Chapter 82: The Beta

Let it out or let it go!

Something was different.

Even before Joe managed to open her eyes, she could feel that something had changed while she was unconscious. It might have been sleep, but she doubted it. No dreams to be remembered. There was nothing conclusive about what had changed, but she had this feeling in her whole body, of being a little... less?

Also, she had a deep sense of calm, but that might be because she was hooked up to an IV probably dripping with sedatives. She laid in the brightly lit hospital room and for a few seconds, she expected Aunt Mel to walk through the door to berate her for being stupid. This wasn't the Memorial however. Downtown hospital most likely.

And Aunt Mel was still missing.

Calm evaporating, Joe sat up with the distinct impression of being out of time. Her eyes fell on the clock over the door and it was either really early or really late. She nearly tumbled out of the bed when reaching over to the window to jerk the curtains aside. It was late. Full moon on the rise.

"Shit," she swore and did something Aunt Mel would definitely have frowned at: she ripped out the IV from her arm. It healed while she watched it and she flexed her hand, feeling the tingling in her muscles of having them lying unused for so long. Her legs ached the same way, but it went away the second she started moving around in the room. The only consolation was that she still wore her street clothes and not some hospital gown, even if parts of her leggings were covered in dirt. Her jacket and phone laid on the nearby table, but-

"You've been out for sixteen hours."

"Son of a bitch!" Joe tore around, hand going back to her waistband automatically, coming up empty of any weapon. Not that she needed it — Marin did not look in any condition to fight where she sat in the corner, left arm cradled to her chest and a large bandage wrapped around her shoulder. "Jesus Christ," Joe put a hand to her throat to ease up the tension, she sounded like a frog, "what happened to you?"

Even in obvious pain, Marin gave her a classic Mona Lisa-smile. "Deucalion. You?"

"Kali," Joe said, but rubbed her head. "Or Derek. I'm not sure. Are you okay? That looks," she blew air out of her mouth, searching for a word, "bad."

It did. Even with the tight bandage, a dark red spot seeped through, probably remains after the hospital stitched her up.

"It's just a flesh wound." Unfortunately, Marin tried to accompany her casual reply with a shrug and her face contorted in discomfit. "A painful one. How are you feeling? As I said, you've been out for a while."

"Fine." An icy feeling spread inside Joe. "How did I get here? Where's," she did a spin, searching the room, "Erica? Sarah?"

"Sarah left." Marin tilted her head towards the open doorway. "Miss Reyes is asleep, poor thing. She took a lot of my pain last night."

Joe leaned sideways to see Erica sprawled over two chairs out in the hospital hall, fast asleep with a petulant frown on her face. No apparent injuries, so Joe guessed the blood on her cashmere sweater was Marin's. Just seeing Erica's chest move from breathing unclogged something in Joe's chest as well. Erica was alive.

"Wait, Sarah left?" Without pausing to wait for an answer, Joe scoffed. "Figures. No reason for her to stick around anymore."

"Because you're no longer an Alpha?" Marin, completely without surprise, tried to shrug again when Joe only glared at her — she only succeeded at wincing. "That was not what I meant by doing the right thing."

"You gotta admit though, those were super vague instructions."

Marin's face darkened, nostrils flaring slightly. "As an Emissary, I'm under oath. I can't directly oppose Deucalion."

"Even when he did this?" Joe gestured to Marin's shoulder and the look on her face was answer enough. "Why would he do this?"

"He promised Scott to save his mother. He wanted information."

"And you gave it to him?"

"What little I know. She will take them to the Nemeton."

Which Joe already knew about. She sighed and leaned against the hospital bed. "How do we find it?"

"That knowledge doesn't come for free."

Joe let out a breathless laugh. "You are seriously lucky you're pretty and I got some sleep because even now that kind of answer is tempting me to break something. Could be furniture, could be bones. Just saying."

"It requires sacrifice," Marin immediately clarified. Her eyes were slightly glazed over and Joe realized she might be drugged down on painkillers. "One that your cousin has made. You, however, have another problem to worry about. Noble as Derek's offering might be, he has played right into her hands again. She's a serpent, Josefina. She'll force him to her side as she knows he can't face the Alphas without her."

