AN: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! I know I know...I've been complete and total fail at posting here lately. I'm going to try my hardest to get them out quicker...like once a week or something. This is the last chapter of The Tempted Lioness. I hope you like it. If you want to follow up with the sequel please put me on author alert. There is still lots and lots of good times and bad times to come, don't forget the Volturi. ;)

Much love to my beta - Jadiona. She's been cracking the whip to get me writing more, and I wuv her for it!!! MWAH!

Also, love to my besties... BellasExeQtnER TheRobotMoose and MsBond01. They are definitely the bestest!! Love u guys!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or the characters, I just like to play with them.

Chapter 40 - Changing

EPOV

I had chosen that song to basically speak about our whole relationship. Bella was always putting songs to go along with our relationship, or even making up her own. I couldn't do that. It just wasn't in my blood. I could play an instrument, but the words were just too much for me to handle.

After the song ended Bella looked up at me and she looked… sad? Disturbed? I couldn't tell. That wasn't what I wanted her to feel… damn… did I fuck up again? I pulled her off the dance floor and walked over to our table. I leaned over and spoke quickly into Emmett's ear, "I think we're gonna leave. We'll see you guys back at the house," and I pulled Bella outside.

She looked like she was going to start crying. I hated that I always made her so upset; whether it was pissing her off or making her cry. I couldn't remember one good time that I'd made her happy. Was she happy… with me? Damn… now I feel like I'm getting all emo.

We got to the car and I opened her door. After I shut the door I walked around to the other side and got in. She was just sitting there looking down at her hands; looking so dejected. I hit my head against the steering wheel of the car, "Damn it!" She jumped and looked over at me, but she still said nothing.

"Bella… I'm sorry. Things just keep getting fucked up."

My forehead was still rested against the steering wheel but I turned my face towards her. Her bottom lip was quivering, like she was trying to keep from crying.

"No, Edward… I don't know what I did wrong, but we can fix this. Please… just don't… give up on us."

I raised my head up so fast I almost gave myself whiplash. "No Bella, God! I didn't mean it like that. I meant that I keep fucking things up. It's not you… Please don't think that."

"Well then what is it?" she asked softly.

"That song I picked out… you looked sad afterwards but I didn't pick the song to make you sad. It was stupid… never mind."

"No… it wasn't stupid if you picked it out. I just… don't understand."

Hmmm… I picked up my IPod and plugged it in to the radio in the car and flipped through the songs until I found it. I was going to explain it to her.

Search for the answers I knew all along
I lost myself, we all fall down
Never the wiser of what I've become
Alone I stand, a broken man

"This part is saying that I lost myself. I didn't realize what I had become after I was in the relationship with Tonya. Once you came into my life you kind of… I don't know… made everything more clear. The 'alone I stand, a broken man', well that was after she …for lack of a better term, fucked me and left me."

All I have is one last chance
I won't turn my back on you
Take my hand, drag me down
If you fall then I will too
And I can't save what's left of you

"This part is talking about how I won't turn my back on you. You ARE my one last chance. When it says drag me down, it means I want you to change me. You keep talking about how horrible it is to be a vampire, but I just don't see it. If you fall, then I will too, well I wouldn't be able to survive if you weren't here."

Sing something new
I have nothing left
I can't face the dark without you
there's nothing left to lose
The fight never ends
I can't face the dark without you

"I can't face the dark without you… well that one's pretty self explanatory. I can't face anything without you. I love you and want to be with you forever… whether it's dark or light; good or bad. There's nothing left to lose, well I've already lost all of my family… and the fight never ends, because we still have to put up with the Volturi eventually."

Follow me under and pull me apart
I understand there's nothing left
Pain so familiar and close to the heart
No more, no less, I won't forget

"There's nothing left of me without you and my family. It's just saying that you can pull me apart and realize that there's nothing left. Pain so familiar and close to the heart… well if I was to lose you… it would literally kill me. I wouldn't be able to just forget you."

Come back down save yourself
I can't find my way to you
And I can't bare and face the truth

"This part is saying that sometimes you try to put yourself above all others. Not that you think you are so much more important, but you would gladly have sacrificed yourself to save your family from the Volturi. I couldn't talk you out of it… and that really scared me. Not because you wouldn't listen to what I said, but that nothing was going to stop you from going to Italy alone."

Sing something new
I have nothing left
I can't face the dark without you
there's nothing left to lose
The fight never ends
I can't face the dark without you

I wanted to forget
I'm trying to forget
don't leave me here again
I'm with you forever, the end

"When we were first got together in the club, after you left, I did try to forget you. It just didn't work… you were emblazoned on my brain. Don't leave me here again, I'm with you forever, the end… well that's pretty obvious too. You better not ever try to leave me again like you did when you ended up in Italy the first time. I'm here… with you… forever… the end… there is no point in trying to discuss it. We are meant to be together and we will stay together. I know you can feel it too."

