When nightfall came, we headed to the halfway point in the woods. As we reached the area, I looked up at the full moon, feeling it's gaze pounding down on my shoulders. "Alright." I said, looking at the rest of the pack. I set my bow and quiver against a tree before pulling out the wolfs bane and the two syringes. "What the hell is that?" Erica said outraged. I rolled my eyes, filling the syringes with the wolfs bane. "Look, once we find out who the Kanima is, we need to try and get an open shot at it." I said, watching each of their faces for reactions. "Wolfs bane is the one tactic that we haven't tried, right?" I asked, looking at them expectantly. "What if we can't inject it soon enough, and it shifts?" Isaac asked. "Then get the hell outta dodge." I said, handing Boyd a syringe. I kept one for myself and glanced over at Derek, who stood tense, leaning against a tree. His eyebrows came together in a sort of angry frown, and I knew he didn't agree with the plan. As the rest of the pack chatted about the strategies they planned on using, I walked over to Derek, stepping in front of him so he was forced to look at me. Instead, he turned his head in the other direction. "Derek." I said, looking up at his tall frame. He let out a breath, looking down at me. His eyes were hurt, and I felt a small piece of my heart breaking. It killed me to see him like that. In pain. "Do you know what they say about love?" I asked. He narrowed his eyes at me. "They say it knows no boundaries." I murmured, leaning up to look him in the eyes. He let out another breath, and suddenly I was engulfed in his scent. "I promise, I'll come back. We're all, coming back." I said, leaning up and kissing him. His hands slid down to my lower back, holding me against him for a moment. Finally, I pulled back, leaning my forehead against his for a brief second. I backed up enough to look him in the eye. "I keep my promises." I said.
He let go of me, and I turned to see Boyd and Isaac already heading to Lydia's house. Erica stood in the distance, watching carefully. I nodded, catching up to her. Every now and then, I glanced back and saw Derek watching us with careful eyes. Finally, when we were out of his ear shot, Erica spoke. "That was sweet." She said softly, and I looked over at her. "What?" I asked. She glanced at me from behind her hair. "What you said to him. I mean, for the most part, he's pretty closed off to the world. And he tries to hide the way he feels about you around the rest of us. But… he's different with you." She said. I blinked for a moment not sure what to say. Finally, I settled on silence, as we reached Jackson's house.
We crawled silently in through the window, and I glanced around the room for a moment. It was dark, but I could still see that his walls were labeled with posters of all star athletes. I glanced over at his sleeping form on the bed. He lay curled on his side, his head buried in the pillows. I watched for a moment, before I heard Erica take in a breath, making just the slightest form of a gasp. I looked over at her, and saw that she was looking up at the moon as it's light filtered in through the window, and landed directly on Jackson's face. I readied the syringe, my thumb resting on the plunger. I watched as suddenly, his eyes snapped open. He sat straight up, and locked eyes with me. I began to think maybe he'd just woken up. But then I noticed his eyes. They were reptilian. "Erica! It's him!" I yelled, looking over at her where she stood, terrified, but shifted. I charged him before he had a chance to move, shoving the needle into his neck. I pushed down on the plunger, waiting to see him fall still, and pass out. But instead, he let out a piercing, inhuman screech. I looked down at his hands, noticing that his finger nails had turned into claws. I ran, grabbing Erica by the arm and practically yanking her out the window.
We were sprinting now. I struggled to get my phone out of my pocket. I wrestled it into my hand, and made quick business of calling Derek. "It's Jackson!" I yelled into the phone. "Did you-" "It didn't work. The wolfs bane didn't work." I said, listening to an angry growl come through on the other end of the line. I hung up at we reached the halfway point. There he stood, angry and fuming with his eyes glaring red. Erica leaned against a tree to catch her breath as I hurried over to Derek. "We need to go get Boyd and Isaac, and we need to leave. Now." I said, watching his determined expression. He nodded once, glancing back at Erica. "C'mon." I said, watching as she regained herself. She nodded, following in hot pursuit as we took off toward Lydia's house.
