Rip Tide: A Twilight Fanfiction

Chapter Nine: On a Tight Leash

Jacob's POV

--two days ago--

Where are you, Melanie?

A couple hours ago, she ran out of the Cullen's place. Edward, of course, had to screw things up with his bad-cop impression. He had pushed her too hard with his intense line of questioning. He should've known better, without Jasper around to keep things calm. Not that I had much room to talk about keeping a cool head.

Carlisle assured us that Melanie would return once she had time to process everything. An hour of anxiously pacing around the house led me to the porch. The forty minutes that followed were maddening. Finally, I decided to go looking for the missing half-vampire. Well, Carlisle put me up to it. He was worried about her, although she still recoiled from his touch. Which was ironic, seeing as how he dedicated his life to healing people.

This mysterious brother of hers. Mason; he had brainwashed her to think the Cullens were evil. He was behind the massacre. He had killed all of those high-schoolers just to make a point. When I got my hands on him, I would crush him into a pile of rubble.

Until then, I had to talk to Melanie. She needed to understand how important it was for her to stay in Forks. We could protect her and put an end to Mason, so he couldn't hurt anyone else ever again.

Twenty minutes later, I tracked her scent to the river, where she must have sat beneath the tree for a while. My heart sank when I saw she was gone. With a sigh, I pulled off my clothes and set them neatly on the ground. 

'Edward, we have a problem,' I thought as I shifted to my faster wolf form. A few seconds later, Edward appeared in front of me, tense and solemn-faced. He already knew what I meant before I clarified, 'Melanie ran for it.'

"When?" he asked urgently.

'Not too long ago. Her tracks are fresh.'

"Damn it! I can't hear her thoughts, she's too far. We have to catch up to her, right now."

Without wasting another second, I sniffed the air. The brush rustled in a cold breeze and her scent still clung to the trees and shrubbery, where she had passed roughly an hour ago. Nodding toward Edward, I huffed in frustration and took off after her. Edward flew through the trees beside me, easily keeping pace. If the situation wasn't so dire, I would've raced him.

When he realized the direction we were heading, Edward grimaced. I empathized with him, feeling the same aversion to the land we were entering. Sam wasn't as territorial as he used to be, after he came around to trusting the Cullens. The whole Melanie situation put a strain on that alliance. Sam didn't like the idea of the Cullens housing a murder suspect.

At times like these, I really wished I had the mental connection with Sam and his Pack.

"If they killed Melanie—" Edward began, already scowling.

I cut him off with a thought, 'They won't kill her. Not yet. If they did catch her, they would take her to Sam's to get some answers.'

Edward gave me a look that said, you better be right.

A few miles into Sam's territory, I paused to sniff a tree. The scent of vanilla and almond, with a hint of cinnamon spice, clung to the bark. Melanie had leaned against the tree, not too long ago. On the ground, I could see her boot prints. At the base of the trunk, there were two shallow prints in the soft soil. Then her boots pressed hard and deep into the soil as she broke into a sprint, further into the trees; the opposite direction she had been heading before.