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"WEREWOLVES!" Alistair yelled as he barged into the bathroom mid rant and was standing over Bella, gesticulating wildly as she stood before him in only her underwear.
"WEREWOLVES, you really do have a death wish, don't you hen. I thought you must be suicidal when you invited me up here, but now you tell me you are friends with werewolves I am sure. You girl, are crazy."
"They are my friends. They saved my life." Bella whispered as she turned off the taps and wrapped her robe around herself to keep warm.
"They saved your life? How?" His voice had softened slightly but there was a steely glint in his eyes.
"The psycho that bit me had a mate and she had been trying to kill me since the Cullen's left. It was to try and get revenge on Edward for killing James, 'a mate for a mate' I was told. They killed her, they killed her messenger too. They saved me."
"You are not Edwards mate." He announced with a growl. His voice filled with certainty.
"I know that." Bella confirmed.
"I cannot believe that Carlisle would leave a mate roaming free after having killed the other, that's just plain stupidity." He ranted while pacing around the bathroom. "Everyone one knows that when you end one, you end both. You never leave one alive to come for revenge, because they always do."
"I remember Edward saying that she wouldn't be a danger, that they weren't really close. Laurent, the other member of that coven, told me she blamed me for the death of her mate and wanted Edward to feel the same pain she did. The wolves killed him as well. She thought I was Edwards mate, he told me I was often enough. But he left me alone anyway."
"I told you Iseabail" he whispered while gently cupping her cheek. "You are not his mate. He is just a stupid child with no idea about mates or vampire life by the sound of it. It was no doubt your silent mind and scent which convinced him of his attraction to you, but he is not your mate. Carlisle should have known better, he should have put a stop to this."
"Carlisle will never go against Edward." Bella admitted with a wry, sad smile.
"You are better off without them hen. They are all idiots." He turned to leave the room.
"But you still have a death wish." He added with a chuckle. "Werewolves honestly. Only you hen, only you." He quickly planted a swat on her backside and shot out of the room.
Alistair made his way back to the front room of the flat. He was conflicted. Never before in his entire existence had he walked away from a half-naked female without having had sex first. And yet when he had been in the bathroom earlier he hadn't touched her. He had noticed her lack of clothing of course and taken the time to appreciate the view. Bella had a lovely figure and while part of him was itching to walk back in there and join her in the tub. The rest of him was struggling to control his temper and understand his conflicting, tumultuous feelings. He was furious with Carlisle for leaving her in danger, furious with Bella for putting herself in danger with the wolves, grateful toward the wolves that they were there for her, shocked by how angry he really was and surprised at himself for having such an intense reaction.
Then there was the almost incandescent rage he felt at the thought of another male, he couldn't bring himself to say man as Edward was no man, claiming to be her mate. It made him almost spit flames, he would have cheerfully roasted Edward there and then but why?
Making his way to the kitchen he poured himself another glass of whisky and without thinking poured Bella a glass of wine. He had been wrong when he said he wasn't sure what was going on, he had a fairly good idea, he just wasn't sure he was ready to admit it. She was upset, he could tell. He had to go to her, before he knew what had happened, he had walked back into the bathroom and handed her the glass of wine.
"What the h…"
"Thought you would want this hen." He interrupted her anticipated order for him to get out and quickly downed his whisky. He stripped out of his own clothes before gently moving her forward and climbing into the bath behind her.
If she felt shock or embarrassment by his actions she didn't show it. She barely got the chance to register his presence before he was in the bath with her. She didn't even get the chance to cover herself. He shushed her objections and sighed quietly as she slowly relaxed into his arms and rested her head back on his shoulder.
They remained in silence for a few minutes. Bella sipped her wine thoughtfully. She was surprised she felt so comfortable with him as she had never felt this comfortable with anyone. That she was able to relax in the position she was in was shocking to her. Never before had she shared a bath with anyone and yet here it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
Bella had had a brief but good look at him as he had stripped. He had a fantastic physique, lean, strong and muscular without being overly so. He must have been fit and strong as a human. As he wrapped his arms around her she could see some scars like her own, rather than scare her it told her he was a survivor. That he could fight for and protect her. It was a wonderful feeling.
"Are you still in touch with your werewolf friends?" He asked quietly.
"I assume you looked through my phone and laptop as well last night" Bella answered tartly. "You should know I am."
"I wasn't sure who was who." He said with a chuckle and gentle kiss to her cheek as his hands started to roam her body softly. "Will you tell them about me?"
"I don't know" she answered with a quiet moan as Alistair's hand found her breast. "I rarely speak to them. I won't be going back to Forks so there is really no need. They are shape shifters anyway, not werewolves, they can shift on command without the influence of the moon."
"That makes them sooooo, much less dangerous Iseabail." She laughed at that and elbowed him in the ribs. Not hard enough to hurt herself, just enough for him to feel it.
"Why do you call me that?"
