I shot up and threw myself into Stiles' arms. "Stiles! You're okay!" I sobbed.
His warm arms wrapped hesitantly over me, "Yeah, I'm fine…Why? What happened to you guys?"
"We just met the Alpha." Scott explained. "And what the hell is Derek doing? Peter killed his sister for Christ's sake!"
"You met the Alpha?" Stiles asked horrified. "Did he—Did he…?" Stiles let go of me to check for bite marks.
"He didn't bite me." I told him, hugging him again to make sure he wasn't a mirage.
"He still wants me to do it…" Scott muttered, punching another locker. "And that's not even the worst part!"
"What could possibly be worse than having to bite Mason?" Stiles asked horrified.
"Killing me." I sniffed. Stiles' eyes went wide as his face quickly drained of all color. He took a seat on the bench and rubbed his face in his sweaty palms.
"I'm sorry," He said in a thick voice. I heard him sniffle and I felt myself go cold. Stiles was crying. I glanced over at Scott who looked just as shocked as I did.
"For—For what?" I asked tenderly, sitting awkwardly next to him.
"I've been a huge asshole to you lately and I don't even know why!" He looked up at me with glassy, red eyes. "I can't imagine loosing you, Mason. It's too much to bear and I can't even think about you being hurt without wanting to tear someone's head off! You've always been there for me and I've always taken advantage of it because I thought that I'd have forever to be there for you. But now…" He took in a deep breath as I sat there, hypnotized by his heartfelt words.
"I'll be okay," I tried to say, but my vocal cords didn't seem to be cooperating.
"My life's changed so much in these past few weeks, even more since last Saturday. What I said that night, I meant. I'm not interested in Lydia. I've changed and I didn't know what to do about it. I was so confused. I was, and still am, scared out of my freaking mind!" He tried to stifle a sob. I wiped some stray tears with my thumb. Before I could remove my hand, he grabbed it and held with there, smiling weakly.
"Mason, I—"
"Guys, I'm really sorry to break up your make up, but we've gotta make a plan or something! I need Derek's help and he seems to be brainwashed! Where did you guys go and what happened?" He was pacing aggravated back and forth so fast I thought he was going to burn a hole through the floor.
Stiles squeezed my hand quickly before letting it fall. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and cleared his throat before he began.
"Derek and I went to the hospital because we found out that the text came from your mom's computer."
"What?" Scott gasped.
"It wasn't your mom who sent the text, obviously. It was Peter and his crazy, mental, psychotic—"
"We get it," I told him.
"Anyway, Peter's nurse. There was this big fight and Peter told Derek that he was out of his mind and he would never mean to kill Laura. He said he'd never hurt their own kind or family (which I thought was pretty ironic since he had just cut Derek during the fight), but anyway, Derek believed it and I took advantage of the distraction and hid…" He finished, embarrassed.
"There's no way he did that by accident." I countered, "There's gotta be something there!"
"That's what I thought! Then I remembered that picture of the deer a few months back—you know—the one with the spiral?" Stiles reminded us, "Well I think that maybe—just maybe—he did that to draw Laura out here. Derek did say that she went off looking for the Alpha, right?"
"But, Laura was the Alpha, wasn't she?" Scott pointed out.
"Maybe not then," I said, "But, she was when she arrived in Beacon Hills."
"Too get murdered."
"Yes, Stiles. But, I'm pretty sure that wasn't on her agenda when she arrived." I sighed exasperatedly.
"So why was she here again?" Scott asked the million dollar question.
We all sat there, stumped. If Laura Hale wasn't already the Alpha when she left, how did she become it? How did you become an Alpha anyway? I was trying to remember every piece of information Derek had told me about werewolves with all my might. He said there might be a cure in killing the one who made you, but did that count with becoming the Alpha for born wolves?
"I think I know why Peter killed Laura." I realized suddenly.
"What?" Scott asked attentively.
"Why?" Stiles gazed at me, wide-eyed.
"To become the Alpha! Isn't it obvious?" I laughed at our stupidity. "Why else would Peter draw her out here? For a family reunion? I don't think so!"
Scott and Stiles nodded in agreement.
"So, either Laura lied to Derek about being the Alpha or she killed someone for it?" Scott asked.
"I think she might have lied to him about it." Stiles muttered.
"Why?" I questioned.
"Have you met Derek? He's all about wolves and power! If he got all blood lusty one night, he could have been the one to kill her!" Stiles said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I don't think Derek would kill his own sister." Scott said skeptically.
"Oh, come on! Do we really even know what Derek would or wouldn't do? Up until a few weeks ago we all thought he was a murdering psychopath!" Stiles cried
"I know that instead of letting me run up into a burning house to die, he dragged me out, saving my life." I said quietly.
Stiles fight against Derek seemed to die out instantly.
"So, we need to find a way to make Derek realize that Peter killed his sister to be the Alpha before the full moon tomorrow night." Stiles said, his voice a whole octave higher.
"We can do that at the dance." Scott nodded.
