Chapter 07
“I’m telling you, she’s going to kill you.”
“You already said that.”
“I’m just saying,” Kai shrugged as he took a bite out of his food. “So when is she going to wake up?”
“I already answered that,” Kol replied frustrated, ready to take a bite out of the witch. “It takes time. Some people wake up faster than others.”
“And when she does, she’s going to kill you,” Kai said in a sing-song voice.
Kol let out a growl. The boy was high on magic and he needed to be patient seeing as he was Bella’s friend but he really wanted to take a bite out of him. But, with Kai present, he didn’t have to go and find a human.
“Get a room,” Bella muttered as she rubbed her eyes, feeling as if she’d been hit by a truck. “Who won?”
“I did, of course,” Kai huffed. “You doubted me?”
Bella sat up to look at him and shook her head. “Of course not,” she replied as she looked around and then found Kol. “Where are we?”
“My family still owns property in Mystic Falls, I decided it would be best to take you here whilst you were unconscious,” Kol said after a moment to think about the words he was going to say. “We’re safe here.”
“Can we go home?”
Kol helped her to get off the bed so she could walk around. He kept his distance, while he couldn’t be killed, Bella could still do some damage if she wanted to. And maybe he was ashamed of what he did. “Not yet,” he sighed. No, he wasn’t ashamed. He wanted Bella around forever, even if she didn’t see their friendship like that yet. “I have to admit something to you, darling, and–”
“You’re going to kill him,” Kai grinned.
“He can’t be killed,” Bella told Kai before looking at Kol and sighed. “Let me guess… you put some of your blood in the coffee you got me, and Kai’s dad killed me.”
“You knew?”
“I knew something was off, because I felt the tiniest bit of magic in my veins when there shouldn’t have been any as Kai took it all,” she told him. “You should have told me,” she added as she walked over to him and took his hand. “I still have a choice?”
Choices. Oh, he hadn’t thought this through. Months ago she wanted to die because of the Cold One troubles, and now that she had died, could permanently die, she could still choose that. It was her choice. And he was going to have to respect that choice. “Yes.”
There had been a time where Bella wished to end it all, but she’d seen how the Mikaelsons were willing to help her with her Cold One problem and she couldn’t just leave Kai on his own with them because Kai was her friend, too. And, as a vampire, Bella could likely take on a Cold One herself. She couldn’t leave Charlie, either, it would break him. No, she was going to see this through. She wasn’t done yet. “Okay,” she nodded and let out a breath. At least, as Kol’s kind of vampire she’d still appear human and wouldn’t have to make excuses for Charlie. She could still have food and didn’t have to hunt down an animal because they could just get blood from a blood bank.
Kol’s face lit up. “Really?”
Bella nodded as she looked at him. “You two need me.”
Both Kol and Kai huffed at that.
“And, I really want to see the end of the Cold Ones.”
“You know,” Kai said as he hopped onto the small dresser and sat down on it, looking at Bella and Kol. “There’s a great chance you’ll retain your siphoning abilities. You’ll become a Heretic and you’ll never have to take magic to make magic ever again. You’d be unstoppable.”
“Or, you could lose your magic like every witch does when they turn,” Kol said. “Are you absolutely sure?”
“Yes,” Bella nodded.
“Good, then I can teach Kai how to make a daylight ring or another piece of jewelry you might like for it,” Kol grinned as he got a knife out of his back pocket and handed it to Kai. “Grab that cup next to you and fill it with some of your blood for Bella to drink and complete her transition.”
“What!”
“You’re the only human here, Kai. Or would I need to go into Mystic Falls and grab someone off the street?” Kol asked sweetly. “It’s for Bella, it’s not as if I will drink it. I already snacked on the way back.”
“Fine,” Kai sighed as he cut his hand and dripped the blood into the cup. “Here I am, I just killed an entire coven of witches because I killed their leader, my father, out of hatred and also out of anger because he killed my friend and now I’m supplying blood to my friend so she can turn into a full vampire. What’s my life become?”
“Oh shush, Kai,” Bella laughed. “I’m very thankful for your blood and I won’t let it go to waste.”
“Without my blood, your boyfriend would have to go out and snatch someone off the street, which you likely won’t like,” Kai pouted. “And I don’t want you to die so.”
“Your sacrifice is greatly appreciated, Kai,” Bella smiled at him before turning her attention back to Kol, whose hand she was still holding. “Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
Bella jerked her head into Kai’s direction. “His dad snapped your neck.”
“It’s an unpleasant experience, but I’m alright darling,” he responded before letting out a sigh. “Do you forgive me for putting my blood in your coffee as a safety measure? I didn’t want you to die because you have some unfinished business and that even with your death wouldn’t be resolved for those you care about.”
She smiled at him then. “You know, I’d like to stick around anyway. Couldn’t leave you alone with Kai, who knows what trouble you two would get into?”
“Hey!” Kai whined. “I take offense to that!”
“What he said.”
“Why? Why should you two have all the fun, getting into trouble? I want in!” Bella grinned. “Besides, you’re right, even if I’d die, the Cold Ones still could hurt people.”
“And she wants to get into your pants,” Kai remarked as he handed Bella the cup and wiped his hand on his shirt. “Let’s see what’s going to happen. Kol and I already placed our bets. He thinks you’re going to lose your magic, I think you’ll become a heretic. Drink up.”
Maybe Kai was right, maybe there was some sort of spark somewhere, deep down, that she chose to ignore because she wasn’t ready. Maybe. All she knew was that she was comfortable around Kol, she had felt her apprehension fade over the course of the months she’d spent with him. Even now, she was far away from Forks and she wasn’t afraid of the Cold Ones. Kol would protect her, and, if she wanted, she could wipe the floor with them, turned them all into ash.
Or not. She was going to be a vampire now and there was a 50% chance of her losing her magic. Which would be alright.
She was still alive, and Charlie wouldn’t have to mourn her death. She had a chance of being happy for the rest of her life, without the Cold Ones.
However, as she was looking into the cup trying to ignore Kai’s remarks, she could smell his blood, and not just in the cup because he was still bleeding from his hand. Bella hated the smell of blood, usually, but the once coppery smelling liquid now called out to her and she couldn’t help but drink everything to the last drop.
She licked her lips as she could feel the blood warm her body, firing up the magic in her veins as she held out the cup for Kai to put some more blood in it as she looked at him.
