Lunar Whispers

Chapter 10

Jacob's entire body froze. The only thought flowing through his mind was about his brother. He must have told Hunter about him hearing the voice and now Hunter was here making fun of him. His brother's friend would tell everyone and he'd have to leave college or even town because everyone would know he was a freak.

"You're not a freak," Hunter said out loud after releasing the breath he was holding. "And I'm not here to make fun of you and of course, I'd never tell anyone about this."

Jacob's worried eyes were accompanied by a frown. He was more than sure he didn't say those things out loud. Maybe he was stuck in some horrific dream?

"Look, I know it sounds crazy. It's not every day you get to say that to someone but it's true and believe it or not, I can prove it."

Jacob's mouth now hung open. He was definitely dreaming. There was no way this was real life. "Are you making fun of me?" he whispered. He wanted to run and never look back. He wanted to scream at his brother for revealing something that was so personal to him.

"I would never do that," Hunter's voice was a little stern. Jacob had no idea how insulting it was for him to be accused of making fun of his own mate, but none of that mattered because he still had no idea what was developing between them. "Your brother would never tell a soul about your struggles, you know that."

Jacob picked up his bag and took a step back.

"Please," Hunter pleaded. "I can prove it to you."

"No you can't," Jacob whispered with tears growing in his eyes.

"You know it's really me." The voice echoed in the back of his mind.

"Don't you?" Hunter said out loud.

"I've wanted to tell you for a whole year."

"But I had to wait," Hunter said out loud once more.

"I was never mean to you. I tried to make the experience easy for you to handle."

"You know the morning you sat in the garden with your dad because he caught you talking out loud to me, and I told you I would never hurt you? I meant it."

Jacob's skin prickled with fear. He was concentrating on two voices and they were both making sense, but coming from two different places. Now that he thought about it, there was something familiar about Hunter's voice and he couldn't figure out why- until now.

Hunter tried to take a step forward but Jacob held out a trembling hand. "Don't come near me," He breathed, trying to keep his emotional mind from collapsing.

"Do you believe me now?" Hunter asked softly. "I can explain why you've-"

"I don't believe you," he whispered. "You're messing with me." He didn't know if he said that to Hunter or the voice in his head.

"You have to believe me, Jacob, how else would I be able to know that you struggled to sleep last night and you woke up an hour before your mum had to wake you. And you've had a weird pain in your chest ever since our class finished. I know that your grandparents think you're only good for daydreaming because you told me this morning."

Jacob remembered that conversation and yes, he did tell the voice that. How would Hunter know these things? Like he said, William would never talk about his troubles to anyone, they have that trust within each other. But why was this happening to him? He didn't know what to believe. The norms were telling him to reject any possibility of it being real.

"Jacob," Hunter should've planned this out better. "There are things about me that you have to know, there are reasons why I can talk to you inside of your head. I need to know if you believe me."