DISCLAIMER: SM owns all Twilight characters and settings. No copyright infringement intended.
WARNING: Contains suggestions of sexual dominance & slash and references to spousal abuse. Read with caution.
After suffering through severe writers block, I finally just started writing. Unfortunately, once I got going I couldn't stop so now I've created this colossal chapter that I'm going to have to split up into two chapters. No worries, the second part is already done and I'm just finishing up editing it so it should be posted in a few days.
Edward's POV
Normally when her scent touched my nostrils it registered in my mind like a passing afterthought, barely rising to my consciousness, triggering nothing more than a slight irritation in me hardly worthy of my consideration. It could have been an old scent collecting in the damp undergrowth, released by a persistent wind or one that had carried with the breezes from several miles away. It was not a scent that would elicit any kind of alarm in me or trigger a protective instinct to defend my mate and family or even one that might arouse my curiosity. It was a scent as familiar to me as my own, one I'd live with for decades, one that I loathed as much as I loved and the contradictory emotions it brought forth in me were as confusing as our relationship.
But on this day, when the first tendrils of that scent triggered the translucent image of its owner, every muscle in my body tensed and a release of what could only be described as vampiric adrenalin heightened all my senses. I could not read her mind; she was within my range but her thoughts were nothing but a hum of electricity like the static from a radio and I was the tuner searching for the station, trying to find her frequency.
It shouldn't have surprised me that she was using all of her abilities to hide even the most mundane train of thoughts used mask something significant. She wanted to give me nothing to grasp onto, nothing to distract me, nothing to pull me back to my conscious self, assuming that I'd given over to my instincts, was completely lost in tracking her mate, retaining none of my abilities to concentrate on several tasks at once that was so uniquely vampire. But she had misinterpreted my abrupt departure and assumed that I was acting solely on instinct when in fact, I'd only been following him, keeping my options open, prepared to break off any spontaneous attack if the situation wasn't completely advantageous to me.
I didn't need to see her thoughts to understand her intentions. She was pursuing me in a futile attempt to stop me, using whatever methods were at her disposal and in complete defiance of Carlisle, ignoring his well communicated assertion that females should not interfere in acts of dominance and submission. Her contempt for Carlisle's convictions irritated me even though my own past with Carlisle was filled with rebellious behavior and acts of outright disobedience. Perhaps my sudden conciliatory attitude had to do with his own dominance over me and my complete submission to him which invariably put me on his side against anyone that choose to defy him.
More specifically that meant Rosalie who was now unrivaled within our family as the instigator of trouble with her insolent behavior on the rare occasion that Carlisle tried to exert any type of influence over her in matters pertaining to the coven.
I abandoned any further pursuit of Emmett who was tracking a large prey animal, likely a bear, though I'd yet to run across the scent myself and concentrated solely on Rosalie whose scent was becoming more concentrated as she got closer. I could not risk a repeat of the near disastrous interference of Alice in the middle of Jasper and my own struggle for dominance. I still shuddered to imagine how I might have hurt Alice inadvertently, so caught up in my own raging bestial passions that demanded that I destroy any vampire around me that did not submit to me. Alice wouldn't have submitted; females didn't submit to males and in my frenzied state I wouldn't have been able to discern the difference between her as my sister and her as the mate of the male that sought to mount me.
Fortunately, Jasper was her mate, a skilled fighter, a seasoned warrior and he'd quickly switched from dominant-submissive behaviors to an all out defense of his mate which meant a fight to death and nothing less. But I had to give him credit. Despite battling every instinct that drove him to kill me in those brief moments when my attentions had turned from him to Alice, he was able to pull back from that blind fury when he saw my willingness to submit to him and complete the coupling that would ensure my own survival. His strength had saved not only me but likely saved himself for I had little doubt that the guilt of killing me would have rendered him a shell of his former self and he certainly wouldn't have remained with Carlisle.
I sighed.
Could my own battles for dominance be so simple and straightforward as Carlisle, both in words and memories had alluded too. It didn't appear that way with Rosalie charging in to blatantly involve herself in a situation that had nothing to do with her. With my luck, Emmett would pick up his mate's scent and circle back and I would be forced to listen to his snickering as Rosalie lambasted me for my immature sneaky behavior.
I wasn't sure about immature. If Carlisle and Jasper's memories where any indication of how it worked, a male could use whatever means available to him to take down another male and if that included tracking him during a hunt, surprising him at his weakest moment when his attentions were elsewhere, so much the better. Jasper had even been so bold as to interrupt a male-female coupling when he determined the pair was not mated, leaving the female to find another male that wasn't otherwise occupied to satisfy her. It would hardly be immature of me to initiate a confrontation that would offer me the greatest possible opportunity for success in achieving what I'd considered my rightful position within the family.
Carlisle was without question the coven leader and even as I was driven by an uncontrollable urge to challenge him, it was right that he defeated me and I was thankful in retrospect that he had. Jasper too held significant skills and talents that made his place behind Carlisle a legitimate consequence of our battle and though I always anticipated and looked forward to the day when I would feel the building of tension that would burn like a fire light in my belly, a pressure that could only be relieved through a challenge of his status; I was completely content to remain, if not submissive than at the very least conciliatory to his rank as my beta.
