You guys... It's been over a year. There aren't enough words to string together to apologise for how long it's been since I updated. I'm not going to give you my whole life story but I am back. Hopefully for longer than one chapter. I fell out of Teen Wolf when all my favourites left, but with the new season coming next month I thought now was as good a time as any. Enjoy, I guess, if you don't hate me too much! Xx
I was in hell.
Not literally, of course, but it sure felt like it.
You're probably wondering why I feel like I've been transported to a fiery hell dimension, huh? Blame it on Kate. You see, over the past couple weeks I'd grown closer to her and prior to my discovery of her 'lifestyle', I considered her to be one of my only true friends besides Jacob. When my friendship fell apart with him, my relationship with Kate flourished. And now that Jake and I are talking once again, I can finally see Kate for who she really is: a murderous, psychotic bitch.
Anyway, I couldn't just sever all ties with Kate - as much as I wanted to - or she'd get suspicious and start digging around. If she started digging around, she would find out Scott is the new werewolf in town and probably kill him regardless of whether he'd even hurt anyone or not. I knew not to put it past Kate to kill innocent people after what she'd done to the Hales. I didn't need Derek to tell me what she'd done. I could tell from the conversation the day I - stupidly - jumped out the window that something bad had occurred between them. After that, well, let's just say I didn't need to be rocket scientist to put the pieces together. So, Kate brought over a dusty box set of the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and some Chinese noodles to bribe me and I let her.
I'm honestly this close to stabbing myself in the eye with a splintery chopstick.
I excuse myself and retreat to the bathroom upstairs, moving so fast I basically leave skid marks on the floor. I pace nervously across the floor for a minute or two, my fingernails bitten down to the nubs, until a loud creak startles me and suddenly, Derek's standing in my hallway. He looks to die for. He's in his signature black jeans and sneakers, a snug grey henley hugging every rivet and crevice of his stomach under his leather jacket. He looks more or less the same as I've always seen him, but now that I've acknowledged the fact that I have some sort of feelings for this broody, difficult, closed-off man, he just looks delectable in his regular clothes. I push the thoughts out of my mind, willing my brain to think about something other than how attractive Derek is.
"Derek, what the hell are you doing here?"
"I came to-" Derek starts before falling against the wall like a sack of potatoes and clutching his head.
"Derek, what is it? Don't tell me you got shot again…" I immediately begin looking for signs of injury; a wound, blood, anything that'll help me figure out what's wrong. He shakes his head and kind of starts whimpering, willing me to understand. "There's something wrong." He looks just about ready to collapse when all of a sudden he stands up straight, shaking his head like he's trying to get rid of the images of a bad dream.
"Are you okay? What was that?"
"It was this ringing, like an alarm. Is someone else here?"
"Yeah, Ka-"
"Oh Leah, I'm sorry, I didn't know you had a guest." Kate has the good sense to look curious, but keeps the fake sweet smile on her face. I really just want to punch it off. "Who's this?" She says brightly, flashing her teeth in an attempt, I'm guessing, is to appear to be flirting. Kate knows Derek she's just pretending she doesn't.
"Tyler." Derek said politely against his will, extending a hand for Kate to shake.
"Lovely to meet you." She smiles brighter and I hate her just a little bit more. Derek just nods and the tension in the air is so thick you can cut it with a knife because Kate definitely knows 'Tyler' is Derek and I already know Derek knows Kate. "I was just going to head off. I've been meaning to talk to Allison about something and I wanted to catch her before she retreats into her girl cave."
"Oh, okay." I try to appear saddened by the fact that she's finally leaving when I couldn't be more thankful. "I'll walk you out?"
"No need." She smiles sort of menacingly. "It was lovely meeting you… Tyler."
Well, now she definitely knows that I'm connected to Derek somehow. If Derek hadn't come up with a fake name she would definitely know, but because he gave her a fake name, I can just pretend that that is who he's introduced himself to me as. I don't know Derek Hale, I know Tyler… something.
