Chapter 2: The Oncoming Storm
Derek is still pissed the next day. Stiles should know better than to walk around outside, vulnerable, on the night of the full moon. It's precarious anywhere but lately, in Beacon Hills; the full moon has been a terror to its citizens. Well, it had been behind the scenes anyway. People kept going missing in the night; others were stricken with wanderlust and just started walking absently in some zombie like trance until the moon disappeared into the morning sky. And Derek knew, he just KNEW Stiles, as the Sherriff's son, was fully aware of the mysterious happenings. It had been happening on the full moon every month for months now. And he knew that as a teenager he was more than aware of the stories traveling of howling in the night. People in small towns gossiped it was a fact. But, when something as mysterious as this happens the gossip turns into worried whispers passing through the town, a ghost haunting everyone.
Derek is so exhausted lately. He's been pulling all-nighters every full moon ever since the disappearances began. He's been maintaining full control of himself every full moon while parading himself around town. His Camaro was his disguise. He uses it to look like some jerk show boating his money, when really he is patrolling the town searching for the other alpha. He's searching out the alpha that got his sister killed and the monster that was taking people in the area.
Even when he does sleep lately the dreams are always hideous renditions of the past. They are visions of the night he found Laura dead, cut up, reeking of wolf's bane, riddled by bullets and silver arrows and bolts. They are images from the mostly repressed night of the fire paired with the heart wrenching sound of the men, women and children his whole family but three who burned to death in it. They are still-frames of his house that was burned down by a werewolf hunter gone crazy that had a penchant for arson and unsuspecting young wolves. Derek would probably kill anyone that found out, but in his weaker moments when the night is too lonely to bear and his dreams to devastating to keep his grip he cries. He isn't proud of it. The fire happened so many years ago, but he still isn't over it. He can't come to grips with the fact that his family is all but gone now. The only one he has left is his Uncle Peter not that he is of any comfort while he sits in the hospital brain dead, completely unresponsive, with no way to communicate with Derek whatsoever.
Derek is alone, shouldering the burden of an entire pack. He needs help. But, no one can give him the support he needs. There isn't much he does feel lately. He just stows everything away as he sets his eyes on his mission. He just hopes that one day all of this will be behind him, that all the pain he is feeling now will just dissipate if he throws himself into his duties.
The only other person that is aware of the magic involved in this predicament right now is Deaton, and the truth is Deaton only helps Derek when he feels it's safe to get involved. Deaton is a private man and he won't do anything that will drag him out of the shadows if he can avoid it. Deaton is currently helping him with the lunacy brought out by the full moon each month, but Derek knows he won't be able to look to Deaton for assistance when it comes to the other alpha. The only way Derek can think of to get help is to start forming a new pack, but he is far too stressed as it is and he doesn't have time to train in an entire pack worth of new betas. The worst part is even if he does turn four or five people into his betas there is no guarantee they will be loyal to him. Some of them might just decide to be omegas or find some other pack and flee the dangers Beacon Hills is currently facing. Derek needs a plan, and to accomplish it he needs help but to be honest he has no idea where to find it. The only person that really even knows him in town is Stiles. But Stiles has hated him for years right? Ever since the fire and the death of his mother Stiles hasn't willingly talked to Derek, not even once.
Heat was going to be soon it was in the fall every year. And, as Derek's first heat as alpha, it's going to more untamable than ever. It is only 2 months away. Derek needs to find a suitable mate and turn them so they don't get jumped with the surprises of mating, heat, and being turned all at the same time. He needs to train someone, he needs to prepare them to be his mate it's the only way he can possibly dream to find and kill the other alpha. He needs someone's help he just has no idea whose.
So Derek starts his search. And, Derek goes to face Stiles; the one person in Beacon Hills who fears him more than the plague itself, and hates him like the monster he is. He had to face the one person in town that had ever and any real idea that the Hales could be werewolves, even if it was just a game to him. A game made up when they were kids. He had to face the remnants of the time when the fire and death in their lives had yet to consume them.
