I remained in my spot, shocked and frozen. Derek Hale continued to stare me down, his icy green eyes borrowing into me. We locked eyes, refusing to break the connection. It was like he could see through my soul, like he knew me or he knew something about me. I could have just been becoming paranoid, but I had my secret to blame on that. There was no doubt Derek was the most intimidating man I'd ever seen. His gaze made me want to disappear into thin air—even worse than Jackson's.
"Stiles? Ella? Is that you?" John called, his footsteps trudging up the stairs. The two of us broke our glare and I whipped my vision to the door. Derek motioned for Stiles to keep quiet and to go to the door before his father entered. Too intimidated not to, Stiles followed the silent orders. Derek and I stood in dead silence and he continued to stare me down. I uncomfortably shifted my weight, hoping he didn't know that I was the girl from the woods the other morning. There couldn't be a chance he'd remember, right? Derek's eyes scrolled over me once more, his thick brows narrowing together.
"What?" I barked.
"Ella?" John immediately realized I was in the room. My hand flew up and hit my face. I was an idiot.
"Hey, be right there." I called through gritted teeth. I rushed over to Stiles' desk and grabbed a book off of it, opening to a random page number. I immediately went over to the door and pushed it open, standing in the door way with the book pressed against my body. "Hey." I smiled. John looked at me suspiciously.
"What's doing?"
"The usual. All the same." Stiles stated. I looked at him, mentally wishing he'd shut up.
"Just prepping to do a lot of homework before the game." I informed. Stiles nodded beside me.
"Were you talking to someone?" John asked.
"Me? No…I talk to myself when I'm confused." I peaked at the book in my hands. "Periodic table isn't my forte."
"You're coming later, right?" He asked, changing the subject. John knew something was up between Stiles and I but he decided to shrug it off.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Good! Can't believe I get to see my boy on the field tonight. It's going to be great." John beamed.
"Dad." Stiles groaned, his cheeks flushing in embarrassment.
"Stiles be nice." I flashed a fake smile, messily rubbing his buzz cut. "It's not like I'm the one you have to be impressing."
"Glad Stiles can learn a little something from you being here." John grinned.
"What can I say, I rub off on others." I beamed, quickly wishing to get out of this conversation. I wanted to know what the hell werewolf Derek Hale was doing in Stiles bedroom. "Well, I'm going to go finish getting all our books out so we don't run late. I'll see you at the game Uncle John." I bid my farewell, leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek.
"Of course. Study hard, kiddo." Calmly, I slipped back into the room where Derek was pressed up in the back corner and, once again, he was staring. I silently threw my hands up, wondering what his problem was. His only response was the raise of one of his brows. I rolled my eyes and plopped myself on Stiles' bed. Just as I began thinking about how much I needed a nap before tonight, Stiles slipped back into the room as well. Immediately, Derek grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and pushed him against the door. Stiles struggled under the strong mans grip.
"If I hear one word." Derek threatened.
"You mean like 'hey dad, Derek Hale's in my room. Bring your gun'?" Derek loosened his grip on Stiles. "Yeah that's right. If I'm harboring your fugitive ass, it's my house and my rules, buddy." Stiles lightly slapped Derek on the chest. Derek looked over to where Stiles had touched him and then back at Stiles, who failed to comment under his harsh gaze. Derek let Stiles go and fixed his jacket, Stiles doing the same to him. When he tried to walk away, Derek lurched towards Stiles who immediately flinched and yelped. "My God."
"Are you two done?" I crossed my arms over my chest. Stiles fell down into his desk chair and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.
"So, you're the famous Derek Hale." I rose a brow, staring at the ridiculously attractive man. I wanted to slap myself for thinking of the stranger like that, but I couldn't help it. I could see his abs through his shirt.
"And you're the girl who knows way too much." He responded, his face mimicking the features of stone. Did this guy not smile?
"Don't blame me." I shrugged, motioning my head over to Stiles.
"Whoa, hey, let's not play the blame game here. I think everyone has equal responsibility."