"Great taste in friends, I see."
"What did you want?"
"I need a favour." No please, no nothing, but then again I didn't really expect it. He leans against the wall opposite to the one I'm leaning on, tossing me a set of keys I just barely catch. "Figured you'd want to drive around in my car for a bit."
"Are you going to tell me why though? Or are you going to do the mysterious, dark and broody spiel again?"
To my surprise, Derek just looks amused. "I've got a clear shot at the Alpha tonight, but the police and the hunters are hot on my trail. I need a distraction." He finishes, putting his hands in his pockets and motioning to me with his head.
"When?"
"Early. I'll park the Camaro around the corner, no one'll see it."
I'm conflicted with myself. It was only yesterday we stood in this hall, the closest we've been since our little moment in the Hale house the day I stupidly jumped out a window, and it was only a few days ago that I acknowledged my feelings for Derek, renounced them and called myself a blathering idiot who thought she had a chance with one the hottest guys I'd ever seen, only to have him essentially return from the the dead and bring those feelings back full circle.
"Okay."
Go hard or go home right?
"Any idea where I'm actually supposed to be going?" I ask, glancing at the rearview mirror to look at the two idiots in the back. Derek had been very scarce with the details. He told me to drive, but where, how long for, and so many other questions were left unanswered. I push on the gas, the car basically flying down the road, the speedometer creeping on 80 very quickly.
"I have my dad's police scanner. Just drive and try not to catch a tail." Stiles mutters.
"Leah, can you slow down?" Scott asks nervously as the gage creeps higher and higher.
Stiles turns in his seat, looking out the back window. "Scotty, I don't think you understand the idea of a car chase." I glance back at the rearview mirror again and see a black SUV tailing us. "Speaking of, I think we caught a tail. Is that one of your dad's officers or the Argent's?" I ask already knowing who's behind the wheel. Kate Argent. She wouldn't sit out if this chase gave her a chance of finding Derek.
"Leah!" Stiles voice getting extremely loud and anxious.
"I AM DRIVING 10 MILES OVER THE SPEED LIMIT WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?" I glance at the gage and punch the gas.
"If you don't slow down you're going to kill us!" Scott cries.
"And if we do slow down the Argents are going to kill us!" Stiles counters, turning the radio to a music station and cranking the volume to almost 100%. I span around quickly giving him a look that said 'are you freaking kidding me?' "We're in a car chase, we need bad ass car chasing music." Scott looked at him like he was insane. So did I. Stiles sat forward and tuned into the police scanner with his dad's walkie-talkie as I sped down the street. "Suspect is on foot and heading to the Iron Works. I repeat suspect is on foot." It sounded a lot like Stiles' dad on the other side of that walkie-talkie. What were we going to do if he caught us? Being the sheriff's son wasn't going to get us out of this one, especially if we were helping a murderer.
With one quick glance to the rearview mirror I see the car tailing us is gone. "Shit." I mutter making a sharp turn towards the Iron Works.
It didn't take long to get to the Iron District. It was creepy and dark with all the tall, menacing machines, especially at night, and I recoiled in my seat not really wanting to drive any further. Making a sharp turn, I sighed in relief when I saw Derek crouched behind a piece heavy construction equipment. I rolled to a stop quickly enough for Derek to jump in. "Stiles, open the door." He did as he was told and leaned forward and flung the door open. "Get in!" Derek had to run the rest of the distance to the open car door. I followed Derek's gaze and noticed Chris Argent with what looked like a decked out crossbow in his hands that made me even more worried. The second Derek planted his butt in the seat I speed off, the tires screeching.
"Dammit!" Derek shouts as he beats his fist down on the dashboard. "I almost had him!"
"Who the Alpha?" Stiles asks from the back seat.
"Yes! He was right in front of me and the fucking police show up!" Derek snapped angrily.
