Derek stared at Noah in shock. He didn't understand, he'd just barely left Eichen House a couple hours ago, how could his uncle be dead? His head started to shake, denying it. It couldn't be true. How could that have happened? Derek looked at Stiles then back to Noah but his scent was filled with sadness and confusion – there was nothing there to say he was joking. Noah wouldn't joke about that. The man knew about loss, he knew about Derek's loss. Stiles's gaze was still on him when Derek's legs buckled and he dropped like a stone to the ground.
His knees thudded painfully against the worn carpet of the living room floor, a second barely passed when Boyd and Allison bookended him, grabbing at his arms to keep him from pitching forward and faceplanting.
"Derek?" Stiles exclaimed but stayed where he was. Allison and Boyd were rubbing his back and shoulder comforting him with their presence and connection. He could feel the slight rumble of their bonds in the back of his head but it wasn't strong enough to really transfer their emotions to him. He didn't think he could deal with the transference anyway. He didn't want to know about Allison relief at Peter's death, or Stiles's for that matter. Peter did a lot of damage, but he was still Derek's uncle.
"Itsa… It's—fine, Stiles maybe you should just answer some questions for Erica while I figure out what I need to do about this with your father."
Stiles nodded then quickly ushered Erica past the group. He paused next to Derek for a moment and rubbed his hand over his alpha's shoulder before walking up the stairs. Echo followed them, whining in distress at the tension in the room but her training determined where her loyalty was. She may be a dog, but Echo was so much more in tune with the people in the pack then some werewolves. She would take care of Stiles, protect him if Derek couldn't be there with him.
Boyd and Allison hauled him to his feet and took Derek over to the couch where he collapsed onto the cushions. Noah followed close behind them and sat down next to him, closer than he normally did with any of the pack members except Stiles for obvious reasons. Derek couldn't make himself stop as he leaned into the man's shoulder. Noah paused before he pressed a hand around Derek's shoulder; his scent was sad and just a little angry though Derek didn't know why.
"It's going to be okay Derek, I'm going to go over there and find out what happened to him. Okay? We're going to figure this out."
Derek shook his head though he didn't know what he was arguing with, "I shouldn't have left him there, I was trying to get him out."
Noah froze, pulling away to stare at Derek with a frown, "Ummm excuse me." Not surprisingly, it wasn't a question almost an accusation, as it should have been since Derek and Stiles didn't tell Noah anything about their plans.
"We needed more power, a stronger pack with all the hunters that moved into town," Derek answered the unspoken question then straightened away from the fatherly concern the sheriff had been willing to hand out, feeling like he shouldn't accept it now when he's done something Noah didn't want them to do especially with what Peter did to Stiles. Derek frowned, "Wait, Argent and his father were there earlier today, they had something to do with this. I know it!"
Noah restrained him lightly, not trapping him because Derek could easily break the man's hold but it was enough to make him stop and look at the Sheriff, "Derek. I promise we are going to figure it out. If Chris and his father went anywhere near Peter we are going to find out and they will be punished to the full extent that the law will allow. I will not let them get away with this. They won't be doing anything without being held to the same standard as everyone else and murder is still punishable by law. No matter what the victim turns into on the night of the full moon."
"Tell that to Kate Argent," Derek muttered and Noah's back stiffened and he moved farther away from Derek.
"If you think for one second that I don't want her behind bars any less than you do, you got another thing coming kiddo."
Derek slumped back into the couch while Allison shoved herself close to his other side offering him guilt free comfort. "No, sir, you're right. I just. Not him too. I know we had our problems and what he did to Stiles was unforgivable but I just can't… I can't… won't…"
Noah leaned over again and pressed a hand to Derek's shoulder and squeezed, "You aren't alone anymore. Okay? I know this just makes it feel more alone but you have Stiles and the Pack and me. Try to remember that."
Derek nodded.
"So, in other news, Erica is here?"
Allison and Boyd both snorted at the change of subject and Derek just nodded, not looking up from his hands. They were shuddering just a little, flashing back to that night when he ripped through the house, aching to get at his family before anymore of them burned. Flashed to the wounds he caused when he dug Laura's grave with his own hands, lowering her into the ground, her blood getting all over him. Getting the wolfsbane on his hands and arms, letting the burn soak into his already charred soul as punishment for surviving again and not being there when Laura needed him. And now Peter. He'd done what he could to keep Peter alive and it was all for nothing. Nothing!
