My Mate Saga (Twilight Fan Fiction)

Chapter Sixteen

  It was only an hour or so after nightfall when Bella's eyes fluttered open on their own accord. The well rested female indulged in a cleansing yawn and a feline like stretch. She heard an irritated grumble and felt Edward wrap his arms tightly around her waist to secure his moving pillow, his head resting firmly against her belly.

She laughed quietly and ran her fingers through her mate's messy copper locks.

"Sweetheart, it's time to wake up," she coaxed, pushing the hair away from his forehead to get a better view of his tightly clenched eyes. She still hadn't gotten to meet her new family and although she was nervous she was still eager to earn their affection. They meant so much to Edward.

He grumbled, clearly annoyed by the wakeup call and buried his face further into the flesh of her tummy.

She frowned, surprised by his actions. He was normally awake hours before she was and had never shown interest in sleeping in. She pondered the reasons for the sudden change and settled on the comfort of their new human mattress.

Jake decided to make his presence known, lapping at the side of her face in earnest.

"Jake!" she whispered in a low hiss, "How did you get on the bed? Are you trying to get us killed?"

She scooped up the puppy, now extremely grateful for Edward's spontaneous bout of exhaustion, and with painstaking slowness, shimmied herself out of her mate's grasp.

Edward once again mumbled his subconscious disapproval but eventually settled back into a sound sleep against the comforter. Bella breathed a sigh of relief for herself and her furry friend.

"No more puppies on the bed," she scolded. Jake looked up at her innocently. She felt a new appreciation for Edward's struggle; it was hard to be angry at large, pleading eyes.

"You're hungry aren't you?" she asked unnecessarily. She placed him carefully on the ground and took a calculated look around her. "Okay. I'll find us some food but first I need to find myself some clothes."

She skipped over to the dark wooden dresser Edward had gestured towards earlier, hoping he had been serious about having things to replace the dress he ruined. She bit back a gasp at what the first large drawer had tucked neatly inside.

Gorgeous silks and luxuriously heavy wools. Shifting as quietly as possible through the large dresser she found dresses and blouses, sweaters and skirts, even numerous pieces of undergarments that made her cheeks pool with color.

Bella was blown away by the amount of preparation Edward had put into her anticipated arrival. She didn't know a whole lot but she was positive most males didn't put so much effort into welcoming their future mates.

As she picked out one of the more unassuming cotton wrap-dresses she resolved to be the best she could for him. He'd waited all this time and she didn't want to disappoint him.

Once sufficiently covered, she picked up Jake and tip toed her way to the mouth of the cave. From what she had seen of the surrounding area so far she would only have to go a short distance to find a suitable meal. She figured she could easily be back by the time Edward decided to wake up.

They had nearly made it out into the fresh night air when Edward's snarl reached her ears and raised the hairs on the back of her neck.

"Where the hell do you think you're going, Isabella!?" he hissed, his voice saturated with rage Bella had no idea he was capable of.

She turned slowly in his general direction, her eyes trained on the floor. Even Jake could make out the superior predator's dangerously elevated annoyance and cowered into Bella's chest.

Her voice was unsteady and fearful as she struggled to comprise a reply, still fully unwilling to meet his furious gaze. "I-I'm sorry," was the only thing she could manage to squeak out.

Edward groaned, he couldn't figure out whom he was angrier with. Bella for being so reckless or himself for snoozing away while his helpless mate strolled out on her own.

"In bed. Now," he growled, trying hard to control his irritation.

Bella stiffened but dropped the terrified puppy and did as she was told. Cautiously shuffling across the room, taking care to remove her dress and fold it neatly over the back of a nearby chair before tucking herself into the bed like a scolded child.

Edward couldn't stop himself from pulling his frightened female into his arms. Bella settled rigidly into his lap as he pressed kisses into her hair and purred lightly against her neck.

"What in the world were you thinking, Bella?" he implored desperately, running his nose along the side of her throat.

"You wouldn't wake up and Jake was hungry. I didn't think it would upset you," she whispered with the decency to look remorseful. "I wasn't going to go far; maybe just a squirrel."

Edward took a deep breath and reminded himself that she was safely in his arms. He also remembered his discussion with his father from earlier that morning.

"Bella you can't be running around unprotected," he said softly, "It's important that you leave the den as little as possible. Ideally you shouldn't leave the bed if we can help it."

Bella's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why?" she asked dubiously.

Edward took her hand in his and pressed them both against her flat stomach. "You're pregnant, darling. And since we are a very well-known coven, nomads and rouge vampire pass through our lands. Since the humans have become a threat, more and more have come to seek out direction. You both are so very fragile, I wouldn't want any harm to come of my new family," he enlightened her.