Sing something new
I have nothing left
I can't face the dark without you
there's nothing left to lose
The fight never ends
I can't face the dark without you

Holding the hand that holds me down
I forgive you, forget you, the end
Holding the hand that holds me down
I forgive you, forget you, the end

"You keep me grounded… that's why you're the hand that holds me down. You've kept my family alive for very unselfish reasons… only for others. I know that you worry that I am upset with you for taking my family from me, but it's just not true. They wouldn't be here without you; that's why I forgive you. I just hope that one day you decide to make me a part of 'our' family. I want to be with you forever, not just until I die."

BPOV

After Edward explained what the song meant to him, I couldn't hold myself back. I jumped across the console of the car and reached my arms around his neck. I kissed him with a fervor I didn't know I possessed. I loved him and only him. There would never be another for me. I wanted him to be with me for eternity. Eternity wouldn't be long enough for me to show him how much he means to me. Our tongues tangled and our moans filled the car. I pulled back slowly and said, "Take me home."

O~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Once we arrived at his home, we walked upstairs to his bedroom. We sat next to each other on the bed. We hadn't really talked much since we had left Tacoma. There was nothing to say. He had said it all with that song. Now it was my turn to talk, "Edward, I have something I have to ask you."

"What is it Bella?" he asked.

"I've been thinking a lot the past couple of days. I was worried that you wouldn't be happy with me. I was worried that you would end up regretting the decision to be changed. I was worried that I was being too selfish to want to change you. I love you… more than you can possibly know. There is no way for me to explain the love I can feel in my heart every time I look at you; every time I hear your voice. You are the one and only for me. I want to ask you if you are one hundred percent positive that you want to be changed."

He just sat there and gazed in my eyes for a minute. I was afraid that he was going to change his mind; that he wouldn't want to spend forever with me. Everything started going fuzzy; I felt like I was going to pass out, then he spoke, "Isabella, I want nothing more in this life than to spend the rest of it with you. I want you to live by my side for all of eternity. I want to be there for you for the rest of our existence. There is nothing that would make me happier. I want to be with you."

I started crying; not tears of sadness, but tears of joy. I loved this man, and he loved me. We would be able to spend all of eternity together. I raised my hands to his cheeks, and wiped away the tears that he had cried too. We pressed a sweet kiss to each others' lips. We didn't close our eyes. I wanted to have the green of his eyes forever burned in my mind. I kept brushing my fingers across his cheeks, to feel the warmth radiating off of them. We parted and I placed my ear next to his chest, I wanted to hear the steady strength of his heartbeat forever in my ears. I turned my face toward his chest and placed a kiss on his heart. When I raised my head he never once looked away from my face. I leaned him back against the pillows at the head of his bed. I laid down next to him and still stroked his face. It was so soft and warm. I placed small chaste kisses all over his face, on his eyelids and lastly on his lips. I placed my mouth next to his ear and said, "I'm sorry. This may be painful, but I'll try to make it as quick as possible."

He nodded his acquiescence and I moved my mouth to just under his ear. I placed a quick kiss on his neck and then bit. He tried so hard not to yell out, but I knew he wouldn't be able to hold it all in. I swallowed the most intensely satisfying nectar from this man. It was like nothing I had ever tasted before. I wanted more, but forced the animal inside down. I licked the open bite wound and my venom closed it up. I moved to the crease on his arm near his elbow and bit in again. I quickly closed it up as well. I moved to the other arm and repeated the same movements. Then I moved quickly and lifted his shirt. I bit right over his heart and let my venom enter directly into his chest, before I closed it up as well. He was whimpering and squirming with his eyes closed tightly. I moved up to his head and started stroking his hair, whispering, "I'm so sorry, my love. It will be over soon. I love you, please remember that," over and over again until he finally fell quiet and looked to be in a peaceful sleep.

I wanted him to have no pain. I knew that the bites were painful, but there was nothing I could do to make it less painful. I tried to be as quick as I could; the whole process taking less than a minute. I could only lay here with him and sing softly; our song.

Shouldn't let you conquer me completely.

Now I can't let go of this dream.

Can't believe that I feel...

Good enough,

I feel good enough.

It's been such a long time coming, but I feel good.

O~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

APOV

Emmett, Rose, Jasper and I were still at the club when I had the vision. I saw Bella biting Edward. I jumped up and grabbed Jasper saying, "She's done it."

Jasper just looked at me with a confused look, and said, "Who's done what?"

