The Cowboy & His Angel (Complete)

Staking Claim

~Alice POV~

The golden band fit snugly around my finger, beautiful and simple with one single diamond glinting in the dim sunlight.
Don't get me wrong, I know we belong together and I know we have forever, but that one piece of jewelry made us, our future, all the more real and magical. "You ready to go, darlin'?"
Looking up at him, I smiled lightly and slipped my hand into his, the ring a warm assurance of his love for me.
"Alice," he warned, voice low and husky, pulling me into his arms, "don't doubt me, darlin'. I told you, don't tell me I can't do something and don't you dare doubt my feelings for you!"
Then, his lips were on mine with bruising possessiveness. He was right, how can I doubt him?!? Oh yes, the cursed Maria! That's how!
"She means nothing to me, Alice, she never has and she never will! She is nothing at all compared to you!"
"Oh, really?!? So that's why you spent almost a century with her, 'cause she meant nothing to you?!? Oh wait: you're a man!"
"Don't start this again, darlin'. Not right now, not after last night." He sighed in exasperation and ran a rough hand through his hair. Pulling me into his arms, he softly kissed my forehead. "What's it gonna take for you to see what you mean to me?"

~000~
The cafe was just as we'd left it days before, Sally still hard at work when we leisurely breezed in. Looking up from the counter she was wiping down, she grinned when she saw us. "Alice! Jasper!"
Bustling over as quickly as possible, she took my hand and pulled me into her arms, flashing a smirk at Jasper as he growled quietly. "Oh, hush, young man."
Giggling, I playfully rolled my eyes and sat at my bar stool, the exact one where I'd been when Jasper had finally shown up.
"So I see you found your happily ever after, after all." Nodding, I twined our fingers as he stood over me with a tight smile.
Grinning, I squealed and practically threw my left hand in her face, my engagement ring sparkling on full view.
"That was fast! Too fast, maybe.....?!?"
Smiling gently over my shoulder at him, I squeezed his hand and nodded at her. "I told you, Sally, countless times."
She laughed lightly and nodded, patting my hand in the all too familiar way of hers. "Yes, Alice, I know. You're meant for each other and he loves you and you love him and you're spending forever together... But, even then, don't you think it's too soon?"
"Sally, I love her and for some unknown reason, she loves me too....." His voice was soft, eyes gentle and loving as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest.
"I can't imagine my life without her."

~000~
"We were thinking, if it's not a problem of course, that we could have the wedding and reception here....." I trailed off, watching her for any reaction, as he ran his thumb in slow circles along my hand.
"I think that's a wonderful idea, Alice! Of course, we'd have to check the guest book for any issues but we can work around it. We'd be honored to host your wedding and reception!"
This is the part where the blushing bride mentions the honeymoon.....
"You wouldn't happen to have a place for honeymooners, would you?"
"I do, actually! I have a small acreage in the North Carolina mountains that's been in my family for generations.... I'd be more than happy to lend it to you as long as you need!"
I think Sally just answered my prayers!

~000~
"That went well, wouldn't you agree?" He nodded against me and continued to leisurely strum his fingers over the guitar, a small smile on his face as he kissed me. "Very well indeed."
Sighing, I curled closer around him and ran a hand over his chest with a quiet purr. I couldn't believe it...........!!
In about a month, I'd be Mrs. Whitlock!
"Excited?!" Nodding, I giggled as he rolled his eyes and tweaked my nose playfully. "Of course you are, darlin'."
"You're not?!?" I couldn't keep the emotion away, sadness and longing flowing through me; he knew what I was feeling anyway, so why keep it bottled up?
My eyes met his, gold and burgundy, as he pulled me against him with a low sound in his chest. "What did I say about doubting yourself, my Alice?!"
Then, his lips were soft as a butterfly's wing against my own, fingers knotting into my hair, as I ran my hands over his chest. He's the one that said it!
"My life before you was one I'm not proud of, full of darkness and deceit, betrayal and hate. My time with Maria was nothing more than lust, only needing each other to warm a bed, simple as that.
She was cruel, sadistic, and she had me under her thumb. I was nothing more than a blind yet oh so willing pup, only wanting to please her, no matter the cost or consequences.
When I eventually realized what she was, who I could be without her, I wasn't the same again. I spoke harshly of and to her, refused direct orders, and became an all-out pest.
I'd never given much thought to killing her, the idea giving me a chill for some reason, though I'd no clue why.
I didn't love her, nor she me. Far from it, our relationship was pure lust and greed; her forever the power hungry dictator and I being second-in-command and first in bed.
Or so I thought..... Many times she'd come "home," the smell of another still fresh, and demand I accompany her to the bed we'd so often shared.
Unwilling to accept my obvious disgust and unwillingness, she would pout and accuse me of cheating on her, which always led to yelling and cursing and arguing. But, I was a man.
Sure, a cowardly, masochistic man with his tail between his legs, but that was me nonetheless. And she was a woman who knew how to please a man."
It was all I could do to contain my possessive growl, wrapping my arms tighter around him with a sigh.
I knew he had a life with her before me, there was nothing I could do about that, but he was mine now and he always would be. No amount of lust or exotic beauty could change that.
"You've given me a new life, Alice, a fresh start. Your... diet has given me a way to hunt and feed, feeling nothing but my own pleasure and need. It's gonna take a while to master, of course, but I will. Just for you.
Finding you, after living in darkness and carnage for almost a century, is like finding an angel in the deepest pits of hell."
With that, our lips met softly as understanding dawned on me. I had nothing to worry about after all; he did love me and thought nothing of Maria.
Still, I had big plans for that puta.

