Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Chapter 20 Hunting

God determines who walks into your life.

It's up to you to decide who you let walk away,

Who you let stay and who you refuse to let go.

BPOV

Alice and I drove through the reservation to the small town of Cody, Wyoming. We were out for the morning while Edward, Emmett, Jasper and Rosalie went for a hunt. They had actually left way before sunrise this morning when Emmett and Rose had arrived, leaving me to wake up alone for one of the first times since Edward and I were married. Alice had breakfast waiting, of course and was cheerfully trying to keep me occupied and my mind off of Edward.

I received a text from him as we entered town and we once again had cell phone reception.

B

I love you and I miss you terribly!

See you this afternoon!

E

I could only imagine what mountain he had stood atop to get cell service out where he was hunting this morning!

"Last time I was here, they were just putting up a shopping mall at the West end of town! We can go there and explore it together!", Alice said as she pulled into the parking area.

"I'll happily shop with you for a couple of hours, Alice, but then you have to sight see with me! The Buffalo Bill History Museum is next door and there is a saloon here in town that has a bar that Queen Elizabeth gave him and had shipped here by train and horse drawn wagon back in the early 1800's! There is even a restaurant there where we can have lunch!"

Few things in the mall interested Alice. There was no Gucci or Armani and apparently the fashion offered at Sears just weren't what she had in mind. We did find a wonderful outdoor store and found a pair of hiking boots with ankle support for me that were really comfortable! I found a hooded, zippered sweatshirt, much to Alice's dismay, with a buffalo head embroidered on it and the name Buffalo Bill and Cody, Wyoming, as well! I hurried to the cashier before Alice could talk me out of it, purchasing one for me as well as one for Edward.

"You just have no fashion sense, Bella! I hope it improves when you become immortal, though I doubt it!", she looked at me disapprovingly. "Are you at least getting some use out of the nighties I put in your drawer?", she asked me.

"Is that what you call those pieces of slippery fabric in my top drawer? If it is, then no . . . I haven't gotten ANY use out of them. We don't sleep in clothing Alice, you know this!"

"I just keep hoping your taste will improve, Bella!"

"Alice, what clothing would improve Edwards appearance, I ask you! Naked is the way to go!"

"Bella! I just can't believe the way you think about my brother! He's alright to look at, but really Bella, you make him out to be some kind of an Adonis or movie star or something!"

"Yes . .. and your point is, Alice?" I put my arm around her as we walked out of the store laughing, "You love me, Alice, you know you do!"

"Oh, come on, there is no reasoning with you and I suppose it's a good thing that you're so nuts over him!", she said shaking her head as we headed to the car.

The museum was amazing and even Alice enjoyed all the information about frontier life and travel back a couple of hundred years ago. Apparently Carlisle rarely talked of his earlier years but when he did, he had described some of the very things she was seeing illustrations of - architecture, transportation methods and most importantly, the clothing the women were wearing!

"Bella, can you imagine wearing underwear, stockings, knickers, petticoats, a corset and THEN the dress over all of that! It would take even a vampire forever to dress! And hunting, how would women ever have been able to hunt, vampire women I mean? I have to remember to ask Carlisle about that!", she mused.

I saw her point. How would you run fast enough through brush and briers to catch deer, much less larger predators, if you were wearing all that . . . and ladies back then would have had to wear 'all that' or they would have stood out in a crowd, something a vampire would never want to do! Huh. Interesting problem. I wanted to hear that explanation from Carlisle as well!

At the very least, how did they keep all that fabric clean while virtually dragging the hem of it on the dirt all the time - they didn't exactly have paved sidewalks and carpets in the house! We spent several hours in the museum, laughing and talking until Alice heard my stomach growl.

"Lunch time, Bella?"

"Sure, lets go find the saloon where the Queen Elizabeth Bar is and have lunch there!"

Alice's eyes glassed over for a moment. It was moments like this when I wished I had Edwards ability to read minds so that I could just see what she was seeing and not have to ask her.

"Alice, what is it?"

"How about we do that tomorrow, Bella, there is food at the house and everyone will be waiting on us!

