The Red Moon Promise | Twilight Jacob Black Fanfiction

Chapter 4. True Lies

The day seemed brighter than usual. The sky held no clouds, and the pure, wholesome smell of the forest invigorated him. Jacob burst with energy and thought it had been a long time since he'd felt so strengthened.

As he neared the end of his routine patrol around La Push, he considered making a fast trip up and around Forks, tempted to go by Raven's house, but was quick to decide against it. He wouldn't be able to stop and see her anyway and stalking wasn't his thing.

She told him she would call again later on, so he needed to wait.

He was about to head home when he felt an unexpected sensation of danger gnawing at him. Letting his instincts take over, he ended up at the beach. He saw nothing out of the ordinary, except for Rachel and Paul acting all lovey-dovey, holding hands and melting all over each other. That wasn't out of the ordinary, but it was enough to make him want to puke. No matter how many times he saw it.

The strong threat of danger caused the telltale tremble of his body, making him take an extra careful examination of the beach. All he observed was a guy jogging behind Rachel and Paul and some camera, crazy whale watchers. Taking a few deep sniffs to make sure no burn accompanied the bizarre feeling, he wondered why he was suddenly so paranoid. Paul didn't seem troubled.

Maybe I'm losing it? 

Unable to shake the feeling that someone or something was out there somewhere, he snorted then forced himself to call it a day, because he had to get home for a phone call.

"Got here just in time," Jacob said, waltzing inside the house and reaching for the phone Billy stretched toward him.

He eyed Jacob as if it was some big deal Jacob got a call from the same girl twice, and she wasn't Bella. Jacob narrowed his eyes, annoyed and snatched the phone from Billy's hand. "Hey, what's up?"

"Hi, it's me," Raven said, with an uncomfortable tone underlying her words.

Jacob wondered what bothered her or if he was the object of her discomfort. "Is everything okay?" he asked, flicking his hand toward Billy and glaring at him until Billy rolled himself all the way out of the kitchen.

"Uh, huh, Why do you ask?"

Because I can sense the tension in your voice. "No reason." It occurred to him how in tune he felt with her demeanor, thinking it odd he picked up on subtle elements of her voice when he hardly knew her. "You're not still stressing over what to talk about with me, are you?"

She let out a laugh. "Well, don't say it like that," and openly pointed out, "you're supposed to make me feel better, not make me feel like a freak."

Jacob grinned, appreciating the fact she could be just as direct is him. "I just did, didn't I?"

"Nope," she refuted, although Jacob heard the tension disappear. 

"So, what did you do today, Jacob?"

"I went to school, worked on my car, went for a run..."

"You run?" she blurted in excitement.

The running she referred to wasn't the same running he did, but running was running, whether on two legs or four, so, "Yup," he replied and unnecessarily asked, "do you?"

"Yes, I do. I ran long-distance track and cross-country at my last high school."

"Really?" It impressed him. He knew she ran, but he never figured her for the competitive, athletic type of girl, which he now assumed accounted for her shapely figure.

She told him she'd hardly been able to run since she moved to Forks, because she was afraid to be in the woods alone, and it was too hard to run in the streets, and too boring to run around the track. He told her he would go with her sometime. She looked hot running. He shook the image from his mind. What am I thinking?