Fall 2011

Derek Hale paused as the wind shifted, bringing with it a scent that he was surprised to smell. Dirt, gasoline, gunpowder, sage, lemon and lavender. His nose and mind picking out each individual smell that built the scent he brought deep into his lungs. Underneath the other smell was one that left a sour tang in the back of his mouth. It was the note in a werewolf's scent that told him, it was a bitten, female werewolf.

Here, in Beacon Hills, California. Territory to the Hale werewolf family. Where a blood crazed, mad alpha was going around murdering humans. A very, well publicized horrific murderer.

Sniffing again, Derek frowned. There was something off about the scent. While it wasn't rare for a female to be a werewolf, it was more likely for them to be born into a family, and less common for them to be bitten. They generally had a rougher transition then a male. There bodies rejected the transition more often then not.

He brought his collar up around his neck of his leather jacket, and increased his pace to his sleek black Camaro. He slid into the leather seat and closed the door, cutting of the scent. He started the car and pulled out onto the street. Derek's dark eyes looked in his rear view mirror, seeing an old Chevy truck following a few car's behind him.

He had seen the old beat up truck in more places then could be a consequence. It was logical to think that this other werewolf was following him. It was possible that the female didn't know about Scott, a recent turn by the crazy Alpha.

Derek himself, was more wildly known. Less for coming from the once exceptional Hale family, one of the largest family packs on the west coast and more so for being one of the three surviving Hale family members of the fire that killed his entire family in one brutal fell swoop.

He was much easier to find, since he wasn't hiding like Scott.

Derek turned left at the next street and watched the truck make the same turn. He slowly lead them out of town towards Broken Creek Wildlife preserve. It was one of the larger sections of undeveloped land in the area. It backed up on the Beacon Hill Forestry preserve, where the first of many dead bodies turned, and where Scott received his bite from the Alpha. Broken Creek was not open to the public as the BHFP was. It would be prefect for a little chat, wolf to wolf.

Derek was not in the mood to deal with another pup, he had enough problems with Scott's control issue and his own vendetta with the Alpha.

Noelle Grasvenor frowned as she followed Derek Hale out of town and down a highway stretch. She stayed behind him a reasonable distance, and hoped that following him would be much more informative then watching Scott McCall, who went to school, had frantic conversations about topics that his little human friend Stiles should know nothing about, played a sport he had no business playing now that he was a werewolf and made out with his human girlfriend whose family were definitely not their kinds friends.

The twenty one year old watched the fancy black Camaro pull off the highway and down a beat up dirt road. She continued to drive a mile or so down the highway before pulling off to the shoulder and getting out of her truck. She shoved her keys into the front pocket of her jeans, and snagged the hair elastic from her wrist. Noelle gathered her copper red hair and tied it up in a high messy bun.

It was going to rain soon, Noelle could feel the pressure in the air, heavy and moist. The closer you got to the Washington State border the more it rained, and Beacon Hill wasn't some 75 miles from the border line. It rained here a lot. It was cooler here in the late fall, but it didn't bother Noelle much as werewolf's ran at a higher temperature then humans, making the crisp wind feel good against her bare arms.

Stepping away from the highway, Noelle's old steel toe work boots made no sound as she moved into the forest. She made sure to say down wind from the road that she saw Derek drive down as she pushed further into the dense forest. Her brain checking off the familiar sounds of the woods.

It was slightly suspicious that Derek was out here. Either he knew she was following him or this was going to be here chance to flush out the whole reason for her being in the middle of no where Beacon Hills.

The werewolf hunting family, the Argent's had come for the Alpha. The blood thirsty, human dropping, mother fucking crazy Alpha. And she had come for the Argent's. Well, at least one Argent in particular.

If the Alpha was meeting Derek, it was possible that one or more members of the Argent's would be lurking around somewhere.

She caught Derek's scent three miles into the woods. Pine, burnt wood, grass, spicy aftershave and that sweet note on the end of the scent telling her that he was a hereditary wolf, invaded her nose. It made her mouth taste like she swallowed a mouth full of honey. She inhaled deeply, noting the smell was a few days old as it wasn't as heavy as it would be he had been there today.

She moved on, picking up her pace as she changed directions from heading directly into the woods to cutting back towards the road. She was hoping to pick up today's scent trail, not wanting Derek to get to much of a lead on her, she needed to find it soon.

By the time she stumbled across his trail, it was almost dusk. The forest around here was casting shadows in the late afternoon light. Noelle's eyes adjusted accordingly and she scanned the woods around her.

Something didn't feel quiet right. Two many old scent trails of just Derek. No other wolf.

