Last normal chapter of this fic, just the epilogue to go.
I carried Bella through the forest, despite the fact that she was perfectly capable of running alongside me. I just needed to be touching her, needed as much of her pressed against me as possible. The last few hours has been unbearable, and although the pain in my chest was now gone, I could still feel the ghost of the pain that I had been in.
Bella seemed to feel the same. She was content to let me carry her, her hands wrapping tightly around me as though she couldn't get close enough. She had shielded her mind from me again and though I was desperate to know how she was doing and what had happened in the time she was gone, I also knew that she would tell me when she was ready to.
We had barely made it through the door of the house, before I had her pressed against the wall, my lips seeking hers, like they were my source of life. I ran my tongue along her bottom lip, pleading for entrance, which she gladly granted. As we kissed, my hands caressed every part of her body that I could reach, needing to convince myself that she was really here with me. Her hands were doing the same thing, trying to pull me closer to her, though there wasn't a millimetre of space anywhere between us.
I moved my lips from hers, only to latch them onto her neck, kissing, licking and sucking my way down her neck towards her collarbone. She quickly pulled at my t-shirt, ripping it easily from my body. Her hands continued to stroke my bare skin, her nails trailing down my back, causing me to hiss into her neck. I ripped her blouse off her, leaving her in bra, as I lifted her up, her legs wrapping instinctively around my waist.
Without removing my lips from her skin, I carried her over to the sofa, laying her down and quickly removing both of our clothes before leaning over her. Even just stepping away from her touch to undress was unbearable. I needed her touch after the excruciating few hours I had endured without her.
Lying down over her, skin touching skin all along our bodies, was an amazing feeling and as I slowly pushed myself into her, my heart filled with joy where there had once been pain. I felt healed, whole again. My whole body felt like it was vibrating with the electricity surrounding us, our connection mending itself after being crushed earlier.
"I almost lost you," I whimpered in her ear, "I can't live without you, baby."
"I'm here, baby," she whispered, "Feel me surrounding you. Move, I need to feel you."
Finally, feeling complete again, I pulled almost all the way out of her before pushing quickly back in, hitting deep inside her.
"Oh, God," she gasped, her back arching and her head flying back at the sensation. I continued thrusting in and out of her, revelling in her wet warmth, until we were both panting heavily.
"I'm so close. Come with me, please," I groaned, hooking my arm under her leg, pulling it between us so I was entering her even deeper. A few more thrusts and we were both screaming as our orgasms overtook us.
We had eventually made our way upstairs to our bedroom, making love a few more times, and now we were content to just lie together, Bella tucked under my arm, her head lying on my chest, her legs wrapped around mine. I just needed to be close to her, revelling in having her beside me.
I wanted to ask her about everything, but I hated to burst the little bubble of happiness we had going on. Pulling her closer to me, though there was hardly any space between us, I took a deep breath, taking in her amazing scent.
Bella finally broke our comfortable silence, asking, "Are you okay, baby?"
"I should be asking you that," I chuckled lightly, "You were the one taken by them." My voice came out as a growl on that last word. I couldn't think about them without the anger rising in me, despite knowing that they were no more. I wanted to kill them all over again. I took a deep breath to try to calm myself down, reminding myself that she was fine and in my arms.
"I know, baby," she said, "But I know that wasn't easy for you either."
"I thought I'd lost you," I breathed, burying my head in her hair, needing to be surrounded by her scent to even start thinking about this, "It was even worse than when you fell down the stairs. At least then I had an option. When I couldn't find your trail and even Alice couldn't see you, I panicked."
"I'm sorry I kept myself shielded," she said, looking up into my eyes, "It was much harder to lift my shield when I knew I was in danger. My shield wanted to stay put to protect myself, but I kept at it and was able to lift it for a few seconds at a time."
"I wouldn't have wanted you to leave yourself unprotected," I told her, "and in the end, that few seconds you gave us was enough. It was Jasper that recognised the cottage. He'd seen it when he was out hunting once. Thank God for amazing vampire memory."
"Thank you for saving me," she said.
"Don't thank me," I scoffed, "It's my fault they got you. I should have been able to protect you." I buried my face in my hands, ashamed that I couldn't keep my mate safe.
"No, Edward," she scolded gently, pulling my hands away from my face, forcing me to look at her, "Don't do that! No one could have stopped that happening. We were out numbered and over powered. The only ones to blame were them, and they are gone now, right?"