"Whoa, hey, they're just trying to do their jobs-" Stiles quickly shut up when he caught the dangerous glint in Derek's eyes.
"Yeah, thanks to someone who decided to make me the most wanted fugitive in the entire state." Derek grumbled leveling his glare at Scott, who made the wise decision of staying quiet. Scott threw his hands up in exasperation. He wasn't ever going to live this down.
"Can we seriously get past that? I made a dumbass mistake. I get it."
"All right! How did you find him?" Stiles exclaims from the backseat. Derek gives him an apprehensive look and scoffs indignantly as he turns away.
"Can you try to trust us for at least half a second?" Scott asks.
"Yeah, all of us." Stiles commands but wilts under Derek's hard stare. "Or just Leah. I'll be back here."
I glance over at Derek to see what he was going to do. To be honest I wasn't sure if he actually trusted me. I'd never thought about it until now. "I'm all ears." I say looking back to the road. My heart quickens tenfold when Derek actually turns to me and opens his mouth to start talking. He really does trust me. "Look the last time I talked to my sister, she was close to figuring something out. She found two things. The first was a guy named Harris-"
"Our chemistry teacher?" Stiles asks, at the same time I ask 'the asshole I have to work with' with narrowed eyes as he pops his head out from the backseat. I use my free hand to shove his face back.
"What about him?" I ask looking to Derek to continue his findings.
"I don't know yet." He sighs exasperatedly.
"What was the second?" Scott asks. Derek moves around in the seat to pull out a folded piece of paper from his back unfolds it and hands it to me. I drape my wrist over the steering wheel to look down at the paper. It was a familiar looking symbol.
"It's some kind of symbol." Derek says as he runs a hand through his hair. He catches sight of my expression. "What? You know what this is?"
"Yeah," I say hesitantly as I hand it back so Scott, knowing he's seen it in the exact same place that I have. "I've seen it on a necklace."
"Who's?" Derek asks glancing suspiciously between Scott and me.
"It's Allison's necklace."
"So tell me Leah, how have things been since I saw you last?"
"Um, well.. My brother and I's relationship has been rocky, at best, lately. He's going through a tough time in school, with his now ex-girlfriend and.. other stuff, and I get that I do it's just- We never really had the closest relationship when we were younger and since I got back from school I thought we were getting to be a lot closer. But, he doesn't care about me like I thought. Well at least not as much as he cares about his ex. That was just a hard thing for me to come to terms with, I guess. But I haven't had another panic attack since last time so there's that."
"Good, I'm glad. Well, I'm suggesting you lean off your medication. I'm prescribing you the lowest amount possible and only when you start feeling anxious about your surroundings and safety should you take one. It seems like you're doing quite well to me so you may not need them, but better safe than sorry."
It was painful laying out all my feelings on the table for April to sort through. My life since school started up again has been a tumultuous ride full of ups and downs, and claws and wounds and possible love interests and fake friends and cute baristas and I just need a break from it all. An outlet, or something. I farewell April with a hug and leave the hospital, just ducking by my mom, my phone ringing loudly in the buzzing carpark.
"Hello?"
"Leah where are you?"
"What?"
"Where are you, right now?"
"Uh- My last period was free so I left. I'm at the hospital."
"Right. How'd that go? I know you told me you made an appointment."
"Yeah okay, I guess. What's going on?"
"Jackson. He- he knows. About Scott, about everything." My heart sinks to my stomach. Another person knowing about Scott's new condition was not something we needed right now. "I don't know how he figured it out but he knows everything and he's threatening to tell Allison. You need to get here now. Scott's freaking out."
"I don't even know what to say to him. I haven't spoken to him properly since the night at the school. Maybe even before that."
"We're trying to find a cure and Scott's trying to get the necklace all while trying to Jackson to lay off. Are you seeing the pattern here? It's a lot of trying and no actually doing anything! We need to find the Alpha and kill him so Scott can go back to normal, okay? We need you in on this."
