CHAPTER 7

Edward handed me a glass of blood, and I accepted it before taking a small sip, carefully making sure to conceal my teeth with my lips. The scent of the blood had triggered my fangs, and I wasn't about to blow my cover.

I was amazed at how fresh the taste was. It didn't taste like the donated blood I'd had before, and Edward noticed my surprise.

"Good, isn't it?"

I nodded, and he smiled. "How do you keep it fresh like that?"

"We use the same technique blood banks use. It needs to be processed in components. We freeze the plasma to subzero degrees, and the remaining red cells need a special nutrient to extend its shelf life," he explained before taking his own drink and humming appreciatively.

"Impressive," I commented, and he chuckled.

"It's definitely to our advantage to have a doctor as our leader."

While I would always prefer blood directly from the vein, I could see the benefits of only sustaining oneself through what was donated. Since the modern breed couldn't feed off a human without hurting it, killing was the most merciful way, but this ensured the human got to live.

Back when my father was alive, we'd had feeders; humans who volunteered to be a feeder often meant they got to live a most coveted lifestyle with luxurious living quarters, meals served to kings and queens, and garments of the best quality. We'd only take what we needed from them, and then they'd get to rest and replenish what they'd lost. Some of my brothers and sisters had even started relationships with their feeders.

I could remember back in the 17th century when the first rumor of some vampires who tried to live off animals started to circulate—now I was convinced the rumors had pertained to Carlisle, and his attempts at finding solutions that meant preserving human life—and how I'd immediately felt sympathetic toward those vampires who had obviously not chosen this life and tried to make the best of what they had.

Unfortunately, drinking from animals wasn't an option. It was actually toxic to us, and while I, like the modern breed, could drink it without immediately dying, it didn't want to stay in our bodies and always found a way to be purged, whether through vomit or other unpleasant manners.

After emptying my glass, I put it down on the table and made myself comfortable on the couch, and Edward mimicked me.

"So," I started, and then gave him a smile. "I guess being partners for life and all, we should get to know each other better."

"I guess we should," he agreed. "You told me some last night, so it's no more than fair I tell you some things as well." He reached out and took my hand in his, stroking his thumb over the back of it. "Ask me anything."

I had to take a moment and come up with a question I would logically ask if I didn't already know. But the conversation wasn't just to spin Edward further into my web of lies because I had an ulterior motive. I wanted to know where Edward stood … politically speaking, for lack of better description; whether he supported the Volturi or if he wouldn't mind seeing them crash and burn.

Naturally, I'd rather my mate wanted to see the Volturi dead as much as I did, but I knew, logically, that he'd most likely see the frauds as the best rulers because of the lies they'd spouted about my father.

"Well, I know some," I said truthfully and played with his fingers as he played with mine. "Probably far from everything, but when I closed in on Seattle, vampires I came across naturally told me of the Cullen clan." He smiled at that, and it encouraged me to be even more truthful. I liked not having to lie to him. "I heard rumors about how you, shortly after your change, left Carlisle to be on your own. Is that true?"

His expression remained calm and open, so the question didn't bother him. "Yes. He had found and married Esme at that point. I was jealous of their relationship and wanted to find a partner of my own, but apart from occasional physical encounters, it proved more difficult than I thought." He gave me an apologetic smile. "If I'd known I would find you one day, I would have saved myself."

I shook my head. "It would have been absurd of me to believe you'd lived for a century without ever being with a woman."

"Have you ever been with a man?"

"Yes," I replied, but I already knew I would never tell him how many. "A few."

He nodded to himself, and then said something that scared me. "You don't have to lie to me. As long as I'm the only one you'll be with going forward, I don't care how many you've shared a bed with."

I had to quickly conceal my nervous expression because it sounded as if he'd read, at least, the taste of my thought. My block was still up and as strong as ever, so it worried me.

Were there cracks in my gift that he'd slipped through? Could he read my thoughts? Or was there another reason completely?

"Good," I said and the tremble to my voice was real. "Then we don't need to discuss it further because you're the only one for me now."

He gazed intensively into my eyes, and when he leaned forward to capture my lips, I shivered violently from the anticipation. However, the kiss lasted far from long enough because Edward pulled away before I was satisfied.

"You need to distract me with another question before I get carried away," he said with closed eyes.

I wanted to tell him to get carried away because I'd decided in my mind that it wouldn't deter my plans if I were to become pregnant anyway. I'd still move forward with my father's revival. But to keep up the pretense, I did as he told me.

We talked for hours, and mostly, he just told me what I already knew, but I gave him the right reactions and asked the right question whenever he revealed something particularly amazing. When he finally revealed he neither supported nor opposed the Volturi, I felt myself grow calm.

When Carlisle walked through the door at sunrise, we took that as our cue to retire to Edward's room. The rest of his family had been surprisingly absent the entire night, but when I'd asked Edward about it, he only said that everyone had their own hobbies or occupations that kept them out of the house most nights and sometimes during the days as well.

I saved that small bit of information for myself and thought I could use that to my advantage when I felt it was safe to sneak back into Carlisle's office and look at my father's codex.

Edward shut his curtains tight, not allowing even one little sliver of daylight to pierce the room, before he turned back to me where I was sitting on his bed. His eyes were filled with lust and want, but his body language spoke of how he was holding back, just waiting for me to give him the word.

After the night we'd had, I felt I could safely give him the green light without rousing unnecessary suspicion.

"It's strange," I said when he slowly took a seat next to me. "I've only known you for twenty-four hours, but it feels like you've always been in my life."

"I know what you mean," he murmured and leaned closer to nuzzle my ear. "I can't even imagine what my life was like before you anymore."

I hummed in agreement, but when he lightly nipped my earlobe, my breath escaped me with a whoosh, and I grabbed a hold of his shoulder to keep him in place. "Edward?"

"Mmhmm?"

"I don't want to wait any longer."

Without hesitation, he placed his hand on my cheek to turn my head so our lips could meet in a hungry kiss. There was a hint of desperation in his movements, and I knew his need for me must have been close to unbearable at that point.

The longer we kissed, the more his instincts took over, and the noises he made became more animalistic as he devoured me.

I invited it all and encouraged even more by pulling him on top of me and tearing his shirt off in the same move. There was no need to take it nice and slow just because it was our first time together. We were both experienced, and he needed to claim me as much as I wanted him to claim me, even though he didn't quite understand the workings of a true mating just yet.

My entire body was shaking, but as his bare skin gradually touched mine as our clothes were shed, it slowed down to a tremble. His kisses rained down on my neck and left a fiery trail in their wake.

When he finally entered me with a forceful thrust of his hips, I realized I'd been incomplete my whole life, just waiting for him.

"Uh, Bella, I'm—"

"Yes!"

"Bite me like you did yesterday," he breathed out, and lost in the sensations as I was, I did what he said without questioning it. My teeth grew and I buried them deep in his neck.

The erotic feelings stirred up in him from my bite combined with our mating drove him over the edge, and he entwined our fingers on each side of my head as his hips stilled.

He rolled off me but immediately pulled me into his side, refusing even the tiniest amount of air between us.

It took a moment for me to come down from the high our mating had caused in my head, but when I did, I realized why his demand that I bite him should have worried me.

He hadn't asked about it at all while we talked for the entire night, but the scars on his neck were very "pop-culture vampiric." That kind of scar didn't exist with the modern breed, yet he'd immediately made the connection that they had been caused by my bite.

An icy feeling settled in my stomach as I realized he knew. I had no idea how or when he'd figured it out, but Edward knew I was different.

Now, the question was why hadn't he confronted me about my lies yet?