His Uncle wasn't perfect, in fact Peter was one of the most disturbed people that Derek was related to and that was before the fire but he was the only one left.
Noah squeezed again, bringing Derek's attention to him just as the Sheriff spoke, "Can we have a minute?" to the others. Allison and Lydia walked upstairs and Boyd followed them after another look aimed at Derek. He could hear them talking as they all piled into Stiles's room and he figured it was as close as they were going to get to privacy. Allison and Boyd would be surrounded by heartbeats and they would be talking to Erica. Derek looked at the Sheriff. Plus they were still nascent enough that they wouldn't be able to hear them.
"I know what Peter did to Stiles, which isn't forgivable but Stiles and I talked about this a lot. We were going to tell you about it tonight. At dinner."
"That's not what I wanted to talk to you about but try and remember that I had been visiting your uncle every week for about a month now. I know he was—is insane and having him out of Eichen House is not ideal but we could have possibly come to an arrangement about it. I don't know if I could really be okay with him being free around my son but there are options. You should have come to me with your plans."
"But he's dead so it doesn't really matter anymore," Derek whispered and Noah gripped his shoulder again.
"I wasn't there when my wife died, Stiles was there. Alone."
Derek turned and looked at the man.
"I needed a break, I took a call to help with this woman. The woman told me to leave, that I was going to miss seeing her one last time. When I got back, Stiles was sitting there and I realized that the woman was talking about Claudia. I missed her last moments, I left Stiles alone when he needed me the most and I was so angry at myself. Not because I didn't listen to the lady that at the time, I assumed she was crazy but because I left Stiles alone."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Its not your fault, not Laura, not Stiles, not Peter. You have to learn to let all this go or at least get some distance from it. I know that you are dealing with a lot, but just remember that being the last Hale doesn't mean you have to be alone. Blood isn't the only family you can have. I'm going to go find out what happened and see that he gets transported to the morgue."
"He can't be autopsied," Derek whispered suddenly remembering that his mother had ways around this sort of thing. It's one of the reasons he buried Laura's body even though it was a bad idea, "No blood samples or anything like that. Werewolf physiology isn't very different but there are indicators and that needs to stay out of files, especially pertaining to a Hale. We already have too much attention thrown our way because of the fire and then Laura's death and my being a 'person of interest' in the case."
Noah nodded, "I will work with Melissa on that. For now, I want you to stay here and talk to the pack. Are you going to turn Erica?"
Derek glanced up towards the stairs then back to Noah, "I was planning to, yes."
"Then I will discuss the 'new meds' cover with Melissa. I wonder if we actually have a doctor in the know but she will be able to at least look at the charts and maybe slip a note into her file about a new treatment or something. I will let you know what she says."
Derek nodded and slumped into the couch as Noah got up and walked back out of the house, opening the door just as Jackson raised his hand to knock. Derek watched as Noah invited the other beta into the house and he caught sight of Derek on the couch, "You rang? Oh Captain, my Captain…" his sarcastic drawl was more pronounced than usual.
Everyone must have heard the coming and going because suddenly there was tromping footsteps on the stairs. Allison was the first to leap over the back of the couch and cuddle into Derek's side. Boyd touched his arm in comfort, leaving a little of his scent there, layered on top of the Sheriff's scent. Stiles sat in one of the other chairs with Erica clinging to his side looking nervous but also a little excited and Derek figured it was because she wasn't alone. Jackson stayed where he was and stared at Lydia who was just staring back.
"Papa Stilinski is going to make sure that no one figures anything out about Peter's death, specifically the unique elements about werewolf blood and so on. But for now, we have a couple of things to discuss."
"What's with the girl?" Jackson demanded and Derek frowned at him.
"Jackson, you sweet talker you," Stiles responded sarcastically and Jackson flipped him off while Erica watched them in fascination. Stiles just continued, "This is Erica Reyes, she knows about werewolves now because we are going to offer her the Bite due to some health concerns that she struggles with. She can strengthen the Pack and she can live a more normal life with this 'treatment'."