"It's the Gaelic version of Isabella, I spoke it as a human." He whispered into her ear while nuzzling her hair. "I knew an Iseabail as a human, she was brave and beautiful too."
"I'm beautiful?"
"You know you are"
His hands gently caressed her skin but never ventured below her waist. He kissed and nuzzled both sides of her neck. Paying close attention to her responses, he made her moan with pleasure. It was the single most erotic experience of her life thus far. And he had barely touched her.
"Have you thought about becoming a vampire?" He asked, he was anxious for the answer.
Bella moved her head slowly to the side allowing him better access. She sighed in both pleasure and resignation. She had always known this would come up one day.
"When I was with Edward it was all I wished for." She answered slowly and chuckled quietly at the answering growl from Alistair.
"But now, I don't know. I suppose I have always known it would catch up with me. Do I have a choice?"
"Well not really. Our laws are simple." Alistair answered. "No human can know of our existence, they must either turn or die. By rights I should have killed you when I first saw this." He gently raised her arm to his lips and ran his teeth over the bite mark making her squirm and gulp.
While he did so he detected the very faint scent of someone he recognised, Edward Cullen. Alistair growled quietly, it was clear to him, Cullen had tried to claim his mate. Alistair almost laughed at the ludicrous notion that Cullen could ever claim his mate, or any female for that matter. Alistair was convinced in his own mind that Edward was gay. He didn't say anything to Bella about his thoughts though, it wasn't the time. He was certain of one thing though, Edward would never lay a finger on her again.
"Have you ever turned anyone?" She managed to gasp out in between panted breaths.
"One, over two hundred years ago. It was similar circumstances to my own change. He was wounded on a battlefield in America, I started to feed but was interrupted. I allowed the change to continue rather than kill him. Garrett and I spent the next few years picking off the English at the edges of the battlefields. It was a fun time." He laughed at his memories.
"Wow. Are you still in contact? What about your sire? Were you changed in battle? Which war?" Bella was overcome by curiosity and flung question after question at him.
"All in good time hen. Yes I am still in contact with him and my sire. Yes it was a battle. I'll tell you the story some other time, right now though you are starting to wrinkle."
Bella pulled herself up and turned around to straddle his lap. She ran her hands over the plains of his chest, admiring the toned hard muscles. She saw more scars on his chest and ran her fingertips over them gently. Scraping her nails down his sides and across his waist line she smiled mischievously when the muscles beneath her fingers contracted and he gasped loudly. Lowering her lips to his she kissed him deeply while his hands roamed once more.
"I will turn you if you want."
"And if I decide I don't want to turn?"
"Then I will change you anyway and hope we can move past it." Alistair answered honestly. He knew there was no way he wouldn't turn her now but he would prefer it be her choice.
"When will you change me?" She whispered into his ear before biting the lobe gently.
"When are you thinking?" He answered between moans.
"I want to finish school first. I have a few months left, but after that I am all yours."
"Oh you are all mine now hen," he replied with a searing kiss. "But I can wait that long to turn you, and make you mine for eternity." As soon as the words slipped from his lips he knew the truth of them. He could never be apart from her now. She was his, as he was hers, completely.
A couple of hours later, when they were dry and Bella was dressed in pyjamas and had eaten. They were snuggled up on her sofa watching a DVD.
"What is it hen? What is bothering you? I can tell there is something on your mind."
"If I wasn't Edwards mate why did I react so stupidly when he left?" Bella answered slowly, not really sure she wanted to know the answer.
"I'm not really sure, It could just be first love and all that, but I think maybe it was some kind of withdrawal." Lifting her wrist he ran his nose over the scar. "I think it's possible he was left some of his venom in this when he removed the other vampires, it smells a little like him. Maybe it was unintentional, maybe not. But that would give him a measure of control over you, make you crave him. It would have taken a lot of strength to break that hold. You did well."
"The one time I met Eddie it was obvious that he wanted everyone to think him wonderful. I wouldn't be surprised if he did it to get the whole hearted devotion he thought he deserved. Then again maybe you really did love him and there was nothing sinister about it. Either way it doesn't matter now, you are free of him, you broke his control and that is something he can never get back. Besides I will make sure he never bothers you again." He finished his speech with a passionate kiss that left her in no doubt of the sincerity of his words.
"Am I your mate then?" she whispered, almost to quietly for his vampire ears to hear.
"Yes Iseabail I believe you are." He finally admitted it. "Does that bother you?"
She thought for a moment, wanting to phrase her answer just right.
"No Alistair it doesn't bother me in that sense, neither does the inevitability of becoming a vampire. But. I." She paused to gather her thoughts again.
"I don't want to be a possession, I am my own person, I like who I am. I won't give that up, even for you."
"Wouldn't ask you to hen. I like who you are too." He answered with a swift but passionate kiss. "I belong to you as much as you belong to me. We are both new to this and no offence but this is the last thing I was looking for. We shall just have to muddle our way along as best we can. From what I have seen of mates, it is an even partnership, sharing the best of both and excepting the worst. You won't lose yourself, I won't let that happen."
