A/N: I'm finally back. I hope everyone is having a good month. Bella and Jasper are back in this chapter. For disappearing on you and for not giving you Jasper/Bella last chapter, I am starting this off a little different than originally planned. I hope you like it.

Chapter 31 – No Bite, No Future

Pressing his head against the cold tile did nothing to appease the heat that coursed through Jasper's body. He wasn't supposed to feel hot, and yet, if he could he would be sweating as he stood there engulfed in the fire of passion. Bella had done this to him, and if it had been any other time, he would have relished in the flame and taken her with him. Now was not the time though, but how he craved her, needed to taste her, to bury himself in her and feel her heat surrounding him as he spilled himself into her.

The imagery was making it worse and it wasn't like he could make the water any colder than what it currently was. Hah! Cold showers on a frozen vampires did shit for the libido. Granted if he could just get the emotions he felt coming from her and the image those feelings conveyed out of his mind, he might have a shot at getting his erection to disappear; none of that was going to happen anytime soon though and he needed relief.

Wrapping his hand around his thick cock, he started to move it up and down, squeezing at the base. This wasn't nearly the relief he wanted at the moment, but he had no choice, this is what he had available to him.

"Uh," Jasper grunted as he brushed his finger over the tip. He didn't think he would last long as he started pumping his hand faster. Up and down, squeezing, pushing him closer and closer to the edge. His breath rate increase, gasping for air as he neared the precipice. His hand gripping his cock a little harder, his need for release overpowering him. Another brush over his tip, "Ah!" Closer to the edge he sought. His hand moving faster, bringing him nearer to his release. His other hand which had been pressed up against the chilled wall of the shower now gripped his balls, egging him on. His breath more shallow, and he was sure if he had a heartbeat, it too would be accelerated. Harder, faster, almost to the point of pain. And just when he thought he could take no more of the sweet torture, he groaned loud and long as he came, white fluid shooting out of the tip he had just been massaging, landing on the wall. For a passing second he thought he had heard something from the other room, but he brushed it off.

Out of breath, he turned around and leaned his back against the tile as he slid down and sank to the floor, cold water raining down upon him. Tilting his head back, he let out a pent up breath. Never before had he felt this desperate to come. Never before had he needed relief so badly. Even when he had sexual partners and experiences in the past, the urge had never hit him like it had today. The difference could be found in the connecting room: Bella.

Had she heard him? Would she look at him differently after leaving her wanting like he had? After listening to him jack off in the shower? He prayed she didn't, and he didn't believe she would, but then again, he never expected to find his mate when she was only ten years old. And therein lie the other issue with his conscience. Even though she was ten at the time he met her, he knew there was a connection, and more than once, his mind concocted an image of what she would look like as an adult. Reality was far better than the fantasy, but the fantasy had given his imagination fodder more than once. Something he wasn't exactly proud of. He was only grateful that if he had to imagine her during their separation in any compromising situation, at least he always imagined her as an adult and he never allowed himself to give in to his desires during those low points of his life. That being said, he had a lot of pent up… energy.

Until the day Bella waltzed back into his life, he never understood what had happened to him after that fateful meeting. Before finding her, he could release his sexual needs with a couple of different people, and after that meeting any time someone approached him with desire, he turned them away. Jasper tried to approach different vampires and even asked Alice to help him once, and the results were the same. He didn't want to be with anyone, and his body wouldn't let him be with anyone even if he could cross that threshold. Understanding finally dawned on him the day he saw her again. His Bella. She was his mate and as such, no one else would do for him. It didn't matter that she had only been ten when they met, his body knew the truth even before his mind had caught up.

A soft knocked called his attention to the door, "Yes?"

"Jasper, are you alright? I thought I heard…" Bella's voice tapered off. After waking from that dream, feeling those feelings, and seeing her mate's desire fully ablaze in his eyes, she didn't blame him for escaping, but she also could not help herself from following. She had listened at the door the entire time. Heard his grunts and soft moans, and then his last groan. It had turned her on more than the dream and she found her hand sneaking into her own pants as she rubbed her way towards her own climax, finishing with him, wishing she had the real thing.

Running a hand thought his hair, he released another long breath before he answered, "Yah darlin'. Sorry I was just taking a shower and lost my footing." Not exactly the truth, but not exactly a lie. After his climax, he couldn't stay on his feet.

"Oh… um… I just…"

Through the water and room, he could smell her. The desire and yearning. Her own musky smell. He may not have realized it before, but he knew now what had happened. It was stronger and a little different than it had been when he made his escape. Damn! Now he wanted her again! Banging his head on the wall, he breathlessly said, "I know. I know." As much as he didn't want to break his promise to her, the thread of control was getting increasingly thinner.

After a few minutes of silence, Bella cleared her throat, "I'm going to take a shower in…"

"Wait darlin'. You can use this one. There is still plenty of hot water." Using his speed, he got out, dried off, and changed; and when he opened the door, the urge to take her almost overpowered him. He was never more relieved when she quietly slipped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Damn, how he wanted her!