"Sounds good, let's go!"

I relaxed on the ride back to the cabin, the windy roads and the hum of the engine lulling me almost to sleep. I was thinking about Edward. He had behaved so insecurely yesterday morning, having awoken to him making love to me. I suspected that he had been doing exactly that all night while I slept and he had repeated his actions this morning. It was as though he needed the reassurance that I was there, that he was there with me and that he was allowed to be . . . to make love with me anytime he wanted. As if I would ever say no to him! I loved him near me, close to me, and I loved that my husband felt so strongly that he just needed that closeness, whether I was awake or not.

What I did not like was the fear I sensed in him. I recognized it immediately because I had felt it so often myself . . . the fear of loosing him, the insecurity of thinking something would happen to part us, that he would leave again. He had finally convinced me that he would not leave me. He had said it often enough, of course, but his actions had been so consistent these last few months that I was becoming confident that he would discuss any problem with me, allow me my say in anything that came up. He had proven that time and time again and I had no reason to doubt him.

He apparently did not feel that confident that I would not leave him, that I would not be repulsed by him when I saw him as a predator. He seemed determined to make me aware of all the bad things about becoming a vampire, all the things that he felt would dissuade my desire to be like him. It went beyond just deterring me from becoming immortal, it was as though he thought I would leave him when I really understood exactly what he was. Stupid silly vampire, as if anything would ever make me leave him!

~oooOooo~

"Wake up, sweetheart!", I heard Edward say to me through the fog of my dreams.

He lifted me from the car and hugged me to him, kissing my neck and gently scratching my back to further awaken me from my sleep. My stomach made the reply for me by growling hungrily as I reached up to clasp my arms around his neck and snuggle into him.

"Lunch time for the human!", he laughed as we broke our hug to walk into the cabin.

"Have you had your lunch?", I asked playfully as I made myself a sandwich.

"Bella, I have never been this full in my life. Can you not hear me slosh when I walk!", he laughed.

"That's true little sister!", Emmett said as he walked into the kitchen and picked me up to hug me hello, "Eddie here ate just about everything in the forest! I'm not even sure there is anything left out there for you to watch him hunt!"

"Emmett! You'll hurt her, be careful!", Rosalie said as she smacked him on the shoulder, insisting that he put me down. "He is right though, Bella, I have never seen a vampire drink that much in my life! I will be amazed if he can still run!", she laughed as she looked at Edward.

Edward shrugged his shoulders, "I just wanted to be sure I was as full as possible . . . to take every precaution I could. I really do appreciate you guys all coming out here to help with this, I really do."

"Don't worry about it, brother", Emmett said, "none of us would miss this for the world and I for one never miss out on an opportunity to play with a grizzly!

I turned to stare at Edward. "Grizzly?", I queered, amazed.

"Emmett loves grizzly, his favorite. Ever since the one attacked him when Rose first found him he has had sort of a vendetta to prove that now he wins, not the grizzly!", they all laughed at Edwards assessment of Emmett.

"Hopefully we can stop in Colorado in the Rockies on the way home and hunt some more, the one I got last night just reminded me of how tasty they are and how much fun they are to play with first!", Emmett said excitedly.

I stood there with my mouth open, shaking my head in disbelief. It was just hard to conceive of an unarmed man besting a grizzly. I guess I really didn't understand the strength and weaponry that a vampire possessed!

"Edward, you're not going to hunt a bear this morning, are you?", I asked astounded.

"Actually, I was just going to see what we found, but I think Emmett would loose it if he had to sit with you while I took on his favorite playmate!"

I finished my sandwich, washed my plate, rinsed my hands and stood with my hands stuffed in my front pocket facing my family.

"Ready to go?", I asked.

~oooOooo~

The cabin was remote enough that all we had to do was walk out the door and into the woods.

"Bella, Emmett will carry you", he said with a slight gleam in his eye, "like we do it when you and I travel in the forest, okay?", Edward asked me. He had not released my hand since we entered the woods, his stress was palpable - tension oozed from him like sap from a tree.

"Sure, whatever we need to do for this to work!", I said trying to calm him.

