Chapter 9
2021 Words
Chapter 9
“Wait, you did what?” Carter asked Fury. While he was in the city, he knew Sarah’s apartment was nearby, so Fury met up with Carter, who was busy moving Sarah’s belongings and disposing of what had been destroyed the night she was attacked by her ex-husband.
“I got her to agree to date me; otherwise, I promised she and I would always feel the pains of infidelity.”
“You... threatened her?” Carter questioned.
“We’re bounty hunters, Carter. Since when do we make threats?” Fury asked in return.
“Dude, that’s f*cked up,” Carter said. Fury shrugged. “Whatever, dude, if it works, more power to you.”
“How are things with you and Sarah?” Fury asked.
“Good. She’s accepting of what we are. The Luna is helping her transition from the human world to ours.”
“Are you going to turn her?”
“Dude, don’t ask me that.”
“Why?”
“Because we haven’t scratched the surface of that topic, and I don’t want you giving her any f*cking ideas,” Carter snapped. Fury raised his hands in surrender. “Are you going to help me or just stand there?” Carter asked. Fury nodded and helped Carter move Sarah’s belongings to the dumpster or the truck he rented. Although Carter was more than capable of moving everything himself, they had to keep up a façade with all of the humans around.
Meanwhile …
“Wait, he what!?” Max exclaimed. When Margot got back home, she told her sister and Stuart about her entire meeting with Fury. Although Margot had agreed to date Fury secretly, she was annoyed at his threat against her.
“He threatened her with the pain of infidelity,” Stuart repeated, sounding impressed.
“Why does it sound like you’re happy about that?” Margot yelled at him.
“Because that’s smart on his part.”
“What!?”
“Stu’s right, sweetie. Fury knows that you’re an empath, and he used that as a tactic against you.”
“That’s toxic!”
“No, honey, that’s him using his brain. He used the phone call with Ethan to take advantage of the situation. He saw what we all see: you don’t love Ethan as much as you say you do, and even if you did, which is a big if — you’re starting to see that Ethan doesn’t love you. And Fury knows that you wouldn’t survive the pains of infidelity that a wolf feels because we’re not built to. It would kill us,” Maxine clarified.
“That’s emotional manipulation!” Margot shouted.
Yeah, but he’s not doing it to be toxic, Margot. He’s doing it because he knows it’s the only way you’ll see the difference between him and Ethan,” Stuart defended Fury. Margot grumbled in annoyance that even her family wasn’t on her side. While she was basking in dread of having to hide all of this from Ethan, Fury’s words about her purity played like a broken radio in her head.
“Hey, Max, I have a question,” Margot said.
“What’s up, honey?”
“Fury said something to me that got me thinking, and I need to know if it’s true,” Margot replied.
“Okay? What did he say?”
“He said that you have a specific reason for instilling in me the importance of staying a v*rgin until I was married.” Max’s widened for a brief second, but she quickly composed her expression. Margot missed this, but her powers allowed her to sense the guilt emanating from her sister in waves. “He’s right, isn’t he? You have an actual reason for me to stay pure.” Margot immediately accused Max. Stuart cringed, knowing that the jig was up.
“I don’t know what you’re—”
“Don’t lie to me, Max! You’ve already lied to me about Ethan cheating. The least you can do is tell me the truth about why my staying a v*rgin is so damn important!” Margot shouted. Max bit her bottom lip, praying to Miranda that Margot would drop the subject, but that was wishful thinking on her part.
“Honey,” Stuart got Max’s attention as he grabbed her hand under the table. “I think it’s time she knows the truth.” Max’s eyes bulged out of her head when her husband stabbed her in the back.
“Stuart!” Max exclaimed.
“She’s 21, Max. She deserves the truth, especially if it will help her make the right decision for herself.”
“I—” Max hesitated, but when she saw Stuart was adamant, and the gaze of fury (no pun intended) coming from Margot, Max sighed in defeat and hung her head. “Oh, god, I never thought this day could come,” Max said with terror in her voice.
“What?” Margot questioned.
“Yes, sweetie, there is a very specific reason why you’re meant to stay pure until you’re married.”
“And what would that reason be?” Margot asked again.
“Let me start this off by saying, I had to follow this rule, too. All witches in our bloodline have to.”
“Okay, so that means I’m not particular to this rule?” Margot asked, and Max shook her head. “Good, at least I know I’m not being singled out.”
“No, baby girl, you’re not. But this rule must be followed to the T.”
“What is it, Max?”
“It’s the power behind our bloodline.”
“Huh?” Margot replied in utter confusion.
“Oh, Stu, honey, help?” Max practically begged her husband.