Jackson snorted but didn't argue so Derek picked up the conversation.
"Anyway, I spoke to Alpha Ito and she has a couple of suggestions about the hunters that have come to town, she suggested sending some of her wolves on a kind of exchange system as well as Braeden, who Boyd and I met when we were first introduced to Alpha Ito. She is human but she is well versed in werewolf culture and she may be able to help us train and get stronger since she works alongside wolf packs frequently. The Ito wolves will give us some leeway with the Argent hunters because Alpha Ito has a long-time truce with the Argents and if any of her wolves are harmed, there is going to be more ramifications if they do. And as Stiles mentioned, we are going to bring Erica into the fold only if she agrees. We wanted to give her more time to make that decision but the hunters swelling their ranks and the deaths have made the issue a little more time sensitive."
"I want in," Erica blurted and everyone looked at her.
"You need to know what you're getting into," Derek responded, trying to make sure she would be able to get all the answers she needed to really make this call. It already felt to much like manipulation because she hadn't been able to live a normal childhood already but this wouldn't be normal either.
"Stiles was pretty damn straight with me about everything, including what Kate did to both of you. What the actual fuck, by the way. No, I know that I am not going to be wholly human anymore, my life has never been normal and maybe that's making this decision for me but honestly, I would rather fight next to people who are going to care enough about me to help me live with the seizures than just forgetting about me."
Stiles squeezed Erica a little at that.
"That's what pack is all about," Derek murmured, reaching out across the space in between them and taking one of her hands, "I will do what I can to be there for you in the transition and help you anyway I can."
"If this works," Erica started and audibly swallowed, "I could go to school, I could stop having the seizures, I could have friends and I wouldn't be alone anymore? Those are some of the pros, right?"
Derek nodded.
"Then get on the horn with Melissa and sign me up for this 'new treatment' as soon as we can," Erica said with a wink.
Derek smiled at her, squeezing her hand again before leaning back against the couch, "Why don't we get something to eat and watch some Buffy?"
Stiles fist-pumped the air and shoved Erica up gently so he could head to the kitchen and start making some food. Derek invited Erica to resettle on the chair while Boyd got up to help Stiles in the kitchen and Allison gripped Derek's stomach, holding him close.
Erica stared at them, "Are you like a couple or something?"
Allison chuckled, "No, he's my alpha. He's hurting and I wanted to comfort him. This is the best way to do that."
"So, touching is?"
"Nauseating normal? Yes," Jackson inserted. Allison moved her head so she could stick her tongue out at Jackson before she settled her head on Derek's shoulder. Lydia shoved down in the space between Allison and the end of the couch and Erica looked at all of them.
"Is everyone a werewolf here?" she asked.
Derek shook his head, "Jackson was turned by the previous alpha and he's kind of a part time packmate, depending on his mood." Jackson scoffed at that. "Boyd is one of my betas but he was already a werewolf, turned in another town and transferred here for a new start. Allison was turned by another alpha as well, she is one of my betas. Lydia and Stiles are human members of the pack, neither of them wants to be werewolves and that's okay."
"So, you don't have to be a werewolf to be in the pack?" she asked.
"No, in fact many of the members of the Hale Pack were human, some asked for the Bite and others stayed human. There is nothing wrong with being human, though you are probably going to see sooner rather than later that when someone is a human the other pack members tend to be a little more protective. When your situation was first brought to our attention, we wanted you to come into the pack as a human first, get to know us then share the supernatural part of our world. Let you make up your mind more slowly."
"I want to be a werewolf, that's not going to change with time. I want to change my life. I want a chance at life. This thing is just getting worse and it could kill me."
Derek fell silent, thinking of Paige who he'd gotten bitten because he was scared of losing her, of not being acceptable to her unless she was one of them. At least that wasn't true anymore. He had no intention of turning Stiles unless the stubborn human really wanted it. Lydia had never said she wanted it and that was okay. He didn't mind having her around, she was intelligent and it made Stiles feel less alone as the token human in the group.
"The guy who died, he was your uncle?" Erica asked in almost a whisper.
Derek flinched but nodded, "Yeah, he was my only living relative."
