Margaret Allie Brandon (Jasper's Mate Story)

Chapter 67

Margaret's POV: 

I watched as Carly offered me a gentle smile, her own mate waiting quietly outside the door in the hallway. She gently took my hand in hers and squeezed it, a comforting gesture even if it wasn't exactly who I wish was comforting me at the moment. She left a few seconds later, the door shutting behind her, leaving me to my thoughts that came rushing back.

I found myself curled up on the bed, crying as quietly as I could into a pillow. The pain from the deaths seeming to hit me once again but also the knowledge that I didn't know what else I could do but stay here. I was dangerous to the Cullens, to the only thing that had resembled a family to me since losing my mom. I.....I couldn't go back until I learned how to control the....the monster I had become.

It wasn't for another few hours, the sun rising to the middle of the sky outside the window and beginning to fall again that I forced myself to rise from the bed. I went into the bathroom, seeing the door to Carly's room shut but I could hear her hushed voice as she talked with her mate. I knew he didn't trust me, but I didn't trust me either. I threw water on my face, only then looking up and seeing my reflection for the first time since I was......was changed.

My skin seemed less blemished but the scars.....they were still there and if anything seemed more prominent against my otherwise perfect complexion. My once blue eyes were blood red. I knew part of it was from crying all afternoon, but the other part was the 'newborn' effect. I didn't feel like a newborn vampire though, at least what I thought one would feel like. I didn't feel strong. I felt weak and afraid and lost. I felt more human now than I had when I was human. A few more tears threatened to leave my eyes just as a soft knock at the bathroom door broke my concentration.

"Can I come in?" (Carly)

"Y-yes, yes of course." (Mags)

I quickly wiped at my eyes just as she walked in, another soft smile on her face. She took a few steps closer to me, before I saw a frown start to form on her face, her head tilting as she looked at me.

"I would have thought.....sorry I would have thought the scars disappeared during the change. Perhaps the venom and toxin mixing prevented your body from healing everything. After all, it was focused on keeping you alive underneath it all." (Car)

"I guess so." (Mags)

"We're getting ready to head out if you're ready." (Car)

"As ready as I can be." (Mags)

She walked out of the bathroom, motioning me to follow her into her room. I kept myself from flinching as Mike joined us and nodded to me in a silent greeting that I returned as best as I could. He took Carly's left hand as I stayed on her right. The smile he gave her as she looked up at him practically shown with the love they held for one another and my heart seemed to break at the thought of Jasper and what I had ruined. It wasn't until we were outside of the house and walking towards a large empty field in the woods that Carly broke me from my panicked concentration of others all around us in small groups laughing and talking with one another.

"Do you have any questions about tonight?" (Car)

"Do you have control of.....of yourself on full moons?" (Mags)

"Most of us do yes. But everyone struggles with it the first few full moons they change, but eventually you learn to control it. It may happen quicker for you though since you're technically only half werewolf." (Car)

"So I......I won't always be a monster?" (Mags)

I saw Carly flinch at the use of the term before Mike wrapped an arm around her shoulder and looked at me as if he was just seeing me for the first time.

"Why use that word? You think us monsters when you dated a blood sucker." (Mike)

"No, not you....just me." (Mags)

"But why Margaret?" (Car)

"I....I attacked my....attacked Jasper last night and if he hadn't of been a....a vampire I would have killed him. I almost did. What would you call that?" (Mags)

"A newly turned child of the moon without guidance. Without a pack. Not a monster. You think you're the first one to make a mistake when first starting to change? It's always harder for changed wolves." (Mike)

"He's right. We were born into this life and start changing early when we're just kids. But changed wolves, they usually have no idea what's happening even if they know what they've become it's one thing to know, another entirely to experience. It's why I was so shocked that Randy had never told you what he was, or what he had turned your mom into." (Car)

"What?" (Mags)

"You......you didn't know about your mom either? Of course you didn't. How could you when you didn't even know about him. He.....he had turned your mom a few moons after they were married. I don't know how she controlled herself so well, because he said she never left the house on full moons she just changed as quietly as she could to stay and protect you. I think it's part of why he hated you so much, she loved you more than she could ever love him." (Car)

"He.....he had done this to her too?!?" (Mags)

I was filled with a burning rage that seemed to flicker across my skin as Randy's words from that dreadful time in his bedroom rushed back through my mind. Now....now they made sense. He had done the same thing to her and I doubt it had been any more consensual than my own bite had been. As I was hit with the first wave of pain my scream of pain mixed with one of rage at the bastard that did this.

I saw Mike start to change a few seconds after I did, Carly stripping out of her tshirt as she did the same before I was lost again to the pain and the rage burning through every cell in my body.


Carly's POV:

I watched through canine eyes as Margaret finished her shift, more howls of pain and rage leaving her mouth with each cracking of a bone. What stood in her place was definitely not Margaret, as no recognition flashed in her eyes as it would with the rest of us. She was truly a hybrid like the old images in the history books showed. She howled at the moon above us just as the other members of the pack that shifted did the same before she looked around her and snarled at the circle of wolves that were surrounding her.

I was worried this wouldn't be the best way to ensure she didn't hurt anyone. I yipped at a few of the pack members that were getting too close, close enough that I knew she would take it as an attack. I took a few steps closer to her, whining a bit as she snarled at me. The whine seemed to catch her off guard as she allowed to get closer, whining again as she crouched as if to pounce. She didn't pounce though, rather she took a few crouched steps towards me as I stood frozen. She gently nuzzled into my neck and I returned the gesture, hearing her make a noise as close to one of our deep purrs when we felt happy and safe.

She had accepted me as a pack member it seemed and I had to hold back a sigh of relief at that knowledge. I nudged her with my nose and she was instantly looking at me before standing and snarling at Mike who was drawing closer to us. I turned and shook my head at him, knowing she didn't trust men in general and I would be surprised if that hadn't transferred into this form as well. Mike seemed to understand and took a few steps back before laying down. A seemingly relaxed pose but as a trained fighter he could jump up and attack within seconds if he thought it was needed.

I motioned for Margaret to follow me, as I knew as a hybrid she would need to hunt more than us. She followed close behind me as we left the circle of wolves, and headed to where we could both smell deer. I watched in shock as she tackled two in an instant, killing both and tossing one to me before draining the other and then ripping some of the meat from the hind quarters. She seemed to notice me hesitating with the deer she tossed at me and crossed back over, dragging the other deer behind her.

She laid it down next to it and crouched again, showing signs of submission and I realized she was recognizing me as a higher wolve in status. She had only stopped eating because I wasn't eating. Her instincts were impeccable, even if she wasn't aware of what she was doing. I took a bite of the deer she had already drained, not being a big blood fan so preferring it honestly. I nudged the still full of blood deer towards her, smiling internally as she snatched it up and drained it sighing as she finished as she seemed to feel better after she had.

I heard the howls of a few of my friends and nudged her out of a crouch as she tensed. She had nothing to fear from these wolves. Two of my friends, Becca and Liza came up to us at a slow pace, before I walked forward and nudged them both. I looked back to see Margaret slowly standing from her crouch and walking nearer to them. A few moments more and she had accepted them as easily as she had accepted me. That was the hard part of tonight really. The next part would be to help her see that she wasn't a monster. She was a powerful individual, and she could gain control when she wanted to. After all the one thing a woman knows how to do as a deep instinct is to survive.