Derek would have been so much better at this.

Laura didn't know what she'd been thinking. She sat down on what was left of the stairs and stared at the teen currently tied down with duct tape. She wished she could have thought of an alternative, but all she'd been able to think was that she couldn't let a newly turned werewolf run straight into the Argents' hands. The boy looked barely sixteen, chocolate brown eyes staring up at her, begging her to let him go. Unable to talk as the duct tape over his mouth kept him mumbling instead of screaming for help.

She had no idea what to do.

It's probably why Derek had inherited their mother's alpha spark instead of her.
She remembered her shock when she woke up in the hospital, only to have Derek look down on her with red alpha eyes. He'd been barely seventeen. Her entire life she'd been told that one day she'd be the Alpha. That she'd have to study and prepare. Only for it to pass her by.

She hadn't wanted to be angry at Derek; it wasn't his fault that whatever decided these kind of things figured he was better suited to be the Alpha than she was. Derek said it might be because she'd been clinging to her life in the hospital, or because he'd been closer to Mom when she died. They'd never know.

He was begging her for answers, what to do? She'd had to be strong for him, so she could be his second. It had still smarted and made her feel like dirt that she could be this jealous when her brother needed her most.
She'd pointed him towards Deaton, and the druid had helped them provide care for Uncle Peter. Peter was still in a coma. Laura hadn't wanted to leave town, especially with Peter still in such a fragile state. But they'd had no way to know if the hunters that had murdered the rest of their family would come after them as well.

They needed a safe place, and most of all they needed sanctuary to heal, to recover the pack. Taking Peter with them was not an option; it wouldn't be safe for him, what if moving him around all the time would make things worse? What if the Hunters attacked them? Peter was already barely clinging to life, if they dragged him on the road with them, there'd be no way to protect him.

Maybe the best defense they could offer him was to lure the heat away from him, and keep in touch with the hospital to make sure they could return the second there was any change in the older werewolf's condition.

The kid was still struggling. She could smell the fear coming off him in waves, but that didn't mean he just gave up. He'd make a strong beta, if he survived his first week, especially with the Argents patrolling the woods.

She got up and knelt in front of him.

"I'm going to remove your gag now. And I'll answer your questions. But only if you're quiet. Do you understand that?"

The boy stared at her, he looked so damn innocent, it only made her feel worse for doing this to him in the first place. He nodded. She didn't believe he'd just given up on getting away. But then making sure that he didn't run out was her responsibility, not his.

He yelped when she tore the duct tape off of his lips.

"Shh."

"What do you want? Why are you doing this?" the kid's questions came out fast. He sounded angry, but his scent still reeked of fear.

"My name is Laura Hale. And I'm doing this…to help you."

He glared at her in disbelief. She understood. The shift was hard to adjust to, even more so for a bitten wolf. It was a risk, taking the kid, especially since the Alpha that bit him – the Alpha that had murdered Derek – would still be around. But whomever the Alpha was, she wasn't going to abandon a child.

The floor he was lying on was cold and covered in dirt. It was exactly the kind of dust his doctor always told him to avoid since it could make his asthma worse. Not that that had ever stopped Stiles from dragging him with him to investigate the Stilinski's dusty attic or Scott's own basement. Even if it usually ended with Scott bent over, breathing heavily in his inhaler.

Where was he? How had he gotten here? His memories seemed covered in some kind of red haze.

There had been a party, a girl, Allison. She smelled like the trees, he wasn't sure what trees smelt like, but it was the closest he could come to describing her. Her eyes looked so kind, the way she smiled at him, as if she actually saw him. He'd been so happy when she'd agreed to go to the party with him. Only once he'd arrived, everything had gone wrong. He'd remembered feeling dizzy, disoriented, hot… Desperate to get out. Allison, Oh God, he'd left Allison, he'd just left, abandoned her. She was going to hate him now.

He started shaking, his fingers hurt, he wanted to see them, but something held them behind his back.

He remembered siting in his bathtub, trying to cool down, when Stiles had started hitting the door, trying to get his attention, to see if he was ok. But even knowing that his friend was just worried, Stiles' voice felt like someone was driving nails underneath his skin. The world had gone red, a furious red as his blood seemed to burn underneath his skin. He remembered getting angry, so angry, and wanting to get rid of the source of that anger no matter what. Stiles voice: "Scott, just open the door."
He'd jumped out of the window in a last-ditch attempt to get away from Stiles and protect him, before he tore open the door and…

She'd been waiting for him right by his house. He'd tried to run from her, but she'd grabbed him before he got too far. And the next thing he knew, he'd woken up on old rickety floorboards in a ruin that still smelled of smoke and fire, his hands and feet tied behind his back. He tried to break free, but whatever was holding him was too strong. His arms and feet tied together behind his back, making it unable to get enough leverage to break free.

His heart was racing. He kept thinking of the body of the man he'd found the night before. What if she was the killer? What if he was next? What if she knew about the monster? What if Stiles was right and he was a monster now? The red haze threatened to take over again, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't push it down. He found himself growling at her, then yelping, struggling his bonds. "Please don't kill me." He wanted to ask her, terrified of what would happen to his Mom if they found him. Oh God, what if she killed him and cut him in half like the other guy, and Mom and…" She came closer and brushed his hair. He found himself hissing at her before he could stop himself, she didn't care, her fingers gently caressing his neck. And as she touched him, slowly but surely the haze faded away, as if her scent, her touch pushed it back.

