A/N:
It's not many days ago that I updated this story, but do you know what? My intention was to update it on Wednesday last week, Jan 2nd, but I've been home and unemployed for so long now that I can't keep track of the days anymore xD I literally thought it was Wednesday when I updated on the Friday. Do not ask me why!
Anyway, the set day for updates on this story is on Wednesdays :)
Title: Origins: Destiny in the Mountains
Author: MarieCarro
Beta: Alice's White Rabbit
Pre-reader: OnlyInValhalla
Genre: Family/Supernatural
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Emmett Brian McCarty never had much in life, but growing up poor didn't stop him from enjoying life and all its pleasures.
However, always seeking thrills most often means it will end badly, and one day, while hunting for game in the mountains, Emmett meets his destiny. Canon. ExR
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
CHAPTER 7
SATURDAY, MAY 11th 1935
"Is there something on your mind?" Rosalie asked me as we prepared to head back to the house. Her question didn't surprise me in any way because as my thoughts gripped me, I knew I'd fallen silent.
Still, I couldn't help feeling somewhat uncomfortable with speaking of my thoughts with her. Not because I didn't want her to know everything about me. It was more for the reason that I knew how much talk of the past saddened her.
I would never deliberately keep anything from my angel though.
"I was just thinkin' about"—I paused but decided to just say it—"my family in Gatlinburg."
The light in Rosalie's eyes dimmed infinitesimally but enough for me to take notice. "Oh," she said.
"I haven't seen them in over a month, and I know they must already believe me to be dead. I'd already been gone for three days when the bear attacked, and I was headin' home," I explained to her, but when I saw the guilt rise in her eyes, I hurried to assure her that I didn't think it was her fault. "I still don't regret that you saved me, Rosie. I will never regret that. But I was very close to my family, and a part of me misses them. For most of my life, they were all I had."
She nodded, obviously understanding what I meant. From her story, I knew her own family hadn't been particularly loving, but I also knew she missed her younger brothers something fierce at times.
"Tell me about them."
I turned to her with a hint of confusion. "I've already done that."
She shook her head. "No, I don't mean the general story you gave the others. Tell me about your relationship with them. You have brothers, too, didn't you? What are their names?"
I thought back and couldn't hold in my smile. "Gavin and Ian. Gavin's the oldest, but he's always the one in trouble. He runs his mouth too often for his own good."
"Sounds like someone I know," Rosalie said with a twinkle in her eye that made me want to kiss her.
"I'm nowhere near as bad as my brothers, Rosie. Believe it or not, I'm actually the calm one of the three of us. At least, that's what Mama and Bea always said."
"Bea's your little sister?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Small little thing she is. Inherited it from Mama. She's fourteen, but she looks no more than twelve." A soft laugh escaped me as I thought of her. "Whenever she and Mama baked anythin' to sell, she'd always secretly make a few more for me and my brothers because she knew how much we loved her cookin'."
"You adored her, didn't you?"
My smile fell. "Very much so. Before her, I was the baby in the family. Not much was asked of me, and I simply followed along. But after she was born, and I became a big brother, I understood that my mission in life was to make sure she'd have a great one." A heavy feeling in my heart grew, and I tried to release some tension by letting out a deep breath, but it did nothing. "Now, I'll never get to fulfill that."
I was suddenly filled with rage toward myself, and I grabbed a thick branch from the ground and hurled it with all the strength I could muster, which turned out to be quite a lot because the branch disappeared deep into the woods. "And I broke my last promise to my father," I groaned.
Rosalie came up behind me, and very slowly, almost as if she was making sure she was fine with it herself, she wound her arms around me waist, effectively hugging me from behind. "Tell me."
Gingerly, I placed my hand over her entwined ones on my stomach. "I promised I'd come back home … so we could celebrate my birthday."
"Your birthday?" my angel whispered, and it was clear she hadn't expected that, for her surprise had caused her to freeze. "It was recent then?"
"Yes. Little over a month ago. My dad, brothers, and I were already up in the mountains, tracking a fox who'd killed several chickens in town. Mama didn't like it. She was afraid we'd get caught by the park rangers, and she was also bitter she'd miss makin' me breakfast for my birthday. She packed two tarts for me though." The memory of the cherry tarts made me smile.
Rosalie's arms loosened around me, and I wanted nothing more than to grab her hands and keep her close to me, but nothing short of insanity could make me forget the promise I'd made of never forcing her to do anything.
With a hand on my shoulder, she had me turn so that I faced her, and the incredulous look she gave me made me confused. "Are you saying that the only thing you got for your birthday was two tarts?" she asked as if that was the strangest thing she'd ever heard.
