Page 73 of Her Second-Hand Mate

“But most of all, I didn’t want to leave Jackson. I didn’t want to be without him. He was freaking out already about the Alpha’s heir killing him after he marked me because he’d know how I felt and what we’d done, so we packed up, and we ran to his aunt’s pack that very night. I left a note in my room for my mate, sayingthat I was sorry but that I loved Jackson and that I didn’t want to be Luna.

I was terrified they’d send a search party to retrieve us or that the PA pack would deny us asylum, but when we got there two weeks later, their Alpha admitted us to the pack without any problems.”

“That’s impossible,” Lynn frowned. “The Black Balsam Alpha would have had to approve your transfer. Why would he do that?”

“Years later, my mate sent me a letter and told me, among other things, that he forged and mailed the transfer papers for us. Back then, I thought that we were just two pups who’d somehow slipped under the radar, or that the universe rewards true love.

My mate had always suspected that I didn’t want to be with him, and he gave me an out. He was a much better male than I’d given him credit for,” Margaret explained, her face dully blank, unlike when she spoke about Jackson.

“What happened then?” Charlotte asked from the edge of her seat.

“We had two peaceful months together. Jackson got a job apprenticing for a carpenter, I got a job in the pack kitchen, and we rented a small cottage on the outskirts of the pack. He still hadn't shifted, and his aunt knew we grew up together, so it was no problem for her.

Jackson was being a little weird and avoided making love to me, but I ascribed it to the new job and all the other changes in our lives. Besides, my wolf was still torturing me mentally.

I, on the other hand, was insanely happy. I was finally living the future we’d always planned for.”

The room was silent for a while. We all really wanted to hear what happened next, but we were also terrified of it.

“The day after his eighteenth birthday, he came home and told me we were done. He’d suspected for a while that his boss’ daughter was his mate, and now that he’d shifted, he knew for sure.

She'd be turning eighteen in only six months, he said,and he didn’t want to risk ruining things with her. Can you imagine? Said he’d never felt anything like the bond,” she laughed bitterly, and I could see Grace wiping her eyes.

“Here I was, asking my doctor about herbs I could take to kickstart a heat even though I was unmarked, and he was planning to leave me all along! After I’d left my mate for him!” she pounded on her chest with her fist, and in that moment, it was young Tammy Lou in front of us, crying like it was only yesterday that Jackson had broken her heart.

“He dumped me like yesterday’s trash. I begged and humiliated myself, and I was on my knees in front of him, asking him over and over again to please not do that to me. Telling him he was my entire life. But the bastard just kept telling me he was sorry and that she was his mate like that explained it all,” Margaret said and blew her nose and dried her eyes a bit with the tissue Mira must have passed her at some point.

I realized I was holding one as well. Everyone in the room was crying for our friend.

“In the end, I stayed in the rented cottage while he moved in with his aunt to save money so he could get a nice placefor her.I followed him around, showed up at his aunt’s, went to his job...In the end, the Alpha had to command me to stop,” she admitted as the shame radiated from her clear for all to see.

“Six months later, I saw them together. Marks on their necks. Happy.MyJackson gazing at that bitch like he used to gaze at me when we were naked under the stars together. When he was sayingI love you, Tammy Lou,in that deep voice of his,” Margaret’s voice was pure pain at that point, so I knelt down and sat on the floor with her.

Grace followed me and took hold of Margaret’s hand.

“I tried killing myself that night,” Margaret whispered, her head hung.

Someone in the room gasped.

“Someone found me, I don’t even know who. I was admitted to the hospital. I don’t even remember most of it, but I was deemed extremely at risk, and I was sent to a special institution, where they helped me rebuild my life. Vera was working there, and she basically saved me. After that, I went to college, changed my name, moved around a lot, and then settled here.”

“What about Jackson?” Mira asked.

“He’s still happily mated with two pups,” Margaret said, and her mouth twisted in disgust.

I was taken aback by this side of my friend. The events she described happened ten years ago, but her pain was still so fresh.

“What was his name?” Lynn asked quietly.

“Hm?”

“Your mate,” Lynn clarified, her voice hard with disapproval now.

“Oh,” Margaret swallowed. “Dylan.”

“Have you ever spoken to him again?”

“Not directly, no. But he must have kept tabs on me somehow because I received a letter from him four years ago. I’d already become Margaret at that point.”

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