Chapter 10: They always come first.

Scott POV.

"Hurry up and untie me!" I shouted.
Stiles ran scrambled over the floor and unchained me.
I ran out the door, and haltered before the woods.
I heard Stiles swear under his breath, "She's out cold."
I turned my head to see him leaning over a listless Natasha on the front porch.
Did I go after Zach and Ethan?
He wouldn't actually rip me apart would he?
Then again, he was dead serious where Natasha was concerned.

I ran over to the porch and took in her still form. She was bruised on her forehead and had a busted lip. Her shirt was sightly ripped and her left arm was bleeding.
"Let's get her inside." I said, lifting her up.

"Why the hell didn't you call me sooner." Derek bellowed storming through the door.
"You're damn lucky we called at all." I said, slightly shocked, but I was angry, "What the hell do you care? You're not a part of any of this."
Derek spun around and stared at me with such anger, a little growl ripples through his lips.
"Where is she?" He snarled.
"In the living room."

He stalked off deeper into the house.
Why the hell was her here? Why did Zach ask me to ring him? He wasn't a part of this.
I walked through the house and sat on the couch parallel to Stiles bandaging a still unconscious Natasha's arm, and a hovering Derek.
"Tell me everything that happened." He demanded.
Stiles gave him a quick recap full of sarcasm, much to Derek's annoyance, but we were silenced when Natasha began to wake.

"What happened?" she said, sitting up. For a human, she sure as hell recovered like a werewolf.
The room remained silent, and as she looked around, the one person missing jolted back her memories.
"Zach." She stood, "He went with Ethan."
"You can't go out there," Derek said, his arm grabbing hers, "The woods are crawling with hunters. I even drove here."
"All the more reason to get him back!" She shouted.

She ran up the stairs, and returned a moment later with a gun. Flying out the door she ran into the woods.
I sprinted after her. This was not good.
"Why are we running after her?" Stiles panted a fair way behind me.
Derek ran past me and caught up to Natasha. She was pretty damn fast.
"We need to go back. You're going to get killed." He shouted, but his efforts fell on deaf ears.

"Dude it's been three hours." Stiles whispered, "There is no way we are going to find them."
I was beginning to think the same thing until we came upon a clearing with a stream.
"I smell them." Derek said, sniffing up wind.
I inhaled deeply and caught the scent of Zach's familiar musk scent.
"Get back!" Tasha said running back into the cover of the trees.
We all took cover in time for the voices on the other side of the river to show themselves.

"Come on!" a woman's voice laughed, "You mean to tell me you don't enjoy this?"
I peered around the tree just enough to see a group of people heavily armed walking downstream.

Hunters.

"We'll find some game soon." The woman laughed. I recognised that voice.
Peering around the side, I resisted the urge to gasp in the night as I recognised the female.
It was Alison's aunt Kate.
I smacked my head against the bark of the tree.
Surely this situation could not get any worse.

Ohhhh but it could.

Along with her aunt, I saw Alison's dad walking along side, with three other hunters.
A howl echoed through the woods, and the hunters haltered.
"He's here." One of them stated.
I could feel my skin prickle a little and a strange feeling entered my body. It was almost like a repulsion to something I did not know.
Suddenly a black blur whizzed past towards the hunters and guns echoed off.

The alpha was here.

"They're hunting the hunters" Stiles clued together.
Guns suddenly went off and Tasha took that as her chance to try and provide cover for us.
"Get back to the house!" Tasha shouted.
Stiles and I began to bolt back towards the house, but Derek stayed behind and only moved when Natasha did.
"Are we even going in the right direction?"Stiles panted
"I have no idea." I shouted back.

"Arghhhh!" I shouted in pain and collapsed head first into a tree.
Natasha was picking me up in a heartbeat "You have an arrow in your leg. Keep moving!"
Her hand was tightly gripped around my arm around her neck, as she lugged me across the woods.
She threw me to the ground and I looked at her in rage. What the hell was she doing?
"You're going to slow." She said in annoyance. She snapped the end of the arrow in my leg and ripped it out.
"Why would you do that?" I shouted in agony
"You'll heal faster and you'll be able to run on it quicker. Let's go!"
Once again she picked me up and helped me run through the woods.
I could already feel my leg healing. It was the strangest feeling.

