Author's notes- Okay... I am so mad at myself that I've been neglecting not only this, but all of my stories lately. I've been so busy with school and other stuff. Summer Vacation is finally here, so that will hopefully give me more time to write! Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

The words in Italics mean a dream sequence.

Chapter Six:

Pain and Secrets

"If you think I'm going to let you just come back into this house, you are very sorely mistaken my friend!"

Mom thought that I couldn't hear her. She was down in the basement currently having an argument with my deadbeat of a Father (and I don't use that term often). But when you have sharp wolf hearing and the walls are a little thin in our house, it's kind of hard not to hear entire conversations. "Dear Old Dad" was trying to get Mom to let him see Scott and I. Hell will freeze over before she lets him even step over the threshold.

I was sitting on my bed reading The Fault in Our Stars for a second time in a row. It had been a week after the alpha had made a meal of my arm. You would think that the scratches would be gone by now. I had replaced the bandages this morning and the cuts were just starting to close up.

I'm not exactly sure what's wrong with me. I mean, I know that I'm not like the regular werewolves, but I never expected my healing to be this slow. And it's not like there's some magical book of lore at the library to tell me either.

I heard him climbing up the roof before I saw his shadow on my wall. I marked my page as my bedroom window opened. Derek was standing there with his hands in his leather jacket pockets.

"How's the arm?" was the first thing that came out of his mouth. Ever since the attack, the brunette had been strangely considerate toward me. Granted the "I hate everyone" attitude was still there. He had held off some of the more physical training sessions for the time being, but that didn't mean he was going to leave me unable to defend myself. We had started working on some hand-to-hand combat a few days ago.

Scott had actually shown up to the session. Though, his attendance still wasn't up to Derek's standards.

"Still not healed," I answered. I nodded my head toward the computer chair at my desk.

He shook his head.

"Suit yourself."

"I'm not staying long... I just need you to come with me somewhere."

Now this has me interested. "Where?"

Without answering, Derek turned and climbed back out the window.

Heaving a sigh, I pulled my boots on and zipped on my sweatshirt. I slowly made my way down the stairs. Scott was at Stiles' house and Mom was in the kitchen. I could hear her quiet sobs. I wanted to go to her, but trying to comfort her would only make it worse. I snuck out the door and made my way over to Derek's car.

We drove in silence for a few minutes. He still wasn't telling me anything. I stared out the window for almost the whole drive. Though the silence was awkward, I could tell there was something off about the older werewolf. He was gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were turning white. His jaw was set in a tight line and I could hear his heartbeat picking up every few beats.

I realized where we were headed as soon as we got onto the short highway. He was driving to the hospital where my Mom worked. I opened my mouth to ask him why, but he beat me to it.

"Scott still pissed at you for yesterday?"

"Not as much anymore. He's refocused it on you since it was your idea."

The brunette grunted in response.

Derek had decided to put Scott and I through a training exercise. Scott had been walking to his car in a garage after buying groceries. Unknown to my brother, Derek and I had been waiting. I had chased Scott around the floor of the garage for ten minutes. He had thought that I was the alpha, so the exercise had been about survival. For me, I was working on training my senses and tracking. There had been a few moments when I had lost Scott. But then his phone had gone off and I found him hiding behind a car. Another reason for it was to try to make Scott get his ass to "Werewolf 101" more often.

Derek turned the Camero off and stepped out of the car. Leading me inside, he checked in with the woman at the front desk. I had been in this hospital a bunch of times, but I didn't think I would ever get used to the smell. Strong sterilizers stung my nose and I wrinkled it in distaste.

The nurse reluctantly let us go, though she said visiting hours would end in a few minutes.

"Are you going to tell me why we're here?" I questioned while we road in the elevator.

"I'm sure that annoying kid told you about my family already."

"Who? Stiles?"

"Is there anyone else?"

"I don't know. You don't really like anyone. I'm surprised that you're even tolerating me right now."

A snort came as his response.

"To answer your question, I already knew about your family."

"You don't know all of it," the elevator doors opened and we walked down the hallway. We passed a few ICU units before I asked "Is there a friend here who we're seeing?"

Derek didn't answer as he opened one of the hospital room doors. There was only one patient inside. A man who was sitting in a wheelchair facing the window. The pink sunset was just disappearing over the California horizon.

"Do you remember when those hunters attacked you and Scott on his first full moon?"

I nodded.

"The head hunter. His name is Chris Argent."

"Allison's dad?"

"Now do you understand why Scott can't be around her?"

"Yeah. His ass is toast if her dad finds out he's a wolf."

"Six years ago, my sister Laura and I were at school," Derek continued. His back was to me and he was looking at the man in the wheelchair. "Our house caught on fire. Eleven members of my family were trapped in the basement."

