A/N: A long chapter to thank all my wonderful readers. Just a small reminder: even though I give subtle nods to the canon Twilight from time to time, this story is anything but canon. I don't intend to write canon vampires or E/B in this one. The only thing purely canon in here is the pairings.

Happy reading. ;)

Chapter-21: A Bond for Life

EPOV

I felt yet another grin stretching over my face as I told my brothers about her … my Bella. I knew that this probably wasn't helping my hard-ass image, but honestly? I couldn't stop even if I wanted to. It was like just the sound of her name was making me smile.

Damn it!

"So let me get this straight," Emmett started, looking deadly serious. "She's eighteen?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"And you said that you're dating?"

I didn't like the way this conversation was going, but I decided to play along anyway. "Yes," I stated proudly.

"Damn!" he said before giving me a toothy grin. "So you're dating an older woman, baby bro? Hot!"

What the fuck?

He was already walking on thin ice by this point, and then he made the ice crack with his fucktard-like thoughts. The sex must be fiery then; after all she is older than you.

That did it. With a snarl of anger, I was at his throat before he could think another untoward thing about Bella. I held him down on the floor and gripped his throat as I growled at him. "Take it back. Take it back right now, Em. Don't think of her like that … ever."

Being more beefy than I was, he easily pushed me off of him and rolled his eyes at me. "You're such a drama queen, man! I was just kidding."

"Kidding?" I repeated angrily, still not over my irritation even though I knew he was simply being Emmett.

"Yes," he said with a nod. "You know what they say about age and experience, right?"

The thought of Bella with anyone else sent white hot anger through me and before I knew it, I was running behind my asshole of a brother ready to break his face for even saying those words.

Emmett used the one thing he had over me—body strength—to run away from me, his loud snorts of glee following him.

"You are a fucking dick, Em!" I was yelling as I ran.

I could see Esme in my peripheral vision as she tried to stop me, but I dodged her and kept on running. I was this close to catching the dickwad when … "Edward?"

One word.

One single word from Bella—that's all it took for me to stop me from my pursuit. Stopping in my tracks, I took in my surroundings, realizing that in trying to bash Emmett's head in, I had followed him out of the house and into the backyard.

I looked up to see Bella standing at the balcony attached to my room as she looked down at me … a small smile gracing her lips.

"Hey," I said to her, completely forgetting why I was running out of the house in the first place. That is until …

"Oomph!"

Emmett's laughter greeted me as I opened my eyes to glare at the piece of boulder—which happened to be my stupid brother—that had knocked me to the ground. "Got you now, Eduardo."

I shoved him off of me and pulled a face at him. "It doesn't count because I wasn't looking, you ass. And how many times do I have to tell you, Em? It's Edward. Sheesh! For a vampire, you have the memory of a goldfish," I said to rile him up.

He didn't take the bait though. With a wide fucking grin, he looked at Bella and then back at me before thinking to me, you weren't looking all right. You were busy being pussy whipped.

I opened my mouth to retort at his comment when I heard a soft giggle come from the balcony. "Are they always like that?" Bella asked Esme as she looked down at my adoptive mother.

From the backdoor that led to the kitchen, Esme sighed. "All the time. Imagine living with these rowdy boys."

Bella nodded. "You have my sympathies," she said to her, her eyes straying to me as she did.

Leaving Emmett, I stood up to get back inside the house. I needed to let her know how sympathetic she should be.

As I walked away from him, I heard Emmett shout 'pussy whipped' at me. In retaliation, I flipped him the bird behind my back.

BPOV

Seeing Edward laughing and goofing around with his siblings was a delight. He was so different from the boy I had met at the side of the road that dark night. That night, he seemed unattainable … mysterious. But today, with a smile gracing his lips, he looked endearing and … dare I say it? Extremely lovable.

I had never thought of loving someone before. Yes, I loved Angie like I imagined I'd have loved my sister—if I had one. And Father Webber. I loved him as well. But as a parent, a guardian … a guide. However Edward Masen was making me feel something else entirely. He was making me want to love him—a love that would be impossible to let go ... an all consuming love.

"Sorry if Emmett offended you in anyway." I was jolted away from my thoughts and into the present at the sound of his voice. Edward kept his hand steady on the steering wheel as he drove me back home and turned to face me. "He's a dick, but a harmless one."

I raised an eyebrow at his choice of language and said, "It sounds like you're very fond of your brother."

"He's alright," he replied. "Jasper's a tricky one though. Usually when I hear Emmett, I can get a pretty solid read on what he's thinking about. But Jas, his mood is very unpredictable because he soaks up the moods of everyone around him."

"And Rosalie?" The question was out of my mouth before I could think of it.

