Chapter 23: Shared Midnight
"So here we are alone in the wilderness under a full moon. A normal human would be nervous," Leah said playfully as she stalked sinuously between the trees toward me. "At midnight I might just turn and attack you." I chuckled and gathered her in my arms.
"Yes, a normal human would be petrified, because they would be ignorant to the truth about your kind. I, however, know better. I know that you're just a little puppy. However they would be scared senseless at the sight of me … you should be, too." I jostled her in my embrace, and she just grinned at me.
"Oh, I am, Mr. Cullen, you have no idea. And just so you know, I'm by no means a puppy." She snorted, sighed, and placed her head on my shoulder. She thought about how my being a supernatural being was the last thing she was afraid of. She had learned to accept the fact that I was a vampire, she more afraid of the fact that I was a man. A man that had unwittingly taken her heart and had the power to hurt her worse than anybody else could. Her grip tightened around me as her thoughts slowly sobered her mood.
"I won't hurt you, Leah, I promise." She snorted, and she doubted my sincerity, but she had decided to live in the blissful delusion of this moment. "I'm serious, I won't." I was determined no one else would, either.
"Not on purpose," she whispered and held me closer, she almost had me in a vise grip. I rocked her back and forth for a moment. I wished I could disarm her worries. I would set out to do just that, after we had handled our immediate worries of danger. I needed her to be prepared to fight.
"Alright Ms. Clearwater are you ready to, as you said, 'get your Rocky on'? I want you to be able to ruin any evil vampires in your path." She snickered and pulled away from me.
"Yeah coach, I'm ready!" She began bouncing around like a boxer. It wasn't until then that it occurred to me that I had the poor girl out here in her pajamas; actually it was just a long, faded blue shirt and some grey shorts. Of course, Leah looked beautiful regardless, but there was nothing like viewing her under the light of a full moon. As great as she looked, it would probably be more logical if she transformed into her alter ego.
"You should probably change," I suggested, even though I wasn't thrilled about it. She twisted her mouth up and to the side, giving my proposal some thought.
"I don't really feel like it, can't you just explain it to me. It will all be stored up here." She tapped her head, indicating the magic of her beautiful ideate mind. I glared at her, but conceded because I didn't really want her to be a wolf right now either. I would actually have preferred to be in my car, just driving and talking, or at her apartment just being together.
"Fine," I groaned and motioned for her to close to me. She skipped to me playfully and stood right in front of me. I chuckled at her playfulness, this was much better, it was much more like how we used to be, but better on many levels. I cleared my throat and pushed all thoughts of romance aside to focus on the task at hand. "When a newborn approaches you they will be a lot like a wild animal. They will focus primarily on using their intense strength to crush their opponent. They'll grab you at your waist, something like this." I gripped just above her belly button and crushed her to my chest. "They'll put you in a bear hug, and then maneuver you to try to bite you and suck you dry." I angled her so that her neck was exposed and brushed my lips against its pulse point. She shivered in response. She liked the sensation of the pop rocks against her neck. She giggled and pushed away a little.
"Okay, what else?" She took a deep breath. I'd gotten to her without even trying. "Stop looking at me like that! You're so damn smug, you know that?" She shook her head and turned her back on him.
"I don't know what you're talking about? How am I smug?" I tilted my head to the side and crossed my arms against my chest. I was shocked but still amused by her outburst.
"You are giving me that 'I know that I got to her' look! Just you're all up in my head! It's not fair; I think I should level the playing field a little." She slowly and seductively walked toward me and began to toy with the buttons on my shirt.
"Oh, I would love for you to… after we're finished here." She nodded and backed away from me once more.
"You know, they probably won't try to drain us since we'll be in wolf form and I know that you've said that we don't appeal to you all in that way." I grabbed her hand and pressed my nose against her flesh. I inhaled deeply, to me she smelled fresh, natural, and lovely. Pop rocks dammit! She quickly pulled her hand away.
