Darkest Powers fanfiction
EVERYONE'S SECRET
Derek Souza/OC: Mary Ralluber

Author's Note: D'aww. I hate to say it, but this is the second to the last chapter of the story. /: Wow. I felt so attached to this fic, I can't believe it's ending! You all have been great readers and I've enjoyed your reviews so greatly. (8 Thanks so much for keeping with Mary and Derek from the start to finish. Stay tuned for the epilogue coming soon. Enjoy the chapter and please review! Thank you! :D

Chapter 23.

Izaack's house was a small, one-story, two bedroom house with creaky, rotting stairs leading up to a creaky, rotting door. The inside was slightly better than the out, which wasn't saying much. The blue paint was peeling off of the wooden walls and faded from time. Inside, the wallpaper was also peeling, and the furniture was old and abused. Izaack scratched the back of his head, blushes of red appearing through his tanned cheeks.

"Sorry 'bout the place," he muttered. Mary looked about the first room, a family room, it appeared to be. A torn, pale green sofa was cast off to one side of the room, a small television set placed in front of it on the floor. An empty bookshelf that had collected thick layers of dust was placed on the other side of the room. The grey shag carpet was dark from dirt and blood. A few lamps were scattered about and an archway led to the next room.

"Wow. Clean much?" she said sarcastically. Izaack glared at her, but remained quiet. She could tell he really wanted to snap something rude at her, but bit back on his tongue. In a way, she appreciated it and decided to keep the snide remarks to herself, even though the house really was a dreadful mess.

"Okay, okay," she said. "I'm sorry. I really should be thanking you for letting me stay to raise my kids. I mean, it's really nice of you to do that. Especially because I'm an ignorant pregnant teenager."

Her apology brought a small smile to Izaack's face as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, his boots padding against the floor as he led her through the archway.

"It's fine. I'm hardly here anyway, so it ain't gonna be that awkward, I hope," he said. Mary looked around the room again before leaving through the archway. So that was why the house was a disaster. Izaack was never home to care for it. If she was going to live here, she was going to have to do a lot of work to it. If she wasn't going to raise her kids in a forest, then she definitely wasn't going to raise them in a run-down home.

Izaack took her through the kitchen, which was just as bad with rusty appliances and stale crumbs and spider webs in every nook and cranny. From the kitchen he led her to his bedroom, which was practically empty. They passed the extra bedroom, the walls stained with red smears. Mary's stomach churned when she saw that. Izaack turned and noticed her looking in the room. His eyes widened and he quickly shut the door.

"You don't need to look in there," he said. Her eyebrows knitted together.

"What exactly do you do in there?" she asked. He stopped and turned around.

"Listen. You're allowed to stay here, but you ain't allowed to go into that room. It's off limits, ya hear?" he said sternly. Mary's eyes narrowed.

"Last time I checked, I was your new alpha. You do know what that means, right? You don't keep anything from me, and you do as I tell you." She looked him hard in the eye, despite her miniscule height and youthful age. Truthfully, the power over the older males fascinated Mary. She was but sixteen, and yet she was the puppeteer of a pack of twenty- and thirty-year-olds.

She could see in Izaack's face him giving in, realizing she was right. He sighed heavily and, with a glare plastered on his face, he told her.

"Ya wanna know? Honestly, by the look on yo' face when you saw the room, you're not gonna wanna know." Mary pursed her lips and crossed her arms, giving him a look that said she didn't care, but really, deep inside, she did. "That room is where I killed them."

Mary's heart sank. She gulped and sighed heavily before asking, "Killed who?"

"The pretty women," he said grimly. "The women I seduced. The women I ate."

Instantly, her mind flipped through the memories of her mother and her murder. Her father stood in her mind, gazing at her with his black eyes, only donning dark torn jeans, stained with blood, just as his hands, his chest, and his face was.

Her eyes squeezed shut and her breathing became unsteady.

"I knew you'd think about her." Izaack's Canadian voice sliced through her thoughts. "It's why I didn't want to tell you. You'd think of Fiona."

"Why?" Mary whispered. "Why did you do that?"

"Because I'm a werewolf," he answered. "I did it, Eddie did it, Byrne and Rocky did it … your father was our leader—thus, he did too." Mary glared at him, tears stinging her eyes.

"I don't think I can stay here," she said, turning on her heel and wiping her eyes.

"You're not gonna find any place else, ya know," Izaack mentioned as Mary crossed the kitchen. She ignored him and walked further through the house, trying to ignore the bloodstains on the carpet as she crossed the family room. When she reached the door, she paused, her fingers grasping the dull doorknob. Mary did need a place to stay. She couldn't go to a shelter because neither she nor her babies were human, and the wardens would soon realize that once they were born and growing.

"I was gonna give you my room, so you wouldn't have to look at the stains," said Izaack from behind. "If you wanna leave, then fine. Just lettin' you know, again; you're gonna have a hard time finding somewhere else to stay. The other werewolves aren't as generous as I am."

Squeezing her eyes shut and wrapping her fingers tightly around the knob, Mary sighed again. She had to do what was best for her babies. Izaack was providing a home for her, which, with time, could be cleaned nicely and become a good environment for them.

"Alright," she said finely, letting go of the knob and turning to meet his gaze. His handsome eyes were narrowed, but were drenched in worry for her. He didn't want her out in the wild alone with twins on the way. "But the killing has got to stop. I don't care if you're a werewolf. I'm just as much werewolf as you all are, and I'm perfectly sufficient without killing anyone. From now on, as your new alpha, I forbid you to kill anyone, unless they are putting your life in danger."