"Right." I scoffed.
"Did Scott get the necklace?" Derek changed the subject after dramatically rolling his eyes.
"No, he's working on it." Stiles informed. "But there's something else I want to try."
"I thought you said the necklace was the only way?" I misunderstood.
"Not what I mean. Remember I told you about how we were trapped at the school?"
"Alpha trapped you and you blamed it all on Mr. Brooding over here. Yup." Stiles grimaced as I brought up the sore subject. I smirked.
"Well, Allison got a text from Scott telling her to meet us at the school."
"So?" Derek finally piped up in hopes Stiles would soon get to the point.
"So it wasn't Scott." Stiles exclaimed.
"So, can you find out who sent it?"
"No, not me. But I know someone who can." Derek looked towards me.
"Don't look at me." I shook my head, throwing my hands up to surrender. When it came to being a tech genius, I knew nothing.
A terribly awkward thirty minutes later, Danny showed up in Stiles' room. Stiles had planned to ruse Danny into showing up to do lab work together since they were partners.
"You want me to do what?"
"Trace a text." Stiles awkwardly grinned.
"I came here to do lab work! That's what lab partners do!"
"And we will! Once you trace the text!" Stiles sighed.
"And what makes you think I know how?"
"He may or may not have looked up your arrest report." I butted in, flipping the page of my chemistry book in my lap as I sat Indian style on the bed. "I'm Ella by the way." I smirked, giving a quick wave.
"You're Stiles cousin, right?" I nodded. "Cool accent! Is that South African?"
"Australian."
"Sick." Danny smiled. "I didn't know you were from there."
"Gold Coast." I elaborated.
"That is SO cool. I've always wanted to go there. Were you originally from Beacon—"
"Okay, can we focus? Text tracing? The lab reporting?" Stiles interrupted.
"I was 13. They dropped the charges. So, no! We're doing lab work!" Stiles groaned as Danny pulled up a chair next to him.
"Who's he again?" Danny whispered, throwing a thumb over his shoulder at Derek. Stiles turned in his seat.
"Uh my cousin. My other cousin. Miguel." Derek and I both looked up from the books we were reading.
"Is that blood on his shirt?" Danny stammered. I looked over to Derek with wide eyes, seeing a spot of dark red on the center of his shirt.
"He gets these horrible nose bleeds. Super nasty, runs in the family!" I nodded.
"He's your brother."
"Uh, yeah. Can't you see the resemblance?" I asked. Danny looked between the black haired, pale skinned, green eyed man and me—the chocolate eyed brunette with beige skin.
"Uh, I guess." Danny squirmed in his seat.
"Hey Miguel, remember I told you that you could borrow one of my shirts? Stiles informed, pushing Derek to change the soiled shirt and he eyed the dresser. Angry, Derek closed the book he was pretending to read and stripped of his henely. My eyes gawked at the muscles that had been hidden underneath his shirt. It should have been illegal to hide those things. Above his beautifully chiseled back marked a tattoo of a triple spiral. I wonder what it meant. Derek began rummaging through Stiles' shirt drawer, tossing shirts onto the floor. I couldn't help myself, I couldn't stop staring. And once I saw Danny eyeing Derek's body, I lifted my book up in front of my face. Derek Hale was…damn.
He was fine.
Stiles began conversing with Danny while I peeked over the top of the book to watch Derek.
"Stiles," Derek spoke up, "This. No fit."
"Then try something else on." An incredibly annoyed Stiles replied. Derek threw on a blue and brown striped polo, and immediately, I was praying he'd take it off and stay shirtless.
"Why doesn't he have an accent?" Danny asked me through quick peaks at Derek.
"Oh, he—he just never caught on to it. Strange right?"
"I guess." Danny squirmed again.
"Hey! That one looks pretty good! What do you think Dan?" Stiles caught on to Danny's gawking.
"Huh?" Derek immediately started pouting.
"The shirt."