“Yeah, she’s looking at me like I’m going to be her next meal. I’ll be downstairs seeing if I can find something edible in the kitchen,” he said as he looked at Kol.
“Our servants usually keep the kitchen well stocked, knock yourself out,” Kol replied, an entertained smile on his lips as he gently placed his hand on Bella’s arm. She was pinking up, good. “He’s not your next meal.”
“I know that,” Bella replied as she longingly watched Kai leave the room. “I just wanted some more, that’s all,” she added as she turned her head to look at Kol. “Can I have some more?”
“Later, darling,” Kol laughed. “Baby steps. The main question is… who won?”
“Huh?”
“Kai or me? Did you retain your magic like he said?”
Of course, she had. She could feel it through her entire body. Nodding, she used her free hand to knock over something on the dresser. “So, what does that mean?”
“That means that you’re a very powerful little vampire,” Kol said, in awe of her. While he had entertained the idea of her becoming a heretic, he had quickly shot it down because it had been a very long time since there had been one. “More than capable of dealing with the Cold Ones on your own.” And then there was that, and he could feel his heart sink. Bella could leave.
“What’s the fun in that?” She playfully countered. “Like I said, I think that the three of us will have a lot of fun.” When she saw the surprised look on Kol’s face, she laughed. “Not like that. I mean… yeah, I still have to deal with my shit. And Kai is still going to need a lot of help and love to be well-adjusted towards people but I’ve realized that he already feels more than a friend to me than my friends from Forks do. And you…”
Oh, that didn’t sound good.
“I’ve had some thoughts about you.”
“And?”
Bella shrugged. “I don’t know yet, but I do know that you’re not in the friend zone like Kai is, I just need some time.”
His face lit up then. “What happened?”
She shrugged again as she looked to the floor, trying so hard not to look him in the eye. “I dunno. Maybe the time we spent in Portland together. Or maybe… death. Realizing that I do want to live and have a great life and that I merely had a very bad experience with guys.”
“People do say that with death comes clarity.”
“Don’t mock me.”
“I’m not,” he let out a snort. “Come, I’ll show you around the house.”
~o.O.o~
Kol wanted to remain in Mystic Falls for a couple of days for Bella to adjust to her new self, and Kol had to admit, she was doing a lot better with being a vampire than a witch. She didn’t want to take a bite out of Kai, and she could behave herself in a supermarket where there were more people.
She found some of her vampire abilities difficult to deal with for the first few days, such as her hearing and getting her to know her own strength, but she was doing fine now. She even had more control over her magic than she had previously, which was something Kol had been worried about.
He couldn’t possibly bring back an unstable vampire/witch hybrid to Forks and have her mortal friends be in danger, but she was alright, and they had made plans to return the next day.
Kai had kept himself busy with baking and cooking, he didn’t want to venture outside the house because, unlike Bella, he couldn’t protect himself without having had a hit of magic and he didn’t want to feel fragile. Bella wanted him in Forks, for a sense of normality. You couldn’t get any more ordinary than Forks.
Bella was driven slightly mad for a couple of hours after her transition because of the sharp hearing and better eyesight, but Kol had managed to distract her by instructing her on how to make her own item that would allow her to walk in daylight. She had chosen for a simple bracelet and while it looked fragile, the additional strengthening spell would make sure she’d never lose it.
Kol wasn’t sure how Klaus was going to react to Bella being a vampire and a witch, but he was confident in knowing that Bella didn’t take any shit from anyone and she wouldn’t allow herself to be used.
For their last evening at the Mikaelson home in Mystic Falls, Kai had cooked them a great meal and afterward Kol took Bella for a stroll. Kai didn’t want to come, citing the fact that he had just killed a bunch of people and that people wouldn’t want him around as a reason. Kol was merely grateful that Kai recognized that Kol wanted to have Bella all to himself.
Perhaps Bella was right about Kai, that, like Kol and his siblings, Kai was doing the morally wrong things for the right reasons. Betrayal and bullying was never a good thing to live with. Kol was the last one to talk about morality, but he could understand Kai’s motives.
They were walking near the river where over a thousand years ago Kol played with his friends, or where he’d get herbs for their settlement’s witch Ayana. “I know I don’t have to warn you about Nik, but I still am going to,” he eventually said. “He has a habit of coveting beings that are unusual and powerful like himself, and he’ll try to manipulate you and likely to drive a wedge between us.”
Bella scoffed. “Why would he do that?”
“Because that’s how he is. Always has been.”
“Well, maybe he’s changed. I mean, he has Myriam now.”
“Perhaps. Likely not. But still.”
She smiled at him then. “Don’t worry, Kol, I won’t let him use me. And if he tries, I’ll tell on him and Myriam will take care of him.”
“Or you could, yourself. Use your magic to break something on his body.”
“And then what? Risk the wrath of Myriam?” Bella laughed. “No thanks!”
Kol smiled then. It was a good thing to know that Bella recognized Myriam’s claim to Klaus. “You’ll never know, she might be the one holding him down for you.”
She looped her arm through Kol’s and sighed. “Don’t worry so much, it’ll be fine. I just hope I won’t squish Charlie when I hug him.”
“Don’t try to eat him, that should be your main worry.”
“Oh! No! What if I do that?!”
“Relax, darling,” he snickered. “You’ll be fine. You’re doing great.”
Bella let out a breath and nodded. She knew this. Of course. She had nothing to worry about. They sat down on a bunch of rocks on comfortable silence before Bella spoke up again. “Why did you ever leave this place? It’s beautiful.”
“Well, aside from my siblings and I killing a bunch of people from our settlement in our initial hunger, and aside from Niklaus doing the same after he triggered his werewolf side, our father killed half the settlement as he tried to kill us, so we ran, and never really looked back until Niklaus wanted to break the curse our mother had placed on him.”
She looked at him and nodded. “That sounds like a valid reason.”
“And when you get to live as long as we have, you’ll find your favourite places, but know, that despite all the fighting, that your family is home. Although I’m not sure if I want to stick around Nik and Myriam for the next few years,” he replied. “I think I’ve adjusted well after my decade stuck in the box. I’d rather be somewhere Nik or Elijah is not so I can stay out of it.”
“Will you take me with you?”
“After we’ve dealt with your Cold One problem, I’ll take you anywhere you’d like,” Kol replied as he put an arm around Bella. “As long as we’re far away from my family.”