"Oh, right, this soap opera bullshit." Rubbing her temples, Joe tried to think. Think about the dark druid who used to be obsessed with her mother and now her mate, targeting Joe's remaining family in the process. "Deucalion still wants Derek?"

"As far as I can tell, yes."

"And Kali's out for blood. For Ennis."

"Or for you."

Those sixteen hours were fading fast, Joe thought, and blinked her heavy eyes at the pale druid in the chair. "For me?" Joe blew air out her mouth. "Right. I might as well be dead in her eyes now."

"Are you sure about that?" Marin's eyes, although slightly dull, bore into Joe. "Who do you think brought you here?" As Joe only curled her lip, Marin continued in a low voice: "Derek didn't kill Ennis, by the way."

"What?"

"Deucalion did. Alan saved Ennis, but he died after Deucalion went to see him alone. Kali knows this now." With a wry smile, she touched her bandage gingerly with the opposite arm. "This was the price I paid for that betrayal."

"You guys are seriously messed up."

"Bonds aren't easily broken."

With a sigh, Joe started fidgeting with the IV-cord. "Okay, I regret unplugging myself. I want to go back under, you think-"

"The mate bond is a power, Josefina."

Joe went back to massaging her temples. "Oh my God. Yes, thank you, so I've been told. I know. Really doesn't help."

"You think you know, but you don't. You've only scratched the surface of what it can do."

"Too vague, okay? Still not helping. Doesn't matter. Kali wants blood anyway. If Deucalion says jump, she'll do it. Derek might not have killed Ennis directly, but she'll blame him for his death. He made Ennis's position in the pack obsolete the second he gained the upper hand in the fight. Duke collects the best of the best and Derek proved better."

Marin's plump lips drew in a strict line. "That is not how packs are supposed to work, you know that, right?"

"So far I think I've only seen how packs aren't supposed to work. But since I'm no longer an Alpha, that's not my problem anymore. I'm just a-" Joe's eyes landed on Erica's sleeping form out in the hallway. "What am I now? Omega? Beta? Quasi-Gamma? Kappa pi?"

Silence reigned for a while, but eventually Marin sighed and leaned her head on her hand. She seemed tired, her injuries creating a crack in her otherwise flawless composure. "Beta."

Joe snorted to herself despite the situation. "Cannot believe I'm Scott's beta."

"Who says you are Scott's beta?"

Before Joe could ask what Marin meant, familiar voices floated from down the hall:

"You said she'd be here!"

"The trail leads here, I don't know what-"

The first voice was female — terse and high-pitched — but the second voice alone was enough to raise Joe's hackles and she tore out in the hallway, ready to strike. Luckily for him, it was Ethan and not Aiden.

Unluckily for him, Erica did not care.

With a harsh roar, she went straight from sleep to action. She dashed up from the chairs and soared at Ethan, claws out. It happened so fast Joe only froze in the doorway, again reaching for a gun that wasn't there.

There was no realistic way for Erica to be able to take on Ethan by herself — no matter how strong she was — but he seemed too much in shock to fight back. He only stared when she had him pushed up against the wall with her clawed hand around his throat.

"You're supposed to be dead!"

"Yeah?" Erica tilted her head, yellow eyes glowing. "I get that a lot, actually. Now give me one good reason I shouldn't rip out your throat," she leaned closer, "with my teeth."

"That catchphrase is getting so old," Joe mumbled and took a few slow steps into the blessedly empty hallway. Last thing they needed was hospital staff paying attention. She noted that Marin did not follow and decided to close the door gently behind her. There had been enough collateral damage already. "What are you doing here?"

Ethan stared at Joe, giving the distinct impression of just having seen a ghost. "We thought you killed her!"

"You and me both. What do you want, Ethan?"

Lydia piped up from where she had retreated safely to the opposite wall. "He's with me."

"And your validation," Erica gave Lydia a heavy-lidded stare, obviously not impressed, "matters why, exactly?"

