<h4>Chapter 299: Give It Back</h4>
<strong>Easter~</strong>
The moment Jacob stepped toward me, my instincts took over. I dropped low to the ground, ears ttened, my muscles trembling like a bowstring pulled too tight. Every nerve in my body screamed, <i>Run! Run now! Get away!</i> But my paws? They stayed glued to the earth. Frozen.
Not this time.
Jacob didn’t rush. He knelt down slowly, like I was a wild thing ready to shatter. His hands never lifted too high, and his voice—soft, steady—was like warm rain on dry soil.
"Easter," he said again, like he was calling me back from the edge of a cliff. "There’s something I need to tell you. And I need you to really listen. Please."
I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t even growl. I was panting hard, chest heaving from both the sprint and the emotional hurricane tearing through me. But I didn’t run. And I think... I think that was all the permission he needed.
He exhaled. Slowly. Measured. "I’m not human, Easter."
My ears twitched.
<i>Oh. No kidding.</i>
He saw the look on my face and gave a sad little half-smile. "Yeah... I guess you figured that much. But I wanted you to hear it from me. I’m not pretending. I never was."
A bitterugh almost escaped me. Was it the room turning into an underwater dome that gave it away? Or maybe the way the entire house vanished, and a whole forest popped up like magic beans on fast-forward? Or the literal voice that spoke inside my skull?
Jacob’s voice dropped a notch, barely above a whisper. "I’m a supernatural being."
My heart stopped.
"A supernatural being," he repeated, like the words would be easier the second time. "Specifically... the Wolf Spirit. The firstborn of my mother’s children."
My throat dried up. My brain tilted sideways.
<i>A supernatural being.</i> What did that even mean?
I stared, wide-eyed, wild. My legs felt like noodles, but somehow, I stayed upright. Sort of. Not human. <i>The Wolf Spirit.</i>
Reality started to fray around the edges.
Jacob continued, like he knew I needed him to fill the silence before I crumbled. "My siblings are here too." He nced behind him, and four figures stepped into the clearing, their presence as undeniable as thunder before the storm.
"They were sent here because of you," Jacob said. "The moment you awakened, something shifted. In the stars. In the world. Everything changed."
My ears flicked back in confusion. Me? Why me?
He gestured to the first woman. She was fire and steel wrapped in one—waves of red hair, fierce blue eyes, and the kind of energy that could stop a hurricane dead in its tracks. She held my baby like a lioness guarding her cub.
"This is Natalie," Jacob said. "We call her the Second Moon. But in your world, she’s known as the Celestial Princess."
Natalie arched a brow, then smirked. "You’re doing better than I did after my first shift. I screamed so loud, Zane thought I was being murdered."
My wolf brain stalled. Celestial... what now?
Next to her, a man with snow-white hair and sparkling blue eyes was literally vibrating with excitement. He was tall, lean, dressed like he just stepped off a runway, and somehow holding my peacefully sleeping baby like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"This is Bubble," Jacob said, chuckling.
Bubble gave a grand little wave like I was royalty. "Hi, darling! I’m Bubble. Just Bubble—not ’bubbles’ like in a tub. Singr. Iconic. And may I just say—your wolf form? Stunning. I can’t wait to add some shimmer to your fur. You must let me."
I blinked at him. Repeatedly.
Then came the tall man with jet-ck hair that flowed despite the total absence of wind. His silver eyes sliced straight through me, but not cruelly—just like he saw.
Jacob nodded toward him. "That’s Eagle. Wind Spirit. He doesn’t miss much."
Eagle gave me a solemn nod. "We’re here for you. No matter whates."
And then... thest one.
The quietest of them all.
He hadn’t moved an inch since stepping out of the shadows. Golden-brown hair fell over calm, steady green eyes. The kind of stillness that made you feel like the world could crumble, and he’d still be standing. Tall. Unshaken. Silent.
Jacob’s voice turned soft. "This... is Tiger."
The moment he said it—Tiger—my heart jerked like someone had yanked it on a string.
Tiger.
Why did that name hurt?
Tiger.
The air shifted. My chest tightened. And then—
"Uncle Tiger," Rose’s voice echoed in my head.
Everything mmed into ce.
My legs nearly gave out. If I hadn’t already been on all fours, I think I would’ve copsed.
Uncle Tiger.
