113

Jacob’s POV

I paced back and forth in Ian’s living room, my fists clenched so tight my knuckles were turning white. Every minute that passed without hearing from Jenny was like a knife twisting deeper into my gut. She was supposed to have been here hours ago, and something inside me was screaming that something wasn’t right.

“Jacob, calm down,” Ian said, though his voice was tight with his own worry. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, but I could tell he was just as on edge as I was. “We’ll find her.”

“How?” I snapped, my anger getting the better of me. “It’s been hours. She wouldn’t just disappear like this, not without a reason. You know that.”

Ian didn’t respond, but the look he gave me was all the confirmation I needed. He was worried too. He just wasn’t as vocal about it as I was.

I couldn’t help it though. Jenny wasn’t just some girl I was messing around with. She was mine. I hadn’t realized just how much until now, when the fear of losing her had taken root inside me, suffocating every other thought. She had gotten under my skin in a way no one else had ever managed to, and the thought of something happening to her… of her being hurt… it made me feel like I was losing control. No. I actually was loosing control.

Ian pushed off the wall, his face grim. “I’ll put out some feelers. Maybe one of my men has seen her.”

I nodded, grateful for the help, but it wasn’t enough to stop the panic that was clawing at my insides. I wanted to be out there, searching, tearing the city apart until I found her. But the human world didn’t work like that. If someone had taken her, there were rules, territories, boundaries. We had to be smart, calculated.

Still, I couldn’t just stand here doing nothing.

“Who the hell would take her, Ian?” I asked, my voice low, full of barely-contained rage. “She’s not even involved in this vampire shit. She’s innocent.”

“That’s what worries me,” Ian muttered. “Whoever took her might be trying to get to us.”

I swore under my breath. This was my fault. Our fault. We had brought her into this world, into the danger that came with being around vampires. But I should’ve protected her better, should’ve kept her far away from all of this.

Then, just as I was about to lose it completely, the door flew open.

And there she was.

Jenny stood in the doorway, pale and shaking, her eyes wide and glassy. Her clothes were torn, and there were dark smudges of blood on her skin—her blood. My chest tightened at the sight of her, but before I could rush to her, she staggered forward and collapsed.

“Jenny!” I was at her side in an instant, lifting her into my arms. Her body was cold—too cold—and I could feel the unnatural stillness in her. She wasn’t breathing.

But I could still sense her, feel the faint pulse of life inside her.

Oh no. No, no, no.

“She’s in transition,” Ian said, kneeling beside us, his voice low and serious.

I barely heard him. My entire world was focused on Jenny—on her pale skin, her shaking body, the faint pulse of vampire blood in her veins. She had been turned. Someone had turned her.

“Jenny, what happened?” I asked, my voice desperate as I tried to keep my panic at bay.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked at me, her expression one of pure terror. “Jacob… I… I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

I gritted my teeth, my anger building as I held her closer. She didn’t remember. She couldn’t tell me who had done this to her, who had turned her into the very thing she had feared. My mind was already racing, thinking of all the vampires who could’ve been behind this. Whoever it was, they were going to pay. I was going to tear them apart for doing this to her.

“Can you remember anything?” Ian asked softly, but there was no softness in his eyes. His gaze was sharp, calculating. He was thinking the same thing I was—whoever did this was going to pay with their life.

Jenny shook her head, her lips trembling. “I was… grabbed… pulled into a car. I don’t know how long it was. I tried to fight, but there was this… this vampire. He forced me to drink his blood. Then… nothing.”

Her voice broke, and she buried her face in my chest, her body shaking with silent sobs. I held her tighter, feeling my own rage boiling over. She didn’t deserve this. She was innocent in all of this, just an ordinary girl who had been caught up in our world.

“I’m going to kill them,” I growled, the words slipping out before I could stop them. “Whoever did this, I’m going to make them pay.”

“Jacob,” Ian said, his tone warning, but I didn’t care. Not this time.

“No.” I stood, pulling Jenny up with me, cradling her like she was the most fragile thing in the world. “This wasn’t some random attack. Someone targeted her, and they’re going to regret it. I’m not waiting for your council or your rules, Ian. I’m finding who did this, and I’m ending them.”

“Think,” Ian said sharply, his hand grabbing my arm, stopping me in my tracks. “Whoever did this is trying to get a rise out of you. You go in half-cocked, you’ll end up dead. And that’s exactly what they want.”

I glared at him, but deep down, I knew he was right. Charging into a fight blind wasn’t going to help Jenny or anyone. But that didn’t stop the fury churning inside me, the overwhelming need to destroy whoever had hurt her.

I felt Jenny shift in my arms, her fingers clutching at my shirt. “I’m scared,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.

I looked down at her, my heart breaking all over again. She wasn’t scared of dying. She was scared of what she was becoming. She didn’t know how this world worked, didn’t understand the weight of what had been done to her. All she knew was that she wasn’t human anymore.

I knelt down, lowering her gently onto the couch. Ian knelt beside us, watching her carefully, his expression unreadable.

“You need to feed, Jenny,” he said quietly. “You’re in transition. If you don’t feed soon, it’ll kill you.”

“I already did,” she mumbled her reply.

“From the looks of it, you didn’t drink enough,” I replied. “Because you’re still in transition,” I murmured, wondering how the hell that was even possible.

Her eyes widened, fear flickering across her face. “I… I can’t… I don’t want to.”

“You have to,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm. But inside, I was screaming. How the hell had it come to this? “We’ll find a way to make this easier, but right now, you need to survive.”

She shook her head, tears filling her eyes. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, Jacob. I don’t want to be this.”

My throat tightened, and I reached out, cupping her face in my hands. “You won’t hurt anyone. I swear. We’ll get through this together. But you need to feed, or it’s over. You’ll die.”

The weight of my words hung in the air, and I could see the fear in her eyes deepen. But then, slowly, she nodded.

Ian disappeared for a moment and returned with a small vial of blood. He handed it to her, and she stared at it, her hands trembling.

“You can do this,” I said softly. “It’s just a little. Enough to get you through.”

She took a shaky breath and brought the vial to her lips. She drank, and I could see the change almost immediately—the color returning to her cheeks, her breathing evening out.

But there was something else too. A hunger. A flash of something dark in her eyes that made my heart sink.

She wiped her mouth, her hands still trembling. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

I pulled her into my arms, holding her tightly. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry this happened to you. But I swear, Jenny, I’m going to find out who did this. And when I do, they’re dead.”

“Jacob, we’ll handle this together,” Ian said, his voice steady. “But we need to be smart. Whoever turned her did it for a reason. They’re trying to send a message.”

“They succeeded,” I growled. “And now I’m sending one back.”

I stood, pacing again, the need for revenge bubbling up inside me, nearly choking me. I wanted to storm out, to hunt down every vampire in the city until I found the one who had done this. But I couldn’t. Not yet. Jenny needed me here, needed me calm and rational.

But the moment she was safe, I was going to burn this city down to find the bastard who had done this.

And when I found them, they were going to wish they’d never laid a hand on her.