"Uh, it's, uh, not really his color." Danny stumbled over his words. Derek once more stripped of his shirt which caused me to lose all of my senses—but sight, of course.
"Stiles! None of these fit!" Derek barked. Danny stared once more before swallowing hard.
"I'll need the ISP, phone number, and the exact time of text." He sighed. Derek finally found a dark grey t-shirt and threw it on, much to my disappointment. Danny's fingers hovered over the laptops keyboard as he began typing while occasionally glancing at the phone Stiles held up for him. Derek walked over behind the boys as Danny furiously worked his magic.
"There. The text was sent from the computer. This one." Danny pointed to the screen. I shot up from my seat on the bed and walked over beside Derek, quickly reading over the small text on the screen.
"Registered to that account name?" Derek gaped.
"No, no, no. That can't be right." Stiles immediately disagreed. My eyes jumped down to the text bolded in red. The account had been registered with the Beacon Hills Hospital, to Melissa McCall. The Alpha was Scott's mom?
"Yeah, I got the picture. And it looks just like the drawing." Stiles replied as he spoke to Scott on the phone. Derek, Stiles, and I were sitting in the dark, empty hospital parking lot. We glared at the lit up building of the long term care wing in front of us. We all silently asked the same question: did Melissa McCall really have the capability of being the alpha? Would she really bite her own son? There was no way. The world may have had some messed up people in it, but this situation was beyond that at this point—if it was really true. Derek quickly grabbed Stiles wrist and lurched the phone towards him.
"Hey, is there anything on the back of it? There's got to be something. An inscription, an opening…something!" I immediately grabbed the locket around my neck, thumbing the back where four waves were engraved. I looked in the rearview mirror, seeing it's purple gem sparkling. Stiles grabbed the phone after a disappointed Derek let go of his hand.
"I know. If you see my dad just, can you tell him, tell him I'll be there. I'll just be a little late. Okay? Alright thanks." Stiles hung up with a sigh.
"Stiles, you're know you're not going to make the game." I sadly announced.
"I know." He muttered.
"You didn't tell him about his mom, either." Derek realized.
"He doesn't need to know." I defended.
"Not till we find out the truth." Stiles huffed, chewing on his bottom lip.
"By the way, one more thing?" Derek said.
"Yeah?" Stiles listened. Derek grabbed the back of Stiles head and slammed it forward until it came in contact with the steering wheel.
"Oh God!" Stiles cried.
"Hey! What the hell!" I yelled, leaning forward and grabbing Derek's shoulder. He flinched as if he'd been shocked. His green eyes looked at me. "What was that for?"
"You know what that was for!" Derek pointed a finger at Stiles, who was putting pressure on his forehead. "Go." He ordered. Neither of us moved. "Goo!"
"Ugh. God." Stiles muttered, slipping out of the Jeep.
"God, Hale. You're going to break him one day." I spat, climbing out of the back seat. Stiles and I reluctantly entered the quiet hospital only to realize it was too quiet.
"I know it's a Friday night but, this place is dead." My eyes darted around. There was literally nobody around.
"Maybe everyone is at the game?" Stiles thought.
"The entire staff?" I cocked my head. Stiles phone rang and he quickly picked it up.
"What, Derek?" He answered with frustration. "No, we can't find her." I could hear Derek instruct Stiles to ask for Jennifer, that she was the woman taking care of his uncle. Derek had family here? We came up on a room down the hall with the name plate "Peter Hale". The bed was freshly made and the wheelchair sat empty beside the door.
"Well, he's not here either."
"Where the hell did everyone go?" I wondered aloud. Derek shouted a loud "what".
"He's not here, he's gone Derek."
"Why is that so hard to believe?" I mumbled.
"Maybe because he's catatonic." Stiles scoffed back. Derek's uncle was catatonic? How could an unresponsive man just leave his wheelchair?
"Catatonic people can't just get up and leave." I huffed.
