Remember Me This Way (Prequel to the Megan/Derek Series)

Chapter 6

'Deep breath,' she told herself.

There they were. Again.

In the halls. Cuddling up to each other. Showcasing their affection.

Paige is really nice. Truly.

But it still stings. It still hurts Megan, no matter how "over" Derek she is.

She turns away and opens her phone and starts typing out Jacob's number.

Voicemail.

"Hey Jacob.. It's me. Your sister. Again. I was just uhh calling to talk. I just needed your advice again. I don't know how much longer I can take this. love you. Bye," She hangs up. 

Weird. She thinks.

That's the 3rd time he hasn't answered a call from her.

She stares at her phone, concern written all over her face.

"Hey, you good?" a voice comes from in front of her.

Derek.

"Yeah. Fine." She says, without making any eye contact with him and walks away to her next class.

"Mom? Dad?" Megan calls out into her house.

"Up in the office!" Her dad answers.

She makes her way up to their office to find her mom and dad doing werewolf reading.

"How was your day at school, honey?" Amber asks.

"Fine. Have you heard from Jacob?" Megan asked, concern in her voice. It had been 6 months since Jacob had moved and started college at the University of Kentucky. Her parents look at each other and talk through their facial expressions. "Hello?" Megan interrupted their silent conversation, frustration clear in her voice.

"Honey, there have been things that have happened and we would rather have Daniel here, too, to discuss it with you both. Why don't you call him and have him come home?" Her dad suggests. This scares Megan, beyond anything she has every felt before. Since the whole Derek debacle, she had leaned on Jacob for everything. He is her anchor now, their sibling connection has always been much stronger than her and Daniels, or so she thinks. Besides Derek, Jacob has been her constant ever since she could remember.

"Why can't you tell me now? Is he okay? Did something happen to him? Why can't you tell me without Daniel being here?" Megan bombarded her parents with questions that, honestly, she was actually scared to know the answer to.

"Meggy, calm down," Her mom tried, which only fueled the fire.

"DO NOT CALL ME THAT!" Megan yelled, then ran, even though her parents were calling after her. She ran straight out of the house and just kept going. The world around her was a blur and she couldn't tell where she was or where she was going until she made it to the last place they were at together. The old, abandoned distillery. She stopped in the middle of the inside of it, closed her eyes and breathed in and out, deeply. "Why? Why does life have to be so FUCKED UP?" She screams into the nothingness of the physical world around her that she felt in her heart, the black around her soul. The deep breaths don't do anything but allow her real, raw emotions to come out. She sinks to her knees and cries. She lets out a painful scream that turns into a howl. 

"Meggy?" She hears from behind her.

"Leave me alone, Derek," she says without so much as turning around and looking at him. She stands up dusts of her knees. She can sense that he isn't alone and catches Paige's scent. 

"Megan, are you okay?" Paige asks, stepping up towards her, Paige's hand almost touching her and Derek sees claws.

"You know what?" Megan whips around. "Back the hell up. Both of you. Paige, you don't know me. Derek, you have lost the right to know me. Leave. Me. Alone. I won't tell you again," Megan says, her eyes glowing vibrant, yellow. But what Derek sees next makes him forget the concern of Paige seeing, there is a red streak in her eye. But as soon as he sees it, her werewolf features are gone and so is she. 

Megan slowly walks up the porch steps to her home, hesitant on going in. Instead, she makes her way to the porch swing that is around the corner of the wrap around porch of the house. To her surprise, Daniel is already sitting there. Silently, she goes and sits next to him and both are silent for a few minutes.

"You know," Daniel starts. "I know it's bad when mom and dad are pacing the floor, having a silent conversation, and your nowhere to be found. Especially after I hear your howl in the distance. Which is why I stormed home, immediately." Daniel says. When Megan says nothing, he nudges her with his shoulder and she breaks down again. He scoots closer and brings her into his brotherly embrace. "What's wrong, Megan?" Daniel asks, his heart breaking apart, seeing his little sister crumble. Thinking about the pact that him and Jacob made when she was 3 and fell down the last step.

'We both solemnly swear to protect her. physically. Emotionally. Eternally,' Jacob said, using words he found from an old pack book.

'Forever,' Daniel said, sealing the deal with blood and spit. Thankfully little werewolf boys heal, or they would have been in trouble.

"Something is wrong with Jacob, I can feel it." Megan said through the tears and Daniels heart tore apart. 

"How do you know?" Daniel asks, almost breathlessly.

"I have called him 3 times in the last month, all have gone unanswered. No call back, nothing. Then I came to talk to mom and dad about it and they said we had to wait to have that conversation with you here too." She explained, although it wasn't much, Daniel felt a little relief. If something had been seriously wrong with Daniel, like death, his parents wouldn't have waited.

"Because it's best if we can talk about it as a family," their mom said, coming around the corner, their dad close behind her.

"It's hard, even for us, Meg, you have to understand that," her dad said.

"What's going on?" Daniel asks. Their parents look at each other and take a deep breath. No silent conversation on their face, just sadness and hurt.

"Jacob is no longer...," Amber starts, the pain overcoming her emotions.

"We have had to remove him from our pack," Will finished, his voice cracking at the end. Megan rushes to her feet.

"You WHAT?" Megan asks, alarmed, pissed off, .04 seconds from transforming.

"Meg, calm down," Will says, trying to walk over to her, but by this time, she is fully transformed and off into the woods.

"I thought I'd find you here," Daniel says, walking up to her. She is gazing out at Beacon Hills at the edge of the lookout peak while the sun is setting over the horizon. He sits right beside her, seeing the remnants of tears that stopped about an hour ago.

"What do you want?" She asks him, not in the mood to speak.

"Well, mom and dad are still distraught from having to break the news to me and explain what happened." This peaks her attention, and she snaps her head to meet his gaze, obvious that he, too, had been crying.

"What happened?" She whispered, her eyes filling with tears again. He huffed out a breath and looked at the horizon, trying to will the tears out of his eyes.

"They classified him as a rogue wolf. He.... I don't even know how to explain this..." He started. Megan didn't make a sound, just waiting for him to continue. "He killed an innocent and got caught. He is in prison and mom and dad had to make the decision of cutting his bind to our pack. He is no longer a Jones werewolf. He is now a rogue. And he's on his own," Daniel explained. Megan couldn't believe it. 

Life was unfair and mean. And Megan was on the receiving end of its anger.

And to top it off, the alphas of all powerful packs are meeting here in Beacon Hills in eight days.