My eyes widened in shock. I didn't know what to say. All I could do was stare at his leather clad back.

"Derek..." was all I could finally manage.

"The police told us that it was an accident," the brunette continued. I caught his hand tightening into a fist. "But I found out the truth. A group of hunters had set our home on fire. They're the ones who did this!"

Grabbing the armrest of the wheelchair, he quickly spun the man around so he was facing me. I forced myself not to recoil at what I saw. One side of the man's face was badly damaged by burns. He stared at me with a blank stare. He didn't even seem like he was there.

"This is my Uncle Peter. He was the only one to survive. The burns he got were so bad that it forced his body into a coma. He's been like this for six years."

I could feel tears starting to sting my eyes but I held them back. Instead I whispered, "How could anyone, any human being, do something like that?"

"Hunters don't feel. They just act," the brunette answered. He turned his head to look back at the scarred man. "I left Beacon Hills a few years after the fire. I only returned recently when I heard the news of Laura's disappearance."

Everything suddenly clicked into place. Derek glanced over when he noticed my abrupt stillness. "What?"

"Laura... she... she was the girl ripped in half. Wasn't she?" I said when I found the courage to speak. I felt like I was going to throw up.

Derek didn't confirm with a nod, but he did answer with, "I wanted to give her a proper burial."

The kinder side of me wanted to walk over and give the brunette a hug. I wanted to tell him that I knew how he felt, but I didn't. My parents had been killed in front of me, but I had only been a baby. I was too young to remember or feel the pain of losing a loved one.

Derek brought a chair over in front of his uncle and sat down. Peter's sky blue eyes stared into the soul of his nephew.

"Keep an eye out for a doctor," he mumbled without breaking eye contact with his uncle. A few moments of silence passed before he started speaking.

"I need your help. The Alpha is out there killing innocent people, and I don't know what to do."

The brunette's voice was soft. His tone was filled with hopelessness while his sage eyes brimmed with concern. I saw him swallow before he continued, sounding slightly choked up. "Laura's dead. Your niece?" he offered. Peter just continued to look at the werewolf blankly.

I felt like I was going to start tearing up myself. Here was Derek's only relative left, and he couldn't even give him help. No wonder he had a hard time trusting people.

The clicking of heels distracted me momentarily from the scene. A blonde nurse in a white coat was coming down the hallway. I moved away from the door and closer to the Hales.

"All I need is a sign," the brunette told his uncle. "A blink, raising a finger, twitch of the mouth, I don't care. Just please, give me some sort of sign that you can hear me."

His pleads once again went unanswered. Derek suddenly lept up and grabbed both armrests of the wheelchair. He was now nose to nose with Peter. "Answer me!"

"What are you doing!" the nurse exclaimed indignantly. Both of us jumped as she suddenly materialized in the doorway. Derek stood up and fixed her with his usual scowl.

"He's not going to get any better if you keep badgering him!" the blonde continued.

"It's not doing him any good sitting in the room all day!" Derek snapped back.

"We need to be patient. All he needs is time," she answered. Leaving no room for either of us to protest, she gestured toward the door. With an impatient growl, Derek stalked out of the room with me following close behind.

!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!

It was almost Midnight when I crept up the creaking staircase of my house. The past hour has been emotionally draining. Derek Hale was a more tortured soul than I thought he was. He had let down his barriers in front of me in the hospital. But after entering his car, they shot back up, acting like the meeting with his uncle had never happened.

"Derek is an asshole! Why do you think we should trust him?" Scott's question from the other day echoed in my mind. My brother still didn't trust the brunette entirely yet. Neither did I, but at least I didn't still think he was a psychopathic killer.

The mattress sunk slightly as I flopped face first down on my bed. I was too exhausted to change or even take off my shoes. Before I knew it, I was drifting off. My peaceful journey into slumber was quickly interrupted when I felt something rough scratching against my cheek and neck.

My eyes widened in confusion. I was laying face down on the ground which was covered with dead Autumn leaves. Standing up, I realized that I was standing in the middle of the woods.

"How the hell did I get here?"I thought. I didn't remember going here after Derek dropped me off.

"Of course. This is a dream. It has to be," my mind explained. All I had to do was just walk and I would wake up eventually.

Zipping my sweatshirt up to my neck, I shivered slightly as my boots crunched the fallen leaves. Had it always been this cold at night? We lived in California, but bitterly cold nights only happened on rare occasions.

After a few more minutes of walking, I started to feel a little paranoid. Why wasn't I waking up? Maybe I should pinch myself awake?