Then, out of nowhere she turned towards Jackson, "You know what its like to lose everyone you call family."
Jackson snarled, "What the hell would you know about it?"
"Your parents, they died right? In a car accident? My dad has all the paperwork for the insurance claim that's going to pay out when you turn eighteen. I was home schooled, I snuck onto their email accounts for fun by the time I was thirteen."
"Shut up, you don't know anything about that!" Jackson snapped, his cuspids lengthening in his mouth, making him slur a little. Derek watched as Stiles came in from the kitchen and Boyd pulled him back while Echo stood at his side rumbling a little at the raised voices and the tension.
Derek stood up subtly moving between his wayward beta and the humans in the room, "Jackson, you need to calm down. Control yourself."
He didn't stop shifting, the hair growing out of the side of his face and jaw, his claws popping and he fell into a defensive crouch, facing off with Erica. She just stared at Jackson, not scared by the display of aggression.
"Erica, Stiles and Lydia, you should leave now."
Their newest human just snorted, "No, I don't understand why this guy is being such a prick, you know besides the fact that Jackson Whittemore is known for being a silver-spooned child who got away with whatever he wanted. This is a small enough town that even the girl who has spent half her life in an emergency room knows it."
"Erica, I don't think you understand what's happening here," Stiles warned subtly, keeping his voice low as they all watched Jackson losing control of the shift, then something flashed along the skin of his arms and neck but it didn't stay long enough for Derek to even wonder what it was. It looked like a flash of green, then it was gone. Well he could guess but he didn't think it was possible and anyway, he was trying to keep his possible new beta-to-be from getting eaten by Jackson because apparently, she had horrible self-preservation instincts. No wonder she and Stiles got along.
"Hey!" Stiles said.
"Did I say that out loud?" Derek asked and Stiles glared at him so the alpha shrugged, "Sorry. Not sorry."
Erica spoke, "Oh, get over yourself Whittemore, you are clearly not as badass as you think you are."
Jackson snarled again leaned down like he was going to pounce while Derek flicked his claws and controlled his shifting muscles, hoping he wouldn't have to strike down his beta to protect the others. Then Jackson turned and looked off into the distance, like he could see through the walls. Derek frowned and was about to speak again when the shifted beta took off towards the door, like he'd been called off. Derek pointed to Allison, "Stay here with the others. Boyd, with me."
They took off out the door to follow Jackson who was sprinting towards the woods. He was fast, Derek realized. When did Jackson get so fast? Jackson slipped off into the darkness and Derek took a deep breath and followed the scent trail of his beta for a moment, listening as something took a flying leap into the trees but then before he could even shift course the scent disappeared completely and they stuttered to a halt, shocked.
"What the hell?" Derek asked the sky as he took another deep breath but couldn't catch the continuation of the scent, even in the trees above their heads.
"How is it possible that an untried beta knows how to mask his scent?" Boyd asked.
"I don't know, I didn't think it was possible. Alphas can hide their alpha scent but it takes practice. Jackson can barely hold his beta form, this isn't supposed to be possible. I have said it before that he seems to continually be able to do things that he shouldn't be able to do, like getting drunk and now this."
Boyd shrugged, his hands flopping to his sides as they attempted to reclaim their bearings.
Derek's head snapped off to the left when he heard the sound of something moving across the forest floor again and took off towards the sound, wondering how the hell Jackson shifted his path without them realizing, chasing the sound of a running gait across roots, leaves and grass. They slid into the opening of a valley, just in time to hear the high-pitched whine of the hunters' sonic emitters and stopped again.
"Which way did he go?" Boyd asked, wincing through the sound pushing them to run in the opposite direction just as the hunters would want. Derek knew it all too well from his years of avoiding hunters. He pressed the heel of his hand to the shell of his ear then pointed off to the path to the right. Jackson was running straight towards the hunters.
They had to stop him.
Derek started running again, grimacing at the sound as they continued for another mile or so and slammed into a thick tree trunk as they looked into the clearing in front of them. The clearing where a werewolf that clearly wasn't Jackson with that mop of dark hair was standing in front of none other than Gerard Argent.