Bella's expression softened at the mention the baby. "I'm so sorry, Edward. I honestly had no idea," she blinked up at him adoringly.

He beamed at her and brushed his lips against her forehead, delighted she had not fought him on the subject.

"It's alright, love. No harm done. Just do not leave this den ever without me," he told her sternly. Bella nodded in sincere agreement.

A few moments of comfortable silence passed as Edward stroked up and down the smooth lines of Bella's hard abdomen, humming contentedly onto his mate's bare shoulder.

"What do you think our baby will be like?" Bella wondered, breaking their quiet bubble.

Edward grinned, "I believe she will be very beautiful and smart, just like her mother."

"Her?" she inquired.

He smiled and tightened his hold on Bella's middle. "Yes because your carrying our little girl," he offered simply.

Bella gaped at him, looking thoroughly impressed. "You can tell that by my smell too?"

He shifted awkwardly underneath her. "Well not exactly. It's more of a feeling," he murmured.

Bella giggled, causing him to scowl sourly. "You mean you're guessing," she ribbed. Edward growled. He pressed his fingers into her delicate sides and gave her a punishing tickle until she squealed an apology.

"I'm not guessing. I just know," he reasoned smugly, "What did I tell you about questioning me?" he teased with a quirked eyebrow.

"But I wanted to give you a son," she pouted with a huff, pulling the dislodged comforter back over both of them.

Edward smirked wickedly "Oh don't worry, love," he purred, "You'll have plenty of opportunities to give me a boy." He sucked on her sensitive neck suggestively and felt her skin heat under his skilled mouth.

Jake gave a hungry whine from the other end of the room where he'd been waiting patiently for a meal.

Edward sighed and pecked Bella's cheek before pulling away.

"He's hungry," Bella defended.

Edward nodded. "I know, baby." He lifted her off his lap and tucked her into the warmth of the bed. He found his jeans from earlier that day where he'd left them on the floor and pulled them over his boxers. "I'm going to go catch something for you both to eat. Any requests?" he teased. Animal blood was all just varied degrees of awful.

Bella wrinkled her nose in distaste. "I'm not thirsty. I just ate yesterday."

"You should be drinking daily now, Isabella." He gave her a look that just dared her to argue.

She bit her bottom lip to swallow a smart retort but couldn't stop from rolling her eyes. "Fine," she relented curtly, "Something small. And nothing from the canine family, alright? Let's not be cruel." She gestured towards Jake.

Edward laughed but agreed to her demands. He bent over the bed and pushed a curl of long brown hair behind out of her face to make room for a gentle kiss. "I love you. I'm not going far and I'll be back before you can miss me," he promised.

"I already miss you," she purred.

He smiled sadly, none too pleased with having to leave her at all. He grabbed her pet off the floor and plopped the puppy on her lap before Jake could take a snap at his hand. "This little guy will keep you company until I get back. Don't even think about leaving this bed alright, love?"

"I won't," she said absently, stroking Jake's fur, surprised Edward had allowed him on the bed.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

...

It wasn't an ideal hour for hunting, much too late for deer or other plentiful herbivores and Edward's search was taking longer than he was comfortable with. He finally zone in on a large raccoon scavenging greedily outside of its underground burrow. He didn't relish the thought of having to dig for Bella's meal so he approached the skittish animal with the calculated grace of a jungle cat.

Slow and silent.

He was within striking distance of the oblivious morsel, his lithe body coiled like a loaded spring, when a causal "Hello," rang from the tree directly behind him, sending his target scampering for cover.

"Fuck!" Edward growled, staring dumbfounded at the entrance of the dark hole.

He was unsurprised when he turned his head and found Tanya blinking down at him like a smug house cat, perched skillfully on a sturdy branch. With long waves of strawberry blonde hair and perfectly formed feminine curves, the female's beauty was still sufficiently muted by her less-than-ladylike behavior. While an adolescent Emmett had taken advantage of the sister's flesh offerings, Edward had never considered giving his body to anyone but his precious mate. But Tanya had been on this earth for 5 centuries and had never been turned away.

He looked at her new dress, one of Alice's, though the bright red didn't look quite as indecent on his sister. "I hope you know that you'd be digging for my mate's dinner if I wasn't worried you'd ruin my sister dress," he seethed.

She smiled coyly at him and twirled a wisp of hair around her finger. Edward shuddered. Innocent wasn't really Tanya's thing.

"I could take it off if you'd like," she suggested with a purr.

Edward rolled his eyes, "Spare me, Tanya."

He straightened his posture and stiffed the hair hopefully, eager to find another meal for his Bella. He'd already been gone too long. If Tanya wanted to waste her time watching him hunt she wouldn't be getting a rise out of him.