"Bella… she's bitten Edward."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Jasper, this vision has been the clearest I think I've ever seen. It must mean that she's already doing it or is planning on doing it… soon."

"Is she changing him? Can she stop herself? She should have never done that without someone there to stop her if the need was to arise. Why didn't she wait on us? What else did you see? Can you see anything else?" he asked in rapid succession.

I try to look at the same scene as before, but nothing is changing. All I can see is Bella biting Edward. I can't tell if she stops in time.

I look up at Jasper, "I can't see anything else. All I can see is what I saw before; her biting him. I can't see if she stops in time. It doesn't look like it was done in anger… Edward looked like he was freely giving himself to her. Surely she can stop Jasper, she stopped with all of us."

I noticed that Rose looked down at the table top quickly, "What is it Rose?" I ask her.

"Well, she didn't completely stop with Emmett. I had to pull her off of him, but that was just because he was the first she had ever bitten. She had so much more restraint with you, and from what Carlisle said, she had no problem with Esme. Surely she would be able to take Edward without any problems," Rose explained.

Jasper jumped up and said, "We need to leave… NOW!" None of us asked any questions, we just jumped up put some bills on the table to pay for our measly tab and ran out. Once we were in the car and on the way back home, Jasper started explaining, "Yes, Bella only had a problem with Emmett because he was her first… but with Edward. We all forget that Edward… he's her singer. She might not be able to stop herself once his blood gets in her system… her senses. You know how when you are on the attack for an animal in the woods, everything else ceases to exist except for the prey that you are attacking? Well, imagine that feeling only 100 more times potent. I found my singer once… before I came to live with the Cullen's… and let's just say… it didn't end well. I killed her instantly. She had no chance. I just hope that Bella has as much strength as we all think she does, because if not, this could very well kill her." We all were quiet a moment.

Then Rose spoke up, "She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she knew she had killed Edward. How can we stop this?" she said looking at me.

"I don't even know if she's going to kill Edward… all I see is her biting him. It may all turn out okay, but…" I started getting another vision. All I could see was Carlisle; Bella and Edward were no where around.

"We need to call Carlisle."

O~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

CPOV

I was at the hospital working when my cell phone rang. I picked it up without looking at the caller ID. It was Alice; she was rambling on about how I needed to get home, and that it was about Edward and Bella. I quickly hung up the phone and went to the nurse's station to let them know I was leaving. On my way home I called Esme to find out where she was. "Carlisle, I'm at your house where you left me earlier today, why?"

"Alice called to tell me to go home, and she said something about Edward and Bella. Are they there?"

"No, they aren't. Maybe they're at my old house?"

"Okay, I'm on my way over there now. I'll call you when I get there."

"No Carlisle, if something's wrong I want to be able to help. I'll just meet you there."

And with that Esme hung up. She was the perfect mate; she would drop anything to come to help me. She was a perfect mother.

I pulled up in front of the Masen house and saw Edward's Volvo sitting in the driveway. They were here… good. I looked up and saw Esme running out of the woods, "Have you been inside yet?" she asked.

"No, we'll go in together," I told her while grabbing her hand.

We walked in the front door and the scent of blood flew through the house. This could not be good. Esme squinted her eyes and stopped breathing. She hadn't been around human blood yet. This would test her ability to withhold her inner monster and handle the situation. I didn't want to put her through this, because it was her son… her last surviving son. How was she going to react? I told her to stay here, but she shook her head, still not breathing.

We started up the stairs to follow where the blood scent was coming from. We got to the top floor and I could almost see the vapors of the blood-scent wafting around Edward's bedroom door. I looked at her again and she just nodded. I was pleasantly surprised that Esme was testing her limits this far, and that she hadn't completely lost it. I walked to the bedroom door and pushed it open. "Bella?" I asked softly. I had heard her singing softly a song I had never heard before. She stopped when I called her name. It was almost like she hadn't heard us come in the house.

I looked over to where Edward's bed was and I saw Bella lying next to him stroking his hair. She hadn't even looked up at me, just at him. I could hear his soft heartbeat, and I knew what she had done. She had bitten him; she had changed him. She was going to have her 'forever' with Edward, as I will have with Esme; Jasper with Alice; Rosalie with Emmett. We would all truly be a family now.

EN: Well, are you all happy now? Everyone's been trying to get me to change Edward for the longest time. :) Don't forget to put me on your Author Alerts to know when I post the Sequel. :)

EN2: You should check out a new O/S that was posted this week. It's called Soulmates, by TheRobotMoose. I paid for her expertese in the Fandom Gives Back auction. I love it. She's definitely the BESTEST!! You should check it out!!