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Jacob stops walking. His face goes soft when he turns to me. I meet his gaze with tears in my eyes.

“This was the will of your parents, Aya,” he says. “I did not want the alpha position.”

I scrub at my cheeks. “But you’re so good at it.”

That takes Jacob aback a bit. His scent spikes with surprise, and I can see it in his eyes too.

My wolf sulks. She knows what I’m going to say next, and she’s not about to help me out.

“I’ve been cruel to you,” I confess.

Jacob doesn’t argue. He’s been patient with my smart mouth my whole life, even when I didn’t deserve a lick of it. His scent stays calm.

Back at the cabin, Ezra told me he won’t lead Ash Clan if I’m not by his side. He’d burn his future to the ground before he’d see me unhappy. Ezra would give up anything for the people he loves, and I couldn’t even make peace with my own alpha without a fight. What’s my excuse?

“How can I be luna if I can’t accept you as alpha of this pack?” I ask him.

Jacob grunts. “You have accepted me, Aya. In a dusty-wolf way.”

I laugh, but it comes out wet.

“I’m so sorry,” I choke out.

Jacob groans and pulls me into his arms. He rubs slow circles on my back and keeps me close while I sob. He smells like pine and Angie’s cooking. I’ve spent years glaring at him over Sunday dinner, and now I’m the one snotting on his shoulder. I don’t shush my wolf when she whimpers for him.

“I have loved you since before I knew you were born,” he murmurs. “The first daughter of House of Zorah. You already held a great honor upon my arrival.”

That only makes me cry harder. I fist the back of his shirt and hang on.

“I understand your disappointment,” he tells me. “But your mother made the best choices for their mate bond. Your father was never meant to be alpha. He was thrust into the role.”

I nod and hiccup. “I know.”

Jacob sets me back from him and keeps his hands on my shoulders. He frowns down at me like he’s about to teach a pup a lesson it’ll never forget. “I was my own alpha for a thousand years. A pack of one. I stayed in my wolf form so long I lost the will to shift back. Didn’t want to walk on two legs, didn’t want to speak, didn’t want anything at all.”

He squeezes harder. “I lost everything in the Great War. My parents, my siblings, most of our family. I watched them burn. I stood on the front lines and waited for the fire to take me too, so I could die in honor with them. Gabriel wouldn’t allow it. He grabbed me by the throat and threw us both off a cliff into the water below, and I hated him for it. For centuries, I hated him.”

I’ve heard pieces of this in whispers around the pack, but never from Jacob’s own mouth. “It wasn’t until Hazel came to me that I had a reason to keep going,” he goes on. “She promised me my suffering would be over. She promised me a mate in a land that didn’t exist yet.” He snorts at himself. “So I know all too well about holding resentment, niece. I held mine for a thousand years, and it kept me alone in the snow.”

He sniffs hard and stares off down the road. “It’s Angie, and this pack, that made me want to live again. And for that, I owe them everything.”

And I’ve been kicking this wolf in the knee. Jacob reaches to pull me into his arms again, but I catch his wrist and step away. “No, Uncle.”

I’ve never called him that. His scent goes warm and sweet, and his eyes get wet.

He drops his hands to his sides and bows to me. I draw in a deep breath. “Alpha Jacob, I respect you as leader of this pack. I will not disrespect you again.” I sink to a knee in the dirt, keep my eyes down, and wait for Jacob to accept. I know better. Women don’t kneel to men, not even to an alpha. But Jacob is taking this apology whether he wants it or not.

A growl rolls out of him. I stay put. If he walks off or hauls me up off this road, my wolf and I deserve the shame. She doesn’t make a peep.

“You are my family,” he argues.

“You are my family and my alpha,” I whisper. “Please forgive me.”

Jacob growls again. “There is nothing to forgive, Aya. Please don’t make me⁠—”

From back at the territory line, Ezra murmurs, “Please, Alpha Jacob. She won’t accept her luna role unless she’s forgiven.”

Nosy dragon. Jacob glares up the road and heaves a sigh. He steps forward and rests his big hand on top of my head.