"Okay, I suppose I deserved that," Lydia admitted in a tight voice, blinking down at her feet before finding her bearing. "But we don't have time for this." She looked at Joe. "We need to go right now."

She looked, if possible, even paler than usual and had her arms folded tightly around herself. Same dress as yesterday, Joe realized. When Joe only stared, because her brain was not keeping up with current events, Lydia snapped:

"You said you'd deal with Kali? Then we have to go! She's on her way to Derek's right now."

"Full moon's not even up." Joe pointed lamely to the window, but it dawned on her just as she said it. Kali did not have a poetic bone in her whole body. "She's not gonna wait for the lunar eclipse, is she?"

Ethan shook his head — as much as he could without impaling himself on Erica's claws. "No, she and my brother are heading to the loft. So if you want to help, we gotta move now."

"Stiles and the others are going to the Nemeton to free the sacrifices," Lydia took a cautious step forward, almost looking afraid Erica would spring on her instead, "and Scott went with Deucalion to stop Jennifer, but if you're not out this door in five seconds, we're leaving without you."

With a smirk, Erica backed away from Ethan. She met Joe's questioning glance and shrugged. "I go where you go."

"You don't need to," Joe said and rubbed her head again — the throbbing had increased by just standing here. "I'm not your Alpha anymore."

"Great, that just means you can't order me away. Bonds aren't easily broken, you know."

"I swear to God I'm shooting the next person who says that." Joe patted the empty waistband again. "Or at least I would if I had my gun. Let's just go, we can argue on the way over."

Hopefully, Derek could do some werewolf-mojo to get Erica to leave. Erica, Cora, Lydia — they all needed to get out of the way.

As they walked out into the unfamiliar hallway — Joe'd never been to the smaller downtown hospital before — Ethan asked about Marin. He sighed when he noticed their suspicious gazes, Joe had at least made little effort to hide it. "Believe me or not, but I just don't want any more people to die."

"And your brother?" Joe asked, wondering how far the twin's bond could be stretched. They had a variant of what she and Derek shared, with them feeling each other's pain. As such, they had been the first ones to explain how she should control it. Like all lessons at the hands of Aiden, it had been extremely painful.

In response to her question, Ethan only mumbled as he nodded towards Lydia: "That's why I'm bringing her."

"Aw, how sweet," Erica cooed. "Didn't know sadistic sociopaths were capable of love. Or do you have a fetish we don't know about, Lyds?"

"No kink-shaming, Erica." The words came automatically as Joe studied Lydia, who managed to powerwalk even while wearing high heels. Her eyes narrowed again at Ethan: "How old are you guys?"

"You mean in human years?"

"I mean in how many rounds the planet's gone around the sun since you were born," Joe snapped, too riddled with anxiety to deal with any more mysticism. "You are definitely older than seventeen."

"Does it matter, right now?" Lydia sounded riled up as they exited the hospital, which was way too understaffed to notice one of its patients just waltzing out of there — Joe had torn off the hospital bracelet in the hallway to be sure.

"I'm just saying it's not the age of the body that's the issue with statutory rape."

Erica made a face. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Goes to both of you. As a precaution."

"Oh my God, we are not having this discussion right now," Lydia said and effectively ended it. Joe made a mental note to revisit the topic with Aiden if she got the chance. When they were in Lydia's car, she asked Joe: "Do you have a plan?"

"Nope."

Voice tight and eyes drastically widened, Lydia added: "And no gun?"

"No gun."

She turned around in the driver's seat to address Erica. "You? Plan?"

"Oh, no," Erica made a bored face, "I'm just here for the ride."

"Great," said Lydia and started the car. Ethan sat rigid in the passenger seat, carefully not looking at any of them while Lydia bit out: "This is going great."

"You think Derek's got a plan?"

Joe glanced at Erica next to her in the backseat. "If he does, it's probably not very good."

"Fair. Can I propose a plan? Why don't we repeat history and spring Jimmy from wherever he's held and then we skip town? All of us?"

"Repeat history? Erica, we can't have Jimmy tear apart a whole squad of federal agents."

"Because of your dad?"

