Awakening of the Wolf
Chapter 2
One Step Forward
A small herd of deer grazed and milled around a small clearing in the woods near the border of the large Hale Estate. They all stayed together in a tight knit group except for one curious fawn that wandered from his mother to the edge. She signaled for him to come back, but the young deer only stopped where he was. He swiveled his ears listening to the noises of the forest, his nostrils flaring as he took in the scents. Suddenly the wind shifted and the members of the herd immediately lifted their heads in alarm. The doe instantly recognized the smell and desperately called to her fawn. He bounded back to her without hesitation, and they moved to the front of the herd. Suddenly, a howl echoed throughout the clearing, and a Beta wolf charged the deer. He quickly snapped the neck of one and howled his delight at a successful kill. Another howl answered his, and a hulking brown beast stalked into the clearing. His fiery orange eyes landed on the Beta's kill, and a growl erupted from his throat causing the red-haired Beta to back away. The Alpha tore into the deer while the red wolf went to the larger wolf's side and ate.
When they were done, all that was left was a clean white skeleton. Scenting the air, the Alpha snorted and galloped into the forest. His Beta followed suit, and both were a good distance before another Alpha found their leftovers. The werewolf snarled angrily before shifting into his human form. Derek Hale glared fiercely at the carcass and transformed back into his werewolf form. His eyes shifted from angry red to a fierce electric blue, and he howled enraged at the audacity of an intruder hunting in his territory. Not wanting to waste more energy by following them alone he turned and ran to his home. Derek returned, shifted again, and immediately texted Scott.
It only took half an hour for the two werewolves to arrive in Stiles' Jeep. Derek stepped off the porch, his stormy eyes bleeding blue. The younger wolves nodded and turned to their Beta forms. Stiles' eyes lightened to stormy silver while Scott's darkened to a brown flecked gold. The older teen transformed quickly into his Alpha state and hurried in the direction of the skeleton. Once they reached it they followed the scent north. While the forest passed by in a blur, Derek realized that the intruders' scents pointed toward Beacon Hills High. He halted at the top of a hill that overlooked the town and snarled in frustration and agitation. Whoever, this Alpha was, he was smart enough to hide among humans. Derek sent a mental command to his Betas: 'The Alpha is somewhere in the city. Find him and his Beta. Do not attack them. You will be able to sense them and they you. Get information on anything about them.' When the juveniles left for the Jeep, Derek trotted carefully through the woods to a quiet neighborhood. As he approached his muzzle parted into a devious smile. 'Time to call in a favor.'
A continuous knocking woke Jackson from his sleep. "Jackson, wake up, honey! You're going to be late!"
Jackson groaned, "Alright, mom. I'll be down in a minute." The young man got out of bed and glanced at his clock which read 7:00 am. School started at 8:00. A shadow over his clock caught Jackson's eye. He turned his head only to fall onto the floor in fear of the figure of standing over him. "Honey, are you ok in there?" His mother yelled.
He placed a hand over his chest to slow his racing heart and answered his mother: "Yea, mom, I fell that's all." The younger teen waited until his mother went back downstairs before he addressed the werewolf. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?"
Derek lifted his hand into Jackson's line of sight and said, "I'm a werewolf, Jackson. I have claws." The younger boy crawled backwards as the wolf's claws extended. He shakily asked, "Y-you picked my lock?"
"How else would I get into your room without alerting you or your parents?" Derek stated with a roll of his eyes. For a teenager, Jackson possessed a childish naiveté. Sometimes, it was endearing but other times it just grated on Derek's nerves. Remembering his purpose of disturbing Jackson, Derek refocused on the boy. When the younger teen saw the seriousness return to older boy's face, Jackson stood and backed into the wall to put more space between him and the werewolf. "I need you to go to school and report any mysterious activity to me. Stay away from Scott and Stiles while you're doing it." Jackson's face showed confusion before it cleared to understanding and suddenly to apprehension. "You want me to search for werewolves at our high school?"
"You have a problem with that? Last time I checked you would jump at the chance to discover more about us. What changed?" Derek asked with a hint of a growl in his voice.
"Oh I don't know, maybe the last time I confronted a werewolf it was you, and you tried to kill me!" Jackson whispered harshly while turning away from Derek to get ready for the day. "Besides I'm done with werewolves. I'm not going to risk getting my head bitten off again."