Scott had been lured here and he was standing really close to Gerard, something in his hand and the scent of blood fresh in the air but because of the emitter's distinctive whine, they couldn't hear what was being said. Scott was nodding then he pulled back and turned, showing the bleeding spot in his lower belly where Gerard stabbed him then he took off into the woods again with a slight limp as the wound healed, leaving Argent to wipe the blood from the blade and turned off the emitters with a flick of something in his pocket – remote maybe.
"I know you're out there," Gerard said into the strained silence and Boyd gulped audibly but Derek shook his head, continuing to watch the elder hunter. "I know you think you have to listen to your master you have now but that's not all there is. You could be more than someone's creature of justice."
Derek turned to Boyd and whispered, "He's talking to the Kanima I think."
"You could be the greatest weapon that the Argent's have ever laid hands on. And when it's all over, I could put you out of your misery. Just like any other animal. The wolves are going to bring the law into our affairs, well they are not going to start with my daughter. This is war."
Derek watched the man turn and walk towards his car and wondered where Jackson could have gone. He still couldn't smell the beta at all and because Jackson wasn't bonded into his pack currently, Derek couldn't use the faulty link to find him.
When Argent was gone, he turned back to Boyd, "Get back to the house and help Allison keep an eye on everyone. I am going to keep looking for Jackson. He's out here and that means he's in danger. Especially if Gerard is the one who killed Peter, I can't let that happen to Jackson, no matter annoying he is."
Boyd nodded and started loping back towards the Stilinski house as quietly as he could. When his beta was no longer visible or in hearing range Derek quieted his body, taking on meditative breathing so he could consider the woods around him. This was his place, his playground and no one knew it better than him. No one still living anyway. Derek heard movement above his head again and took off towards the sound, following it despite the lack of scent. If he followed the Kanima then he could make sure that Jackson wasn't harmed by the creature.
The creature took another sharp turn back towards town and it wasn't until they burst out of the trees that he realized they were close to where Jackson lived. Derek looked up at the top of the nearby houses and caught sight of the lizard creature hopping almost silently from roof to roof. Derek followed it, slipping between houses and staying in the shadows, wondering the scenting ability of the creature. He didn't really remember anything about that in the Bestiary information he received but since the Kanima didn't stop, it either didn't know it was being followed or it didn't care.
The second option was definitely more terrifying than the first. If it was on a mission from its Master then nothing was going to keep it from killing someone. Another death on the hands of the creature. Then it sped up and disappeared from sight.
"Shit!" Derek snapped and took off in the direction it was going, that's all he could do. He needed to take out the Kanima before it killed someone else. If the stories were true then the Kanima wasn't at fault but he couldn't let it keep killing people.
He drew close enough to one of the houses where people were shouting and altered his course since one of the screams was filled with pain and fear. When he was close enough to hear their words, Derek realized someone was screaming at their kid about chores and it didn't have anything to do with the Kanima and he was about to carry on when he heard a sharp snap of palm on skin and the door opened. The teen stumbled out of the front door and Derek moved out of sight as the father came charging out of the house behind the young man.
"Isaac, get back here and clean up this mess right now!" the other man yelled and the kid, Isaac presumably, shook his head. He looked around, like he was hoping to catch sight of someone to help him when the other man grabbed Isaac by the curly dirty blond mop of hair and started dragging the boy back inside.
Derek snuck closer to the house, he couldn't just walk away from such blatant child abuse. Though he didn't know what he could do, maybe knock on the door and ask for sugar so the man was distracted from harming his kid. People did that in small towns, borrow things from their neighbors. Maybe it would work. Derek recognized the teen from school. It was possible that it was the same Isaac that Stiles was cursing about who was friends with Scott. All the more reason to try and keep him unharmed.
Derek was about to knock when he heard a tinny phone ring and then a very familiar voice answered, "Isaac? What's up man?" Scott asked, which clarified that this was the Isaac that Scott was friends with. He was about to turn around and leave since the yelling had stopped.
"My dad's really bad off this time, I need out of here. Can I come over?" Isaac asked, voice shuddering.
"My mom is going to be home in about fifteen minutes, we can come get you."
"Can you get here faster?" Isaac whispered as something else crashed nearby and the father started screaming again.