"Also because they are people, Erica."

Joe groaned and leaned forwards, stomach churning and protesting the latest abuse she had put her body through. It had been a bad few days. Weeks. Months. Whatever. She could not even allow herself to stop and think. Dad. Aunt Mel. Jimmy. It was such a mess.

If she stopped now, she'd stop completely.

As Lydia drove, Joe checked her phone, but it was seeped with mud and wouldn't turn on. Probably needed to lie in rice for a few hours. Probably not what should have been at the top of her priorities right now. She had wanted to call her dad and Jimmy and even Aunt Mel, if only to leave them voice mails saying goodbye and that she loved them.

The plan was not to kill Kali. The plan was to not let Kali kill anyone else.

Talking fast, Lydia filled them in on everything else that had transpired while Joe was unconscious. Something about ice baths and artificial sacrifices and anchors. Erica seemed most interested in that Isaac had been an anchor for Allison. It made no sense and Joe would have to get the full story later. If she lived that long. Her mind kept attaching that statement to everything.

If she lived that long.

If any of them lived that long.

"Joe," Lydia asked when they were in the elevator, heading up to the loft. "Why are you not wearing shoes?"

"It improves the way you feel and perceive your surroundings," Joe said with a shrug, even though Ethan had also lifted his eyebrow when Lydia asked the question. Erica just smirked — she knew this already. "Something about vibrations or whatever. It's a long answer."

"It's not sanitary."

"Neither was sleeping with Jackson Whittemore."

"Can we not, Erica?" Joe took a deep breath to steel herself when they reached the top floor. Like before, Peter wrenched the door open at their arrival and although he seemed wary of Ethan and Joe — with good reason — he seemed to trust Lydia's judgment and let them in.

"You're becoming a regular lately," Peter said with a stiff smile at Joe, who did not have it in her to argue with him. Her focus laid mostly on the near-collapsed Derek sitting under the window with a fully awake Cora tending to him. As they stepped inside, he seemed to muster what he had left of strength to get up.

God, it was good to see him, even if he looked as tired as she felt.

Joe had not been prepared to see Cora already up and running. Especially not running straight for Joe, throwing her arms around Joe's neck to envelop her in a tight hug. With three inches on Cora, Joe could bury her nose into Cora's thick hair and hide the tears that sprang unbidden. She was okay. Nothing else mattered.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Joe whispered repeatedly in Spanish when she realized Cora was crying too. "Lo siento, Cora."

The words that followed nearly broke her heart. "It's okay, you're here now."

Oblivious to the others in the loft, they pulled away and Cora held Joe's hands in hers. Joe blinked away tears. She had to ask. "Is this real?"

"It's real," Cora confirmed and squeezed her hands, much like Derek would, although she had no way of knowing that. Her eyes were bright brown, nearly golden when they looked at Joe. "Sefina, esto es real, lo prometo." This is real, I promise.

Nodding, Joe tried to breathe. Things felt real, but then again, they always did. Of course, it helped when the one thing Joe doubted the most had entered the loft with her and now gave a loud scoff.

"Baby Hale," Erica drawled and walked past Cora and Joe. "Good to see you're finally awake."

The temperature in the loft seemed to drop significantly. Joe rolled her eyes.

"You." A classic Hale-glare on Cora's face, one she wiped hastily as she addressed Erica. "Derek told me you were alive."

"Don't sound so disappointed."

Joe's headache throbbed, and she covered her face with her hand. "Guys, can we not?"

"Told you you'd lose control on the full moon."

"Oh really? Because I heard you were the definition of self-restraint that night. Speaking of, where's Verne?"

"Don't know. Where's Jimmy?"

"Guys..."

If it was a werewolf-thing or a teenage-girl thing, Cora and Erica were still circling each other while they exchanged 'pleasantries'. Erica's sharp-tongued quips versus Cora's deadpanned replies. Joe, having major flashbacks to the vault, decided to just ignore them for now. Where was Boyd when you needed him?

"Goddamn high schoolers," she muttered, knowing everyone in the loft except Lydia would hear, and went up to Derek. Just two steps away, she could feel his scent full force and it was tempting to just lean in and try to forget about everything else. "Hey."

