Lucianna’s POV
I watched as Jacob walked out of the house, now fully clothed. He seems fine… normal. Again. Unlike what I saw earlier.
The way his shoulder trembled didn’t missed my eyes and though he found his cool now, does not mean he lost it a while back.
And I am damn worried.
“What was that, Jake?” Harley asked, walking to Jacob with a frown.
Jacob fixed the cuff of his shirt, steal a glance at me then raised a brow at his gamma. “You’re done for the day.” he announced and moved to my side, snaking his arms around my waist and pulled me towards the house with him.
I saw Harley shook his head, noticed me looking at him and gave me a nod before leaving. My mind is betting that Harley will fire me questions tomorrow to fill his nosiness .
“How are you feeling?” I asked and walked inside first. Jacob slowed down and I watched him closed the door.
His face has no expression, blank. And I’m sure he has no intention on telling what happened to him. I watched as he walked to the living room and poured himself a glass of liquor.
“You lost control of your wolf?” I fished for answers. “You did, didn’t you?”
He looked at me once and drank his glass straight.
I waited and waited but I didn’t heard a word. Jacob just poured another glass, his second glass of the day. And I think he won’t stop with just two.
“You can tell me.” I assured that sounded more like a plead so I cleared my throat. “You should tell me.” I rephrased, reclaiming my rights as his Luna.
I deserve to know.
Jacob took his second shot and I am still watching him. He gulped the drink fast and slammed the glass on the table. Thank god, he didn’t break anything.
He sighed heavily and turned his back on me.
I frown.
There’s still no words coming from him so I walked to him, marching my feet with loud sounds of annoyance, then grabbed his arm so he would face me.
“Nothing fucking happened!” he hissed then rubbed his hands on his face.
“Don’t take me for a fool.” I said in a calm yet emphasizing each word. “You shifted?” No answer. “Unintentional?” I pried. “How did it happen?” But there’s no stopping me.
He looked at me as if I’m cutting his thread loose. He do not want to share this to me, I can see it. But he also know there’s no stopping me to find out.
In the end, he gave up with a sigh and slumped down on the couch.
“I didn’t know how it happened.” he said in a whisper.
I gasped. Even though I speculated that he shifted uncontrollably, it’s shocking that he really did.
He is the Alpha. A hundred percent control of his wolf is in his blood… so how?
“H-How -- What do you mean you didn’t know?” I was looking at him, still standing up in front of the couch where he is.
“I have no memory of today, Lucianna.” he groaned as if he was hurt. My jaw dropped.
This isn’t the first time that something like this happened but still…
“What’s the last thing you remember?” I asked in almost a whisper.
“On the road. Driving to--” he groaned inwardly. “--work.”
My knees curled as it trembled and slowly, I sat on the couch beside him. “My god.” I mumbled. “Since this morning?”
He sighed and dropped his head on my shoulder. “Yeah…”
I can hear it. The exhaustion, the tiredness in his voice.
“Is there… anything you felt before you lost consciousness of what’s happening?”
I felt him shook his head slowly. “I just heard the voices.”
“Voices? Who’s?”
“I don’t know.”
I frowned. Why is he hearing these voices?
“Do you remember what they were saying?”
He sighed. “They are more like a mumble. They aren’t clear and I can’t understand any of it.”
We fell silent for a moment.
I don’t know what to feel. I am scared, yes. But I’m also concerned about what may happen to Jacob. Worried of why these are happening to him.
“You’ve been on your wolf since this morning…” I stated. “Your primal instincts become more powerful than your human. Do you know any trigger for this to happen?”
He groaned, louder this time. And I know he have an answer.
“What is it?” I asked.
Jacob straightened his back and now leaning on the couch. His eyes are closed, and he looks so tired.
“Jacob, what is it?”
He opened his eyes and met mine. “Hunger.”
**
“Have you shifted involuntarily because you’re hungry?” I asked loud with a sigh. My chin was resting at the back of my palm while I play with the rim of my cup of coffee.
