Chapter 20

"Whatever."
Isabella followed her voice into the living room. There, Sue sat snuggled up to a teddy bear she'd had since she was three. Jazz was playing in the background in a soft whisper.
"I'm going to go now." said Isabella.
"Sure." She glanced over her shoulder at her daughter. "You look good. If you put some makeup on ..."
Isabella interrupted her. "Don't even get me started?"
She smiled. "It never hurts to try." She was such a great mother. One that Isabella took for granted. Isabella couldn't help but feel her heart break when she thought of all the kids who didn't have mothers. Who don't have anyone to buy gifts for on Mother's Day.
"Mom."
"Yes, sweetie."
"I do... I love you so much. Have I told you that lately?" She paused. "Really, I love you, more than you'll ever know, no matter what... just don't forget it, okay?"
"Bella,"
"It's nothing mom, I promise."
They sat in the car parked in the deepest part of the park. Isabella had never seen anything so beautiful.
"You look beautiful." said Peter, eyeing her up and down. "And your hair...." He stared at her in amazement. Isabella had it in curls.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's." He agreed wholeheartedly. He took a strand between his fingers and absently played with it.
"Shouldn't we be going?" asked Isabella. She feared if she stayed in the car much longer, she'd do something that would get her into trouble. His smell was overpowering. She could no longer breathe through her nose. She wanted him to touch more than her hair, and that thought frightened her.
"Oh no," Isabella said as she heard her stomach growl.
"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.
My stomach growled in response.
She'd to close her eyes to keep them from rolling into the back of her head from the sheer pleasure of his scent.
"Ah, human needs, I should have fed you," he said in a deadly deep voice that made him unintentionally seductive.
"No, it's fine, I can go an hour or so without eating."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely."
"In that case, let's go."
Isabella's stomach growled even louder. "I could eat everything I see, but I don't want to miss this." She said, pointing to the nearby trees.
She heard a piercing growl that seemed to permeate the entire area, echoing off the nearby mountains. Isabella could smell a bitter odor, whatever it was he was feeling, it was much heavier than anger. Before she could figure it out, he got out of the car and slammed the door so hard she thought he broke it.
He swung the door open on her side and reached his hand out to her. She grasped it, startled. Whatever he was feeling, it scared her. It was too strong.
Before she could comprehend what was going on, he pushed her roughly against the car. It didn't hurt, but it was enough to awaken her body to a feeling that only he could make her feel. He pressed his body harder against hers and she found herself pressing him against her body. Isabella couldn't let the slightest air pass between them.
"Sally." He said in a rough voice that took her breath away. "If you feel the need to eat any Wendigo out there, it should be me. I don't want you to find out the hard way what I do to the wolf you bite. He won't survive the next breath."
Suddenly the thought of biting him sounded more tempting than the breakfast she'd missed this morning. Both her stomach and her wolf growled in unison.
"Can't I bite you instead?" she heard herself say.
His eyes darkened a shade. "I don't know if I've it in me to stop you."
He grinned and pushed her legs apart with his knee. She gasped, blood running hot in her veins. Her breaths came in great gulps. What was happening to her? Isabella could see nothing but the base of his neck where her mark should be. She couldn't help but lean forward.
"Don't move." said Isabella. She couldn't make out her own voice. It was as if she was possessed. She knew she was more wolf than human. Isabella licked over the spot that would one day bear her mark. It seemed to glow, to be sweet, to call out to her...
Every few seconds he stood as still as a statue, she wondered if he was still breathing, but his beating heart was proof enough.
She stood on her tiptoes and he lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and held onto his biceps. He held her tight and wrapped his hands around her hips.
She licked him again. He was more delicious than anything she'd tasted before. Isabella ran her teeth over the spot, and he shuddered. Before she could think about it, she bit down and sank her teeth happily into his soft skin. The second his blood flowed through her mouth, she sighed.

It was like getting a dose of weed after not taking it for days, smelling it from other people, but denying yourself.
Isabella saw everything from his past. His life before he met her. There was a memory he shared with her when he was ten years old. It was the day his mother died. He was lost. He experienced firsthand how his father felt the death of his partner.
Stephen seemed to look at Isabella. It was as if he knew he could no longer love his children. The sorrow she saw in his eyes wasn't just for his mate. It was for his children as well. He looked at Phyllis with a pained expression: He looked more like Pauline.
Isabella felt Peter pulling away from her. He didn't want her to see what happened next, but she held on. She couldn't let go.
Stephen got down on his knees and held his stomach.
"I'm sorry." He said to Peter. "I'm sorry, son. You've to take care of your brothers, for me, for your mother. Love them for me."
Isabella could feel everything Peter was feeling at that moment. The hurt, the betrayal, the pain, but most of all the need, he needed his father.
Stephen looked at her one last time. It was as if he didn't want to forget their faces. It was as if he knew he wouldn't live to see them grow up. A tear rolled down his face, but then Isabella noticed it was raining.
"Daddy loves you, son." He wiped the tear from Phyllis' face and ran off.
Isabella felt Peter's grief as if it were her own, and she hated to be the one to make him relive that moment in life.
It was hard to know that his only happy memories were with her - the day he met Isabella, the first time he saw her smile, and then the thing that made her cry - the first time she blushed. Something so insignificant, something so unremarkable had made him happy?
Isabella struggled to keep up with his memories, her head ached, and she realized something: He was trying to control what she saw. He didn't want to share that particular memory. She sank her fangs lower, he gasped distractedly for a moment, and then he let it all go.
What he didn't want to show me was the way he saw me. In his eyes, she wasn't just plain old Isabella. She was a woman so perfect, so angelic, that Isabella winced and became envious. Isabella's only wish was that Sge could be as he saw her; that she could be the queen who deserved to be at his side.
Slowly, she withdrew her fangs and licked the wound closed.
He set her down slowly, and she looked up at him. She was afraid to feel anger, but instead there was pride. Confused, Isabella looked at him questioningly.
"You stopped." he accused her. "Why?"
"I couldn't put you through that moment again. I'd rather you tell me instead."
He nodded and said. "Let's go."
Isabella took his hand in hers, "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For letting me do this." She said, pointing proudly at the red mark on his tanned skin.
"You know, you made it harder for me to stay away. Now it's going to be even harder to get rid of me."
"I wasn't going to. Peter, I want you in my life. No, scratch that. I need you in my life."
"You might regret it."
"I could never regret anything when it comes to you," she said honestly.
"I guess I should kill myself." He said in a light tone.
He'd to put her in a bad mood. Isabella scowled at him. "Peter, can't we joke about something like this?"
"No, my darling." He took her shoulders in his big hands and smiled. The fire emanating from his hands ignited her body. He lowered his head so that they were at eye level, and his breath circled not only her lips but her heart. She tried hard not to react to his magical touch, to meet his gaze and not lose herself, but the Wendigo in front of me made that an impossible task." Forgive me. It's just that I said I'd kill the wolf you bite."
Isabella tried to smile, but all she could do was recoil from his touch. "There's no need for that now, is there?"
"I don't think so." He sighed when she'd enough distance between them. "I'm sorry." The hurt in his eyes was real. "It wasn't my intention to hurt you."