A/N: About damn time, I know. I apologize for the long wait. I'm not going to make any excuses or anything, so just accept my apology and this very long update to make up for my absence. If you are, in fact, still following this story, I thank you very much. Love to you all!

CH. 8

BELLA'S POV

To say I was happy this evening would be an understatement. I was completely blissed out as I made my way back home, thinking back on how Alice's parents had been so accepting of us. Everything was working out much better than I had expected. Even if my family would have to be kept in the dark about it, I was feeling much better knowing we at least had Alice's family on our side. Well, her parents, at least. I still had to meet the siblings, and there was no telling how that was going to go.

I was surprised to find that Jake wasn't home when I made my way inside. But it was also a bit of a relief, because I could avoid his questioning for a little while. I went ahead and took a shower, and changed clothes. I decided to also go ahead and wash my clothes just to be safe. I needed to do laundry anyway, really.

After I was done with all of that, I checked the kitchen to see what I could make for dinner. I was extremely pleased to find 6 rather large ribeye steaks waiting in the fridge, already marinated. They smelled absolutely amazing. I started up the grill out back and went back inside to start making some baked potatoes and rolls to go with the steak. After all that was set and baking, I went back outside to put the steaks on. My stomach was practically shouting at me as I prepared everything. This was one of my favorite meals, even if it didn't really do much for my strength. It was delicious, and that's what mattered.

As the steaks began to grill, I could hear something running towards the house from the woods. I immediately scanned through the trees, and saw Jake. He flinched as he caught my glare and the growl that clearly showed how displeased I was. He knew we weren't supposed to go out alone, especially not Jake. He may have been strong, but he wasn't as strong as Charlie or me.

I dropped the tongs I was using and walked towards Jake, meeting him right at the tree line.

"What the hell were you doing, Jake?" I wasn't exactly surprised by his actions, but nothing pissed me off more than knowing he had put himself in a position that could easily have ended badly.

"Calm down, I just went for a run. I got bored," he said, but the slight guilty look in his eyes told me he wasn't telling me the exact truth.

"Riiiight. Now how about you tell me what you were really doing? Aside from being a dumbass."

Jake was immediately on the defensive, and fumbled over words trying to come up with an excuse or anything to cover his ass.

Jake has never been very good at lying.

"Fucking FINE. I smelt something weird when I was lying in the hammock and I just wanted to check it out. It's not that big a deal, Bells," he said, shrugging his shoulders. Then he began to turn, "Look….still in one piece."

I popped him over the head swiftly, irritated by his stupidity.

"You smell something weird, and decide to go looking for it by yourself? Seriously, dude? Are you that fucking dumb?" I wasn't as pissed off now, but I was still in protective-older-sister mode.

"Okay, yeah, it was dumb. But still! Look, the smell led me to the La Push rez. And it's waayyyy more intense what you get there. I think we should check it out. Obviously whatever it is has been checking us out," he said. I couldn't dispute the fact that I was curious about this. And it could potentially be a problem if whatever was snooping around here knew what we were.

"Okay. We'll talk to dad about this when he gets home. Minus the part about you going after the scent alone, and going all the way to La Push following it. We'll just tell him we smelled something strange while we were cooking, alright?" I knew Alice would probably be able to tell me a bit about the La Push residents, but dad would need to know about someone checking out our area, just to be safe.

The conversation ended there, and I went back to finish making the steaks.

Just as I was setting the table, Charlie made it home.

"Smells great, Bells," he said, as he came through the door and began taking of his jacket and duty belt.

We all took our places at the dinner table and made our plates. I couldn't suppress the foodgasm as I took the first bite of my steak.

"Ooooohmygawwd, I love steaaaaak." Jake and dad laughed at me, but nodded their heads in agreement. I had done a damn good job of making the steaks. They were grilled perfectly. Done on the outside, but still a bit raw on the inside. Perfection!

When everyone was done eating, I decided to tell dad about what Jake had found. I took up everyone's plates and set them in the sink and began to wash them.

"Hey, so, dad… Jake and I came across something today in the backyard," I said, getting Charlie's attention before he could fall asleep in his chair.

"Yeah? What'd you find?"