His brows furrowed. "Rose is …" He pulled a face. "Well, she can be the meanest bitch in the world if she wants to be. She usually stays lost in her own little world without being overly offensive."

"Overly offensive?" I asked, having picked up the adverb in there.

He laughed. "She's fiercely loyal to a fault. So she comes off as offensive a lot of the times even when she's not trying to be."

I nodded as I remembered speaking to her only hours before. She definitely seemed to care for her family. "Edward, they all think of you as a part of their family," I said, trying to see why he had been adamant to think otherwise back in his room.

"I know," he responded slowly, turning his eyes back on the road. "But that doesn't mean that everything is rainbows and butterflies in there." I opened my mouth to tell him that no family is perfect and at least he was lucky to have someone to call his family. But before I could do so, he looked back at me. His eyes held a silent plea as he said, "Can we please talk about something else? Forget about them. Tell me about yourself."

"I'm …" I trailed off as my eyes drifted toward the speedometer. Holy shit! With wide eyes, I cried out, "I'm not a fan of Speed Racer!"

"What?" He looked confused at my sudden outburst.

I pointed toward the indicator of the speedometer which was almost touching the hundred and ten miles an hour mark. "You're going way past the speed limit, and I really don't want to become a Bella pretzel if we crash into a tree."

A soft chuckle escaped him before he started laughing loudly almost gasping for breath. "Bella pretzel, huh?" he asked after had managed to calm somewhat down. "We can't have that now, can we?"

I watched with relief as he slowed the car down just a little bit before smiling at me. "Better?"

"Yeah. Thank you."

He shook his head at my words. "It's for my own selfish reasons, Bella. I can't lose you."

I noted that he had said 'can't' instead of 'don't want to', and for some inexplicable reason, that made my heart flutter in my chest.

~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~

"Where are you?"

Turning around to look at him, I asked back, "What do you mean? I'm right here."

He shrugged. "Physically, yes, but emotionally … you seem distracted … lost in your thoughts."

I wanted to tell him that it's nothing, but remembering my demand that he doesn't lie to me anymore, I decided to ask him right out. "Edward, what does being a mate mean?"

A frown appeared on his smooth forehead. "Why did you ask that?"

Biting the inside of my cheek, I responded quietly, "Rosalie said something about it earlier."

Before I could speak any further, he slammed his foot down on the brakes, stopping the car at the side of the highway. He turned his body fully to look at me, his eyes looking like two shiny emeralds as he asked through gritted teeth, "What did she tell you?"

"N-nothing," I tried to backtrack, worried that I had upset him.

He leaned closer to me, holding my gaze as he lifted a hand. Carefully as if I was made of glass, he placed it right over my heart before whispering to me, "You asked me not to lie to you, Bella. Guess what? It goes both ways. So tell me what she said. What's making your heart try to beat out of your chest?"

I took in a ragged breath, his smell lingering around me. "She said that … that I'm your … mate," I answered, the last word escaping me in a barely audible whisper.

His eyes closed for a moment as he let my words sink in, and when he opened them, they were just as intense as the night I had met him. "And?"

"And um … she thanked me," I added. "For making you smile." I watched to my relief as a slow smile came over his face.

He kissed my cheek, making it warmer with the touch of his cold lips. Then he said, "You make me smile alright."

As I watched him sit back in his seat, I couldn't help but ask, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Am I? Your mate, I mean."

He let out a slow breath before answering me slowly. "It feels like that." He must've seen the questions lingering in my eyes as he elaborated, "I've never been mated before … obviously." He rolled his eyes. "But what we have, it feels like more. The way you make me feel, it's different from anything I've ever known."

An unexpected bout of jealousy shot through me, and I narrowed my eyes at him. "What have you known before me?"

I was presented with a wide smile at that. "Calm down, tiger," he said, holding his hands up. "That's the thing. Don't you see, Bella? Before you, I wasn't too keen on feeling anything, but with you … I feel. I feel a hunger … a craving, if you will, for something other than blood of a human, for you. You make me want to be someone worthy of you. Your smile makes me feel like a fucking king just because I put it on your face. Hell! I even feel jealous of fucking breeze that gets to brush your face as you walk. Don't you understand what I'm feeling at all?"

His passionate words coupled with the intense look in his eyes makes me shiver with a feeling I couldn't name. "And that makes me your mate?" I asked softly.

He let out a sigh and let his head fall back against the headrest. "Like I said, I've never felt like this before, but from what I gathered after hearing my family find their mates, I think it's something like this."

"Oh."

He cranked an eye open at my eloquent response and repeated the word. "Oh? That's it?"