"You know… umm." She stammered over what she was trying to say.
"I agree, I'm not the best one to be training you, especially right now." I was quickly abandoning my endeavor to help Leah train, in spite of my intense to desire to keep her safe. My carnal, lustful brain was taking over and I didn't have the strength to rein it in.
"What's so special about right now?" She breathed at a whisper; the moment was getting to her, too. I could actually feel the thickness in the air; I would never doubt that tension had a certain 'air' again. Leah had become aroused, I could smell her. My mouth had become dry and every fiber in my being had become anxious. I closed my eyes and I was transported back to the coat closet; touching her and being connected, being inside of her.
"Right now everything inside of me wants you." She swallowed hard as she stared at my mouth while I spoke. Her heartbeat carried an intense beautiful rhythm that made me need to be closer to her. It was simply hypnotic.
"We have tomorrow to train, don't we?" She allowed her fingertips to smooth up over the contours of my arms until she reached my shoulders. I grasped the front of her shirt and pulled her forward so that we were flush together, chest to chest. I kissed her eagerly, desperately, confessing every bit of love for her that was inside of me. She bit my bottom lip before she began aggressively kissing me all over my face. She wanted to be closer and fast; a thought that I could easily oblige.
"Attack me then," I whispered and I could feel her smile against my cheek. She did as I asked; she jumped into my arms and wrapped her legs around my waist. We both giggled, I'm not exactly sure why. I just think we were both finally, after all this time, happy and complete. Just as I was about to kiss her again, I heard it and Leah smell it. We looked at each other with mild horror on our faces.
"Alice," we said at the same time. She wanted to get down but I didn't want to let her go.
"Edward, it will be easier to just tell everyone after the fight. Remember, that's what you told me." I hated when she feed me back my own words. I groaned and let her down just before Alice revealed herself.
"Hey!" Alice observed us suspiciously and Jasper of course gave me that annoying knowing smirk. I rolled my eyes; this must be how people felt about me most of the time. At least I don't try to let people know that I knew what they are thinking.
"So what are you two doing out here?" Jasper asked, obviously intrigued by the emotions in the air.
"I wasn't at the training session today. Edward damn well dragged me out here to train so that I wouldn't be ripped to shreds during the fight. If he hadn't pulled me out of bed I would have been thankful for his assistance." She narrowed her eyes at me and shrugged.
"Well, he couldn't have taught you much. He was all distracted looking for you. Carlisle knocked him on his butt a couple of times, and then there was that whole fight with Emmett. I was worried about you silly brother, you should've called." Alice shoved my shoulder so hard that it hurt a little.
"Sorry," I murmured and I discretely rubbed my arm.
"Hold up, you got into a fight with Emmett?" Leah asked and I nodded. "Over me?" She was confused.
"Yeah, he's kind of protective over you." I hung my head and Leah grinned a little.
"We all care about you, Leah. We all want you safe and happy." Alice skipped over to my secret girlfriend and gave her a hug. "I hope that decisions are finally made and you're still able to be in all of our lives. I've never wanted to not be able to see Edward's future so much."
"Thanks Alice." Leah wrapped her arms around Alice, and if I wasn't mistaken, she shed a tear.
"Well, since you wanted to train and we're all here, let's make sure our little she-wolf doesn't get killed, shall we?" Jasper tried to sound all official. Leah pulled away from Alice and wiped her tears away.
"I guess." She looked back at me. "We are all here. I can't think of a reason not to." She was really trying hard to think of something.
"Great, let's get started," Jasper said, and he began to talk about newborn vampires and their strengths and weaknesses. Leah soaked it up like a sponge. We spent the rest of the early morning hours sparring with one another and learning new techniques. It wasn't the way I had seen myself spending my midnight, but it was a hundred times better than the recent weeks' nights. I knew the reason why, Leah was by my side, laughing, teasing, and loving me.