Chapter 10: Hunting Activities

Nessie's POV

"Aaron wait!" I suddenly called out.

He stopped in his tracks turned around and gave me a look of utter confusion.

"Yeah?" he questioned. "Are you alright Nessie?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that I decided to come with you after all"

Now he looked really confused. "I thought you said your leg was broken and you weren't feeling well?" I tried to think of a rational explanation to give him as to why I had suddenly changed my mind and decided to go with him after all that didn't sound completely nuts. The truth was that he, like me, was a hunter. Unlike me though he exclusively hunted wolves. I was afraid of him running into Jake and trying to kill him. I wasn't sure if Jacob could even be killed by bullets but I was not about to take that chance. There was also another reason and that reason was a bit more cowardly. I didn't want to face Jacob but I was afraid of how he would react now that he knew I hunted wolves as well.

"I think some fresh air will do me some good" was the best answer that I could come up with.

He looked at me long and hard before finally saying "okay" I struggled to keep up with him but he didn't seem to mind at all.

"Nessie are you sure that you're going to be okay for the competition next week?" he asked me, referring to the annual wolf hunting contest that occurred in our city every year.

"Yeah, I'll be fine" I said.

"Good" he said. "Be because when I win I want it to be a fair victory" he smirked.

I punched his arm playfully. "Oh and what makes you so sure that you will win this year?" I rolled my eyes at him.

He laughed at my response. "Because I'm the greatest wolf hunter ever"

Now it was my turn to laugh at him. "Oh really" I said through a fit of giggles. "That explains why I came in first the last two years in a row and you only came in second" I continued to laugh. He wasn't having it though.

"Hey! Second place is still second place!"

"Also known as first loser"

"Okay, that's it you asked for it!"

I saw him coming straight for me and I tried to run away as fast as I could. Unfortunately, do to my injury, he caught me easily and startled tickling me.

"Okay! Okay I give up!"

"You're lucky you're injured if not I would not give in so easily"

I'd have to say that Aaron was definitely one of my best friends and the guy I liked the most other than my own fiancée Masen. Sometimes I think Masen was really jealous of the type of friendship I had with Aaron. Actually I think, if it were up to Masen, I wouldn't be socializing with any member of the male species period. I had to put his butt in check a few times over the amount of grief he liked to give me over my guy friends.

We were friends before we started working together at AutoZone. We actually first met on a hunting trip. We ran into each other and started bonding over our mutual love over the sport. He was the one that taught me how to hunt wolves. So whenever I do better than him I like to rub it in his face that its all his fault. Its all playful banter though, I just love messing with him as much as he loves messing with me.

"So Nessie, if you're now out here to hunt then what did you come out here for? I'm sure it wasn't just for 'fresh air'" he used his fingers as quotation marks.

"Nothing really. I just wasn't feeling all that well and I decided to ditch school early" it wasn't a complete lie. I didn't want to tell him about the bullying that had just taken place. So this was the next logical thing that I could come up with.

He was about to say something else when suddenly his dog, Daisy, took off running frantically in another direction. I dreaded what that meant.

"What's going on?" I asked nervously.

"Come on Nessie you should already know the answer to that. She caught the scent of a wolf!" I could hear the excitement in his voice. "Now come on lets go get some wolf"

I followed him as fast as I could. I was hoping, praying actually, that this happened to be a regular wolf and not Jacob. I didn't think Jacob could be easily killed by a bullet but I didn't want to take that chance. Either way I didn't want to see him get shot by my best friend! Aaron's pace quickened as he tried to keep up with Daisy. Meanwhile I struggled to keep up with the both of them. How I cursed my lack of vampire powers at the moment!

"Oh holy shit" I heard Aaron whisper to himself as he hid behind a bush. I joined him.

"What?"

"Look at the size of those things over there" he pointed to the far out distance. My heart stopped when I saw not only Jacob, but several of the other wolves as well. I recognized them as Leah, Seth, and Embry.

"What're you doing?" I gasped, horrified when Aaron didn't hesitate to pull out his gun and point it at the wolves.

"Nessie do you have any idea how much we could sell those fur pelts for? Especially that gray one. It's so beautiful that I bet it would sell high and fast"

"You can't kill them" I said.

He looked at me like I was crazy. "Nessie are you feeling okay? You're not turning into a PETA fanatic on me are you?"

"Of course not-"

"Then what are you-"

"You can't shoot these wolves, okay? Any other wolf is fine, but not these" I begged. Even though I could tell that my begging was going to be useless on him.

The wolves, suddenly aware of our presence, looked our way. I wish I could describe the look on Jacob's face but unfortunately I had no words. I could not tell if he was angry at me, or sad, or disappointed or confused. I couldn't get a good read on him and that frustrated me more than anything else.

"Look it's coming right for us"

I turned away from Jacob and noticed that it was Leah coming near us.

"Well he's so beautiful" Aaron said. "Best looking specimen of a wolf I have ever seen"

As soon as she got close enough he aimed his gun right at her with his finger on the trigger ready to fire. She growled furiously at the sight of the weapon but then stopped as soon as she looked into Aaron's eyes. I saw something change in her. She had imprinted on a guy that every intention of killing her right then and there.

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