"Well, once you see this, if you decide to still become one of us, I'll know you are crazy for sure!", Rosalie said. She fully expected me to go running for the hills and leave Edward after seeing him kill a live animal and drink its blood.

"Come on, Rose, it's cool as shit to show a human how we hunt!", Emmett added excitedly, "You know it is! I don't know why we haven't ever done this before, it's the best showing off ever!"

"Emmett! Just what human do you think we should have showed this to . . . NO ONE!", Rosalie almost yelled at him as she slapped him on the shoulder for the second time today.

"Don't worry, Bella, everything will go well, I've seen it!", Alice reassured me. Jasper eyed her with trepidation. He wasn't at all comfortable with a human being anywhere near when anyone was hunting!

"Okay, Alice, you said it works if we start together so that I'm aware of Bella, right?", Edward repeated the plan yet again.

"Right big brother, just take off and we'll tend to your wife!", Alice told him playfully adding, "EDWARD! Do you think I would be a part of this if I hadn't seen that everything will be fine? I don't understand why you need her to see you feed, but she will be perfectly safe with us!"

He kissed me passionately, putting every fiber of his being into the kiss. I held him as tightly as I could for a brief moment longer, whispering our love for the other to hear before we parted.

We left the clearing together, all of us. Edward soon separated himself off to the side, upwind from me. He looked as though he was a part of the forest, still as a stone, his head cocked to one side, listening. He started off to the left at a slow pace, seeming to check the surroundings continually. We all held back a bit, keeping our distance on a parallel path from him. As he slowed, his movements became stealthy, not making a sound. I soon spotted the object of his intense interest.

There was a large mountain lion drinking from a stream that we were approaching. The large cat lifted his ears and made a slight motion of its head, its ears flicking as though a fly or something was buzzing around it. It looked around warily, whiskers twitching before it suddenly tensed its muscles and bolted back into the woods, now predator turned prey.

We ran through the woods at a speed faster than Edward usually carried me, matching the speed of the hunt we paralleled. I could see glimpses of Edward about 30 yards away, the trees a blur between us. He was faster than the lion he was after and he would catch up to him quickly.

The scene in front of me took on almost the appearance of a video game, the main characters remaining clearly visible while the background and objects in front of them blurred to not even being shapes, just colors flying past. The focused objects being Edward and his prey.

He ran with ease, determination on his face. He was wholly concentrated on the lion and his face was that of a predictor, rigid and gaunt, hard lines showing beneath the skin, eyes focused, lips pressed together in a hard line. He looked completely feral.

With blinding speed, the cat turned to face its attacker. It had chosen a small clearing and was perched with its front feet on a log, giving it the appearance of being slightly taller than it was in reality and an advantage point to leap from for its attack. The cat snarled viciously, pawing into the air with its claws raking the air threateningly its muscles like steel bands attached to the claws, flexing under the fur on its legs and shoulders. It was completely terrifying in its ferocity.

Edward stopped, crouched on the balls of his feet with the fingers of one hand just barely touching the ground, every muscle tensed and ready. He was a vision of perfection, soft black Nike's gripping the ground, jeans that hugged every line of his perfectly muscled thighs and ass, soft blue long sleeved shirt that stretched to cover his broad shoulders while still clinging to his trim waist. His tussled mop of windblown hair was moving slightly, the breeze moving down the valley from the mountains in the distance.

The tendons in his neck tensed, muscles flexed in preparation for the attack. A burst of speed accompanied by a ferocious growl and he lunged for the cat, snapping its neck with ease before the animal had a chance to even swipe a claw at the sleeve of his shirt. It was less trouble than I would have had picking up a kitten.

Edwards was over the animal, a hand on the scruff of its neck and one on its shoulder holding the limp body of the huge cat up slightly so that he had but to bend his neck from his crouched position on the meadow floor to bite into its neck. For the first time I understood some of what he had been telling me. There was no emotion, no concern for the life of the animal before him. I saw the raw power and the animal instincts . . . he was completely inescapable.