Noelle listened around her, closing her eyes and trusted her ears to tell her what was around her. Bird, bird, creek bed half a mile away, frog, cricket, squirrel, bird, bird, twig.

Fuck.

Derek watched the smaller, red head wolf whip around to see him charging her. He was taken aback for a moment as he came at her. Her heart shape face would have been pretty if not for

the long jagged scar that curved around from her ear, along her jaw ling and down her throat to her chest.

Noelle swallowed hard, as her feet started to move. Derek was coming for her, hard and fast and she needed not to be standing where she was by the time he got to her. He out weighed her by at least a hundred pounds, had six inches on her and was a very dominate beta.

She pushed her legs to move faster, jumping over fallen logs, and making sharp unpredictable turns around trees. Slipping her smaller frame into close spaces, forcing Derek to bank around them to stay on course with her. She used her smaller size, for speed and agility. Noelle wanted to push Derek, max out his speed before making her move. She needed to be careful, keep out of his long reach or she would be in trouble.

Noelle could take a punch and give one right back, but she knew she wouldn't last long in an all out brawl. Brains before brawn had saved her ass in the past but she had enough bad experiences to know it wasn't always the case.

Derek was impressed as his lungs started to burn, and his legs ache. Little wolf had speed, and cunning. He watched as her legs ate up the ground in front of him and propel that shapely behind just out of his reach. Chasing after this female felt like fun, reminded him of simpler times from years ago where he used to chase his sister and cousin's through these woods.

The though came out of no where, and Derek felt the all too familiar anger course through him. It pushed him harder, wanting to put an end to this stupid game.

Noelle burst into small clearing, and in a better moment she would have taken in the view of the late summer wildflowers blooming on a crisp fall day but she had bigger things on her mind. Derek had caught a burst of speed and damn it he was just finger tips away from grabbing her.

She stopped, so abruptly that Derek didn't have time to adjust his course. Couldn't readjust himself to go around her but slamming into her bent over form with such force that if Noelle hadn't have set her feet in she would have been thrown. She used his momentum and size against him, as his body came into contact with her own, she twisted at the last moment and shoved out hard with her hands.

Derek felt the impacted of her hands on his chest, for a moment he thought she broke a few ribs, The thought left his mind as he felt his body fly across the field. He hit the ground hard, and knocked the fucking wind right out of him. But he pushed himself back to his feet, just in time to see that shapely behind disappear back into the woods. Little wolf was heading back to her truck. He could hear her heart beat, thumping away faster and faster, her feet no longer moving quietly but with purpose.

It was when he hit the woods again, that he smelt it. Fear, so thick and so sweet it bitter. It tasted wrong in his mouth, but it was so hard to resist. The predator in him loved the scent of fear, bringing the more basic nature of the wolf in him to the surface.

Fight or fuck, his wolf wanted to know.

Derek could feel his claws coming out, his teeth elongating into sharp, dangerous canine fangs, and he was very, very close to a full wolf out. His longs legs ate up the dirt ground beneath him and he caught sight of her red hair in the dim light. The wolf wanted to be closer to her, needed to have her.

Despite knowing he was almost tapped out for speed and energy, Derek felt a burst of speed and closed the gap on the smaller wolf. His long arm reached out and missed the back of her shirt by inches. Looking ahead, beyond the female he saw his opportunity.

Knowing her pattern of shoving her smaller frame into smaller spaces to force him to move around, he knew she was going to veer hard to the right to fit through a small opening between two trees. He threw himself at a tree further right of where the red head was sliding between those two trees. Derek's size ten boots hit the truck of a large oak with a thud, as he swung his body around, colliding with the much smaller wolf.

"Mother fucker." gasped Noelle as clutched her chest where Derek body had hit her. It threw her back, hard into the underbrush. Her chest was on fire, and there was more then a healthy twinge of pain in her ribs.

Get off the ground girl-child. Her wolf was screaming at her. The wolf knew they were in trouble. Big, fucking trouble.

"Back off Hale." growled out Noelle as she stood still clutching her chest. Seeing Derek so close to transforming was pushing her fear levels up higher then they were before. She knew this was going to make it worse, knowing exactly what the smell of fear did to dominate wolves. They liked to fight then fuck. She wasn't going to last long in a fight and she was sure as shit wasn't down for a dirty fuck.

"Little wolf, why have you been following me?" Derek heard his question come out more guttural and like a growl, his words fangs making it harder to sound human. He watched the female before him, body tense, claws coming out, and when she lifted her head to show her own set of deadly fangs, her eyes where no longer human.

They glowed, a bight amber orange.

"Omega." Derek bit out, now knowing what was off about her scent. Female werewolf's were not omegas. He had never heard of one being an omega, the lone wolf, the lost wolf, the dead wolf. There were too few females, they were suppose to be treasured, cared for and cherish. Not left for dead, alone. Bitten or born, it just wasn't done.

