Page 43

Once Pearl had calmed down and found her voice again.

Carlisle came and checked the girl over.

He chose not to bring up what he had heard, and moved straight onto the issue of her injuries.

Happy with their progress, he told the girls that they could join the family in the living room.

Although he did have to inform Pearl that once again, she would have to be carried.

Pearl begrudgingly accepted the condition, which caused Emmet to come barrelling up the stairs, claiming that he would carry his little sister.

Once downstairs, the coven got another chance to ask the hybrid what took place down at the reservation. Feeling a lot better after crying in Bree's arms, Pearl was able to answer the covens questions this time around.

"I was reunited with Seth, Leah and Sue, at Sam and Emily's house. When they found out what happened to me after I ran away, Leah became quite pissed off. One thing lead to another and both of us ended up shifting into our wolves and started to fight." Pearl explained.

The family sat quietly whilst listening to the hybrid. All except Emmet that is.

"Did you win?" He interrupted, in order to ask.

"Save your questions for after Emmet." Jasper said with irritation.

"Technically yes. But, the fight with my sister was interrupted by Sam, before a clear winner could be determined." Pearl answered.

"Tsk. What did he want?" Rosalie scoffed, not holding Sam in a high regard, since he forced Pearl to leave with him and his mutts.

"He wanted to break up the fight." Pearl answered simply. "But because he had shifted into his wolf, I could hear his thoughts through the pack link. And he let something slip that, I probably would have preferred not to find out."

Alice and Emmet leaned in closer, clearly intrigued. The others waited patiently for Pearl to continue.

Pearl took a deep breath before continuing, needing to compose herself.

"Turns out my dad knew all about this, and he had been one of the main people in the council to pass the rule of absolute secrecy.

" She muttered, unhappily. "I mean... it would stand to reason that he knew about shifters and vampires, because of the legends he shared with me and my siblings, but.

.. the fact he agreed with the absolute secrecy thing, kind of astounded me. "

"What does that mean?" Bree questioned.

"It means, that he was well aware that Seth would shift in the future, and he wanted me and Leah in the dark about it all. For the whole time everything was going on, he never planned on telling us anything." Pearl revealed.

"Wait, not at all?" Jasper asked surprised.

Pearl shook her head.

"But that's crazy! You would have noticed that something was different!" Rosalie shouted, agitated by the revelation.

Pearl nodded. "Yeah, it is. And the fact that everything between Sam and Leah went down and dad just chose to stay quiet about the real reason behind it all, really pisses me off.

" Pearl admitted. Taking a breath, she continued, her voice laced with sadness.

"Then I found out from Leah, what Sue had been planning on doing before I ran away. "

Esme rested a hand on Pearl's right shoulder to offer comfort to the struggling hybrid.

"What was she going to do?" Carlisle asked gently, pushing for her to continue.

"She was going to send me away... I was going to be abandoned." Pearl mumbled under her breath. Finally saying it out loud, after hours of it plaguing her thoughts. Admitting it for others to hear, hurt more than she could ever explain.

"WHAT?!" Emmet screamed in anger and shock. Everyone else looked quite surprised as well.

"They were going to get rid of you?!" Rosalie angrily shouted.

"Just for asking questions?" Bree quietly added in despair. Finally understanding what had upset her mate so much.

"That's stupid." Jasper muttered. "You're their blood, part of their tribe. There's no reason why you shouldn't have been informed about the shifters." He continued in disbelief.

"This is certainly surprising." Carlisle said.

"Given your heritage and the fact that Leah shifted, it stands to reason that you had the same ability.

They should have aired on the side of caution, and assumed that you would be able to shift as well.

And leaving you on your own, with that possibly being the case, would have been absolutely detrimental to you.

" Carlisle muttered in anger. Everyone was able to hear him rant under his breath.

Esme stayed silent, and gave Pearl a comforting squeeze on her shoulder. Encouraging her to keep going.

Pearl sighed in response. And continued quietly, "It doesn't matter anymore.

Either way, I got abandoned... I may have ran away, which didn't allow them to abandon me physically.

But, they sure as hell abandoned me mentally.

I'm on my own now... I mean, I have been since I ran away, but, now.

.. it's on a more official basis. Since I left the pack and all.

" Pearl revealed, smiling slightly at the end.

"You did?" Esme asked.

"How?!" Alice quickly added, wanting an explanation.

"After Sam revealed all that stuff with my dad, I got angry. Ended up initiating a challenge for Alpha by attacking him and breaking through his alpha command." Pearl stated, then proudly added. "I won the fight."

"Hell yeah! That's my little sis!" Emmet yelled loudly in celebration, causing Pearl to smile at him.

"If you challenged him for the alpha position, wouldn't that mean that you became the alpha though? Since you won and all." Jasper asked, wanting clarification.

"Under normal circumstances that would be the case.

But I ordered him to remove me from his pack.

And with me having gained the abilities of an alpha, Sam had no choice but to comply with my demand.

Which meant that I could leave without the responsibility.

So, as soon as I felt the link that was connecting me to all of them, break apart and disintegrate, I left. " Pearl answered.

"I'm glad" Bree said in relief, knowing how much the pack's actions had hurt her mate. Rosalie nodded her head in agreement.

"So what does this mean for you?" Carlisle asked the hybrid.

"It means that I am officially a lone Wolf and no longer have to follow the orders of another shifter." Pearl responded in a happy tone.

"Nice job sis!" Emmet praised.

"Does that mean all of your injuries came from the fight you had with Sam?" Jasper inquired.

"Most of them did. And any that didn't come from Sam, came from either Jacob or Leah." Pearl replied.

Before anyone could say anything else, Esme took charge of the conversation. Deciding that they had learned enough to answer their main questions about what had happened, Esme thought it best that they end the topic there, and give Pearl a break from the harsh memories.

"Hmm. Well I think that about wraps this up!" Esme stated, wanting to change the topic away from the heavy subject. "I'll start making you something to eat Pearl. You must be quite hungry."

Pearl's stomach growled loudly at the mention of food. Which caused the coven to start laughing at her. Blushing slightly, the hybrid responded shyly, "Please, and thank you."