Chapter 4
-Jake-
I thudded over the forest floor, running for running's sake, running anywhere… but always back to the same place, eventually. Bella's house. I snorted softly in the trees, my huge wolf form hidden in the darkness. Her bedroom lights were on. Edward wasn't here yet. I would have smelled him. Better be off, before he comes along. I sneered and snapped my jaws at a thought of a reunion with him.
I trotted back towards Quileute lands. My heart seemed to weigh down my legs, as I slowed my pace to a walking trot. I did everything I could. Everything. Yet, she is still going to willingly give up her life in every literal sense of the word for that Cullen ass. I know I should walk away and say I tried, but I couldn't help but feel like her change would be blood on my hands for the rest of my life. And graduation nears ever closer with every passing day. I half sighed, half growled. I was preparing to phase back to human form, when I heard shuffling feet in the woods. I stilled and tensed.
I quietly followed the sounds. A vamp? Impossible. I would have caught the stink from miles away. No one from the pack, either. A normal human taking a walk? Probably. I should just leave before I'm spotted. I made to leave, but something stopped me. I could hear this person, I could sense them, yes, but I couldn't smell them at all. Humans, vamps, and animals, all have very distinct odors, so who or what could this be?
I followed the sounds to the edge of the cliff. There was someone there. A woman? Yea, it had to be. And hair.. Hair was swirling in a lazy fashion around her head …. Ok. Enough. Maybe some chick got ditched and wants to do herself in by jumping off a cliff. The sea breeze is wafting her scent in the opposite direction and that's why I can't smell her. End of story.
I blinked once and she was gone, vanished. I stepped out of the clearing. Had she jumped? I looked around and there, trotting up the cliff into the woods was a huge cat. It looked like a… Tiger? In Forks? Before I could rationalize it, I was running. The tiger just stood there, frozen for a moment, before tearing off into the forest.
I considered howling for my pack to join me, but for what? To catch a glimpse of the Discovery Channel phenomenon? I pounded after it; it was in my sights now. If this thing is attacking humans, well, I had to take it down. My adrenaline was pumping and I felt more alive than I had in a long time.
I was within snapping distance of its tail. Yep. That's a tiger alright. I don't know how the hell it got here, but it wasn't welcome to stay. I locked in on it, then pounced. Where my jaws should have met flesh, there was nothing. I fell and rolled over the ground, confused. Just what in the hell is going on here?
-Vash-
In the nick of time, I transformed from a tiger into a humming bird. I heard the huge animals jaws snap on thin air as I rose into the trees above. I sat and waited, thinking that surely, my little bird heart would beat right out of my tiny chest. I studied this wolf and mentally ran through the catalogue of every animal I had ever known and become. Millions of them. But this thing was not in my knowledge base. This thing that looked like a wolf, hunted like a wolf, but smelled… like a man.
-Jake-
Back at home, I showered and ate, wondering about the encounter I had in the woods. I thought about it all the next day, too. First there was a girl, then a tiger, then….nothing. Yet, even though the tiger was gone right before my eyes, I still sensed it was there watching me. I shook my head and decided to forget about it. I had made a decision to go up to Bella's school and make peace. We were best friends after all, and I knew how it would make her feel to go into this thing without my blessing. It was time for me to move on. I would travel in wolf form for a few years, then figure out what I want to do with my life.