I'm on a roll... kind of. I should be studying for uni exams but it's nearly 2am. God give me strength to pass because I'm a master procrastinator and I'm not prepared at all.

Oops.

Also a huge shoutout to Huntsman-in-the-snow for leaving the 200th review on my story. I swear I was refreshing it every 20 minutes until I got that review :P

Derek's POV

I should have known. I should have smelled him coming.

Chloe and I broke out of our embrace and I shoved her behind me, shielding her away from Liam Malloy. She tugged at my sweatshirt and I battered her hands away, but not before catching one of hers in mine and giving it a quick, reassuring squeeze.

"Why don't you bring her out? We're just gonna have a bit of fun." Liam said, his voice sounding light but I could hear the threatening undertone. From where I was standing, the smell of alcohol on his breath and I froze. Werewolves and alcohol did not mix, not well at all.

"Go back to your campsite, Liam." I spat.

"Why would I do that? It's such a beautiful night out. And you have such a beautiful girl there. Now why would you keep her all to yourself?" He sauntered closer to us.

Chloe's fists balled up against my back and I noticed she tried to peer around me, but I motioned her to stay back. I stood my ground against Liam, which only made him grin further. "I shouldn't have to tell you more than once to stay away."

"You don't seem to understand the game, Souza." He proceeded even closer.

"You being a colossal creep isn't a game, Malloy. Get yourself back to your campsite and stay the hell away from us." I shoved him back with one hand. He didn't fight it, just took a step back. "Come on, Chloe." I turned her around and steered her in the direction of our camp but a hand wrapping around my bicep stopped me.

I didn't even hold back, I swung around and my fist collided with Liam's face and it began. He tackled me to the ground and laid down a few punches before I rolled back on top of him, trying to restrain his fists from flying back at my face. Blood sprayed out of his nose as I connected my fist with his face once again and he groaned. From underneath me, he kicked out my leg and I went toppling back down. During my fall I caught a glimpse of Chloe, standing on the side pleading for us to stop.

"Chloe, run!" I commanded her as I took a blow to my stomach that caused me to double over in pain. The wind was knocked out of me and I wheezed, noticing that the weight of Liam had been lifted off and he went straight for Chloe. I heard a thump and a grunt escape her. From the ground, I hauled myself up and stumbled towards the noise.

In my dazed and confused state, I cursed myself for taking as long as I did. When I eventually found them, Liam had her pinned to the ground as she whimpered, struggling against his strength.

Seeing him over Chloe like that made something in me snap. I charged at him, knocking him onto his back. As I fell with him, our heads collided and pain exploded through my temple but I pushed through it. We struggled as fists flew and knees collided, but I finally ended up on top. I threw three hard punches straight into his face, and I was sure by the end of it he would have given up. It was only when he stopped struggling that I pushed myself up off him and tended to Chloe, who was cowering on the ground in fear.

I leaned over her and whispered to her that we needed to go, believing it was over. Finally I had convinced her to move from where she was and she stood up with me, grabbing onto my arm for dear life when something from behind slammed me to the ground.

"Think you're tough, mutt?" Liam whispered threateningly into my face while gradually applying more pressure to my throat. I could feel my windpipe getting narrower and heard myself wheeze as I struggled underneath him, kicking my legs and flailing my arms about trying to push him off me. My mind went hazy as I struggled to gasp for oxygen. "You're not always going to be around to protect her. She's mine now. I win the game."

I struggled to focus my eyes as I tried to focus on breathing. The weight on my windpipe with the addition of Liam on my torso made me quickly fade out.

Suddenly a cry of pain and the relief of pressure broke through and I could finally gasp for much needed air. I scrambled up and greedily sucked in all the oxygen as I could before searching around to find the source of our interruption. The source of a cry escaped Chloe's lips drew my vision straight to her, and I smelled blood. Not just a little bit of blood, but a lot of it.

I finally pulled myself up and rushed over to her where she dropped something to the ground. It clinked as it hit the rocks and I looked down at it - it was a blade. It was then that I noticed it wasn't her blood I was smelling, it was Liam's. I looked back at him. He groaned as he rolled on his back, cradling his leg that was gushing blood.

"Chloe, where did you-"

"I-i-i-it... his p-p-pocket." She panicked. "I-i-t f-fell out."

The thought of Liam even carrying a weapon on him didn't even occur to me earlier. I mentally cursed myself for putting Chloe in such a dangerous situation, I should never have started the brawl with Liam. I began to usher Chloe away when Liam's pained voice broke through.

"You watch out for him, cutie." He warned her as he pulled himself up with the help of a tree branch. "He's more dangerous than I am."

Chloe turned to look back, but I kept pushing her forward.

"Ask him about a boy called Royce Banks." He called.

I tensed at the name.

No.

I just kept pushing her forward.

We arrived back at the camp site and I promptly checked over Chloe, making sure she was okay. There were a few scrapes and bruises, but she came out of that better off than Liam and I did.

"You're bleeding." She told me, her voice quiet.

I looked down at my blood covered sweatshirt. Liam really had a good arm on him, but I'd never admit that to him. I shed the sweatshirt to find that it had completely soaked through to the wife beater I was wearing. Chloe's face glowed with embarrassment as I lifted it over my head and threw it to the ground.