"Who are you talking to! You have school tomorrow, you're not going anywhere! Get downstairs!"
Derek wondered why 'Get downstairs' sounded so bad when something scrapped across glass nearby, maybe a window and Derek opened his senses to the house he was still standing in front of. He shifted to look through a window, watching as the father and son stopped, shifted to stare at something at the other end of the house so Derek moved to knock on the door. Taking a chance.
Derek heard them turn towards the front door at his knock sounded in the silence then there was a loud crash of a window and a sudden scream from the father as Isaac shouted for Scott who was possibly still on the phone. Derek burst through the front door, but the creature was faster. Isaac moved to run but the Kanima swiped its deep claws across the teenager's stomach and shoved him out of the way while Derek rushed out just in time to catch Isaac and set him down gently. The Kanima chased the father and with a slash of claws the older man fell in the next room. Derek pressed a hand to Isaac's torn stomach, trying to stem the bleeding and watched as the kid stared up at him, saying and doing nothing.
"I can't feel anything," he whispered. "I'm going to die, aren't I?"
Derek frowned, "No. You're not. It's the creature's ability to paralyze with its claws... I need to stop the creature."
"Let it end this. I don't care," Isaac returned neutrally. "If I'm gone then he can't hurt me anymore and we're all dead then we can see Camden again. We are all better off being together."
Derek heard the father panting in the other room, crying out as the Kanima circled his prone body. He gently put Isaac's head on the ground and got up, rushing into the other room and shifted into his beta shift in motion allowing the change to spur him on. Derek felt the pull of his pack, helping him and keeping him centered as he slammed into the Kanima who turned and screeched at him. Derek flashed his eyes and the creature hissed again and turned to finish the job.
"Don't!" Isaac shouted from the other room then started hacking and it sounded wet. Derek couldn't be in two places at once and the Kanima was focused on the father so he couldn't leave the room. Derek rushed the creature and shoved it back into a wall, listening to the hissing sounds it made but the impact did nothing to slow the Kanima and it flipped Derek back onto the ground without breaking a sweat.
"Isaac?" Scott yelled as he came in the front of the house and the Kanima turned to him. Scott still had a blood spot on his shirt from the altercation with Gerard and he rushed over to Isaac on the ground, shoving his hand down on the wound on Isaac's chest which seemed to be expelling more and more blood then Derek noticed before. Derek struggled to get up when the Kanima lifted him and threw him into the opposite wall and rounded on the father as Derek hit the ground.
He couldn't get up fast enough to stop any of it.
Scott suddenly rushed the creature growling and shifted and the creature swiped his claws across Scott's shoulder, just barely missing his throat as Derek tried to push himself off the floor, seeing the hit out of the corner of his eye. The Kanima moved over to the prone body of the father again and there was a choked scream as the last strike was administered and Derek got to his feet as Isaac's dad gave one final scream of pain as the creature jammed his claws into the man and eviscerated him quickly and the sound of the flesh tearing was not something Derek was going to forget anytime soon.
"Stop it!" Scott shouted from the ground, listening to the sounds and Derek struggled through the haze of pain to move over to Isaac again. Scott wasn't going to die but the wounds on Isaac were apparently bad enough that the pool of blood around him was growing and his breathing was labored.
"Is my dad dead?" Isaac whispered, then coughed and little bit of blood-soaked spittle clung to the corner of his mouth.
"Yes, I'm sorry. I wasn't fast enough," Derek whispered.
"It's okay, maybe the Lahey's will have a better chance in the next life."
Derek had never really been around someone who was hurt badly enough to think they were dying but he didn't think it would be normal for him to be this calm. Paige was calm but not in the beginning, that calm had come much later.
Derek turned back and watched as the Kanima stared down at it's handiwork for a moment then turned back to Scott. Derek moved again, as quickly as he could to get between the creature and Scott, "No more! Just stop!" He shouted, his eyes flashing red, just reacting with the show of power even though he didn't think it would do anything to the Kanima, not when it already had a Master.
The Kanima paused, tilting his head in canine confusion adding to Derek's confusion.
Derek stood tall, "You have done enough damage in this town! Just. Stop!"
