A.N: First time writing Teen Wolf. Let my know what you think about it.
She stands dangerously close to the fire. It threatens to singe her hair yet she refused to budge. Her companions had long fled, not wanting to be caught at a crime scene. Kate wonders what would happen if she took just another step. Just a single one closer to the fire. Before her wondering could form into a decision, Kate feels a hand tug at her sleeve. The nails are sharp and could easily break her skin. But when she slowly turns her head, Talia's face is almost kind.
„It's alright," the she-wolf says. „It's over."
Kate wants to shake her head. It isn't over, not by long shot. Her shoulders are shaking when Talia pulls her away from the fire with gentle force and into her arms.
The alpha is warm and rumbles with approval. Kate dares to close her eyes. She's tired and wants to escape into to peaceful slumber.
„We're safe. Thank you, Kate," Talia whispers into her ear. „You saved the pack."
Meant as gratitude, the words still scares Kate senseless. She can't comprehend the consequences of her foolish actions. No matter how hard she would try to hide the truth, her father would discover it anyway.
„I don't know why I did it," Kate confesses, lost in thought. „It would've been so easy. To watch you all burn, trapped behind the mountain ash. Instead I broke the line, freeing you. Your family."
Red eyes watch her carefully and Kate hears howling in the distance. The pack is long gone and Kate doubts the Hales will resurface anytime soon. Talia is the only one who remained behind.
A broken laugh leaves Kate mouth and she frees herself from Talia's embrace to watch the Hale house burn.
„I should've known better, really. Signing my life away for one stupid boy," she says, but can't help to remember Derek's blue eyes. „And now it's too late to change my mind. I made my choice, wanted to be decent for once. Guess I should've known kindness comes with a price."
„If you stay here, your father will kill you," Talia tells her.
Kate wants to scream at her, tell her to run. What is the she-wolf waiting for? Does she really wants to drag Kate's end out? They all know that there's no going back for this. Kate can lie but she boasted for weeks how the Hales would burn. No one is going to believe her if she claims carelessness.
„Yeah," Kate answers, still staring into the fire. Her strength finally leaves her and Kate slumps into the grass. „Traitors aren't going to be tolerated. It would be just a matter of time until he finds out."
„Are you simply going to stay here and wait for your death?" Talia asks. Kate can barely see her frame against the darkness but she sounds disappointed.
„What I'm supposed to do?" Kate sighs. „Running isn't an option. No matter how far I go or which country I flee, my father is going to be there first. Most of my connections and resources I borrowed from him. He has friends everywhere."
For a moment there's no sound to hear but the crackling fire. The Hale house yields to the hungry flames and soon there's nothing going to be found but ashes. Just when Kate thinks Talia is finally gone, the she-wolf speaks up again.
„There's one option left, if you're brave enough to chose it. You could come with me. Be part of the pack," the alpha offers.
Kate's head swirls around and she stares at the other woman, trembling. Rage gets mixed with hope and makes her blood boil.
„You can't actually mean that," she whispers. „It's insanity. I'm an Argent. I tried to kill your family. I took you son's innocence and played with his heart before breakfast."
It's the last sentence that draws a reaction out of Talia. The alpha growls and clearly thinks about ending it here and now. Kate can see the fingernails lengthen into claws but she is beyond caring. She is already dead. It's only a matter who is going to kill her.
The she-wolf or her father.
„Perhaps my son saw clearer than the rest of us," Talia muses aloud, using her claws only to draw Kate away from the fire. „This may have been a ploy to kill the pack. Yet your love for Derek must have been true to some point otherwise he would've smell the lie."
Kate winces. She remembers Derek's careful smile, his confusion, his teasing and his laugh. They spend the summer together, watching movies, playing games in their underwear at Sunday mornings and ordered takeout far too often since their of them could cook.
The rising smoke burns her lungs, every breath became more difficult with each passing minute. Kate could still turn around and vanish into the woods. There is still a small chance of escape. But the magnitude of her decision to break the circle of mountain ash remained, froze her feed to the ground.
Did she just ruined her future for this stupid man? Did she really betray her family, her father and everything she grew up with because waking up next to Derek in the morning was easy? Did she saved the Hales because one of them let her forget how much blood she had on her hands at age of 23?
Kate remembered the way Derek talked about college or going backpacking with friends as if his nature wasn't a deciding factor in it. Had his words made her hope for things the supernatural world had taken from her when she was his age?`
„If I take the bite,..." Kate says to Talia, turning away from the fire, „Will I be truly part of the pack one day?"
Kate feels the smile when the Alpha kissed her forehead.
„Yes," the she-wolf purrs.
Talia Hale sounds content. As if she was satisfied with the outcome. As if she hadn't just lost her home and her house. She sounds like as if she had won the battle. Kate can't comprehend that logic but she doesn't pull away either when Talia took her wrist into her hands.
„If the bite doesn't take," Kate says, „Throw my body into the fire. It's a cleaner death than I deserve."
Sharp teeth puncture her skin and Kate is distantly aware of the blood she is losing. Talia's voice is far away, when she gives Kate her answer.
„It won't be necessary," the alpha tells her and puts Kate Argent to sleep.
She meets up the pack in the early morning, Kate's body slung over her shoulder. The huntress is still out of it but she smells strong and healthy. The bite will take, Talia knows. Many eyes meet her own when the pack greets her.
„Who is this exactly?" Peter asks her, more curious than suspicious.
„A woman who had enough strength to defy Gerard Argent despite the many years she suffered under his rule," Talia announces.
Not that Kate was aware of this. Not yet but in time perhaps. Right now the young woman was confused, scared and in need of stability. But Talia was confident Kate would be a great addition to the pack once the first year had passed. Derek would gain an ally, Peter a mind similar to his own and Laura a rival.
„Mom?" a voice calls out to her and Talia recognizes her son despite his hesitation.
Instead of starting to lecture him on the dangers he put himself in, she pushes Kate's body into his arms.
„Take care of her," she tells him, „She has left everything behind for you. Walked into a dark dangerous world full of monsters because she couldn't bring herself to kill you. Make sure sacrificing her family and all ties to her past is not in vain."
Author's Note: I was searching for good!Kate stories and was put off when I found none. Kate has somehow turned into the alltime evil and crazy bitch. So I went a wrote an AU in which Kate delays the attack and can't bring herself to kill the Hales when the day finally arrives.
Author's Note: I was searching for good!Kate stories and was put off when I found none. Kate has somehow turned into the alltime evil and crazy bitch. So I went a wrote an AU in which Kate delays the attack and can't bring herself to kill the Hales when the day finally arrives. But I'm picture young!Derek a bit differently than we were shown in canon anyway. A bit older and a bit more looking like himself.
So please let me know what you think.