Uncle Fox.
Uncle Bubble.
Uncle Eagle.
Auntie Natalie.
Uncle Zane. Alex.
They weren’t just make-believe friends.
She hadn’t made up stories.
They were real.
Every. Single. One.
I swallowed hard. Nausea rolled through me. My entire world tilted like someone had grabbed the sky and flipped it upside down.
How do you even begin to ept that your child wasn’t ying pretend... she was remembering?
I looked at them—gods, spirits, celestial beings—and then down at my paws.
My fur.
My shaking breath.
Everything I thought I knew—about myself, about my daughter, about reality—just shattered like ss in a storm.
And still, she slept. My baby girl. Peaceful. Safe.
Wrapped in the arms of the beings I once thought were fairy tales.
They were real.
All of them.
I wanted to throw up.
I whipped around to face Jacob, my breath ragged, throat raw even in this monstrous form. "What... what the hell are you people?" The growl in my voice wasn’t just from fear—it was pure disbelief, crashing over me like a tidal wave.
Jacob’s expression shifted. He didn’t flinch, didn’t retreat. Instead, he dipped his head slightly, his voice smooth but weighty—like thunder muffled behind clouds.
"We’re gods," he said quietly. "Not the kind that sit on thrones throwing lightning bolts. We’re spirits. Ancient. Bound to the very fabric of nature. And we’ve always had a special link to werewolves... because our mother, the Moon Goddess, created them." He paused, then added with almost no pride, "With me."
My mind nked.
The Moon Goddess?
Did he just say—
Created by her... and him?
I stared at him, stunned. The words tangled in my brain, unraveling logic, ripping apart everything I thought I knew about reality. I felt like I was plummeting through a dream where nothing made sense and no one had the decency to wake me up.
And then something else struck me.
I hadn’t spoken. Not really.
There were no words, no sybles—not in the way I knew them.
Just thought. Emotion. Energy. And somehow... Jacob had replied.
I blinked hard, my voice suddenly softer, trembling. "Wait... you can actually hear me?"
Jacob nodded, his gaze steady. "Yes. We’re speaking mind to mind."
My stomach dropped.
I’m not even speaking out loud anymore?!
Panic surged like a wildfire. I backed away, paws scraping against the dirt, my body twitching with unease. The fur along my spine rose like a warning.
This was too much. Too weird. Too far gone from anything remotely normal.
My voice cracked as I begged—raw, desperate, feral. "Please... just turn me back. I can’t do this. Please."
"Easter—"
"Turn me back!" I snapped, desperation cracking in my voice. "There’s a voice in my head talking! She said her name is Kiki! And she keeps saying weird things! I don’t know what’s real anymore. I don’t know who you all are! I don’t want to know! I just want to be normal! I want to go home! I want to hold my kids and not be some... thing!"
My voice cracked at the end, raw and guttural.
"I want to be human again."
A long silence fell.
Then Kiki’s voice came, soft and trembling.
"Please don’t say that," she whispered in my mind.
I flinched.
"If you go back to being human... I’ll die."
My breath caught in my chest.
Die?
"What... what do you mean, die?"
Kiki didn’t answer immediately. Her silence was like a child curling into a corner, hiding from the world.
"I’m you," she said atst, voice thick with emotion. "I’m your other half now. Your instincts. Your soul’s protection. Your power. If you push me out... I’ll be gone. Forever."
I didn’t understand. I couldn’t understand. Was she real? Was she a figment of my broken imagination? What if I was losing my mind? What if...
But something about the way she said it—that word...
Die.
It didn’t feel like drama. It felt like a child begging not to be left behind. Like the sound of a small hand slipping out of yours in a crowd. Like grief that hadn’t happened yet—but would, if I made the wrong choice.
"I just got here," she whispered, barely audible now. "I don’t want to die."
That broke me.
Tears hit before I could stop them. Hot. Acidic. Falling too fast, too hard, like something sacred was cracking open inside me.
I turned to Jacob. My voice came out broken, splintered between sobs and surrender.
"I just want to be normal," I whispered. "I want to hold Rose in my arms again. I want to raise my baby in peace. I didn’t ask for ws or instincts or... or to be some monster who could end someone’s life."
I clenched my fists—no, my paws—shaking.
"I don’t want to kill anyone. I just... I just want my life back."