Midnight Sun (Twilight #1.5)(99)

"To give me some small incentive to bring you back," I hissed. She should give me that much - one witness to compel me to be cautious.

Why had Alice forced this knowledge on me now?

"Oh," Bella said and then looked thoughtful. "Maybe she did it so that you would be on guard... that you wouldn't be careless there."

"You think?" Jacob asked.

"It's a possibility," Bella shrugged.

Bella swallowed loudly, and stared at me for a long moment. What did she see?

"I think I'll take my chances," she said.

Ugh! Did she get some thrill out of risking her life? Some shot of adrenaline she craved?

"I'm not some kind of adrenaline junky," Bella rolled her eyes.

I scowled at Alice, who met my glare with a warning glance. Beside her, Rosalie was glowering furiously, but I couldn't have cared less. Let her destroy the car. It was just a toy.

"Let's talk about something else," Bella suggested suddenly.

I looked back at her, wondering how she could be so oblivious to what really mattered. Why wouldn't she see me for the monster I was?

Because it's better to see you as the good man that you are, Bella thought to herself, not sure if Jacob would want to hear something like that, with the attitude he had right now.

"What do you want to talk about?"

Her eyes darted to the left and then the right, as if checking to make sure there were no eavesdroppers. She must be planning to introduce another myth-related topic.

Her eyes froze for a second and her body stiffened, and then she looked back to me.

"Why did you go to that Goat Rocks place last weekend...to hunt? Charlie said it wasn't a good place to hike, because of bears."

So oblivious. I stared at her, raising one eyebrow.

"How did you miss that one?" Jacob tried to chuckle.

"Because it's bears... how could something that looks so human hunt bears?" Bella said.

"Bears?" she gasped.

I smiled wryly, watching that sink in. Would this make her take me seriously?

Would anything?

She pulled her expression together. "You know, bears are not in season," she said severely, narrowing her eyes.

"If you read carefully, the laws only cover hunting with weapons."

She lost control over her face again for a moment. Her lips fell open.

"Bears?" she said again, a tentative question this time rather than a gasp of shock.

"Grizzly is Emmett's favorite."

I watched her eyes, seeing this settle in.

"Hmm," she murmured. She took a bite of the pizza, looking down. She chewed thoughtfully, and then took a drink.

"What are you thinking?" Jacob asked.

"Don't know," Bella said.

"So," she said, finally looking up. "What's your favorite?"

I supposed I should have expected something like that, but I hadn't. Bella was always interesting, at the very least.

"That was a great compliment," Jacob said and Bella rolled her eyes.

"Mountain lion," I answered brusquely.

"Really?" Bella said, the idea of hunting a mountain lion seemed scary too... but she remembered how Emmett had hunted the bear... they couldn't be hurt by animals.

"Ah," she said in a neutral tone. Her heartbeat continued steady and even, as if we were discussing a favorite restaurant.

Fine, then. If she wanted to act like this was nothing unusual...

"Of course, we have to be careful not to impact the environment with injudicious hunting," I told her, my voice detached and clinical. "We try to focus on areas with an overpopulation of predators - ranging as far away as we need. There's always plenty of deer and elk here, and they'll do, but where's the fun in that?"

She listened with a politely interested expression, as if I were a teacher giving a lecture. I had to smile.

"Where indeed," she murmured calmly, taking another bite of pizza.

"Early spring is Emmett's favorite bear season," I said, continuing with the lecture. "They're just coming out of hibernation, so they're more irritable."

Seventy years later, and he still hadn't gotten over losing that first match.

"Yeah well, he basically died, didn't he? I wouldn't have gotten over that quickly either," Jacob said.

"Nothing more fun than an irritated grizzly bear," Bella agreed, nodding solemnly.

Jacob snorted. "You are so weird."

I couldn't hold back a chuckle as I shook my head at her illogical calm. It had to be put on. "Tell me what you're really thinking, please."

"I'm trying to picture it - but I can't," she said, the crease appearing between her eyes. "How to you hunt a bear without weapons?"

"It's not difficult at all for them," Bella answered.

"Oh, we have weapons," I told her, and then flashed her a wide smile. I expected her to recoil, but she was very still, watching me. "Just not the kind they consider when writing hunting laws. If you've ever seen a bear attack on television, you should be able to visualize Emmett hunting."

She glanced toward the table where the others sat, and shuddered.

Finally. And then I laughed at myself, because I knew part of me was wishing she would stay oblivious.