"Get out of there! Get out of there now! It's him! He's the alpha!" Derek shouted from the line. Stiles and I look at each other in fear. But, Stiles' eyes soon went past me. I turned on my heel and jumped back, seeing a man staring at us. A sadistic smirk lifted his lips. Half the mans face was covered in burns. The other was of a normal human. My best guess was to think this was Peter Hale.
"You must be Stiles." He smirked to the teen beside me, who suddenly dropped his phone. "And you," his eyes shifted to me, "you are the new girl. Isabella? Oh wait, that's right, you prefer Ella." A lump formed inside my throat. How did he know my name? Stiles and I turned around in a quick run. Our shoes skidded on the floor with a loud screech once we were stopped by a red headed nurse behind us.
"What are you doing here? Visiting hours are over." Her smile was just as sadistic as Peters. Peter took a step towards us, and I balled my fist up in preparations to blow my secret to save our lives. Stiles pointed from the nurse to Peter.
"You...and him? You're the one…and he's the…oh my God gonna die." Stiles realized.
"Stiles shut up and get out of here." I muttered, closing my fist tight and steadying my breathing. Peter stared down to my hand in wonder, his eyebrows lifting in confusion. Before Stiles or myself could move, Derek appeared and punched the nurse in the face, knocking her out cold. I flinched.
"That's not nice." Peter slowly chastised. "She's my nurse."
"She's a psychotic bitch helping you kill people." Derek retorted. "Get out of the way." He simply instructed us. Stiles and I stood there, frozen. Could Derek really take on someone who was stronger than him? There was no way he could do that by himself.
"Ah, damn." Stiles muttered, pulling me aside. Peter began striding towards Derek, and I began internally fighting with myself about whether or not I should intervene. I could buy us enough time to get the hell out of the place.
"You think I killed Laura on purpose? One of my own family?" Peter questioned. Derek unhinged his jaw, letting out a loud roar. His green eyes transitioned into an electric blue while his canine teeth transformed into sharp fangs. I was taken aback, gasping and stumbling into Stiles. Though I was cool with knowing the werewolf knowledge, I hadn't seen what Scott or Derek looked like in their wolf form. I had a feeling I was about to find out. Derek lunged at Peter and the two began fighting. Stiles pulled me down so neither of us were collateral damage. He and I began crawling, my eyes wide and teary as I watched Derek's head go through the drywall. While Derek laid on the ground trying to recover himself, Peter strode over to him and began dragging him across the floor. I froze in the middle of the hallway, watching Derek struggle to pry his uncle's hands from his neck. I could hear him whimpering in pain.
"Come on!" Stiles cried, crawling forward to hide underneath the nurses' station.
"My mind, my personality, were literally burned out of me. I'm being driven by pure instinct." Peter stated.
I was about to regret everything; I could already feel my head screaming at myself to run away. I scurried up, standing on wobbly feet. Derek was finally let go and after punching Peter in the face, he was head butted and kicked across the room and onto him stomach. He laid face down, not getting up. Whether he was alive or not still was a mystery to me. I extended my arm out in a wiping motion, summoning a gust of wind to blow Peter down. Which, thankfully it did. Peter was tossed across the room. Derek finally lifted his head, spitting out a clump of blood, looking at me confused. I silently relieved myself once I realized he saw nothing, though he was confused how I got Peter that far.
"Strong arm." I immediately dismissed. Peter collected himself, re-standing up and adjusting his pea coat.
"Who told you to get involved?" Peter sighed, annoyance lacing his voice.
"Leave and I'll stop." I stated in the strongest voice I could muster. Peter began walking towards me. My throat felt tight as my skin grew hotter. I chomped down on the inside of my lip.
"You see, sweetheart. It's not that easy. None of this is quite easy, if you weren't aware. Welcome to the werewolf world." He smirked, only steps away from me now. My eyes bounced from Peter to Derek, who was still struggling to stand up from the floor.
"I know enough." I retorted, beginning to ball my hand and focus all my energy on Peter.
