See You Next Life, My Alpha

Bella’s POV

Jacob sighed, rubbing his temples. “Yeah, Mandy, I’ll help. Your brother’s my family too.” He hung up and sat there in silence, the weight of everything pressing down on him.

For the first time, I saw it. He wasn’t invincible. He wasn’t this heartless creature I had painted him to be in my mind. He was just... lost, caught in a web of choices he didn’t know how to handle. But that didn’t change the fact that he left me. That didn’t change the fact that I was dead, or at least as good as dead, because of him.

I thought back to that moment, lying in the forest, blood pouring from my wounds. He had abandoned me for her. Chosen her over me, again. But now, watching him alone in our house, I realized something: he might have chosen Mandy, but he wasn’t happy. And maybe, just maybe, there was a piece of him that regretted it.

“Where the hell are you, Bella?”

But that regret won’t save me now.

I watched as Jacob stirred awake on the sofa in our shared home, his brow furrowed in worry for the first time.

Last night had been a blur; he’d sat there lost in thought, glancing at the door like he was waiting for someone who would never return. I was that someone, but he couldn’t see me.

As he stood up, his eyes fell on the untouched slippers by the door, and I felt a twisted satisfaction at the sight. It was a small, petty triumph, but in that moment, it felt monumental. His mood darkened as he pulled out his phone, the screen illuminating his face in the dim light. The message he sent felt like a knife stabbing me in the heart:

(Bella, if you don't want to return, then you might as well stay away for good.)

The words hung in the air, suffocating me. I couldn’t help but sneer at the screen, my spirit whispering back, “I won’t ever come back to you, Jacob.”

I felt a strange mix of anger and sorrow.

He went through the motions of preparing for the day, but I could see his mind was still tangled in confusion and regret. I followed him as he made his way to the pack’s headquarters, the place he and the beta, Lucas, had built together from the ground up. It was a testament to their hard work and loyalty, but now it felt like a prison.

Not long after Jacob sat down, Mandy walked in. She looked exhausted, shadows under her eyes betraying her restless night.

“Alpha, you’re the only one who can help me this time,” she pleaded, her voice trembling, breaking the fragile silence.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, instantly concerned, shifting from his own troubles to focus on hers.

Mandy launched into her story, her words rushing out between shaky breaths. “I asked Marco about what happened. Someone saw him with the rouge wolf who killed someone but I know he’s innocent.”

Jacob’s face paled as he absorbed the details, each word tightening the knot in his stomach, “Did someone die?”