DeeAnne opened the barn door and her three horses started out into the sunny grassy paddock. The palomino, her pride and joy, Edward came around to nuzzle her cheek before running to enjoy the sunlight. Her silver and black pony, Kara, came next and flicked his tail at her as he passed. And the last one, Runt, trotted out slowly. Her tiny frame had grown a couple hands since I picked her up, but she was still fairly small for her breed.

She trotted out to the paddock and DeeAnne closed the gate. The blue jean shorts and sky blur tank top she threw on were loose enough to allow her to do her farm work, but still fairly flattering to her muscular curves. She hummed and whistled to herself as she grabbed the wheelbarrow and started to muck out their stalls. The three stalls only took her thirty minutes to clean.

The puppies ran about the farm at their leisure, but rarely strayed far from her. Once she was done she cleaned herself with the hose and jumped the fence to the paddock, carrying all five volumes of Meyer's series with her.

Sitting under a tree, she pulled Eclipse up to her to re-read. After a few lines, someone called out to her. "Hey, Dee!" She rolled her eyes as she pushed herself up with a grunt. She put on a polite face and turned.

"Hey Mark. How are ya?" The large 18 year old boy hopped down from the chocolate thoroughbred horse and smiled that sickly sweet smile of his.

"Alright now that I see you."

Her father insisted on her being nice to this boy since he was a son of a very important sponsor for Uncle Kirk, but she would like nothing more than to slap the horny thoughts right out of his head. "What's up, Mark?"

He leaned a little closer on the fence. "You know, your parents are gone for a few weeks."

She put on a shocked expression. "Really?! I wondered why the house was so empty."

He ignored her sarcasm. "It must be awfully lonely on this big property all alone."

DeeAnne thought of Edward and smiled. "I manage." She turned to go back to her books; she didn't like where this conversation was leading. She heard a thump and knew that Mark had jumped the fence.

"Would you like someone to protect you from the bumps in the night?" She felt him caress her arm with a finger from shoulder to wrist as he spoke.

She turned quickly. "I am quite capable of protecting myself." He took hold of her wrist, holding it firmly and pulling her to him. She put her bottom lip between her teeth to call her dogs, but he was prepared for this. He put a hand over her mouth.

"Ah ah, we mustn't have your mutts attacking me like last time, now must we." DeeAnne was very strong for her size because of her years of work on a farm, but he was twice her size so her fight hardly did a thing other than causing him to grip her harder and hurt her.

She shot daggers at him in her gaze, but he seemed unphased. She heard a dog bark in the distance but couldn't tell if it was a playful or protective bark. She did the only thing she could think of and bit his palm. His face twitched in pain, but he didn't let up. She bit harder but he didn't let go until she had bitten through skin. The taste of his blood nearly made her puke, but she couldn't allow herself to let her guard down with him.

"Stay away from me Mark. Don't ever come near me again."

"My father will not sponsor your uncle anymore." The treat was there, but it was empty to her. Her father would want her to be polite, but not to be molested for the sake of money.

"Fine. I'd rather that then have someone like you touch me." He lunged at her unexpectedly, and she found herself between the ground and him. She went to whistle again, but he covered her mouth again. His blood dripped over her mouth and cheeks.

"This could have been easy for you, but oh well." He stated to rip her tank top down the middle as she squirmed. Tears filled her eyes and spilled out as she closed her eyes. Suddenly the weight was off her. She opened her eyes again, and saw Edward had lifted Mark off me and was pinning him against the tree she was reading by.

"How dare you!" Edward's tone was livid.

Mark's face was a mixture of rage, confusion and fear. "I didn't know she had a boyfriend."

"That is not the point! She rejected you. You should have left it there whether she was available or not." He let Mark drop. "Get out of here!"

Mark didn't need telling twice. He ran, hopped onto his horse and sped off. I walked up to Edward to give him a hug. "Stop," he ordered. She froze.

"What's the matter, Edward?" He turned, and I saw what. His eyes were blacker than this morning and the shadows under his eyes were almost as dark. "Didn't you hunt?"

He was shaking. "I was, but I smelt him," he gestured in the direction Mark had disappeared. "I heard his thoughts, his plans for you." He paused as he shook slightly harder. "I was going to interfere when he started to touch you, but I thought it would be better if you would get him off. And then I smelt blood."

Then it hit her why he was so tense. Her face was covered in blood and he was painfully thirsty. She reached up to touch her face and felt the warm, stick, red liquid painting her features. "Oh my God, I am SO sorry!" She turned and ran towards the paddock fence and the hose. Before she got too far, Edward appeared in front of her.

Her breath stopped at seeing him shine again, but it was quickly started again by the fear she felt. She stepped left, he stepped left. "E-Edward?" His breathing was labored and erratic. "You have to let me by."

He shook as he brought a hand up. She dared not move. A cold hand slid by her ear and around her neck. She started to shake, both from arousal and fear. He pulled her close, lifted her slightly and inhaled deeply.

This wasn't what she wanted. She wanted the sweet, alluring Edward she fantasized about, not the blood lust filled, ten million time stronger and faster Edward. "Edward," she put a hand on his chest and pushed. He backed off like she wanted, so she knew he wasn't too far gone. "We are both going to regret what you are thinking of doing. Let me go and wash up, you go hunt. We need never even talk about this again."

She tested moving out of his grip on her neck. He let her go and she ran to the hose. She didn't even look back though she wanted to so badly. Once her face was clean (and her entire shirtless-but-not-braless front was soaked), she looked back. Edward was gone.

She fell to the ground, panting. Her hands started to shake. As she started to calm herself, she saw a brilliantly sparkling form coming close to her. She looked to the ground. He sat in silence for a second The she heard him laughingly say, "when did your shirt get ripped?"

In spite of her embarrassment, she gave him an incredulous look and smiled in spite of herself. "What?!"

He was smiling...remorseful and mirthless, but at least he was trying to shrug it off. The both laughed, and he slowly went quiet. He looked at her. "DeeAnne, I'm..."

She held up a hand to silence him. "Don't." She paused. "Don't apologize Edward." He sheepishly smiled again, and held out his hand. She took it and got to her feet, wet clothes hugging her skin. She froze, taking in his touch, his smell.

"DeeAnne, you said you'd try to control that, remember?" She felt the blood burn her cheeks again, and she turned from him.

"Sorry. Um, I'll be right back. I'm going to change." Her face cooled, so she faced him again. She smiled again. "I had better get you a shirt too. As much as I like the sight, I think you'll scare my horses with the rainbows."

That seemed to break his broody mood since he smiled and pushed his fingers through his hair. "I don't know if that will help. Animals tend to be afraid of me by nature."

"Try telling my pups that. They loved you this morning." DeeAnne let out a loud whistle, and soon all four large dogs were at her side. "They love to run, but I get too tired too fast for 'em. Wanna give them a good run while I change? You'll have four friends for life." He smiled and started a few steps backward. "Get him, pups!" And off they went. Edward stayed just out of reach of the dogs, laughing as they barked playfully at him.

As DeeAnne turned back to the house, she laughed. She looked forward to the movie tonight.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Again, a little on the boring side with the animals and Mike, but the next chapter is at the movies. You don't wanna miss this one, and all the boring parts will come together in their necessity soon (not in the next chapter, but soon :p )