“With the occasional trip back to Forks to see my dad?”
“Of course!”
“Then you’ve got yourself a deal,” Bella nodded.
If there was one thing Bella had discovered in her short life as a vampire, her dreams were more vivid as well. And Kol was in her dreams as she was lying in the grass near the water they had visited earlier, trying to wake her up and being weird about it. Rude, even.
He was poking her with a stick.
“What the fuck, Kol?” Bella whined as she sat up and tried looking at him but looked into the sun instead. When Kol stepped into the sun to block it for her, she blinked. “Oh fuck me,” she breathed out as she looked at the young Viking boy with an inquisitive look on his face.
“What are you?”
Bella got to her feet as she kept her eyes on Kol. Oh, she must look like an alien to him in her shorts and shirt – her sleeping attire. She didn’t want to upset the balance of history and she wouldn’t be interacting with him this time. He was still so human. He smelled delicious. “Invisique,” she whispered and took a few steps back from him. Just to watch him.
There was a curiosity in his eyes, a mischievous twinkle. He was carefree and beautiful. “You may still be here,” he started with a shrug and turned to walk away. “Follow me around, if you wish, I was sent by the great witch Ayana to get her the herbs that only grow out here for one of her mixtures. If I do that, she’ll teach me something new again.”
Bella followed him to the rocks nearby and watched Kol pluck herbs. “If you’re not a witch, you must be a Goddess by turning unseen as you did. Are you perhaps curious as to what your followers are up to?”
Wow. Bella blinked as she watched him carefully. She couldn’t find the pull to go back yet and that frustrated her. The longer she was around human Kol, the more damage she could do.
“Or perhaps bless the women and men in our village with fertility?”
Ew, no.
“I am not afraid of you, and if you want to appear as us mortals, I could get you garments from my sister, I’m certain she wouldn’t mind you borrowing her outfit?”
Bad idea. The worst. And on top of that, she didn’t trust that playful smile on his face. He was mocking her. Human Kol was a little shit.
“If you’re neither a witch nor a Goddess, are you lost? Your clothes and your language… it’s different.”
Bella huffed as she tried to will herself back. She was going to kill her Kol when she got back. No way she had herself under control if she time-traveled in her sleep, and this far, too! And why to human Kol and not to somewhere else? Why was it always him she found herself with when she traveled out of her own control?
Kol got to his feet, and she really didn’t trust that smile on his face. “I wonder…” he said before he reached out and grabbed her, dropping the spell she had cast over herself. She used a bit of her strength for him to let go of her. “I heard you speak, where are you from?” He asked as he walked toward her.
She didn’t want to compel him, because it would come back after he’d turn, and she didn’t want to use magic on his human brain to make him forget her. Bella merely shook her head.
“You’re pretty. None of the girls in our village are my fancy but you… I could make you stay.”
“No way in hell,” she growled. “Stay away from me.”
“You’re a feisty one, I like it!”
“Kol, don’t.”
“You speak my name, but I don’t think we’ve met, how is that possible?”
She started to scratch her arms and finally felt the pull to go back. “Invisique,” she whispered before allowing the magic to take her back to the room she had been sleeping in. Not even checking the time or the way she was dressed she set out to find Kol as she had heard him move around downstairs. “Tell me one thing.”
“Good morning, Bella,” he said as he handed her a blood bag.
“No,” she said as she discarded the bag. She was so angry, she could rip off his head if she wanted to. Well, no, he was an Original, but she could definitely do damage. “Tell me why everytime I don’t have control over my time travel gift, I end up with you. It was even worse this time!”
Kol picked up the bag and handed it to her and made her sit. “Calm down before you do something you’ll regret. What are you wearing, darling?”
“Kol.”
He sighed as he leaned on the counter to look at her. “I don’t know. What happened the first time?”
“I had a vision where I saw the wolves dead.”
“And what happened this time?”
“I don’t know! I was asleep!” Bella spat.
“You could have had a nightmare or another vision, but because you were asleep you don’t remember,” he said as a matter-of-factly, trying to calm her down by rationalizing. “Where did you go?”
Not wanting to answer that, she tore open the blood bag and started to drink her blood.
“Or more importantly, when?”
She looked at him as she drank her blood like an upset toddler. She hadn’t made him forget, and their interaction had only been brief. “That’s not important. What is, is that I always seem to go back in time and find you whenever I get a fright or something.”
“I’m no shrink,” Kai said as he walked in to get something from the fridge. “But maybe your subconscious is telling you something,” he said as he took a bite from his homemade cake and closed the fridge door and turned around to have his exit blocked by Bella. “What?” He then looked at Kol. “You know I’m right, you’re ignoring it. Well, Bella is.”
“Likely, but you’re not helping,” Kol retorted as he pushed Bella back into her chair. “She’ll pull your head right off and there won’t be any means of reviving you. Which will upset her even more.”
Bella huffed as she kept looking at Kai as she squeezed her blood bag.
“Butting in, gotcha.” Kai winked as he sauntered back out of the kitchen.
Kol looked at Bella and gently squeezed her shoulder. How long was he going to wait for Bella to open up even more to the possibility for Kol to become hers? It pained him to see her this upset. “Why does it upset you so much that whenever you travel out of fright that you end up with me? Am I that revolting?”
“No.”
“I think that it’s a smart thing, a safe move, that your subconscious directs you to me. Then at least I know you’re safe if you’re not here. That at least some version of me can help you.”
Bella sighed as she smacked down the now empty blood bag. “Human you is a little shit.”
Kol blinked at that. “What?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “I went over a thousand years back in time and human you poked me awake with a stick while you were going to pick herbs for that witch of your village. I assumed he was you you, so I cursed and upon realizing that it wasn’t you, I turned myself invisible.”
He was quiet for a moment. “I vaguely remember something like that,” he eventually replied. “That explains the period clothing.”
“And you managed to break the spell by merely reaching out and grabbing me,” she said frustratingly. “I was trying so hard not to mess with the timeline and didn’t even wipe our encounter from your mind because it would come back anyway and it fucking sucked, because it took some time for me to get back here.”
“I thought you had everything under control?”
“I do! But not in my fucking sleep!”
“Calm down,” Kol laughed. “I’m sure we can find a way for you to have control, even in your sleep. Such as a dark object with you whenever you go to sleep, to ground you or to nullify your magic temporarily.”
“That’s possible?” Bella asked hopefully.