"I'll be at your house in 15."
I pulled into Stiles' driveway the same time he did, thanks to my amazing driving skills. Stiles basically teleported out of his car, doing a little song and dance I could only describe as really happy or excited. But with his gangly form and little rhythm he could've been having a heart attack or seizing and here I was mistaking it for a dance.
"I can't believe he broke up with her." Stiles marveled for the sixteenth time since we'd gotten here. He'd barely given me time to open the car door before bombarding me with information about Lydia and Jackson and their consequent break-up. Seeing as though he'd brought it up sixteen times already and we were just getting to the top of the stairs, I didn't even want to think about what was in store for me. "I mean I've been waiting years for this. After so many attempts—"
"Failing attempts." I corrected as we walked into his room, walking straight to his computer desk.
"After so many attempts to try to win her over, I don't have to try anymore! I can ask her out without the risk of looking like a jealous freak."
"Oh, there's no risk." I smiled. Stiles typed his password in his laptop and clicked onto the Internet.
"Hey Stiles!" Sherriff Stilisnki called from downstairs.
"Yo," Stiles turned around in his chair, "D-Derek?" I turned around from looking at the computer screen to see Derek with a finger to his lips, signaling Stiles to shut up. Stiles jumped to his feet to get to the door, in turn pushing me in Derek's direction. I yelped as I tripped over the rug and ended up falling into Derek's arms. We both froze as our eyes locked on each other and I felt a shiver go down my spine as Derek reached up and brushed my bangs out of my face. It seems that God wants to put Derek and I in compromising positions frequently.
"Was that Leah?" Stiles' father asked him and I hurried to the door, slipping between the crack with a bright smile.
"Yeah, hi." I say way too enthusiastically. "My mum says hi, I was just talking to her. She has a night shift . . . again."
"So she won't be coming to the game then?" He asks and I shake my head politely. "I'll be there tonight. So proud of my boy. You'll be there tonight, right?"
"Yeah, cheering on the stands as always."
"Good, great." Sherriff Stilinski pursed his lips.
There was a moment of awkward silence until I got the cue to leave. "I'll be in there." I awkwardly walked back into the room, making sure not to open the door anymore. I plopped myself down on Stiles' desk chair and entered the password Stiles didn't think I knew. I did a quick Google search on wolves and their hunting techniques to see if there was anything we could apply to the Alpha when a thud snaps my attention to Derek pinning Stiles to a wall. It would be an understatement to say Derek was seething.
"Do you guys want a room or should I just leave?" I ask with a sarcastic shrug.
"If you say one word-" Derek threatens menacingly.
"Oh what? You mean like, 'Hey dad Derek Hale is in my room, bring your gun'?" The finger Derek had been pointing at Stiles drops to his side clenched tight in a fist. "Yeah that's right. If I'm harboring your fugitive ass, it's my house, my rules buddy." Stiles smacks his hand against Derek's shoulder. Derek glances at his shoulder with clenched teeth and slowly nods. Derek slowly lets go of his old on Stiles' jacket and hikes it up to fix it. My brows knit together in confusion as Stiles does the same for Derek. Derek juts his face forward in an act of intimidation, and Stiles cowers away in fear as he ducks back into his chair.
"Okay, now that whatever that was is over, can we get to work now?"
"Scott didn't get the necklace?"
"No, he's still working on it. But, there's something else we can try."
I plop down on Stiles' bed with a thud and Derek turns to look at me. "The night we were trapped at the school, Scott sent a text to Allison telling her to meet him there." This was all new information to me. While Scott, Stiles and the others were being terrorised and chased by the Alpha, I was at home, stitching up another werewolf.
Derek made a gesture for him to continue, his hands still stuffed in his pockets. "So?"
"So it wasn't Scott."
"Can you trace it?"
