Wolfie pounced and I was ready for it.

I knew he'd be going for the neck, he hadn't gotten the chance to mark me in wolf form.

And he still won't today.

I caught him by the throat and threw him down.

  I wish this wasn't happening right now.

  He came back for more, and I fought him off.

  I wish he would just love me.

  I maneuvered around his snapping jaws.

  I was taken from scavenging and brought to my own house to find him.

  He missed a step and I sent a harsh kick to his stomach.

  He took me to a Gala just to show off his win.

  He charged again and I rolled out of the way.

  He dragged me around my own house.

  He miscalculated and I landed a blow to the side of his head.

  He messes with my feelings.

  Kisses me to get what he wants.

  Marks me forcefully.

  . . . And he's trying to do it again.

  I HATE him.

  I took an aggravated breath through my nose.

  . . . Oh s**t.

  "You're bleeding," I muttered.

//Brandon's POV\\

  Oh f**k.

  Jason's bleeding.

  And Maria's his pure blood vampire mate.

  This is not going to end well.

  Maria started visibly panicking but she tried to keep calm.

  I shot a look at Rose.

  She's thinking what I'm thinking.

  Maria pushed away from Jason and created some distance between them.

  Jason still wasn't done with the fight though.

  He's going to get himself killed.

  Then Maria's going to be a mess.

  "Wait, no. Stop." Maria put up a shaky hand.

  Oh f**k, she's practically already over the edge, one more nudge and —

  Jason charged.

  He just dug his grave.

  Maria put up her hands and flung him into a tree.

  She stumbled back into a huge bolder.

  When she brought her hand back it was covered in his blood from a wound the hybrids left.

  She started shaking so hard she could hardly stand.

  Her eyes turned red.

  Oh no.

  She shot a terrified look at Rose and I.

  Then she drew her eyes back to her bloody hand with a look of horror over what's to come on her face, then they finally landed onto Jason.

  She's gone.

*** Maria's POV ***

  NO!

I can't do this again!

But it's already happening.

Suddenly, I was watching my own actions from the back seat. I have no control, pure instinct has the wheel.

And it's terrifying.

Last time I let this happen, people were hurt. Badly.

. . . There was so much blood.

Speaking of blood, Wolfie's smells so good.

NO! No, stop!

I got the upper hand quickly.

The monster in me doesn't necessarily care who she's beating up to get what she wants. And right now, she wants Wolfie's blood. Wolfie may care less than me when my head is on straight, but my instincts are primal, they don't take emotions into consideration.

Not even mine.

Especially not mine.

My vision that's tainted red, honed in on his neck. Right where a mate's mark goes.

But vampire mates take blood from each other to mark one another.

My instincts are obviously driving me to mark my mate. To take his blood,

But I don't know if I could stop myself if I started. I fed this past month, but I can't be sure if it will be enough to keep me from losing control.

From taking too much.

From killing him.

I would never forgive myself.

But that doesn't matter now. My instincts have taken over. Like I said, they don't care about feelings, only nature, and nature demands that Wolfie and I are together. I already have him pinned to the ground. My fangs, that have been out since the hybrid attack, ache like no tomorrow. Flashes of red are going across my vision just imagining the taste of his blood on my tongue. I made one last ditch effort to keep myself from marking him. From doing to him what he did to me.

But of course, I failed.

I saw myself dive down, fangs bared, vision red, throat parched, as my fangs pierced his soft skin.

I thought I would have a problem with the thick fur, but at the moment all I taste is blood. Sweet, sweet blood. The best thing I've ever tasted. The best thing I've ever felt.

Yet, tears poured down my cheeks.

everything keeps going in and out of focus.

Scratch that, everything is out of focus.

I can't even think.

There are hands on me. Why are there hands on me? Wolfie is in wolf form, he doesn't have hands.

They're pulling me away from him. Away from his blood.

More tears fell.

I clamped down harder to stay with him, with his blood. He let out a high pitched bark.

I stiffened.

Pain.

That means pain.

Mate is in pain.

The tears came faster.

The hands pulled harder.

Pain.

More pain.

But who's pain? Is it mine or his? I can't tell. Are we both in pain? I think so.

Does that mean there's an outside threat to us? I think it does.