Izaack pursed his lips together but nodded. "Alright. That seems fair."

"Right," Mary said with a sigh before looking about the family room. "Now, as I said before, this house really needs a cleaning. I'm not raising my kids up in a dump like this. Let's get this house straight. It really needs a woman's touch."

A couple months later, the house was looking immaculate. Izaack had bought some paints to redo the walls on both the outside and inside of the house. Mary helped with the painting while he tore out the carpet and replaced it himself with nice new shag carpet. The furniture wasn't replaced, but it was cleaned and vacuumed to rid of all of the dirt and dust. They did the same for the kitchen too, bleaching the rust on the appliances and vacuuming the cobwebs and crumbs spilt about the place. Izaack invested in some new beds and a crib for the twins. Now nine months pregnant, Mary was ready to give birth at any day.

Mary was really succeeding in her role of alpha female of the werewolf pack. It took the wolf men some getting used to, but they soon truly accepted her, even if she was still a teenager. They began to remember meeting her when she was a baby, and would tell her stories they slowly regained from their memory about her and the wolves.

Izaack was a great supporter of Mary. He helped her throughout the rest of her pregnancy like a true friend. He told her that he knew he was the only one who didn't agree with D. Jay's ruling, but he never questioned him, out of fear for his life. A werewolf was truly unintelligent if he questioned his alpha, he told her.

"But I have faith in you, Miss Mary," he said to her as they sat together on the sofa in the now-clean family room. She was taking up most of the couch, outstretching her short legs and leaning her back against the arm of the sofa, her hands resting on top of her mound. Izaack was pressed against the other side of the sofa, his arm resting on the arm with his fist holding his head up. He grinned at her. "I have faith that you're gonna impress us and do us well."

"Even if I am a pregnant seventeen year old?" she asked. He chuckled.

"Even so."

After Mary's seventeenth birthday had passed, she suddenly began to really remember Derek. She'd never fully forgotten him—after all, how could she while she carried his twins?—but her birthday really sparked something in her that made her remember him. She began to remember his indifferent façade, his curiosity, how his eyes would always trace her figure, even when he didn't want to realize he liked her. Mary had always held some sort of feelings for him, even when they first met and got off to that bad start. Maybe it was because he was a werewolf and she'd found another kid her kind. Maybe it was because deep down she knew something would happen, almost like a premonition that sparked in her heart. She missed cuddling with him in his bed. She missed his arms around her waist. She missed his hesitant and nervous lips against her strong, confident ones. She missed the feel of his hands, the grazing of his fingers, the twinkle in his gentle green eyes. She missed him.

She'd begin to cry that day she turned seventeen. It was the first time in a long time that she cried because of him. She knew she'd never see him again. After losing the Edison Group, she'd be foolish to want to go back to Lyle House to see if he were still there.

She wondered if he'd escaped the group home to find his dad, along with Simon, his foster brother. She wondered if he'd ever gone through his Change. Had he listened to all the advice she'd given him? She wondered if he'd actually found his dad. Were they living off somewhere nice, finally at peace with his family? Had he found love again in someone new? Had he kissed her, touched her, loved her, the way he had her?

Mary knew things could have been worse for her, but instead, fortune decided to play in her favor and finally get rid of D. Jay and the Edison Group. Fortune had given her her new family, her wolf pack. Fortune had given her a stable house with an amazing friend. But fortune had not brought Derek back to her, and she knew it never would.

The pain was long and excruciating, and Mary was wishing herself just dead at the moment. Her vision was blurred as beads of sweat rapidly rolled down her face, soaking in her hairline before making their trails on her skin. Izaack's handsome face was almost vanishing as she squinted her eyes, gritting her teeth and groaning.

Eddie pressed a wet rag against her forehead and hushed soothing words to her as Izaack pressed a hand on one of her raised knees, encouraging her to try harder. Other members of her werewolf pack were standing outside, anticipating the delivery.

"Come on, Mary!" Izaack exclaimed. "You can do it! You're almost there!" Mary moaned in agony, but her moans were shortened by the wail of a newborn baby. Eddie exclaimed, laughing with joy. Mary struggled to focus her vision on the baby in Izaack's arms. Her heart pounded with joy and fear. One down, one to go.

"We ain't done yet, Miss Mary," Eddie said and nodded for Izaack to continue his encouraging. Eddie was handed the baby to, hands bloodied but not minding, as he shushed both the baby and Mary at the same time. Once again, her crying moans echoed through the household, bouncing off the walls of her small room and traveling down the hall.

"Come on, Mary!" Izaack said again. "There's the head—I can see the head! Just keep pushing!"

Mary bellowed an ear-piercing scream and immediately fell silent after the final push. Relief washed over her as the sound of yet another crying baby echoed through her ears.

"Well, well," Izaack mused. "Looks like you're gonna have yo'self a handful, Miss Mary. Two baby boys. How 'bout that."

Mary chuckled, breathing heavily. The chuckle was barely audible. She was so out of breath, she couldn't move any of her limbs. Her body was slowly beginning to function correctly again as Izaack moved away from in between her legs, draping a sheet over her knees. Her head lolled from side to side, unsure of whether which baby she wanted to look at first. But instead, her eyes slowly closed shut as her body began to shut down.