Chapter 10

Jacob's entire body froze. The only thought flowing through his mind was about his brother. He must have told Hunter about him hearing the voice and now Hunter was here making fun of him. His brother's friend would tell everyone and he'd have to leave college or even town because everyone would know he was a freak.

"You're not a freak," Hunter said out loud after releasing the breath he was holding. "And I'm not here to make fun of you and of course, I'd never tell anyone about this."

Jacob's worried eyes were accompanied by a frown. He was more than sure he didn't say those things out loud. Maybe he was stuck in some horrific dream?

"Look, I know it sounds crazy. It's not every day you get to say that to someone but it's true and believe it or not, I can prove it."

Jacob's mouth now hung open. He was definitely dreaming. There was no way this was real life. "Are you making fun of me?" he whispered. He wanted to run and never look back. He wanted to scream at his brother for revealing something that was so personal to him.

"I would never do that," Hunter's voice was a little stern. Jacob had no idea how insulting it was for him to be accused of making fun of his own mate, but none of that mattered because he still had no idea what was developing between them. "Your brother would never tell a soul about your struggles, you know that."

Jacob picked up his bag and took a step back.

"Please," Hunter pleaded. "I can prove it to you."

"No you can't," Jacob whispered with tears growing in his eyes.

"You know it's really me." The voice echoed in the back of his mind.

"Don't you?" Hunter said out loud.

"I've wanted to tell you for a whole year."

"But I had to wait," Hunter said out loud once more.

"I was never mean to you. I tried to make the experience easy for you to handle."

"You know the morning you sat in the garden with your dad because he caught you talking out loud to me, and I told you I would never hurt you? I meant it."

Jacob's skin prickled with fear. He was concentrating on two voices and they were both making sense, but coming from two different places. Now that he thought about it, there was something familiar about Hunter's voice and he couldn't figure out why- until now.

Hunter tried to take a step forward but Jacob held out a trembling hand. "Don't come near me," He breathed, trying to keep his emotional mind from collapsing.

"Do you believe me now?" Hunter asked softly. "I can explain why you've-"

"I don't believe you," he whispered. "You're messing with me." He didn't know if he said that to Hunter or the voice in his head.

"You have to believe me, Jacob, how else would I be able to know that you struggled to sleep last night and you woke up an hour before your mum had to wake you. And you've had a weird pain in your chest ever since our class finished. I know that your grandparents think you're only good for daydreaming because you told me this morning."

Jacob remembered that conversation and yes, he did tell the voice that. How would Hunter know these things? Like he said, William would never talk about his troubles to anyone, they have that trust within each other. But why was this happening to him? He didn't know what to believe. The norms were telling him to reject any possibility of it being real.

"Jacob," Hunter should've planned this out better. "There are things about me that you have to know, there are reasons why I can talk to you inside of your head. I need to know if you believe me."

Jacob opened his mouth and closed it again. He never thought that he'd be in this situation. In his logical head, he was thinking that Hunter was just as crazy as him. In the back of his mind, he knew that maybe, just maybe, there could be evidence of this being real.

The thought was like sirens in his head. He couldn't cope, he had to run.

So that's exactly what he did.

He turned and sprinted across the field with his bag in his grip. Hunter was slow at processing his reaction but he was very, very fast at running and could catch up to him easily.

It was only ten seconds until Hunter was able to grab the back of his hoody and use his strength to slow him down.

"Get off me!" Jacob tried to yell. He wasn't very good at it as Hunter wrapped arms around his waist, but Jacob fought against him. He dropped his bag and turned to push him away but he couldn't, Hunter was too strong.

"Stop fighting." The voice echoed loud in his mind.

"Please Jacob," Hunter said calmly and ignored the human's nails digging into his arms in an attempt to get free. "Stop fighting." It was so soothing for his emotions to be so close but he hated how distressed he was.

"I'm not going to let go of you until you calm down."

For a moment, Jacob thought that Hunter said it out loud but he didn't even open his mouth. That's when it washed over him like a cold wave of water, like he had dunked his head in his sink.

Was it really him?

Jacob was a wreck. He couldn't handle his emotions like normal people. He was constantly on the verge of breaking down and this pushed him over the edge. He made one last attempt to struggle out of Hunter's grip. He didn't like feeling so weak.

"I told you," Hunter said out loud. "I told you that you'd soon know who I really am."

Jacob pushed against his chest to get free but after hearing that, he knew it was him. He couldn't not believe it any longer, his body and soul were too tired and the tears burst from his eyes.

He hit Hunter on the chest. It was weak and did nothing as he gave up and he let out a small cry of what felt like every emotion. "Y-You Ruined my life!" he sobbed.

Hunter felt sick. He knew he damaged him and would feel guilty about it forever.

"I tried not too," he said quietly and started to rub Jacob's back but he tensed and pulled himself out of his grip. "It was selfish of me to make you suffer for so long but I had to wait until I was ready."

"Until you were ready?" Jacob questioned and furrowed his eyebrows. He was hurting, a lot. "I don't know who I am anymore because of you!"

This was the most Hunter had heard him speak out loud, but he was clearly angry and he had every right to be.

"There's a reason for this, please, before you start to overthink it, let me explain how this is possible."

Jacob almost forgot that having someone speak through a telepathic link was still very far from normal. He began to feel fearful of the man in front of him. How was it possible that he could do that?

He rubbed his eyes, trying to dry them and calm himself down but that wouldn't be possible, not now.

"Sit down, Jacob," Hunter knew that once he broke down, it took him a long time to put the pieces back together. "Come on."

Hunter slowly lowered himself towards the grass and eventually, Jacob did the same. His knees were feeling weak and his legs were a little wobbly. He almost wished that this was a dream.

"I'm going to ask you again and you need to be honest," Hunter said as softly as he could. "Do you believe me?"

There was a moment of silence for Jacob. Even the birds stopped chirping to hear his answer.

Slowly, he nodded his head and sniffed back any approaching tears. "Yes," he whispered and stared at Hunter's reaction. He waited for his brother's friend to burst out laughing and tell him it was some sick joke.

Hunter simply smiled and relaxed his shoulders. He wanted to dry his mate's face and hug him until he was one hundred per cent better, but they were very far from that stage. Of course, Jacob needed time to let it sink in.

"That's, I guess, the hardest bit out of the way," he chuckled. Jacob's face remained blank. In his head, it was no laughing matter. "But now you know that you're not the only one who hears voices around here. I hear yours all the time."

"Really?" he questioned with surprise. "Why?"

"Well, for the same reason you hear mine."

Jacob fiddled with the ends of his sleeves. "W-why do I hear yours?"

Hunter sat forward and cleared his throat. When he passed one barrier, there was always another one waiting to trip him up. "I'm obviously not like everyone else." He stated the obvious. "There are things about me and my family that people like you have been told are not true and are just myths."

Jacob frowned and chewed on his bottom lip and Hunter used all of his strengths to stay where he was and not get closer.

"W-What are-" Jacob stuttered. "Who are you?"

Hunter took a breath of fresh air and focused on the warm sun hitting his forehead.

"I'm a werewolf."