“Of course,” Kol replied. “And if not, I’ll teach you how to create such an object. But don’t be angry or upset about it. It happens. And now we know that your control is less while you’re asleep. So we can fix it. And seeing as we’re all done here, we’ve all eaten something, I think it’s time for you to get dressed and the three of us will go back home.”
~o.O.o~
Despite Kol having grown to like Kai over the last couple of days, he still wasn’t happy with Bella wanting Kai to live at her home with her father. Yes, it’d mean fewer opportunities for Kai to take magic from anyone, but it also made Bella vulnerable to Kai as he was the take kind of guy.
On top of that, Kol wanted Bella to stay with him, and his family, in the former Cullen house but he saw two problems with that; a) it was the Former Cullen House and b) Bella still hadn’t seen the light. And that was frustrating.
Bella was his, but he wasn’t hers yet. And knowing that she was hanging out with Kai, and was likely going to visit her friends, he decided to listen to Myriam and give Bella space… and go to Seattle to beat people up. Misbehave. And his sister coming along was a bonus, and he didn’t care if she was coming with to babysit him.
Bella had spoken to her father about Kai, and why he was with them, and surprisingly, Charlie was very agreeable. Charlie would give Kai a job at the station and go from there. Oh, Bella knew that Kai’s passion lay elsewhere, but she wasn’t sure if she could unload him onto the diner just yet, he was safer and in a controlled environment at the station.
She shot texts to Jessica and Angela to meet up for coffee somewhere in the week and headed to the treaty line before texting Jake that she needed to talk to him. While Bella never had to ask for permission to enter the rez, matters had changed. And she’d need Jake’s permission. It was the only right way to do things because while she looked human, she wasn’t, and the wolves would know.
Oh, she hadn’t told Charlie. He wouldn’t be able to believe it and it was safer if he didn’t know, but, her friends who were supernatural themselves, needed to. Even if the result was Bella not being allowed on the rez anymore. She really hoped that Jake was more liberal than she’d even thought.
She had kept Jake in the loop for the last two months about just about anything, what she was doing and why, Bella only hadn’t told him that she’d died and come back. Yet. And she had no idea how he was going to react to the news.
“Loca!” Jake greeted her with that big, goofy smile of his. “You’re back! Why didn’t you just come to the rez? Everyone’s dying to see you!”
“Because we need to talk,” Bella replied before she was being smothered by Jake and his awesome hugs. And, as if on cue, Jake let go of her and nearly jumped back. “About why you just recoiled?”
“You’re a vampire! He fucking turned you, didn’t he? I’m going to kill him!”
“Calm down,” Bella gently said. “I’m alright. If it hadn’t been for Kol, I would have been dead.”
“What!” More rage. Bella could almost taste it. “He took you into a dangerous situation?!”
“No, I dove right into that situation, but I had underestimated how dangerous it would be and Kol had anticipated the danger so here I am,” she said as a matter-of-factly. “I’m still me, I still eat food and I can behave myself around people who are filled with blood.”
“What about your magic?”
“Surprisingly, it’s also still present and I don’t need another magical being or object to do magic, either, seeing as I am one now.”
Jake looked at her with a dumbfounded look on his face. “H-how can you be alright with this? You’re dead, Bella!”
“And I’m still here. I’m not a threat to you or the people on the rez, I promise,” she said kindly. “I’m still your friend, Jake, if you allow me to be.”
He looked at her for a moment and ran his hand through his hair as he sighed deeply. “We can deal with your magic being out of control.”
“But it’s not.”
“But I am not sure if you have that thirst for blood under control.”
“I just told you, I do,” Bella countered. “And I don’t snack on humans or animals. Blood bags from the clinic is what I drink, Myriam brings me a bag every day. I’m fine. Honest. I’m safe.”
Jake let out a breath and nodded, his heart clearly broken. “I believe you. I’ll have to inform the others. Why won’t you and your friends come over tomorrow night?”
Now it was Bella’s turn to be surprised. “You want me to bring along Kol and Kai?”
“Yeah, why not? You’ve spent a lot of time with them lately, and I want to get to know them.”
“I don’t think bringing Kai will be such a great idea around a bunch of magical wolves right now. He’s… different when he has magic inside of him and I want him to experience a normal life without magic, but with love and attention that he never really got before.” On top of that, she knew how she had reacted to the shifter magic and she wasn’t sure if Kai would be able to control that either despite him having been a siphoner all his life.
“Then bring your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my—”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Jake winked at her. “After all, he’ll have to go through me if he wants you to be his.”
She rolled her eyes at her friend. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
~o.O.o~
“I’m not sure if Kol wants to come with you tonight,” Myriam said as she sat at the dining table at Bella’s home. Charlie had left for work and Myriam popped by to give her her blood bag. “He’s letting off some steam, it’s all that pent-up emotions and aggression that he really tries to control around you,” she said nonchalantly. “To be honest, I’m surprised he’s been behaving himself that well.”
“Don’t knock him down like that, he’s a great person,” Bella said as she ripped into her blood bag.
Myriam saw the irritation on the girl’s face and smiled. “Why are you annoyed by that? It’s a known fact that Kol’s not known for his restraint.”
“Because he doesn’t show that side to me.”
“Just because he doesn’t show it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there, and honestly, I’m not sure if he’ll be sticking around for much longer. He likes to travel a lot. Maybe he’ll wait until we’ve helped you with the Cold Ones and then fucks off. He clearly doesn’t trust you enough for him to show you that side of him.”
Bella glared at Myriam as she kept drinking the blood, anger rise inside of her. She wasn’t going to let Myriam get to her, she was clearly on a mission to push her buttons.
“I’m all for playing games, having things naturally evolve, but sometimes drawing things out for a very long time isn’t the best course of action with a Mikaelson. Especially not with Kol, he’s impatient,” Myriam continued before an amusing smile appeared on her face. “Klaus was the complete opposite. I had to wait 25 years until he finally realized I wouldn’t leave him.”
“Kol and I already made plans for after we deal with the Cold Ones, he knows I’m not going anywhere,” Bella eventually said as she stuffed the empty blood bag in Myriam’s purse. “As far as what’s between him and me is between him and me and we don’t need any persuasion or not-so-subtle digs.”
“You’ve spent two months alone with him.”
“And?”
Myriam sighed. “No wonder he ran off to let off some steam.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Bella said as she shook her head. “Thanks for the blood, I’ll be sure to call Kol to see if he’s alright.”