"You know what, Eddie?" she chimed. Edward glanced over and watched her dismount her branch, landing delicately on the balls of her bare feet, but didn't engage in her ridiculous games. He turned away to pursued a promising scent trail through the woods. He could hear her following close behind. "Just because you've found a mate," she sneered the word, "doesn't mean you can't have a little fun."

He chuckled darkly. "Tanya, darling... I spent the last hundred years in paralyzing loneliness and I still wouldn't touch you. Why would that possibly change now that I've found someone I actually want?"

Tanya whimpered, bristling from the direct hit to her ego. "You didn't know what you were missing," she crooned, with every ounce of her failing confidence.

He laughed again, mocking her. "Okay, let's just pretend that's true," Edward conceded in a patronizing tone, then lowered his voice to a deep, smooth hum, "Because trust me, I've figured out what I was missing. It still stands that I have a warm, tight body to bury myself in every night," he smirked as he looked over and saw the succubus' dazed and lustful eyes. "Your services remain unnecessary," he added bluntly.

"Your little princess isn't going to be so cute and sweet in a couple of months, Eddie," the blonde hissed with thinly veiled acidity. "'Soul mates' are fun and exciting until their bodies are swollen and ruined by pregnancy. She won't be able to satisfy your needs, Edward. But I can," she purred, brushing as close as his uninviting posture allowed.

"Tanya, you're only five hundred years old. It should have been at least another half a millennia before you managed to whore away all of your dignity," he leered at her, disgusted.

Her red eyes narrowed angrily and her thin pink lips twisted into an ugly snarl that looked sickeningly unnatural on her beautiful face. "You just wait little boy," she grabbed a sharp fingernail into the center of his chest, "You think you're above all this but you're all the same. As soon as she's too big to ride your cock you'll come begging for my 'services'."

He pushed her back away from him, weary about laying his hands on a woman but willing to make an exception. "You're out of your mind, Denali," he laughed. "And because you seem to be obsessed with my sex life, you should know that the idea of my mate, heavy with child, is the most unfathomably sexy thing I could ever imagine. Isabella isn't going to be able to keep me off her," he begged her further.

Tanya's face flooded red before she huffed indignantly and snapped off into the opposite direction. Her long hair whipped hard across Edward's face as she flipped it over her shoulder in her haste to get away.

Edward bit back his amusement as he watched her run out of sight. He shook his head and took another deep breath of the scented air.

The faster he found her supper the faster he'd be able to return to the aforementioned love of his life.

...

Bella lay in bed, just like Edward told her. She wondered seriously about whether vampires were capable of dying from boredom. If so, she was fairly certain she wouldn't survive the pregnancy.

She tapped on Jake's nose in another attempt to entice the puppy into playing with her but the animal was unyielding in its tolerance towards its master, unaware that his sharp teeth would be useless against her marble skin but unwilling to test the theory in the first place.

She was in fact so bored that she was nearly pleased when three female members of Edward's coven came poking their heads in for a visit.

Nearly.

Before she remembered that she was in bed sans clothing.

She pulled the covers tightly around her as Esme approached with a timid, yet radiant, smile. "Hello dear. I hope you don't mind but we saw Edward leaving and we thought we'd take advantage of his absence," she explained sheepishly.

Esme Cullen was a beautiful vampire that radiated maternal affection. Bella couldn't exactly say that the female reminded her of her mother, Renee was flippant and childlike, but Esme's aura was somehow comforting just the same.

The thin pixie like vampire, Bella believed to be Edward's sister walked right past her mother and plopped across the foot of Bella's bed. "My brother can be abhorrently selfish sometimes," she sighed, propping her head up on her folded arm, "He knows how badly I wanted to meet my new sister but does he care? I think not!"

Esme looked at Bella nervously, as if expecting her to bolt at any moment. "Alice! You're being incredibly rude," she scowled at her only daughter. "Get off that bed!"

"No, no. It's alright. I'd enjoy your company," Bella insisted shyly, "I'm... not exactly decent though." She used her head to gesture to her naked shoulders and turned the unhealthiest shade of red achievable by a creature with stolen blood.

Alice, and a slightly more timid version of her who was peeking from behind Esme, giggled like children.

"That's ok, Bella. We just want to talk. No need for the full inspection right now," the pixie winked, "Plus you don't have anything we don't have." Alice's dark eyes dropped absently to Bella's bare throat before widening impossibly. "Oh my god, he gave it to you! I'm so jealous!" she shrieked.

The female moved too quickly towards Bella, hoping to get a closer look at her jeweled collar and was rewarded with a vicious, pint-sized growl. Alice gaped at the tiny red puppy, surprised. "Oh. And who are you?"