He stared up at her as she got back up her feet and moved away from him, leaving him behind. Sitting on the stairs, her head resting on her hands. He wished she came back, he wished she stayed gone. What had she done to him? She'd been waiting for him to wake up. He stared at her, somehow seeing her clearly in almost total darkness.

She sat there for he didn't know how long. Mumbling to herself, fidgeting, as if she was as hesitant of what to do, as he was desperate to beg her to let him go.

When she finally got closer and removed the tape from his mouth, he hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should ignore her threat and just scream. She put her finger on his lips, freezing any word that could come out of his lips. She was insane, he had to get out of here, had to get to the sheriff, had to make her let him go. Please, just let him go home.

"Shhh."

"What do you want? Why are you doing this?" He didn't dare ask her about the body. How could she be so strong?
He couldn't believe it when she actually claimed to be trying to help him. And yet she seemed hurt when he didn't just believe her.

"It's the truth."

"You bit me. You attacked me, and bit me. And you killed that guy in the woods."

Pain came over her face at those words, and it shocked him, made him feel guilt over attacking her like that. But damn it, she'd kidnapped him, why was he the one feeling guilty her, when she was the bad one?

"I wasn't the one that bit you." She sounded hesitant, as if she was trying to find the right thing to say.

"I don't believe you." He spat out. But he couldn't put any force in it, because he knew as well as she did that it was a lie.

"I wasn't. I'm a beta, I couldn't have given you the bite you even if I had wanted to."
His next words froze on his lips. Not understanding.

"Only Alphas can turn a human. Betas can't. And I wasn't the one who killed Derek." Her voice broke on the name. It made Scott feel even worse, when he heard the pain and sincerity in her words, when he saw her flinch under his gaze. "I would never have killed Derek. I loved Derek."

She seemed almost broken, as if she suddenly went from a monster to a young woman who was just hurting. When she came closer, he wondered if he'd screwed up entirely, and if she'd punish him for it.
His eyes opened wide as her finger turned into a claw.

He tried to scoot away from her, but she wouldn't let him.

Except that she didn't hurt him. Her claw moved past the tape on his hands and the next thing he knew it let go and he was free. He pulled away from her, up to the wall, his feet still tied.

"Let me," she whispered. He fell still, letting her come closer as her claw moved to the tape around his ankles, freeing them as well.

"What, what are you?"

"Werewolves." He remembered Stiles jokes, and his hope that he'd been wrong. But if he wasn't, if he really was a monster, then what would he do now, what could he do?

"Why? Why do this to me?"

"I don't know. The Alpha, he wants power, and in order to get power, he needs a pack. You were supposed to be part of his pack."

"What if I don't want to be?"

"I don't know, Scott." How did she know his name? "I just saw you in the Preserve, caught your scent and knew what was happening. And I couldn't leave you like that. Not if there was a risk that you'd hurt people, people at that party, people you care about, people like that boy that kept trying to get to you…"

He shivered, thinking of Stiles, and how angry he'd become just being around him, how part of him had wanted…

He wanted to cry, he needed his inhaler – except that he didn't. Not anymore.

She wanted to hug the boy, but was worried that it would scare him even more. So instead she stood up and left him alone with his misery, staring outside at the night, the clearing in front of the house, the smell of upturned dirt and wolfsbane covering Derek's grave. She wanted to scream at the sky, break the silence of the night with her grief. She tried to catch that last scent of Derek, but it was already slowly disappearing in decay and she had to turn away from it, so she didn't lose control herself. It was then that she smelled something off, something that shouldn't be there. Human sweat, quiet feet marching through the soil, up to the back of the house. Smelling like trees, and wolfsbane mixed with gun oil.

Argent!

"Stay down," she whispered, moving towards the door. Her hand touching the door for a second, wondering if this was it, if they'd come to finish the job. Maybe she should just grab Scott and make a break for it. She opened the door instead. Putting herself in clear light of the moon.

She glared at them, daring them to attack. Part of her wanted to kick the crap out of them, get rid of that arrogant strut that had them thinking they were better than her, just because they were human and she wasn't.

These bastards who had desecrated her baby brother's body, leaving him not even enough dignity to die as the Alpha he was.

Chris Argent came forward, carrying a crossbow.

"Laura Hale. It's been a while." He sounded almost congenial, the fake politeness sliding off his tongue.

"You have no right to be here, Argent. Not tonight, not ever." She let her eyes turn golden, glaring at him with all the rage she could bring forth.

She felt more than heard the pup coming up behind her, inside she yelled at him to stay out of sight. Wanting to make sure he didn't show himself. There was no reason for the hunters to know about him. She couldn't look back, that would only give him away for sure.

"My apologies miss Hale. And my condolences for your brother."

Argent turned his back to her, and left. He didn't run, he just walked off, like his business here was done, his curiosity satisfied. She wanted to jump at him, put her teeth in his throat, show her just how much of a threat she could be. But she held back; she had a pup to worry about now. Scott needed her, and attacking the hunters now would only give them an excuse to kill them both.

"Laura… Miss Hale?" Scott seemed so small, even though she knew he was at least her own size. "Are you alright?"

He was still scared, but she realized that he'd been ready to defend her if she'd needed him – even after what she'd done to him earlier.

His heartbeat burned in her ears, and she pulled herself together. She had to be the strong one now. Because there was no way in hell she'd let the Alpha that murdered Derek win.

She took a deep breath and put her hand on his shoulder, feeling him grow calmer, and answered his question.

"We will be."

They had to be.

end