"Hey," Derek said, eyes going between her and the two teenagers behind her who had ramped up to Spanish sarcasm. With a sigh, he seemed to make a conscious decision to ignore them and gave her a concerned glance. "You okay?"

Joe shook her head with a tired smile. "No."

It was the truth, but it did not help right now. His eyebrows rose softly, accentuating the slight darkness under his eyes giving away to the scruff on his cheeks. What he had done last night had cost him — a lot. It looked like he wasn't sure what to say and she at least had absolutely no idea what to say. Too much and too little at the same time.

To hell with it, she thought, and leaned in to hug him instead.

A split second, she registered his surprise.

It did not take another second though before his arms closed around her, pulling her into him while she rested her face in the crook of his neck. The nape of his neck felt damp of sweat, but his hair soft as always and she clung to him like she could never get close enough. She hoped he understood, that he could read her chemosignals or body language or whatever he needed to understand everything she wanted to say, but did not have the words for.

For a few precious moments, she let herself be held by him. Warm, safe, strong — all Derek. And her heart pounded harder when she felt more than heard him inhale deeply at the side of her head, taking in her scent like she was taking in his.

"I'm sorry," he murmured into her wild curls, but Joe shook her head against his neck. The rest of the loft could have evaporated for all she cared, she just needed this. Needed him. Just him for a little while.

"You don't get to be sorry, Derek. Are you okay? It felt like it-" hurt, a lot, more than anyone could take alone. Joe cut herself off, fighting the urge to just squeeze him tighter, and repeated instead: "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine in," he sighed and the motion of his chest nearly lifted her off the floor, "a few hours."

"You don't have a few hours."

Feeling him nodding, his arms secured around her. "I know."

"Derek, I- I know this is real, but I don't, I mean, I can't remember if-" Joe tried to get her thoughts in order. "Are we okay?"

"We're okay, Joe."

"The garage?"

She could feel his face moving, maybe into a small smile. "The garage was real."

Oh thank God.

As much as she would like to just get lost in Derek's arms — his scent, his warmth, his strength — she realized the loft had fallen completely silent, even the two bickering teenage werewolves having shut up. The world did not stop just because she wanted it to.

Joe murmured into his chest: "They're watching, aren't they?"

"We can hear you too," Erica said and Joe could practically feel how she grinned. "No, no, go on, don't mind us. Just a question, what happened in the garage?"

At least she was too tired to be embarrassed, and Joe hoped the same held for Derek. They untangled slowly, giving each other slightly exasperated glances and Joe realized everyone had stopped to stare at them. Erica, as expected, with a satisfied smirk on her face, and even Cora's eyes crinkled in some kind of joy. Lydia looked contemplative, Ethan uncomfortable and Peter dissatisfied, which did improve Joe's mood somewhat.

"Shut up," she still said to the loft in general. "Especially," she raised her voice, "you, Erica."

The teen in question snapped her mouth shut — obviously on the verge of commenting — but the smile never faded. She winked and mouthed: "Adorable."

"As sweet as this display is," Peter — of course, who else — said with his hand tucked under his chin in thought, "may I ask why you have brought the lowest ranked Alpha in here?"

"Yeah," Cora glared at Erica, "why did you bring him?"

"I didn't bring him," Erica looked sour and folded her arms, just like Cora already had done, "she did."

Cora scowled, moving her angry eyes from Ethan to Lydia, obviously not a big fan of either. "Why did you bring her then?"

"I brought myself, okay?" Lydia hugged herself, looking exasperated and Joe could understand her frustration. "Ethan, please tell them what you told me."

Ethan, glancing over at Erica and Cora at regular intervals, followed Lydia's demand and explained what they had come for. "We know about the lunar eclipse. So don't think Kali's gonna sit around waiting for it to level the playing field. She's coming and my brother's coming with her."

"Good enough for me," Peter said and nearly clapped his hands together in finality. "Derek?"

For some reason, Derek was looking at Joe. "You want me to run?"