"Really? My life is at stake and all you can think about it dancing with Allison?" I groaned, shaking my head in disgust.
"No!" Scott cried, shocked, "I mean that Peters going to go after Allison and her family, so I have to be there to protect her! I'm not even going with her. Jackson is because I'm not supposed to be there. I'll just be there to be a look-out and I think that you should get Derek to go with you."
"What?" Stiles argued immediately.
"Yeah," I asked, confused. "What?"
"We need him to stop Peter and if he's there with you, he can watch out for you when I can't!" Scott explained.
"I don't like it," Stiles shook his head, "This is a bad plan and it's not gonna work. I can already tell."
"Fine, Stiles." Scott said suspiciously, "What did you have in mind?"
"I—Well…" He opened his mouth and few more times but no words came as he gestured wildly with his hands. I felt the urge to laugh at his adorable Stiles-ishness.
"Do you think the Alpha's still with him? The dance is tomorrow so my time frame for asking him is closing quickly." I said.
"We'll head over there now." Scott decided, "Stiles, you head home and see what you can find out from your dad. We'll meet up tomorrow before the dance."
"I can't!" Stiles said regretfully, not meeting my eyes.
"Why not?" Scott demanded.
"I have that thing at Lydia's..." He mumbled.
"Right, fine," Scott brushed a hand roughly through his hair, "Whatever. We'll meet you there. Text me with anything you can find out."
"I still hate this plan." Stiles grumbled, crossing his arms childishly. I failed miserably at hiding my smile despite Lydia just being mentioned.
Scott grabbed his keys and headed for the door, "Let's go, Mase."
"Um—Scott?" I said, amused.
"There's not a lot of time so we need to go now if we wanna talk to Derek. I don't know when he goes to sleep—or even if he sleeps—but if we go when he's sleeping he's going to wanna talk to us even less so we—"
"Scott." I tried again.
"What?" He cried exasperatedly.
"Derek's definitely not going to talk to us if you're naked." I snickered. Stiles smacked his lips, trying to hold back his grin but when I caught his eye he let it break through.
Scott looked down, "Right,"
"Yep," Stiles tried to play off his chortling as coughing.
"I'll just get dressed first." Scott headed back towards his bag.
"Wise choice." I agreed smugly.
"Absolutely not." Derek cried in disbelief. "I'm not going to come to some little high school dance."
"Derek, please!" I begged, staring up at him at the top of the stairs.
"I need your help, Derek." Scott told him.
"When don't you need my help?" Derek muttered.
"I can't protect her by myself!" Scott pleaded, "Please just go with her and watch her."
"You don't have to wear a tux or dance with me!" I promised, "I just need you to be there to protect me from the Alpha."
"Don't you mean Scott?" He raised one of his brows.
"No," I said resolutely. "Scott's not the problem. Your murdering uncle is."
"Would it really be that bad to become one of us?" Derek demanded, "To be more powerful? Stronger? Better? Faster?"
"You probably should have just let me die in that fire because it would have saved me and you and everyone ten years more of my life to mourn over." I yelled, the blinding anger coming over me again, "You should have just let me die with your family so I wouldn't have ten more years of things to miss. I am not going to die without telling Stiles I love him so you better fucking help us and get your mind out of your ass because Peter murdered your sister to become the Alpha. I don't know what fantasy world your living in, but Peter knew exactly what he was doing when he ripped your sister in half." Derek flinched, his jaw clenched as his nostril flared angrily. I was getting to him.
"Do you remember what it was like you bury your family? Do you remember what it was like to bury Laura in your yard? That's what you're condemning my friends and father…" I faltered when I thought about my father. I didn't know who that man was anymore, but he sure as hell wasn't my father.
I took a deep breath and tried again. "Scott's not going to change me and if you don't help us stop Peter, I'm going to die and what you did ten years ago won't matter because—because I won't live to make it up to you." I sniffed, feeling tears flow down my face again.
Derek broke the banister he was holding as he looked away from me.
"How do you know that he really did know what he was doing when he killed Laura?" He asked quietly through clenched teeth.
"Do you need a signed confession?" Scott cried incredulously.
"Cant you just think about it for a second? Why else would he kill her but to become the Alpha?" I sighed, "Can't you just trust someone for once in your life? Why would I lie to you Derek?"
He swallowed and remained silent for a few minutes. He seemed determined to look at everything in the room but us. I had upset him but it was doing exactly what I wanted it to do, even if I felt a little guilty about it. I crossed my fingers and prayed that our case was enough for him to help us.
"I'll help." He said finally. "But I'm not going to be your date."
"Fine," I sighed with relief. Derek was back on our side so I still had a fighting chance. "Scott can be my date."
Scott and I looked at each other automatically, our eyes wide with shock. "Why didn't we think of that before?" Scott shook his head.
"I think we had a little more on our plate besides finding dates for the dance, Scott." I said truthfully.
AN: Sorry I've been MIA. And I'm about to do it again because I leave for state tomorrow and wont be home 'til Friday! I promise I will update again when I get home (: