Aria was leaning into me, both her arms wrapped around my torso as she tried to absorb some heat from my body. I kept one arm around her shoulders and left my free hand holding onto the strap of the backpack that was slung over my shoulder. The sun was low in the sky, slowly rising over the plains of the Masai Mara and we watched the scene in silence as we waited for our guide and truck to arrive.

Only one other couple joined us, Larissa and Sebastian, we had met them upon our arrival in Africa and they had been booked on the same early morning safari as us. We had asked James what he recommended we should do first whilst here, and he had told us the early morning safari was the most rewarding for looking at animals up close - they also seemed to be more active around this time.

Last night had been spectacular, admittedly our most romantic meal together. Like true newlyweds we just couldn't keep our hands off of each other. I was so grateful that James didn't linger between courses because he would have certainly got an eyeful. We didn't end up getting to sleep until the early hours after another long night of love making and I think Aria was currently struggling to stay awake. I squeezed her a little tighter and kissed the top of her head.

Soon enough the rumbling of a truck engine came into earshot... well Aria and I's earshot and we turned our heads to the right as we waited for it to come into view. Aria snickered quietly beside me, no doubt our sudden movement had earned questioning glances from our companions.

About thirty seconds later the deep, forest green truck came into view. The cab was occupied by just the driver and one other man, a huge rifle propped up on the passenger seat between them, then another man was sat right at the back of the seating area, looking back at the road, with a rifle perched in his lap as well. I swear I heard the couple next to us gulp.

The truck pulled up in front of us and Ari loosened her grip on me and straightened herself up. "Good morning." The driver greeted through the open window as he put the truck in park. "Welcome to the Sunrise Safari Tour." He continued in his thick accent as he jumped out of the cab. The man was very smiley and ecstatic, his white teeth bright against his dark skin. He ran around the cab to meet us and shook each of our hands. "My name is Daniel and I will be your guide. This is Kelvin and Leonard." He pointed at the man who was sat beside him as he exited the truck and the other man that still sat at the back of the truck. He nodded at us and gave a single wave. "Leonard will be your photographer and Kelvin is our security."

Daniel went on to explain the rules of the safari and what the trip would entail. We had to obey every instruction Daniel or Kelvin gave us in order to remain safe, all the while Leonard was taking photos of us all. There were no cages around the passenger area of the truck, only a canopy to shield us from the heat of the sun. If an animal was to approach, we had to follow the strict rules and not stick our arms out of the truck to coax it over. We were due to set off at 07:10 am, which was in five minutes time, from there we would sight-see until 08:45 am where we would stop for breakfast and watch the wildlife from a 'safety zone'. From there we would move on and continue our safari until noon, nearly five hours worth of exploring.

"Mr and Mrs Black, if you could follow me first." Daniel led us around to the back of the truck where Kelvin has already opened the small passenger door that we would climb through. I had to admit my heart did a little somersault when he called to us, I don't think I'd ever get tired of hearing Ari being called my wife.

Aria stepped up first, taking Kelvin's offered hand for support (she was too polite to decline). Her ass rose up to my eyeline as she climbed into the bed/seating area of the truck, her shorts on the brink of being booty shorts as she leant forward to duck under the canopy to walk to her seat... I was so going to bend her over later. I grinned when I heard her mutter "non-stop" under her breath, too quietly for the humans to hear. She loved it really.

I stepped up into the truck after her, the body of the truck bouncing slightly under my weight as I literally had to fold myself in half height-wise to get to my seat beside Aria. She laughed at me as I flopped down into my seat beside her and placed my backpack between my feet and slung my arm over her shoulder.

Larissa and Sebastian followed suit and soon enough we were on our way, traveling down the dirt track towards the heart of the Masai Mara. "Jake, look." Aria patted my arm enthusiastically as she pointed to thirteen teardrop-shaped objects floating just above the horizon, the rising orange sun blazing behind them. I smiled a little wider when I heard the shutter of a camera from Leonard's direction.

"They are our hot air balloons. It is another tour that we offer." Daniel explained over his shoulder as we continued down the dusty path. I looked at the side of Ari's face and her eyes lit up with excitement, I then knew what our next adventure would be. She squeezed my hand a second later, letting me know that my thought was correct. I'd have to look into booking that when we got back.

I turned my attention back to our surroundings, the never-ending fields peppered with wildebeests on the move, ready for the great migration. Daniel began listing out facts about the area as Kelvin sat at the back of the truck, his gun ready, his eyes piercing. I was sure he didn't have to be so on edge, nothing could approach us so quickly that we wouldn't see it coming from a mile away... well a vampire could, but the only one out here was Aria.

About ten minutes later we pulled over as four male hyenas approached our truck, the stench of fresh blood was so overwhelming it made my nose wrinkle. Their hysterical calls made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. "Check out the blood and gore on the side of their necks." Daniel pointed out, a strange grin on his face. "They must have just returned from a pre-sunrise feast."

"Smells like a deer, must be an antelope or something." Ari whispered to me quietly, a smug but disturbing grin on her face. She knew it would creep me out.

"You're disgusting." I muttered back and she laughed a little too loudly, earning weird stares from the other couple. Kelvin even took his eye off the horizon for a brief moment, his eyebrow raised. I snickered under my breath as Ari blushed.

We continued moving, nearly always surrounded by herds of antelope or wildebeest. We drove to an area that Daniel knew well, where he had seen four cheetah cubs yesterday. He informed us that they were only three weeks old, and their mother's first litter. "We were concerned about them yesterday. There was two male lions lurking just fifty feet away from their burrow but fortunately they didn't catch a glimpse of them." Daniel informed us, leaning forward in his chair to try and see if he could spot the cheetahs.

Ari could of course see them first, her heightened eyesight zoning in on the cubs hiding in the tall grass, their mother laying beside them, blending in almost perfectly with the yellowing foliage. She let me see through her gift until I could spot them myself, the cute cubs curled around one another as they napped. It took another minute or so for the humans to find them, the excited whispers between Daniel and the other couple startled the mother slightly. She raised up onto all four limbs and glanced at us before nudging her babies to get them moving along.

We watched them until they disappeared into the long grass, urging us to move on. Ari was so animated, don't get me wrong I was having the best time as well, but just watching her made the experience so much better. Being able to do all this with her made it so special, memories that I never wanted to forget. It just reminded me of when we were kids and first saw whales come up for air off the coast of First Beach.

We passed through a group of fifty-nine zebras - Daniel informed us that a herd of them is called a dazzle... who the fuck named it that I don't know. Four of the zebras were constantly on the look out for predators while the others were left to graze. We continued on, viewing some warthogs and antelopes until we arrived at our breakfast site at around twenty minutes to nine.

The truck pulled to a stop beside an umbrella thorn acacia tree in the middle of the plains. The ground stretched out around us, clear of any longer grass and foliage, we would be able to see anything threatening from a mile off, giving us time to rush back into the truck if we had to. Our group climbed out, Daniel and Kelvin quickly got to work with unloading the truck and laying out blankets and cushions for us under the shade of the tree, whose trunk had been rubbed smoothed by elephants.

Myself and Sebastian offered a helping hand to get the food set out, with Kelvin quickly returning to his post: keeping a look out for predators. Sausages, bacon, fresh bread, corn muffins, fruit and yogurt were on offer to us and I couldn't have been happier to eat. Fast metabolism meant I had to eat almost constantly and not eating since last night was driving me slightly mad.

We eat close together, Ari placed on my lap, not caring about the PDA. We chatted with the other couple, Ari showing off and picking up what she could as they spoke in German between themselves. Through her gift she told me she wanted to learn German next, already being fluent in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. I'd like to learn another language myself, but I just didn't have the attention span to stick to it. Maybe when I was hundreds of years old and bored.

Our breakfast break lasted about an hour before we had to pack up and move on again. We headed further inland, the smells of the new animals made my nose twitch like crazy. Daniel pointed out wildebeest, topis, Thomson's and Grant's gazelles, warthogs, waterbucks and buffalo.

Eventually we caught up with the great migrations. Thousands of wildebeests and zebras filled the plains as far as the eye could see. The noises were immense, their hooves scuffing the dirt, their lungs filling with air, the constant thrumming of their hearts and heavy breathing... not to mention the smell. I side glanced Aria when we pulled up under the shade of a huge tree, she was holding her breath and I couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Come on, you must be struggling as well." Aria said quietly, still not breathing in the smell of all the animals and what they left behind them. It was bad I admit, but her senses were more heightened than mine, even the humans were complaining.

We stopped as Daniel offered us the chance to stretch our legs, as we stepped down onto the grass a weird feeling occurred. Seeing all these animals, all this prey, there was sure to be some predators lurking around. It made me think back to when I'd be with my pack and we'd hunt groups of deer, of course there was no number compared to this herd, but I almost had the urge to phase and leap right in to scatter them and break the tight formation they had created.

"It has been a while since you last phased." Ari said lowly as she stood beside me, wrapping her arms around my torso, her deep blue eyes staring up at me.

I reciprocated and wrapped my arms around her. "It would be nice to stretch my legs properly, to explore." I admitted before kissing her forehead. "I bet you want to get out there too." I said gesturing with a tilt of my head towards the mass herd.

She smirked and squeezed me a little tighter. "It would be fun to let loose." I could just picture her blurring away from me and into the long grass, taunting and urging me to race with her as we explored under the African stars, we could make love in the dark, in the wilderness, we could... "How does your mind always drift back to sex?" She whispered with a light giggle.

"Because that's the closest I ever get to you." I stated like it was obvious. "I love you and what we have is just so perfect. I can never get enough." A smiled as a blush bloomed over her cheeks and leant down to connect our lips. She smiled into the kiss and hummed happily to herself before leaning back to rest her head against my chest.

Our morning continued and on the way back to the resort we caught sight of a pride of lounging lions resting under the shade of a tree, with eight buffalo eyeing up the prime spot for themselves. The morbid side of me wanted to see a little bit of a fight but it seemed the lions were too sleepy to care about the buffalo's stand off. It wasn't until one rather large buffalo decided to charge at them, stirring them to their feet and forcing them back into the hot sun.

As our morning came to an end and the resort came into view with the windows rebounding the light of the sun, sending light sparkling across the plains, Ari settled into my side. I could hear the clicking of the camera in front of us but my eyes were set on our surroundings and what an amazing experience the morning had been. We were able to see so much on our first day, much more that I expected and I couldn't wait to continue the experience for the time that we were here.

The jeep dropped us back to our suite and we thanked our guide, protection and the photographer for such a wonderful morning. Leonard let us know we could have all the photos put into an album for us, ready to collect the next morning once the photos had been processed.

We spent the rest of the day lounging around the pool sipping cocktails, watching the wildlife from the veranda by the pool. I watched Ari as she paraded around in her skimpy bikini, and we got to know the two other couples more that has arrived here with us. As the sun began to set we made our way back to the suite to start getting ready for dinner, making one pitstop to book in our sunrise hot air balloon tour for the next day. Ari and I had made reservations with Larissa and Sebastian at the resort restaurant. I didn't mind that we had made friends here, I just didn't want them to impose on my time alone with Aria, one night sharing a dinner should be enough.

Ari made for the bathroom first, stripping off her maxi skirt and bikini as she sauntered towards the shower. Instinctively, I couldn't help but follow, it was like there a was a tether between us. Wherever she went, I had to follow.

"Get your butt out of this bathroom Jacob Black." Aria called out to me over the sounds of the trickling water that was showering down upon her. She had read my mind or heard my slightly louder than silent footsteps into the tiled bathroom.

I reached behind me and pulled my shirt over my head and dropped it to the floor with a quiet thud. I knew she didn't really want me out of the room, why else would she have left the shower door slightly open. I dropped my swim shorts at lightening speed and shot my hand out to stop Ari from closing the shower door. The little frown on her face was adorable.

"Jake." She whined. "We have reservations at seven." Our second meal under the African stars would have to wait, my wife looked too good.

I slipped into the shower and closed the door behind me, the warm water poured down between us until I closed the distance and pulled Ari's wet body into mine. I could hear her heartbeat quicken as her hands rested against my chest. She looked up at me with very faint annoyance because lust was beginning to pour into her eyes.

"I'm sure they won't mind." I hummed as I leant down to kiss just below her ear. She signed contently as her hands slid up over my chest and wrapped around my neck. "I'm never going to get enough of you."

She smiled up at me as I let my hands slip lower until they cupped her ass cheeks. "Me neither, baby." She admitted, a lustful smirk now spreading across her lips. I squeezed her ass and she knew that was my way of telling her to jump up into my arms. As I held her up I walked forward until her back was pressed against the cool tiles, she gasped and pressed her body into me as the warm water ran down between us. I watched as the water rolled down her face, clung to her dark eyelashes, ran over her shoulders and breasts.

I felt her hand reach down between us, and she grasped my length tightly in her fist. "How did I get so lucky?" I breathed as I rested my forehead against hers, my breathing getting heavy as she moved her hand over me.

She laughed lightly as she positioned my tip at her entrance. "We're both lucky." She captured my lips in a hungry kiss before sinking down onto my length. Long, lust filled sighs escaped us both as she grinded down onto me, using the grip on my shoulders as leverage. I don't think I'd ever get used to how perfect she feels around me.

I gripped her ass in my hands, holding her tightly as I began to thrust into her, all the while our lips hadn't left one another's. She moved against me, both of us melting into each other as our moans were dulled by the sound of the shower.

It wasn't long until she was close to her high, I pressed her harder against the wall, only one hand now holding her up as I reached the other between us. I brushed my fingertips over her clit and she shuddered against me. I grinned into the kiss as I rubbed a little harder, her body convulsed as I brought her over the edge. Her nails dug into my skin as she whimpered, her pussy tightened around me as I kept thrusting into her. "Cum for me, Jake." She moaned into my ear, her fingertips raking through the hair on the back of my head.

That did it.

I increased my pace and finally let go, groaning against her neck as we held tightly onto each other. Admittedly it wasn't our longest moment together, but any chance to hold her in my arms I was going to take it.

We held each other for a few moments more before I placed her back on her feet. We washed each other, I stole a few more kisses and then we got ready for dinner. Turns out we were only ten minutes late and Ari didn't seem to mind one bit.

* * *

Aria's POV

The sky was still a misty blur of light blues and the grey of night when we left our suite. The light of the stars was dimming with the verge of brightness about to ascend over the horizon. Flames from the hot air balloon burners lit the darkness as the crews inflated their crafts. The first pink tongues of sunlight began to flicker across the skies as the hot air balloons filled and then began to rise.

We were suspended in a basket beneath the rainbow-coloured canopy, about to begin our second adventure of our honeymoon. The strange silence of the early morning was breathtaking. As we floated above the plains, the forests and the rivers of the Masai Mara it was hard to imagine that it was real and that we were actually there.

It was such a unique experience, floating above the landscape, drifting wherever the air current would take us. The amazing opportunities for photographs and videos, our own and what the onboard photographer would take of us. I would be able to fill a whole photo album just from this morning alone, I was sure of it.

As first light sent a promising glow across the horizon at dawn, the balloon rose above the plains. The sensation of drifting above the world in silence was second only to the breathtaking views of the plains, forests and the Mara River, drifting wherever the current took us. The sounds below carried upwards, a lion's roar, elephants crashing through the bush, screeching baboons looking quizzically upwards.

Then suddenly a burnt orange glow gradually gave way to hazy, purple skies. Jake stood behind me, his chin resting on my shoulder, his arms around me as we looked out to what felt like all of Africa laid out before our eyes. Our hot air balloon glided effortlessly over the endless savannah, allowing us to watch the animals from the air. Everywhere we looked there were zebras or herds of wildebeest, buffalo or giraffes grazing peacefully on the grass.

"This is amazing." I breathed as I leant back into Jake's chest. It was everything I imaged it to be and more. "I'm so happy I get to share this with you." I craned my neck around to look up at him, but he was already smiling down at me, smiling that smile he only saved for me, an endearing look in his eyes.

"Me too, baby." He smiled warmly at me before leaning down ever so slightly to peck my lips.

We continued gazing lovingly at each other and then in wonderment of the world below. The savannah was never ending, there were literally millions of wildebeest scattered across the ground below as far as even my eyes could see.

We flew over an area called "Rhino Ridge", and we were lucky enough to spot a white rhino from the air. Our pilot told us that when he started working in the Masai around 6 years ago there were 36 rhinos in the park but due to poaching, there were only 18 left.

Jake and I had planned to go exploring tonight, and thinking about poachers made a question stick in my mind. What would we do if we saw poachers? Did we stop them? I don't think I could kill them, sure I've killed vampires but these would be humans. I'm sure Jake wouldn't allow that. I would just have to pray that no humans would be in our sights tonight.

We drifted through the air for an hour, the landing was mildly bumpy. I held tightly onto the side of the basket, Jake kept his hands on either side of mine and practically pinned me to the basket wall so that I wouldn't fall. I knew for a fact he knew how well balanced I was, there was no chance of me falling, to be honest I think he just wanted to rub himself against my ass... not that I minded.

After landing we experienced a traditional champagne toast, followed by breakfast cooked on the balloon burners in the middle of the rolling plains. I had to admit it still came in as a close second to the breakfast we had yesterday, nothing would ever compare to that, eating in the wilderness surrounded by wildlife. We were sitting at tables in this spot.

We both agreed we could have easily stayed in the balloon for much longer, it was one of the best things we've ever done and we loved every second of it. It was our first time on a hot air balloon, but it definitely wouldn't be our last.

* * *

"Jacob, someone's going to see you." I whispered, trying my best to be serious but the last few words that left my mouth were distorted by giggles.

"Then their view will be even more spectacular, won't it?" He grinned up at me from the bottom of the villa's steps, standing in just his boxers, the rest of his clothes had been thrown about our room behind me. I rolled my eyes at him, ignoring his bigheadedness.

"Cocky much." I raised my eyebrows at him as I silently stepped down the stairs and joined him on the gravel path.

Our plan was to have an unguided tour of the Masai Mara, explore a little buy ourselves, maybe let him ravish me on the plains under the stars. Who knew what was going to happen? I was dying to vamp out a little though, I just felt so confined moving at human pace all the time.

"You love it." His cheesing smile made my heart flutter slightly but then it skipped a beat as he dropped his boxers. I tried my best not to look at all of him like he wanted me to, instead, I kept my mind focused on those that were living around us, hoping none of them would take a peak out of their windows and see a giant naked man standing on the path.

"Jacob." I complained half-heartedly as he tossed his boxers back up the steps so they landed in front of our villa door.

"Stop worrying." He shook his head at me before turning and jogging into the darkness and down the small hillside towards the reserve that stretched out before us. I sped after him, my footsteps silent on the ground as I zoomed past him towards the fence that kept the animals out of the main resort that surrounded the villas. "Hey." He whined as I leapt over the ten foot fence with ease. I grinned at him triumphantly as he took a sprinting start at it and landed with a little less grace than I did.

We kept on running, at a slow pace for me as Jake was still in human form, sticking to the shadows until we were sure no humans on the resort would be able to spot us. We stopped about two miles out, shielded by a tree, and Jake let the heat roll over his body. His arms shook until they were suddenly paws that thumped down onto the ground between us, a very low growl rippled through his chest as he became his shifter counter part.

"That feels so much better." He sighed as he stretched out like a lazy dog that had just woken up from a nap.

"Did you miss being on all fours?" I laughed as I ran my hands over the fur on his back.

"My inner wolf was just fighting to come out, not so much that I missed it." He explained as I watched one of his ears twitch towards the east.

"What is it?" I asked as I tried to focus on what he was hearing. About ten miles out the hysterical cackles of hyenas was building along with the fierce warning hiss of a big cat. I grimaced, hyenas really freaked me out, maybe it was watching The Lion King as a child that done it for me.

"Wanna check it out?" Jake asked a little excitedly, his body was already leaning towards the east, ready to lurch forward at my say so.

"Sure." I said a little reluctantly and then he was gone, charging through the darkness towards the commotion. I didn't know what we'd find but I was hoping it wasn't going to see some disgusting bloodbath with a poor animal being torn apart by a pack of hyenas. Either way I took off after Jake, listening to the thumping of his heart, his heavy breathing and even heavier footfalls as he took the lead.

