple but provoke her mating instincts and it would be a bloodshed. Bella wouldn't stop until she put Elena down, permanently.

"Damon is mine, not yours," Bella spat.

"He could be mine, if I wanted him to be," Elena taunted.

"For fucks sake Elena, shut your mouth before Bella does it permanently," Kol shouted.

"She won't harm me, Stefan and Caroline would protect me," Elena looked at Stefan and Caroline, Caroline shook her head and Elena shot her a look of betrayal. Stefan looked like he was about to step in.

"No, they wouldn't, they couldn't, not against her. Not now you've pushed the button you really shouldn't have," Lexi answered cryptically, the others bar Kol looked at her in confusion. Bella continued to growl at Elena, her muscles tightening as if ready to pounce.

"You really shouldn't have provoked her Elena, I hope you have a guardian angel," Kol smirked before eyeing Bella in concern.

"Damon, tell your wife to back off, help me out here," Elena's eyes found mine.

"You've done it now Elena," Lexi said.

"Damon, please, control your wife," Elena spat.

She really shouldn't have pleaded with me to go against my wife when she was already on edge, Bella launched herself at Elena, her small hands wrapping around Elena's throat as she pinned her to the wall. Stefan went to go to Elena but I growled at him in response, he would not touch Bella, she was mine. Bonnie squeaked in surprise and went to defend Elena before Lexi piped in.

Stefan ignored my warning and grabbed my mate by the shoulders. A red haze descended over my vision as I rushed Stefan, throwing him off my mate before crouching down, facing him with a constant growl building in my throat. He tried to rush me, trying to get to my mate but I would not let him touch her, I grabbed the nearest chair and broke the leg off, driving it into my brothers stomach. Stefan cried out before falling to his knees, trying to pull the wood out.

"Enough!" Lexi called out, "Anyone who has no idea what's going on right now needs to keep their mouth shut before things get worse."

"What is going on?" Caroline asked.

"I said shut up, everything will be explained when everyone is calm again," Lexi shouted, Stefan groaned from his position on the floor.

"I can't breathe," Elena gasped out, Bella snarled again before tightening her grip.

"Damon, I need to approach Bella, see if we can't get her thinking a little more rationally, is that okay? It'll be just me, the males will stay where they are and not say a word," Lexi told me warily.

I nodded stiffly, Lexi was not a threat to my mate. Lexi approached Bella from the side so Bella could see her out of her peripheral vision. I wanted to be able to be the one to help Bella but I couldn't do it without Bella thinking I was protecting Elena, it would be an utter betrayal in her eyes and our mating bond would take a huge hit, something I wasn't willing to risk.

"Bella, it's me Lexi, could you let Elena down for me?" Lexi asked, Bella shook her head.

"I can't, she's a threat. I have to keep Damon safe, she thinks she can take him from me," Bella hissed, squeezing Elena tighter who was becoming an alarming shade of red. Any tighter and Bella may snap her neck.

"I promise she won't go near Damon, I just need you to put her down," Lexi cooed. Bella wasn't having any of it and I could see she wasn't going to budge. Her anger was agitating me further, I needed my mate. I needed to see if she was okay, I needed to let her know that she had nothing to worry about.

"Bella, Damon needs you right now, so can you put the doppelganger down Poppet?" Kol asked, staying where he was.

Bella suddenly perked up and span round to face me, dropping Elena with a thud who began gasping for air on the hardwood flooring. Bella's eyes roamed my body, searching for any signs of injury, her eyes narrowed on Stefan's blood on my hand and blurred to me, her eyes searching mine.

"Mine," I growled, pulling her close to me, burying my face into her, sucking in lungful's of her scent.

"All yours," she responded, pressing closer to me.

There we go,

I hope you enjoyed it.

Please leave a Review to let me know what you guys think.

- MM oxox