"Yeah," I nodded, some of my guilt and shame lifting at her words, "Between the whole family, we tore them apart. I could smell the smoke from them burning as we were leaving. We don't need to worry about them again."
"I thought they were going to kill you," she whispered, "That's the only thing that would have made me go with them. You were screaming in so much pain, Felix and Alec gripping both your arms. When I heard the beginning of your arms ripping, I said I'd do anything."
"Alec took away all my senses," I told her, "It was like I'd blacked out. I have no idea how long I was like that. By the time I tried to follow, you were long gone. Your trail was broken by the river and I couldn't pick up the trail on the other side."
"I wondered why we hadn't just jumped the river," she said, understanding dawning in her eyes, "They dragged me through the water for a long time, then he threw me on his back and jumped up into the trees straight from the river, jumping from tree to tree for a while before we ended up back on the ground again."
"They were trying to confuse me," I told her, "Making sure I couldn't easily follow your scent. If it hadn't been for Alice's visions, I would have had very little chance of finding you." My voice broke on the last word, a sob escaping me as I thought of what could have happened.
Bella ran her fingers through my hair, trying to comfort me, as she said, "They didn't speak so I had no idea where they were taking me. Felix had me by the arm and he was so strong. I couldn't get away."
"I ran back to the house then," I continued, "hoping that Alice would be able to see you. When she got the first vision of you, the relief was short lived because it was impossible to tell where you were."
"I thought that," she replied, "But I wanted you to at least know that I was okay."
"I'm very glad you did," I said, kissing the top of her head, "Carlisle took charge. I was in no state to think clearly. We went back to the river and searched for hours, but with no luck. Then Alice had the next vision of you arriving at the cottage. Carlisle had sent Emmett to get a pad and pencils so Alice could draw her vision, which is how Jasper recognised it. Thankfully someone was cool in a crisis because without that we never would have found you."
"Oh, Edward," she sobbed, "They killed that poor couple."
"I know, I'm sorry, love," I crooned in her ear, hugging her tightly. We sat in silence while Bella grieved the humans she had never met that lost their lives at the hands of those monsters.
"What happened before I got there, love?" I asked quietly, after a few minutes, "Did he do anything to you?" I was afraid of the answer but I had to know, not that it would change how I felt about her.
"No, baby, I promise," she said, looking into my eyes, nothing but truth shining in her eyes, "He forced me upstairs into that bedroom, but I would have fought my hardest to stop that happening."
"I heard his mind. He was going to..." I growled, barely containing my anger.
"But he didn't, baby. You saved me," she assured me, "I'm yours and only yours." Her hand traced my face gently, wiping my anger away, replacing it with nothing but love and lust for my beautiful Bella.
"Mine," I groaned, pulling her onto my lap, her thighs straddling mine. I sank my fingers into her hair, as I gently pressed my lips to hers, needing to feel her, taste her. Our kiss started out soft, but quickly became heated as her tongue tangled with mine, her taste taking over all my senses.
I groaned when she pulled away from my lips, gasping when her mouth went straight to my neck, every kiss and suck sending jolts straight to my erection. We hadn't bothered dressing, so her warm, wet centre was sitting right over my arousal and she gasped as I twitched, hitting just the right spot.
Her mouth moved down my body, leaving open mouthed kisses along my chest and down my stomach. I hissed when her warm core moved away from my erection, but a few seconds later she pressed her lips to my tip and I couldn't hold back the groan that escaped me.
"Hold on, baby," I moaned, as her warm mouth engulfed me, "I want a taste too."
I flipped her round so that her mouth was still over my erection, but now her heated core was sitting right above my face. I pulled her towards me, dipping my tongue through her wet folds. She moaned as I found her sensitive nub, the vibrations shooting straight through my length. I quickly inserted my fingers into her, pumping in and out and curling my fingers to hit that perfect spot that made her call out.
Her head bobbed up and down over me, her tongue swirling around my tip every time she reached it, making it hard to concentrate on my own task. I continued to devour her, lapping up everything she gave me, my fingers still working inside her until we were both close. Determined that she would come before me, I hooked my fingers inside her and sucked her clit into my mouth at the same time and her body shook with the force of her orgasm. My own release came abruptly, the vibrations of the sounds she was making over me jolting through my erection and I spurted out in a thick stream onto her tongue. She swallowed immediately, licking her lips at the taste of me.
"Wow," she whispered, as she pulled her mouth off me, "That was amazing."
"I'm not done with you yet," I growled, flipping her onto her back so I was leaning over her, my renewed erection slipping through her dripping core. She gasped when it glided over her clit, grabbing my face and pulling me down for a kiss.