“What your sister is trying to tell you, Margot, is that you don’t have your full powers yet.”
“I don’t?”
“No. You and your sister come from a line of very powerful witches. In order to protect that power, your ancestors placed a curse, which can also be seen as a blessing, that all witches in your family line, male or female, only receive all of your powers after you’ve gotten married to your one true love.”
“WHAT!?” Margot shook her head and shouted at the top of her lungs. She stood up in complete shock. “Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait! Are you telling me that Fury was right?”
“Right about what?” Stuart asked.
“That… I’m more powerful than Ethan!?”
“Oh, that? Yeah,” Stuart replied nonchalantly. Margot’s eyes widened to the size of saucers.
“Max! How could you keep this from me?!” Margot shouted at her sister.
“Because if I told you the real reason why you had to maintain your v*rginity, then your blind love for Ethan would have clouded your judgment.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Margot,” Stuart got her attention. “You gain your powers the moment you lose your v*rginity, and that power is shared with whoever you engage in s*x with.”
“That’s why a law was made to wait until you’re married. Because then the Wiccan Council knows it’s being shared between two people who truly love each other, and not trying to gain something from the other. The fact that Ethan has been pressuring you to have premarital s*x, even before all of this happened, is why I kept telling you to postpone the wedding,” Maxine confessed.
“Wait, what? Are you telling me that you’ve been purposely sabotaging my wedding to Ethan?”
“Sabotage is such an ugly word, Margot,” Max said dismissively.
“MAXINE!!!” Margot screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Aye ya, don’t scream at me. Yes, if you must know, I did whatever I could to get you to push back the wedding. And I have no regrets about it. Because now you’re finally seeing Ethan for who he truly is.”
“And how do I know that your actions aren’t what caused this rift between me and him!?” Margot deflected.
“Because I didn’t actually do anything,” Max replied.
“What!? But you just said—”
“The only thing I did was pray to Miranda. She’s been handling everything else. And like I said last night, if Miranda didn’t need to be involved, she would leave you alone. But the fact that she is getting involved only proves that we were right to question Ethan and his motives from the start.
“Who’s we?!”
“Everyone in the coven! Even Ethan’s parents don’t want you to marry him!” Maxine exclaimed. This caught Margot completely off guard. That was the last thing she expected Max to tell her.
“His … own parents?” Margot gasped.
“Yeah. They also think that Ethan is up to no good,” Max replied.
“Why wouldn’t they tell me that?”
“They did!” Max and Stuart yelled in unison, making Margot jump back.
“Everyone has been trying to tell you, Margot! But you’re too damn stubborn to see what we all see because of your blind faith in Ethan. All he has to do is snap his fingers, and you’re at his beck and call like a dog!” Max said angrily, but more out of worry than anything. “You and I used to talk every night, Margot.”
“We still do!”
“Now, we do! Because you’ve been living here under our protection. Did you know that the last time you and I talked, before the night you first met Fury, was almost six months before that?”
“What? No, it wasn’t,” Margot quickly retorted. “I came to Rose’s birthday party. We talked then.”
“No, you didn’t. You missed the party. You said you were on your way, but you never showed. You avoided my calls for three days after that, and when I finally confronted you about missing it, you told me that Ethan didn’t feel well and you had to stay home at the last minute to take care of him. But he was perfectly fine the very next day. That was the last time you and I talked.” Margot thought back to the day of her niece’s birthday.
“I could have sworn that I—” Margot wanted to believe that she wouldn’t miss something so special, but she did. “But I thought—”
“Margot, honey, can’t you see that he’s been trying to keep you away from us. He wants you to concentrate only on him. That’s why he was so angry that night you met Fury. It wasn’t because you spent the night at my house. It’s because the moment you spoke to me, you disregarded him. But I think it’s also because something inside of you told you that if you didn’t do as I asked, you would miss out on something great. And your intuition was right. You met your fated mate.”
“Margot, everything that Ethan has been doing to you, the insults, his cheating, the manipulation, the gaslighting, and your constantly coming to his defense is a classic sign of Stockholm Syndrome,” Stuart stated, his words sending a haunting chill through her. “He’s been isolating you from everyone that cares about you because he wants you to rely on him and only him,” Stuart continued to explain. Hearing what Stuart had said set off alarms in Margot’s head, and everything that had been happening over the last couple of years started to replay in Margot’s head. Max could see that Margot was finally processing everything.
“Sweetie,” Max took Margot’s hands in hers. Margot looked her sister in the eyes. “Forget about Ethan. Concentrate on Fury. Take back your rejection and allow the mate bond to reveal what love truly is. It will save your life.”
- Writer