"It wasn't a small thing to me," I said, hoping I could explain it to someone who'd never experienced poverty. "By makin' those tarts for me, Mama and Bea used ingredients they could have used for other things that were much more necessary. But they made them for me, and I couldn't have asked for a better gift."
"It doesn't sound right to me," Rosalie insisted with a shake of her head. "How could you possibly have been happy with just two tarts? If that's all I'd gotten on my last birthday, I would've been so angry."
Despite her giving me more proof of how very spoiled she used to be and, perhaps, still very much so, I couldn't help but smile at her total innocence. "My guess is you never had to ration your food."
"No, of course not," she quickly replied, but then her expression smoothed out as she realized what I was telling her. "You weren't exaggerating when you said you led a simple life, were you?"
I chuckled. "Not at all. We were a family of six, sharin' a two-bedroom house, which we didn't own. There were days in my childhood when I could clearly hear the rumble of Mama's stomach because if missin' a meal that meant she could feed me and my siblings, and she'd do it every time."
Rosalie hugged herself. "That's so unfair."
I shrugged. "It's the life of the poor. And we made do. We hunted for food to save money at the butcher's, Mama and Bea made most of our clothes, and Dad had a little home brewery on the side for extra money." I stroked Rosalie's cheek and gave her a reassuring smile. "It might sound foreign to you, but despite our lack of money, we were quite happy. Maybe not thrivin', and there were times when things were really hard, but we knew we'd always come through."
Sadness took a hold of me again. "Although, that was when there were four men in the house bringing in the income. I can't even fathom how they're scraping by now."
"At the same time, they have one less mouth to feed," Rosalie said in a small attempt to cheer me up. "And judging by your size, I guess you ate a lot," she ended with a joke.
I cracked a small smile, but it wasn't enough to make me feel completely better. "Actually, believe it or not, I provided more income than I ate."
She decided on a new strategy and changed the subject. "What were you doing up in the mountains alone anyway? Where were your father and brothers?"
"Most likely at home," I answered vaguely. "They left earlier as I insisted on staying behind to track down a beast I was sure was roamin' the mountains."
"What kind of beast?" she asked, and she sounded strangely cautious.
"No idea," I admitted, still confounded by that particular mystery, but even more so by her tone. "It was nothin' I'd ever encountered before. The bite marks were so strange, and the bodies were drained of—" I stopped myself as my thoughts began to spin. "You know, when I think about it now, I might have seen that huntin' pattern before."
I met her somewhat ashamed gaze, and an incredulous sound left me.
"It was you, wasn't it?" I asked her. "That was why you were close by when the bear attacked me. You were huntin'," I stated, now certain of it.
She shrugged, self-conscious. "Yeah. What of it?" she admitted yet gave nothing else away.
"Did you watch me and my family?"
"No," she instantly denied. "But I heard you at times. It kept driving me higher up the mountains to stay clear of you. I didn't realize it was you until you just now said it."
Slowly, and as gently as I could, I raised both of my hands and cupped her face in them. Then, when she questioningly met my eyes, I softly breathed out against her supple mouth, which was tantalizingly close. "If this isn't destiny, then I don't know what is."
Making sure she was okay with it, I brought her even closer to touch her lips with my own. She willingly kissed back and added pressure to our contact, which made me momentarily think my heart would start beating again. And when she tentatively opened her mouth to invite me in, nothing, not even the burning change, could compete with the heat inside my body. The heat that yearned for her more with every second that passed.
When the kiss had lasted for as long as my angel was usually comfortable with, I prepared to pull away, even though it killed me to do it. However, she surprised me by locking her hands behind my neck and forcing me to stay put while pressing her seductive body flush against my own. Still, I didn't want to overwhelm her, and I was quite a lot stronger than she was, so I was able to remove myself from her grasp.
She gave me a disappointed look, and I could detect a hint of embarrassment as well before it was covered by her fortress walls.
I grabbed her hands in mine, but she pulled away. "Hey, don't give me that look," I pleaded. "You know I want you more than I can explain with words. I'm just not sure you're ready."
"You don't have to lie to me, Emmett," she replied coldly. "I clearly invited you to continue, but you didn't. It's fine. I understand. You don't want damaged goods." She turned and made the move to run away from me, but I was faster and grabbed her wrist to stop her.
"Don't," I said through clenched teeth, and she turned fiery eyes toward me. "Don't ever talk about yourself like that again." I drew her close to me again, and while her eyes were still on fire, she didn't fight me. "I want to give you everythin' you want, and everythin' you'll ever ask for. If you're tellin' me that what you want is for us to be together completely, then don't expect me to be slow to live up to that promise. That's why I need to know that you mean it when you tell me."