"What am I, five?" I scolded myself. A sudden flash of color caught my eye. I stopped walking and scanned my surroundings. A moment ago, the woods had been alive with the usual sounds of crickets and rustling wind. But now, it was dead quiet. I hoped that whatever had caught my attention wasn't big enough to scare all of Snow White's woodland friends away.

"What if it's the Alpha?" now my imagination was really getting the better of me. This was a dream. You can't die in real life from a dream.

"Said every horror movie victim ever,"my brain retorted.

"Ugh, stop it!" my hand clamped over my mouth as my yell echoed through the trees.

An unfamiliar scent came in contact with my nose. I stiffened. Alarms started ringing in my head as I felt someone's gaze burning into my back.

"Don't turn around, don't turn around, whatever you do, DO. NOT. TURN. AROUND!" the mantra repeated over and over in my head. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore and whirled to look behind me. I bit my lip hard to keep in the scream. A tall, grunge clad man was walking at a brisk pace toward me. His mouth was open to reveal sharp, pointed, and yellow teeth while his eyes glowed purple in the darkness.

My feet smacked the dirt as I tore off through the woods. Thoughts were going into overdrive while my heart started beating again. My breathing became ragged and sharp pains flared to life in my sides, but I barely payed attention. This was the same man who I had seen at work. The same man who had been outside my house on my first date with Tony. And now he was here. Even with my supernatural speed, I could sense him gaining on me. Forcing myself not to look over my shoulder, I barreled deeper into the woods, low hanging branches starting to scrape and smack against my cheeks and arms. Blood started to run from the cuts, but it was like I was totally numb from pain. My feet were starting to fumble over unseen rocks and tree roots as I lost my sense of direction. A scream tore from my throat as I stumbled and fell hard to the ground.

I cried out when my shoulder hit hard linoleum floor of the school's hallway. Not even paying attention, I slammed the double doors I had just fallen into and took off into the darkened building.

The only light came from the windows and the moon from outside. If I had thought being alone in a school at night would be creepy, I really had to raise my fear bar. The building was in complete darkness. It seemed like at any moment my serial killer was going to be standing there at the end of the hall or right around the corner.

Hiding in the a classroom was a no go. All the doors were locked. Far behind me I could hear heavy footsteps. The man had followed me in here. And now, I was running out of places to run to.

Relief almost came instantly when I saw the gym doors open. I ran inside and closed them, then realizing how stupid that probably was. There was nothing for me to jam the door handle with and with the bleachers pushed against the wall, there was nowhere for me to hide.

Keeping my front to the doors, I slowly backed up until I was standing in the middle of the polished wood of the basketball court. The hand combat and few lessons of martial arts training I had learned from Derek was whirling around in my head. But I couldn't remember one defensive stance or even how to unleash my claws at that point. Only one thing stood out in my mind: I'm going to die.

Hands flew to my ears and I let out a yell of pain as an earsplitting roar from outside the doors shook the whole gym. I fell to my knees and pressed my forehead against the floor. My ears. Why did my ears hurt so much from that?

I squeaked in terror and squeezed my eyes shut when the doors got kicked open. I stayed on the floor as the footsteps came closer.

"Well, well, well. I'm gone for seventeen years, and this is what I find left of my work," a smooth, disapproving voice spoke up. I gritted my teeth. I wouldn't look up. I couldn't.

"Do you know who I am, girl?"

No response. Tears slid out of my eyes when I felt a fist tighten on the back of my sweatshirt hood and forced me to my knees. My eyes were still closed, but I wanted to gag at this guy's rancid breath. I could tell he was now nose to nose.

"Look me in the eye when I speak to you, bitch!"

I flinched, but didn't comply.

"Very well. Let's see just how much your stubbornness can last you," The roar that he unleashed felt so powerful that it shook me to my bones. He dropped me and I fell back to the floor. My body suddenly started twitching in spastic motions. My canines started elongating and I felt my claws starting to come out.

"Holy shit, he's making me transform!" I thought in my panic. I tried desperately to regain control of my body. Tried to stop the transformation by thinking happy thoughts. But, it felt like my body had a mind of its own.

My hands flew to cover my ears as I felt them become pointed. For some odd reason, I could have sworn that I felt hair has start to grow all over my arms and legs. Werewolves didn't have this much hair, did they? I didn't risk opening my eyes to find out.

Suddenly, another roar sounded from out of nowhere. The presence of the man quickly disappeared and I was left once again alone in the gym. My palms pressed harder against my ears as a million different sounds started blasting in my ears. Jumbled voices. Police sirens. The sounds of a bunch of different hearts beating at all sorts of tempos.

Two hands touched my shoulders. Thinking that it was the guy, I swung out with my claws. My wrist was easily caught and I whimpered pitifully.

"Natalie! It's me, Derek!"