I pulled back from her, lowering my mouth to her puckered nipples, sucking one into my mouth, swirling my tongue around and lightly grazing my teeth over her sensitive peak, before switching to the other.
I pulled both of her legs above her head, hooking them over my shoulders before entering her, pushing deep inside her, eliciting a very erotic moan. She felt so tight around me in this position and I hissed at the feeling. Wrapping my arms around her legs, I thrust into her over and over, so deeply, hitting the back of her cervix every time. Bella moaned inarticulately with each thrust and it wasn't long before we were both panting heavily, her muscles starting to squeeze around me.
"Oh, God, I love you, Bella," I groaned, "I'm so close. Come with me." A couple more thrusts and we both went tumbling off the edge together, screaming each other's names.
"I love you, too," she whispered, cuddling into my side, still coming down from her high.
Morning came all too soon and I groaned when I heard the thoughts of our family approaching.
"Our alone time is over, love," I told her, "The family will be back in a few minutes."
"Can't we just hide away up here," she whined, "I'm not sure I'm ready to share you just yet."
"I'm never ready to share you, baby," I chuckled, "But they were all very worried about you too. They need to fuss over you."
"Fine," she pouted, getting up and heading towards the bathroom to take a shower. I couldn't resist following her into the bathroom, lifting her into the shower with me. I just couldn't get enough of her.
"Though a few more minutes won't kill them," I crooned in her ear, kissing along her neck as I turned the water on.
We were quick, both ready despite the number of times we'd already made love during the night. Soon we were drying off and getting dressed. I chuckled as I heard Alice scolding me in her mind from downstairs.
Edward! We gave you all night, now share!
"Sorry, Alice," I called to her, "I promise, I'll share."
They all really loved Bella and had been frantic when she was missing, though at the time I couldn't concentrate on anything but my own pain. I could hear in their minds that they all needed some daughter and sister time with her.
As we neared the bottom of the stairs, Bella was accosted by Esme and Alice, who enveloped her in a hug before her feet even touched the ground. The others stood back watching, but they all wanted to hug her too. Bella could obviously tell they were all worried about her.
"I'm fine, guys, I promise," she smiled at them, "Come on, group hug!"
I laughed as they all descended on the three girls already hugging, even the usually stand-offish Rosalie joining in. When the hug broke apart, Esme took Bella by the hand leading her over to the sofa.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Esme said, as she looked her over, "We were so worried about you."
"I promise," she smirked, rolling her eyes at me, but I could tell she was enjoying being mothered by Esme.
The rest of the day was spent with all of the family fighting over who got to spend time with Bella. She painted with Esme, played video games with my brothers, read magazines and painted nails with Alice and Rosalie and chatted with Carlisle, though no one was ever very far from her, no matter who she was spending time with. Everyone just wanted to be near her after almost losing her.
I just spent my day watching her interact with the whole family. I hated to share her, but I also loved watching how much my family loved her and how much she loved them. It really seemed like she had been made for this life.
It was hard to believe that just a few months ago, I had nothing. Just a monotonous life, going through the motions to sustain myself, not really living at all. Now, I thought of everything I had gained as I looked around the house, watching my love laughing at something Carlisle had said, her face lighting up.
I had my mother and father back in my life. I would never have had the courage to go looking for them, if it wasn't for her encouragement and the new outlook on life she had given me. I also had two brothers to hunt, wrestle and chat with, something that I never realised I wanted but wouldn't give up for the world. I had two sisters; Alice and I had become very close, bonding over our talents and though it was harder to bond with Rosalie, we were getting there and watching how much she loved and cared for Bella was really warming me to her. I had a home, not just a dwelling to live in, but a home full of love. I also had my conscience back, no longer feeding from humans, not having to listen to their vile intentions, made my life so much lighter and happier.
Best of all, I had my mate, the one person that had been made exactly for me, that made me complete and for some reason, loved me just as completely as I loved her. She had taken my dark, lonely life and brought love, happiness and even family into it. She lit up my world, giving me everything I'd ever wanted, even some things I didn't even know I wanted or needed.
There was only one thing that would make my life better than it was right now and that was to make her my wife. Christmas couldn't come quick enough. I couldn't wait to marry her.
Recommendation:
Restraining Order by Jessica314
When Bella comes home one day bearing signs of abuse, Charlie gets suspicious and begins investigating the Cullens. Takes place in the middle of the summer after Twilight. Canon-divergent AU.