Disclaimer: Still Stephenie Meyer's. Sigh.
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Emmett stood at the side of a clearing with a giant female grizzly opposite him. I stopped in the shadow of a thick birch tree, watching. It wasn't as if Emmett needed my help; I was just there to observe the spectacle.
By the look of her, she was already quite irritable, even before Emmett's efforts to aggravate her. A throaty growl warned him to leave her alone. Sadly, she was out of luck.
Even on all fours, the bear almost met Emmett's height. She reared and landed with her paws against the snow, her loud huffs sending plumes of her hot breath into the air.
She looks cranky. Let's see how she likes this.
Emmett threw four huge snowballs in quick succession, whacking her on the snout and shoulders. She groaned, shaking her head in annoyance. With a loud snarl, the grizzly lifted herself onto her hind legs, standing at least four feet taller than Emmett. The moonlight behind her lit the silvery tips of her fur, giving her a ghostly crystalline silhouette.
"Come on, you fuzzball!" Emmett yelled. He charged full-throttle at the bear like a linebacker. She lunged at Emmett with her claws but found no purchase against the steel of his skin. She did, however, tear the front of his jacket in long gashes. He ducked his head and grabbed the grizzly's hind legs. In one smooth movement, Emmett flipped the bear. She landed in the snow on her back with a thud, sending icy spray against his legs.
Man, I just never get tired of this. Emmett's face broke into a grin.
My brother was a sick individual.
The bear cried out with howls of pain and frustration. She rolled over and turned to face him. The grizzly still showed her fear—snorting lungfuls of air and clacking her teeth—but I distinctly sensed something else in her. Defiance?
Bears normally behaved in certain ways during Emmett's hunts. While their eyesight failed them, their sense of smell made up for it. Most reacted with pure terror when they caught a whiff of the innate wrongness of a vampire scent. At first they might defend themselves, but usually they just ran away. Of course the pursuit only made it worse—summoning our predatory urges and the delight of a challenge. This bear was different. Strange.
Come on, Mama bear. Come to Emmett.
Emmett continued to egg the grizzly on, shouting profanities as he feigned charges against her. Again, I took note of the bear's bizarre behavior. She wasn't responding by attacking or running away. It was more like she was studying what he was doing.
Emmett wanted a fight though, and he was as impatient as a toddler.
Stupid bear. What's wrong with her?
He ramped up his efforts to drive the bear into pure rage. He bounded toward her, but instead of pulling her into a grip from the front, he leapt over her head, flipped and perched on her back. As he sailed over her head, the bear again swiped at Emmett with her claws, this time ripping the back of his jacket. The force of his landing, however, shoved the bear face-first into the snow.
Just then, the chorus of 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" rang out in the clearing. It was Rosalie's ringtone. Emmett's dimples deepened as his smile grew wider.
Sweet, sweet Rose. Like clockwork. Thank you, Alice.
My own phone buzzed in my pocket. I checked the screen. Bella had left two messages, no doubt trying to reach me when our call got caught off.
The bear struggled to roll over, but Emmett pushed it further down in the snow. He reached into his pocket, finally noticing his coat was torn into jagged strips.
"You damn animal! You ripped my new jacket!"
He flipped open his phone and leapt off of the bear. "Hey babe. What's up?" he asked with a sultry smirk.
"I miss you, Emmy. You know I love to watch you hunt."
I rolled my eyes.
The grizzly regained her footing and shook herself off. Emmett's back was turned, absorbed in his conversation with Rosalie. The bear stood, her ten foot frame towering over him. Her eyes burned bright black—not only anger and fear, but unadulterated hate. With a shocking roar, she attacked.
"Emmett!" My warning came as she started to move, but Emmett didn't respond fast enough.
Huh?
The bear wrapped her arms around his shoulders and opened her mouth wide to bite down on Emmett's head. While her teeth couldn't penetrate his diamond hard skin, she held fast, lifting him off of the ground and shaking him furiously. Her paws squeezed one arm to his side and the other against his ear.
"Hey! What the hell?" Emmett nearly dropped his phone. It took him a few moments to break free from the bear's grip and elbow her in the neck. The grizzly released Emmett and dropped down to its paws with a sharp snort.
Shocked at the strength and the sheer nerve of the bear, I took a step forward into the clearing and waited.
"Emmett? What's happening?"
"I'm fine, Rose. She's pissed, and you know how much fun that can be."
I've just never had a bear do that to me before.
When the bear stood up, Emmett shoved her in the chest with one hand, knocking her halfway across the clearing into a snow drift.
"I wish I could have some fun with you, too."
"Mmmmm, you little vixen. What are you wearing?"
As Rosalie described her see-through lingerie and the placement of her hands in graphic detail, I tried to concentrate on the grizzly. There was something very wrong about this situation. What was going on?
The bear was standing again. She panted and steam rose off of her fur in waves. The grizzly charged forward, apparently hoping to catch Emmett at a disadvantage. Emmett pivoted in time to wrap his arms around her body in a bear hug. The two of them locked into a violent frenzy, paws and fists a blur. I'd never seen a bear struggle so hard against Emmett. Her will to live and brute force astounded me.
Inevitably, Emmett pinned the bear to the snow on her stomach and climbed onto her back. He yanked the bear's head up and to the side before sinking his teeth into her fur. A nearly human cry of searing pain and defeat echoed through the forest. The grizzly tried to shake him off or to roll over onto him, but Emmett held her fast, downing huge gulps of her blood until it coursed down his chin.
Unngggggg.
"Oh my god," Emmett moaned, his eyes at half mast and his jaw slack. "That was the best grizzly fight EVER." He gaped at the bear, now sinking into the snow drifts, weak from blood loss and splayed out like a rug.
Through the entire fight, Emmett never dropped his cell phone. He brought it back up to his ear. "Rosie, I am so turned on right now," Emmett growled, looking down at the growing bulge in the front of his pants.
"Tell me what you want to do to me Emmett baby."
"Aw, honey, right now I want your soft, plump lips on my… "
It was time to leave.
"Emmett, I'm going to find Jasper." I yelled. "Now." I wasn't sure if he even heard me. Emmett was lost in a mixture of blood drunkenness and dirty talk, his eyes glazed over and his gruff voice panting into the phone.
I couldn't run away fast enough.
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A/N: If you like stories about the Cullen men on their hunting expeditions, be sure to check out "Brotherhood" by LindaRoo and Blondie AKA Robin or "Frantic" by JustineLark. (PM me if you have other suggestions for good Cullen brother fanfics.)