Jackson failed to see Derek's eyes bleed red as rage filled his body. The boy yelped as the werewolf grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to face him. The smaller teen gulped as the Alpha's eyes burned red and his teeth were bared in his face. "I should kill you now for that. You wanted to be a part of this! You wanted to be a werewolf! Now when problems arise you want to abandon it to save your skin! And you wonder why I didn't bite you that night, Jackson! Because I knew that when push came to shove you wouldn't have been able to handle it! You'd rather run and save yourself than stick around and help your pack! I can't and won't ever accept anyone like that into my family. You want to run from this fine, but I never want to see you again. If I smell you anywhere near my home I will kill you." The wolf snarled and gave the boy a glance of contempt before heading towards a window. Jackson stared at his back for a minute torn about what to do. Half of him was happy to just stand there and wait for the wolf to leave, walk out of his life for good, but another stronger and loyal side of him knew that he would regret turning his back on those that needed him.
"Wait." He whispered, but the wolf heard it anyway. He stopped and faced the human. "What?" he demanded. For a few moments Jackson didn't answer, but when he saw impatience making itself dominant on Derek's face, he looked him in the eye and asked, "What do you need me to do?" The Alpha inwardly smiled at the sincerity in the boy's eyes and commanded, "I need you to monitor any new students that strike you as odd in your school. Early this morning I scented a new Alpha and his Beta in the area. Scott and Stiles are searching as well, but I need someone who isn't a werewolf to monitor them because it will be less obvious. Also be discreet; I want to know why they're here before they have a chance to do anything. Understand?" Jackson nodded his head, but immediately answered, "Yes," When Derek gave him a stern glare.
Jackson did not have much luck finding anything out of the ordinary at school. He saw Scott and Stiles throughout the day, but he was certain that they did not find anything either by their frustrated expressions. He finally caught a break when he saw a boy being bullied by the new local attitude problem Caleb Jamison. The tormentor was taller and more muscular than Jackson but shorter than Derek, had cruel blue eyes, and mid-length brown hair. The kid he was bullying was the same height as Jackson, lean, and had bright green eyes with complementing red hair. His skin was an olive tan while Caleb was pale. Jackson frowned and stepped in between the two glaring at the tormentor. "Hey, back off, man. Why don't you go be an ass somewhere else."
"That's funny coming from you, Whittemore! Your girlfriend used you and dumped you, now you're defending this guy! You wouldn't have given a damn if I was beating on him just last week. Now you're a saint! You're nothing but a tool!" Caleb snarled in Jackson's face. The blond growled and launched his fist right into the brunet's nose. He smiled as a satisfying crack resonated from it. 'That felt good.' He thought to himself with a smirk.
He turned to the boy behind him and immediately looked confused at the excited expression on his face. He got more confused when the boy grabbed his hand and shook it excitedly. "Hello, my name's James Channing, friends call me Jamie!"
Jackson's puzzled expression cleared to a crooked smile. "Jackson. Jackson Whittemore." When a groan sounded from Caleb, Jackson grabbed Jamie's hand and pulled him away from the scene. "You're not hurt?" He asked the other boy. "No, you arrived at the perfect time, but I would've been able to handle myself if you hadn't come along. Besides, I could've taken him; I'm stronger than I look." Jamie answered confidently. The blond stopped and studied the other boy carefully and cheered inwardly when he sensed that wild aura around other werewolves emanate from Jamie. 'Found one of them. Now to determine if he is the Alpha or the Beta.' "Are you new here?"
"Yea, I arrived yesterday with my older brother. Our parents are dead so, we're looking to settle somewhere nice and quiet." The other boy explained excitedly. 'AKA: our parents were killed by hunters, and I and my brother are running away from them. He must be the Beta then, and the Alpha is his brother.' Jackson inferred. "Well I'll see you around, Jackson!" The blond watched as the werewolf ran down the hall and out the door to the parking lot. Before he could follow, something tackled him to the ground. Jackson rolled over and growled as Caleb tried to straddle him. The blond knocked him off, and the two fought viciously for dominance. When the smaller teen successfully straddled the redhead, he punched him in the jaw and prepared to punch him again when he heard Stiles shout his name. The boy then pulled him off saying, "Jackson stop!" But the blond had never walked away from a fight, and he wasn't going to start now. He tried to shrug Stiles away, but the werewolf would not budge. "Jackson, calm down." Stiles said calmly. Jackson stopped struggling but continued to glare at Caleb angrily.
