My heart pounded in my chest as I felt a presence. With a sickening dread, I realized-I wasn't alone. I spun around, my dagger immediately in hand, ready to face whatever had come out of the darkness. But nothing could have prepared me for who I saw stepping out from the shadows.

Jacob. For a moment, time seemed to stop. I stood frozen, staring at the man who had once meant everything to me, the man who had torn my heart apart when he chose Charlotte. His dark hair was slightly longer than I remembered, his sharp jawline covered with the faintest trace of stubble. But his eyes-they were the same. The same piercing black that had haunted my thoughts for weeks after he left me.

"Jacob?" The word left my lips before I could stop it, a mixture of disbelief and raw emotion.

"Tasha." His voice was steady, but there was something in it-regret, maybe, or guilt. "I'm sorry it took me so long." I didn't move. My heart was a warzone of confusion, anger, and a sliver of something I hated to admit-relief. He stepped closer, his gaze never leaving mine, and for a second, it was like no time had passed between us. Like none of the rejection, betrayal, or pain had ever happened. But it had. They all happened.

I wanted nothing to do with him but the other part of me- the wolf part of me wanted her mate back. My grip on the dagger tightened, and I took a step back, my voice cold.

"What are you doing here, Jacob?" He paused, the flicker of hurt crossing his face.

"I've been following you... watching over you." I narrowed my eyes. "Watching over me?" The words tasted bitter.

"Since when? Since you abandoned me for Charlotte?" Jacob flinched at the accusation, and for a moment, the confidence he had carried faltered.

"I never abandoned you, Tasha," he said, his voice soft, pleading. "I rejected you to protect you." A wave of emotions surged through me, anger and betrayal burning hotter.

"Protect me? Is that what you call it? You shattered me. You left me standing there like a fool when you proclaimed to everyone that she was your mate." My voice was shaking now, the dam of emotions I had kept locked away breaking apart. "You let me think you chose her over me!"

"I had no choice." Jacob's voice broke, and suddenly he seemed... vulnerable. "Charlotte... Eden-they're more dangerous than you know. I had to push you away to keep you safe. If I didn't, they would've used me to get to you. They still might." His words felt like daggers in my chest, reopening wounds I had thought were starting to heal. But now they bled freely, raw and exposed.

"You think that makes it better? You think lying to me, hurting me, makes this okay?" Jacob looked away, guilt shadowing his features.

"No. Nothing can make it right. But I'm here now, Tasha. And I want to fix it. I want to help you stop Eden." The mention of Eden's name snapped me out of my emotional downturn. I couldn't afford to get lost in this again, not now. There was too much at stake.

"I don't need your help," I said, my voice colder than I felt inside. "I have Mascot and the others." Jacob's eyes darkened at the mention of Mascot.

"Mascot?" There was an edge to his tone now, one I recognized all too well. "He's the one who betrayed you, isn't he?" I opened my mouth to protest, but Jacob took a step forward, his hand reaching out, stopping just short of touching me. "Tasha, you can't trust him. He's the reason you're in this mess."

"He saved me," I shot back, though the words felt empty. "He's been by my side." Jacob's gaze softened, but his voice stayed firm. "You don't owe him anything. He's part of why Sarah's gone." That hit a nerve.

I turned away, tears pricking the corners of my eyes as the pain of Sarah's sacrifice washed over me again. Mascot had been there when we needed him, but the guilt of everything still weighed heavily on him. I didn't know who to trust anymore, not fully.

Not even myself. I couldn't keep my thoughts straight-my heart pulling me one way, my head pulling me another. Jacob had always known how to stir something deep inside me, something I couldn't ignore. But that didn't mean I had forgiven him. That didn't mean I trusted him. Just as I opened my mouth to respond, a sudden rustle in the trees made us both tense.

Mascot. He stepped out from the shadows, his dark eyes locking onto Jacob with an intensity I had only seen once before. The air around us seemed to strain with pressure, like a wire pulled too tight, ready to snap at any moment.

"Jacob," Mascot growled, his voice low and dangerous. Jacob's eyes flicked to Mascot, then back to me.

"I should've known you'd still be around," Jacob muttered, taking a step forward to place himself between me and Mascot. "But you don't belong here anymore."

Mascot's lips curled into a snarl. "Funny. I was about to say the same thing to you."

I could feel the anger radiating off both of them, two predators circling each other, each waiting for the other to make the first move. My heart pounded in my chest, my hand instinctively tightening on the hilt of my dagger, though I knew it wouldn't be enough to stop them if things escalated.

"I'm not here to fight you, Mascot," Jacob said, his voice deceptively calm. "I'm here for Tasha. She needs someone she can trust." Mascot's gaze flicked to me, a shadow of doubt crossing his face before it hardened again.

"She doesn't need you," he spat. "You left her when she needed you most. I've been the one by her side."

Jacob's jaw clenched, his fists tightening at his sides. "And look where that got her," he snarled back. "Sarah's gone because of you."

"Stop!" The word tore from my throat, louder than I intended. The force of it silenced both of them, their attention snapping back to me. I could feel my chest heaving, my emotions swirling like a storm inside me. I couldn't take this-couldn't take them tearing each other apart when everything was already falling apart around us.

"You're both acting like this is about who's right, but it's not," I said, my voice shaking. "Sarah's gone because of Eden, because of all of us. Blaming each other isn't going to bring her back." The silence that followed was stifling. My words hanging in the air between us.

Jacob was the first to speak, his voice soft, almost broken. "Tasha, I'm sorry. I never wanted any of this to happen." I looked at him, the man who had once held my heart in his hands, the man who had broken it into pieces. And then I looked at Mascot, the man who had tried to put those pieces back together, but who had only ended up shattering my trust. How had it come to this?

"Right now, we need to focus on stopping Eden," I said, my voice firmer. "That's all that matters." But Jacob wasn't done. He took a step closer to me, his eyes filled with a desperation I hadn't seen before.

"Tasha... you have to choose." The words hung in the air like a death sentence. Mascot bristled beside me, his growl low and threatening.

"You don't have to choose anything, Tasha. Don't let him manipulate you." I stood there, frozen between them, torn between the past and the present, between love and anger, between trust and betrayal. The thought of the decision I would have to make felt unbearable.

"You can't trust him anymore," Jacob said softly, his eyes never leaving mine. "Please, Tasha. You have to choose."