When the Night Calls ↠ Charlotte Hale (2) [Teen Wolf Fanfiction]

Chapter Six

Lies have a way of biting you in the ass when you don't need them coming out; and by withholding the truth about Kate – I know that I have to expect to lose everything I have come to gain in this life. I'm just like her. She lied about Jackson and me for years and now I am entangled in that web of lies; that she started years ago. I am being selfish. I know that, but if taking one for the team makes me the bad guy and we still take down Monroe – then isn't it worth it? Hales and Argents are known for their lies. Still how can I tell Nolan the truth and not my own brother? It's because Jackson is finally happy after years of feeling loss – and I can't take that away from him. Isn't part of my job to protect him from getting hurt, even if I have to lie in order to do it? I'd die for him and that's saying something. Telling my father is for everyone's best interest – because that could set him over the edge to a point of: mass destruction, fatalities, and the re-birth of the monstrous alpha that tortured Beacon Hills years ago. I can't take that chance and if that makes me a coward...so what?!

"Charlie, you awake?" questions Isaac as he taps on the door.

"You're speaking to me now?" I ask as I raise an eyebrow at him and the food he had in his hand. "But if you're bringing breakfast... I might accept this as an apology. One question though, is Jackson here?"

Setting down the food on the side-table, he sits on the edge of the bed and looks upon me. "He went on a jog with Ethan earlier this morning. Why? What is bugging you, C?"

Do I tell him? He's my fiancé after all, but does that matter? Kate will soon be his mother-in-law and Peter will soon be his father-in-law...but should I risk him judging me and forcing me to tell my father and brother what I found out?

"Kate's my mother."

"I did not see that coming. Are you okay?"

"I wanted to know... but she dropped a bombshell on me and now I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean?"

"How am I supposed to be the big shot alpha? How am I going to run this pack with courage and confidence that I don't have? She knows how to ruin everything with a bombshell." I say as I fall back into the sheets with a big: Hmph!

Rolling beside me, he pulls me close and admires me with those eyes of his. One of his hands softly rests on my lower back as the other one cradles my face. "You're the strongest person I know. Don't let this self-defeat get you down. You gained a missing puzzle piece to your life's story. Embrace the change. Be the change you want to distill on Enzo. Don't let fear consume you, Charlotte."

Laughing while the tears spill, "Maybe you should be the Alpha?! You give really good advice. How did I get so lucky in finding you?"

"I don't know." Chuckles Isaac as he kisses me on the forehead, then on the nose; and finally pulls me closer and kisses me as if it were the first time we had kissed. "But you need to tell everyone. At least when you're ready to tell them that is. It's going to be hard no matter when you expose that secret – so you need to decide when to rip the Band-Aid off."

Honesty is the best policy I heard, but when you're protecting the ones you care about; sometimes that isn't the case. I consider all the possibilities before diving in and receiving the consequences that follow; and that is how I have always been. The heart is a wicked thing. We do just about anything for the people we love and if that makes people perceive you differently – are they really trustworthy people? Love is going to get us in the end and people can take it as a weakness or they can take it as strength; it just depends on how you view what love is. I'll tell them when the time is right and I appreciate Isaac not forcing my hand early. Oh god...he dated my cousin, Allison and he loved her. Protect the ones you love at all costs – that's my motto.

"I will when the time is right. We just found out about Nolan and that's one secret that has everyone questioning everything. I'm going to go for a run, okay?" I say as I push Isaac away and duck into my closet and switch into my running attire. Then I quickly kiss him and then dart away out the door and try to grasp at my reality and contemplate what to do.

Plugging my music into my ears, I dart down the pebble road and run quicker than the wind. Finally it was me and nature against the whole supernatural world. Nothing could stop me. I could do anything I wanted, because I felt freed and felt like all the weight dissipated off of my shoulders until I saw him.

My brother.

My partner in crime.

The one I am lying to.

"Didn't think you'd be up this early? What's on your mind?"

"A little bit of everything."

He takes his earphones out of his ears and pulls me aside. "Hey, so I've been thinking?" A trickle of sweat rolls down my cheek and I look up at him. He's happy. Now is not the time to tell him. Just a little bit longer.

"Well that's new." I joked as I slugged him in the arm. After rubbing his arm, he just smiles down at me. "Ha-ha. No, seriously. I think we should find our mother after Monroe is no longer a problem."

Scratching the back of my ear while taking a big gulp, I look directly in his eyes. "Oh, I don't think now is the right time for that. Too much on all of our plates." Steading my breathing, I hold my focus on Jackson's heartbeat.

"It's never going to be the right time. We will always have something after us as long as we're alive." Reassures Jackson as he holds my hands.

Thinking quick, I respond with "We just can't right now. That's a weakness that others could exploit in order to take us down. Plus, we still have Ryker lurking in the shadows."

Cocking his head slightly, he nods with "True."

"You're becoming soft, Jackson."

"And you're becoming the very Alpha you were always scared to become, Charlie. I heard what you did to Theo last night."

"Let's just hold off a little bit longer on finding her. Okay? I am not canning the idea – well I am just putting it on the back burner. Okay?" I softly ask as the tears begin to build up behind my eyes.

"Okay, but listen. Promise me that we'll always be honest with each other."

I quickly reply with, "I promise." Then he darts off towards the house and I left there stranded; not knowing how to react; because lies were coming out of my mouth and he was right about everything. I am turning into something I never wanted to; and I only have myself to blame. From changing Nolan into one of us to lying to everyone to attacking Theo to prove a point: I am my parents.

I am a monster.