But Emmett, that was another story. Emmett for all his pure physical strengths lacked the traits I looked for in evaluating a leader. His goofball tendencies, inability to take things seriously and annoyingly consistent good nature; all put him at odds with what I envisioned in a leader that I might want to emulate and defer to for guidance and advice. Yet with each passing day, particularly since Bella's change, I found his presence and attitude annoying, his petulant childlike behavior tiresome, his absolute disregard for proper decorum and civility in all matters intolerable and it was getting worse.
His crude teasing when it came to Bella and I would rankle me to the point where I could hardly contain my rage yet I was constantly aware of Carlisle and Jasper, one or the other always near, their thoughts openly chastising me for my inability to contain my emotions. And to some degree I understood their concern and reprimands. I was allowing my emotions to drive me, not my instincts. I was letting my frustration, a byproduct of the desire to dominate another male, get the better of me and my reaction weakened me against Emmett.
Carlisle's mind which was often locked down and impenetrable had shown me glimpses of his preference in the outcome of any altercation between Emmett and I. As coven leader he should hold no favorites, have no expectations who would be deployed and in what rank beneath him. For all his power over the male members of his coven he could do very little in determining how we fraternized with each other. But I saw in brief flickers of stray thoughts that it was his desire that I take Emmett, mount him, make Emmett submit to me. Yet he had a real fear that I might fail; that my emotions as volatile and overwhelming as any human seventeen year old boy would control me and ultimately result in my failure to mount Emmett, who might act like a child but had more control and a better handle on his feelings as the young man he was before his change.
My need for Carlisle's approval had not changed with his mounting of me except perhaps to make our bond even stronger and I desperately wanted to fulfill his desire to see me take Emmett which is what compelled me to track him when we were supposed to be out hunting.
But now Rosalie was interfering, again and once again I was forced to re-evaluate my original strategy. Unable to read her mind I couldn't know what she was up to, but my assumption was that I would be condemned for my cowardly behavior until I was reduced to retaliating in an ungentlemanly fashion, thus giving her the satisfaction of outmaneuvering me and disrupting my plans for the evening. And worse still, she would reveal to Emmett my intentions and no more would Emmett hunt without looking over his shoulder. My advantage of a surprise attack would be lost in any future confrontation.
I came across the scent of a small herd of deer and quickly latched onto it hoping that I could convince her that my presence here in the woods was nothing more than to hunt, never mind that I'd passed several such scents of our prey over the past several miles in pursuit of Emmett. It was a weak excuse in any event. Bella, months after her change, still needed to hunt every few days to keep the thirst at bay and I accompanied her more often than not. I did not need to take my own separate hunting trips to satisfy my own thirst.
Rosalie would never believe that I was out for an evening run by myself, leaving Bella behind. With Jasper and Alice in Denali and Carlisle at the hospital I would have relished the time in the house with less minds to listen too. I'd misjudged her when I drifted away only minutes after Emmett, thinking she wouldn't notice my absence, too distracted with helping Esme and Bella select frabric for new living room furniture. What excuse had she given for leaving them? I hoped it was a good one. I shuddered at the image of a newborn Bella tracking Rosalie. What a mess. Why was everything involving me always so difficult? Despite my good intentions I was always…
The loud concussion of rock against rock was a distant ringing in my ears as I was propelled across the wide expanse of the clearing I'd just emerged into. I had little time to react in a defensive manner as I tumbled end over end when I was hit again; the force of the second assault throwing me into the air, the raucous sounds of tree tops splintering as my body hit them was on par with the rolling thunder of a huge electrical storm.
Rosalie!
Her scent, where before was just an occasional assault on my senses, engulfed me, but what surprised me even more was the pure rankness of it with only the underlying familiar lilac smell giving credence that it was her scent at all. I grappled with her arms as she tried to pin me to the ground, our bodies undulating through the trees as each of us fought for an advantage. I needed no further confirmation of her intentions. I saw firsthand, her plans for me through her thoughts. Her mind was wide open to me now. She meant to do me serious harm and this knowledge alone gave me pause as I struggled to comprehend what was happening.
Never…never did I expect to be physically assaulted by Rosalie. Not when I hadn't even encountered Emmett yet. Her interference in any skirmish between Emmett and I would have been a bad enough breach of conduct, instinctual or otherwise, especially if it were only a struggle for rank. To attack me unprovoked was unthinkable, even for her and in complete defiance of everything Carlisle had built this family on.
She was acting like an out of control newborn nomad, one that didn't have the advantage that came with time and the structure a civilized coven offered. My hisses and growls replaced any verbal attempts to communicate with her and would convey all the obscenities that remained locked in my throat, my astonishment at her conduct rendering me speechless.