“You know, you’d have better access to blood if you’d just move in in our house. You have a room, after all.”
Bella carefully eyed Myriam. “And then what? Have three or four other vampires comment on how Kol and I are together or not? I might just ask him to move in here. It’s nice and quiet here,” she added before shrugging. “Then again, he might want to go after the Volturi when he comes back and the Cullens, so we won’t be here for much longer, anyway.”
“I will not let you hurt him.”
“Myriam!” Bella threw her hands up in defeat. “We’ve been over this. I won’t hurt him! Now, if everyone would just stop trying to throw us together before we’re both ready, that would be grand. I can tolerate it from Kai, but not from you. Please.”
“Oh, it’s time to have coffee with your friends?” Kai smirked as he hopped down the stairs. “Hi Myriam, Bella’s going to introduce me to her friends. How boring is that? So… ordinary.”
“And then I’m going to drop you off at your ordinary job at the station,” Bella reminded him. “Dad says you’re fantastic.”
“I know, right?” Kai beamed with pride. “It’s nothing special but I do my best because that’s what you want.”
“Working your way up to the diner.”
“Exactly,” Kai grinned. “Honestly, Bella, I thought I wouldn’t like it here. But here we are, a couple of days in… and I’ve never felt more appreciated by people. Feels good. So, coffee with your friends?”
As expected, Kai got along swimmingly with Jessica, who was now sporting an engagement ring from Mike. Bella was wondering how the hell that happened because she and Kol had only been gone for two months! She liked to hear that Angie and Ben finally saw the light and hooked up, too.
“So, how was your sanctioned school trip?” Jessica asked sweetly. “Two months with super hottie on an assignment so rare you two missed graduation? What was so important? Did you and him….”
“No,” Bella replied taking a sip of her coffee. “And I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. All I can say is that it was very educational in some areas, while in others… not so much.”
“But you and hottie didn’t hook up?”
“Not for a lack of trying,” Kai murmured into his coffee and winced when Bella kicked him in the shins.
Jessica sighed as she reached for Bella’s hand and gently squeezed it. “Bella, babe, he seems like a solid guy who definitely has the hots for you. Why won’t you allow yourself to be open to him?”
“I am,” Bella pulled her hand back and continued to drink her coffee. “I’d love for everyone to back off about what’s between me and Kol, as that’s only our business and not those of others. We need to find someone for Kai.”
“What!” Kai spluttered.
Bella smirked at him then. “Relax. Joke. Now you know how it feels.”
“Oh, what about Katie?” Jessica beamed. “Katie is still single?”
“Nope,” Angela shook her head. “Eric called dibs on her.”
“Alright, leave him alone,” Bella laughed. “It’s not fun to have a relationship being pushed on you. Besides, Kai’s new in town, let him get his bearings first! Maybe bring your guys next time so he can hang out with dudes instead of us girls.”
Kai gasped. “I’m offended! I’m one of you girls!”
Bella grinned as she looked at her friends. “You know what that means, right?”
“Shopping!” Angela and Jessica chorused gleefully.
“I fucking hate you,” Kai groaned as they walked inside the Swan residence a few hours later. “I thought you couldn’t shop in Forks, and you can’t, but you just spent hours in Walmart!”
“With you,” Bella pointed out with a grin as she dropped the bags on the table. “Charlie needed a few shirts anyway.”
“A few?!” Kai pointed at the bag that had shirts coming out of it.
“There’s underwear in there too,” she nodded before she started to unpack all the bags with groceries. “You really went to town with the groceries, though, not even sure if it all fits.”
Kai blinked at her. “More than half is yours!” He opened one of the bags, revealing a bag filled with chocolate. “You’re comfort eating. Just because you’re a vampire now, doesn’t mean you should eat all of the chocolate.”
“I’m not comfort eating,” Bella huffed before she found a bottle of heavy liquor in the bag. “What the hell is this?”
He shrugged at her. “Kol said that alcohol with the big alcohol percentage helps with your hunger.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“No, but for when you are or feel anger set in, I mean, no offense, but you’re the vampire in this tiny house with two humans.”
“One human has a gun and the other can siphon magic out of me to protect himself,” she then huffed. “I can control myself, Kai, don’t worry. Besides, that bottle is freaking expensive.”
Kai shrugged for an answer. “You have money that you don’t use. Why not use it on booze?”
Bella looked at him with a dumbfounded look on her face.
“What? That’s what you get when you keep your phone on the table when paying for our coffees, I snooped,” he shrugged again. “With the money you have you could buy yourself and Charlie big houses, plural.”
She narrowed her eyes on him, trying to contain her anger. Oh, she could feel it bubbling underneath her skin. “You took my phone and went through it?!” Bella yelled at him. “Don’t you have any boundaries at all?!”
Kai smirked as he leaned against the table with his arms crossed over his chest. “Why aren’t you doing anything with that money?”
“That is none of your fucking business!”
“Does your dad know?” When Bella remained silent, Kai sucked in a breath and a wicked grin appeared on his face. “You better tell me or I’m going to tell your dad that he can retire because his daughter is loaded!”
Bella pushed him against the furthest wall in the house and held him there. “That money was part of the agreement of the Cullens fucking leaving me the hell alone and leaving Forks. Half of it already went to charities and I had planned of using the remaining money for traveling and college. But I might just donate it all after paying my flight to Italy from it.”
“Why?” Kai wasn’t afraid of her, which wasn’t good. “It’s yours.”
“Because that whole fucking contract was a ruse and the money is part of that. It’s not my money.”
“It is your money, it’s in your account,” Kai pointed out while his hand slid into his pocket and dialing Kol’s number. Just in case things would get out of hand, and maybe he’d like to hear this, too. “Use it.”
“I feel dirty when I use that money. It’s going.”
“Why?”
She growled as she pushed him again and then let go of him as she walked away. “Because it’s a constant fucking reminder how I was screwed over, that’s why! It’s like a ball and chain and I could donate it all in one go, but then you’d get people asking you for more, and shit like that. It terrifies me. Money terrifies me and they know that, and that’s why they gave me the money.”
