In loving memory of Alexander.
The most painful goodbyes are the ones that could never be said, and never fully explained.
Love always and forever,
Your baby sister.
A/N:
Howdy, reader.
A few things right off the bat:
I'm likely to make mistakes with the lore of TW, I'm relatively new to the series, in fact, I've just finished binge watching it.
I've also intentionally left out any descriptions of the OC, her physical appearance, her clothes, ect – for two reasons, I want it to be open to interpretation. If you had an OC, what would she look like for you? What clothes would your OC wear? I feel like it'd make it more enjoyable for you, as the reader (however, the picture attached to this story is what I see MY OC looking like). The other reason, I find it tedious in stories when the most in depth and descriptive parts of the stories are what the character looks like, and what they're wearing (especially what they're wearing), it kind of ruins it for me and makes it seem very juvenile.
- I'd like to note that I work quite long hours so this may be a slow story, especially considering I intend to write it so an episode = a chapter, so I'll be watching and rewatching an episode when I write a chapter.
- On that note, I'm also open to a beta (lol) reader.
I'll take the opportunity to write an overall disclaimer for the entire story here:
I own nothing of Teen Wolf, nor do I claim to.
The only things in the story that are my own are the OC, and any differences to the original plot line.
Prologue
"Again." His voice was monotone, yet held no trace of being harsh. However, his actions were starting to feel very harsh.
I was lying, propped up against the wall that I'd been flung against seconds before, acutely aware that all of this, the gruelling physical and mental abuse had been my own idea in the first place.
I pushed myself to my feet, my back screaming in protest and my legs shaking from pure exhaustion.
"You're tired." came the same monotone voice. It was a statement, not a question.
"You need to push past it, endure through it. Once people know you exist, you'll have a target the size of California painted on your back."
He was right. Of course, he was right.
He was always right.
"How is any of this helping me?" I asked; my panting emphasising every word as I leaned forward, leaning on my knees to stabilise myself.
"You need to be able to protect yourself."
No further explanation.
I allowed myself a few more seconds to catch my breath before straightening, grimacing at the pain shooting through my back, but I knew in a few seconds, it wouldn't exist. There was a familiar sensation in my jaw, another in the very bones in my fingers and I lowered my head to meet his eye.
Ice blue met raging red.
He's right my mind screamed at me. Either I learn, or I die.
A fire flared in my gut, steeling my nerves and filling me with a new desperation to win.
We closed the metres between us in seconds, giving meaning to the saying "Fight tooth and claw".
Derek's claws tore the flesh of my shoulder, causing a scream to escape my lips, though to our ears, it sounded more like a roar.
One that he matched as my jaw clamped shut on his forearm like a vice, my own claws dragging across his torso, nearly deep enough to gut him.
Another roar fell from his fanged mouth and I could see rage in his face now, but I didn't release my hold on his arm. Instead I gripped his other arm and used both as pivotal points to hurl him across the room as he'd done to me earlier, releasing both the grip from my hands and my mouth.
He crashed down against the wall, the charred wood flying out from him.
His head lulled against his chest and my heart skipped a beat.
My feet moving me towards him clumsily before my mind registered it then triggering me into what could only be described as a leap to his side.
My hands fumbled to lift his head to find his eyes closed. But he was breathing, and his heart was beating loudly in my ears.
"Derek?" I shook one shoulder, noticing my claws had withdrawn themselves. "Derek? Please say something."
His eyes fluttered open and he gazed at me with stormy grey eyes. His human eyes. It was like he didn't see me, more that he was staring straight through me. He was dazed, but it faded in a split second, his gaze focused.
"Better." He said, his lip curling, almost into a smirk.
My head dropped forward as a breath of relief escaped my lips, followed by a short bark of laughter.
Derek Hale.
I'd gone searching for a woman. An alpha.
Talia Hale, alpha of the Hale pack. A born alpha, though not true like I was. She was what they referred to as an 'evolved' alpha, one with the ability to shapeshift fully. I'd hoped for her guidance, though I lived so far away that I'd only heard small amounts about her, those not including her death and the decimation of all but three of her pack, leaving her brother comatose and her children alone. A son, Derek, and a daughter, one who'd inherited her spark, granting her the rank of alpha. But Laura was missing.
Derek had seen neither hide nor hair of his sister for months, leaving me dejected.
But Derek had offered to help me learn. Learn how to fight, how to protect myself. How to survive.
Becoming a 'true' alpha was nothing more than an accident. I, a beta, had watched a fellow pack member, someone I saw as a brother, kill all but one other of the pack. He failed to kill me, and he failed to kill my brother, the alpha.
