Enchanted | Jacob Black

ten

Jacob

I didn't remember running.

One second, I was staring at Harper, her lips still red from kissing him. Her voice still rang in my ears: "You don't get to do this. Now leave me alone." Next, the trees blurred past me as I tore through the forest like I could outrun how her words had gutted me.

Every step away from her felt wrong, like an invisible thread pulling my entire body backward.

I could feel it again.

That tug. That unbearable magnetic pull that told me she was still there, probably smiling, kissing him.

My paws hit the earth hard, tearing up moss and dirt, but the pain didn't ease even in wolf form. The imprint didn't care that I'd tried to give her space. It didn't care that I hadn't told her what she was to me, that I'd wanted her to have a choice.

Because no matter how far I ran, she was still there, threaded into every breath, every heartbeat, every damn thought.

I could hear the others' thoughts as I ran, but I tried to push them away.

"Jake, slow down."

"Come back, man. You're losing it.

"Too late", I thought bitterly. "Already lost it."

I phased back near the river, somewhere deep in the woods. I dropped to my knees, hands sinking into the dirt, and let the sound tear out of my throat, raw, cracked, almost human but not quite.

The heat surged through my chest—not the shape-shifting kind, the other one that felt like my soul might tear open if she chose someone else.

I was breaking.

And the bond wouldn't let me forget who I was breaking for.

This was torture.

It wasn't just jealousy. It was pain. Physical, raw, inescapable. Like the imprint was a rope looped around my neck, yanking tighter every time she slipped further away.

I remembered the exact moment it happened.

After avoiding her for so long, not wanting her to be around me, around what I've become. She didn't need her world turned upside down the way mine had. I hated seeing her around on the reservation, desperately wanting to talk to her again, and knowing I couldn't.

Until that night, I came home from patrolling, finally getting the opportunity for some sleep. I woke up to the sound of her voice. I was still so tired and out of it that it took me a moment to register that it was her.

She sat on my bed, demanding answers.

I was still rubbing sleep from my eyes when I finally looked at her.

And then. It happened.

Our eyes met.

And suddenly, the world just... stopped.

It was like someone had flipped a switch in the center of my chest.

All I could see was her.

Her eyes.

Her voice.

Her breath.

Her heartbeat.

Everything inside me pulled toward her like gravity had changed directions. I didn't know what it was at the time. I just knew something had snapped into place.

It wasn't just attraction.

It was a visceral, aching need to protect her, make her happy, and be whatever she needed. Even if she never knew it.