Ben and I pulled up to the house. I opened my door and got out of the car as my phone buzzed. I sighed and pulled it out of my pocket. "Everything okay?" Ben asked. I walked to meet him at the front of the car.

"Yeah. It's a text from Scott. He wants me to meet him at the school."

"Right now?"

"I guess."

"Isn't it closed?"

"Yep." I replied to the text and then put my phone away. I looked at him.

He shook his head. "I don't want to know."

"Probably a good thing." I walked to my car and got in. I drove straight to the school. I pulled into the parking lot and found Stiles' Jeep parked out front. I pulled up next to it and got out. Scott and Stiles walked up to me. "What am I doing?"

"Derek thinks that my boss is the Alpha," Scott blurted.

My mouth fell open. "What? Why?"

"I don't know. He just went to the clinic and attacked him."

"Where is he now?"

"With Derek."

"So what does this have to do with the school?" I asked, just as a black Camaro pulled up beside us. I audibly sighed. I gave Scott a frantic questioning look.

"What?" he asked. "I knew you wouldn't have come." Darn right, I wouldn't have. Stiles scoffed when he saw Derek getting out of his car. I'm just glad I'm not the only one who'd rather not have him here. He closed his door and turned around, glaring right at me.

"Hey," Stiles snapped his fingers. "Eyes over here."

"Where's my boss?" Scott asked as Derek looked at him.

"He's in the back."

Stiles looked in the car's window. "Oh, well, he looks comfortable." Stiles and Scott turned and walked in the direction of the school, bolt cutters in hand. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to stay here or go with them. But I didn't want to stay here.

"Hey," Derek called. "What are you doing?"

Scott looked at the two of us. "You both have said I'm linked to the Alpha. I'm going to see if you're right." He turned around and walked up to the school with Stiles. They disappeared inside, leaving me with Derek. I exhaled, trying to calm down. I really didn't want to talk to him, right now. Maybe never again.

But it didn't take long for him to find something to say to me. "What'd you have to say to him?" I turned around, confused. "To get him to still trust you." I rolled my eyes, looking down. "Now you're quiet."

"What do you want me to say?" I looked at him. "You're not going to believe any of it."

"Any of what?"

"The truth. The real reason why I was there."

He blew air out his nose, fists clenched at his sides as he walked around the back of his car. He walked up to me and stopped a foot from me. He wasn't that much taller than me, but it was still just enough to be intimidating. "I'm pretty sure I already have a good idea about that."

"Really?" I scoffed. "You have NO idea. Just…that's it, just no idea." He rolled his eyes and scoffed. "I'm serious, Derek." I practically spit his name out. He looked at me with contempt in his eyes. "You're a werewolf, yes. Born into it, yes. But that doesn't mean you know everything. So why don't you jump off your little high horse and come back down here with the rest of us?"

His hand was on my arm in a second. I looked down at it, felt it squeezing me, cutting off the circulation. I looked back up at him. "Remember how this worked for you the first time? Hmm? Try it again and I'll do more than just break your wrist."

"You think your threats will make this any better?"

"No. But following through with them might." Our eyes were locked and no one was budging. Derek looked about ready to try something, when a terrible sound filled our ears. It was the pathetic attempt at a howl. I knew it was Scott. I sighed at the sound.

A second after it had passed, before I even knew what was happening, I was ten feet away slamming into the pavement. I groaned as I got to my hands and knees. I saw Derek approach out of the corner of my eye. His foot connected with my rib cage. I flew about four feet in the air and just about as far out.

"How does it feel to be on the receiving end?"

I rolled onto my stomach and made to get up. "Do you really think I wanted to do that?" I spit a wad of blood on the ground as I stood. I hopped a step, catching my balance. "After everything…why would I willingly do that?!"

"You tell me." He swung as I brought my arm up, meeting his. He looked slightly shocked.

"I don't want to fight you and I didn't want to go there with Kate and do that."

"But you did it anyway."

"I have no choice. I can't let the Argents find out who I am or a lot of people are going to be in danger."

"Who?"

"Everyone I've ever helped. They'll all be at risk of being slaughtered if an Argent finds out what I am." Another sound filled our ears, but this time it was a howl. A real one. It was so loud and deep that you could feel it in your bones. We both heard it but neither looked away from the other. "Do you realize how many that is? No. Of course you don't."

He stepped back, lowering his arm. I did the same. "Two hundred eighty seven, including Scott. That's how many Betas, Banshees, Sirens…you name it. I've done it, seen it, helped it. Most of them kids, like Scott, and younger. Or a little older, like your sister. I'm here to help Scott. I didn't mean to get wrapped back up with the Argents. But that's the way life goes. I'm sorry that you got caught in the crossfire. And I'm sorry I shocked you and acted the way I did. I really am. I didn't mean any of it.

