Disclaimer: I only own Hailey. Nothing else.
Chapter 7
Hailey was walking out of the gym after a quick workout during her free period. It had been a few days since she had seen Derek at the gas station, and she was still feeling strange, especially since last night. She had woken up feeling a sharp pain in her left arm, but when she looked down she didn't see anything wrong, and now she couldn't shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong.
She was slowly making her way down the halls when she noticed a man in a black leather jacket leaning against the wall. Realizing it was Derek she quickly ran over to him, noticing that he was pale and shaking slightly.
Derek looked far away as he concentrated on finding Scott, he felt Hailey approach but kept his hearing focused on Scott's voice. He unfortunately didn't take into account the school bell that rang directly above his head, causing him to wince as his werewolf hearing picked up the sharp sound.
Hailey put her hands over Derek's hands that had reached up to cover his ears. "Derek! What's wrong? You look-"
Derek looked at her, his eyes full of pain. "We need to find Scott." He gritted out.
Hailey didn't argue. She just wrapped her arm around his waist, "Come on, Stiles was going to meet me out the front with the car, he should know where Scott is."
As quickly as they were able, they made their way out of the school. Hailey walked them over to the curb to wait for Stiles, when Derek pulled away from her suddenly, stepping out into the path of the oncoming Stilinski Jeep.
"Derek!" She cried out when he collapsed to the ground, luckily after Stiles had slammed on the brakes.
"You've gotta be kidding me. This guy's everywhere-" Hailey heard Stiles mutter as she ran over to Derek.
Scott came running over as well. "What are you doing here?"
"I was shot." Derek gasped out.
"He's not looking so good, dude." Stiles, stating the obvious.
"Why aren't you healing?" Hailey asked him, leaning down, putting her hand on his forehead. He was burning up!
"I can't." He told her, gasping for breath with every word. "It was–it was a different kind of bullet."
"A silver bullet?" Stiles asked excitedly.
"No, you idiot." Derek responded, his tone full of annoyance.
"Wait, wait. That's what she meant when she said you had 48 hours."
"What? Who–who said 48 hours?" Derek asked Scott.
"The one who shot you." Derek grimaced suddenly, squeezing his eyes shut a wave of pain hit him. When he opened his eyes they were shining the bright blue of his wolf. He looked over at Hailey, with something different in his eyes, it wasn't pain, it was possession.
"What are you doing? Stop that!" Scott demanded.
"I'm trying to tell you, I can't!" Derek's eyes continued to flash between their regular green and bright blue and he didn't take his eyes off her.
"Derek, get up." Scott ordered.
Derek was panting, gritting his teeth. Horns continued to blare as Scott reached over to help Derek stand. Hailey ran over to the Jeep, pulling open the door and jumping in the back before turning to help pull Derek into the car. She was shaken, not just by Derek's condition, but also by the look he had just given her.
"I need you to find out what kind of bullet they used." Derek told Scott as he leaned against the door and with Hailey looking on in concern.
"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" Scott whined.
"'Cause she's an Argent. She's with them."
"Why should I help you?" Scott snapped back with attitude.
"Scott!" Hailey cried out, shocked with how he was acting.
"Because you need me." Derek reminded him.
Scott glanced to his left, noticing Allison had got out of her car and was approaching them. "Fine. I'll try." He relented. Stiles jumped into the car. "Hey get him out of here." Scott told them.
Stiles looked at his best friend with exasperation. "I hate you for this so much."
"Go Stiles!" Hailey shouted at him.
Stiles took off, quickly driving out of the school parking lot. Leaning forward in her seat, Hailey gently placed her hand on Derek's cheek and smiled slightly when he leaned into her hand. "What can we do to help?" She asked.
Derek closed his eyes, as Hailey's touch brought him some comfort. "Nothing yet. Scott needs to find the bullet, that's the only thing that will help."