Kai shrugged. “It’s just money. Have some fun with it. Don’t let them get to you like that and just live. If there’s one thing you taught me is that life should be fun and enjoyed. And we’ll get those assholes who hurt you,” he said as he approached her again, cautiously. “Look, I could tell you to let go of your anger and guilt, but that won’t work until you’ve gotten your revenge. And I get it, that was with me as well, but it’s just money. Instead of seeing it as a ball and chain, see it as freedom.”
“Why.”
“Because, they’re winning right now. You’ve erected a wall around yourself and it’s very difficult to be let in. Likely the only person who’s capable of doing that is your friend Jake from the Rez.”
“That’s not true.”
“Even if that’s not true, they’re still winning with you not living your best life.”
“Who are you, Dr. Phil?”
“Who?”
“Never mind,” Bella let out a breath.
“Look, as your friend, I see you’re struggling. Hell, your female friends noticed that too. Just… start enjoying life. Best revenge ever. And then we’re going to crush those Cold Ones,” Kai gently put a hand on her shoulder. “We don’t like to see you suffer and you’re clearly miserable, even more so after we came here. Just try.”
“Alright, Dr. Phil.”
“Again, who’s Dr. Phil?”
Bella grabbed the bottle of expensive booze and pushed it into Kai’s hands. “Enjoy. I’m going to clean all of this up before Charlie gets home,” she said as she motioned around them before pointing at Kai’s hand in his pocket. “Funny how you’re likely calling for backup while you could have just knocked me out instead if you were afraid. Or, you know, you could have just kept your mouth shut.”
“No,” Kai said as he set the bottle down and blocked Bella from moving away from him. “Right now, I’m doing what you did to me. You helped me see the other side of things where I couldn’t, and now I’m helping you. Did you even talk to someone after what Edward did to you?”
Bella scoffed. “As if, it would only bring someone in danger.”
“You hung out with your friend Jake, didn’t you? Oh, don’t look so surprised, Bella, your dad loves to talk about you, and he sees and hears more than you may think,” Kai grinned as he took a little bit of magic from her to freeze her into place and hoped that she’d be dumb enough not to realize that she could just siphon it away. He hopped on the counter and opened the bottle of booze before taking a large sip of it. “You never got drunk? Cried about your anger? You never told Jake about any of the shit you went through? Only after your magic came to light?”
“There was no need to, I felt fine with Jake. And then he ditched me, supposedly for a girl but he did it for my safety because he’s a big fucking pony.”
Kai took another sip of the alcohol and nodded. Kol had told him a lot about how he and Bella had met while Bella was out in Mystic Falls. A tiny angry brunette that made Kol feel all the things in the right places. But the ancient vampire was hurting, and so was the tiny angry brunette, and Kai wasn’t taking any hostages.
Quite funny, considering he was always branded as an asshole, a loser, evil, and all that jazz.
Then again, Kol was as fucked up as he was, likely more, and Bella… despite her anger, both Kai and Kol were drawn to her like moths to a flame. And she needed to get rid of that anger – or at least accept it – to make her more pleasant to be around with. Kai was really afraid that she’d turn off her emotions like Kol had told him about. That wouldn’t be good.
Well, it could be interesting. There was no doubt about that. “Fine, I’ll back off,” he eventually said.
But this was Bella. And Bella was kind. Kai wanted it to stay that way. She didn’t deserve the darkness.
Yeah… maybe he shouldn’t have drank from the bottle of alcohol himself. He had earlier brushed himself against Bella to get some magic and spell it with the feelings spell, hoping that Bella would drink it herself, but she thought it was too expensive. “In all honesty, this tastes like piss,” he said as he handed her the bottle. “Get drunk and deal with the shit in your head. You’ll feel better,” Kai replied as he released her from his magic – something told him that she wasn’t dumb but had simply allowed him to put it up in the first place. “I’ll clean up and start cooking.”
Kai then reached into his pocket and disconnected the call to Kol and watched as Bella took her first swig of the bottle. “Told you, tastes like piss, you’d think the more expensive the bottle…”
“It’s great,” Bella replied, blinking in surprise as she took another swig. “But I’m going to Jake tonight and my alcohol tolerance has gone up after turning so… yeah, not going to get drunk. For now it’s not making me rip off your head for being a nosy nuisance.”
“Hey! I take offense to that! Careful now, I might put vervain in your dinner tonight.”
“Don’t you dare,” Bella said as she sat down on the couch and took another sip. “What am I going to do after we’ve dealt with the Volturi and the Cullens? I mean… I wondered that before, and Kol said that the possibilities are endless, but I can’t just do whatever.”
“Why not?” Kai replied as he opened a cupboard and started to put stuff away. “You’re immortal now. You don’t age. You have all the time in the world to do whatever. No need to feel guilty about it. Your friends will think you’ve landed yourself a rich boyfriend and he’s taking you places… which… basically is true. But you’re rich in your own right.”
“Don’t.”
“Don’t? Don’t what? The Mikaelsons have been around for a thousand years, of course they have money to boot and I’m sure Kol wants to spoil you rotten.”
“He’s not my boyfriend and why not work for trips, you know? Get a job, save up…”
“Why would you if he’s offering?”
“Because it’s not fair! I didn’t deserve it! Nor did I deserve the money Edward had to give me when we made up that fucking ridiculous contract! I didn’t work for it!”
“Yeah, I know, but he did hurt you. He and his family did. You deserve their heads on a platter and all of their money. Humans would sue their assess off, but seeing as you’re all supernatural and you’re far more powerful than they are… I’d say take everything and have fun with it,” Kai then grinned. “Built an epic home with all the stuff you ever wanted as a child and then some.”
“With horses?”
“If you ever imagined yourself with horses… I mean, you’d have enough money to hire people to take care of your entire house, and your horses.”
“What about a zoo?”
“A zoo?”
“Yeah,” Bella said as she kicked off her shoes and took another sip of the alcohol before making herself comfortable. “Like… start a zoo. Free, for anyone to come and visit. We’d help endangered species thrive. Like… Uhm… Giraffes!”
“I thought you loved history?”
“I do! Maybe a zoo with the history of the animals and a museum attached to the zoo about the history of… stuff,” she took another swig of the bottle. “Great ideas, Kai!”
That was so not what he had expected her to say. “Right. Your money.”
“Exactly!”
“You wouldn’t feel bad taking it when they’re dead?”
“Well, from what I know, they earned that money by working, investing wisely… it’s not as filthy as they are.”
“And yet you don’t want to accept the money you have now.”