Once the shock factor wore off I was able to ascertain her intent. She was trying to injury me, to weaken me, cripple me to an extent that would allow her mate every possible advantage when she called out to him. Her strategy was detestable given that she was deliberately trying to disable me so that her mate could dominate me, his victory tainted by the direct manipulation of his mate; the coven's stability undermined by her interference.
I felt her breath against my neck, heard the snapping of her teeth near my ear. In her thoughts, I saw her intent; saw the bite to the throat that would drain me of the venom that gave me the strength I needed to top Emmett. After tearing into my throat she would leave me injured, the venom leaking from the gaping wound. There would be no one to seal it for me. I was alone in these woods. And though it would heal on its own, it would take time. I would remain in a suspended state, too weak to stagger home, but consciousness wouldn't leave me; I would be aware of Emmett's approach.
He would be drawn to the sounds of his wife's scent, to my scent and he would come upon me injured and vulnerable. I would see a series of conflicting emotions flicker over his face; confusion, fear, suspicion, anger, cumulating into rage as he came to the conclusion that it was I that attacked his mate, I that was the instigator. But undoubtedly common sense would prevail and he would smell her scent still very much alive and well, drifting off into the trees where she disappeared after having set the stage, leaving the bait; an injured me in the clearing.
And then it would occur to Emmett that he'd never seen me so weak, so vulnerable, so incapable of defending myself. His mind would flicker over the only other time he held such a significant advantage over me. That day several months ago when Carlisle took me for the first time; when I was still in a daze, unable to figure out what had just happened, still trying to reconcile the situation in my mind, hardly aware of Emmett and Jasper's presence until I smelled their own unique stench; lust not unlike when they coupled with their mates. But where the scent of their matings had no pull over me, the muskiness that invaded my nostrils that day drew me in. I was still in a submissive state, weakened by Carlisle's assault and that weakness always brought out the instinct to dominate in other males. So just as Emmett had seen my docile disposition that day, he would see it now.
His posture would change, his scent would change, his eyes would turn black, his lips would pull back from his teeth and he would open his mouth tasting the air. At first, injured and frantic with thoughts of escape or ways to avoid the inevitable, I would be oblivious to it; his smell, the odor that could leave me incapable of resisting him. I might try to stand, to run; I was so much faster and I would understand that there was a time to fight and time to flee and now was the time to flee, preferably upwind, but I would falter.
It might be the injury that still leaked the only fluid left in my body; the progress towards healing rapid even without the venom of a mate or coven member to heal it; but the injury was severe and with Emmett's abrupt appearance I would be too drained to defend myself. My defeated appearance would release his stench like a fine mist once he understood my fragility and it would draw me like a drug. At first it wouldn't be about surrendering to it or submitting to him in anyway. I would try to fight, springing to my feet, using my gift to outmaneuver him, remaining consistently out of his reach, giving my wound time to heal, but eventually my instincts would be my undoing.
Without consciously thinking about it, my own mouth would open and I would drink him in with all my senses. I would become careless, forgetting my weakened state, ignoring all the signs that screamed at me to run and instead I would look for his weaknesses, letting him draw me in, my feral impulses ruling me, demanding that I force the male in front of me to submit. If Emmett were smart he would give me an obvious inroad, turn his back, become distracted, even charge me letting his thoughts give away his intentions.
It would all be a ruse, a way for him to get close, because ultimately he was stronger and so much more so now that I was injured. But it would only be when I felt his large hand clamp around my throat, fell him lift me up off my feet, yanking my body against him, squeezing me in an uncontrollable hunger that he could no longer disregard or think past or control, that I would know all was lost.
That realization wouldn't be met with regrets or anguish. It would come eagerly enough. I would just have to breathe in his scent, smell his lust, feel the hardness of his organ against me and I would give in to it willingly, even relishing the role, seeking to satisfy the beast that held me captive and giving no thought to the prospect of having slipped down another notch in rank, no matter that it had all been instigated by one conniving, deceitful, disobedient female who had no business getting in the middle of what was exclusively a male driven domain.
Rushing through her thoughts and filling in the blanks where she hadn't clearly thought it through, empowered me and a roar of pure rage rumbled up from my diaphragm and out my mouth as I threw myself forward onto her giving her an advantage that she wasn't prepared for and using her indecisiveness to break free of her claw like fingers that twisted into the flesh of my upper arms.
"Rosalie, you bitch," I spat, drawing a gasp of surprise from her lips, her eyes widening at my use of profanity. "You'd risk us all…weaken us for your stupid trivial pride."
Now the advantage was mine. I had her pinned to the ground, straddling her midsection forcing her arms under my knees and with a long protracted growl I leaned over her, my face only inches away from hers and closed my fingers around her neck.
For all of Rosalie's audacity in attempting to ambush me, she had only one real advantage over me and she lost it when she failed to sink her teeth into my neck during our tussle. But once I regained my composure, it was all over for her. A male could seldom be destroyed by a female in a one on one encounter unless the female had some outstanding talent as a fighter, still benefited from her newborn strength or had an extraordinary gift. Rosalie had no gift like Alice or I but she could fight. Unfortunately for her, I was trained by the same master so she had no greater skill in sparring and I was stronger. I could also read her mind, so she never really stood a chance against me which made her attack all the more unexpected.
