CHAPTER FIVE

To see you there, to see you there

It's been a long time coming

~ Taylor Swift, Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

Edward Cullen

Before she could protest I lifted her into my arms and ran in the direction of her little cabin. I liked having her close, and I sure as hell wasn't going to run the risk of someone else catching her running naked through the forest.

Bella, however, seemed unfazed by it. Uninterested in anything that wasn't my neck, really. She worked her way up from peppering kisses along the column of my neck on the short run, to enticing circles of her tongue to her teeth scraping against my marble skin.

Newborns ran on pure instinct for months. Bella was no exception. Her instinct to feed was remarkably well controlled. She kept the instinct to use her power on a tight leash, as well. Her mating instinct, however, was insatiable. It was evidently the one part of her nature she saw no need to try and control.

It was making it near impossible to do the right thing and get her clean and fed. Especially when the shield she had around her mind faded in and out as she lavished my neck and she showed me what she wanted to be tasting instead.

"Isabella," I grunted, stopping in the cozy living room of her cabin.

She smiled up at me from my arms, a lazy satisfied smile that I wanted on her face always. "I just wanted to taste–"

"I know what you wanted to taste," I groaned, setting her on her feet in the shower. "But if you get a taste then I'll want a taste. And I know I'm going to need at least a few uninterrupted hours to get an adequate fill."

"That's okay," she purred, reaching up on her toes to wrap her arms around my neck.

She nearly had me, until her eyes flashed up to mine and I saw the hunger in them. For more than me.

I cupped her cheek. "You need to feed, love. I'm not going anywhere."

She flinched. "Promise?"

I cupped her cheek, head cocked to the side as I studied her and tried to make sense of the question.

"You—you're not going to go back? To Italy?"

I pulled her close, my hands traveling across her bare back on their own accord. "No. I'm not going back."

My mission in Italy was done. There was no way I could keep Bella hidden from Aro were he to touch me again. We did have the small problem of him expecting me back, but it could be easily taken care of.

On a good day, Aro was easy enough to get along with. He knew how fond I was of Carlisle. It wouldn't be a surprise that, after reconnecting with him, I decided to stay.

We just needed to sell the story without exposing Bella or her abilities.

Bella turned the shower on. I fought against my smile when I saw the imprints of her fingers in the knob.

"I'm not very good at control. In any aspect," she admitted, squeezing half the bottle of shampoo in her hand.

"It's okay," I told her, plucking the larger bits of debris out of her hair. "I'll teach you."

Bella let her forehead fall to my chest as I worked. Her arms wrapped loosely around my waist. Like she was tired. Lethargic.

"I'm not supposed to go so long without hunting," she admitted quietly. "Especially if I've been using my…"

Vampires didn't get tired. They weren't built for it. When I went too long without hunting I was still strong enough to survive.

Carlisle… when he was first changed he told me he tried to starve himself. Before he had realized animal blood could sustain him, he had tried many ways to destroy himself. He went months without feeding but he never mentioned ever feeling lethargic or weak during the time. Only thirsty.

"That's why he was so adamant that I keep to a strict schedule of feeding. He's going to be upset with me."

"He won't be upset with you," I told her quietly, quickly washing her up and grabbing a towel to wrap around her shoulders. "He'll be upset with me. I should have more control than that. Keeping you in the meadow…"

It was going on nearly twenty-four hours since she had fed. Double what she was supposed to go.

I grabbed the first items of Bella's clothing my hands touched and left her to change while I grabbed another clean set of my own that had been left in the kitchen. I grabbed an extra shirt of Bella's for her to change into if she needed after her hunt.

Thankfully we could both hear a bear in the distance already. As soon as Bella was out the door, she took off after it.

I berated myself the whole time I watched her hunt. Hated myself more and more by the time she had taken down three male grizzlies.

As expected, her t-shirt barely hung off of her shoulders by the time she was done. I handed her the spare without a word.

She frowned, flicking her scraps off. "It's not your fault," she told me, pulling the new navy blue t-shirt on with an exaggerated carefulness.

"I knew you needed to hunt. You told me about your schedule."

"I'd rather get a little lethargic than have stopped at any point."

I growled to myself. There really hadn't been a… stopping point.

Bella smiled up at me, pressing a kiss to my jaw and grabbing my hand.

"Do you think you can handle going to the main house? We have quite a bit to discuss."

Her smile faltered and I saw the immediate unease.

"You're safe, Bella. I promise."

"I know. It's not that, not really. It's just… I feel very surrounded there. It makes me nervous. Even when I know none of them are a threat I still feel threatened."

"You're a very instinctual creature," I mused. "Would it make you feel better if we were outside?"

She nodded. I pressed a kiss to her temple and grabbed her hand. The run to the main house was short and silent. I pulled us to a stop a mile out.

"If you want to leave, for whatever reason, it's okay. We'll leave."

Her lips curved up. "Whatever reason?"