"Well, Jake was lying in the hammock while I was making the steaks and he smelled something weird. It was all around the trees lining the back of the house. It seemed like it came from further west of us, and I guess whatever it was went back the way it came. We just thought it'd be best to let you know, in case you wanted to check it out." I was being extremely nonchalant about the whole thing. I hated lying, but I knew what really mattered was that we find out what was in our yard. Jake just sat and waited to see what Charlie would have to say about it.

"Well, we'll need to be extra careful then. Tomorrow night we'll see if we can find out anything. I'm too tired tonight. And we'll need to go hunt before we go looking for whatever it was, just to be safe. Until then, keep close to the house and don't go into the woods," he said, tiredly. He got up from his seat and gave Jake a pat on the shoulder before coming and kissing me on the head and telling us both goodnight.

I was eager to finally get to text Alice, so I said goodnight to Jake as soon as I was done cleaning up.

I made it to my room and plopped down onto my bed, immediately grabbing my phone from my pocket and finding Alice's name in my contacts.

Before I could even start to type, I got a message from Alice.

"It's about time. I've been waiting forever to hear from you! You really shouldn't keep me waiting like that. ;)"

I giggled at my little pixie, and started a new message.

"I'm sorry, my lady. I'll try not to let it happen again. :P I did miss you, though, if that makes up for anything."

I sent the text, and only moments later received another.

"I suppose I can forgive you then. And I kind of missed you, too. :)"

We texted back and forth for the next hour or so, though it only seemed like a few minutes. I had almost forgotten that we had classes in the morning. I knew I would be worn out if I didn't attempt to get to sleep soon, so I told Alice goodnight and got ready for bed.

As I lay in bed waiting to fall asleep, I thought about how different my life was now that Alice was in it. I couldn't stop the smile that spread across my face at the thought of her. For the first time in a long time, I was actually happy. It was shocking how much I was feeling for one girl. One vampire, at that. But now, I couldn't imagine not having Alice in my life; even if we had only officially been a couple for a little over 24 hours.

ALICE'S POV

I felt like I had been waiting forever for Bella to finally text me. I had gone hunting, painted, designed a few new items of clothing, and read through numerous magazines in an attempt to pass the time. None of it had been working very well. With a huff, I dropped the magazine I was trying to read and laid back on my bed. I looked at my guitar and thought back to the night Bella had played for me, and I had sung along with her music. So much had changed since the beginning of that night. I smiled as I remembered our first kiss.

And now, we were finally an official couple.

A vampire and a wolf.

As I continued thinking about my Bella, I felt the tingles of an oncoming vision.

I waited for the vision to begin, and then smiled even greater than before as I saw Bella lying in bed and taking out her phone to text me.

I couldn't wait. Not even as a vampire was I very patient.

I took out my own phone and quickly sent Bella a text.

After a few hours, Bella and I said goodnight. I went back to finding things to do to pass the time. I would be seeing Bella tomorrow, and I knew the wait would be grueling.

I started getting ready for school at 5 am. I knew I had a few hours before we would be leaving the apartment, but I've never been very good about picking an outfit out quickly. And now that Bella and I were together, I was even more set on finding the perfect outfit to wear.

I decided on a dusty-pink button up top that fit loosely, and a floral patterned skirt. I put on my Minnetonka two-button boots and went to start on my hair.

I took my time with my hair, making sure it was absolutely perfect. Then, I touched up my makeup. By the time I was done and satisfied with my appearance, it was time to leave.

The weather outside was pleasant, so we decided to walk. The campus was only a short walk away, just under a mile.

I was too excited to get to see my Bella again to walk normally. Not that I really ever did walk normally, anyway. But I couldn't have stopped skipping and dancing my way down the sidewalk even if I wanted to.

"Sheesh, what's gotten into you today, Ali," Jasper asked, with a knowing grin on his face. I just giggled and smiled back at him. He knew exactly what had me so chipper.

"Seriously, Al. I know you're a little ball of energy, but goodness." Edward couldn't help but grin a little, too. I was surprised he wasn't being pissy, considering he must have known that my excitement was for Bella. I'm sure Jasper's thoughts would have given it away. I wasn't going to question this, though. If Eddie wasn't planning to spoil my mood, I wasn't going to ask questions and change his mind.

We finally made it to campus, and I kissed both of my brothers on the cheek before making my way to my class.

As I came upon the building for the class, I saw Bella waiting outside. A smile instantly took over my face, and I saw the same reflected on Bella's face.

