I tried to swallow and then sighed, closing my eyes like I had before to help me concentrate. I let my
senses range out around me, tensed this time in case of another onslaught of the delicious taboo scent.

Edward dropped his hands, not even breathing while I listened farther and farther out into the web of
green life, sifting through the scents and sounds for something not totally repellant to my thirst. There was
a hint of something different, a faint trail to the east___

My eyes flashed open, but my focus was still on sharper senses as I turned and darted silently eastward.
The ground sloped steeply upward almost at once, and I ran in a hunting crouch, close to the ground,
taking to the trees when that was easier. I sensed rather than heard Edward with me, flowing quietly
through the woods, letting me lead.

The vegetation thinned as we climbed higher; the scent of pitch and resin grew more powerful, as did the
trail I followed—it was a warm scent, sharper than the smell of the elk and more appealing. A few
seconds more and I could hear the muted padding of immense feet, so much subtler than the crunch of
hooves. The sound was up—in the branches rather than on the ground. Automatically I darted into the
boughs as well, gaining the strategic higher position, halfway up a towering silver fir.

The soft thud of paws continued stealthily beneath me now; the rich scent was very close. My eyes
pinpointed the movement linked with the sound, and I saw the tawny hide of the great cat slinking along
the wide branch of a spruce just down and to the left of my perch. He was big—easily four times my
mass. His eyes were intent on the ground beneath; the cat hunted, too. I caught the smell of something
smaller, bland next to the aroma of my prey, cowering in brush below the tree. The lion's tail twitched
spasmodically as he prepared to spring.

With a light bound, I sailed through the air and landed on the lion's branch. He felt the shiver of the wood
and whirled, shrieking surprise and defiance. He clawed the space between us, his eyes bright with fury.
Half-crazed with

thirst, I ignored the exposed fangs and the hooked claws and launched myself at him, knocking us both
to the forest floor.

It wasn't much of a fight.

His raking claws could have been caressing fingers for all the impact they had on my skin. His teeth
could find no purchase against my shoulder or my throat. His weight was nothing. My teeth unerringly
sought his throat, and his instinctive resistance was pitifully feeble against my strength. My jaws locked
easily over the precise point where the heat flow concentrated.