Hailey sighed, reaching over to her bag she took out a bottle of water and picked up an old t-shirt that was in the car, she had noticed the blood on his hand. "Take your jacket off, let me take a look."
Derek painstakingly took his leather jacket off, as Stiles texted Scott to find out how things were going. Hailey wet the t-shirt down and gently pulled up the sleeve of Derek's shirt gasping softly at the sight of the bullet wound. Derek leaned back in the seat, closing his eyes, trying not to shout out from the pain in his arm.
Stiles let out a sound of protest as he saw Hailey getting water everywhere. "Hey, don't let him bleed out on my seats, okay?" He snapped at them. "We're almost there."
"Almost where?" Derek asked.
"Your house." Stiles said as if it were obvious.
Derek's eyes snapped open. "What? No, you can't take me there."
"I can't take you to your own house?" Stiles asked confused.
"Not when I can't protect myself."
"He's right Stiles." Hailey put in. "They hunters have already shot him once. We don't know if they'll try and come back to find him. His house is too obvious a place to look."
Stiles jerked the car over to the side of the road. "All right." He threw the car in park and turned into his seat, pushing Hailey out of his way and into the back as he did. "What happens if Scott doesn't find your little magic bullet? Hmm? Are you dying?"
"Not yet." Derek took a deep breath. "I have a last resort."
"What do you mean? What last resort?" Hailey asked pushing Stiles out of her way this time.
Stiles finally got a look at the wound on Derek's arm. "Oh, my God. What is that?" He looked like he was going to be sick. "Oh, is that contagious? You know what, you should probably just get out." He gestured to outside the car.
"Start the car." Derek ordered. "Now."
"I don't think you should be barking orders with the way you look, okay?" Stiles voice started rising in pitch. "In fact, I think if I wanted to, I could probably drag your little werewolf ass out into the middle of the road and leave you for dead."
"Stiles!" Hailey yelled at him, hitting him in the shoulder. "He needs our help."
Derek looked Stiles directly in the eyes and said coldly. "Start the car, or I'm gonna rip your throat out. With my teeth." He showed the teeth he was talking about as he said that last part causing Hailey to look at him with not a small amount of wariness.
Stiles looked at Derek, a bit of fear in his eyes before starting the car again and taking off.
"Okay," Hailey wanted to bring the tension out of the car. She moved forward so she was sitting on the console between the two front seats, correctly assuming that putting her body between her brother and Derek was the right thing to do. She took her bottle of water and brought it to Derek's lips. "Drink." She ordered him.
Derek smiled slightly before doing as ordered. He liked that she was here with him, she comforted both him and his wolf, helping him deal with the pain that was racking his body. He drank as much as he could before needing to move away to breathe. "You shouldn't sit there." He told Hailey. "It's not safe."
Hailey smiled softly at him. "I think I'll be okay. I don't think you'd let anything happen to me." It was a strange thing to say to someone she barely knew, but there was something inside her that was telling her it was true.
Derek just took her hand and closed his eyes, trying to breath through the pain and taking in the feeling of Hailey's hand as she ran it down his cheek.
Stiles glanced at what was going on between his sister and Derek, confused. When had they become so close? He didn't like it. Come on Scott, he thought to himself.
They had been driving around for a few hours now. "Call Scott." Hailey ordered her brother. "Find out what's taking him so long." She looked at Derek, concerned. He seemed to be getting weaker and paler. She didn't know how much longer he was going to last.
"Fine," Stiles grumbled, pulling the car over to the side of the road and taking out his phone. "Scott," he said with relief when he finally answered. "How long are you going to be? What am I supposed to do with him?"
"Take him somewhere, anywhere." Hailey could hear Scott on the other end of the line.
"And, by the way, he's starting to smell." He flinched when Hailey turned around and smacked him upside the head and Derek gave him a glare.
"Like–like what?"
"Like death." Stiles responded.
"Okay, take him to the animal clinic."
"What about your boss?" Hailey called out, knowing Scott would hear her.