Bella blushed and shushed the snarling animal. "This is Jake," she smiled apologetically; "He's a little protective."

Alice quirked an elegantly arched eyebrow. "You're keeping a snack for a pet?"

The second tiny sprite stepped forward curiously. "No, ma, I've seen this before. It's totally in vogue with the humans in those magazines!" she clapped her hands in excitement before taking another look at Jake and frowning a little, "Although, I must say I think you're it wrong," she whispered to Bella, "You're supposed to carry around something a little smaller. Like a Yorkie or a Maltese."

Bella cocked her head to the side, deeply confused. What the heck was a 'Yorkie'?

Esme chuckled nervously and patted the flamboyant girl on her back. "Bella, this is Alice's daughter Charlotte. Carlisle had just given her some teen magazines the young humans read," she said as way of explanation. Bella nodded her head in fervent understanding.

Alice went back to gazing at Bella's necklace longingly, "It looks beautiful on you," she sighed dreamily, "Look mom, doesn't it look lovely?"

Esme beamed at Bella and, although she was a bit uncomfortable with all the attention, the newest Cullen smiled warmly in return.

"It does look perfect, doesn't it?" Esme agreed, "It's so great to have you here, dear. We really hope you feel right at home."

Alice squealed, a startling nose that sounded like uncontrollable joy was escaping her against her will. "Oh! We should give her a tour of the territory!" she wiggled on the bed and begins to get up, poised for action.

Esme held her hands up in a clear 'don't anybody move' motion. "Not until Edward gets back," she commanded firmly, "We don't really even have permission to be in here. Let's not push our luck."

Alice huffed.

"Plus, Bella doesn't have any clothes on," Charlotte pointed out with a giggle. "Which I'm sure the males would appreciate but I doubt Edward would."

Bella's smile faltered entirely at the mention of leaving the den. Surely they wouldn't want her going against her mate's wishes.

"I can't go at all," she whispered regretfully, "Edward ordered me to stay in here, and I don't feel like dealing with his wrath if he finds out I took a step out of this den."

All three sets of eyebrows furrowed in confusion but it was Alice, of course, responded first.

"Why the hell do you have to stay in here for?" she questioned.

Bella sighed. "You know, the dangerous vampires that come in and out of your territory," she reminded politely.

The three woman exchanged looks for a few moments of baffled silence before dissolving into a fit of hysterics. Bella pouted, offended, as Alice rolled around on the bottom of her bed clutching her ribs as she struggled for unnecessary breath. Even Esme, sweet Esme, had a delicate hand over her mouth to hide her amusement.

"Darling girl, who on god's green earth told you such nonsense? It's perfectly safe in the main area," Edward's mother laughed.

"You mean it's not true?"

Esme shook her head adamantly, "Of course not. Our boys protect our home quite well; no vampire ever comes this deep into our territory."

Bella's mind was reeling. He was going to make her lay in bed for months thinking some rouge vampire was going to come and take her and her baby away if she stepped foot outside the cave. "He lied to me!" she snarled.

Esme and Alice gasped before looking at each other fearfully, both figuring who 'he' was simultaneously.

"Oh no..." Charlotte murmured, also catching on.

"My mate lied to me!" Bella exclaimed again, almost forgetting her current company.

Esme stuttered a fruitless attempt at damage control, "Lie is such a strong word, dear. I-I'm sure Edward must have feared you'd venture off into the great unknown," she covered for her son lamely.

Alice tried to stifle a chuckle. She knew that was bullshit and so did Bella.

Esme still fought on faithfully. "Just one big misunderstanding. That's what this is," she smiled anxiously. "He'll be back in just a few minutes and we'll all get this sorted out."

Bella actually listened to the last part. Esme was right. Edward would be back soon and she'd prefer if she didn't have an audience to her rage. She took a deep breath and worked ridiculously hard to put a tight smile on her face.

"You know, I'm actually feeling a bit tired. It was so good to meet all of you but do you think we could continue this some other time?" she plead with her light golden eyes.

The girls shot her uneasy looks but didn't feel within their rights to refuse her. Charlotte waved happily before zipping out the exit like the den was on fire. Alice bounced off the bed and gave Bella a surprising peck on the cheek before mumbling her goodbye as well.

Esme charmed her stunning new daughter with a beseeching pout that managed to actually take a bit of edge off Bella's anger. "Please don't be too hard on him. He loves you so much," she appealed simply.

She gave Bella another chaste kiss before following Alice out in the night.

"Edwards going kill us, isn't he?" Alice asked tensely after the duo had cleared hearing range.

Esme sighed.

"Not if we hide behind our mates."