<h4>Chapter 302: Jacob’s Truth</h4>


    Jacob~


    It just happened—barely twenty minutes ago—and I still feel like my skin is vibrating with the aftershock.


    Back in the forest... God, it all happened so fast.


    One second, I was reaching out, my fingers brushing Easter’s paw, and the next—everything stopped. Not just time. Me. My breath hitched, my thoughts stilled, the world tilted—and in that exact, impossible heartbeat, it was like lightning struck.


    Real lightning. Not just in my chest, but everywhere. A surge of energy shot through my arm like a current from the gods, and sparks—actual blue-white sparks—rippled down her fur like dancing fire. They licked at our skin, wrapping us in something wild, something ancient. I could see them. Feel them. Ghostly, electric mes clinging to us.


    And then she was gone.


    The wolf.


    Gone.


    In her ce—on her knees, breathless—was Easter. Human. Trembling. Gasping for air like she’d been drowning and just burst to the surface.


    I didn’t even realize my hand was still stretched toward her, fingers twitching, skin tingling with static. My whole arm shook. My heart... Gods, my heart was a war drum, pounding so loud I swore it echoed through the trees.


    Because something happened the moment our skin touched. Not just physical. Not even emotional.


    Soul-deep.


    Ittched onto me—this... force. No, this truth—and it refused to let go.


    A bond.


    Not any bond. Not the kind you hear about in stories or feel during a full moon dance.


    This was The bond.


    Warm. Pulsing. Alive. I could feel it weaving through my ribs, threading into hers, a radiant cord of molten light tying us together like it had always been there, just waiting for this moment to ignite.


    I was screaming on the inside—not in pain, not even in fear—but in stunned, disbelieving recognition.


    Easter... is my mate.


    I remember staggering back. Just a step. Just enough for the weight of it all to m into me. My bones were trembling. My jaw clenched on instinct. I wanted to deny it—Gods, I needed to—but the truth wrapped itself around me and refused to be undone.


    This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not like this. Not now. After centuries of watching fate twist and break people in half... how could it dare hand me this?


    And then I looked at her.


    Really looked.


    She was still on her knees, chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. Her hair clung to her face, damp and tangled, freckles scattered like stars across her skin. She looked so fragile. So real.


    So mine.


    My chest cracked open. Just... split.


    Easter.


    My Easter.


    She looked up, eyes wide and impossibly green, shimmering from the shift. Her lips parted, breath shaking as she whispered, "I... I’m back."


    That broke me.


    I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t even breathe. Every part of me froze again, but this time it wasn’t the energy or the shock of finding out she was my mate—it was her.


    She was in human form again.


    But not the same.


    Everything had changed.


    Her scent... it was different now. Thicker. Sweeter. Like wildflowers drenched in fresh rain and honey melting in the sun. My nostrils red before I could stop them. I caught it—subtle, but impossible to ignore.


    And that’s when the real panic hit.


    Oh no.


    No, no, no.


    That scent.


    That scent.


    Not just any change in smell. Not post-shift residue or adrenaline musk.


    Pheromones.


    The kind only a mated female gives off.


    The kind that precedes heat.


    I swear I almost hit the ground. My knees buckled, my vision blurred, and a low, involuntary growl rumbled in my throat.


    "Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, frowning, her voice like music. "Are you okay?"


    I forced myself to blink. I had to breathe. I had to breathe.


    "Fine," I lied, barely recognizing my own voice. "Don’t worry about me."


    I even managed a smile, though it felt more like a grimace. I reached to brush a stray curl from her cheek, and just that one touch sent another jolt through me.


    I didn’t need a wolf to tell me what was going to happen in the nearest future.


    But I couldn’t bring myself to tell her.


    How could I tell her now?


    Not when she was still cradling the newborn daughter she’d brought into the world barely an hour ago. Not when she didn’t know the rules of our kind. Not when Kiki, her wolf, was still just a child inside her.


    She wouldn’t understand.


    Hell, I didn’t even understand.


    Had my mother nned this?


    Did she know this would happen when I turned Easter?


    Was this all part of some cosmic thread she’d been weaving from the beginning?


    I watched Easter cradle the baby, saw Rose rush in with all the excitement and love a big sister could hold, and for a brief, stolen second—I wished it could be simple. That I could kiss her forehead and whisper, you’re mine now. That I could curl around her, protect her, love her in the way I’d always wanted to, but never dared to admit.


    But it wasn’t simple.


    It was about to get so much worse.


    Because in a matter of two—maybe four—days, Easter was going to go into heat.


    And when she did...


    Gods help me, I wouldn’t survive it.


    Not because I couldn’t resist her—I would. I had to.


    Because she deserved time. Time to heal. Time to understand. Time to breathe.


    But heat made reason disappear. It stripped you bare—mind and soul. It made you need until nothing else existed. And her body, her heart, didn’t know yet that she was mine. But her wolf would know.


    Kiki would know.


    And she’d burn for me.


    And I’d burn right back.


    Tiger shifted beside me now, his arms crossed. His eyes met mine. Grim. Knowing. He had felt the bond when it snapped into ce—they all had. My siblings, my pack... they’d felt the energy when I’d touched her. When the mate-bond locked in.


    They knew what wasing.


    That’s why Eagle had looked so stiff. Why Bubble had vanished without a word. Why Natalie had disappeared like smoke.


    They were giving me space... and time.


    But now Easter was staring me down, arms wrapped around her child, green eyes shing like daggers. "You’re all acting strange. Cagey. It feels like everyone’s bracing for something awful and just hoping I won’t notice."