"God knows Stiles and I can't do it, so unless you're some sort of tech-genius we're going to need someone else to; and I think I know who."
Stiles left to go wait outside for Danny and it left Derek and I inside, alone. My heart basically raced out of my chest at the idea. Derek flipped through pages of some random book inconspicuously and I did a little more research with Stiles' laptop. "You're stupid, you know." Derek raises his eyebrows in confusion. "You have all of three friends in this town, if you include Scott who basically made you a fugitive and Stiles who is so scared of you I'm surprised he hasn't passed out, and you come here? To the sheriff's house?"
"Who does that leave you with then hm? You?"
"Well, yeah, if you consider me your friend."
"I don't."
"Well." I sass, spotting the tiniest hint of a smile on Derek's face. "Can I ask you something?"
"No, but I have a feeling you're going to ask anyway."
"When," I start to say when I came to your house and we were two steps away from making out, why did you pretend like it didn't happen afterwards, but think better of it. "When I patched you up and left to go to the school, where did you go? And why did you leave?"
Derek gives me a look as if to say 'is it really that important to you' and sits up a little straighter closing the book he wasn't reading. "When I woke up you were gone. I wasn't healing, not properly, and I was throwing up black blood. My body was rejecting what you did, trying to heal itself. I barely made it to the toilet, you should be thankful I didn't throw up all over the floor."
"Oh gee, thanks. You just left regular blood all over the floor and the wall. How could I ever thank you?"
Today is one of the hotter days, despite it being winter, and with all the winter layers I can feel myself burning up. I strip off my jacket and get up, opening the window near Stiles' bed. I fan myself with both hands rapidly, looking over and noticing Derek is still in his leather jacket. How?!
"Don't wear your leather jacket on a hot day, you could get heat stroke. Remember, being punk is only fun when you're alive."
"Ha ha, very funny." I know it was funny, you don't need to tell me.
"No, I'm serious. Did you know 37 children, on average, have died from heat stroke each year since 1998?"
"Well thank you for that distressing fact, I think I'll go eat some ice-cream and cry in the shower." What's this I hear? Another joke coming from Derek Hale? The resident, brooding werewolf telling jokes? It's nice to see this carefree side of him, the one that isn't afraid to laugh and make jokes and play around. It gives you a glimpse of who he was before his family was taken away from him.
"Is it bad that I wish you were being serious?" The tiny smile he had on previously grows until it's a full blown smirk. A smirk? A smirk! The angels of heaven have rained down upon me and blessed me with this beautiful, beautiful man. "What's wrong with your face? There's something really weird on it, like this thing with your mouth. It looks like it's in the shape of a smile."
"We got the picture and it looks exactly like the drawing." I mutter.
Derek reaches back and wraps his forefinger and thumb around my wrist. He tugs my arm forward to pull the phone to his ear. "Hey, is there something on the back of it? There's gotta be something. An inscription, an opening, something." Under the barked order I could hear the slight edge of panic. Derek wasn't the only one feeling like we were being backed into a corner. I couldn't hear what Scott had said but whatever it was caused Derek to drop my wrist. I hand the phone back to Stiles now that he'd parked in front of the hospital.
"You should smile more, you know? It suits you." I whisper to Derek so Stiles won't hear.
He raises his eyebrows and turns to me with a curious expression. "I could say the same for you."
"I know. Look, if you see my dad, can you tell him– tell him I'll be there, I'll just be a little bit late, okay? All right, thanks." Stiles sounded defeated as he leaned back in his seat. He deflated visibly when he hung up and pocketed the phone.
Danny tracing the message hadn't turned out so well. And not because he wasn't able to do it, but because it led back to my mom. There was no way. My mom wasn't the Alpha. Between working and sleeping, she barely had enough had enough time to eat let alone go around town murdering people. And besides, she was too good of a person to hurt anyone on purpose. There had to be some plausible explanation.
"You're not going to make it." Derek says glancing at the hospital.
