CHAPTER ONE.
The day had scarcely risen, but already the sun seeped into the silent room, dazzling the young wolf's closed eyes. Slowly, by rote, his hand down on the grey bed sheet in search of a body, a silhouette, but it met the vacuum, and only the vacuum. Derek's eyes open suddenly, nobody was on his side. "Kate?" Still half asleep, the young man sits up straight on the bed and closes his eyes to look for any slightest noise in the house. But even his developed hearing doesn't allow him to hear anything but his own breathing, the wind in the trees, and some animals in the surrounding forest. Nothing else. She was gone. Derek's eyes slowly reopen, something was wrong. He can feel it in his whole body, deep down inside his heart. His mouth is dry, pasty. His heartbeat quickens, his foreboding is growing more and more. And suddenly, he was able to smell it. An acrid and unpleasant odor. It was all around him. Gradually, the air becomes unbreathable, coughing escapes from his mouth while he rises. He chokes, falls to the ground, on his knees and coughs again. His palms on the floor, he seeks his shirt to touch. But all he can find is the floor. A new cough. And suddenly, his fingers meet the cloth. But something catches his eye, on the other side, right there, behind the bed. Despite the smoke that filled the room, he stands up, and the truth appears in front of his eyes. The fire, behind the window. The flames lick the wall, spreading at an incredible speed. He can't move, he's frozen, his lower lip is shaking, he's freaking out. One hand bears against the pane, on the other side. Cries of horror and pain reverberate. His family, his whole family is burning, right behind his eyes, and he's not moving. It's his fault, they're dying because of him, and he's not doing anything to save them…
"Wake up sleepy head!" Derek's eyes open in complete darkness, glowing red, his lips are shaking with rage, his head rolled to the small ray of light. Peter stands there, a proud smile on his face. Violently pushing the cover on the side, Derek jumps up, making it clear to his uncle, with a simple look, that he's still not welcome there, either in his pack, he doesn't need him, not anymore, not after everything that happened. He doesn't trust him, he can't trust him. Peter keeps smiling, clearly understanding what his nephew tries to make him feels. But he doesn't care, he never did, Derek is still a kid for him, and he shouldn't be an alpha. He's not ready for that, for what's coming. A wry gleam danced in his eyes while his nephew walks to the doors, passing just in front of him. Yeah, Derek is definitely still a kid. An ignorant one. But he got his trust, and that's all he needed.
"But what are you even talking about?" Scott asks. Kneeling on an old chair, his arms on an improvised table, Isaac smiles at him, proud. He just wants to laugh but keeps trying to resist, Scott looks so serious right now, he wants to keep playing to make him believe his lie. But his eyes are attracted by a silhouette moving in the doorway. Derek. The alpha stands there, looking at them, thinking, without moving, his arms against his body. Isaac finds back all his seriousness and glides back to sit normally, an air of embarrassment on the face. Scott shows the same serious look. "Where is Jackson?" Scott simply shrugs. Derek heaves a deep sigh while, while advancing toward them "What about Stiles?" Another shrugs. "None of you cares, right?" "We're there, aren't we?" simply answers Isaac. Ignoring him, Scott made the choice to face Derek. "Look, we just wanna have our normal lives back" "You're a wolf Scott, don't you get it? You're not a normal teenager anymore, you're not that shy teenager anymore, you…" "I know that but…" The doors opens to let Stiles' face appears. "Am I late? I brought some pizzas!" Three pairs of eyes turned to him "Woow, don't judge me, I'm just freaking hungry and…" "This is not a pajama party!" Derek answers with a cold voice. "What? It's not because you're the big bad wolf that we can't have fun… We can do both, making plans as superheroes and eating pizzas you know!" "Just put your ass on a chair before I cut your head off!" Like a child who just been scolded, Stiles rushed on the nearest chair from Scott, two boxes of pizza in his hands. "So what did I miss?" he slides in his best friend's ear. "Derek being Derek, nothing important." Stiles can't hold an amused smile "Yeah, I got what you mean. Graaoor" He mimics fangs and claws while laughing "Big bad wol…" "Shut up!" Derek's voice echoes in the abandoned house, Stiles looks down. What was he waiting for anyway? It's not like Derek was able to be amused with anything. The guy has no heart. He sighs, he'll never be able to understand him, ever. "Why are we here anyway?" Isaac asks. Derek seems to lose patience "I told you about…" "The alpha pack!" Peter just appears behind him, a serious look on his face. Stiles gulped "I'm not sure I wanna hear anything about this… It doesn't sounds very funny, and maybe a way too dangerous, I think I'm gonna pass on this one." The look Derek gave him was enough to make him understand he had to shut his mouth. One word more and Derek could jump on him to make him shut up for good, like forever. Definitely not a pleasant idea. "We have to be…" Stiles' phone ringtone made Derek shut for a second, before an angry voice comes up from his mouth "Stiles could you please…" Stiles puts his hand in his pocket "Okay okay, hold on, I'm gonna…" His face changes while he looks at the screen of the phone. "It's Lydia… I have to…" "Stiles, no… not…" too late. Stiles already has the phone against his ear. "Lydia… Calm down, I can't understand any word of… what did you just say?" Stiles is suddenly pale, his hand is shaking when he turns back to face Scott who looks at him with anxiety. This time, he keeps silent for good. When his hand slowy falls along his body, he's still not able to say a word. Scott is the first one to react, while Isaac, Derek and Peter look at each other trying to figure what's going on, without saying any word, without asking for an explanation. "Stiles, what happened?" his concern can be sensed in his voice. Stiles doesn't even look at him. His mouth opens, and closed, opens again and stays open, but no sound comes out. He looks lost, worried, concerned. So many emotions can be read on his face, but no answer. "Stiles?" Scott calls. But no reaction. He's just in front of his best friend, looking at him with concern, he extends his hand forward to place it on Stiles' shoulder, but the second he was about to touch him, Stiles wasn't here anymore. Derek was right there, in front of him, holding Stiles by the shoulders, shaking him, trying to get a reaction from him "I'm not a pinball you dumbass!" Derek sighs while Stiles's trying to make him let him go. "Then, are you going to tell us what's going on?" urges Scott. "It's Jackson… Something happened to Jackson!"