"Oh my god, Derek." She gasped as she took in my appearance. "Your stomach..."

I looked down to where nasty bruises had started forming on my torso. They were already showing up deep purple, but luckily I didn't think anything was broken.

Chloe gently ran her fingers over the bruises. "Do they hurt."

I clenched my jaw and shrugged. "It'll be fine in a day or two. We should really wake Simon and get going."

"Hang on." She held up a finger before rushing away to her tent. She emerged seconds later with a wet wipe and held it up to my face. When she realised I wasn't going to fight her on it, she began to wipe off the blood and dirt. I'll admit, it hurt. A lot. But if there was one thing I knew about Chloe, it was that she liked to feel useful. If playing doctor was going to make her feel better, then so be it.

"That's better." She said softly as she wiped at my cheek one last time. An exasperated sigh escaped her as she turned around to sit down on a fold up chair. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't think Liam is going to be bothering you too much anymore." I reassured her. "He's dumb, but I can't imagine that he's going to want to come back for more after being stabbed in the leg."

"Then why am I so scared that he's going to break out of the woods any second now and give me the same treatment?" She pulled her knees up and hugged them tight.

I moved closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, giving her a squeeze. Even with all of this new found affection that we showed each other, I still felt awkward in doing it, as if I was overstepping a boundary. "He went after you because he thought you were defenseless without me. He knows you're not afraid to fight back now."

"I thought he liked a challenge." She whispered.

"Enough to get stabbed in the leg again? I don't think so."

Chloe didn't reply. She stared forward with a blank expression on her face that killed me to see. All the light was gone from her eyes and was replaced by a look of emptiness.

"I'm going to gather our things, okay? You stay here." I told her.

By the time I had woken Simon, packed our things and got a hold of Tori, it was nearly light out. I couldn't explain the situation to them, all I told them was that there was something in the woods and it wasn't safe. Thankfully, they trusted what I was saying and didn't argue too much. Tori was peeved that I cut the weekend short for her, but otherwise she shut up and I was grateful for that. The last thing I needed on a forty minute car ride with a headache was a non-stop rant from my sister.

Dad greeted us in the driveway with a confused look on his face. "You guys weren't cut out for camping?" He mused.

I shrugged and pushed past him, dumping some bags on the porch. "Guess not."

"Derek said-" Tori began but I shut her up with the best glare I could muster. Dad didn't need to know anything, not even my cover up story. "...That it was going to rain." She finished. I gave her a curt nod.

Dad looked up at the sky, noticing how clear it was. "Doesn't look too shabby to me." He shrugged and turned on his heel, heading towards the house. "Don't forget to pack everything away properly." Tori followed him shortly after.

After dad disappeared, Simon came up to me. "Dude, what the hell is going-"

"Take Chloe home." I interrupted him. "I need to put this shit away."

Chloe and Simon disappeared with her bags towards her house and I was left carrying all of our equipment back to the garage. It took me two round trips to carry everything, which was a new record.

The garage was a mess and I had to tidy it before I was ever going to fit the tents in. It looked like Simon had rummaged through it in search for some of his art supplies. I hastily found places for the loose items before heading back into the house, making a beeline for my bedroom.

A soft thud sounded as I threw myself onto the bed, aches shot through my torso as a result of the bruises Liam had left. I shook my head of the thoughts and focused on something else. School started next Monday, and I still had a pile of homework to get done.

Typically homework was an escape from my problems, but with every math problem that popped up I couldn't help but hear Liam's words echo in my head.

Dangerous.

I shook my head of the word. No, I wasn't dangerous. If I was dangerous they wouldn't have adopted me out, right? They wouldn't have let me leave the lab. They would have terminated me with my brothers all those years ago.

What about Royce Banks?

Royce didn't deserve what happened to him, but I couldn't change the past. Things have changed now, I've changed now.

What about Chloe's arm?

This one took me by surprise, as it wasn't Liam's voice echoing in my head, it was my own that was reminding me of all the things that I'd done. I still hadn't forgiven myself for hurting Chloe, and I didn't think I ever would, but she didn't seem to hate me.

She might not hate you, but did you see the fear in her eyes last night?

Of course I did, but it was Liam who she was afraid of, right? She had to know that I was only protecting her.

You keep telling yourself that.

I had to. After the accident with Royce I had to keep telling myself that it happened for a reason, that I was defending my brother from Royce and his goons. Defending my brother didn't make me dangerous, did it?

Maybe not, but your strength does.

The same strength that hurt Royce and Chloe.

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I realized that I was actually agreeing with the voice in my head. Being a werewolf came with heightened strength. Strength that could leave another man paralyzed. Strength that could leave bruises on a tiny girl's arm with the seemingly slightest touch on my part.

Maybe I was right.

Maybe Liam was right.

Maybe I was dangerous.

Writing as Derek is hard. I feel that his mind is way too complicated to put down on paper, lol. Please review if you loved it, or hated it, or just thought it was kinda meh. Reviews are great, you're all great, cannot wait to bring you guys the next chapter!