"It was all for Kate, it was all a show. She out of all of them would be the first to scream foul on me." I watched him, clearly processing everything I was saying. "I never wanted to hurt you, to cause you pain physically or otherwise. And it took everything that I had to say and do what I did."

I saw Scott and Stiles walk out of the school over Derek's shoulder. Stiles stopped Scott when he saw we were talking. They both just stared. I looked back at Derek. "Okay? And, I felt so bad about it that I locked myself in the house for two days. Ben had to give me special hand guards because all I was doing was making myself bleed, trying to not go insane-"

Derek covered the distance between us and put a hand on the back of my head, pulling my in as our lips locked. Everything left my mind at once and all I thought about was his lips on mine. My hand found a fist full of his jacket and pulled him deeper into the kiss.

Suddenly my mind switched back on, and I pulled back slightly. His other hand had found it's way around my back. My adrenaline was off the charts, my heart beating in my ears. I opened my eyes and looked into his, slightly out of breath. "You could've just said you believed me."

"I like my way better."

"Alright!" Stiles' voice filled my ears. "Cut the PDA, please. Man, that's…disgusting, to say the least, there's really no other word to describe it." Derek rolled his eyes and turned around, letting me go. The cold air instantly filled the spots where he was touching. And I instantly wanted him back.

"I'm gonna kill both of you!" Derek pointed at Stiles and Scott. "What was that? What are you trying to do, attract the entire state to the school?"

"Oh, so we're skipping over the part where we just caught you two making out?"

"Sorry," Scott said. "I didn't know that it would be that loud."

"Yeah, it was loud," Stiles bragged.

I looked at Scott. "You should've told me what your plan was." Scott shrugged.

"And it was awesome," Stiles continued.

"Shut up," Derek said.

"Don't be such a sour wolf."

Scott looked past us at the car. "What'd you do with him?"

"What?" Derek and I both looked at the car. The door was open and the seat was leaned forward. And Scott's boss was gone. "I didn't do anything."

"Yeah, we were together the whole time," I said.

"I'm sure you were," Stiles snickered. I scowled, second guessing not punching him. I heard a low growl seconds before flesh tearing. I looked to my right and then jumped back with a gasp as Derek was lifted off his feet, blood pouring out of his mouth. He just held him there, roaring.

I saw Scott and Stiles run as fast as they could to the school in my peripheral. The Alpha threw Derek across the front lawn of the school. In the same motion he back handed me into Derek's car. He pinned me there as all five of his fingers pierced my torso. His fingers lined my stomach while his thumb was in the center of my rib cage.

I gasped at the action, cringed at the pain. I felt each individual finger tip inside of me. My vision turned red as I growled. He pressed harder, forcing his claws deeper into me. My growl was cut short and turned into more of a gag. I looked at him, my eyes still red.

He leaned close to me, his face inches from mine. And he just stared at me. He looked me in the eyes and I knew, without a doubt, he knew me. And I knew him. He started bringing his fingers closer to his thumb, and I screamed. He kept going, tearing through flesh and organs until his fingers had reached the top.

I was breathing heavily, hissing at the pain. I started feeling light headed. But he never took his eyes off of me. He wanted to watch my face, see the pain. He was enjoying this. And then he pulled his hand out. I screamed, sliding down the car and to the ground. I laid there on the pavement, feeling myself bleeding out. The Alpha left, got on all fours and scampered off. I'm assuming he's going after Scott. So that's where I need to be.

I blinked, and the pool of blood I was lying in doubled. I must've blacked out. I have no idea how much time has past. I groaned and rolled over, making to get up. I put my hands on the ground in the push up position. I pushed my body off the ground, my arms violently shaking.

I managed to get my knees on the ground before my arms collapsed. A thick stream of red spit drooled out of my mouth. I blinked a few times, trying to shake off the need to pass out. I put a bloodied hand on the car door and used it as leverage to help me stand.

I was half way up when my hand slipped. I crashed into the car's passenger window, shattering it. I cried out and put my other hand on the car to catch me. I finally managed to stand, resting my back into the car. I looked at my left arm and saw a piece of glass from the window lodged in it.

I cringed and pulled it out. I tossed it to the side. Now that I'm back where I started, I looked down at my stomach. I could feel it trying to heal, but this was going to take a while. Wounds from an Alpha take longer to heal, even though I am one. But because that's not all I am, this won't take as long as normal to heal. But it'll still slow me down.