"He's gone by now. There's a spare key in the box behind the dumpster."
Stiles sighed. "Okay." He reached around Hailey and handed the phone to Derek. "You're not gonna believe where he's telling me to take you."
"Did you find it?" Derek asked.
"How am I supposed to find one bullet? They have a million. This house is like– the fricken
Wal-Mart of guns."
"Look, if you don't find it, then I'm dead, all right?" Hailey could tell that the effort of talking was taking a toll on him.
"I'm starting to think that wouldn't be such a bad thing." Hailey gaped at Scott's response.
"Then think about this. The Alpha called you out against your will. He's gonna do it again. Next time you either kill with him or you get killed. So if you wanna stay alive, then you need me. Find the bullet." Derek ordered.
Before he could hang up Hailey snatched the phone from his hand. "You listen to me Scott McCall." She gritted out. "You find that bullet or I'm going to make the rest of your life a living hell do you hear me?"
"Yes," Hailey could hear the suprise in his voice.
"Good." She hung up. "Drive, Stiles." She ordered her brother, deciding to ignore the look on his face.
It didn't take them long to reach the clinic and Hailey pushed at Stiles to get out of the car so she could get out on his side. "Stiles, get the key and open the door." She told him before running around the car to help Derek out, wrapping her arm around his waist, she almost fell as his weight hit her. He was really weak!
They slowly made their way into the clinic and Hailey lowered Derek onto a pile of, ironically, dog food, as Stiles turned on the lights.
Hailey heard Stiles phone go off as she took in Derek's appearance, he was sweating and gasping for breath after their short walk from the car. She also noticed that the black lines had moved further up his arm.
"Does Nordic-blue monkshood mean anything to you?" He asked Derek turning around.
"It's a rare form of wolfsbane." He responded. "He has to bring me the bullet."
"Why do you need the bullet?" Hailey asked softly, her hand on his cheek.
Derek looked at her, his eyes grave. "'Cause I'm gonna die without it"
Hailey looked at him in shock. "What? What do you mean?" She was getting frantic.
"Wolfsbane is poison to werewolves." Derek reminded her. But he didn't want her upset, he and his wolf didn't like the smell of her fear for him. "Don't worry," he reached for her waist and pulled her down to sit on his lap, leaning her against his good arm and holding her close. "It's going to be okay. Scott will find it."
Hailey put her head on his shoulder, taking a deep breath. "He'd better." She her voice shaking a little.
Derek smiled at her and pulled her face up to his, kissing her softly.
Hailey sank into the kiss. It was soft and sweet and it made her feel better somehow. She pulled away, sensing he was getting short of breath and just put her head back on his shoulder, feeling the heat of him seep through his clothes into her.
Stiles walked over to the door leading into the clinic itself, feeling awkward and a little angry to be witnessing his sister kissing Derek Hale and wondering when that all started. "Come on. Lets get him inside."
Hailey was still in a bit of a state after Derek's revelation, but she still helped him up and followed Stiles towards the clinic. "Stiles, help us." She asked him as she struggled with Derek's weight.
After opening the door, Stiles came back and put Derek's arm that wasn't wrapped around Hailey, on his shoulder.
As they walked into one of the treatment rooms Derek pulled away from Hailey and started taking off his shirt. Seeing that he was struggling, Hailey moved to help him. And even in this situation she got butterflies as the shirt came all the way off. "Derek," she said softly when she got a look at his arm in the light of the room.
He just looked at her before collapsing against the table.
"Okay. You know, that really doesn't look like anything some Echinacea and a good night's sleep couldn't take care of." Stiles said sarcastically. That boy had never been good with the sight of blood. He just didn't like to admit it.
"When the infection reaches my heart, it'll kill me." Derek was barely able to gasp out the words. He looked out of it as he started opening and closing the cupboard doors looking for something.
Hailey trailed after him, just to make sure he didn't fall or anything. Her heart was beating a million miles and hour and she didn't like what she was feeling right now. Like there was a hole in her chest that was just getting bigger.