Our stance was very confrontational, and I didn't like it, so I let go of her wrist, hoping she wouldn't take the opportunity to run again.
"Haven't you learned anything about me this last month?" she asked me, and to my delight, she stepped closer. "Whenever I do anything, I always mean it."
I reached up and stroked her smooth cheek, reeling from the feeling of having my angel give me her complete trust. "I want to give you romance," I said. "But I'm afraid I'm out of practice in that department." She placed her hands on my stomach, and a surge shot through my entire body. "I want to show you how it can be."
"Then do it," she whispered, and her sweet breath fanned across my mouth.
"Here?" I asked. "Wouldn't you rather be back at the house? In a bed?"
"No," she replied, her voice growing even quieter, but every word echoed strongly inside me. "I'd rather not have an audience our first time." She closed her eyes and moved her hands up until they were around my neck. "Please, Emmett. Show me."
"Before I do that," I said and traced her bottom lip with my thumb. "I want you to kiss me."
She opened her eyes again and leaned back to give me the most adorable, confused look I'd ever seen. "I have."
I shook my head in disagreement. "No. I have kissed you. That's different. Prove to me you're ready."
Her confidence wavered for a short moment, but then a fierce and determined light filled her eyes, and she deftly pulled me down toward her waiting lips. I wanted to kiss her back with fervor, but I waited until I felt her take complete control by progressing it from the simple mouth contact it started as.
The sounds I always suppressed to keep from scaring her were impossible to lock away when she slid her hands down my body to grab mine in order to place them on her. Every part of me wanted to quicken the pace; wanted to lay her down on the ground and take her; claim her as mine, but I held fast onto my mind, which continuously told me to take it easy with her this time.
There would surely be other times in the future when I wouldn't have to hold back. It was just this first time that it was essential. I was conscious of my every move as I familiarized myself with every inch of her body, both over and underneath her clothes.
I intently listened to her sounds and her breathing; everything that could give me any indication she wanted me to stop. At the same time, I didn't falter in my caresses of her or lose focus on my task to make her feel good, and I found another appreciation of being a vampire. It was certainly only to my advantage that I was able to concentrate on several things at once.
When all our clothes had been shed, I felt her tense up, and I immediately stopped my movements, although I remained close to her. "Do you want to stop?" I asked her softly, and then waited patiently for her to tell me.
"I—" she started, but then stopped herself. "No."
I wasn't fully convinced though. "You're not just sayin' that for my sake, right?" I knew she was aware of how much I wanted to continue. After all, it wasn't the easiest for a man to hide such a thing, but it would never mean there was a point of no return. "Just say the word, and I'll be fine with it."
She tightened her hold on me. "I want to continue," she said breathlessly. "I might be tense, but I don't want to be afraid anymore." She leaned her head back and looked me right in the eye. "And I trust that you'll never hurt me."
As I raised my hand to cup her precious face in my hand, I never broke eye contact. "Never," I vowed before using my other hand to trace down her thigh and around the back of her knee.
She didn't react much when I hitched her leg over my hip, but I could detect the nervousness in her eyes when I did the same to the other leg, and held up her entire weight with my arms. It was the only position I could think of for her to be at ease since I didn't want to place her on the ground and accidentally remind her of that dark night in her past, or trap her against a tree or rock wall. This way, she had her back free and the choice to get away whenever she felt the need to.
Before I took the final step, I reassured her one last time. "Just say the word."
She nodded, and then we connected.
Not once did I take my eyes off her face as we moved together even though I wanted nothing more than to lose myself in the moment. It certainly felt amazing, and I knew I'd never experienced such feelings with any of the other women I'd been with, but this was more for my angel than it was for me.
Her nails dug into my shoulders, and I bathed in her breath. When she leaned down and captured my mouth with hers, my need to claim her flared up anew, but I pressed it down once more.
"Angel ..." I breathed out when all the sensations were building up and were becoming too much for me to hold back much longer. "What do you need me to do?"
"Exactly what you are doing," she replied, and then she shocked me by biting down on the crook between my neck and shoulder. It stung and burned, but it also added to everything else I was already feeling, and I could no longer hold back.
With a moan, I called out my angel's name, and in a breathless whisper, I heard her echo the sentiment before she also fell.
A/N:
I hope you feel I wrote their first time in as justified way as possible. It's not easy to write these things when one part has such a dark sexual past as Rosalie has. I had to tread very carefully.
Also, I want to let you know that I've created a poll on my FFn profile where you can vote for which Origin story you want me to write after this one.