Derek sat wedged into the corner of the ambulance. He wasn't sure how he'd gotten here, everything was just a blur, but he couldn't care less about the circumstances.
Derek kept his eyes on Laura. An oxygen mask covered her face and the two paramedics working on her blocked most of his view so there was not much to see but he couldn't look away. He feared that if he looked away or even blinked, she would just be gone.
Over the beeping and the noises in general, Derek couldn't hear Laura's heartbeat so he had to trust the monitor showing her vitals. The line blipped with every beating of her heart and so far it hadn't stopped again.
If Kira hadn't been there …
Derek felt sick just thinking about it. Without Kira Laura would be dead now. Hell, she'd been dead long enough for Derek to take over as the alpha. Derek clenched his fists and breathed through the nausea.
Kira had been there.
Laura's heart was beating.
He hadn't lost her.
At the hospital, they rushed her into the ER. Derek had been here before. With Peter. With Stiles. It was the same hospital Stiles had stayed at when they had gotten stabbed. Derek found himself in the same waiting area. He even used the same restroom to wash the blood off his hands.
It was still the middle of the night, the hospital was mostly empty and quiet. At least this part where people waited while their loved ones were in surgery. Derek saw a few nurses going about their business but nobody else. He took a seat and waited.
With nothing else to do, his mind ran in circles. He needed to talk to Kira at some point to get the whole story but he knew what had happened. Who had happened. Kate Argent.
He didn't know how but she had found them.
And just like then he hadn't been home when it happened. Derek choked on a bitter laugh.
He was still waiting on news when Stiles found him about an hour later.
"Hey." Stiles took the chair next to him and slung their arms around him. Derek sank into them with a dry sob. He clung to them for a moment longer but they were not alone so eventually, he let go of Stiles and had a look around.
Kira was there, standing awkwardly at the side, and behind her were Boyd and Erica. They looked spooked, looking at him with big eyes.
"They showed up at your place not long after you left," Stiles explained. "They felt it too."
For the betas it must be even more confusing, they had no idea what was going on. Derek got to his feet and it took only a tilt of his head and they came running. Erica slung her arms around his neck and Boyd put his arms around both their shoulders.
Something in his mind snapped into place and Derek breathed out in relief. The betas must feel the same because they just sagged into him.
"I'm so sorry," Erica said into his chest. "Laura, is she …?"
"Still in surgery."
"Are you the alpha now?" Boyd asked even if the answer was obvious.
"Yes," Derek said nevertheless. "At least for now. I don't know what happens when she wakes up."
When because there was no if, at least that was what he was trying to tell himself. Would Laura become the alpha again when she woke up? Derek didn't know and he dreaded the moment he would find out.
They settled in and since they had the waiting area for themselves, Derek could ask the questions he was burning to ask. Mainly what the fuck had happened.
He'd been right with his assumption that it had been Kate. She'd blasted in the front door with a shotgun and had gone straight for the nearest bedroom which happened to be Laura's.
Laura had been up and ready to fight before Kira had even realized what had woken her up but Kate just shot Laura point-blank.
"I don't think she expected me to be there," Kira said quietly. "She came prepared for werewolf."
"There was wolfsbane and mistletoe." Derek nodded, he'd recognized the smell. Kate would have been his first guess no matter what but that was proof that the attacker knew that she was dealing with werewolves.
"She wasn't prepared for me." Kira raised her hand and little bolts of lightning flashed in the cage of her fingers. It cast an eery light on her face. But then she dropped her hand in defeat. "She got away. I wanted to go after her but Laura …"
"You did the right thing," Derek assured her. At the moment he couldn't care less about Kate. The only thing that mattered was Laura. "You saved her life."
"She's not out of the woods yet." She slumped into herself. Erica who was sitting next to her slung her arm around her shoulders and hugged her close.
"The police wants to talk to you later today," Stiles changed the topic. "To me and Kira as well. I told them to contact my dad but at the moment they're looking in every direction."
They were interrupted by a doctor who came out to tell them that Laura was out of surgery and on her way to the ICU. Derek would be able to see her once she was settled in but Kira was not allowed. Girlfriend didn't count as family. Neither did pack but Derek didn't bother to ask that question.
The doctor was carefully optimistic but they would see over the day.
"She's strong," he said. "She's fighting."
Derek took his words as the meaningless phrases they were but he knew that time was on their side. Laura was not just a fighter, she was an alpha werewolf, well, maybe not an alpha any longer but still a werewolf. Given time she could recover from almost everything.
You thought the same about Peter, a mean little voice whispered in the back of his mind. Derek did his best to ignore it.
Eventually, a nurse showed him the way to Laura.
