Hale House

"What are we doing here?" Boyd asked Peter after Peter opened the rear door of the ambulance they stole to let him out. "Shouldn't we be at the Depot?"

"When I said that we can't let anyone find out Scott is alive, I meant everyone," Peter replied, removing the medical mask he used to hide his identity from the CCTV cameras along with the cap and glasses. "Including Derek.

Scott is my Beta, whether he likes it or not, I turned him, and I'm going to teach him everything he needs to survive and thrive as a werewolf. He refused my training the last time, and almost died as a result. I'm not going to take a no this time. I didn't turn him so he could die early."

"I'm Derek's Beta," Boyd pointed out. "And..."

"And you've learned more from me in the last hour than you have from Derek in four days, which he spent teaching Erica and Isaac how to fight while he had you watch me," Peter interjected, and shook his head in clear disappointment. "The fact that he sent you with me speaks volumes of your fighting skills, and I'm sure are all you, the human you.

You need to recalibrate and upgrade your software to be compatible with your new hardware, and Derek doesn't seem to understand that, but I do."

"So this is why you've been giving me Werewolf 101," Boyd finally found the reason. "Derek warned me about how manipulative you are, and you proved him right earlier when you said that Allison was the key to getting Scott to join your pack, and you've proved it now. You can't manipulate me."

"I don't want to manipulate you, Boyd," Peter responded. "I want to help you reach your full potential and not just survive but thrive. It's in our nature to want the younger generations to survive, the young are the future of the pack and our community.

I would take Derek under my wing, but I think we can both agree that we need some space and time to heal. I want to use that time ensuring what happened to my family and me, and Scott (he pointed at Scott deeper in the ambulance), doesn't happen again.

Derek wants to train Erica and Isaac to reach your current level, I want to help you, and Scott, reach your full potential and then push through it. You're not human anymore, you don't have human limits, and you're not prey for humans who call themselves 'hunters' to hunt, you are apex predators."

Before Boyd could reply, his phone vibrated from Peter's pocket, and he took it out and gave it to its owner after glimpsing at the screen.

"We didn't find Scott's body at the hospital, and I'm looking for herbs to help me heal," Peter said, and then left to look for the herbs for him and Allison in the woods behind the burned house.

TRANSITION

Abandoned Beacon Hills Rail Depot

"There are herbs that can speed-up our healing ability?" Isaac asked after eavesdropping on Derek's phone call with Boyd which just ended.

"Yes," Derek replied almost absent-mindedly.

After Boyd reminded him of the herbs, he could see another reason why Peter was mad at him and Laura for leaving him alone in Beacon Hills.

They could have helped him heal faster by taking away his pain and the use of healing enhancement herbs, but Peter appeared burned beyond healing, both physically and psychologically, and they had to escape Beacon Hills before they were killed too.

Looking back, though, nothing justified how they left Peter, more so when abandoning him cost them Cora.

At the thought of Cora, Derek couldn't help but sink into the train seat, guilt weighing heavy on his shoulders and wrestled with hope that she could be alive.

"Do you know them?" Isaac inquired between bites of pizza, their dinner.

Grateful for an escape from his thoughts, Derek welcomed the distraction.

"I know a few," He replied, before taking a sip from his bottled juice to hydrate his dry throat.

"Then why haven't you used them on us after training?"

Isaac felt a little betrayed.

"You need to build up your pain tolerance," Derek explained, trying not to be affected by the betrayed scent Isaac gave off. "You're not going to always heal quickly, hunters use arrows for a reason.

Depending on where they hit you, they're not going to be easy to take out, and when they're taken out, they leave the wound bleeding, leading to blood loss and a trail of blood they can follow."

"That... Makes sense," Isaac reluctantly admitted after a moment. "Maybe you should tell the others."

"Boyd already figured out," Derek replied. "You can tell Erica."

Isaac wanted to ask if Scott knew, but held his tongue because of where the topic could lead them, so he welcomed the silence that followed, until his mind began to wonder to Scott's death and the manner he died in.

"Do you think Scott's body is still at the warehouse?" He asked without thinking to distract himself, and winced.