"'Positivity' just isn't in your vocabulary, is it?" Sometimes Stiles just needed to shut up.
"If he doesn't get here with the bullet in time–" Derek continued going through the draws now. "Last resort."
"Which is?" Hailey spoke up.
"Stiles is gonna cut off my arm." Derek replied, holding up a bone saw.
Hailey felt herself getting faint, but shook herself out if it. Now was not the time to pass out. There would be time for that later, probably about the same time she saw a severed arm.
Derek briefly placed his hand on Hailey's cheek as he walked back over to the table, putting the saw within Stiles reach. He went back to the draws and pulled out a length of blue rubber and proceeded to tie it around his upper arm, just above the visible black lines.
Hailey just started at his back and the tattoo that was there. She couldn't believe this was going to happen. She watched as Stiles picked up the bone saw with trepidation. She jumped a mile when he accidently pulled the trigger that started it up.
"Oh, my god!" Stiles threw the saw back on the table. "What if you bleed to death?" Hailey knew Stiles was going to start saying whatever he could to delay this, and she had to say, she didn't blame him.
"It'll heal if it works," Derek's voice was muffled with the tourniquet in his mouth to tie it on.
"Ugh. Look– I don't know if I can do this." Stiles looked like he was going to be sick. And all Hailey could hope was that Scott was using whatever weird werewolf powers he could to get here quickly.
"Why not?" Derek asked.
"Well, because of the cutting through the flesh, the sawing of the bone, and especially the blood!" Stiles was getting more sarcastic as the speech went on.
Derek's arm fell back on the table. "You faint at the sight of blood?" He asked with disbelief.
"No, but I might at the sight of a chopped–off arm!" Stiles yelled at the end.
"All right, fine. How about this?" Derek started. "Either you cut off my arm, or I'm gonna cut off your head." Hailey eyes widened at the threat. What she didn't know was that Derek was doing everything in his power to keep it together right now. He didn't want her to have to be the one to do this, he knew she wouldn't be able to handle it.
"Okay, you know what, I'm so not buying your threats any– Oh, my God." He finished as Derek grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him partially across the table. "Okay. All right, bought, sold. Totally. I'll do it. I'll do it."
Derek started gagging slightly, "What? What are you doing?" Stiles asked with unease. "Holy God, what the hell is that?" He asked with disgust when Derek leaned over the side of the table and threw up a black substance.
The spurned Hailey into action. She raced over to Derek's side, careful to avoid the mess on the floor. She knelt down next to the table so she was in Derek's eye-line.
"It's my body– Trying to heal itself." Derek told them.
"Well, it's not doing a very good job of it." Stiles mouthed off.
"Now. You gotta do it now." Derek kept his eyes on Hailey. He was going to need her for what was about to come.
"Look, honestly, I don't think I can."
"Just do it!" Derek and Hailey yelled together.
Stiles picked up the saw, placing it against Derek's arm. "Oh, my God. Okay, okay. Oh, my God. All right, here we go!"
"Just look at me," Hailey told Derek as Stiles rambled on. "Keep your eyes on mine." She ordered.
And then miraculously they heard a faint. "Stiles,"
Stiles looked up with relief, calling back, "Scott?"
Scott came barreling into the room. "What the hell are you doing?" He cried.
"Oh, you just prevented a lifetime of nightmares." Stiles told him.
Hailey closed her eyes briefly in relief, before helping Derek stand up as Scott came over to them. "Did you get it? She demanded from him.
Scott handed it over to Derek wordlessly. "What are you gonna do with it?" Stiles asked.
Derek brought the bullet up to his eyes, blinking rapidly as he did. "I'm gonna– I'm gonna–" His eyes rolled back in his head and he fell the floor, unfortunately taking Hailey, who had been standing behind him, with him.
"No. No, no, no, no." Scott dove after the bullet, which rolled under a bench and into a grate.