"Beta." she addressed him. Noelle was used to the shocked expression that was dancing across the face of Derek Hale. He wasn't the first to look at her that way.

Derek took a step towards her and watched as she took four steps back to get away from him. He was trying to catch his breath, and force his wolf down. Her fear was so thick it was choking him, and he needed to think clearly. She was smaller then him, weaker, female and an omega. His fight response died hard, and it was replaced by a need that he didn't want or understand.

He wanted to comfort her, protect her and the wolf wanted to be closer. He had never had that type of a response to an omega that he had encountered before this.

"I asked you a question, Omega." Derek's voice had returned to normal, now that his teeth looked very, very human.

Noelle pushed back the change, loosing the fangs but keeping the claws. She wanted some protection but wanted to show Derek a good faith gesture. " I don't know what you are talking about, Hale. Just out of a merry old stroll."

"Lie." Derek sneered, hearing her heart beat sped up as she spoke, her words tasting bitter in his mouth. The wolf was telling him, she was lying to him. " Try again. This time, I want the truth."

"What fun would that be?" she asked him slowing her breathing down. Her legs burned, and she could already feel her body healing, eating up the remaining energy she had left.

"I could think of more then one fun thing to do then this." Derek heard her heart beat jump and smelled the spike in her fear at his suggestion. He mentally took a step back, and looked at the little wolf before him.

She reached mid chest on him, he would guess she stood a solid five' six inches, weighed around 120 to 130 pounds. Short legs that where lean, running legs, with wide hips that lead a shapely, plump behind. Solid shoulders, toned arms and she looked fit. Pretty heart shaped face, creamy white skin and bright red, curly hair. And lots of scars, not just the one on her face. Her arms were covered in thin razor blade likes scars. All old, some that he could tell had been deep while others where superficial.

Someone had cut this little wolf up bad with a silver blade, Derek guessed. It was the only way to scar a wolf. Sick fuck. No wonder she was stinking of fear. It went against the way he was raised, his father if was still alive would have been disgusted at the treatment this little wolf had received.

"The Alpha." Noelle growled out, smelling the change in Derek's mood. He was angry, and she didn't like that.

Derek frowned at Noelle's words." What do you mean, little wolf?"

Noelle bit out the words one by one, slow and precise." I want the Alpha."

The wide shoulder, dark hair young man's hearty laugh startled Noelle for a moment, making her jump a little bit. " Get in line."

"I hardly think what I said was funny." Noelle scoffed, feeling slightly like she should punch Derek in the face for laughing at her.

"What do you want with the Alpha?" he asked her cocking his head. It was hard for him to ignore the urge to move close, but it would only push her away from him, and he needed answers. Needed to know if this little wolf was friend or foe.

"Not your concern."

The wind changed directions and carried something deadly with it. The scent of humans hit both Derek and Noelle at the same time. A red head and a black head both turned at the same instant in the direction the scent was blown in from. Both sniffing hard, and listening for noises to tell them how far the humans were.

The voices were distant, coming back from the direction of the flied where Derek and she had a tussle. Catching three words out of five on the wind, Noelle put two and two together.

"Hunters." she whispered in Derek's direction.

"Fucking Argent's." he growled out a moment later, his dark human eyes glowing beta yellow. 'This isn't done."

"Don't know what your talking about." Noelle muttered as she moved off to the left, claws still out, eyes still burning orange. She could hear the Chris Argent and his men talking through two way radio's spreading out, after they discovered her and Derek's little tussle in the meadow. "They know we are here."

Though, she was very interested in the Argent's, she did not want their first meeting to be on their terms. She preferred to let them think that there were two beta running around instead of knowing that Beacon Hills werewolf population had grown.

"Great." Derek felt the wolf come out, ready to a run. He wasn't interested in being at the Argent's mercy. " Don't get killed before we talk again, little wolf."

"Funny, I was thinking the exact opposite for you." Noelle hissed out with a smile, before she put her boots to action. She ran three miles west of where she parked her truck, leaving behind a subtlety noticeable trail. A few claw marks here and there on the trunks of trees and enough broke twigs and beaten down brush that the hunters who chose to follow her trail would be occupied while she slunk back to her truck.

When she returned to the Chevy she wasn't surprised that Derek had been there. She could smell him all over the truck. Fucker had torn about the cab of her truck, and found the registration in the glove box.

Not that would do him any good. Mabel Rockred was long past dead and the address was for somewhere in Utah.

"Idiot." she muttered as she started the truck and pulled out onto the highway, making a u-turn and headed back into town.