Chapter Twenty-Five
Autumn's POV
"Derek, I can't do this!" I panicked, my grip on the steering wheel tightening. Derek chuckled and placed his hands over mine from the back seat. He insisted that from there, he could help me steer while I concentrated on the pedals for the first time.
"You'll do fine, hun. For now, just concentrate on going and stopping. Once you've mastered that, we'll move on to that and steering, and then both of those and shifting." he tried to reassure me and I groaned again. Derek had tried to tell me this would be a fun experience, but now that I was sitting in the driver's seat, I had to question his definition of fun. "Okay, now, the pedal on the far right is the gas. Right next to that is the brake. The one on the far left is the clutch, but we're not going to worry about that one right now." he explained, running his thumbs over the tops of my hands to help me relax.
After an hour or so, I'd mastered stopping and going. It was a lot more difficult than you'd think. "Do you want to move on or continue tomorrow?" Derek asked after some more practice.
"Continue tomorrow." I said and we resituated ourselves, Derek in the driver's seat and me in the passenger's. It wasn't until we were halfway to my house that I realized the werewolf looked extremely tense. "It's Jackson, isn't it?" I asked, wanting to let him know he could confide in me.
"Hm?" he asked, glancing at me for a moment before looking back to the road.
"Jackson. You're worried about him being the Kanima and all." I answered and the brunette sighed.
"Scott doesn't want to kill him. He thinks we should do everything to help him, to try and cure him." he answered and I could tell this was something that was bothering him, one of his own not agreeing with him. "It's too much a risk letting him run around like this. People are going to die if something's not done." he added before sighing.
"There's something else though, isn't there?" I asked when he was still visibly stressed.
"I don't want to kill Jackson. He's a jerk and all, but...I don't think he knows he's doing it. Then I remember that you could've died because of him and it doesn't seem to matter anymore if he knows or not." he elaborated and I pursed my lips before reaching up and taking one of the hands that had a death grip on the steering wheel.
"I'm still alive though." I whispered, lacing our fingers together.
"I know. And I'm more than glad you are." he said softly, giving my hand a strong squeeze.
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"He's more worried about you than he puts on." Isaac said later that night while I was sitting in bed with my dad's old bestiary. "From what Talia says, werewolves are extremely protective of their mates. He's worried about your safety. Maybe even more so than the rest of the pack."
"You don't think he'd do something stupid, do you?" I asked, giving the blonde a hopeful look. There was a long pause while Isaac contemplated his answer.
"He knows what he's doing, Autumn. Or at least he thinks he does." he finally said with an apologetic smile before turning and leaving me alone once more. I couldn't help but groan at how true that statement was. If Derek thought it was the right thing, it wouldn't matter if it got him killed in the process.
"You're not doing anything stupid, are you?" I blurted out when Derek finally slipped through the open window about an hour later. Derek was silent while he shut the window and slipped out of his jacket.
"Define stupid." he said as he came to stand next to the bed. Before I answered him, I slid to the side of the bed and reached up to finger his left sleeve where there was a dark blood stain. When I pulled it up, there was a rather deep gash on his arm that was a little difficulty healing.
"Whatever's causing you to bleed and not heal properly." I said, tentatively running my fingers over the wound. "Can I try something?" I asked, tearing my eyes away from the torn flesh to look into the werewolf's eyes. "My dad was a healer in his old covenant and, well, I've been experimenting with this whole evolving thing, if that's what it is." I explained and Derek chuckled before nodding.
With a smile, I pulled Derek down so he was sitting next to me on the bed and I grabbed for the bestiary. Flipping it to the small section he had about werewolves, I skimmed. "Okay, so, there's not really anything here about healing werewolves, which isn't a big surprise, but I might have an idea. So, if this hurts, don't hate me." I said before placing my hand over the wound, palm flat, I closed my eyes and concentrated on the biology of muscle tissue, fat, and skin. "Nothing's happening is it?" I asked after a long stretch of silence.
"My arm's starting to tingle, but that usually happens when you're touching me." he said and when I opened my eyes to give him a pointed look, he was grinning at me.
"Don't think you're going to sweet talk your way out of this, Derek. You're still going to tell me what happened." I told him, but I couldn't help the smile that bloomed on my own face. When I closed my eyes again, I concentrated more on the muscle, fat, and skin fusing together and repairing itself. I ended up pulling my hand back quicker than I ever would've thought possible when Derek hissed in pain.
"Oh god!" I yelled, keeping my hands up and away from the werewolf. "I'm so sorry!" I began to freak out, but stopped abruptly when I noticed the wound was gone and all that was left was a light scar that would probably go away in a few days.
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"I can't believe it actually worked!" I exclaimed the next day before the bell rang.
"So, what? You've got some freakish healing powers now?" Stiles asked from behind me, sounding confused and astonished at the same time.
"Apparently healing abilities aren't that uncommon amongst supernatural beings." Scott explained and I nodded in agreement. A few seconds after Allison rushed into the class, the bell rang and the class went silent as a tall woman in a grayish green dress and tan heels with red hair like fire walked into the class behind her.
"I'm afraid your teacher was feeling ill and had to leave early." she said, leaning on the front of the desk where she could see the entire class. "So I'm afraid you're going to be stuck with me for a substitute." she said with a grin that would have been friendly to anyone else, but made my spine tingle in a bad way. After she scanned the room, she looked at me and I sat up a little straighter. "Ms. Summers, the principle would like to see you." she said and I didn't miss the cold tint in her voice. Glancing at the other three, I noticed that Allison had a panicked look on her face while Stiles and Scott just looked confused.
Without saying anything, I stood and left the room. "Can anyone catch me up to speed on where we are?" I heard her say pleasantly as I shut the door behind me. I didn't know why I had this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I knew it couldn't be good. And it didn't help that the walk to the office felt like it was taking forever.
When I walked into the office, Ms. Morman smiled at me and pointed to the principal's office. "Mr. Argent's waiting for you." she said pleasantly, like she didn't realize what she'd just said. I really hoped by Mr. Argent, she meant Allison's dad and not her grandfather. But my nose was telling me my hopes were useless.