Hi Guys! Thank you for the reviews and please on REVIEWING! Probably won't get the next chapter up until Friday. Enjoy my loves (:!
This chapter is for Caroline-Ann. Thank you for your support! I appreciate it girl (:
AND Karaline and Derek will get together soon, I promise! :D
I laid there for what seemed like days staring at the room around me. I tried to make sense of what had happened but it was all too big of a shock. Karaline's words still rung in my head… "Care about you." It wasn't something that I hadn't heard before, however it was something that I hadn't heard in a long time.
With every hour, the pain began to escalate even when I thought it couldn't get any worse. My forehead began to sweat again and my breathing turned into panting as my chest ached with every rise and fall. I had been fighting it for hours now, but I knew that I needed her help. After I called Scott an hour ago, he said that he had told me that he still needed an hour or two, but that wasn't a promise.
"Did you find it?" I asked in my weakened voice.
"How am I supposed to find one bullet?" Scott whispered in a frustrated voice. He had been at Allison's house for three hours and still hadn't gotten the opportunity to search. "There's a million here. This house is like the freaking Wal-Mart of guns."
"If you don't find it, then I'm dead," I warned. My body was exhausted, trying to heal the wound, that I couldn't even keep my eyes open. "The Alpha is after you as well as your cousin. If you want Karaline and yourself to stay alive then you need me. Find the bullet." With that I hung up the phone.
The girl hadn't left her room for four hours now and though I thought I would be better off dealing with the pain with peace and quiet – I was wrong. With nothing to pull my attention, my mind focused on nothing but the pain making it almost impossible for me to fight through. The last time I had the strength to open my eyes, I noticed from the corner of my eye that my gauze wrapped forearm was completely soaked in red and with the little energy that I had, I ripped my sweat-soaked shirt as my body started to shake.
I never gave up, but at this point I had no choice.
"Karaline!" I cried out, my eyes squeezed shut as the pain continued to seer. "Karaline! Come out here, please!"
"Oh my God," I heard a panicked voice faintly after a moment. I looked up to see her at my side. "Why didn't you call me earlier?" she high-pitched voice asked, however I didn't have the strength to answer. For the next half hour, we didn't say a word as she re-wrapped my forearm and put down a couple glasses of water for me on the coffee table before again refilling the bucket. Immediately, I felt relief once she pressed the damp cloth to my forehead.
I looked up at her and sighed. "I'm sorry, Karaline."
Her blue eyes widened for a split second down at me as she stopped what she was doing. I continued, "I didn't mean to be angry with you. It's just been…" I hesitated trying to find the right words as she pulled back to get a better look at me. "I'm not very social. I don't mean to be rude, especially to you, but I'm not used to… people, anymore. This town built up their own wall against me and people know to stay away." I broke away from her gaze as I habitually clenched my jaw. "My parents, my sister, my uncle are all dead. I don't have anyone and I've just grown used to shutting out the world." Karaline dropped her head as I took a deep breath. "When you told me what you said earlier, I was thrown off guard. I mean, it's been years since someone has actually said that they care about me. Even my sister and I never told each other that because..." I paused again, thinking about Laura. "Well because we're brother and sister," I shrugged. At this, Karaline slightly laughed. I looked away from her once again as I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry, Karaline. Truly."
After a moment, she looked back to me with glistening blue eyes. "It's okay, Derek. I understand that you're a private person and I respect that. And even though I haven't known you that long, you did save my life. I really cannot thank you enough for that and for what you're doing right now. It's just that…" she looked down as she fiddled with her hands. "This is my fault," she whispered. A tear slipped down her cheek. Not again.
"What are you talking about, Karaline?" I asked, peering up at her. After a few moments she looked back to me.
"This!" she pointed to my forearm. "You wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for me, Derek!" Guilt flooded her face. I stared at the petite girl, somewhat in amusement as part of her brown locks shielded her guilt flooded face as she slightly turned away.
"Karaline," I shook my head. "This," I eyed my arm, "would have happened even if you hadn't showed up." She quickly turned her head to face me again. "These hunters have been after me since I was born, Karaline. They will never stop this game of "cat and mouse". This is not your fault," I reassured.
The girl was quiet for a few minutes as she absorbed this information. Her turned her charming blue eyes towards me – I noticed a sudden unreadable change in them. "Where were you last night?" her head tilted in curiosity.
Karaline's Point of View
He squinted at me, taken aback by my sudden switch in topic as I leaned forward to hold the damp cloth to Derek's neck. His condition was not getting any better as purple bruises started to appear under his eyes and his skin drained pale white. When I had changed the gauze on Derek's arm, I had noticed that the darkened veins around the wound has started to crawl farther up almost to his bicep – I knew he only had a couple hours left, however, I did everything I could to keep my emotions under control.
"I told you," he looked at me intently. I peered down at him, slightly raising one eyebrow with a light smirk.
"You went to buy groceries?" I asked amused. He continued to stare at me as he nodded. "Huh," I mumbled. "So one of the hunters shot you while you were walking down the dairy aisle?" I tested my sarcasm on him. He rolled his eyes, giving up on the lie and I chuckled. "Derek Hale pushing a cart full of groceries? That doesn't seem right."
"Don't worry about it, Karaline," he said.
"Well," I hesitated with what I was about to ask next. "Were you with someone?" I tried to keep my voice casual. My heart began to pound and it wasn't just because I was sitting there helplessly watching Derek die.
"Weren't you listening to anything that I just said?" he asked, with a hint of frustration in his weak voice. I ignored him, continuing to wait. He shook his head, rolling his eyes. "No, Karaline. I was not with anybody."
My body relaxed a little while I caught myself just before I breathed out a sigh of relief. Again, I tried to act casual, "Then where were you?"
Derek huffed as he stared up at me with his alluring green eyes, contemplating. A moment later, he answered. "I was trying to-" Suddenly, he stopped midsentence as his attention redirected past me towards the front door.
"Derek? What is it?" I turned around to see what he was staring at, but saw nothing. Suddenly, he started to push himself off of the couch in alarm, as I immediately took hold of him to help him up. His body was shaking as he used his last bit of strength to stand up while I used all of my strength to hold him up.
"Scott's here," he panted. Before I could even process Derek's words, the door flew open and in stepped no one other than my cousin.
