CHAPTER TWO
ᴏᴡᴇᴅ

As the evening fell, despite the fact that Seth had been injured by Bella's anger, Alice pulled me from the house to hunt. She was unusually excited, forever chatting as we walked down the beaten trail that lead further into the woods. Not once did she go to begin running, so I didn't either, choosing to follow after her, our hands entwined together.

It was only after ten minutes, that I realised she'd never intended to go hunting. Alice turned, grinning, as if sensing my realisation, and pushed me forward, hands smoothing over my shoulders as my back hit against a tree. Her perfect eyebrows were curved upwards, taunting, achieving their goal. Her lips hit mine, crashing in a quick, desperate kiss.

She pulled away swiftly, smiling at the look of annoyance that played on my face.

"There's no need to stop."

"I don't want to stop," Alice hummed, taking my hand again, dragging me behind her as she floated over the tree roots. "But I didn't bring you here with the intention of going all the way."

"Why else?"

"It's September thirteenth in an hour."

I let out a rough sigh. "I'm sure Bella can wait a little longer for her birthday."

"Hm, but I don't want to make her wait," Alice said casually, shrugging her slight shoulders. "I want to make you wait."

"You're evil."

"You love me."

"I do."

"Bella," Alice's voice chimed through the air like bells, her voice sounding no less charming to Bella's ears as they did to mine. Or at least, that was until the words happy birthday were shared, sending a chorus of matching greetings following.

Bella somehow fought the glare that was threatening to spill on her face in favour of a suppressed frown. "The birthday countdown doesn't start on the actual day of birth," she complained, only to be ignored heartily by the girl. "Your first birthday is at the year mark, Alice."

"We're not celebrating your vampire birthday. Not yet, anyway. Happy nineteenth birthday!"

"I stopped ageing. I'm eighteen forever!"

Her persistence was momentarily annoying before Alice brushed her complaints away with a flick of her hand. She placed an arm around her waist, fingers clutching onto her elbow, readying to steer her in the right direction, forgetting all about the newborn strength that Bella would still hold. The topic of birthdays was something that could get Bella too angry, as demonstrated by the glare she sent the wall, before glancing pleadingly to Edward.

"Are you ready to open your presents? Mine first," Alice insisted, giving her brother no option.

Edward, to the disappointment of his wife, only shrugged. "It's probably best that I wait until morning, anyway. It might be more fun if Jacob was awake for the big reveal. So someone is able to express the right level of enthusiasm."

"Bella, give Ness- Renesmee- to Rosalie," Alice ordered. "Let's go, let's go."

Alice was dragging me to the front door, eyes casting over her shoulder to watch Bella carefully, before Rose could even more from the corner of the room. The blonde sauntered over, arms outstretched toward the baby.

"It's outside?"

Alice shrugged. "Sort of."

"Enjoy your gift. It's from all of us. Esme especially."

"Aren't you coming too?" Bella said.

Rosalie blinked for a moment, her movements like a stutter thanks to her surprise. Then her lips quirked into the faintest of smiles, her nose brushing against Renesmee's cheek.

"We'll give you a chance to appreciate it alone. You can tell us about it later."

Bella's brows furrowed as she noticed the look on Rosalie's face and heard the small laugh that left Emmett's lips from behind. But she dutifully turned after giving Renesmee a kiss to her head and wrapped a hand around Edward's arm, letting him lead her from the house.

Outside, Bella watched in confusion as Alice waved her over to us, empty handed. She glanced around the drive way, seeing nothing, and followed us without arguing, swiftly keeping up the pace.

"There's the enthusiasm I'm looking for," Alice cheered, choosing it as the time to place her hands over Bella's eyes, holding tightly as Edward took a hand to guide her. I moved in front, leading the way.

"What are you doing?"

"Making sure you can't see," Alice said, shaking her head when Bella moved to protest again. "Don't bother Bella, we're doing this my way."