~000~
The sky was darkening outside as I silently slid from his embrace and out the window, a haughty, possessive air about me. Time to even the score, Maria!
I blurred across the street and stood stock-still, my face tipped to the wind as her strong and not so distant scent of Mexican flowers and pure sex blew over me. Does the woman ever rest?!?
Slipping into the alley, I held my breath as she stepped from the shadows, domineering smirk in place. "Took long enough!"
Strutting towards her, I sank into a crouch with a possessive growl. "I don't know what you think you're doing here, Maria, but I suggest you leave. Now!"
Her eyebrow hit the sky as she pulled the ponytail from her hair and shook out her mane, letting it flow around her shoulders and lower back. "Oh really?!? Are you gonna make me?!?"
"YES, I AM!" My voice was a growl, deathly calm and quiet all the same, as she tossed her head back and laughed. Rolling my eyes, I launched myself across the space between us, pinning her against the alley wall with my teeth at her throat before she knew that I'd even moved.
"Now," I sighed sweetly, lashes fluttering gently, "we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. You pick."
She snarled and fought against my hold, landing a few scratches and kicks that I hadn't quite seen. "How the hell are you stronger than me?!? You're practically a little kid," she screeched, her head craned away from my snapping teeth.
"Dynamite comes in small packages, Maria. You'd be wise to remember that."
Then, I lunged. Grabbing a fistful of hair, I slammed her time after time against the wall, bricks and mortar raining down around us. "He-" slam "is-" slam "mine" slam "and-" slam "that's" slam "that!" Slam, slam, slam.
Pulling away, I smirked in mute satisfaction as she slid against the wall to the ground with a painful groan. "Sorry, honey, but if you think you're going anywhere near him, you're wrong- dead wrong."
Jerking her up by yet another handful of hair, I looked her over with an icy glare; nope, I hadn't kicked her ass near enough yet.... She was still pretty......
Then, she said something that knocked the breath out of me. "Does he tell you how awesome and wild our sex life was?"
Shaking my head to clear it, I glared and dipped my head to the skin where her neck and shoulder met. Before she could move, I bit. Tearing her skin away, I smirked as she screeched, my venom assuring a permanent scar.
Then, I had her in the death grip, my teeth sharp and deadly at her throat as she whimpered. "Ok, ok..... I'll leave."
"Swear it!" Whimpering pitifully, she did as I demanded. Searching the future for any sign of her, I growled in somewhat satisfaction. "If I so much as glimpse you in a vision, I will hunt you down and finish what I started."
Snapping my teeth at her skin, I smirked as she cowered away from me.
"JASPER. WHITLOCK. IS. MINE!!! You'd be wise to remember that as well."
Then, she was gone.

~Jasper~
Nothing turned me on more than watching my seemingly fragile Alice kick Maria's 5.5' ass up one side and down the other, staking her claim on me. Now I was all hot and bothered...!
Sauntering across the way to her, I pulled her against my chest as she flinched with an instinctual growl. "That was hot."
Then, her lips were on mine.
Growling lustfully, she backed me against the wall and twined her legs around my torso, her fingers curled deep in my hair. Groaning, my head fell slack as she trailed wet, open-mouthed kisses along my skin. Good god, if I didn't stop her I'd take her right here and now! "Stop, Alice!"
Pulling away, she turned her shocked doe eyes on me. "Did I do something wrong?" It was so like her, to always think it was her fault. Not now and not ever!
"God, no! But if we don't stop, your first time will be against a brick wall." I chuckled huskily as she flushed and dipped her head into the curve of my neck. With my fingers gripping her chin, I forced her eyes to meet mine.
"I love and respect you, Alice. I am not going all the way, not right now with you against a damn brick wall! We can wait a month, can't we?!"
It would be the longest month of both my life and existence. But it was worth it- she was worth it, my Alice. She always was.