I pushed off the car and tried to walk. I stumbled forward a few feet catching myself on Stiles' Jeep. I looked down at my stomach. I was still massively bleeding. I could literally feel it leaving me as my body tried to replace it. It's the weirdest feeling ever.

With one hand on my stomach and the other on the Jeep, I walked up the side of it. Of course it was more like a stagger. I reached the end and stopped. I leaned into it and then listened. I closed my eyes and focused hard on hearing. I sighed with relief when I heard Scott's voice somewhere in the building.

Then I listened again. This time, the sound of claws on pavement caught my attention. The Alpha walked across the roof on the far side of the school. But as I was about to come back to reality, something else caught my attention. Listened hard, trying to amplify it.

When I realized what it was, my heart nearly broke. "Derek," I opened my eyes and looked in the direction I had seen the Alpha throw him. It wasn't much, but it was the faintest beat, just enough to let me know that his heart was still trying. That maybe there was still hope for him.

I gritted my teeth and pushed off the Jeep, in that direction. I stepped up onto the sidewalk, nearly falling over. Then I walked across the grass and to him. Just by looking at him you'd think he was dead. I slammed my knees down in the grass next to him, because that was all I could muster.

All I could do was stare at him. I felt my eyes swell with tears. Only a few made it out before I reigned them back in. This is not what I signed up for. And, this is not how it should've gone. This can't be happening. I exhaled, wiping at my tears.

I looked down and saw his hand. A crazy and stupid idea came to mind. But I knew I had to try it. I grabbed his hand, watching as my veins turned dark. He might die if I don't heal him. And, I might die if I do. The least that will happen is that it'll slow my healing down drastically.

The veins traveled farther up my arm as they started to burn. My body's way of telling me to stop, that I've done all I can. But I know that's not true. I pushed through the pain and kept going. But the Luna's not strong enough, so I switched to something that was.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. It was almost like a switch was flipped in my head. I opened my eyes. My vision turned red, but it wasn't the red I've been used to. This shade of red I haven't seen in a long time. It was like I was seeing threw flames, like I was in a fire.

Instead of being dark, my veins glowed red. I kept healing Derek until I he gasped for a breath. I let go of him and stood, not feeling any pain from my stomach. I turned around, facing the opposite direction. I looked down at my wound, as a warm tingling sensation filled the gap the pain left.

Then flames emitted from it, growing from the inside out. The flames vanished as new flesh took its place. Once it was fully healed, the flames were gone. My eyes turned back to normal as my legs became weak. I collapsed to my knees, gasping for breath.

I looked behind me at Derek. He was trying to get to his feet, barely able to lift himself out of the grass. I crawled the couple of feet between us. He was still hurt, but he was alive. He put his left hand on my right shoulder for leverage. I helped him get to his knees.

I lunged forward and hugged him. He hissed at the pain, but hugged me back, holding me tight. "Are you…okay?" he asked, the sound muffled by my hair. I pulled back and looked at him. I nodded quickly, looking him over. "Where's Scott?"

"He's in the school. I'm getting you out of here and then going back for him." I propped Derek's arm on my shoulder, my arm around his back. I stood with the little strength I had. Derek wasn't much help, still being injured. He cried out slightly at the movement. "This is all going to take a while to recover from."

"You really need to stop healing me," he said as we started walking toward his car.

I chuckled. "Not a chance. It's a habit, now. And I have a terrible time kicking habits." He tried to laugh but ended up coughing. I guided him to the parking lot. "Think you can drive?"

"I'll manage."

We walked around the back of his car and then to the driver's door. I opened it and then helped him in. Once again, Derek looked like death and his life was in my hands. And, once again, I'm throwing him into a car and leaving him. "Just drive a few blocks to a parking lot, or something. Stop there long enough to heal and then leave."

He nodded. "Sara-"

"I'm going to do what I have too," I cut him off knowing what he was about to say. "And that means protecting Scott no matter what." I studied his face and I knew what he was thinking. The same thing I was. That this felt like a good bye, like the last time we'd see each other.

"If there's one thing you can count on it's me keeping my word," I said. "Now, I'm going to go get Scott out of the mess he's gotten himself into," a poor excuse for a chuckle escaped me. "When I'm done, I'm going to find you and then we can pick up where we left off before Scott and Stiles walked out of the school. Okay?"

He didn't look like he wanted me to leave, and I didn't want to go. "Okay. I'm going to hold you to it, Grant."

"You better." I leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead. I quickly stood and closed the door. Any longer and I think I'd probably start crying. I headed straight for the school, not looking back.