I lead us down the pathway we'd travelled through many times. Despite the lack of sight, Bella moved effortlessly along over the tree roots. Then, toward the end of the tickets area of trees, the forest broke into a lighter area, in which, beneath the cloud of sparse leaves, a small, quaint cottage was built.

"Okay, we're here. Elide, get it ready."

Fairy lights blanketed the porch like fireflies hiding in the small bushes of flowers that I'd helped Esme to plant by the doorway. The old-fashioned windows were painted white, finished by Rose. Even Jasper and Emmett had pitched in with the brickwork. It was the perfect mix of love, an adorable piece of paradise in the most silent part of the quietest of towns. Anyone could see that the small, comfortable home was as good as a dream, but Alice still chose to worry.

"Are we ready? Yes, okay. You can look now."

She removed her hands quickly, bringing them to sit under her chin as she rocked back and forth on her heels, waiting for the girl's reaction. Bella stared for a moment as if she didn't know what she was looking at. Then her eyes widened as she moved to glance between us all.

"What do you think?" I asked, smiling widely. By her speechlessness- and lack of stuttering- I could tell she loved it.

"Esme thought we might like a place of our own, but she didn't want us too far away. She loves any excuse to renovate. This place has been crumbling away for at least a hundred years," Edward said.

"Don't you like it? I'm sure we could fix it differently if you want," Alice said, her face folding into a cringe of worry.

"Shhh," Bella said as she began to formulate words. "You're giving me a house for my birthday?"

"Us. And it's no more than a cottage. I think the word house implies more legroom."

"No knocking my house," Bella said, snapping playfully, a smile widening her pretty face.

"You like it," Alice breathed out in relief.

"She loves it," I corrected.

"I can't wait to tell Esme," Alice said, closing her hands together excitedly.

"Why didn't she come?"

"Oh, well, they all remember how you are with presents. They didn't want to put too much pressure on you."

"But I love it!" Bella said, voice rising.

"They'll like that. And your closet is stocked, use it wisely," Alice said as she gravitated toward me, arm wrapping with mine.

"Aren't you both coming inside."

"Edward knows his way around," I said, smiling lightly. "And I'm owed something."

In the darkness of the moonlight, her features were so clear, so soft and sharp, my favourite way to describe her. The house felt perfectly empty, and for a moment, I wondered what it would be like to have our own little place, flawlessly private, leaving us to do whatever we wanted. But then I felt her hands in my hair, reaching to run her fingers through the lengths, finding something she liked in the movement, and I could think no longer.

Alice was so close that I could feel each tremble in her body, each vibration sent by her murmuring voice. And each touch, as she graced a fingertip against the faintest parts of my body, felt like electric. It was undeniable, the high I was overcome with as if each breath in was equal to the inhalation of a drug.

The closer she got, the more intoxicated I became.

The dominance of her hands was soon replaced by my own. Her fingers looped around the hem of her lace shirt. My lips crashed against hers. Her hand slipped back around my waist snaking lower and lower. Yearning burst through my body, a sensation more powerful than words could ever describe. Only Alice could provoke this feeling with her quick, playful movements, her touch peppering over my skin.

Her skin was bare against the bed, her back arching, lips loosing connection each time she would let out a heavy breath, only to be captured by mine again. Then she would let out a light, emotional chuckle, the sound fanning hot breath against my neck, sending phantom shivers up my spine. It was her act to make me pull away, giving her a chance to connect lips with my jaw, snagging skin between white teeth.

Her effect on me was so large that had I been human, my heart would have been ripped from my chest at the very force of its beat. Alice would have felt it, had we been living in the true sense, as her hand spread across my chest. She would have felt the heat that radiates from my body, a fire coasting through my veins at the very image of her below me.

Alice smirked as I pushed her further into the bed, my own shirt discarded. How such a dark expression could play on her lovely features, I did not know, but I was thankful for it. My stomach dropped in nearing anticipation and like a stormy wave on a beach, her arms wrapped around me and pulled me in.

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