I released his throat to check.

And the real world came crashing back.

The wheel was suddenly shoved back in my hands.

And I screamed.

A loud and ugly scream.

I looked at Wolfie, who was dragged away from me, and blood was seeping from is neck.

I sobbed and pulled at my hair.

How could I do this?!

I'm terrible.

I'm horrible.

I don't deserve love from anyone, especially not him.

Sounds other than his soft whimpers finally entered my ears after someone blocked my view of him.

"Hey! Hey, Maria, listen to me. Calm down," Brandon's face came into my line of sight. "You're okay, everything's okay --"

"No! Everything's not okay! Look what I've done!" I sobbed.

Rose kneeled down next to him. "Don't beat yourself up over this, think of all he's done to you."

"No!" I sobbed even louder. "I-I didn't mean to." I tried to peer around the two of them to look at Wolfie, but I only found happy and Stephan taking care of him.

"I-I'm so sorry," I cried to Happy.

He said nothing as he looked away from me and kept helping Wolfie.

I hate myself.

"Here Maria, drink," Rose popped back into my vision holding a metal container.

"What is that?" I sniffled.

"It's blood. Cali had it, she brought it from her house, now drink," she instructed me.

I smelled it and nearly gagged, "No."

"I know it smells bad compared to Jason's, but you have to drink it." She put it up to my mouth again.

"No!"

"Yes Maria. We need to fill you up so you're not thirsty anymore. Do you want to lose control and attack Jason again?"

My stomach did a somersault.

I meekly shook my head.

"That's what I thought. Now drink."

I finally did as she said and nearly spit it back out.

I don't remember blood ever having tasted this terrible.

she tried to make me take another sip but I turned my head. I can't do this.

Brandon grabbed my chin and held my nose. I don't know if it was to make me open my mouth or so I wouldn't have to taste it, but it worked and forced me to drink it.

After a few gulps and having calmed down, Rose took it away from my lips.

I couldn't help but gag.

She shoved the container into my hands and it made me notice for the first time how much I'm shaking.

"Are you able to do it yourself now?" Rose looked at me pointedly.

I nodded.

"Good, I want that whole container finished," she pointed her finger at me.

"But it's Cali's," I made the excuse.

"She has more, Mari," Brandon "reassured" me.

"Yeah, and you need it more than I do. We don't need you attacking anybody else," Cali came into the conversation.

I looked down at myself. She's right. I'm a mess.

Rose glared at her. "That was unnecessary."

". . . Sorry," she apologized awkwardly.

I slowly sipped the degusting liquid and tried not to breath through my nose. It didn't stop the gag that surfaced though.

Rose and Brandon watched me as I did this and nodded in approval when they saw me swallow a good amount.

After that, Rose put her hand on my shoulder and her eyes softened. "See babe, you're already calming down. You're alright."

I looked down, ". . . But Wolfie's not."

"Actually," Happy sighed as he came over.

What is he doing? I thought he was tending to Wolfie. Why is he over here?

"Jason will be fine. We patched him up and gave him some medicine to help him rest. His neck's gonna hurt like a b**ch for a while, but he'll live."

"Oh. . ."

He raised an amused eyebrow. "Was that not what you wanted to hear?"

"What? No! Of course I'm happy he's alright. I'm-I'm ecstatic, I just. . ." I looked back down. "I don't know how he's ever going to forgive me." I felt the tears resurface in my eyes.

"Well. . . He technically did start it," Happy said. "And that's coming from his beta and designated best friend. . . So I guess this was just his comeuppance."

I shook my head regrettably, "I swear I wasn't trying to get revenge or anything." I covered my face with my hands. "I couldn't control myself. . ."

My hands slowly fell to my sides, "But, I guess that's not any more appealing than having done it myself."

Happy looked back at a sleeping Wolfie.

I know if I followed and looked at him, I would burst into tears over what I've done, so I kept my eyes trained on Happy.

He looked back at me, "I know he'll forgive you. Trust me."

~~~~~~~~~~
(A/N)

Hey! Sorry if anyone got a notification that I updated earlier. I accidentally pressed publish XD. But now it's actually finished, so we're good to go:).

Hope you liked it.

Even if you didn't, thanks for reading!

~ The Awkward Tomate