"No, I want you to stray and get slaughtered by an Alpha with a psychotic foot fetish who also happens to be your mother-in-law," Peter said, sarcastic as only he could be. "Yes, I want you to run!"

"What?" Cora and Ethan asked at the same time and Peter looked distressed.

"It's called satire, a very effective literary device."

"No, wait, mother-in-law?" Cora repeated and looked from Joe to Derek and back again. She had the face of someone who did not yet get the punchline. "What?"

"Oh," Erica grinned at Cora, "you hadn't figured that out?"

"¡Cállate, Blanquita!"

As predicted, the nickname rose Erica's hackles immediately. "Make me shut up then, Jungle Barbie."

"For the last time, the Amazon is a rain forest, idiot."

"Like there's a difference?"

"You are the definition of what's wrong with the American school system-"

"Okay!" Joe interjected, physically waving her arm between the pair. "Time out! Both of you, shut up. I might not be an Alpha anymore, but I will split-kick either one of you through the fucking window, okay? Shut -up."

Grumbling, Cora and Erica backed off, but with the stare of someone who silently promised that this was nowhere near over. Part of Joe wanted to scream at them, to make them realize the severity of the situation, that death was permanent and messy and brutal, but it wouldn't help. They were teenagers. Despite the trauma both of them had suffered, they were still teenagers and things processed differently.

Ethan, who had looked equally surprised as Cora, stared at Joe for a second longer: "That explains a lot."

"No, it does not!" Cora snapped, mouth twisted in a discontent frown. "How is that possible?"

"Well, around twenty-four years ago, she met my fathe-" Joe stopped when Cora let out a string of crude Spanish curses. God, she hated this. "Okay, Cora, it doesn't matter. Erica, shut up."

"I wasn't even saying anything."

"But she-"

"Yes, I was there," Joe said to still the quickly growing rage in Cora's eyes. "It doesn't make a difference. Kali doesn't even know that I know, okay? Or, at least I don't think she knows I know."

"Okay, that's sweet and all, but save that dilemma for when you're safely out of town," Peter slid back into the conversation. He looked at Derek. "Run, Derek. Sprint, gallop, leap your way the hell out of this town."

"If you want to fight and die for something, that's fine with me," Cora said, finally having made up her mind it seemed. "But do it for something meaningful."

"How do you know I'm gonna lose?" Derek asked, and Joe shrugged because he'd been looking at her.

"Oh, you're gonna lose."

"And you won't?"

"I'm not even gonna fight."

"This heroism is going to be the death of me," Peter mumbled as he dragged his hands over his face. "How about a better option? You both run."

Not looking away from Derek, Joe said: "No. I've been running for months now. I can't run anymore."

"Okay, I cannot believe I have to spell this out, but you, Derek, are almost half-dead from saving Cora's life." Peter turned from Derek to Joe. "And you are half-dead and hallucinating from not sleeping the last three or four days."

Joe shrugged. "I've been unconscious for almost sixteen hours. I should be fine."

It was a wonder Peter did not actually suffer an aneurysm at this point. "Lydia," he said and pointed at her where she stood half-hidden behind Ethan. "Be my voice of reason. Do you know how the fight will end?"

"I don't know anything," she half-whispered and Peter came closer, to the extent that Joe slowly reached back for her gun. Which still had not materialized in the back of her waistband, she found, and made an annoyed face.

"But you feel something, don't you?"

"Wait, has she screamed today?" Joe asked Ethan, who shrugged in a way to indicate he did not know.

Erica stage-whispered to Cora: "Why would she be screaming?"

"I don't know."

Derek sighed and asked Lydia: "What do you feel?"

"I feel like," Lydia swallowed and tried to shrink into the shadows, "I'm standing in a graveyard."

A heavy silence followed Lydia's words, not improved by Peter's triumphant look. Derek's face did not betray much, but his eyes shone with some concern and Joe could practically see the wheels turning. Pragmatic. Sooner or later, he'd make a decision and stick with it and Joe could not let it be the wrong one.

