MAGNOLIA ❀ P. LAHOTE

3. Sam, What Did You Do?!

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Present day...

When Magnolia opens her eyes, she's laying on a bed and there's a boy sitting to her right grinning at her. 

"Sam! She's up!" He yells. 

"Dude," She groans as her head pounds. 

 "Sorry, I'm Jared Cameron," He says sheepishly. 

"Maggie," Her muscles scream at her as she sits up.

The door opens and Sam walks in, "Careful there, you had quite the fall."

"Sam..." Magnolia looks at her sister's ex-fiancé in disgust and groans before flopping back on the bed. 

"Yeah, it's nice to see you too, Maggie," Sam scoffs. "There's things we need to talk about."

"Uh yeah, like the fact that we're fucking werewolves?!" She explodes, throwing my hands up in exasperation. 

"She's a feisty one," Jared laughs.

"Shut it, Cameron," She hisses at him and he zips his mouth shut with a giggle.

"What happened last night?" Sam asks after a second.

Magnolia's eyebrows furrow in confusion, "I-I...I don't..." and then it hits her. "That fucking scumbag," a deep growl rumbles in her chest, "when I see him, I'm gonna tear him limb from limb."

"Magnolia, focus," Sam says breaking her out of her trance.

She takes a deep breath and continues, "I went over to Nathan's place last night because it was movie night. I knocked, but no one was answering so I checked to see if the door was locked and it wasn't. So I went inside and when I didn't see him in the living room, I went to his room, thinking he fell asleep but when I got there, he was making out with some chick on his bed," tears of anger run down her face.

"She asked who I was and when he told her I was his girlfriend she said that she was his girlfriend. If I hadn't left, Sam, I probably would've killed them both. I was so angry," Magnolia cries and Sam pulls her in for a hug and they stay like that until she's no longer crying.

"You want me to kick his ass?" Jared asks with a frown on his face and Magnolia laughs.

"No, but thank you. I think I can handle it," She pulls away from Sam. "So what's happening?"

"We're having a council meeting next weekend so everything will be fully explained by then, but I'll explain the basics for now," He says.

"Aw man, I gotta wait?" Magnolia smacks her teeth and lies back on the bed.

"Last night you phased into a wolf. The transformation comes suddenly and it usually seems to be triggered by anger. Due to the events of last night, we can confirm that you phased in a rage. Usually, the transformation happens roughly when a boy reaches puberty and we believed males were only able to phase until you. This is a surprise even though you are a direct descendant of the spirit chiefs. The transformation can happen at any time, and is not dependent upon a full moon. In new shifters, the change is involuntary since you haven't learned to control it. To become human again, you need to calm down and concentrate on phasing back into your human form. You were able to change back in your sleep because you were unconscious."

Magnolia sits up again, staring at her hands in shock, "Is this why you left us? Why you broke up with Leah?" She whispers. Sam flinches at her words and Jared takes that as his queue to go.

"That's what I'm coming to next," Sam sighs. "There's something called imprinting, it's how shifters find their soulmates. Once a shifter has imprinted, they'll feel the need to constantly be in their soulmate's presence and to unconditionally give them whatever they want or need. It's our absolute law that no wolf harms the imprintee of a fellow pack member. If a wolf harms a pack member's imprint, they're banned from the pack and the reservation."

"You know who your imprint is when you look them in the eyes. It's like they're gravity and they're the only thing on Earth that's holding you down. You become whatever they want you to be; a protector, a lover, or even a friend. You can't stand to be away from them and nothing matters more than them. You don't get to choose and I need you to understand this," He stresses. "I love Leah. I care for her and love her, but when Emily came down from the Makah Rez to visit, I imprinted on her."

"What?!" Magnolia shoots up, "H-How could you...I-I mean...what the fuck, Sam!"

"I didn't choose this, Magnolia! It happened and I wasn't going to stay with Leah and hurt her by staying with her, pretending like my world doesn't revolve around Emily," Sam tries to defend himself.

"Are you serious?! You literally could've chosen to be friends and you decided to break up with my sister for our cousin?! This is too much," She mutters and walks out of the room.

"Maggie, I'm not done. There's something else you need to know!" Sam runs after her.

She turns to him in anger and shouts, "What?!  What else could there possibly be?! Please enlighten me!" Sam freezes and looks behind her with a pained look on his face, "What is it, Sam?" Magnolia starts to turn around.

"Maggie, wai—"

The gasp the comes out of her mouth is loud. Standing behind her is her cousin with four, fresh claw marks running down her face.

"Oh my god! Emily, your face!" Magnolia runs to her cousin in shock, turning her head to the side so she could see the damage, "Em, what happened to you?"

"It was an accident," She almost whispers, "he didn't mean too."

"He?" Magnolia asks in confusion, but her eyes go wide with realization and turns to Sam, "You did this?!" She yells  and Sam puts his head down in shame, "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Emily puts her hand on her cousin's shoulder, "Magnolia. We were arguing and I said some things I'm not proud of. He got angry and phased on accident, but I was too close. He scratched me, but luckily Jared called your mom and I'm okay. I forgave him, even if he doesn't forgive himself."

"I will never forgive myself for hurting you," Sam says softly.

"The past is in the past and the only thing we can do is move forward," Emily says with a small smile.

"Wait, hold on a second, my mom knows?" Magnolia asks in disbelief.

"Duh, all council members know," Jared says in a matter-of-fact tone.

"This is too much for my brain," She closes her eyes and rubs her temples.

"Will dinner help your brain comprehend this better?" Emily asks and she can almost hear the smile on her face.

"Yes," Magnolia responds immediately. "Please, I'm starving!" She begs and Emily laughs, leading everyone to the kitchen.