I had her pressed against the thick trunk of a tree in half a second, my lips on hers in a brutally frantic kiss. It was a fruitless attempt to get my fill of her before we got to the house. There was no fill. There would never be enough. But it might help me keep my hands to myself for a few hours while we met with the family.

Logic and responsibilities were quick to be forgotten, my hands sliding down her waist. Just as my fingertips brushed the curve of her ass a booming laugh registered in my mind.

"That's my little sister you're feeling up, man," Emmett chuckled, just the hint of warning in his tone. I saw it flash through his mind, all of the times he kept Bella upright as a human. I watched, fascinated, as she failed to walk across nearly every flat surface without tripping over her own two feet. He had grown fond of the fragile human, always looking out for her. She truly was his little sister in his eyes.

Bella groaned–not the fun kind–and her head fell against the tree trunk. "I wasn't that clumsy," she argued.

Emmett rounded the corner, coming from the direction of the house. He had Rosalie with him, his arm tight around her waist. His brows rose up, eying Bella with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Like a film reel, a dozen different instances of Bella tripping her way through Forks High School played through Emmett's mind.

A deep growl rumbled from Bella. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to her temple.

"Everyone's been waiting," Rosalie sighed, not bothering to wait for an answer before tugging Emmett back to the house.

I stole another kiss or two before we followed. I led Bella to the outdoor patio, pulling one of the plush chairs to the edge. Still part of the cluster of seating, but hopefully far enough out to make her as comfortable as possible.

She sat with a small smile on her face. "Thank you."

I took my place behind her, arms resting on the back of her chair as I leaned down to kiss the top of her head. Anytime.

"Would you all like to talk outside?" I asked, my voice at a normal, human conversational tone but still loud enough for the house full of vampires to hear.

Nearly instantly, all eleven of them were settled around us.

"Hi, Bella," Alice smiled, sitting across from Bella with Jasper beside her.

Bella gave her a tense nod.

"How are you feeling, Bella?" Carlisle asked, sitting on a loveseat beside Esme. He looked over at Bella with nothing but concern in his eyes.

"I'm good," she said quickly. "I, um, I'm sorry. I think I was manipulating you all when I would tell you I was fine before. I didn't mean to, I don't even know how I did it."

"It's alright. As long as you're better now," Esme smiled kindly.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Eleazar said. "But–"

"No, you're not," Bella cut in, her voice monotone. As if she had no choice but to point it out.

"Excuse me?"

"You're not sorry to interrupt. It was a lie."

An excited glint shimmered in Carlisle's eyes as he looked over at Bella. "Lie detection."

My palm rested on Bella's shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

"You remember Maggie, Edward. She's with a coven in Ireland now, but she could sense lies, deception. Is that what you meant, Bella?"

I did remember Maggie. Carlisle and I ran into her and a few other vampires a year after my transformation. They started asking questions and Carlisle deflected, not wanting to tell them of my gift. She knew he was lying. It was a tense meeting.

"I guess. I just… knew he was lying. Not because of his thoughts or because of a vision it just… made me uncomfortable."

Eleazar took the opportunity to finish his thought. "A vampire as powerful as yourself, Bella, is unheard of. Carlisle disagrees with me on this point, but I believe you're a sign. An omen."

The low growl that reverberated through my body didn't stop him from continuing.

"For a vampire like Bella to be born, not created, is a sign. For her to have started her change only once in the safety of Carlisle's presence…"

I turned toward Alice. "Your vision of her in Volterra?"

Alice frowned. "Still there. Weaker, but still strong enough for concern."

My palms clenched into fists.

"Bella doesn't have to be an omen," Carlisle countered. "She is special, certainly, but an omen…for what?"

Unfortunately, I had an easy answer for that. "Aro is getting…restless. Bored."

All ten sets of amber eyes snapped to me.

"How so?" Carlisle questioned.

I shook my head. "He tried to hide it from me, but I caught glimpses of it. He's tired of hiding in Volterra. Bored of keeping the peace. Hungry for power."

A dangerous combination, Carlisle mused.

"Are you saying Aro wants to reveal the existence of vampires to the world?" Jasper gasped.

"I'm saying it has gotten harder and harder for him to hide that train of thought from me."

I hadn't thought too closely about it—hadn't dared with Aro's constant invasion of my own mind. I didn't appreciate Eleazar's theory that Bella was an omen, some dark foreboding prophecy come to warn us of imminent danger. But I had to admit there had to be a reason for her power. For her change, so traumatic and unheard of.

"And Bella was created to keep that from happening," Eleazar said confidently.

"No," I snapped, a growl vibrating through my chest.

"Edward—"

"You're signing her up for war. I won't allow it."

"She was created for it."

"She is—"

"Maybe she should have a say," Alice interrupted, calmly but firmly.

My focus dropped back down to Bella. She sat still, no useless breaths or timed blinks. Just a girl who, six months ago, was an average high school student. One whose biggest worry was probably a calculus final or English paper.

Not whether she was an omen for an imminent vampire war.

"I don't know… I don't know what I'm supposed to do," she whispered.