They snuggled back down and continued to watch the DVD. Bella's next question came a little out of the blue.
"Can vampires and humans have sex?"
Alistair almost choked on the whisky he was just drinking when she asked that one. He put the glass down quickly and looked at her in puzzlement.
"What! Why on earth would you ask that?"
"Edward always said it was too dangerous, that he could kill me."
"Oh that's priceless. Wait till Garrett hears that one, he hates Eddie boy as much as I do." He wheezed out his response amid gales of laughter. "Oh hen. Of course they can, you don't think I spend a lot of time celibate do you? Hell over ninety percent of the women I fuck are human and some do survive, I don't drain all of them."
Looking at the shocked expression on Bella's face he was starting to worry that maybe his answer wasn't quite as reassuring as he meant it to be. He started to backtrack, after all he wanted to have sex with her sometime soon. "Humans are so much easier to pull than vampire females. Vampire women aren't that readily available and tend to get clingy if they are alone, you can always drain the human if she starts that."
Bella laughed at his discomfiture, it was amusing to see him so flustered. She wondered briefly if she should stop him now or let him keep digging the hole he was in deeper.
"I have good control if I want to hen, I just never had a reason to care before." He was almost pleading with her to understand.
Deciding to put him out of his misery, so to speak, Bella kissed him gently.
"It's ok. I understand I think. It's who you are and seven hundred years is a long time to go without." She manoeuvred herself into his lap again, moving her hand slowly up his bare chest, he hadn't bothered with a top after their bath. They kissed and explored each other with hands and mouths. With a swift hand movement he ripped her clothes open at the front and dragged them away from her skin. Flipping them over his hands swept down her body with a tantalizing feather light touch, feeling her every curve and dip. He followed the trail of his hands with his lips. Tasting her breasts and stomach before he reached his goal.
Arching her back Bella's hands reached into his untidy hair, grabbed on and pulling so hard a human might just lose his hair. She moaned and gasped in time with his movements. He followed every sound she made with a swipe of his tongue or nip with his teeth, that only served to make her moan more wantonly and cry out is name in sheer abandon. She finally pulled on his hair again, so hard it made him growl loudly, the vibrations of which made her shatter into a million pieces as she reached her orgasm.
Hoisting her into his arms he pressed her against the wall. Her hands pinned above her head he stretched her body in a way that was almost painful, almost. Bella wrapped her legs tightly around his waist as they moved in unison, gasping and moaning in their shared pleasure. They kissed deeply as they chased their finale, tongues dancing in mimicry of their bodies. Arching her back in pure ecstasy, her breasts pushed up toward him, his lips were not slow to take advantage of the opportunity. He pulled each cry and moan from her lips with a fierce passion. He was not gentle, or careful, she was his mate and he knew he would never hurt her. They moved together in an erotic dance which could only end in the explosion of pleasure they both felt as the finally reached their climax.
Alistair roared with satisfaction as he reached his own orgasm, in that instant he sank his teeth into the soft, silky skin of him mates neck. His instincts had completely taken over and the need to mark her was primal, instinctive, necessary. He came back to himself in time to suck the venom from her wound. When he was sure it was clean he sealed it with a swipe of his tongue.
Bella was still coming down from the most intense, incredible orgasm she had ever had in her life. Even the self-inflicted ones had nothing on the way she was feeling now. She felt boneless, and completely sated. It was because she was in this hazy frame of mind that she barely registered the bite to her neck and the wound being carefully cleaned and closed. When Alistair lifted her wrist to his lips and bit down hard on the bite from James, she was more aware of what was happening. She watched in breathless, morbid fascination unable to fight, struggle or stop him as he sucked hard on her wrist before licking it tenderly to close the wound.
He returned his lips to the bite on her neck and kissed it gently causing Bella to spasm around him again, sending them both careering headfirst into another climax.
When they finally came out of the haze of lust and pleasure they had been cocooned in Alistair carried her carefully to her bed and tenderly laid down with her. He covered them carefully and smiled in pride as she snuggled into his chest and drifted off into a light sleep. He could see his mark on her neck. It filled him with pride to know she would wear that forever. He lifted her arm and examined her wrist with equal care. Sniffing carefully he could detect no other scents now, he had removed any evidence of Edward. She was his now completely, unequivocally and without exception. The Cullen brat had no claim at all. She did not carry Alistair's scent, she was simply his. The wounds on her body held only the faintest trace of his scent, and that would wash away in time. He had completely removed all venom, his own included. He didn't want her shackled to him as Cullen had tried to do. He wanted her to walk proudly beside him, not be dragged along behind.
Bella stirred in his arms as she began to wake. She smiled sleepily at him before moving her hand toward her neck. Her fingers ran gently over the freshly sealed bite mark.
"What the hell!" she screamed at him. "You sick fuck. You bit me!"