Derek just shrugged, not trusting himself to speak, conflicted.

TRANSITION

Hale House

While awaiting Peter's return, Boyd sat in the back with Allison and Scott, paying close attention to their heartbeats, and he noticed that the latter's was getting stronger with his temperature rising little by little while Allison's heartbeat kept him on his toes due to how weak and erratic it still was, necessitating CPR now and then.

Speaking of, Peter found him performing chest compressions on his return.

"Scott is not going to like that," He commented.

"Help me with the BVM," Boyd said urgently in response.

"The what?" A confused Peter asked, placing the herbs aside.

"The resuscitator!" Boyd impatiently clarified. "She needs oxygen."

Upon joining him inside the ambulance, Peter noticed the bag valve mask Boyd has been using to supply Allison with oxygen a moment before he could comment about helping save an Argent's life when an Argent decimated his family.

"Follow my lead," Boyd instructed as Peter got into position. "When I relax, compress the bag, and when I compress, relax the bag."

Peter did follow his lead, curious about the focus Boyd displayed and how it appeared he knew exactly what he was doing.

TRANSITION

Argent House

While Boyd and Peter were working on saving Allison's life, Chris, Gerard and Victoria were having their fifth dinner without Allison at the dinner table, but unlike the others, this one was unbearably tense.

"You're angry," Gerard noted from the mean eye Chris gave him occasionally.

"Can you blame me after what you did?" Chris asked after swallowing, tightening his hold on his fork and knife.

"What did I do?" Gerard inquired innocently, putting down his fork and knife to pick up a glass of water.

"Let it go, Chris," Victoria said, a hand on Chris' arm, and he relaxed a little. "Since we've taken care of the Alpha and the kanima, I've dismissed and sent home the reinforcement you came with."

Gerard almost choked at those words.

"You did what?" He questioned, putting down his glass of water, eyes narrowing just a little while a muscle in his jaw twitched.

"Do you have a problem with my decision, Gerard?" Victoria asked coolly, although her heart was beating twice as fast.

"We haven't dealt with Derek and his pack."

"We don't need to deal with Derek and his pack," Victoria replied. "They haven't killed anyone."

"They killed my daughter!" Gerard bellowed, hitting the table in the process. "They killed Kate!"

"Peter killed Kate," Victoria corrected. "Because she broke the Code and killed his family, kids..."

"You're one to speak about breaking the Code and killing kids," Gerard retorted, silencing her.

"You're blaming the wrong people for Kate's death," Chris said. "Peter killed her in revenge for what she did to him and his family, and Derek killed him to avenge his sister. I failed to stop you from killing that Omega, I'm not going to fail to stop you from killing more innocent people."

"People?" Gerard questioned, amused, before adopting a frown. "They're nothing but animals who need to be put down."

"Maybe you need to be put down."

Gerard's eyebrows rose in surprise, and so did Chris and Victoria's.

"No one is going to put down anyone," Victoria interjected, looking her husband before looking at her father-in-law. "I've issued an order to stop your search for Derek's pack and ensured no one does anything without my verbal approval.

You have two options, to stop your vendetta against local werewolves and follow the Code, or go at it on your own, without the family's backing in any way."

Gerard just stared at her as she stood up and picked up the plates, internally furious, but not about to give himself away.

Somehow, everything was falling apart, and it all started with Chris killing the kanima while Victoria made Scott disappear for a whole week, a week that saw Gerard, since he couldn't find Derek, organize a secret meeting with the Alpha of the Ito Pack, an old pack of Buddhist werewolves, in order to...

"Oh, one more thing," Victoria said, just as she was about to leave the table with the plates. "Try to manipulate my daughter again, in any way, and I will eliminate you."

Gerard narrowed his eyes at her, barely holding in a retort as it seemed his stunt earlier wasn't going to go without a response from the Matriarch.

"And I'll help," Chris added, and gained himself the same look as his wife.

"You would turn against your own father?" Gerard questioned with some disgust.

"To protect Allison from you? In a blink," Chris replied with his eyes locked with his father's.

TRANSITION

Hale House

With Allison a little stable, Peter took Boyd home before heading out of town, a safe place for them in mind.