He'd been flayed alive, finally revealing why he'd betrayed us all.
A blind alpha was building a pack and was recruiting, though the catch was that it was an all alpha pack. The initiation was to kill your own pack, stealing your alpha's power, and then you'd be welcomed. Only after you'd annihilated your family and friends.
My brother attempted to fight Deucalion and his alpha pack, but was left broken and close to death, surrounded by mountain ash to die alone.
I'd gained my status of True Alpha by enduring the mountain ash barrier to reach my brother, only to have him die in my arms.
There was nothing in this world or the next that could ever prepare me for that pain. To fall apart so violently that you disconnect from the very fibres of your soul, loss is not a broken heart, it's a void, ripped through the essence of your being.
It's an abyss that slowly becomes less, and less, but it never closes. I'd heard people say 'You never really get over it, you just learn to live with it', but I never imagined how true it was.
I may have been a true alpha, but with no pack, I may as well have been an omega. With no pack, I was alone.
I couldn't join the Hale pack. I needed the approval of the alpha herself and, as she was yet to be seen, I doubted that would happen anytime soon.
I had no desire to create betas and form my own pack; I had no interest in leading a pack at all. I've always been more suited to being a right hand wolf, a leader, but not the leader.
And thus, the gnawing suspicion that this power, this status, was nothing more than an accident.
A true alpha with no desire to lead? It couldn't be right.
Chapter One: Wolf Moon
Derek and I had spent a week in his apartment, bickering back and forth. He insisted I go to school, after all, a 16 year old would draw far more suspicion if she weren't enrolled in school.
I had disagreed on the basis that I needed to stay hidden to stay safe. Although, I reluctantly agreed he was right.
He was always right.
We'd fabricated a story, I was his second cousin, Lutana Hale. My mother was a single mother, but had passed away in a car crash at the start of the Summer and I'd been living with him, as my guardian. I'd raised an eyebrow at the 'relative' idea, but it was far less strange than a 16 year old girl living with a 22 year old man. It removed all the suspicion from the story. I had no interest in Derek romantically, but I was not naive, I knew how it would seem to outside eyes.
After much scowling and glaring, I was sitting in the passenger seat of Derek's car, arms folded over my chest.
"It's not that bad" Derek said, I could almost hear the smile in his voice, though I was staring out the window, refusing to meet his eye so I couldn't see the one that would undoubtedly on his face.
"It's not that good either." I spat back, feeling my mouth pull down further at the corners.
I could feel Derek shaking with silent laughter and had decided to make a swift exit.
I practically tumbled out of the car before slamming the door shut, muffling the laughter that had finally escaped Derek's mouth.
Asshole.
After all the pain and trauma I'd suffered, the last thing you'd expect would be my absolute hatred and fear of high school, and yet, here I was. My feet rooted to the spot as I stared up at the building.
"I'm pretty sure it was a wolf." My eyes shot to the right, seeing two boys, with lacrosse sticks strapped to their bags, walking leisurely towards the school.
I started moving forward, keeping close to them as I concentrated on my hearing "A wolf bit you?" the one with a buzzcut asked, seemingly amused. As the other, with the shaggy brown hair gave a "uh-huh" of confirmation that he'd heard correctly.
"No, not a chance." Buzzcut stated, flatly.
"I heard a wolf howling" came Shaggy's response, sounded almost dejected that his friend didn't believe him.
"No you didn't." Buzzcut was almost as monotone as Derek now.
"What do you mean "No, I didn't"? How do you know what I heard?" Shaggy said, turning his gaze to his companion's face now, giving me a glimpse of his face. A grin splashed across caramel skin, warm brown eyes, and a lopsided jaw, something that would look odd on most people yet suited this boy, adding character to his face.
The boy with the shaved head snorted out a laugh "Because California doesn't have wolves, okay? Not in like 60 years."
He was right, of course. Not normal wolves, anyway.
"Really?"
"Yes, really." Buzzcutwas facing Shaggy now, and by extension, me. His skin was fair, bordering on pale. His face was distinct, dark brows shadowing deep brown eyes, thin lips conveying most of his expression, which at this point, was sarcasm.
I didn't know sarcasm had an expression until now.
His eyes landed on me, walking slowly, gazing at them both and I averted my eyes, instead, glancing around at other students, letting my face drop into a look of confusion, hoping to cover my eavesdropping tracks.
It appeared to work as he returned to his conversation with Shaggy and I past them swiftly, moving towards the office, and certain doom.
It was now lunch and I found myself sitting quietly on the benches next to the field, phone in hand, texting frantically to Derek, retelling the conversation I'd heard earlier.