I loved Bella's smile. I could've sworn I felt my dead heart flutter at the sight of it.

I closed the distance between Bella and I and wrapped my arms around her. Bella chuckled, but hugged me tightly before taking my hand and leading the way to our class.

"How did you sleep," I asked, looking up to admire the sight of the beauty beside me.

"I slept alright. I missed you, though. It would've been a much better night had you been there," Bella said, looking at me and giving me another gorgeous smile.

I leaned up on my tip toes to give her a quick peck on the lips as she pulled open the theatre door for me.

"Always the gentleman." Bella chuckled and followed me inside.

"But of course," she said.

We took a couple of seats behind the rest of our classmates, and I couldn't help but give Bella another kiss.

All too soon, Bella broke the kiss. Then Emily emerged from backstage and began the class. I realized it would probably be a good idea for me to introduce Bella to Emily, and decided to do so after class.

"Alright, everyone," Emily said, as she took a seat on the edge of the stage, "Today you will partner up and we're going to see how good your improv skills are." I smiled, and took Bella's hand. This was going to be a fun class.

Pulling out a coffee can full of slips of paper, Emily continued to tell us what we would be doing.

"On each of these slips, I've written out a scenario that I want you to act out. For example; one might say 'two roommates fighting over the television remote.' You guys get it?"

The class nodded in understanding and Emily handed the can around so everyone could pick a slip. As the can made its way to us, Bella held it out to me to pick our slip.

I immediately fell into a fit of laughter as I read what we would be acting out.

"What? Let me see it!" Bella jerked the slip from my hand and read it aloud.

"Student/teacher. Student tries to seduce his/her very uninterested teacher," Bella read, her eyes growing wider as she finished reading the slip.

"I call the student," I said, still laughing. I was going to make this extremely interesting, and very entertaining; for myself and the audience.

"Alice, noooo! Ugh, can we pick another one please?" I couldn't stop giggling at the very embarrassed Bella that was beside me. She did look adorable when she blushed, though.

"Sorry, babe, looks like we're stuck with this one," I said, giving Bella a wink before I began to laugh again when she growled in protest.

We watched the other pairs perform their improvs, most of which were pretty good, and waited for our turn. While most people had taken the time to get an idea of how they were going to go through their performances, Bella and I were just going to wing it. Mostly because I wanted it to be a surprise to Bella. I wanted to see how she'd react to everything I had planned. I couldn't stop smiling and giggling at the scenarios playing through my mind. That alone was making Bella nervous.

Ohhhh, this is going to be good.

"Alright, Alice, you and your partner come on up," Emily said, announcing our turn and giving me a smile. I handed her our slip and she chuckled, and gave a knowing nod. She knew me well enough to know how mischievous I could be.

"I have a feeling this is going to be interesting," she said, and we both laughed. Bella growled at me again, and pouted as she took her place in a chair on stage.

"Whenever you're ready," Emily said. Bella and I waited a moment before starting, lowering our heads to let everyone know we were ready to begin.

And here it goes…

Bella stood and walked to where I was seated, she held her head high, looking full of authority.

"Alright class, today we're going to-"

Before she could finish, I interrupted. Did I mention I'm impatient?

"Why, Ms. Swan, you are looking stunning today. Mmmm," I bit my lip for added effect.

I could've cracked up laughing at the way Bella halted and looked at me.

"W-well, thank you," she said, then she cleared her throat in an attempt to get her authoritative voice back, "but please, keep your thoughts to yourself."

"Oh trust me, I'm certainly not about to share all of my thoughts." I gave her a wink, and I could hear the class giggling.

"I suggest you keep quiet for the rest of class, ma'am," Bella said, this time sounding a bit flustered, "or there will be repercussions.

She realized what she had set herself up for as soon as the words were out of her mouth, judging by the way her eyes shut tightly for a split second.

"Oh? Are you going to punish me," I asked, in my most sultry voice.

At this point, I decided to step it up and rose from my seat. I slowly walked over to Bella and placed my hand on her chest, backing her towards her chair. When the back of her knees hit it, she all but fell into the seat.

Without wasting any time, I sat on her lap and threw my arms around her neck.

"You know, Ms. Swan, I've been needing a little help with my grade. Is there aaaaany way we could work something out to help raise it?" Oh, the cliché lines never fail.