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I said, "It's just a lot to take in. I've never had anyone who meant so much to me in such a short time. Back at the Home, I had a best friend and her father who brought me up, but that's all. I've never wanted to … belong in someone's world before." I felt his eyes on me as I took a deep breath and added, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel what you just expressed too. I want to be more for you. I … I love being the reason for you to smile."

He smiled then—a big smile that made the sides of his eyes crinkle with happiness. "You're so much more, Bella," he said before starting the car. With a smile on my face, I said to him, "Ditto."

If being mated to him meant feeling like this then maybe it wasn't a bad thing … not at all.

EPOV

Would I ever get enough of this girl? I wondered to myself as I crossed the street. The answer to my question was becoming clear to me with every passing moment. Not bloody likely.

Walking inside the dingy old bookstore, I found the owner blocking my way. I offered her a bright smile and a cheerful greeting. "Good morning, Mrs. Goff. How are you this morning?"

She sniffed the air around me, as if she's sniffing me for drugs. Deciding that I was clean, she stood back, regarding me through cold eyes. "You're that Cullen boy. You hurt Isabella the other day."

Her words made me look down at my feet as shame for my actions washed through me. "That was one of the biggest mistakes of my life," I said honestly. "She was kind enough to forgive me for that."

"Really?" she asked, her eyes filled with mistrust.

I nodded, offering her a sheepish smile. "I thought she wasn't into me, you see …" I said, going for the usual teenage drama around this town.

She huffed. "You young people are so quick to change your minds, aren't you?" she asked before motioning toward the bookshelves at the back of the store. "She's over there."

"Thank you."

As I was about to make my way to the direction she gave, she said sternly, "I've got my eyes on you, boy. You won't hurt that sweet girl anymore. Do you understand me?"

In my best impersonation of Jasper's southern manners, I gave her a salute. "Yes, ma'am."

~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~

When I found her, she was reaching for a book with her hand, clutching two others to her chest. I couldn't resist the temptation anymore. Stepping right behind her, I placed my lips next to her ear as I said, "You were gone when I went to your house this morning."

She gasped, turning around quickly. "Edward! You're here."

I smirked at her. "Yeah," I said, looking around the place. "And this time, I'm not here to check out a book."

"Yeah?" she asked. "Then what are you here for, Dr. Masen?"

I grinned at her teasing tone. "I was in mood for something sweet, and your boss recommended you."

She raised an eyebrow in a silent question. "Really? I'm surprised she let you in."

"I can be charming when I want to, baby," I said. "And she did say that you're a sweet girl. So …" I trailed off as I stood closer to her, trapping her between my body and the bookshelf behind her.

"So?" Her breathing got louder as she tried to look nonchalant.

I didn't answer. Instead, I leaned in, letting my lips brush against hers as I spoke. "I was craving a taste of you, Bella." She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could do so, my lips were on hers. I let my hands fall on her hips as I held her to me.

She didn't resist. With a soft moan, she wrapped her arms around my neck before slowly letting her hands slide into the hair at the back of my head.

And then she tugged.

Fuck!

That little tug went right to my dick as I felt myself fighting for control. She must've felt me harden against her because suddenly, her leg was wrapping around my calf. I didn't think. I couldn't think as I let my hands slip past her hips and then helped her wrap one leg around my waist, bringing myself closer to her.

So fucking close.

The feeling of her warm body against my cold one was enough to make me lose control. I let my other hand slide up, brushing the side of her breast as I did so all the while kissing her. In the back of my mind, I realized that she was panting, trying to get air in her lungs. So I broke our kiss, letting her breath as I kissed her cheek.

She had other ideas though. Grabbing my head, she pressed her lips to mine again. This time, she pulled my bottom lip into her mouth, sucking on it. I was getting harder by every moment that passed.

Where did that punk kid go?

"Baby, we need to stop," I finally whispered to her, trying to rein in my control as I heard the ratty old woman walk toward us.

At the sound of my voice her eyes snapped open and she scrambled down, putting her foot back on the ground and breathing hard. "I'm … I don't know what came over me," she said, blushing brightly.

Taking her chin between my fingers, I pressed a quick kiss on her lips. "Don't be shy, Bella. I love making you blush."

If it was even possible, her cheeks reddened even more. I heard the footsteps almost at where we stood, so in an audible voice, I added, "I just wanted to say good morning to you."

She smiled, catching onto my sudden show of politeness. "Good morning to you too," she said, kissing my cheek softly.

As I walked out of that store toward the hospital, I realized that maybe Emmett was right.

I was pussy whipped.

A/N: *Takes a deep breath while fanning self* Everyone okay? Need something cold? ;)

Share your thoughts with me and leave a review.

Thanks for reading.

Song rec for this chapter: Boy Like You by Kesha.

See you next week.

Take care.

Ann