CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
RULE OF WOLVES

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THE DRIVE BACK TO Bella's house passed by in a blur. Soon, the red truck was rumbling to a stop in her driveway and Bella was throwing her front door open, sprinting inside with Maggie scrambling to catch up to her.

"Dad, I saw them!" she heard Bella shouting from the kitchen. Inside, Charlie sat at his dining table with a coffee in front of him. Harry Clearwater was beside the sink, his eyes wide as he looked between the two girls.

"What's the matter?" Charlie asked, confused but concerned.

"In the woods," Bella gasped, just as out of breath as Maggie was. "They're not bears."

"Wait, what do you mean 'in the woods?'" he repeated with a frustrated sigh. "Bells, what the hell were you and Maggie doing out in the woods?"

But Bella didn't have time for his disappointment. She needed to tell him what she and Maggie had seen. "They're wolves, okay? I mean, they're like, huge wolves."

Maggie watched as both men had two very different reactions. Charlie sat up straighter in his seat, coffee long forgotten, though he still seemed sceptical and lost. Meanwhile, Harry had made his way over to them, wide eyes now narrowed in a way that had Maggie's suspicions rising. Why did he look so nervous, like he wanted them to stop talking?

"Are you sure about that, Bella?" he asked, sounding strangely panicked.

"Yeah, I just saw them. They were after... something," she said, completely oblivious.

Harry looked away then but Charlie yet to be convinced. "Wolves? You saw them?" he said, like the thought was simply ludicrous.

Maggie would've said the same had she not seen it with her own eyes. They were unlike anything she'd ever seen, easily over six feet tall with eerily human-like responses. If vampires were real...

"Maggie was there, too," Bella pointed out, finally acknowledging the girl beside her. "Mags, you saw them, right?"

For a moment, Maggie stayed quiet, feeling the weight of both Harry and Bella's stares on the side of her face. Strangely enough, she felt like Harry didn't want her to agree with Bella, but she couldn't lie with Charlie looking at her for confirmation. It was his job to investigate this. So with a sigh, she nodded and said, "Yeah, I saw them."

"Alright then," Charlie muttered, deciding to play into it now that it wasn't just his daughter saying it. He was aware that Bella wouldn't make a joke out of something like this, but he also knew for certain that there was no way someone like Maggie Sullivan would go along with it. If there were wolves out there and she was coming to him for help, then it had to be investigated. "Harry, you feel like going hunting? Get some of your guys together?"

Again, neither Bella or Charlie noticed his hesitation, but Maggie did. With a frown on his face, he forced himself to nod in agreement. "Sure. I'll just, uh..." he trailed off, gesturing to the door for an explanation.

Charlie seemed happy with the confirmation, calling Bella over to look at a map and point out the region they'd seen the wolves. Maggie lingered before following Harry outside, feeling suffocated inside the stuffy kitchen.

"Hey, Maggie?" She spun around at the sound of Harry's voice, an awkward smile tugging at her lips despite him glowering at her.

"Everything okay, Mr Clearwater?" 

"I'm about to head back to La Push," he informed her, holding up the keys to his old truck. Maggie hadn't even noticed it parked in the driveway but there it was, right beside Bella's. "Did you want me to drop you home? Your place isn't too far from mine."

Maggie hesitated and Harry noticed. His greying brows furrowed, lips pursed into a thin line. In the end, she decided it was easier to just go. Bella would be distracted now and Maggie longed for the comforts of her own home, for the pages of the supernatural book waiting on her bedside table.

"Okay," she decided, forcing another polite smile back onto her face as she nodded at him. "I'll just let Bella know and be right out."

Bella and Charlie were right where she'd left them. They looked up as she entered the room, Bella appearing confused when Maggie hesitated by the door. "Hey, Harry's going to drive me home," she told her, to which Bella's frown deepened. "My aunt needs me."

She didn't know why she lied but she didn't want Bella to feel like she was ditching her. She just needed some time, and more importantly, some god forsaken answers. Talking to Bella about Laurent and how he knew her could wait for another day.

"Alright then," Bella said after a pointed look from her dad. "I'll see you later?"