Derek needed a moment before he dared to enter the room. Even in the hallway, he could smell the disinfectant and he heard the beeping of the machine monitoring her vitals. He didn't want to see her like that but in the end, he took a deep breath and entered the room.
Another hospital bed, another pale figure.
"Hey." Derek stepped closer. Laura was unconscious but not on a vent, he took the latter as a good sign.
"It's normal that she hasn't woken up yet," the nurse assured him. He'd forgotten that she was even here. "It might take a few hours."
Derek nodded to that and took Laura's hand. It lay lax in his but she was not in pain.
"Can I stay for a while?"
"Of course, take your time."
She even brought a chair over for him. Derek sat down and held Laura's hand and just watched the soft up and down of her chest. He needed the reassurance that she was alive.
"I don't want to take your place," Derek whispered to her. "I'm not an alpha, that's you."
He fell quiet for a moment, thinking about Boyd and Erica but Stiles as well. They were pack, they needed an alpha.
"I'm going to take good care of them, I promise," Derek continued, his words barely a broken whisper. "But that's only until you come back. You hear me? You're going to come back and you're going to be my alpha again."
His vision swam with tears.
"I can't go through this again," he admitted. "I can't. If I lose you …"
He shook his head, he didn't want to go there.
Derek held Laura's hand for a while longer, willing her to wake up, but eventually, he had to admit that he couldn't do anything for her. He could only wait.
However, he was the alpha and his pack needed him. They were confused and scared, he felt it in his mind. They needed him.
So he kissed Laura's forehead with the promise to come back soon and left to check in with his pack.
Hands in his pocket and deep in thoughts Derek didn't really watch where he was going. He'd been here before, he knew the way.
"Derek?" Suddenly somebody stood in his way.
Derek blinked until the person came into focus.
"Isaac?" The other man wasn't pack, he shouldn't be here. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here with Coach," Isaac explained but that made even less sense. "Somebody broke into the office last night. They probably didn't expect somebody to be in in the middle of the night but you know Coach, of course he was in. Got hit over the head and tied up, found him this morning."
"Wait, what?" Derek needed a moment to process what Isaac was saying.
"Yeah, right?" Isaac made a face. "Just imagine, I come in, minding my own business and I find him like that. Thought he was dead for a second there."
"Did you call the police?"
"Of course, they're all over the office right now. Looking for fingerprints and stuff like that," Isaac said, a bit too excited by it. "They sent Coach here to get checked out, he did get hit over the head after all. I went with him because he's talking more nonsense than usual. Doctor's with him now."
Isaac paused and narrowed his eyes on Derek.
"What are you doing here?" He asked but Derek's mind was already racing.
"That's how she found us." It made sense. Kate had seen the video, had followed the cute gamer hashtag which had led her right to the office. Coach would have never given out Derek's address but he had it on file with Derek's contract.
"Come with me." Derek grabbed Isaac by the sleeve and dragged him along. "We need to talk to the police."
Talking to the police turned out to be easier than expected because when Derek returned to the waiting area with Isaac in tow he found the same two officers from before talking to Stiles.
"Ah, Mr. Hale." The one who had introduced himself as Officer Parrish greeted him when he spotted Derek. "We were looking for you."
"Why?" Derek asked, instantly guarded. He didn't have anything against the police per se but human laws and supernatural beings not always went along.
"We talked to Sheriff Stilinski and we compared Miss Yukimura's description of the attacker to Kate Argent. Miss Yukimura just confirmed that she's been the one who attacked your sister."
"I figured that much." Derek still wasn't sure where this was heading.
"She might strike again," the other officer, her name tag read Martin, chimed in. "There will be an officer in front of your sister's room at all times. We need you to name the people who are allowed to see her. Aside from hospital staff of course."
"You're a target as well," Officer Parrish took over again. "Once forensics is done with your apartment we'll escort you over so that you can get some things but we recommend that you don't stay there."
"Do you have a place where you can stay for a while?" Officer Martin asked. "Friends or family?"
"The only family I have left is in the ICU." Derek tasted bile in the back of his throat. He needed to sit down. His legs buckled under him and blindly he reached for support.
"Sit down." Stiles was at his side and helped him over to a chair. "He can stay at my place, no problem. He basically lives there anyway." Stiles tried to say it light-heartily but the words fell flat.
"That might not be a good idea," Officer Martin said. "We don't know how she found you. She might have been stalking you for a while. She might know about your boyfriend."
"Partner," Derek corrected absently. "I don't think that she's stalking me." He would have noticed. If she'd been around, he would have noticed. Right? "I think she got my address last night."
"What makes you think that?"
"Isaac." Derek waved the other man over. "Tell them what happened at the office."