I could hear the slight growl forming in Bella's chest, and then she caught me completely off guard. I froze as I felt her fingers lightly trailing down my neck and across my collar bone, causing a chill to shoot straight down my spine.

In one swift movement, Bella lifted me up and sat me back in my seat. Then, leaning in extremely close to me, with a hand on each side of the back of my chair, she began to speak in what had to have been the sexiest voice I'd ever heard.

"This is your last warning, Miss Cullen."

She stayed as she was, staring into my eyes, neither of us willing to look away.

The class laughed at the action, as well as the look of shock on my face.

I was too busy watching Bella's eyes, as I noticed white and a light vanilla tone forming around her pupils and slowly beginning to spread out through her irises.

Thankfully, Emily called time, and Bella quickly snapped out of it; her eyes turning back to their original icy blue color.

Without a word, we walked back to our seats. Emily began speaking to the class about our performances and going on into her lecture, so I took the opportunity to check on Bella.

"Are you alright," I asked, quietly enough that there was no chance of anyone else hearing.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it," she replied, blushing a bit again.

I didn't want to question any further. Bella seemed a bit tense, so I was sure she just wanted to drop the subject. I'd oblige, at least for now.

BELLA'S POV

I knew Alice was up to no good the moment I'd read what our performance was going to be about. But I hadn't guessed that at some point, she would be sitting in my lap and speaking to me in the sexiest voice I'd ever heard.

I couldn't stop myself from being turned on, and I knew I need to get her off of my lap before I lost control and had my way with her in front of our classmates and professor. After sitting Alice back in her chair, I leaned in close to Alice and spoke in a husky voice that was full of authority. "This is your last warning, Miss Cullen." I couldn't stop the growl that was building in my chest, and I felt the familiar heat that came when my eyes began to change.

Emily called time, and I could've hugged her. Alice hopped up from her chair I quickly made my way back to my seat with the rest of the class. I really hoped Alice wouldn't question me about what had just happened.

Of course, she did. But I was thankful when she dropped it quickly.

After class, Alice asked if we could go to our spot on the rooftop. I agreed and she took my hand to lead the way.

Once we made it to our spot, Alice grabbed our chairs and we sat in silence for a moment. Finally, Alice spoke.

"I was hoping to introduce you to Emily, our professor. She's a friend of mine. But I figured that would be better for another time."

I nodded and gave her a thankful smile.

"Yeah, probably," I said, still a little embarrassed by my slipup.

"If you don't mind my asking….what exactly happened back there? Your eyes…" I knew Alice was probably a little worried, so I figured it was best to go ahead and tell her what had happened.

"Well…uhh. I just kind of…." Really wanted to rip your clothes off?

Almost took you on the stage in front of everyone?

REALLY want to take you right now?

"…I got a little too excited…" I said, sheepishly.

I looked over to see Alice looking at me with an eyebrow raised and her bottom lip between her teeth.

Dammit, this woman is going to kill me.

"My apologies, Bella," Alice said, but her voice was far too sexy for me to buy that she was actually sorry.

She giggled at the skeptical look I gave her, knowing I didn't believe her apology.

"Okay, maybe I'm not sorry for exciting you. But I am sorry that I did so in an inconvenient place."

"A very, very inconvenient place. That was extremely mean of you," I said, giving her a jokingly serious face.

"I'll gladly make it up to you," she said. Her amazingly sexy voice from earlier was back, and it gave me chills. Before I could say anything, she was straddling my lap.

This time, I didn't bother trying to stop the growl that erupted from my chest. Without wasting another second, I grabbed Alice tightly by the waist and crashed my lips against hers.

Her hands found their way into my hair as she pulled me closer to her.

As I pulled away, I took her bottom lip between my teeth. The moan Alice emitted was enough to make me lose it. My lips found hers again, and our tongues began to battle for dominance. I won easily, and the heat of the kiss increased. I pulled Alice tighter against me as I stood from the chair.

"I really don't need to go to the rest of my classes," I stated in a breathy voice, "What about you?"

"Hmm-mm." Alice was kissing me again, unwilling to stop long enough to give me a verbal answer. But it was good enough for me. I grabbed our bags and Alice was already headed down the ladder.

I didn't even bother using the steps of the ladder. Instead, I gripped the sides and placed my feet on the outside of the rails. Loosening my grip, I quickly slid down the ladder until I was far enough down to drop without risking anyone being suspicious if they happened to see.