"Well, maybe this building's constructed upon an old Native American burial site." Now Erica tried to shrink when all swiveled to look at her like she had grown three heads. "What? It happens!"

Joe rubbed her forehead, trying to make her thoughts line up and make sense. She found herself agreeing with Erica. "Look, Lydia, I'm sure you're a very competent whatever-you-are, but things have been very stressful the last few days. I mean, you almost got strangled and since you just came from the clinic where, and correct me if I'm wrong, you practically watched the others die for a while and then come back — there's bound to be some residue of that, right?"

Seeing the others' looks, Joe threw her head back in despair. "I'm not running because she has a bad feeling! I have a bad feeling! I'm sure we all have bad feelings about this because it's a bad situation overall." Joe gestured at Derek. "But you should definitely run. Take Cora and Erica and go."

"You are not serious."

"I'm a hundred percent serious."

"I'm not leaving you," Cora said and Joe's shoulders slumped. "I don't care that you're not my Alpha." She narrowed her eyes and corrected herself. "Alphas. Whatever. If you fight, I fight."

Erica nodded. "Seconded."

"If we don't actually decide soon," Lydia's voice was shrill and cut through the conversation, "she's gonna come here and kill all of us before that!"

"I'm not staying to fight," Joe told Cora, who had that same stubborn frown between her brows that her equally stubborn brother had right now. "I'm staying to stall. See the difference? I can save you enough time to get away."

"And then what? For how long?" Derek shook his head and took a step closer to Joe, the dormant scent reaching her human nose. He looked dead-tired and dead-serious. "You can't ask me to leave you."

Ignoring Peter's excessive eye-rolling behind Derek's back, Joe sighed. "I'm not asking you to leave me, I'm asking you to save Cora and Erica. I'm sorry, Derek, but fuck your instincts right now. We have to make the hard call."

She meant every word she said and hoped he picked up on that with his stupid enhanced senses. Joe looked him straight in those bright green eyes, feeling her heart break at the thought of never seeing them again, but as Jimmy said, personal was not the same as important.

"Go, please. You owe me that." Seeing his hesitation, Joe swallowed thickly. "She won't kill me."

"Are you honestly that naïve-"

"She took me to the hospital." Joe glanced at Peter, daring him to interrupt her before focusing back on Derek. "Last night. When you did whatever you did to save Cora, I passed out, and she took me to the hospital. She had a million other options, but she chose that. Whatever she wants with me, it's not death. But I can't say the same for you. Go. Please."

For a second, it looked like he would finally agree. But this was Derek Hale, stubbornness incarnate, and he shook his head. "No."

Joe's shoulders slumped. There was so much to be said, so much to explain, to talk about, to confess — and no time. They stared at each other while the rest stood uncertainly to the side, waiting for either to yield. Her beautiful and stoic Derek, dead on his feet, stared defiantly back at her, matching her intensity. Most stubborn werewolf in the world.

And Joe could hear the howl, the one she had been hearing for almost a minute now, coming closer. Judging by how no one else reacted, she could almost believe it was only in her head. Still, Joe knew. She was getting close. Kali was getting close.

"Okay," Joe said and took a quick breath. "Fine."

Without preamble, she spun around and kicked Ethan so he slammed into both Derek and Cora, taking them down like ragdolls. Joe ducked, swept Erica's legs out too and dashed towards the sliding door before anyone had landed on the floor.

"Joe!"

Not stopping, unable to stop, Joe put her back into it and forced the door shut behind her. She twisted the handle, harder and harder until the metal bent and locked it permanently. It would not hold forever, but long enough.

Even before she reached the stairs, someone slammed against the thick wood. "Joe!"

Don't stop. Don't panic.

Running harder than she had ever before, Joe was halfway down the stairs when the lights went out. Kali had cut the power, maybe expecting another trick like last time and Joe could feel her eyes switch to glowing to navigate the darkened stairwell. No power meant no elevator.

Not that Kali bothered with the stairs either. When Joe reached the ground floor, she saw the pair of red glowing eyes waiting just inside the entrance.