The nerves behind the question were obvious. Maggie did her best to smile reassuringly. She found it came easier than it did with Harry Clearwater. "For sure. Bye, Bells."

But the moment Harry's truck reversed out of the driveway, she regretted her decision. The man turned the radio off as soon as the engine roared to life, leaving them with nothing to distract them but the sound of the wind whistling through a crack in the window and awkward small talk. There were only so many questions Maggie could answer about school and how her family was before silence was all they had. But fortunately for her, a small piece of luck landed in her lap, and the trip passed by relatively quickly. Maggie had to smother a cheer at the sight of her driveway. She did her best not to sprint out of the car.

"Well, thank you for the drive, Mr Clearwater," she said to the man. Harry nodded grimly. "I'll pay you back for the fuel when I see you next."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," he waved her off, laughing for the first time that day. Maggie chuckled along awkwardly, going to open the door and step out. But a sudden hand on her arm stopped her. "Hey, Maggie?"

She froze, glancing at the house uneasily. Both her aunt and uncle were out, and so was Dakota by the looks of it, their shared car missing from the drive. No one was around to use as an excuse so she turned back to Harry with a sigh. "Yes, Mr Clearwater?"

"Just a word of advice," he said, letting her go to grip the steering wheel again. His knuckles went white from the pressure, like the only thing stopping him from panicking was the uneven hum of the engine beneath him. "Don't meddle with vampires. No matter what they've done to you. There's more going on here than you realise."

Maggie felt like her lungs were popped balloons; deflated, with all the air quickly rushing out. Harry's eyes were knowing, like he could read her mind and already picture Laurent's vindictive face. She had so many questions, like how he knew about them, and what exactly it was that he knew. But Harry didn't give her the chance to speak her mind, seeming content now that he'd said what was plaguing him.

"Go on inside now," he insisted with a warning glare. "And say hello to Everett and Wren for me."

Maggie couldn't bring herself to answer, no matter how rude she seemed. She quickly slammed the door behind her, running up the drive the moment that Harry's car disappeared around the bend. She needed to get to that book, and fast. It was slowly beginning to add up, lines connecting that weren't there before. Maggie felt like she was running on borrowed time to make sense of them but she knew one thing for certain; Harry Clearwater, Bella Swan, Paul Lahote and his little gang? They were all connected to this, to her. Maggie wouldn't let them maintain the upper hand any longer.

But just as she went to run upstairs, Zeke came down them.

"Hey, Mags," he greeted her with a worried smile on his face. "Do you have a second? I need to tell you something."

Maggie opened her mouth to make an excuse but at the glint of anxiety in his eyes, she hesitated. Zeke Sullivan didn't look like that often. Something was on his mind. And for every time he dropped everything just to be with her, she at least owed him a second.

"Are you okay?" she asked, following him over to the couch. He sat down first, his whole body starting to tremble. "You're shaking, Zeke..."

"I just need to tell you something," he repeated, then inhaled sharply, like he was preparing himself.

Maggie put on her best smile, reaching out to hold his hand. The tremors immediately stopped. "Of course. You know you can tell me anything."

"I know," he nodded, though his confidence continued to waver. "I just... I don't know how to say it. And I know you of all people would never judge me, but there's only one other person who knows and he—"

Zeke paused, gasping in another sharp breath. Maggie could see what was coming. If he didn't calm down, he'd have a panic attack, and Maggie was awfully good at having them herself but not knowing how to help stop them. She squeezed his hand again, the gesture prompting him to meet her eyes.

"Don't force yourself to tell me anything," she said, putting emphasis on each word. "But know that I love you. And I'm here for when you want to tell me."

He nodded, and for a moment, Maggie thought he'd wait for another day. But then he looked up, stubbornly met her gaze, and said, "I'm gay."

An immense weight seemed to immediately lift from his shoulders. He smiled — still nervous for what she had to say — but evidently proud of himself. Maggie felt tears prick her eyes and she reached out to hug him with as much strength as she could muster.

"Thank you for telling me," she murmured in his ear.

