Blood Moon Reckoning

Chapter 7: Margaret's Success

The night air was thick with the scent of rain-soaked earth as Carlos stood on the balcony of his expansive estate, overlooking the Vesper Pack’s territory. A full and luminous moon hung low in the sky, casting an eerie glow across the landscape. He clenched the railing, his knuckles white, as the weight of his success- and the bitterness of his regret - settled on his chest. The immortality formula had brought him power, but it hadn’t filled the emptiness left by Estella.

Behind him, the large double doors opened, and Margaret stepped into the room. Her heels clicked against the marble floor, each step a reminder of the woman she had become: powerful, calculating, and in control. Carlos didn’t turn around to acknowledge her. He didn’t have to. He could sense her presence, just as he had always been able to feel her manipulative energy lurking behind her pretty face.

“Still brooding, I see,” Margaret’s voice was cool and sharp, like the edge of a blade. She walked up beside him, her eyes scanning the same horizon.

“I’m not brooding,” Carlos replied, his voice rough with suppressed emotion. “Just… thinking.”

Margaret smirked, brushing a lock of her dark hair behind her ear. “You’re always thinking, Carlos. And yet, your thoughts never seem to change. Are you still stuck on her?”

Carlos flinched at the mention of Estella, but he kept his gaze fixed on the distant treeline. "She’s gone, Margaret. She’s dead, already. What does it matter now?”

“It matters because you still let her haunt you,” Margaret snapped, stepping in front of him, forcing him to meet her gaze. “We have everything now. Power, wealth, and control of the pack. The immortality formula - our immortality formula - has made us untouchable. And yet, you still hold on to that foolish girl like she was something special.”

Carlos’s jaw clenched. “She was special. You must have forgotten where you got that formula from.”

Margaret’s expression twisted into something cold, her eyes flashing with anger. “Who cares? I’m the one who perfected it, not her! Besides, she’s weak. She’s nothing compared to us. You know that.”

Silence stretched between them, heavy and tense. Carlos didn’t respond, but the resentment simmering beneath the surface was impossible to ignore. Margaret had orchestrated everything - the lies, the betrayal, the plan to steal Estella’s formula. She had known exactly what buttons to push, and Carlos, in his rage and confusion, had allowed himself to be manipulated.

Now, they stood at the pinnacle of success, yet all Carlos could feel was regret.

“Have you forgotten what she did?” Margaret’s voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. “She humiliated you, Carlos. She made you the laughingstock of the pack. You had no choice but to leave her behind.”

Carlos’s eyes darkened as he finally looked at her. “I didn’t leave her. You pushed her out. It was you who manipulated everything for her to lose everything.”

Margaret smiled, a cold, calculated expression that made Carlos’s stomach turn. “Don’t forget, it was you who spoke those harsh words at her which led her to jump on that bridge. Don’t act as if you had nothing to do with her death! Anyway, discussing it right now is pointless. Now, we have everything we ever wanted. She’s nothing but a ghost. A forgotten memory. We are the future, Carlos.”

Carlos turned away from her, his hands gripping the railing again. He hated the truth in Margaret’s words, but he couldn’t shake the gnawing feeling that something was missing. Estella had been his future once. He had planned a life with her, and then, in the span of a single night, it had all unraveled.

He still remembered the look on her face when he had accused her - shock, disbelief, and finally, the devastation that had ripped his heart apart.

But the formula had changed everything. It was their key to power, a pill that promised immortality to those who could afford it. The pack revered them now, feared them even. Carlos had risen to the top, but the emptiness gnawed at him, a reminder that no amount of power could fill the void left by Estella.

Margaret, however, was thriving. She had always been ambitious, and with Estella out of the picture, she had seized every opportunity to climb higher. She had become the face of the immortality formula, using her charm and cunning to win over the pack’s elite. But beneath the surface, Carlos knew she was still the same manipulative woman who had orchestrated Estella’s downfall.

“We need to test the pill,” Margaret said abruptly, breaking the silence.

Carlos frowned. “We’ve tested it. It works.”

“On us, yes,” Margaret replied, her eyes gleaming with a dangerous light. “But we need to know how it affects others - those who aren’t like us. Whose innate strengths aren’t above average? The formula is powerful, but it’s untested to the other werewolves, who are below average. We need to be sure before we take the next step.”

Carlos didn’t like the sound of where this was heading. “And how do you propose we do that?”

Margaret’s lips curled into a sly smile. “We have the perfect facility for it. Estella’s mother’s hospital.”

Carlos stiffened at the mention of the hospital. It had been a place of healing, built by Estella’s mother, a legacy of kindness and compassion. The thought of using it for immoral experimentation made his stomach churn.

“You can’t be serious,” Carlos muttered, shaking his head. “That hospital was-“

“It was ours to take,” Margaret interrupted sharply. “Enrique gave it to me. It’s no longer tied to Estella or her mother. It belongs to us now.”

Carlos’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her. “Enrique gave it to you?”

Margaret’s smile widened. “He trusts me. After all, I’m his daughter too.”

The revelation hit Carlos like a punch to the gut. He had always known there was more to Margaret’s obsession with Estella, but this? Enrique, Estella’s father, had a secret child, and it was Margaret all along. The hatred Margaret harbored for Estella wasn’t just about power or jealousy- it was deeply personal.

“You’re his illegitimate daughter,” Carlos said, his voice low with disbelief.

Margaret’s eyes glittered with satisfaction. Not anymore, since Enrique’s planning to announce my legitimacy on my birthday. And besides, it’s time I claimed what should have been mine from the beginning. Estella had everything handed to her - her family’s love, the hospital, the pack’s respect. All of it should have been mine.”

Carlos felt a chill run down his spine as he realized just how deep Margaret’s hatred was. This wasn’t just about power anymore. It was about revenge. Margaret wanted to erase every trace of Estella’s existence, to take everything that had once belonged to her - including the hospital her mother had cherished.

“And you’re planning to use the hospital for your experiments?” Carlos asked, his voice hard.

Margaret nodded. “It’s perfect. The werewolves trusted that hospital and, besides, the patients there were nothing but lowlives. It would be better to make use of them instead of doing some charity. They’ll come willingly, thinking we’re helping them. And once we perfect the formula, we’ll have an army of immortals at our command.”

Carlos couldn’t suppress the unease building in his chest. “And if something goes wrong?”

“Then we’ll deal with it,” Margaret said coldly. “This is the price of progress, Carlos. You knew that when we started this.”

He did. He had known from the beginning that they were walking a dangerous path, but hearing it now, spoken so casually by Margaret, made him wonder if they had gone too far.

“We start tomorrow,” Margaret added, turning to leave the balcony. “I’ll be meeting with Enrique to finalize the details. And you, tell the alpha about our plan. You can’t back out on this, Carlos, if you still want to inherit the alpha’s throne.”

As she walked away, Carlos remained on the balcony, his mind racing. The immortality formula had given them power, but at what cost? He had allowed himself to be pulled into Margaret’s schemes, driven by his own anger and hurt, but now the weight of their decisions pressed down on him.

He thought of Estella, of the life they could have had if things had been different. But Margaret’s manipulations had torn them apart, and now there was no going back.

As the door closed behind Margaret, Carlos let out a heavy sigh. The moon hung low in the sky, watching silently as the weight of his decisions settled over him like a suffocating blanket.

And somewhere, deep in the recesses of his mind, a thought gnawed at him.

What if Estella wasn’t dead, as Margaret believed?