"Keep running" Natasha breathed, pushing me ahead of her.
I stopped as she began to run back the other way.
"The hell is she doing now?" Stiles shouted ahead of me,,
I didn't know, but I intended to find out.
"Oh don't you dare! Don't yo-" Stiles warned but I ignored him and ran in the direction of Natasha and the hunters.

I could see her long wavy brown hair just before it would duck behind another tree.
I stopped just short of the clearing where I saw Derek and Zach fighting off Kate and Alison's Dad. And then to Ethan who was taking on two hunters at once.
Then there was Natasha, who was behind a tree, hunger for a fight on her face.
I pulled her back just as she was about to join in.

"I thought I told you to run." She seethed.
"I did." I said, "After you. I'm keeping my word to your brother."
"You need to get out of here. You're the only one they haven't seen yet."
"What going on" Stiles wheezed finally catching up to us. His eyes bugged open as he looked upon the battle ground.
"But I just got here." Stiles groaned.

"Get out of here now!" Natasha seethed but my eyes caught sight of something moving behind her.
"Well, well, well," An unfamiliar voice laughed, "We got ourselves a few pups."
A man stepped out with a gun armed and ready to fire, the barrel on me.
Natasha spun around and deliberately stood in the line of fire, blocking me.

It all happened so quickly, one minute the hunter was herding us up, and the next he and Natasha were engaged in a wrestle on the ground.
I quickly ran and grabbed the hunters gun. Stiles and I stood dumbstruck and Natasha looked like she was winning the battle.
It seemed to peculiar, how a woman so tiny could be so strong and winning against a muscled man.

The battle then took a change of power as the man's strength overpowered Natasha's and his hands were suddenly around her neck strangling her. I began to panic, and anger began boiling up within me.

I could feel my fingers morph into sharp claws and my face change into my alter ego.
I ripped through the hunters jacket, and threw him off Natasha, against a tree. I growled, hoping he would run, but he was a hunter. This is what he did.
The hunter stood up, a little disorientated and suddenly grabbed and little hand held gun from his jacket, and I could feel my wolf form morph back to little old me with the fear of defeat.

But before the hunter had pulled the trigger, he gasped and his face became shocked. Blood poured from his mouth and as he collapsed onto the harsh and cold ground, Natasha stood behind him, bloody knife in hand.

"You just killed him!" I shouted. She had just killed the man in cold blood.
Stiles walked up, hand covering his mouth, bug eyed.
"I had to." She defended.
"No you did not 'have' to" Stiles began, "We could have just knocked him unconscious or something!"
"He saw both of your faces." She began, "He thought you were a werewolf." She pointed as Stiles, "He would have found you and killed you."
I could not believe what had just happened.
I watched as the hunters eyes went from life to death.

"We need to leave" Derek run up to us, looking at the dead man for half a second, as if he was just another rock on the ground.
"What about Zach?" Natasha asked.
"I'm right behind you!" He shouted ushering everyone forward.
I caught sight of Ethan now having the hunters attention, and I realised this was our time to escape.
"Here we go again." Stiles grumbled, as we ran yet once more through the forest.

A red flash exploded just as I passed an oak tree, so I didn't get the full force of the blindness. Derek was in front of us leading the way, but as I turned around, Natasha was helping a stumbling Zach.
I could see in the distance, the hunters catching up, so I ran to help them.
"They're catching up." I said,
Natasha eyed me and for the first time in her eyes I saw her fear.

Zach suddenly screamed and left both Natasha and I with a dead weight as he collapsed.
"Oh my God." Tasha breathed as we both noticed an arrow sticking out his back.
I touched the arrow to pull it out, but I suddenly felt a burn in my hand. I shied away into a tree and grunted in pain feeling my airways restrict my breathing.
"The arrow's dipped in wolf's bane." Natasha assumed.

"We need to hurry!" Stiles shouted, but shut up as he took in the scene before him.
"Leave me." Zach breathed.
"I am not leaving you!" Tasha shouted, disgusted.
Derek finally joined us, his face pissed that we weren't moving.
He leant down next to Zach who was unable to move, poisoned by the wolfs bane and the arrow in his back.