On the way, Derek called Isaac and told him to wait outside for us. When we got there, they stood just under Lydia's bedroom window. "We need to go. Now. If this Jackson pick's up our scent before we can lose him then we're screwed." I said, glancing between Boyd and Isaac. I noticed Isaac's eyes were wide, and he made it a point to look me up and down. Something was off about him. I narrowed my eyes at him and let out a low growl. His eyebrows came together in a frown as I turned on my heel, following Derek back toward the hide-out.
Half way back it had begun to rain, and by the time we arrived, we were all soaked through and through. We walked into the basement, Erica and I wringing out our hair in similar fashions. I glanced over at Isaac, who shook his head wildly back and forth like a wet dog. I rolled my eyes, looking over at Derek, who stood against the wall, a look of concentration in his eyes. Just then his gaze met mine, and he seemed to understand, because he nodded to the side, gesturing for me to meet him in the subway car. I walked through the entrance, leaving Erica Boyd and Isaac to talk amongst themselves. "What is it?" I asked, looking up at him where he stood tall in front of me. His wet shirt clung to his muscles, exaggerating them under the fabric. His hair stuck up more than usual, in odd places until he ran his hand through it. "The wolfs bane was the one thing that we hadn't tried, and it didn't work." He said, anger labeling his voice. I sighed, the hairs on the outer edges of my arms standing on edge. "Look, I'll talk to Deaton tomorrow. See if he has any ideas about what we can do." He clenched his jaw. "What we can do is kill it." I muttered. "Look, this isn't Jackson's fault. He didn't intend for this to happen. But in a way, he is stillJackson. We can't kill him." I said. He refused to meet my eyes, and I moved closer, until I was directly in front of him. Finally he looked down at me. "Your shivering." He said simply, obviously ready to change the subject. I hadn't actually realized I was cold until he said something. I blinked, watching as he lead me back out the end of the car and into a small room that held a bed, a small chest, a nightstand, and a lamp. He flicked on the light and opened the chest at the end of the bed, grabbing me a large, heavy looking blanket. "Thanks." I said, taking the blanket from him. "What about them?" I asked, glancing back at Erica, Isaac, and Boyd. "Well, Boyd and Erica go home regularly." He said, kneeling by the chest as he rummaged around in it for something. I pulled the blanket around myself, and watched him carefully as he spoke. "Isaac tends to stay in the subway car for the most part." He said, pulling a black T-shirt from the chest before shutting it. I looked up at him as he pulled off his soaking wet T-shirt, exposing his toned abdomen, and his broad chest and shoulders. On impulse, I bit my bottom lip, and my heart began pounding my chest at the very side of him. I blamed it on the full moon. Everything felt amplified by it's power tonight- and that included lust.
He seemed to have noticed the sound of my heart and the obvious expression on my face, because he glanced behind me, listening for a moment and remaining shirtless. "Erica and Boyd left. Isaac… went with Erica." He said, glancing down at me. I blinked, glancing behind me to see that the circle of werewolves that had originally gathered outside the car was dispersed. Just then I heard the sound of thunder in the distance. "Damn storm." I muttered to myself. "Hey, is it okay if I stay here tonight?" I asked. He nodded, his eyes intense and his gaze boring into mine. Taking a moment for myself in a corner of the room, I sent a quick text to Louise, letting her know I would be here, before shutting off my phone. Tomorrow was Saturday, so I had nothing to worry about when it came to getting up early in the morning. I looked up at Derek, who still stood shirtless before me, looking like some sort of sex god. Suddenly, I felt myself blushing furiously as heat rose in my cheeks. My body began tingling in places god knows it shouldn't. I could exactly tell what it was I was feeling. Nervous? Most likely. Anticipation? Definitely. The sensation that my heart would suddenly explode? Oh, yeah.