    I sucked in a breath. "It’s not awful," I said gently. "Just... unexpected."


    "Unexpected?" she repeated, her voice high and thin. "What’s unexpected?"


    Tiger took a single step forward,ying a hand on her shoulder. "Sit," he said softly.


    She narrowed her eyes. "Why?"


    "Because if you don’t, you’ll probably punch Jacob in the face," he muttered under his breath.


    "Tiger!" I snapped, half-growling.


    Easter blinked at both of us, stunned. "Okay, seriously, what the hell is going on?"


    I knelt.


    Right there. In front of her. The polished marble was cold beneath my knees, but the look on her face burned hotter than any fire.


    I met her eyes—stormy, wild, confused—and forced myself to speak, even though the words felt like ss in my throat.


    "I didn’t know," I rasped. "I didn’t know that turning you would... bind us."


    She blinked, her brows pulling together like I’d just spoken in tongues. "Bind us?"


    I nodded, swallowing hard. "It’s... it’s the mate bond."


    Her lips parted, but no sound came out. Just a silent, stunned inhale.


    "What?"


    I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. "When I helped you shift back—when I touched you—it clicked. You’re my mate now."


    She froze.


    Didn’t blink. Didn’t breathe. Not even a twitch.


    Five full seconds.


    Then: "What does that mean?"


    "It means our souls are bound now"


    "My soul is bonded to yours?"


    I winced. "Yeah. Pretty much."


    "To you?"


    Another wince. "Hey. Harsh."


    "No, I didn’t mean it like that! I just—Jacob, I—" She shot to her feet so fast it startled the baby in her arms. She tightened her hold and started pacing. "We haven’t—we weren’t—I have only known you for like two months and now you’re telling me—what the hell is going on?!"


    "We’ve known each other longer than that... Anyways, It’s the bond," I said. "You’re feeling the pull. It’s starting."


    She turned on me like a storm about to break. "What bond, Jacob? You can’t just drop the word ’mate’ and expect me to get it. Exin. Now."


    I stood slowly, hands raised like I was trying to calm a wild animal. Which, in a way, I was.


    "There’s this thing where werewolves mate for life," I began. "It’s not a choice. It’s instinct. Fate. Biology. Magic. Call it what you want. But it’s real. When one of us finds the person we’re meant for, the bond imprints itself on both of us—physically, emotionally, mentally."


    She stared, still frozen.


    I went on. "It’s more than love. It’s... a soul-deep recognition. Like every part of me—every cell, every instinct—knows you belong to me. And I belong to you."


    Her jaw ckened.


    I scratched the back of my neck, struggling to sound casual when my heart felt like it was in freefall. "The moment I turned you, your wolf side woke up. And because of what we shared before—yeah, long story—your wolf recognized mine. It understood. And now, the bond’s locked in."


    She blinked rapidly. "So what, you turned me and now I’m... biologically programmed to be obsessed with you?"


    "Not obsessed," I said, trying not to sound defensive. "But yeah, kinda. Your body is going to start reacting. Strongly."


    "To you?"


    I gave her a sheepish look. "To me."


    She stared at me like I’d grown a second head. "Like... how reacting?"


    I hesitated.


    "Jacob."


    I sighed, defeated. "You’re going into heat."


    The room fell into dead, vibrating silence.


    "I’m going into what?"


    My face went red. Me. Red. "Heat. As in, your body is going to want mine. Desperately. Soon. For, uh, maybe ten days. Straight."


    Her expression morphed into full-on horror. "Ten—?!"


    "It’s the wolf," I exined quickly. "It craves the bond. It wants toplete it. And... yeah, your instincts are about to go haywire."


    She opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. "You’re joking? Jacob. I just gave birth!"


    "I know."


    Tiger snorted.


    "Not funny!" she snapped.


    Tiger raised both hands innocently.


    I stood slowly, putting a respectful distance between us, heart aching. "You won’t remember it the way your wolf does. And Kiki’s still too young to tell you. So your body’s going to crave something you don’t fully understand, and I’m going to have to fight every instinct to not—"


    "To not what?" Her voice rose, sharp.


    "To not im you."


    Her lips parted.


    "To not take you," I said, softer. "Because you just gave birth. Because you need to rest. Because you’re not ready to understand what this bond even means."


    Her chin trembled, and my heart cracked.


    "And because I care about you," I added. "More than you know. So I won’t touch you. Not unless you want me—really want me—and not because of a heat cycle."


    Easter swallowed hard. "And if I... go crazy?"


    "I’ll lock myself in the basement if I have to."


    "You’d really do that?"


    "I’d do anything to protect you. Even from me."


    Silence stretched again—long, trembling silence.


    And then Easter whispered, "This is insane."


    "Tell me about it."


    "But... you’re not going to leave?"


    I stepped closer. "Never."


    She sighed, shoulders sagging. "Then... I guess I need to learn how to be a werewolf in, like, the next twenty-four hours."


    Tiger chuckled again. "No pressure, right?"


    Easter red at him, then back at me. "Jacob?"


    "Yes?"


    "If you so much as look at me funny during this heat thing... I will punch you."


    Iughed—relieved and breathless. "Fair enough."


    She looked at her baby, then back at me again, eyes softening. "This changes everything."


    I nodded. "Yeah... it does."


    And deep inside me, I was howling in joy.


    Because no matter howplicated, how overwhelming this all was...


    She was mine.


    And I was hers.


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