"Man, I made a banner with glitter and everything." I grumbled, leaning on the center console. "And before you say it, we know that he didn't tell him about our mom either, and we're not going to either until we find out the truth. I know my mom, she wouldn't do this to us. She could have let anyone use her computer."
"By the way, one more thing." Derek said as we watched the hospital. Stiles had barely gotten out of a 'yeah' before Derek pushed me into the back seat and grabbed the back of Stiles head, slamming it down onto the steering wheel.
"Oh, god!"
"What the hell, Derek?"
"You know what that was for!" Derek told him, obviously referring to how he used him not having a shirt to get Danny to find the name for them. He didn't say another word as he slams the door open and starts his way up to the school. I jump out after him and have to jog to catch up. "Leah what are you doing?" He sounds tired.
"What if someone's in there and they see you? You're a suspected murderer Derek and they'll call the cops. We won't be able to distract them so you can get away like last time. Let me and Stiles go. He can keep a watch, make sure no one is around and then you can come in after." He looks around nervously like he does't know what to do before nodding absently.
I move to motion to Stiles and Derek grabs my wrist pulling me a little closer. "Call me as soon as you get inside."
Stiles gets out of the car then, rubbing his nose. I can already see a big red mark that more than likely is going to turn into a bruise. Under his hand I see a hint of a smile and nudge him gently to get him to talk. "I'm just watching you not have a crush on Derek, its' fascinating." I hit him in the nose and he shuts up pretty fast, but he continues his chuckling as he walks up and into the hospital.
The sterile smell flitters up my nose and it occurs to me how quiet it really is. Usually the long term care facility is quiet because patients with incurable diseases and illnesses stay here but tonight it is deadly silent. I jump frightfully when my phone blares my ringtone, slicing through the thick silence of the eerie hospital. "You didn't call." Derek grumbles in way of greeting. He'd been worried.
"Sorry," I whisper into the phone. The quietness of the hospital caused me to fall into a whisper. It felt strange to talk at normal volume in such tangible silence. "I can't find my mom."
"Look for Jennifer. She's been looking after my uncle." Derek's voice is calm. I needed calm right now. The heels of my combat boots click loudly against the sterile white linoleum tile and the muscles in my calves tense and coil in hesitation. Something doesn't feel right.
"Derek there's no one here." I say shakily. "It's like a ghost town in here. Like everyone just up and left."
"Just find Jennifer." Derek says again. His voice pushes me forward. I turn the corner to Peter's hallway. I'd only visited him once with Derek and Scott but Peter was the only patient living here. How hard was it to find a comatose burn victim? I turn the knob of the closed door with the label Hale, Peter on the nameplate. Peter's normally occupied wheelchair sat empty in the corner of the room. His bed perfectly made as if he'd never slept in it. " She isn't here. Peter isn't here either."
"What?" Derek questions incredulously.
"He's not here." My brows knit together as Derek goes silent in thought. Stiles pokes his head out of the room hoping to see the man in a wheelchair we'd been looking for. My heart shoots up to my throat when Stiles taps my shoulder abruptly and my eyes land on a man. Half of his face marred with burns. Seeing him here, like this feels so surreal. It suddenly clicked. It was Peter, Derek's uncle, his comatose uncle.
My mom wasn't the Alpha, nor had she ever been. It was Peter. Derek's pleas and demands of leaving the building fell on deaf ears. My phone fell from my fingers, which were incapable of holding anything, and shattered on impact. Peter glanced down at the phone the back up at me. The smile that tugged at the better half of Peter's face was the only hint I needed. I was going to die.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Leah."
My feet took fearful, hesitant steps back and Peter tsked disapprovingly but made no move to chase after me. I grabbed Stiles' hand and turned to run back down the hallway but a redheaded nurse, presumably Jennifer, blocked our path. "What are you doing here? Visiting hours are over."