"There you are." Kali, in a denim jacket and a cropped bustier, stepped closer with her claws clicking over the floor. "Come on. Let's hear it. All the reasons I shouldn't rip Derek apart."

Joe tried to ignore her own pulse hammering in her ears, chest heaving from just running down here. "He didn't kill Ennis."

"He signed his death sentence." Click, click. Kali stalked in a lazy circle. "Next."

"That's not fair, you forced him to fig-"

"Fair?" Kali spat, and the dim lighting from the outside streetlights reflected across her bared teeth. "When has life ever been fair? Do you feel life has been fair, saddling you with a mate, one who first thrust the Alpha-status upon you when you didn't want it and then ripped it away when you needed it?"

"I don't need it."

"Oh, really? So you'll face me, with no claws," she trailed her sharp foot claws on the floor, "no fangs," she bared them, eyes glowing brighter red, "and no pack?"

"Yeah. Then here are my weapons — my empty hands and feet." Joe swallowed, trying to think clearly and she could see something soft flicker over Kali's face. It was gone in an instant though and Joe changed tactics. "What did you take from me? That month I'm missing. What was it?"

Kali tilted her head. "Pain, mostly. You want it back? It might break you."

"You already broke me."

"Not enough, it seems." She reached back — it was almost like looking in a mirror — and Joe caught the metallic glints when her hand emerged again. "Catch."

Something sailed through the air, only Joe's enhanced reflexes making her catch it the right way up. Her gun. Automatically, she checked the magazine — almost full, probably still fourteen bullets — and she stared at Kali.

"If you think you're ready," Kali smiled, "prove it."

Joe could feel how clammy her hands were, how hard she breathed, how unsure her movements were as her gaze continued to alternate between the gun in her hands and Kali standing in front of her. "You want me to shoot you?"

"I want you to try."

"Why?" Her voice sounded strange and foreign to her own ears. "Why? What do you want?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No?"

"I want you to fight back."

Joe opened her mouth to ask why again, but the words never came. Instead, she only stared as Aiden pushed through the doors to the building, dragging a familiar figure by his neck. Her heart threatened to stop and her fingers tightened around the handle of the gun.

"Jimmy."

Half-unconscious, his eyes barely fluttered open at her voice. Even in this dim light she could see him bruised and beaten, shirt halfway torn off, purple eyes dimmed down. Her pulse rose to a roar in her ears and her hands moved on their own, chambering a bullet, getting a solid grip on the gun.

"Let him go."

Kali grinned. "There you are."

"Let him go."

"All that anger. Let it out. Come on."

"Let," Joe rose the gun and aimed at Kali's head, "him go."

A faint snip as Kali extended her claws to full length and Joe swiveled to keep her at gunpoint when she stalked closer to Jimmy. "Are you going to fight me, Sefina?"

"Don't make me shoot you."

Kali reached for Jimmy's throat, impossibly fast. "Wrong answer."

No thoughts. Not anymore. Joe could feel her eyes shifting, tunnel vision kicking in, heartbeat thundering in her ears — and she squeezed the trigger.

And we're back! Sorry for the long wait, guys. I've been wrestling with this chapter forever now and it finally dawned on me that I needed to split it to get the right flow. Hence the smaller word count (my original aim for a chapter is 4k words though, but we're well past that now). It's not my best work and it turned into a lot of dialogue, but it is what it is. Hopefully somewhat enjoyable.

Work is still hectic and takes up all my brainpower, so I've only been writing self-indulgent stuff the last week. We just completed a major project, so hopefully I'll be back in a better rhythm with this story because there are only five chapters left!

If you liked this chapter, please leave a review and tell me what you think. Since I'm in a bit of a slump, I'll kindly request no criticism at this point, otherwise I can't guarantee I'll ever finish this story.

On a side-note, to procrastinate/ get more inspiration I've made a tumblr! I haven't used tumblr since 2014 or something, and I don't know how "hip" it is these days, but if anyone wants to recommend blogs to follow and/or follow me, feel free to do so. You'll find me at alvfr dot tumblr dot com 😊

Special thank you to those who sent kind PMs to check up on me. Means so much to me and I love you guys ❤❤❤