Zach stared at me, with something I couldn't understand in his eye.
"You better keep your word," he whispered, knowing I could hear.
Looking back to his sister, he attempted to smile, "I'll be ok. They'll capture me before the kill me."
Tasha was now fully crying, "I am not leaving you."
She attempted to pull him up, but Zach grabbed both her hands in his and pulled her close.
"I love you so much." He breathed, tears welling up in his own eyes, "You are the most important thing to me and I am so proud of you."
Tasha fought her best to make him get up but Zach only laughed, "Always so stubborn."

Zach grabbed Derek's shirt and pulled him close.
"They always come first." He grunted.
There was an unspoken silence between them both, until Derek finally nodded and stood up to walk behind Tasha.
He wrapped his arms around her and pried her away.
Tasha wailed and fought hard against her, and I looked back at Zach who looked so broken at his sister's pain.

"Run!" he roared in anger, and with all the strength he had left he stood, in waiting for the hunters, ready to stop their path.
I don't know what made me run, I didn't want to, but there was something in Zach's voice that was authoritive.
And so I ran. Against all that I thought was right, my body was running despite my mind objecting.

Derek was having difficulties trying to contain a struggling Natasha. He finally threw her down under the cover of a broken and fallen tree, where Stiles and I joined him.
"Let me go!" She cried in anger.
Derek was pinning her down with his body weight. Lying on top of her she struggled to move underneath him. Her struggles were giving away our position so he covered her mouth with his hand. Angry tears flowed like a fountain as she continued to struggle underneath Derek.

I held my head in my hands and I heard Stiles speak.
"What do you thinks gonna hap-"

BANG.

Stiles was cut off by a gunshot. Natasha stopped wriggling and her eyes were still. Derek's head snapped up.

BANG.
BANG.

Two more gunshots echoed in the night. Birds flocked to get away from the noise.
Natasha did not struggle anymore. Her cries were merely muffled by Derek's hand.
I could here footsteps coming closer and Natasha stopped her crying and everyone held there breath.
Waiting.
Listening.
Hoping.

"They're long gone Kate." A male voice said.
"I'm not so sure." She deduced.

There was a few minutes of silence.
"Let's get back." I heard Alison's dad demand.
We listened as the footsteps retreated.

After what seemed like forever, we finally moved from our hiding spot.
Stiles smacked my arms, and moved his head towards Natasha.
Derek was helping her up, his face strangely worried.
But I forgot about him as soon as I looked at Natasha.
She was like a ghost.

Her face was black, and her tears were frozen on her face.
Without any eye contact, she weaved her way through us and walked through the woods silently.
About 15 minutes of silent walking, we reached Natasha's house.

Where did we go from now?

Natasha entered the house and we followed her inside. She merely walked up the stairs, and shut the door.
Moments later, the shower had turned on.
"Do you think he's really dead?" Stiles asked, "I mean we didn't actually see his body."
Derek looked at him as if Stiles were the dumbest person on earth.

"It's been four hours. She hasn't come down. She hasn't even said a word." I said in frustration.
Stiles was dead asleep on the couch, and I was pacing the kitchen whilst Derek sat at the counter with his head resting on the table.

The doorbell suddenly rang, causing everyone to jump in shock.
"Dude it's my dad!" Stiles said peeping out the curtains.
Our heads spun around when Natasha walked down the stairs.
"Everyone in the kitchen" Derek ordered.
Stiles, Derek and I hid in the kitchen just as Natasha opened up the door.

"Ms McCall." Stiles dad greeted.
"Sheriff" Natasha replied,
"I'm really sorry to come here early in the morning, but earlier this evening there was a body found on the highway. We need you to come down to the hospital to identify the body."
"On the highway?" Natasha quizzed, her voice laced with anger.
"Please ma'am. We'll take you to the hospital."

The door shut, and all three of us left in the kitchen just stood there.
"The highway?" I asked, "Why would they dump him on the highway?"
"Something went wrong." Derek mused , "They wouldn't be so careless."
"We need to go to the hospital," I said.