As we ran, and the scents of the animals in their stand off drifted closer I realised we had been here just yesterday, then I caught sight of the fight. The mother cheetah we had seen yesterday was guarding the cubs' burrow, trying to be as fierce as she could as eleven hyena circled and taunted her. She was only small, there wasn't much size difference between her and the hyenas that were tying to get to her cubs.

Jake and I were running against the wind, they hadn't caught our scents yet. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see four little cubs being eaten. "Jake." I called out quietly into the wind and he skidded to a stop and circled back to me.

"What's wrong?" He moved on his feet uneasily, confused as to why we had stopped and eager to get moving again. Clearly he hadn't caught on to what we were running towards.

"I can't watch the cheetah cubs get torn apart, that's what's going on." I explained as his eyesight didn't go as far as mine.

"Is that what it is?" He asked plainly, the excitement gone from his voice. "Well we have to save them."

"Jake we can't mess with nature-" I cautioned, as much as I wanted to help we couldn't.

"To hell with nature, look at us." He growled and then he was off, running faster than I had seen him run for a while, a cloud of dust following him as his claws furiously dug at the dirt beneath him.

I shook my head with annoyance, he never thought before he acted. If we saw this whilst on our safari yesterday we wouldn't have been able to do anything. I blurred after him, the sounds that were rumbling from his chest were terrifying. What was he going to do anyway? Eat the hyena? There were eleven of them and one of him, surely they could do some damage with their bone crushing jaws... could they even do some damage to me, who knew?

A ferocious roar thundered around the plains, silencing the cackles of the hyena. The mother cheetah threw herself over the entrance of her burrow as Jake dove into the action, knocking three off their feet and into the undergrowth and tall grass. From the creatures' scared whines and yelps you could hear that they were scared and confused.

Some confident hyenas lunged for Jake, snapping at his legs clawing at his sides as they tried to jump up and onto his back. "Jake, be careful." I yelled out, my voice carrying in the wind as the fear crept up that he could end up having his limbs crushed and Carlisle wasn't here to set it right. Jacob managed to shake them off but my voice had signalled my presence and two of the hyena saw me as an easy meal. I hissed at them in warning but they still leaped for me, teeth bared and ready to attempt to rip the flesh from my body.

I kicked them away from me, not wanting to do them harm or kill them but enough for them to back off, it seemed Jacob's attempts had them scared as well and soon enough they were backing away. It seemed the meal wasn't worth the effort.

Jake and I turned towards the cheetah mother who was still poised and ready to attack, her own snarls and hisses warning us to stay away. "Come on, lets go." I pulled on the fur on the back of his neck and we instantly dispersed, running at least a mile before I skidded to a stop. "What were you thinking? You could have got hurt." I snapped, folding my arms across my chest.

"They didn't hurt me, didn't even get close." He said smugly, moving closer to nudge my side with his nose. I didn't budge.

"Well what if there was thirty of them, they would've got close then." I retorted, letting my arms drop back to my side as I scowled at him.

"Come on, baby. I did something heroic. I saved cheetah cubs." He tried again to win me over, his massive wolf head flopping to the side as he looked at me with puppy dog eyes.

"You did. But-" I was going to explain that we couldn't save every animal on these nights out but he shut me up by shifting back into his human self. "Jake." I rolled my eyes at him as his warm arms wrapped around me.

"Aria." He smiled down at me.

"You are crazy." I glared up at him but the anger was fading. He just looked too sweet to be mad at... and he had done a good thing.

"Crazy for you." He smirked and I laughed.

"Oh please." I rolled my eyes again before shoving him away from me.

"Hey!" He grumbled.

"Come on lover boy, see if you can catch me and then maybe I'll give in to what you really wanted to do out here." I gave him a suggestive look and then heard his sharp intake of breath. "Come get me." I teased before turning on my heel to sprint through the darkness.

Seconds later those big pawprints were chasing after me, along with his thoughts and ideas of what he wanted to do with me. I laughed to myself and slowed my pace a little. Tonight was going to be a long night, and I didn't mind one bit.