"I'm sure you do." Peter eyed my hand. Nervous, I immediately stopped. "Actually, I think you know a little more than you lead on." All I could do was shake my head. I was an idiot for thinking it would be this easy to use my powers in front of three people I wasn't close to. I was nervous, terrified. I couldn't do it with Derek staring right at me. I opened my mouth to answer, but no words came out. Peter was within breathing distance and I could feel my throat close up in fear. Behind Peter, I watched Derek finally stand up and go to sucker punch the back of Peter's head. Instead of succeeding, Peter spun around and grabbed Derek's fist, crushing the bones underneath his own grasps.
"You know, the healing process, stealing this from Laura, really pushed me over the plateau." He calmly informed his nephew before throwing him through a window into the triage area. My gasp was drowned out by the sound of glass shattering. Derek's body hit the ground with a loud thump, causing me to cringe. Peter turned back around and eyed me up and down. He grabbed my forearm and held up my hand, examining it.
"I think we've got some things to figure out, shall we?" Peter cocked his head and flashed a grin before pulling me towards where Derek had disappeared into. Stiles watched from behind the nurses' desk in horror, unaware of what to do.
"Let me go you sick freak." I tried yanking my wrists from the Alpha's grasps, but he was too strong for me. Peter dragged me into the triage station. Glass was everywhere, so were small drips of blood. I could see Derek's legs disappearing as he crawled into one of the back rooms.
"We can either do this the easy way, or the hard way." Peter announced, stopping in his place. He flicked his wrist before me and from his nail beds emerged long, sharp animal claws. My heart flew into my mouth. The claws were razor sharp and his regular, human nails were no where to be found. He grew the claws faster than I grew my tail. My heart raced and I weight all possible options I had. Derek was currently out of sight, leaving only Peter to figure out my secret if I did anything reckless. Though, he was the Alpha and there was no doubt he'd open his mouth to everyone he knew. And, if I didn't do anything, I was out of a life.
Either way, I was sufficiently screwed.
My vision focused on a water cooler a little way behind Peter. With my free hand I slowly began forming a fist. The water began to bubble and I prepared myself to make a break for it.
"No answer, huh?" Peter cocked his head.
"I'll choose the hard way." I slowly stated. With a loud bang, the water cooler exploded. Out of reaction, Peter let go of my wrist and I sprinted as fast as I could to the door. As I began shoving the door closed to the area, Peter's eyes looked to me in two different ways. The first: curiosity. He was fully aware the water cooler exploding wasn't just a coincidence. The second: rage. He no doubtedly wanted to kill me. Like, right now.
I slammed the door to the station shut and jutted out my palm straight and flat, freezing the door knob and lock together. Immediately, I ran back to the nurse's station and grabbed a trembling Stiles from the ground.
"We've got to go! Get up! We've got to go now!" I yelled, ushering him up from the ground and pulling him towards the care centers entrance.
"How did you get away from him?" He gasped for air.
"I don't know but we've gotta move. Hurry!" I ordered. Stiles eyed the door I had slammed shut, unfortunately noticing the puddle of water pooling from underneath the door and the glistening layer of ice on the doorknob as well. Without anymore questions or forcing, the two of us ran out and into the Jeep where the keys were thankfully still in the ignition.
"Oh my God, we're alive!" Stiles rejoiced once we were in the safety of the Jeep.
"Yeah and Derek might not be! Oh my God. I can't believe I just left him in there with the Alpha." I gasped between breaths.
"He can take care of himself. We're getting the hell away from this place." Stiles spat. Stiles threw the car into drive and peeled out of the parking lot. I ran my hands over my face.
"Stiles, I want to know everything and anything that has to do with Peter Hale and werewolves." Stiles nodded, understanding my demand.
"We need Scott first."
A/N: Please review! If I get enough reviews I'll be posting the next chapter, and here's a big hint towards it: Stiles is VERY suspicious of his cousin. He definitly knows something is up with her and he's gonna take it up with Scott.
Do you guys think Peter and Derek know what Ella is? How do you think Ella's secrets going to get out?