"If Carlisle finds out what you're up to he'll….he'll…"
He'll what? Destroy her? Hardly. Drive her and Emmett off? Not a possibility. It was unlikely that Carlisle would do anything, accepting the consequences in whatever form they evolved into and dealing with repercussions in a logical manner.
"I can't believe you hate me so much that you would deliberately sabotage me," I suddenly felt hurt and betrayed, ridiculous really given that Emmett was her mate and it made sense she would do whatever she could to assist him, even at the risk of destabilizing the coven.
"I'm not trying to sabotage you," she hissed struggling against the death grip I had on her neck. "Let me up."
I ignored her request and gripped tighter. "Than what…why are you doing this? I can see your thoughts; I know what you were planning to do. That's not how it works and you know it. Can you stop thinking about yourself for one second and consider what you almost did. And why? Why would you involve yourself at all? That's what I really don't understand. Have you so little faith in your mate that you have to attack me, weaken me to give him the advantage?"
"You would think that, you idiot. That's not what I was doing at all. Emmett is perfectly capable of taking care of himself."
"Then what…WHAT…WHAT are you trying to do? I SAW your thoughts, Rosalie and in case you've forgotten, I can still read minds."
Then read this, jackass…
And in her not so subtle way, she showed me, opened herself up to me, let me see her fears. It wasn't of Emmett taking advantage of an injured me, dominating me which I realized now was only my projection of what I assumed her motivations were. It was me and Emmett squaring off, neither of us injured, both of us with our own unique strengths, his pure physical, mine giving me the ability to see how he would engage me and in Rosalie's thoughts I saw what she really feared. As I watched, my hands loosened from around her throat and I stared straight ahead as if I were watching her thoughts on a giant projection screen in the trees.
With both of us at the top of our game, our standoff would last several hours in Rosalie's estimation, each of us lunging in and backing away, trying to find the other's weakness. Eventually we would rush together and Emmett would gain the advantage, his superior strength would enable him to close his arms around me, leaving me completely immobile in his grasp and just as was my own assumption, we would both be overtaken by our instincts. Emmett given his more favorable position would struggle to turn me so that he was pressed against my back, giving the perception of dominance before I was completely under his control. But that's where Rosalie's thoughts and my expectations parted ways.
Instead of giving in freely, I would fight him wildly, much in the way I had fought Carlisle who had locked me in his arms for hours holding a dominant position over me, but unable to get me to submit to him through position and odor alone. No it wasn't until he bit me twice that I was finally subdued and willing submitted to him. But in Rosalie's mind, I saw Emmett grapple with me only briefly, roaring in frustration when I wouldn't accommodate him and when he bit down to hold me, he didn't stop, the overpowering need to dominate, to take what he thought was rightfully his to take, would challenge his control and unlike with Carlisle, I felt no real desire to submit to him so I would struggle all the more and he would bite down harder and harder…and he didn't have Carlisle's control…
"You think Emmett will hurt me," I said sitting back dumbfounded, forgetting that only moments before my ferocious sister was hell bent on tearing a hole in my throat.
"No. I think Emmett will kill you," Rosalie replied, not making any move to free herself.
And she did think that; I could see it now. Rosalie's attack wasn't instigated out of her desire that her mate outrank me. She was trying to keep me from getting killed.
I jumped to my feet and turned my back on her, too disturbed by the violent images and her perception of my death at the hands of her mate to pay much attention to whether she was about to attack me again, for my own good.
"So you assume I will fall to your mate," I said slowly, not sure whether to be insulted or not.
"No. I mean…I guess it's possible, but I haven't really thought about the alternative. I'm not worried about the alternative."
"What the hell are you talking about, what alternative?" I spat, spinning to face her.
She was up on her feet dusting herself off casually not allowing herself to be baited by my growing agitation. "I'm not worried about what will happen if you get Emmett to submit to you. I know you can control yourself. I know you won't hurt him."
Her words rocked me. Never in my life had Rosalie given me a compliment. It was even more shocking than her unprovoked attack on me.
"Why do you think Emmett is….did Alice tell you something? What did she see?" I whispered.
"Nothing. You know that. Alice usually can get no feel for how these altercations are going to play out. It's too spontaneous, too instinctual. Alice hasn't told me anything. But…" Rosalie's eyes darted around, refusing to meet mine.
"What? Just say it."
She pressed her hand to her forehead like she was trying to ward off a headache. "I know how Emmett is. I love him…I do…with all my heart, but he's really not completely in control. He can be dangerous if he's pushed. You don't know what he's capable of. He's never taken anyone before…I'm not sure if he could handle the power."
I was aware that my mouth hanging open and I abruptly closed it. For Rosalie to be speaking negatively about her mate…to me…I couldn't even absorb the ramifications that would have on our relationship.
"And yet you were willing to leave me to his whims, injured and unable to defend myself. That doesn't really speak of your concern for me," I scoffed when I recovered sufficiently from my initial surprise and remembered what brought her out here in the first place.
