Rain fell over the forests outside Forks in the steady, familiar rhythm that shaped the town’s every season. The clouds hung low, the air smelled of pine and wet earth, and the world felt exactly as it always had.

Which was precisely why Jacob Black noticed the change immediately.

For Jacob, the world had long since stopped being ordinary. Ever since the wolves, the patrols, the treaties, the constant watch along the forest borders, normal meant quiet. Normal meant predictable.

And that afternoon was not predictable.

He leaned beneath the half-open hood of the truck outside the garage, wiping grease across the back of his hand, when it happened.

A scent, Not human, Not wolf, Not familiar vampire. Jacob froze, Slowly, very slowly, he straightened.

The rain tapped against metal. Somewhere, a crow called. The scent drifted again, cold, sharp, sweet in the unnatural way only vampires smelled… but softer somehow. Not hostile. Not burning like the Volturi scouts had been. Not icy and distant like the Cullens. Different.

Jacob’s jaw tightened. “Great,” he muttered under his breath. “Just what we need.” Another vampire in town.

He found the answer faster than expected. Forks High School parking lot.

Jacob hadn’t even planned to be there, just dropping something off, just passing through, just another ordinary errand. But wolves didn’t believe in coincidences anymore.

Because the moment he stepped from the truck…

He saw her. {{user}} stood near the far end of the lot, beside the school steps, motionless in the gray rain.

Not pretending to breathe. Not pretending to fidget. Too still, Too perfect, Too pale. Vampire. Newborn, his instincts said instantly. The faint tension in her posture. The careful way she watched everything. The unfamiliarity in her stillness.

Jacob felt the protective anger rise first, automatic, instinctive. His muscles tensed, His hands curled, His heartbeat kicked into war-ready rhythm.

New vampire in Forks = potential threat.

He took one step forward. Then everything in his world shattered. The universe snapped into place, Not slowly, Not gently, Instantly. Like gravity had been invented in that exact second, Jacob stopped breathing, Sound vanished, Rain vanished. The parking lot vanished. There was only {{user}}.

Only her face turning slightly toward him. Only her eyes meeting his. And something inside Jacob, something older than thought, deeper than instinct, stronger than will, locked into place with absolute, irreversible certainty.

Imprint, His entire body went still. No anger. No fear. No wolf. No patrol. No past. Nothing. Just her. If she needed protection, he would die for her.

If she needed distance, he would give it. If she needed friendship, he would be it. If she needed love, The realization hit like sunlight breaking through storm clouds.

Jacob Black, future Alpha, hot-headed mechanic, lifelong enemy of vampires…

…was completely, hopelessly, irrevocably imprinted on one.

“wtf,” he breathed.

Across the parking lot, {{user}} froze too. Because of course she noticed him. How could she not? The tall Quileute boy standing in the rain, staring at her like the world had just ended, or begun.

For a long moment, neither moved, Students walked between them, Cars slammed, Voices echoed, Time returned.

Jacob finally forced himself to move, one slow step at a time. When he reached her, he breathed out with anger. “What happened to me a few minutes ago, you just manipulate my brain and emotions? What the fuck did you do to my brain? Was this part of your stupid vampire powers?”