A break. He just needed a little break. He would run downstairs and get his mate something to eat and drink and then come back. By the time he returned, he hoped his lust at least had dampened slightly. He should have known nothing would be as easy as that. As soon as he opened his door, someone was waiting for him.

"Jazz? Can I talk to you for a sec?" Alice asked as her friend emerged from his room.

A small crooked smile appeared on his lips and he nodded, "Yah, what's up?" Alice was one of his dearest friends, and if she needed to say something, he knew it had to be important. He couldn't reject her in this.

"You need to claim her."

Maybe he could reject her. "Excuse me?" Narrowing his eyes, the smile disappeared. This was not what he had been expecting.

"James and Edward are going to get to her. You need to change her."

Had he misheard her? "I thought you said I needed to claim her."

"I did."

Crossing his arms over his chest, he stared her down, "I don't think I understand."

"James and Edward are coming for her. She needs to be changed, but she doesn't want to go through that until she experiences sex as a human. If you don't change her, she will not survive."

"What… what are ya sayin'? You can't possibly…"

"I will admit that I am not getting the entire picture for some reason, but if she stays human, her life is over."

"No, I am gonna make sure they don't get her."

"Jazz, you can do all you can, but that won't change what I saw. As it stands, if she remains human, I see no future for her. You have to change her. She is supposed to be changed anyway. That is her future. If you don't change her before this is over though…" Alice left her words hanging in the air.

"She is supposed to have time!" He argued, but how did one argue and win against someone who could see the future? Jasper knew the vision was sound and that Alice wouldn't have said something like this if it wasn't true, and yet, he couldn't subject Bella to that life… not yet. She was still in high school.

"You may want her to have time, but she no longer has that luxury. What is more important: her life or living the next couple years as a human?" She could see the turmoil on her friend's face and it tore at her. Sighing, she placed her hand on his shoulder and said, "Look, I know you want her to live as long as she wants as a human, to give her the choice we never had, but it is being taken out of our hands. James and Edward are going to be working together, and they will find a way to get her away from us."

"How?" His question was asked quickly before she could continue.

Alice shook her head with a sad expression upon her face. Her reply was soft and a normal human would have probably missed what she said next. "I don't know."

"What the hell do you mean, you don't know?"

"I don't. It's black. I see them with her and doing things and then blackness. Something happens and I don't know what it is. I just know they get her, but for some reason I can't see when or how. I just know soon. Within the week. That only gives you enough time to change her."

He fell back against the wall, "And if she doesn't want to? Am I to force this upon her like it was done to us? I can't do that."

"Don't you think you should let her decide instead of making that choice yourself?"

"I won't let them get her."

"You can try to prevent it, but the only way I see her having a future is if you decide to change her."

"What about the treaty?"

"Carlisle is going to talk to Sam and Billy. It doesn't matter what they say though. It needs to be done. It's either that or run, and if you run, James and Edward still find you in a year."

"So my choices are turn her: breaking the treaty, ripping her away from her family, taking away any semblance at a normal life, and keeping her at my side for an eternity. Or, I could not turn her: James and Edward will get her, do whatever the hell they want, and she will die. Shit!"

"I'm sorry," she spoke softly and left her friend standing in the hall. A bomb had just been dropped on him, and although it seemed like an easy enough decision to make, it was far from simple.

If ever there was something that could have been able to squash his current state of desire, Alice's words did the trick. No future unless he changed her? Jasper wanted her at his side for all eternity and had every intention of changing his mate into a vampire, but it would be on their terms and timeline… or so he thought. That decision had just been stolen from them and they had to act quickly. Changing her now was better than losing her forever.

Returning to his room, he sat on the bed and waited for his mate to get out of the shower. He could hear the water running which meant she was not finished. Thoughts assailed him as he sat there, and he would have much preferred the perverted thoughts he had while she had been sleeping than the ones that attacked him now. To change her himself meant that he would have to bite her, taste her blood. Knowing she was his mate, he did not thirst for her blood, but would that change once he had a small taste of it? Would he kill her? In their species, thirst and the need for blood overrode almost every other instinct. What would happen if he tasted her warm blood and then went crazy with blood lust? Maybe it would be better for Carlisle to change her. And then what about Forks. A newborn vampire wasn't exactly healthy for the general population. What excuse could they possibly come up with which would allow them to leave town without too many questions being asked. They could fake her death, but the last thing Bella would want would be for people to suffer needlessly. Add on that the fact that she and her father were just reconnecting, and Jasper didn't think Bella would agree to that plan. It had to be something else, but what?

With the sound of the door opening, Jasper's head snapped up and he found his Bella standing in the doorway wearing a pair of his sweats and one of his t-shirts. He had never seen her look more beguiling than she did at this moment. Swallowing hard, he patted the bed next to him, "Come here darlin', we need to talk." Now was not the time to be a coward, and he couldn't put off the inevitable. How was she going to react when she learned the future?