Last night was quiet. Jacob won’t talk any further about what had happened to him and I didn’t ask more because I believe him when he says he don’t remember.
Harley frowned, his mouth full of pancakes I cooked. “What? That’s impossible-” then his eyes grew wide and swallowed the food in his mouth. “Wait, is that what happened with him yesterday?”
I shrugged and leaned back on my seat. “He won’t tell.” I lied. Well, partly lying since Jacob really has nothing to tell. And I can’t just blurt out his Alpha’s weakness.
Harley squinted his eyes and looked at me. “I’m kind of expecting you will give me news about yesterday for breakfast.”
I snorted. “Stop being nosy.”
“I can’t help it. I just saw my Alpha coming home huffing and naked.” he cringed from the memory. “Anyway, I got to go.”
“Where are you going?” I frown.
“There’s a killing that happened in deep forest, I’m just gonna peak on the investigation.”
“A killing? Who?”
He stood up. “That’s what they are investigating. It’s not clear if it’s an animal or one of our kind.”
I frown and Harley explained before I could ask. “The body is torn into pieces. If it’s one of our kind, it lost the ability to shift back to its human. Totally destroyed. Now, I hope its just a regular wolf.”
Harley gave me the eye. The look which says even him wouldn’t believe if the body is a werewolf. And we both hope its just a wolf.
“If not, then there’s something lurking around.” I voiced out the thoughts in our heads.
“Or someone.”
I suddenly remembered Jacob and what happened to him yesterday. He doesn’t remember a thing. What if…
“See ya in a min.”
If Harley is going there and something that may be related to what happened to Jacob yesterday will piqued his attention then-
“Wait! You’re not supposed to leave me. It’s your job? Duh?”
“Come on, just for a few minutes. I promise. Also, someone will talk to you, its on schedule.” he started walking away.
“Who? And what schedule do you mean?”
“Means Jake approved.”
“Who--”
The door shut close. “I’ll be back real quick!” he shouted outside.
Before I could wonder who could be my ‘schedule’ with my mate’s approval, a knock on the door was heard.
My senses spiked and I rolled my eyes. The man behind the door was Roscoe.
“Come in.” I said in a grunt and very uninterested tone.
He opened the door and his expression was serious, as usual. Behind him from a far distance was Harley, checking us out one last time and waving before disappearing in the woods.
“Do I have an option which is not to speak with you? Or maybe put you in my blacklist?”
“That depends.” his voice was weak and low.
“Oh yeah? On what?”
“On whether you want to hear how your mate has become a murderer.”
I feel like my world has stopped from what Roscoe said. Watching his face, I kind of hope that he will smile and tell me that he was joking. But his poker face stayed.
Suddenly, Harley’s news echoed in my head while yesterday’s naked Jacob scenario was flashing in my head.
Somehow, it does connect…
“He lost it again yesterday, right? He lost control of himself, Lucianna. And you don’t need to confirm because I was there. I was watching him lose over the curse.”
I shook my head fast and even though I wanted to not believe him, I know for a fact that Jacob did lost it yesterday.
But there’s no point of believing that Jacob murdered someone.
“He didn’t kill anyone. No. He was just hungry that his primal instinct--”
“You’re right.” Roscoe opened the door and ready to go but stopped. “He was just hungry. But have you ask yourself what kind of hunger is it?” he turned to look at me.
Disgust. He looks at me like I’m a hopeless case.
I couldn’t answer him. There’s a lot of answer to his question but I can’t seem to point out one.
“I’m positive that its not food his lost self was famished for.” he was gone before the door could shut.
I know.
I know what he meant.
Jacob was not looking for food, he was after blood. He is after violence and death.
And I don’t want to think I am right but I guess he also know this. And the reason why he was quiet after telling me that hunger pushed his animal to take over was because he realized.
He realized that he might have killed someone because he was raving of…blood.