I walked around her chair, kneeling in front of her. I took both of her hands in mine. "You don't have to do anything," I told her firmly, snarling in Eleazar's direction when he was about to argue with me. I turned back to Bella. "Right now, you don't have to do anything. I do think we should try to train you, so to speak. So you know how to handle your power, just so you're more comfortable with it. No one is asking you to do anything else."

Bella nodded. "Okay."

I leaned up and pressed a kiss to her cheek. Her hands squeezed mine and I saw a look of fierce determination on her face a moment before I heard her voice in my head. Can we leave?

I pressed my lips to her other cheek.

Standing, I turned toward the group. "I'll start training her tomorrow," I told them, reaching down for Bella's hand.

I heard Eleazar's distrust of me in his thoughts, just as a deep growl came from behind me. Bella's reaction didn't stop him.

"He's worked for the Volturi for ninety years, Carlisle. We shouldn't even let him near her."

"Perhaps you should think about where you'd be right now if I hadn't been working for the Volturi for the last ninety years, Eleazar. Aro was ready to send half his guard to check on Carlisle and his newest addition before I stepped in," I snapped, angling myself between him and Bella. She grabbed my hand, fingers squeezing tight.

"Regardless, she's my mate. Anyone that tries to come between her and I will be dealt with accordingly."

"You have no claim on her, Eleazar," Rosalie snapped, surprisingly fierce in her determination. I focused on her for a moment. She seemed rather indifferent to me when I arrived, but she was steadfast in her love for her family. She came to stand at my side. "No right to tell her what to do."

Everyone fell in line at my side. Emmett followed Rosalie immediately. Alice and Jasper flanked my other side. Esme went to stand beside Bella, a comforting hand falling to her shoulder as Carlisle joined my side.

"Edward can be trusted, Eleazar," Carlisle said pointedly. "But perhaps we've overstayed our welcome. We'll–"

"No," Kate interrupted. "Stay. I can help train Bella, if she'd like. Eleazar is just concerned. We all are."

We'll talk later, Carlisle told me. Just the family.

Bella squeezed my hand again, tugging lightly. "I'm thirsty," she said quietly, tugging me a few steps backward with her.

I gave Carlisle a nod, following Bella off of the deck before taking off at a run with her. I pulled her to a stop once we were a safe distance away from the main house. My palm cupped her cheek, eyes studying the still deep gold of her iris'.

"Do you really need to hunt?"

She shrugged. "No. It was the most polite excuse to leave I could think of."

I pressed a kiss to her temple. Maybe I had been with the Volturi too long, because I would have just left without a word if she hadn't stepped in.

"I meant what I said, Bella. You don't have to do anything you don't want to."

She nodded. "I know I should have tried to train, or at least figure out how to control myself better. I just–I didn't know what to do. I needed to find you and I didn't know how and–"

I broke her off with a kiss. Then another. And another.

Because I could. Because she was my mate. Because even with all of the uncertainty, all of the questions, I couldn't remember ever being this happy in my hundred-plus years of existence.

"Is it completely irresponsible to ignore all of our responsibilities and spend the next… ten hours in bed? If we run into a bear on the way home we could make it a full twelve."

Miss Americana—

Her bed was broken, the frame shattered to pieces underneath the mattress now. The couch was no better, and there were more broken tiles in the shower than complete ones. She saturated my senses, though, and that was all that mattered.

Soft skin was underneath my fingertips where they trailed up her spine, the taste of her still fresh on my tongue. Our intermingled scent saturated the room, my own scent lingered on her skin and inside of her, much to my primal satisfaction. She purred softly where she lay sprawled across my chest. I brushed her hair out of her face, taking in the sight of her satisfied smile.

"We should hunt," I murmured, voice gruff against her neck. Actual words hadn't been spoken in hours.

Bella sighed, head twisting on my chest to see the clock on the bedside table. Or where it would have been had it not somehow been shattered at some point. "I'm pretty sure I still have at least another hour before I have to."

She was an awful liar, but she reached up and pressed a sinfully convincing kiss to my lips. The shield around her mind faltered, images from our evening floating between us.

My time spent between her legs, greedily tasting her until she shoved me away. Her lips around my cock, those big amber eyes looking up at me as she swallowed my release. Every minute spent buried inside of her, neither of us tiring and neither of us ever satiated.

That never ending need for her was how she ended up underneath me again, legs lazily wrapped around my waist as I took my time with her. My head fell against her shoulder, my teeth scratching against the smooth skin.

Bella let out a small whimper, her fingers digging into my hair.

There were dozens of problems in front of us; hundreds of different ways things could go wrong from here on out. But I still couldn't let any of it bother me. None of it came close to overshadowing the fact that I had finally found her. That she had finally found me.

A/N: The response to this story blows me away every time. I thought maybe a vamp fic might not be everybody's cup of tea these days but I cannot thank you all enough for the support on this one. I know I'm a broken record but it means the world to me. See you guys next time!