The hospital was dead, except for the police that roamed the waiting area.
"Mom, where is Natasha?" I asked her from behind the nurses' station.
Mom turned to face me with watery eyes.
So she knew.
"Oh honey, how did you know?"
"Stiles and I heard it on one of his Dad's radios at home."
Mom gave a look of disapproval, but nodded believing my lie.
"They found him on the side of the road. His body had claw marks on it, but the police say he was shot. Somebody killed him Scotty."
I hugged her as she gave a little cry in my shoulder.

I looked over to Derek who had listened to the conversation. His was full of confusion.
"They are questioning Natasha now. After she ID'd the body, they took her into one of the rooms. Oh God you should have seen her. She's a mess."
My mom pointed to a room where police guarded the door.

"I can't believe this is happening man." Stiles shook his head. He looked to me with sorrow. "I'm sorry."
It was then that for the first time I let what really happen sink in.
I had just lost my brother.
My brother was just killed.
I was there, hiding, as my brother died trying to save us.

Just then, the door opened and out came a stone faced Natasha. She didn't even look at us as she walked past.

Natasha POV

As the police drove me home, I still hadn't sunk in.
I didn't believe it when I saw him. On the table, cold, lifeless.
When I heard he was found on the highway, I was almost in pure rage.
How dare they just dump him like that?
But when I saw him, I was shocked.
Claw marks lashed his arms and legs, despite the bullet holes which were now permanently etched into my mind.
Ethan had tried to get him.

The only reason I could sum up was that he knew what had happened. Watched it even, and had tried to get his body back, in order for a proper burial according to our family traditions.
Either that, or he did it for fun.

I walked back into my house. I jumped as a hand grabbed my arm.
"Tasha." Derek soothed.
For the first time tonight, I looked into his eyes.
They were full of pain, anger, sorrow, sympathy.
I shook his hand off my arms and backed away.

"Get away from me." I sneered
Derek moved to touch me again but threw all my anger into the right hand and punched him in the nose.
"I could have saved him." I shouted, "If you had of helped he could be lying in the living room, getting blood all over my couch." I laughed in hysteria, picturing his goofy grin.
My eyes turned cold once more, "Instead he's lying in a morgue, skin ripped to shreds and bullet holes in his chest!"
My screams were full of anger, and I knew they were directed at the wrong person.
But Derek was here, and he was willingly putting himself in the line of fire.

"We would have all died. " Derek defended, "It was what he wanted."
Those final words sent a sickening jab to my stomach and I felt like I was physically going to be sick.
"Get out." I said. My voice was low, deep and deadly.
"Tasha," He tried to reason.
"GET OUT!" I screamed.

He raised his hands, and back away.

Slowly, he walked out the door, and I heard his car drive away.
Leaving me alone, in the empty house.

Alone.

Alone.

Alone.

Derek POV

Everything was so incredibly, irreversiably screwed up.
Last night was not how things were suppose to go.
I had no idea, where the hell to go, after I left Natasha's.
I didn't know if she should be left alone, or if I should just stay outside and watch from a distance. But I decided to let her be. After all, when Laura died, all I wanted was time to myself. To gather my thoughts and make sense at what had happened.
I knew how it felt.

I went looking for clues. Something. Anything, that I could bring back to Natasha on this brand new day. But I came up empty.

So here I was now, driving up to her house, with no new facts, or explanations of what had happened last night.
I thought back to Zach, just before he died.
I had to admit, the I could predict the events before it happened, so really, his death wasn't as big of a shock to me. But his words rang fresh in my mind.

"They always come first."

It was what I had said to him at the cemetery, when he had questioned me about my own sister's death.
Well Zach, where Natasha was concerned, she did come first.

I pulled up to the driveway, and groaned as I saw Stiles' truck parked there. The front door was left open.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked angrily walking in the house.
Scott and Stiles were just standing in the living room. Scott had his head in his hands.

"She's gone." Stiles mumbled.
I screwed my face up, "Gone where?"
"Gone!" Stiles elongated the word, as if I was a dumbass, "as in Adios Amigo's! Goodbye! Elvis has left the building!"
I looked around, there were still paintings on the wall, but the photos on the fire mantle piece had something's missing.
I ran up to her room, where her bed lay made and neat. The closet was empty.
I began to panic, and checked the bathroom, also cleared of any belongings.

I back up and sat on the bed, looking around the empty room.

She was gone.

A/N :
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