Forcing my eyes open, I looked up through my bangs. The brunette was kneeling in front of me. His right hand held my wrist gently, but firmly while his other hand squeezed my shoulder.

"What happened? I thought you were at home sleeping," Derek asked me. Green eyes brimmed with worry but I could tell he was on his guard. I had just slightly transformed, and he had no clue if I would attack or not.

"D-Derek..." I choked out softly. Tears ran down my cheeks before I could stop them. I felt like such an idiot. But I was still scared out of my freaking mind.

The older werewolf pulled me up and to his chest. His arms wrapped around my back in a tight, safe embrace. The side of my cheek pressed against his sternum as his chin rested on the top of my head.

"It's okay. You're safe now," he reassured me.

"Derek. I... I didn't know how to shift back. This other werewolf roared at me. It was like I couldn't control it."

"Did you see what he looked like?"

"No... I didn't open my eyes..." I whispered. Even though I was still freaked out, talking to the brunette had made my heart slow down a little. But not by much.

"I'm going to teach you something," Derek murmured to me. "Ignore all of the sounds you're hearing right now and concentrate on my heartbeat."

"But I hear so many," I answered.

"I know. But just try hard to only listen to mine. This is going to help you with training your hearing to pinpoint certain sounds."

I took a shaky breath and closed my eyes. I started to slowly shut out all of the commotion that was going on outside of the building and concentrated only on the sounds in the gym. After ignoring the sound of my own racing heartbeat, I was finally able to pinpoint Derek's.

I don't know what it was with me, but the sound of heartbeats always seemed to calm me down. When I would have nightmares when I was a kid, Mom would always have Scott and I come into her bed and we would all sleep together. The sound of her heartbeat was strong and gentle. That would reassure me enough and make me fall into a peaceful sleep.

Derek's heartbeat was nice and strong and seemed to have more beats than a normal human's heart. I breathed in his scent that enveloped me. He smelled like pine, smoke, and a hint of aftershave. I didn't think any other smell could be so calming. My ridged body started to slowly relax while my teeth, claws, and ears started to recede. The brunette didn't let go until I was back in my full human form.

"You okay now?" he asked as he pulled away.

"Yeah. Thank you," My legs shook slightly as we both got to our feet. "So, what exactly are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you the same thing."

I shook my head. "I seriously don't know what happened. I went to bed and then next thing I knew I was laying face first on the ground in the woods. Then this grungy looking guy started chasing me."

"You were probably sleep walking."

"Probably. Anyway, I ended up coming to the school and the psycho chased me in here. But, the weirdest thing was that he seemed to know me."

"What did he say?"

"He said that he left for seventeen years and I'm what he found left of his work," my eyes widened. "Do you think... that he was the one that killed my parents-"

"And turned you into a wolf? Yeah, that seems right," Derek thought out loud.

"He did have glowing purple eyes," she offered.

"Only an Alpha's roar can change their pack members into their wolf forms or back to their human forms. If his roar forced your transformation, then that would make you his beta," Derek explained.

"Oh my god," I breathed leaning against the gym wall for support.

"C'mon, I'll take you home," the brunette told me. He led me out the back door of the school and into the courtyard so we wouldn't have to run into the cops.

"You never told me why you were here," I spoke up.

"Your brother, Stiles, and I came here to try to catch the Alpha."

"What did you do, pull a Scooby-Doo trap?" when he looked at me with confused eyes I tried to explain. "You know. With a net and a decoy and... never mind."

"Scott lured the Alpha here by roaring over the loud speaker," he explained. He opened the passenger car door for me, which was very out of the ordinary. Before he closed it, he fixed me with a serious look.

"What?"

"I need you to do something for me," the brunette started but then hesitated. I waited patiently for him to start talking again. "If anyone asks, you didn't see me tonight. Actually, it would be better if you didn't mention anything like that at all."

"How come?"

"Scott and Stiles think that I'm dead."

My eyebrows sprang up in surprise. "Weren't you just with them earlier?"

"After luring the Alpha here, it dug its claws into my back and it flung me against the school. I healed and regained consciousness, but the two idiot had run into the school and had locked themselves in there with the Alpha."

I understood completely. "How long do I need to pretend that you're dead?"

"As long as it takes me to gather more information. I also want to try to figure out the identity of your own "Alpha"." Derek shut the door and got into the car a few seconds later.

"Count me in."

"Huh?"

"Let me help you. Please?" I pleaded.

"It's going to be dangerous," Derek explained.

"Now that I just had a near death experience with my parent's killer, that's the last thing on my mind right now.

Post notes- Oh my god... I HATE how I ended this chapter! Also I'm really sorry that this took me so long to write! I got stuck in the longest writer's block I've probably ever been in. Anyway, review and I'll see you in the next chapter!