"You and him. You've been helping him." I glanced back at Peter who had yet to move.
"We're going to die. We're going to die." Stiles kept repeating, like a mantra.
I whipped my head back towards Jennifer when a loud crunch of what I assumed would be her nose broke through the silence. Derek stood over her, his eyes trained on Peter. "Well that's not nice. She's my nurse."
"She's a psychotic bitch helping you kill people. Get out of the way."
I realized I was standing between a family reunion and fight was brewing. "Shit." I muttered and duck down, pulling Stiles down with me.
"You think I killed Laura on purpose?" Peter questions as he steps forward. "One of my own family?"
Derek releases a feral growl and his eyes flash an electric blue. He pounces forward kicking off the wall opposite of me to take Peter down from above. Peter was quick to push Derek off of him and slam his back into a wall. I crawl back to save myself from becoming collateral damage.
I peer over my shoulder, now behind the nurse's station, and see Peter standing over Derek with his hand wrapped tightly around his throat. "My mind, my personality was literally burned out of me. I was being driven by pure instinct." Derek struggled against his uncle's grip as he dragged him only dropping him to the floor to retrieve a pair of keys from his nurse's corpse.
"You want forgiveness?" Derek asks as he lands a punch to Peter's jaw. Peter shoves Derek's chest, grabs the lapels of his leather jacket and head butts him. Using Derek's dizziness to his advantage, Peter swiftly kicks him in the stomach. Derek falls back on his neck awkwardly before landing with a pain filled groan on his stomach.
"Do you have any idea– What it was like for me during those years? Slowly healing, cell by cell. Even more slowly coming back to consciousness. Yes, becoming an Alpha, taking that from Laura pushed me over a plateau in the healing process. I can't help that." I silently pleaded for Derek to get up. Derek spat on the floor. His blood contrasted greatly against the sterile white linoleum. Derek struggled as he rose to his feet and landed several blows. Peter blocked his next advanced by catching his balled fist in his hand. My stomach lurched as several bones in Derek's hand shattered. Peter didn't relent until Derek fell to his knees bloodied and broken. "I tried to tell you what was happening. I tried to warn you."
Glass shattered as Peter threw Derek flying toward the nurse's station. I brushed away the broken shards from my shoulders. Determined footsteps clicked against the floor in my direction. I clamped my eyes shut hoping I'd spontaneously disappear. The footsteps stopped and I cracked my eyes open.
"Let's take a walk shall we?" He asks and I shake my head defiantly.
"No, Leah don't!" I hear Stiles say.
"Stiles, you need to go. Leave! Take the J-"
His hand finds my throat and I suddenly can't breathe. It's much worse than when Scott attacked me or when Alpha Peter attacked me on the night we were trapped in the school. My air supply is cut off immediately and he all but drags me behind a curtain where Derek is perched on the wall.
He shoves me into an examination chair across from Derek and stalks over to a small examination mirror on the table. With a quick flick of his wrist he flips the mirror. I watch the double sided mirror spin until it stops. "I was going to wait, for dramatic flair–but– When you look this good, why wait?" I had been so focused on the mirror I hadn't paid attention to Peter. In the short time the mirror was spinning the burns that marred his face healed. "Derek, you have to give me a chance to explain. After all, we're family."
"He doesn't have to do anything."
"Leah stay out of this." My eyes lock with Derek's in a silent plea.
"Does dear nephew Derek care if Leah dies hm?" Peter asks with mock belief, grabbing me by my throat once more. "Why don't we turn young Ms. McCall? A werewolf girlfriend will be so much more fun don't you think Derek? We both know how unpredictable humans can be."
"I'm not his girlfriend." I choke, using my last breath of air to piss him off.
"Oh, is that so? I guess he won't mind if I do this then." He says shortly before wrapping his hand around my neck so tight I feel like it's going to burst. I know my face is purple from the suffocation and the edges of my vision turn black and fade away as I do the same.