"Emmett would never willingly hurt you. He loves you as any brother would. It's just when he gets agitated, when he's provoked, when he thinks he might lose, he becomes an entirely different being. And I know you. You wouldn't just give in…you'd fight him."
"You have no idea what you're talking about. It's not like that; we aren't out to kill each other. This isn't about violence."
"So is that why Carlisle had to bite you to restrain you in order to get you to submit to him? Is that why you had to bite Jasper and are you forgetting he almost killed you during that little altercation. If that's not violence than I don't know what is." Rosalie's tone had risen sharply. "And all of you have more control then Emmett."
I didn't know what to say to that. I remembered how I felt as Carlisle and I grappled. I remembered how I wanted, for just the briefest of moments, to kill him. And then there was Jasper. I saw Alice's vision; saw how Jasper deftly removed my head after I turned toward his mate, how he, only through the shear strength of his will, forced himself to get control of his murderous thoughts. Could Rosalie be right? Could Emmett kill me? I knew the answer to that one, but I was still baffled by Rosalie's interference. There was always a possibility of tragic consequence. It was always conceivable that someone could be seriously hurt or killed; both Carlisle and Jasper's memories had suggested as much, but it was a rarity; and why would Rosalie resort to such a drastic solution?
I glanced up and was surprised to find her studying me.
"What aren't you telling me?"
Rosalie's eyes fluttered and for one horrifying moment, I thought she was going to cry.
Instead she turned from me and I waited, assuming she was trying to pull herself together so she could explain her fears, but her actions continued to surprise me and without warning, she slipped her shirt off her shoulders.
"Rosalie…" Her name slipped from my lips in an expulsion of air.
"You can't tell anyone."
"Oh my God, what happened to you?" Again my vampire brain failed me, not keeping pace with what she was revealing to me. The truth was right there in front of me but I was just a few steps behind.
"I mean it Edward; you can't say anything to anyone, including Bella. Alice knows but that's it."
I opened and closed my mouth several times. She knew I would get there and waited patiently, her back still exposed, until I finally did.
Covering her shoulders, her neck and up into her hairline, were crescent shape scars, patterned over and over again in her flesh, no different than Jasper's scars, one on top of the other, dozens of bite marks too numerous and layered to count accurately.
"Emmett did this to you!" I exclaimed, horror filling me.
"I mean it Edward. If you run to Carlisle about this I swear to God I will kill you. It's not as bad as it looks, I mean it is, but not how you think."
"Not how I think. What the hell are you talking about? You're telling me that Emmett has been biting you over and over again all of these years and it's not as bad as it looks. You know what that is Rosalie….it's spousal abuse, its physical abuse and you of all people…to put up with that."
Before I could say another word she'd pulled her shirt back up and spun to face me standing inches from my face.
"Let's get one thing straight. Emmett is not abusing me. Not even close. Yes he loses control sometimes, but it's not done in violence, it's never done in violence that's why when you tell me that this male dominant shit isn't about violence I can relate, at least a little….but…"
"I can't listen to this. You sound like every abused woman that ever tried to justify getting beaten." I felt sick to my stomach. How had I missed it? How could Emmett do this? He loved Rosalie, but didn't all abusers profess to love those they hurt. I felt my pocket for my cell phone. I had to call Carlisle, he had to deal with this; it was beyond me.
"I knew I couldn't trust you. Why do you have to overreact to everything?"
Under any other circumstance, I would have pointed out that it was she that had attacked me and had every intention of ripping my head half off to give her mate the advantage in what should have been nothing more than battle for rank. Now it had turned into something else completely.
"Before you go off half cocked and do something stupid, I want you to think about this." she said reasonably.
I looked at her uncomprehending.
"Have you ever, ever in all your years of listening in on my thoughts, seen any signs of distress from me, felt that in any way I feared Emmett?
I thought about that. No. If anything Emmett feared Rosalie.
I gave her a questioning look and she nodded in satisfaction.
"When Emmett and I….God I can't believe I'm telling you this." She sighed. "When Emmett and I make love, well it gets a little rough, a little aggressive."
Memorable moments of ruckus lovemaking flashed in my mind. The broken furniture, the damaged walls, the uprooted trees, the gutted 1969 Dodge Dart.
"We lose control…both of us lose control…we forget where we are…completely give in to the…what do you call your bloodlust…the beast? Well that's what we call our love making…we completely give into the beast." She had a little smile on her face and I groaned when I caught a flash of her and Emmett in the trees near the Klamath Mountains assuming a position that brought down a Redwood.
"Sometimes, when we're lost in each other…at the height of passion…."
"Stop," I whispered covering my ears, but I couldn't cover my mind.
"Oh for God's sake. Stop being so immature. Sometimes at the peak of sexual release, Emmett bites me. At first when he did it, I was horrified and so was he and he promised then and there he would never do it again. But it's not something he can control and he only does it when he takes me from behind."
"Please Rosalie, I don't want to hear it," I groaned, the visuals were the worst and they just kept coming.