“That’s different! That’s basically…” Bella took another swig of her bottle as she thought of the words. “It’s like paying a whore for services rendered. And I’m not a whore. I’m a stupid, dumb and emotional idiot who thought that she could trust some rich kid with a big family in a big house with fancy cars that she’d never get on her own. And they made her feel as if she was worthless, stupid and dumb and as if she needed to be taken care of like some porcelain doll,” she rambled. “Well, they were correct. I’m a fucking fractured marionette who’s fallen head over heels for another rich kid with a big family, a big house and fancy cars and he fucking makes me feel safe and that’s so maddening because I doesn’t want to rely on anyone and I’m not even sure if it’s out of my own volition or if it’s stupid pheromones again,” she took a another sip. “And fuck, I wanted to go to Jake tonight, and he made me feel warm and cozy and happy, too. While I should have been dealing with this crap.”
He suppressed a smile when she talked about Kol, the vampire would really love to know all of this. But for now, this was between her and Kai. He lifted the tub of ice cream out of one of the bags and grabbed a spoon before heading over to Bella and handed her the things. “You’re not stupid and dumb. You were taken advantage of as a human. You’re not a fractured marionette, but you’re a beautiful soul,” Kai smiled at her as he sat down on the table in front of her, taking the bottle away from her so she could eat the ice cream. “And it would be a shame to see your beautiful soul and your kind heart go to waste on feelings like anger and guilt. The Mikaelsons want to help you get you your revenge, and so do I, but you need to be open to more feelings before you ruin yourself.”
“Yeah,” she nodded as she tucked into her ice cream. “I feel drunk, why do I feel drunk?”
“Who cares?” Kai shrugged.
“You did something to me, didn’t you?” Bella asked as she put a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. “And that means I probably can get rid of it, too.”
“But would you want to?”
She thought for a moment and shook her head. “I want more of the booze, and I’m going to cancel on Jake and the other puppies.”
“Are you sure? Didn’t you miss him the last few months when you were trying to be friends with me?”
“I didn’t try, it just happened,” Bella snorted as she playfully nudged his knee with her foot. “And I’m really glad that you and Kol get along so well.”
Kai had expected tears by now. Crying. Angry and ugly sobbing, maybe. She’d had a lot of spelled alcohol already but he handed the bottle back nevertheless. If she wasn’t going to Jake, what harm could it be? His magic was sound, he knew what he was doing. It was quite the possibility he wouldn’t survive Kol’s wrath, as there was no doubt that the vampire was on his way back by now. Then again, Bella would make sure nothing would happen to him.
She took a few long gulps from the bottle and went back to her ice cream. “You’re lucky my dad isn’t home.”
“He’s working late today,” Kai nodded. “You want to talk some more about how you were wronged and you’re still holding on to it?”
“You were wronged and held on to it even in your timeout,” she countered. “Don’t pretend you’re better than I am. Your problems have been solved.”
“But so have yours! They can’t go after you now, because you’re a supernatural being yourself. Stop moping, Kol already told me you wiped the floor with an army of newborns.”
Bella hummed as she shoveled some ice cream into her mouth.
“And if you’re afraid, you shouldn’t be. You have Original Vampires as friends standing right behind you and me, a pretty powerful witch if you ask me when I’m all juiced up. And you. The siphoner vampire hybrid. Pretty kickass yourself.”
Bella grinned and nodded in agreement. “On a scale from 1 to 10, how nauseated do you feel right now for trying to make me think differently?”
Kai started to laugh. “A thousand, but you’re worth the hassle. I’m going to make food.”
~o.O.o~
Bella still wasn’t sure what Kai had done to her, but she felt lighter. She had had an extraordinary good sleep, likely a mix of what Kai had done and the empty bottle of alcohol that was standing next to her bed, but she felt ready.
Because Kai had been right. For some reason, she didn’t allow herself to have a life while the Cold Ones were still alive. So they had to go. And then she could start enjoying herself a bit more. Kai wanted to come with, of course, and she wasn’t going to refuse him. These past few days had done him good, and even though he had siphoned magic from her without her knowing, he’d behaved himself.
They told Charlie that they were invited by the Mikaelsons to go on a trip to Europe, and Charlie thought that was really thoughtful of them. Charlie had such a good heart, it made Bella realize that it was a good thing that Kol had come prepared in Mystic Falls and she hadn’t actually died. She couldn’t do that to Charlie. Ever.
Bella knocked on the door of the Mikaelson home and Myriam opened with a confused look on her face. “I was going to come by you in about an hour to give you some blood, are you hungry?”
“No,” Bella smiled. “I was merely wondering if you’d like to join me and Kai to Italy and deal with the Volturi.”
“We said we would, didn’t we?” Myriam smiled at her as she put an arm around Bella and looked at Kai for a moment. “You’re more than welcome inside as well. Just don’t touch anyone.”
“I’ll behave,” Kai replied. “I can behave.”
“Good, because while Bella and Kol may like you, we don’t know you that well yet,” she said as she motioned for him to enter the house too. “Klaus!” Myriam called out as they walked towards the living room. “Bella wants to go to Italy and play with some Cold One Kings!”
“Excellent,” Klaus’ voice sounded as he descended the stairs. “I was wondering when you’d want to do that.” Bella looked lighter somehow, she had a glow on her face that one would normally link to intercourse but his nose told him that this wasn’t the case. Good. Kol had already staked a claim on the girl. Things would get messy if Kai would have taken advantage of her. “Elijah has already gone ahead to make sure our home in Rome is suitable for guests.”
“Kol and Rebekah are already in Seattle, so let’s go!” Myriam said enthusiastically. “We’ll grab a bite on the way.”
Bella was confused for a moment. “Just like that?”
“Why do you ask, love? We’ve already told you we’d help you fight your demons and get rid of your problems. Nothing’s changed now that you’re supernatural yourself,” Klaus replied with a smile on his face. “We all love a good fight. All I ask is not to end it prematurely. We’d like to have some fun as well.”
“Okay,” Bella shrugged. “I mean… I’ll try.”
~o.O.o.~
Kol and Rebekah were waiting for them at the airport and as soon as Kai exited the car, Kol slammed him against it. “Don’t you ever pull a stunt like that again!”
“Woah, chill!” Kai put his hands up as Kol smacked him against the car again. “What did I do now?”
“Oh, here we go again,” Rebekah sighed as she rolled her eyes. “Honestly, you brought this upon yourself, you decided to give him a call while you were antagonizing Bella.”