His siblings brought me to within yards of him, keeping me downwind. Apparently there was a certain distance that was maintained to allow the hunter to know that you were not threatening his kill. He looked around once for a split second, his eyes completely black. He growled threateningly and opened his mouth to expose all of his gleaming white teeth for only a split second as he dropped his head and bit into the neck of the animal.

It wasn't one bite like I had seen in movies, fangs somehow acting as straws for the vampire to suck the blood from its victim. Edward bit a mouthful of what seemed to be skin and fur, spitting the chunk out and then biting into the animal, apparently to finish his meal. He continued to drain the animal for a long moment, the tendons in his neck exposed and his cheeks hollowed, I assume from the force with which he was consuming his meal.

Emmett set me down on a rock ledge, waist height behind him, he and Jasper still partially crouched in front of me in a defensive stance and Alice and Rose on either side of me.

"It's alright, he's just feeding now, Bella, the hunt is over. He's reigning it in", Jasper stated.

It wasn't but a few moments before Edward let go of the limp body of the lion, letting it drop to the ground as though it were a discarded toy. He stood and it looked like he took a deep breath as if bracing himself for something about to happen.

I was trembling, shaking really. Edward turned to walked towards me, but he was acting so strangely, almost scaring me! He took small, deliberate steps as he approached, looking a bit like a frightened animal himself.

"It's okay, Bella, everything is okay!", Alice tried to comfort me, her am around my shoulders.

The small steps continued and he had his hands out in front of him, palms to me almost like he was showing me that he wasn't holding anything. His face looked . . . scared? Edwards eyes, changing more to molten gold than black now, continued to hold my stare.

"Bella, don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you sweetheart!"

I couldn't move. I sat on the ledge behind Emmett, frozen in place except for the violent, uncontrollable shaking that was continuing through out my body. I was sure I was as pale as a ghost, though I felt a burning sensation in my veins, a fire pumping throughout. I had to act, I had to move, to run . . .

"Bella, don't be afraid, I would never hurt you . . . please don't be afraid!"

I couldn't understand why he kept saying that, it made no sense to me. Of course he would never hurt me! Then it dawned on me, Edward was afraid! He was scared to death that I would fear him, that I would be repulsed by him, having seen him kill and feed! He wasn't that he feared hurting me, he feared that I would reject him!

Absolutely ridiculously oversensitive vampire!

I launched myself at him, literally jumping into his arms, squeezing him to me as I grasped the back of his neck, my chin on his shoulder. I held him for a long minute, stroking his soft hair. He set me down on my feet in front of him and cupped my face with his hands ever so softly.

"Are you not frightened of me, Bella?", he asked timidly, never taking his eyes off mine.

"Edward! Why would I ever be frightened of you? I love you!", I told him as I moved my lips closer to kiss him. He moved his face slightly so that my kiss landed on his cheek, missing his lips.

"Edward . . . what . . .", I stammered, surprised by his actions.

"I just didn't think you would want to kiss me just after I fed, love", he said as he dropped his gaze, reluctant to meet my eyes.

"Well, you were wrong!", I said as I grabbed each of his wrists, his palms still cupping my cheeks, and leaned in to kiss him. It was a gentle kiss, each side of his mouth in turn, then the center of his lips. He kissed me back but as my tongue traced his lips, asking to deepen the kiss his eyes flew open in disbelief. I was insistent and he gave in as I consumed his mouth, sucking his tongue into mine. There was a salty flavor, kind of metallic as well, but the overwhelming flavor was Edward, all Edward.

Jasper stood with the most astounded look on his face as he told his siblings, "She is fine, absolutely content with him. There is no fear at all, only the same unity between them that has always been there!"

"Well, damn it!", Rosalie said, "I thought for sure you would be running like hell to get away from us after you saw something like that!"

"I told you, Rose, we should have showed this to a human long ago", Emmett said as he jabbed her, "It was hot wasn't it, Bella?"

"Emmett, for once you are actually right!", Jasper shared with us.

"What?", Emmett asked.

"The main emotion coming from her is lust, in addition to overwhelming love, the lust is just overpowering!", Jasper said astounded.

