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EPOV

Bella's legs seemed to move a mile a minute. I didn't worry about catching up to her though. We had things we needed to talk about and I would sit back and let her hunt first. I could hunt after we talked because I was expecting her to try to and evade me but there was no chance in hell I was letting that happen. I didn't want to be in the middle of draining my prey and have her run off before I even noticed.

Up ahead Bella slowed down as she caught the scent of a black fox. I kept a good distance away, but close enough so that I could still see her. I leaned against a tree to watch as she crouched low to the ground behind a small spruce. The last time I'd seen Bella hunt she had been with Emmett and her plan of attack was to be swift and fierce. This time she was all stealth.

I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was completely still and focused. Her body was coiled tight, ready to spring and strike at any moment. She was bare foot and wearing a tiny pink dress that was closer to the length of a shirt. I could see her entire thigh, smooth and firm, shapely and enticing. I could imagine wrapping my hand around it as I hitched it up to my waist.

When Bella finally sprang from behind the spruce her lean lithe body soared through the air stretched out like a jungle cat's. The fox was none the wiser as she snapped its neck and bit into him in the same instant. I slowly moved closer, drawn to the way her lips seemed to kiss her prey. She wrapped her arms around it hugging it to her chest and I found myself jealous of the damned fox. I would give anything to be in his place right now.

Bella finished the fox and moved on to take a small herd of deer before she was sated. I took a deep breath and realized that it was finally time. Bella stood stock still with her back to me. I knew without a doubt that she knew I was behind her and waiting. She had a big advantage over me. I couldn't read her mind so I had no idea what her next move would be. I had to prepare myself for whatever. She was faster than me which meant that I had to be on top of my game if I was going to prevent her from fleeing.

Even though I had just told myself to be prepared for whatever, I was not prepared for her to take to the trees. I had thought she would run away in any direction except for straight up. When she launched herself high into the tree nearest her, I cursed under my breath and sprung into action. She had caught me off guard but I still made excellent reaction time. I opted to stay on the ground. Hopping from branch would slow her down but not by much. I ran on the ground pushing myself as hard as I could and once I was a few feet ahead of her I jumped into a tree and ran back toward her. My plan worked perfectly.

Bella ran straight into my open arms and the collision of our bodies sounded around the forest like an explosion. I wrapped my arms around her immediately in a viselike grip, penning her own in between our bodies. The flimsy branch we'd met on broke under our combined weight and we went crashing to the forest floor. The earth trembled where we landed, Bella on top of me. Before I could even register that sensation, she broke free from me but instead of going forward she moved back first and I had time to get up and catch her again, this time taking hold of her biceps.

"Let go of me!" she shrieked thrashing against my hold.

Being newborn, she was stronger than me but I was determined to hold on keeping in mind that this could be my only chance to talk to her in complete privacy.

"I just want to talk to Bella. Please just listen to me, that's all I'm asking," I plead.

"Please just let me go!" she pled right back looking into my eyes with a distress that my body automatically responded to. I instantly released her and instead of running away she pressed her back against a tree and covered her face with her hands "What do you want from me?" came her muffled voice.

I knew I needed to act fast. She was by some miracle here and waiting for me to speak but there was so much to say and I had no idea where to begin.

"I want to talk about us, Bella," was my brilliant beginning.

She dropped her hands from her face to cross her arms but chose to look off to the side at something in the distance rather than me.

"Us? There is no us!" she replied furiously.

She was always so angry with me and I didn't understand why. From the very second we met she had been cold to me and it had just gotten worse every moment thereafter.

"Why can't you just talk to me with even just a speck of civility at least! As soon as I got here it was like you made it up in your head to dislike me. Why?"

Finally her eyes met mine and I was sure that if it were possible her glare would have set me ablaze, "Because there isn't anything to like about you! You're arrogant! You're selfish! You're a liar! You're a user! You hurt my sister for shits and giggles for fifty years! Do you really think I'd like to be friends with someone like you?" she spat at me inserting more venom in her tone with every word.

"Bella you don't even know..."

"No, I don't know you personally, and I'm a better person for it!" she yelled. "But I know what I've heard and you haven't shown me anything to belie that!"

"Because you won't give me a chance to!" I retorted taking a step toward her. She tried to move back but she had set herself against a tree. "What I did to Tanya was fucked up! I'm not denying that! But there's so much more to me and I want more than anything just to show that because then there could be so much more to us!"

"Shut up!" she screamed clasping her hands over her ears and squeezing her eyes closed tight. She shook her head from side to side rapidly. I took the opportunity to place myself directly in front of her.

She appeared to be in anguish and I wanted to make that go away. I knew without a doubt that if she would just let me in, that I could. Our bodies were just inches apart and that delicious energy between us sparked to life. The instant I felt it, her face seemed to crumble even more and I knew that she was moments away from crying. I didn't want to hurt her. I wanted to make her happy, I wanted to make her feel good.

"Open your eyes, Bella," I murmured. "Look at me."

She complied right away and I pulled her hands down from her ears. The static flowed through my body the second we touched. Bella gasped and I knew she felt it too but I needed to hear her say it.

I dropped her left hand but held on to her right. Her left fell slowly grazing my torso as it went. Instead of letting it go all the way to her side she grasped the hem on my shirt in her fist. I turned her right hand clasping it so that the back of her palm was resting on the inside of mine.

"Tell me you feel that, Bella," I whispered huskily. "You feel that connection, that pull to me, that draw between us? Tell me, Bella."

I brought her hand close to my face never breaking eye contact with her. Her breath was ragged and her eyes were wide both in apprehension and anticipation. I slowly brushed my nose against the inside of her wrist. She smelled so good. Her scent was all blossoms and berries , more tempting than any blood there ever was. I had to taste.

"Say it, Bella. Tell me."

I moved her wrist down to my lips and placed an open mouth kiss right where her pulse would have been. She moaned and the sound breezed over my body and down to my groin. I needed to hear it again. She tasted so good and my imagination ran wild with how she might taste elsewhere. I wrapped my other hand around her elbow and gently massaged the soft skin on the inside with my thumb. I licked languid circles on her wrist with the tip of my tongue and she moaned for me again, this time with my name. Her eyes fluttered closed and she took her bottom lip in between her teeth.

"Bella, Tell me," I urged, my mouth still against her wrist. I licked and sucked greedily needing to taste and hear her.

She opened her eyes at the sound of my voice and they pierced right through me.

"I don't feel anything."

She wrenched her wrist away from me and pushed me away from her and ran.