As soon as I was on the ground, Alice grabbed my hand and all but sprinted back to her place.

A few minutes later, we were bursting through her apartment door; Alice's legs wrapped around my waist again as I held her with one arm until I discarded our bags. I tossed them to the side and hoped I could make it to Alice's room without running into anything.

I managed to make it successfully, our kiss never breaking until we landed on her bed and I started to kiss along her jaw and down her neck. Alice faced away from me, exposing more of her neck. Alternating between kissing and nibbling, I moved down to her collar bone.

I could feel Alice's breathing getting heavier, and her hands began to toy with the bottom of my shirt. Goosebumps rose everywhere that her fingers touched my skin.

I began to undo the buttons of her shirt, silently asking Alice to let me remove it. When she arched her back a bit, I took it as a yes and quickly slipped the shirt off of her shoulders; tossing it aside somewhere in the room. Not a second later, my shirt was off and tossed aside, as well.

I took a moment to let my hands wander up and down Alice's body before leaning back down to kiss her again. Alice's nails softly scratched at my back as she deepened the kiss.

I was so wrapped up in the feel of Alice's body pressed against mine and the heat of the kiss that I almost didn't notice Alice trying to remove my bra. I leaned back a bit to give her room to pull it off before beginning to undo hers. I felt a shock shoot straight to my core as Alice's bra came off, and her chest was exposed to me.

Of their own accord, my hands went straight to Alice's chest. She gasped as I leaned down and let my tongue begin to flick over one of her nipples before taking it into my mouth, while my hand paid attention to the other. After a few moments, I switched.

I wanted to taste more of Alice, and began to let my hands run up her thighs slowly. Alice's hips began to rock against me as let my hands wander further up. I kissed my way down her stomach until I reached the top of her skirt.

Looking up to make sure this was okay by Alice, I saw her staring down at me with black eyes and her teeth worrying her bottom lip again.

Slowly reaching down, she hooked her thumbs under her skirt and began to slip it off. I help pull it off of her legs and tossed it away. I couldn't help but stare at Alice's amazing body.

I looked into Alice's eyes one last time before ripping off her panties. I took in yet another view of Alice's amazing body.

"God, you're beautiful." Alice smiled and pulled me up to kiss her. This kiss was more passionate than the ones before, but soon became as heated as the rest.

"I need to taste you, baby," I said, as I began to kiss back down her body once again.

Alice began to softly growl as I got closer to my destination.

Finally where I wanted to be, I planted kisses along Alice's thighs before slowly licking my way up the length of her.

Alice's sharp intake of breath was enough to egg me on.

I repeated the motion a few more times before focusing my attention on her most sensitive spot.

I gently sucked on the bundle of nerves, while letting my tongue rub circles around it. Alice's back arched and her hips began to thrust. Wrapping my arms around her legs, I grabbed her hips to hold her in place.

After a few minutes, I placed a finger inside Alice's warmth, and couldn't stop the moan that escaped at the discovery of how wet she was for me.

Alice's hips began to buck harder, and I placed another finer inside of her, speeding up my thrusts slightly while also increasing the speed of my tongue on her clit.

In moments, Alice was arching her back and grasping my hair, holding me to her. I could feel her muscles tightening against my fingers and knew she was getting close.

I curled my fingers, hitting the perfect spot and soon Alice's orgasm racked through her.

I planted a few soft kisses over Alice's hips as I removed my fingers and made my way back up to take Alice into my arms.

Her look of sheer bliss brought a smile to my face, and I held her tightly against me.

We laid there in silence while Alice came down from her high. After a few minutes, she finally spoke.

"That was….wow. Just….wow."

I chuckled at that. Alice was never at a loss for words, so it was entertaining to see her try to find the words to say. I certainly felt a bit of pride, as well.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," I said, still giggling.

"Mhmm. Now it's my turn," Alice said, with a mischievous smirk on her face as she rolled me onto my back and kissed me.

I really hoped Edward and Jasper weren't due back anytime soon.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Hopefully I'll have another update for you soon.

On a side note: I went to Seattle over Christmas break, and it was definitely awesome to finally have an idea of the area that this story takes place in. I fell in love with the city. I recommend everyone take a trip there. It's beautiful.

Anyway, reviews are always lovely! I love hearing what all of you think of the story.