Stiles judged him calm and let go; the wolf warily watched Jackson as he stomped past the brunette on the floor. (Granted he did kick him once on the way out.) The fuming blond stormed to his car and sped out of the school parking lot. While traveling at illegal speeds, he thought about the conversation he had with Caleb. Yes, he was trying to be better, but could he really change? His mind was screaming at him to abandon Derek, Scott, and Stiles, and let them handle their problems. However, a gut feeling told him that he would regret that decision, and he owed the three boys his life. It only made sense to repay them by doing anything humanly possible.
Once he reached home he ran upstairs to his room and flopped onto his bed. He suddenly felt tired and fell asleep. While the boy was sleeping, the silver werewolf from yesterday night watched from a far enough distance that she could see him, but he could not see her. The wolf listened to the boy as he slept peacefully. Once again when she was satisfied she left. The she-wolf galloped quickly through the forest. She avoided the Hale Estate, not yet ready to show herself to the new Alpha of the Hale Pack. He already had two Betas, and she was sure that he wanted Jackson to be his third. She approved of the choice; he would make a good wolf with the proper training. That is assuming, he survives the chaos coming to Beacon Hills. Unbeknownst to her however, she was being watched by yet another Alpha. The dark brown wolf gazed down at her from atop the rock that overlooked Beacon Hills. Yes, he was intruding on the Hale Alpha's territory, but he didn't for him.
'That wolf is nothing but a traitor, accepting humans into his pack.' He thought viciously. Even worse it was the son of betrayers that he accepted! The she-wolf was one of them too. He could practically smell humans and death on her! He stopped thinking about before any of those memories could assault him again. He lifted his head when he heard two footsteps approaching. He shifted into human form and smiled dangerously at the boy his brother brought to him. "Is this the one?"
Jamie replied, "Yes, Michael." Caleb narrowed his eyes at the solemn tone in which he replied. He sounded like he was sentencing him to death. The older boy's voice snapped him out of his reverie. "Hmm. I think I could work with you. You would be useful."
Caleb didn't like the calculating look that Jamie's brother was giving him. He also did not having a problem telling him that. "Look, I don't know what your problem is, but your brother here said that it would enable me to get even with that tool Whittemore. So either you give it to me or I'm going home now!" He immediately regretted saying because the dangerous smirk that came onto the Alpha's face froze him to the spot.
"You've got guts. I like that." The wolf's eyes narrowed. "But you have no respect for those more powerful than you. When I give you this power, this gift, you'll have to obey me as your Alpha whether you like it or not." Before the other boy could utter a reply, Michael transformed and pounced on him. Caleb let out a horrible scream as the werewolf's jaws closed around his shoulder. Jamie watched helplessly as the pale boy writhed in agony after his brother stepped off him. 'Don't worry he'll live.' His brother stated coldly. Before the ginger could reply, Michael hefted the boy onto his shoulder and trotted toward their home. After a moment, Jamie followed silently.
Down below them crouching on a rock, the huntress put down her binoculars. It seems that wherever she went those beasts were preying on the local populous. She already knew that the Alpha of the area was Derek Hale, but the two other leaders were unknown. Although she did recognize the Beta that she just saw. However, they were not her problem; she was only hunting the pup of her two last targets. He had to be in Beacon Hills somewhere, but no one knew anyone by the Lowell name since the Estate Fire. She got into her car and drove back to her motel room. As she passed the table the headline on the second page of a newspaper she brought earlier that day caught her eye. She didn't have a chance to read it before she left, but a gut feeling told her too now.
She was surprised to discover that Kate Argent was the mastermind. She continued reading until the pictures of the kids responsible for discovering the truth grabbed her attention. She scanned over them until one in particular caught her eye. As she examined it further, her eyes widened as she saw the unmistakable likeness to this parents. He had the pale blue eyes of his mother, his father's blond hair and strong jawline. To be certain that it was him she placed her picture along his. It was him! She smirked in triumph and read the caption below the photo. Jackson Whittemore, 16, student at Beacon Hills High. She took a knife and stabbed the photo dead center in the forehead. Tomorrow she would pay this Jackson a visit.