"At first I was furious." She continued, ignoring my pleas. "I didn't want scars all over my shoulders, but no matter how mad I got or how sorry he was, he just couldn't and still can't control himself. And I guess I've grown to like it. It's kind of a turn on. Besides the damage is done. He just keeps biting me over and over in the same spot so I'm not getting any new scars and that's something."
"Why…WHY are you telling me this? What does your kinky sexual escapades have to do with Emmett and I." I shuddered at the very real thought that Rosalie in some way interpreted her lovemaking with what males did to establish rank. It had nothing to do with sex…did it? I felt for the phone in my pocket. I needed to call Carlisle.
Rosalie sighed and gripped my face between her hands. I suppose I should have been worried that she might twist my head off given her attempts to tear my throat open earlier, but I was too distracted to care.
"Listen to me carefully Edward. He only has this urge to bite me when he takes me from behind. Not once in all of our years together has he ever bit me any other place, at least not hard enough to leave a scar."
"Not telling me anything you haven't just said." Would it be childish to start singing lalalalalalala to drown out her voice? Probably but I was getting desperate.
"He is sorry every time he does it and he does it EVERYTIME. He can't control himself in that position and it is about being in that position. I think he's drawing from some primitive side of himself, some dormant instinct of mounting a male, holding onto and securing a male which is why he only feels this need to bite when he's in that position…get it?"
"We need to talk to Carlisle," I said abruptly pulling out my phone.
In the next instant I saw that same phone crumpled into pieces and tossed aside by Rosalie.
"You are not calling Carlisle. That's all I need. Do you know how hard it's been to keep this from Esme? It hurts her to no end that I always leave the room to change clothes or won't let her come into the dressing room with me when we shop. I can't imagine what she thinks about my prudish behavior, but it's definitely caused a rift between us and I haven't put her through all that all these years just to have you run and tell Carlisle the first chance you get."
"I'm telling you all of this for one reason and one reason only. To explain why I'm afraid for you if Emmett should get in the dominant position."
I blinked at her, unable to stutter out a response, my mind still hung up on her destruction of my phone.
"He'll bite you…he'll bite you and you'll fight him and the more you fight the worse it's going to be for you.
"You don't fight?" I asked astounded.
"No, never. Not even for fun. Once he bites, all games are over. I let him finish and like I said it's not like I don't like it, but the couple of times I thought I might twist away or when I was pissed at him in the early days for leaving another scar on me, I did fight and he didn't let go…..he bit harder…and Edward, I'm his mate. He shouldn't hurt me, not if I don't want him too, but he can't help it and he wouldn't just hurt you Edward. It would go beyond that; he'd kill you or at least tear you to pieces until one of us could reassemble you. And I don't want that to happen, not for his sake and not for yours."
I had nothing else to say. I trusted her conclusions completely. I had seen it with my own eyes, through her memories. As distasteful as it was to watch my sister and brother have sex, I had absorbed enough that I could see where her fears materialized from. Emmett looked different in that position, animalistic, monstrous even. It was a different Emmett, an Emmett that was a stranger to me. I wanted to hate him for hurting her, for using his strength in a way that it was never meant nor should ever be used, but what Rosalie said was true; she enjoyed it. It was like a special treat, something saved for special occasions and she, Rosalie dictated when. Still the brutality was there and I had little doubt that that hostility could be unleashed on me.
"I guess I'll have to make sure I win then." I finally said quietly watching her adjust her clothing as best she could after our altercation. Her state of dress would only raise suspicions if she came across Emmett, otherwise she could blame the tears and dirty smudges on him; their enthusiastic romps and destruction of clothing and property was nothing new to the rest of the family.
"You need to come home with me." Bossy Rosalie was back.
I shook my head.
"Edward, I've thrown too much at you. You aren't in any condition to take on Emmett right now. Please. If you've learned nothing else, you should at least recognize that you need to be focused. Erring on the side of caution isn't a defeat. You must be in top form to take him."
Hearing Rosalie's desire that I dominate her mate was still disconcerting. It flew in the face of all that I thought I knew about her; her need for social acceptance, her desire for an evaluated position, her out and out snobbiness. Maybe she was right. I had a lot to think about.
I started to follow her. She signed in relief and led the way. But then just for a moment I saw a flickering of her thoughts. She didn't trust me, didn't think I took her advice seriously. She still doubted my abilities to dominate her mate. She was reconsidering her options. She would tell Carlisle, warn him that I couldn't be left alone with Emmett, that I wasn't strong enough to take him and would lead me to suffer grave injuries at his hands.
It was on the tip of my tongue to lambast her for her lack of confidence in me and berate her for her interference, yet again, but rather than reveal that her thoughts were exposed to me, I kept my mouth shut and abruptly changed my direction which wouldn't take me anywhere near our home.
"Make sure Bella doesn't come out here looking for me." I said, calmly, disappearing in the undergrowth.
"I'll come with you,"
"No. You'll just make Emmett more protective and aggressive, you need to leave, and I need to get out of range of your scent.