There were no words to describe just how proud she was of him. She knew firsthand how nerve-wracking it could be to discover your sexuality let alone reveal it to someone else, a person you loved and appreciated the opinion of. She'd come out as bisexual to her family when she was fifteen, and while she knew none of them would turn her away, she'd convinced herself that something would go horribly wrong.

She'd seen it happen in her own friend group. Carson had come out as gay to his parents just a month before he died, and to say they were unhappy and unaccepting would be an understatement. He'd been staying with his uncle ever since. The people of La Push heard all about it, and gossip was quick to spread like wildfire. Zeke had seen it happen, had listened in disgust as some of his friends (well, they weren't his friends after that, but they had been at the time) laughed and mocked his sister's friend. He knew who he was for a long time, but a huge part of him hadn't wanted to get hurt.

But falling in love with someone who he considered his best friend, the only real one truth be told, showed him that the opinions that truly mattered were his own and those of the people he loved. Who cared what the assholes on the football team had to say? For once, he just wanted to be happy, to be open and honest with his identity. And that started with his sisters, then his aunt and uncle.

"I've been dating Connor for a month now," he admitted once Maggie pulled away from him. Connor. Maggie knew the boy well. He used to spend a lot of time at her house up until a few months ago. She hadn't questioned why but now it started to make sense. Zeke said the boy's name like Connor Doherty was an angel. His little crush would've been obvious almost immediately. "And I'm sorry for not telling you—"

"Hey, you don't have to be sorry for anything," she said earnestly. "I'm honestly really happy for you, Zeke."

He smiled, so happy he could've cried. Maggie wanted to cry, too. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

Wordlessly, she reached for his hands again and held on tight, wanting to savour this moment. But before she knew it, Connor was pulling up outside to take Zeke on a date and Maggie was left to her own thoughts again. After a while of sitting in the living room, the memory of Zeke's smile bringing a grin to her own face, she finally made her way upstairs.

It started with the vampires. There were three of them; the nameless blonde now known as James, Laurent and Victoria. Together, they had killed her mother all those years ago and upon stumbling across her scent again, they'd decided to kill her best friend too. Maggie knew it for certain now, but it came with no relief. The supernatural was real, and—

The supernatural was real.

Subconsciously, she settled down at her desk with the book open in her hands. She searched the index for a particular page, flicking through each piece of glossy paper until she landed on the one she'd been looking for.

The Quileute legends.

She'd known them all her life, what with Everett's family hailing from the stories themselves. It was said that the presence of a vampire on La Push lands had sparked something in their elders. And so the men transformed into wolves. It was in their blood, an urge to protect their people from harm. Maggie had never given much thought to the legends, simply dismissing them as interesting stories.

But what if they weren't?

She thought back to what Embry had said to her, to the look of terror on his face when he realised she wasn't in on the big secret.

It's nice having someone know the truth that isn't Sam, Paul or Jared.

That was the first piece of the puzzle — well, the third, really. The first was her mother's death, the second was Carson's. This came next, the theory that Paul wasn't being as honest with her as she thought he was.

Then there was Laurent, the vampire. Victoria remembers your scent from the night James came across your mother. The next unsettling piece.

Last was the wolves. It was no coincidence that Maggie and Bella discovered wolves bigger than any ordinary animal, a creature that lusted for Laurent's demise. It was like they were designed to dispose of vampires... and if that was the case, then maybe the legends were more fact than fiction.

Slowly, Maggie closed her book, sitting back wide-eyed in her chair.

Laurent and Victoria were vampires.

Paul Lahote was the wolf.

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A/N: I'm going to be honest, I'm super nervous for this chapter. I've planned several versions for how Maggie would find out the truth but this was the one that seemed to work best for me. What do you think? I'm so excited to hear your thoughts about it. And Zeke's plot, too. I've set this up from the very beginning but I'm not sure if anyone noticed. More and more, he's getting involved with Maggie's plot. It starts with his own story, but if any of you read the companion fic for this, you'd know he's far more invested in the supernatural than you'd think. What do y'all think about that? Thank you as always for reading, another chapter should come soon since I'm very motivated for this book right now :)