“I wasn’t!” Kai let out a groan as he got smacked into the car again.
“I had to break his neck,” she replied as a matter of factly. “I hope you enjoyed yourself.”
“You see, I knew it was a bad idea for you living at Bella’s place. You can’t be trusted!”
“Hey!” Bella moved between Kol and Kai and pushed Kol away from her friend. “I’m fine, leave him alone. No need for a turf war, you know I’m not interested in him like that. And once we can be alone and away from vampire hearing, you and I are going to have a chat.”
“Oh no,” Myriam shook her head upon realizing what was going on. While Bella was quite level headed, she was still a new vamp. And Kol really liked to let himself go when it comes to his emotions concerning Bella, and the whole ‘we’ll talk later’ thing would not end well. “You two go inside the car, cast a privacy spell and you’re going to have that chat now. I don’t want him on a plane like this because he’ll just keep moping and lashing out and we’ll have to break his neck and then you’ll likely flip out because of it, so yeah, go have that chat before we embark on a 12-hour flight.”
“I wouldn’t!” Bella said offended.
“Really?” Myriam smirked. “Because while you had a lid on yourself while you were human, you’re not that stable as a vampire yet,” she pointed out. “You may think you do, but I don’t think you do.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No, she’s not,” Kai shook his head. “But hey, let’s test out that theory!” Kai grabbed hold of Bella and with a flick of his wrist, he managed to snap Kol’s neck. He immediately let go of Bella and saw her face fall as Kol dropped to the ground.
Rebekah sighed as she watched the young vampire quickly make her way over to her brother. “Perhaps it’s a wise decision to stay the night in a hotel and leave tomorrow,” she said and covered her ears when Bella started to yell at Kai for breaking Kol’s neck as she cradled Kol’s limp body. Bella then went from angry to sad at the drop of a hat. And back to angry.
“Yep,” Myriam nodded in agreement before looking at Kai. “I have no idea what you did to Bella to make her more open to… things, but I like it.”
Kai huffed. “She’s annoying this way. But I figured it’d be the best way forward, I didn’t like the story about rippers and vampires turning their emotions off.” He then saw Bella look at him with a murderous look on her face. “That being said, I’ll follow you guys but I seem to have poked a bear. Invisique.”
“Screw you, Kai!” Bella yelled at him before the lights went out for her.
~o.O.o~
When Bella woke up, she found herself in an unfamiliar room and she felt even more agitated than that she could remember. Sitting up, she rolled her neck before heading to the door and tried to open it, but whatever she tried, the door seemed to move away from her. She couldn’t reach the knob. “What the fuck.”
“Congratulations,” Kol remarked from his spot in the corner, she hadn’t seen him after she’d woken up, and he didn’t care. Right now he just wanted to kill Kai, and he couldn’t. “You survived your first time getting your neck snapped for throwing a temper tantrum.”
“Kai snapped your neck,” Bella turned around as she looked at him. “It wasn’t fair.”
“And then my sister snapped yours, or so I’ve been told,” he said as he held up his phone. “As it turns out, Kai spelled this room for the safety of the people in this hotel until you and I have a chat.”
“We’re fine, we can talk when we’re there.”
Kol let out a sigh as he pushed himself off of the wall and walked towards her. “Kai snapped my neck to prove to you that Myriam was right,” he said, slightly frustrated. “And because I was a dick, but that’s beside the point. I would have been fine for the trip, if you weren’t around after what happened with Kai last night. With you on the plane, I suppose there’d be a lot more neck snapping and threats of being daggered.”
“The fuck.”
“You see, Kai wasn’t just playing with you last night, with whatever he did to you. He called me while he was doing it, and I’m sorry, Bella, but that’s going too far. He wasn’t supposed to mess with you like that. It was a bad idea to have him stay with you and your dad.”
“What Kai did, was lower my defenses to show me some sense,” she explained calmly, not moving as he kept carefully approaching her. “I was highly irrational about certain things and some connections didn’t make sense so everything was irrational. Kai showed me that it didn’t matter. None of it. And just what I want. What I feel. And that the Earth keeps turning even though I was standing still,” she let out a breath as she looked at Kol who was now standing toe to toe with her. “Don’t be angry with Kai. He used magic, I could have gotten rid of the effects if I wanted to.”
“Just like you could siphon the magic away from the door.”
Bella nodded. “And I will, but maybe we should talk like they want us to.”
“Why talk, darling? There are so many interesting things I could do with you where words would be unnecessary,” Kol said as he pushed her against the wall and locked her in with his arms. “What do you remember from reading Nik’s journal that Myriam gave you for Christmas? It was about Nik’s early days as a vampire, wasn’t it?”
“What are you getting at?”
“Heightened senses and emotions.”
“I know about those,” Bella replied as she looked up at him with half a smile. “It’s what caused you to freak out about what Kai did.”
“And you to get angry with him for snapping my neck,” Kol pointed out. “Myriam and my siblings have been telling me for years, this, and I honestly never cared for it, but I know that I have less of a control over my actions and emotions than my family does. I never cared to learn control, because why would I? They’d put me down in a box anyway when I was too much of a handful,” he tried to get even closer, but he didn’t want to miss looking at her beautiful face. “They only released me because either Myriam complained about it or they needed me to do their dirty work, but I already told you this.”
“And you don’t scare me.”
“That’s because you don’t see danger when it’s right in front of you,” Kol barked out a laugh, shaking his head. “In any case, my anger towards Kai right now is that he messed with you, and you already know how I feel about you. And there’s this extreme sense of loyalty that comes with those feelings and I can’t …. I won’t, control it. Because you make me happy. I only went to Seattle after we returned from Mystic Falls to let off some steam. Because if I hadn’t, I would have done so in Forks eventually. I know you and I had plans after we’ve dealt with your nightmare, but being patient when it comes to you…” He let out a breath. “And after what Kai pulled…”
“How many times do I have to tell you to be just yourself with me? I don’t like it when you run off to let off steam, it feels like you’re running away from me.”
“I don’t want to break you, darling.”
“Well,” she smiled at him then. “I’ve been told I’m pretty unbreakable nowadays. If you stop hiding and treading carefully, I promise I will,” she finally put her arms around his neck and grinned. “Let’s both stop thinking what’s best for each other. All of me is yours if you want it.”
“Bella, I—”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