"He'll smell me on you." She was back at my side, casting me a sardonic look.
Damn. Yes he would.
My lips twitched and I couldn't help smirking at Rosalie watching her eyes widen as she understood. Maybe Rosalie's scent would distract him enough, interfere with my own odors, maybe it would throw his whole instinctual clock out of whack.
I turned from her and ran.
Tracking Emmett wasn't difficult, not that he had any reason to camouflage his scent. We were in our territory; hunting animals of all things and the only others that might share our taste in prey were 3100 miles away. Still it was never difficult to find Emmett. Unlike me, Emmett didn't run in a straight line, barely touching the ground, hardly giving time for the scent to accumulate in the vegetation. He was like a curious child, easily distracted, being pulled from his original objective to investigate a hidden cave he found, climb a tree that looked inviting, take a swim in the nearest body of water catching fish for fun or just lazing about in the grass still as a stone, waiting for his prey to find him.
Such was the case on this night and even with a head start and several more minutes of distraction brought about by Rosalie, I still found him within the hour, clinging to the side of the cliff wall just above Lake Superior, for no other reason than to entertain himself by dropping into the lake, letting himself sink to the bottom, then springing up again catching the side of the cliff and each time trying to get higher still.
He hadn't seen or smelled me; the wind from the giant lake driving all scents inland and I stood watching him for a time, trying to decide how best to approach him.
After Carlisle had forced my submission to him, he freely shared most if not all his memories of dominant-submissive behaviors that he'd experienced and applied with both of my brothers over the years. It was baffling to me how I had remained so clueless to all of it, even when he displayed dominant behaviors right under my nose. So in tune to Carlisle was I now that even those memories of his dominance over my brothers could make me feel weak at the knees sending shivers of trepidation through me as my instincts tried to grasp what instigated the wrath of the coven leader, not able to decipher reality from the memories of times past. Fortunately Carlisle would break away from those memories before I made a complete fool of myself in front of my family reacting to something that was decades old as if it were occurring at that very moment.
One of the memories that stuck with me most was Carlisle's initial mounting of Emmett. It had been a completely new experience for the both of them, but for a coven master to be uninitiated in the art of mounting another male was truly unique. He could only use his second hand experience with the Vulturi to guide him and to see his struggle to contain the out of control Emmett and ultimately force his submission had been both fascinating and horrifying.
I remembered that day well. It was the day Emmett's unexplained rage had been unleashed on me; the day he might have killed me when I threatened to keep him from going after a human family. His thirst for human blood was still tormenting him, but it wasn't his thirst that made him so dangerous, though at the time I didn't know why he was in such a frenzy. His defiance, so uncharacteristic and out of control was being fed by his need to challenge Carlisle, something he couldn't begin to understand. I'd seen Carlisle's memory of that day many times in the last several months, and more in the last few weeks as he apparently was trying to prepare me for this day.
He'd outsmarted Emmett, used the excuse to swim as a way to calm him, anticipated that Emmett would turn on him which he did and skillfully outmaneuvered him. In the end the actual mounting was anti-climatic. Carlisle never engaged him in a face to face confrontation, never played into Emmett's strength. Though his memories could not properly convey the volatility of the encounter, the potential for catastrophe was there.
It was up to me to decipher Carlisle's intentions when he showed me that day over and over again. He couldn't actively assist me, but I had to assume he was trying to tell me something; perhaps alluding to the possibility that a frontal assault wasn't necessary and shouldn't even be attempted.
I thought about how Carlisle took me. It was no real fight at all. He'd simply tricked me into going for a hunt imagining prey that wasn't there and maneuvered himself behind me and leapt. I was completely caught off guard just as Emmett had been. The beauty of the surprise attack was that it was truly a surprise when the recipient of it had no understanding what was coming or what was expected of them. But I did not have that luxury. Emmett knew. Perhaps he was biding his own time, waiting for me to venture off by myself so he could jump me, surprise me. Neither one of us could truly be surprised anymore.
But I didn't want to take Emmett in the water, not like Carlisle and I didn't want to attempt to accost him on the cliff wall; there would be no chance of surprise if I resorted to that. Still there had to be a way. I could simply jump him when he tired of his game and headed for home, but then there was his strength to consider and despite his size, his reflexes were surprisingly fast; certainly no slower than the average vampire. What was I missing? Something was eluding me…an idea…a possibility for a simple solution to this complex encounter.
And then it came to me.
No sooner had I settled into a tree a mile away from the cliff where Emmett was playing when it occurred to me. And I had Rosalie to thank for it. I smiled a little to myself. It was perfect, so perfect in fact that I couldn't help but feel a little smug.
But before I could put my plan into action I had to set the stage. I pulled up the sleeves on my shirt and studied my arms. Where as a human they might have been covered with moles and scars, my change had left them unblemished with the passage of time. Unlike Jasper and now Rosalie, my body was not covered with the scars of the bites from our kind. My only marks were from Carlisle. First, when he changed me and later when he forced my submission. But other than that my body remained untarnished by time, undamaged by age; I could have been as new to this life as a new born baby given my flawless skin. But that was about to change. It had to change. I needed to provide convincing evidence if I was going to deceive Emmett.