Edward looked at me and the fear in his eyes seemed to fade, he held me to him as though I had been away for centuries before addressing his family

"Thank you all! Thank you for being here for me!", Edwards emotions were raw as he spoke, "We'll meet you back at the cabin this evening."

He took my hand and turned to walk into the forest as Alice stepped forward, handing me a small backpack.

"Bella, you'll need this! See you back at the cabin!", she said as she flitted away with Jasper and the others.

Edward kept stroking the knuckles of the hand he held with his thumb, continuing to comfort me in his own way. He was hesitant to touch me, still afraid of my reaction. What he didn't yet seem to realize was that I didn't need comforting like that, I just needed him. NOW.

"Edward, enough!", I said as I let go of his hand and stopped following him, "You need to stop this, I am not running away from you, you don't frighten me!"

He turned to me just in time to catch me as I sprang on him. In an instant, my arms were around his neck tugging on that gorgeous mop of bronze hair as my legs around his waist held him tightly to me. I breathed him in, my tongue asking entrance as my lips pressed hard to his.

We kissed for a long minute. I could not get enough of this man, he was mine and I didn't like him acting like I was afraid of him! He laid us down on some soft ferns as I moved to pull his shirt over his head, his skin sparkling in the off moments of sunlight that came through as the clouds passed by. I unbuttoned his jeans, never taking my lips from his. My husbands body was not responding to me. I froze, opening my eyes to stare into his. This had never happened before and I needed to know what was wrong, what I had done wrong!

"Edward, sweetheart, what's wrong?", my eyes flitted to my hand inside his jeans, still holding onto him.

"Bella", he looked down, not able to look into my eyes, "I have just never been so frightened in all my life."

My husband was lying here on the ground, letting me hold him in the most intimate way possible, and telling me he was frightened. The vampire that had just single handedly and with no weapons other than his own hands and teeth, killed and drained a large mountain lion without so much as a tear in his clothing, was terrified!

He looked up at me with an unfathomable expression in his eyes,

"I can't loose you, Isabella, I can't. I keep telling you I don't want you to be like me, I keep insisting on showing you things that I think will bring you to your senses and send you running for the hills, but Bella . . . I love you . . . I want you . . . I want you forever. Isabella, if the truth be known, I want you like me! God help me, but I do. I can't live without you and one lifetime will never ever be enough!"

"Edward, sweetheart, you wanted me to see you hunt so that I would know what I was getting myself in for if I become like you. Fine. I've seen it and I still want you . . . Edward I want my forever with you!"

His eyes were molten fire, they burned with all the emotion he had endured today and all the love he had for me. I only thought we had ever made love before this day. I had no real idea of the depth of love and emotion that Edward could show towards me. He touched me with almost a reverence, every caress felt to the bone, every kiss creating a fire that only he could extinguish. We rolled around in this bed of ferns for hours, consuming each other. I could not hold him tight enough, or kiss him hard enough. I have no idea how many times we made love, I only know that I will never, ever leave this man . . . and he will never leave me. Call it married, call it mated . . . call it love, if you will, but the bond between us was unbreakable now. He finally knew, as did I, that I would love him regardless, that I really did see him for what he was and loved him anyway.

Once we stilled for awhile, we had to dress as the sun was setting and the temperature was falling. It didn't matter to his body, but I was becoming really cold. We finally found all our clothing, it was sort of scattered about over the distance of 30 or 40 feet, the size of the fern covered area that we had crushed flat with our afternoons activities. We were about to leave when I spotted the backpack that Alice had handed me. I opened it and handed Edward the sweatshirt I had bought for him this morning, putting mine on as well.

"I really like the hoodie, Bella. Nice choice of colors, but how did you know you would be needing one?"

"I didn't know, I just liked them and then Alice must have seen and brought them in the backpack for us. It's actually kind of disturbing that she knew what we would be doing this afternoon and that I would need a jacket!".

"Tell me about it! I've had the last 50 years to get used to her and I still haven't!", Edward laughed.

He reached out his hand and I rook it as we walked back to the cabin, secure finally, in the way our lives were supposed to go . . . or so we thought . . .