Hailey frantically moved out from under Derek. She straddled his waist, tapping his cheek gently. "Derek. Derek, come on, wake up." Her voice broke as she spoke.
"Scott, what the hell are we gonna do?" Stiles demanded.
"I don't know! I can't reach it."
Hailey heard them shouting back and forth. "Come on Derek, wake up." She was running her hands up and down his cheeks. "You have to wake up for me, please."
"I think he's dying." Stiles yelled. "I think he's dead!"
Hailey turned on her brother. "He's not dead!"
"Just hold on! Come on. Oh! I got it! I got it." He pulled the bullet out of the grate.
"Thank god." Hailey cried. "Okay Derek, wake up, we have the bullet." There was no response. "Wake up!" She yelled at him. Hailey then did the only thing she could think of. She leaned down over him, and pulled his head up so she could kiss him, she also took one of her hands and dug her fingers into the wound on his am.
Derek came to with a gasp of pain, and realizing Hailey was sitting on top of him, gently put his hands on her hips. Hailey sighed with relief, quickly getting off him to let Scott and Stiles help him stand.
Derek bit off the top of the bullet and shook out what was inside, then taking a lighter out of his pocket he lit it on fire. Hailey squinted her eyes at the light and sparks that were flying off it and Derek put his arm across hers, making sure she wasn't hurt by it. It let off a purple-blue smoke. Once it had stopped firing, Derek swept what remained into his palm. He looked at the wound on his arm, gritted his teeth and pushed his palm and the powder onto his forearm. Hailey winced as she saw him push the powder into the wound with his fingers.
Derek immediately began screaming and fell to the ground. Hailey knelt down as well, lifting up his head to place in her lap. His body writhed in pain and he continued screaming, even letting out a growl towards the end of one of his screams. Hailey felt so hopeless and did the only thing she could, she just muttered nonsense to him to try and help.
Derek stopped screaming and looked down at his arm, Hailey did the same watching as the angry black lines started to pull down to the sight of the bullet wound, that same purple-blue smoke rising out of it, until there was nothing left. No blood, no black lines, no wound, nothing. Hailey looked at it, shocked. Derek took a deep breath, relaxing slightly now that the pain was gone.
"That–Was–Awesome! Yes!" Stiles shouted out, fist pumping.
"Are you okay?" Scott asked as Derek struggled to sit.
"Well, except for the agonizing pain." Derek smarted.
"I'm guessing the ability to use sarcasm is a good sign of health." Stiles threw out. Hailey was just relieved that he was okay now, so she decided to ignore the look of death Derek threw her brother.
"Okay, we saved your life, which means you're gonna leave us alone, you got that? And if you don't, I'm gonna go back to Allison's dad, and I'm gonna tell him everything–"
"You're gonna trust them?" Derek interrupted. "You think they can help you?"
"Well, why not? They're a lot freaking nicer than you are."
Hailey looked at Scott, "Scott, they're werewolf hunters. You're a werewolf!"
"I can show you exactly how nice they are." Derek put in.
"What do you mean?" Now Scott was confused.
Derek walked over and picked up his shirt. "Stiles, take me to my car." He ordered.
Stiles looked between Scott and his sister, unsure of what to do.
"Do it Stiles." Hailey trailed after Derek, leaving her brother and Scott to argue out what was about to happen. "Are you really okay now?" She asked Derek, a little unsure.
Derek leaned against the side of the Jeep, nodding. "Yeah I am." He reached over and grabbed Hailey by the hips, pulling her towards him. He leaned down and put his head against her neck, breathing in the scent of her. After what had almost just happened, he just needed this moment. He needed to hold his mate. Derek's head snapped up as he made that realization. Hailey was his mate! He looked at her, surprised.
"What is it?" Hailey asked, wondering what had just happened.
A/N – sorry for the slight cliffhanger. Needed to break it up a little. Don't worry hoping to have the next chapter up as soon as possible.