Gripping my elbow I pulled my arm to my mouth and bit hard into my bicep without thinking, muffling the scream that emerged from my throat in my flesh and waiting until I could swallow it down before dislodging my teeth from the muscle. I watched, fascinated as the venom dripped down my arm and into my jeans in a steady flow of clear fluid. If I had just fed the fluid would have been pinkish bordering on magenta as the blood from my prey was absorbed by my body through the venom that circulated in my veins; driven only by gravity and the fresh rush of new blood; my stilled heart holding no greater value than any of my other frozen organs.
I held my arm out letting the venom spill onto my clothing and down my arm, coating myself with it, until I felt the telltale sign of tingling in my fingers indicating that I was losing the strength in my hand as the venom left the limb. Quickly I licked the wound and watched, always awestruck as it sealed itself in seconds, thus preserving my strength for the battle that was yet to come.
I dropped from the tree and settled myself against the base of it, casually surveying my surroundings. The underbrush was heavy, the trees numerous, offering very little in the way of room for hand to hand combat which suited me just fine. Granted, an open area would give me the ability to utilize my speed and maneuverability to my advantage but I had no intention of getting into hand to hand combat with Emmett and the lack of obstructions in the form of trees, outcroppings of rocks and uneven terrain would give him a clear line to me every time he made a charge. No it was just fine where I was. The scene was set.
"Emmett," I said in a whispery voice, just loud enough so that he should hear me over the crashing waves that pounded against the shoreline.
I waited and listened. He was suddenly alert, drawn to the sound of his name being called. He hadn't registered that it was me. I waited. I wanted to give him as little time as possible to understand what was happening, understand it was me; less time to put two and two together. He was climbing up the cliff wall.
"Hello," he said, once he cleared it, sniffing the air that only carried the scents from the lake. He could not rely on his sense of smell. He ran inland away from my trail.
"Emmett." I croaked as I saw him drift north.
Through his eyes I saw him turn, searching the trees, sniffing the air; he began moving towards me, his steps light and soundless. Still I remained downwind from him and he couldn't find me. I would have to reveal myself.
"Emmett over here, I've been bit."
"Edward?"
I heard him crashing through the trees towards me. In an instant he was upon me, skidding to a stop in front of me. I held my hand against my throat and contorted my face in a mask of agony, watching myself through Emmett's eyes. Did it look believable, did I look hurt?
Emmett's next question answered that. "What happened, what's wrong with you?" His eyes were wide staring at my prone position as if he'd never seen me this way before which as it related to lying on the ground in the woods, he probably hadn't.
I saw his nostrils flair, his eyes darted around. Without knowing what was wrong with me he was trying to eliminate any immediate discernable threats.
I groaned, bringing his attention back to me.
"What happened," he said again, leaning over me. "Let me see."
"No, get away." I did my best to sound suspicious and alarmed.
"Who did this to you?"
"Who did this to me…who do you think? Rosalie did this to me…she bit me…practically tore off my head, she's lost her mind." I snarled at him.
He staggered back. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"She bit me."
"What did you do to her?" he growled, immediately on the defensive.
"Nothing, I didn't do anything to her. She tracked me, followed me out her, she jumped me out of nowhere, tore at my throat, I had to outrun her or she would have killed me. She's lost it…lost her mind."
I kept my voice low, just a hoarse whisper and tried to stagger to my feet, but let myself fall back in an obvious display of weakness.
Emmett was taking it all in now. He could smell Rosalie on me and the fresh scent of venom sickly sweet and unique. No other scent on earth could be mistaken for it. I could see the thoughts in Emmett's mind as he flipped through altercation after altercation over the decades between Rosalie and I, lingering on our most recent arguments, finding nothing more alarming in them than any from the past. There was no experience he could draw from, no confrontation, no escalation of our heated words that culminated to the point where she would attack me or I her for that matter.
It was only after flashing through all the memories of our time together did the first inkling of understanding filter through to him. He was in tune with his mate. He understood her better than anyone. He would know what motivated her, what drove her, what compelled her to do something. If I spoke the truth and he could only assume that I did, what would cause her to follow after me and attack me ripping a hole in my throat and leaving me, still alive, still able to recover and return to Carlisle who would not be pleased with her aggressive pursuits no matter how much I annoyed her.
Just as Rosalie had envisioned when she first charged me, just as I anticipated when I decided to initiate this charade, Emmett saw my weakness and for the first time he understood how he could take advantage of it. It was just a flicker of a thought and then it was gone, but I saw it and I didn't need someone to draw me a picture. Emmett would fill in the blanks soon enough.
But I was ready…
…or so I thought.
Author Notes:
I've always enjoyed Rosalie and Edward's relationship and I wanted to incorporate it into this chapter as much as I could.
Again, I'm disappointed that I had to split this up but I couldn't imagine reading one chapter containing seventeen thousand words, one shot or not.
Your comments would be appreciated. Thanks for reading.