Prince Charred
The name really didn't do much to pay respect to Derek's fallen family or ease his less than soft personality. And sure, the Hale family had sort of been viewed as Wolf Royalty. Accuracy aside, the first time someone called him that within earshot, Derek had come the closest to literally seeing red that any Beta ever can.
Needless to say, the offending omega had taken several days to heal from Derek's wrath. However, the name stuck.
Derek winced as the name reached him for the first time in almost a year. Derek was reading aloud news from an underground source for werewolves that Stiles would probably kill him for neglecting to mention in hopes of discovering why the Alpha Pack was here.
PRINCE CHARRED'S TRIAL BY FIRE
All of our kind remembers the intrigue surrounding the devastating Hale House Fire and the tragedy that occurred that day. The mystery was recently solved by an account sent yesterday from the Hale's own anti-hero, Uncle Peter.
Derek's furious snarl echoed in the hidden subway station as he turned to Peter for explanation.
"You went behind my back." Derek accused.
"Yes." Peter replied, unblinking and unapologetic. The face devoid of emotion reminded Derek of his uncle's face when explaining how he'd murdered Laura. Derek did his best to control the shiver that threatened to shoot down his spine.
"Why."
"Underneath the madness that controlled me before, I was always trying to set things right. I sent for the . . ." Derek cut him off.
"You called them here? They're monsters! Tools of corruption wielded by the corrupt or sent to run amok. They are nothing more than beasts!"
"Beasts can be tamed." Peter said as though it was a saying repeated many times, almost a mantra. "Your knowledge of our kind is remarkably limited. Your parents had only begun to teach you. Let me explain the holes."
Derek made a sound of protest but Peter ignored it. "You'll need to know this to prevent disaster."
Derek glared but motioned for Peter to continue.
"First you need to understand the Alpha Pack. Centuries ago, unmated alphas with no packs joined together and ran wild, slaughtering untold victims in their path, unable to control their power. With the number of victims climbing sharply, a newly made alpha sought to prevent our exposure by finding his true mate."
"What do you mean true mate?" Derek asked, annoying Peter with the interruption.
"While most alphas find partners that they mimic the mate-bond with, a true mate is connected to the alpha long before the sexual part of mating occurs. The true-mate bond is powerful but it is incredibly hard to find a true mate as each alpha has only one. True mates could be worlds apart. The alpha hoped that with his true mate, he could control the unchecked alpha pack.
"Lucky for us, he was right. With the help of his True Mate, the first True Alpha demanded obedience from the alpha pack and used them to control the thousands of newly made werewolves. Unfortunately, the True Alpha's rise to power was too late to avoid the consequences of the alpha pack's rampage. A family rose to power, gaining knowledge of all things paranormal. Decades later they made an assassination attempt on the True Alpha, mortally wounding him with a silver sword drenched in wolfsbane. The family believed the True Alpha was responsible for the slaughters, especially that of the family's matriarch. Revenge was their only goal.
"After the death of the first True Alpha, his power fell to his True Mate. Motivated by grief and desire to protect the pack, the True Mate led to alpha pack in ousting the family from power and into hiding less than a year after the True Alpha's murder. After that, the True Mate disappeared and was never heard from again. Control of the alpha pack fell to a relative and was passed down the line
"Over the years, the family has conscripted many to their cause. Hunters. The alpha pack has continued their duty of seeking out these hunters in an attempt to discover the identity of the family and end the feud once and for all.
"After the death of the most recent True Alpha, the alpha back bound themselves with the aid of a shaman to prevent their wolves from being fully unleashed until the rise of the next True Alpha. So, Derek, they are not monsters. They are warriors waiting for their leader to command them. An event for which they are still waiting.
"As they wait, hunters have come out of the darkness. This you already know, but it isn't just here. Hunters everywhere are waging war on our kind. The alpha pack is relatively defenseless without being about to transform into full wolves. They've been saving their strength for the event that the family reveals themselves. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
"Before I explain that, I need to tell you what I know about the fire and Kate."
Derek's head hung in shame at the mention of his greatest mistake. Peter knew.
"Yes, Derek I knew you were with her. The whole family did. But what I need you to understand is that the fire wasn't your fault. Gerard supplied his daughter with a form of engineered wolfsbane created to mimic the mate-bond. We would have discovered it sooner, but your obsessive de-scenting after spending time with her made it impossible to discover who she was, let alone what she was doing to you. Your mother thought you were shy about your first love and convinced us all to pretend not to notice when you disappeared for hours at a time.
"The day of the fire, you must have been a little careless or perhaps Kate wanted us to be aware of our fate once it was too late to avoid. Either way, when your father picked up the scent of wolfsbane in your room, the house was suddenly flooded with a gas form of wolfsbane and then the flames started."
Peter shivered as the memories threatened to drag him back to madness as his sister tried to claw her way through the fog of death to protect her True Mate. He forced his mind to shift focus and continue his explanation.
"When I awoke years later, I should have connected the dots but my mind was already gone to the wolf. As wild as the alpha's of old." Another shiver rippled through Peter.
"After the warehouse, it all fell into place. The entire scheme seemed to play itself out before my eyes. In his reckless act of self-preservation, Gerard exposed the family as his own. But he's more powerful than the alpha pack could have anticipated. If their still bound when Gerard returns, they'll fall and so will the rest of us."
Peter fell silent as the weight of the knowledge hit Derek.
"Wait, if they can't win against Gerard, why are they here?"
Peter just gave Derek his sassiest, bitch please look.
"They're searching for the next True Alpha?" Derek said with a mountain load of uncertainty.
"No, we all know who it is, Derek. We just need to find the True Mate."
"What?"
Peter's tired of Derek pretending not to understand to delay the inevitable.
"Come on Prince Charred, it's time to help you find your Cinderella."