The creature hissed at Derek but stopped again, confused then it straightened and something happened to the Kanima's features.
The creature just stared at Derek for a moment, the green scales starting to shift back into more human features. The nose popped out from the reptilian nostril holes, ears popped outwards and hair started growing from its head. It took about thirty seconds before Derek started to recognize him.
He stared in shock as Jackson's features came through and he took his bloody fingers that still flashed that scaling and rubbed red lines down his face and licked a little from his finger before he spoke. His voice sounded like multiple people talking, echoing out through his mouth, "I am justice, I serve death to those who deserve it. Don't get in my way."
Derek continued to stare in disbelief as Jackson, who still had a tail and flashing scales, rushed out through the open front door and was gone in a second, faster than even the werewolf that he was supposed to be.
Jackson.
Was.
The Kanima.
How was any of this possible?
"Derek, I can't move," Scott whimpered from the ground and he tried to shake off the shock of discovery as Derek dropped next to the teenager.
"Kanima paralyzes its victims, it will wear off, the cut is already healing. I have to get back to Isaac, he's hurt bad." He paused and patted Scott's chest awkwardly, still imagining the blank stare of Jackson's face which Scott didn't see and he wasn't going to tell the teenager, "I'm sorry about your friend."
"He's still alive," Scott gritted out.
Derek listened and nodded, Isaac's heart was pumping though it was starting to sound sluggish and his breathing was getting more difficult. "He doesn't have a lot of time. I need to call some help for him. I was tracking Jackson, then I found the Kanima. I tried to stop it."
Scott took a deep breath and husked out, "Turn Isaac, you can save him. Please?"
"He can't agree to it. I won't turn someone without consent."
"Isaac is dying, trust me, being a werewolf has to be preferable to that."
Derek knew it was possible, the Bite could save him but the kid was still going to need medical attention. He nodded though he was still unsure about it, picked up the phone and called 911, wishing he could make sure to get the Sheriff but he didn't want to ask for Noah, making this harder for the man. Isaac needed help now. He reported the address and that he'd heard shouting and screaming while on an evening run and found the Lahey's like they were. It looked like an animal attack. Isaac had a friend over who couldn't move but he seemed to be otherwise unharmed.
Then he walked back over to Isaac and moved the ripped t-shirt away from the ribcage where the claw marks were deepest, shifted into his alpha shift which elongated his jaw and tightened the space of his teeth into something more like a wolf than a man. He made sure his jaws were wide enough to do the job, Derek leaned in close and pressed his teeth into the skin under Isaac's heart and bit down hard, his mouth filling with blood.
It made him gag but he held on long enough to push that desire to make someone like him into the Bite. He shook his head a little, making the wound ragged so it would be harder to identify and more like an attack rather than this 'perfect bite' mark.
He jerked away and shifted back into his human form and wiped his mouth on the bottom of his dark shirt, trying not to spit all the blood on the floor. He couldn't afford to leave blood patches that would lead them back to something else. Lead them back to him instead of an animal.
Then he ripped the kid's t-shirt even more and started syphoning the pain away from the boy. Derek wished he could go rinse out his mouth but he didn't want to leave Isaac who was still unconscious but breathing.
He pushed past the limitations on his abilities, trying to connect with the great well of 'other' he'd accessed with Stiles back when he'd been alone and a beta. When his pack mate was hurt on the lacrosse field and Derek had been desperate to wake him, something had happened. He needed that to happen again, for this kid now.
Scott was still whimpering and breathing, he sounded like he was trying not to cry. Derek stayed where he was, crooning words of comfort to Scott he stayed there, holding an extra towel over the bleeding wound, tears on his lashes, thinking about Peter and Paige. Thinking about the kid's dad in the other room and his wayward beta who was apparently a lot more lost than Derek ever imagined possible. How could it possibly be Jackson? It wasn't possible but clearly it was.
When the police arrived, Derek was glad it was the Sheriff who helped Derek to his feet while Isaac, Scott and Isaac's dad were all lifted out of the house and into ambulances. Derek sat in the front of the cruiser on the drive, staring at the blood on his hands as Noah called the house and told them what he could and Derek told them the rest in stilted sentences.
It was too much.
Once again, nothing would ever be the same again.