Maybe it meant nothing, maybe something other than a wolf had bit him, but if it meant what my gut was telling me it meant, it was something I needed to inform Derek.
To my annoyance, there was no response.
Surely he wasn't that busy. He was wealthy enough not to have to rely on a job for money, and honestly, such things seemed trivial to him.
So, why was there no answer?
What was he up to?
I was shocked out of my stupor by a shrill scream invading my ears and piercing my ear drums.
A wince escaped my lips as I raised my head to the field, to the source of the invasive noise only to see a man with a whistle still between his lips as a crowd of boys milled around on the grass.
I was dumbfounded. Somehow, I was oblivious to an entire lacrosse meet taking place right in front of me. I'd been too focused on Derek and his radio silence.
I berated myself silently. I needed to be more careful, more alert. If there had been enemies nearby, I would have been dead.
"Hey. You're new too, right?" I looked up at the sound of the voice. It was soft, feminine. The speaker was a girl, classically beautiful with wavy black hair and porcelain skin.
Beside her was a strawberry blonde, she almost seemed like the stereotypical, popular airhead, but for her stunning green eyes.
I saw something in those eyes, they were sharper than the deadliest knife.
"Yeah... Yeah, I'm new." I said, surprised at the interaction, my eyes darting around at the rest of the small crowd on the benches. They seemed to be regular high school kids, and there were no signs to tell me otherwise, no scents, no sounds, nothing.
"I'm Allison, I'm new too." The dark haired girl offered a hand, almost formally, as though we were sitting in a corporate meeting.
I took her hand gingerly, cautious.
"This is Lydia." Allison indicated the other girl with a nod of her head and I smiled weakly at Lydia as she returned a strained smile. I knew it was just high school, but I didn't really trust anyone right now.
"Lutana." I said, shortly.
My attention was pulled away from the conversation by the sound of a thunk, followed by a bodily thump, and then finally laughter.
"Way to catch with your face, McCall!" came an amused shout and it was followed by more laughter.
The boy in the net, it seemed, had been smacked in the face by the ball. A familiar scent met my nose. It was one of the boys from this morning. The ones talking about wolves.
"Who is he?" Asked Allison, quietly.
"Him? I'm not sure who he is... Why?" Lydia asked, it was clear in her voice that she assumed Allison was interested in the boy. Romantically speaking.
"Oh, he's in my English class." Allison said, smiling almost too much, as she shrugged her shoulders. I could smell it on her. She was indeed attracted to the guy.
As if he sensed the conversation behind him, he clambered to his feet, and took up a defensive position in front of the net, his hands clenching on the lacrosse stick in his hands, almost like he was wringing a neck.
Another boy across the field took up a steady jog towards him, the ball in the net of his stick before he launched it at the goal.
Only for it to be caught swiftly, I sat up straighter now.
His reflexes were incredible, suspiciously incredible.
Much of the same continued, the boys trying to shoot the goal were getting more and more aggressive in their hurling of the ball but no matter how hard or how fast they threw it, the boy in the goal caught every single one.
I breathed in deeply through my nose, earning a sideways glance from the girls beside me, but I got what I wanted. I caught the scent, the familiar animalistic scent that confirmed my suspicions.
The boy in the goal had indeed been bitten by a wolf. But not just a wolf... He'd been bitten by a werewolf.
"Why haven't you been returning my texts?" I asked, dumping my bag on the floor as soon as I'd entered Derek's apartment.
Derek was standing with his back to me, motionless as he stared out the window.
I heard him say something but it was too soft for me to catch, I walked closer, slowly. It was uncharacteristic of Derek to behave this way and I could smell something that reminded me of saline. It was tears, no doubt about it.
I reached him, gently pulling on his shoulder, silently asking him to face me. He did and even though I could smell it, I was still shocked to see the tears staining his face.
"Laura is dead." He murmured quietly and my heart fell, sliding into my stomach that now felt full of ice.
Derek was as alone in this world as I was.
"What...How..." I didn't know what I wanted to ask, and instead just fell silent, my lips opening before rethinking what I was going to say and closing again.
"There's another in town. A wolf. She was ripped in half."
I looked him squarely in the eyes.
"About that... Derek, someone at the school was bitten by a wolf last night. I could smell it on him like cologne, he's a werewolf." I trailed off for a moment before continuing "Do you think he was sired by the same one that killed Laura?"
Derek's eyes lowered and shifted back and forth, almost like he was searching for an answer, before looking up again.
"It's building a pack."
So, reviews would be much appreciated – constructive criticism is always good criticism.
lBridgetl