Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for Karaline and the plot.
Hi Guys! I'm so sorry it took this long to update. I'm on vacation in Chicago at the moment and couldn't get to a computer until now. Thank you for the reviews. Read, review, and enjoy! 3
It was bright outside when I had woken up for the fourth time. I had attempted to fall asleep on one of the old wooden chairs with my feet propped up about three hours ago, however my eyes always snapped open at the slight sound of shuffling from the couch. I looked over at the petite, brunette laid out on the dusty old couch next to me.
Last night, after she had fallen unconscious and I had stitched up all her cuts, I stood there staring at her for a long time – debating. I had done the right thing by make sure she didn't die, but what was I supposed to do after that? Being the isolated person that I am, I didn't want to deal with the girl when she woke up. Who knows what kind of hysteria or list of questions she had for me. I didn't have the time or patience for her. But it was then that I realized that I had forgotten she had been with the Alpha, meaning she must have seen something.
Questions raced through my mind for hours. Why had the Alpha attacked her? Was the Alpha planning to kill her? Does the girl know about werewolves? Had she seen me? Had she seen the Alpha in its human form? I knew that I couldn't simply throw the girl out so I agreed to keep an eye on her until she woke up. I would find out what she knew then let her go. Simple as that.
Suddenly I heard her pulse quicken followed by a gasp. I swifty stood up as I caught two blue eyes staring up at me from the couch.
"Who are you?" her high pitched voice said as she attempted to sit up.
"Be careful," I snapped as I reached out to push her back down, but I quickly took my hands back. "You have stitches in," I explained, pointing out her gauze wrapped forearm. The girl lifted her arm to inspect the damage as I eyed her carefully. To my surprise, she didn't appear frightened, hysterical, or in as much pain as I expected her to be – rather, she held a look of curiosity.
"Are you going to tell me who you are?" she repeated as she looked back up at me with her curious eyes.
I ignored her question. "Do you remember what happened?" I asked. The girl's eyes narrowed.
"You didn't answer me," she replied firmly. "I'm not saying anything until I know who you are." My jaw clenched as I felt my temper flickered. Patience definitely was not my strongest quality.
"My name is Derek Hale," I answered, annoyed. "Will you tell me what you remember now?" The girl sat up, ignoring my warning about her stitches.
"My name is Karaline Middleton," she replied in a casual voice.
"You already told me," I snapped impatiently. Our tones of voice were complete opposites. The girl rolled her eyes. "What happened?"
"Why should I tell you?" she tested, folding her arms. I glared down at her, surprised by her boldness.
"I saved your life," I declared firmly. She fell silent as her blue eyes drooped to the dusty floorboards. After a moment, I sighed impatiently.
"Will you please tell me what you remember?" I asked in a more polite voice. The girl kept quiet for a few more moments until she finally took a deep breath and looked up at me with soft, dark blue eyes.
"I don't remember anything," she whispered. I stared at her for a few moments. I wasn't sure if I was relieved or disappointed.
"Are you sure?" I questioned. "What's the last thing you remember doing?"
She scowled down at the ground for a minute before looking back up at me again. "I just remember walking around in the woods. Next thing I know, I was at the bottom of the hill trying to stay conscious," she explained. Karaline shrugged. "That's all I remember." I searched her face trying to find any signs of lying, but found none.
"You were in the woods by yourself?" I asked puzzled. She nodded. I frowned down at her. "That's a little stupid don't you think?"
"It was for school," she snapped defensively. My face twisted in confusion as Karaline huffed in frustration. "I go to school in the city," she began to explain. "I was in town and I figured that I'd get some homework out of the way for my photography class while I had free time. I guess I lost track of how far into the woods I was going once I started taking pictures."
"So you decided that it would be a good idea to go into the woods… by yourself… at night?" I asked somewhat sarcastically.
She looked away for a moment. "Well, yes," she said with regret shining in her eyes.
"Didn't anyone tell you about what's been going on around here?" I asked in a scolding tone. I rolled my eyes at her after she stared at me blankly. "It's dangerous out here. You need to be careful. Beacon Hills is not the perfect, little town that it once was."
Karaline stood up without hesitation. "Thank you for your concern but I can take care of myself," she sassed in her light voice. A growl grew in my throat. I had just met the girl and saved her life, yet she was already crossing over to my bad side… but then again, everyone was on my bad side.
"There are…" I paused while trying to find the appropriate words, "animals out here that will eat you alive. You're lucky that I found you, or else you would be dead," I retaliated in my signature harsh tone. She winced at my bitter words while her eyes wandered away from me again.
"I'm sorry," she whispered so quietly that I almost missed it. Karaline was silent for a few moments. "And thank you," she added as she looked back up at me with sincere eyes. "Really. Thank you for saving me. I can't thank you enough," her little voice said. All I managed to do was nod.
We stood there for what seemed like a lifetime in awkward silence before she broke it. "I should go," she sang in her bubbly voice as she ran her hand through her hair. "My sister must be going crazy looking for me!" She stopped and shook her head as she stared out the window. "I really don't remember anything," she said in amazement.
"You most likely fell down the hill. It looked like you hit your head pretty hard," I suggested while trying to sound convincing. "You might want to get that checked out by a doctor."
"How did you find me?" she asked.
"I heard you scream and searched for you," I lied.
"Well thank you again," the girl smiled warmly at me but of course I didn't return. She turned back to the couch to grab her jacket which I had placed next to her. Suddenly she gasped.
"My camera!" her voice squeaked as she snatched it from the floor.
"I picked it up on the way back," I said.
"Thank you very much," she beamed. The girl was pretty energetic for someone who almost lost their life a few hours ago. Or maybe it was just the fact that I wasn't used to being around such bright energy.
"Thank God you found it! This camera is my life," Karaline's eyes were animated as she cradled the Nikon in her hands. It was then that my heart stopped, my body froze, and my mind went blank. As she looked over her shoulder at me, her hair slightly swung to reveal an unusual sight on the back of her neck. Karaline quickly fell quiet as she caught my hardened expression once she turned around. I crept closer to get a better look.
"What's wrong? What are you looking at?" she asked starting to get frantic.
"Don't move," I stated sharply. Slowly, I stepped closer to her, pleading inside that what I was looking at wasn't what I thought it was. No, it can't be, I thought.
"Fuck," I spat out. But before I could get a closer look at her neck, my vision shook violently. Suddenly my breathing quickened and my body began to quiver. Karaline ignored me and ran over to the broken mirror on the wall across the room. My ears began to ring as my heart continued to beat faster. Faintly, I heard a gasp come from the other side of the room followed by sobbing. "No, no, no," Karaline repeated hysterically as she stared at the mirror eyeing four shallow marks following the shape of a crest on her neck.
"Is it what I think it – " Karaline began to say before she turned around towards me.
"Derek?" I heard faintly. "Are you okay?" My hearing was muffled.
My heavy breathing began to turn into uncontrollable growls as I tried to gather every ounce of energy to stop my body from transforming in failure ─ I fell to my knees as the beast inside of me began to take over.
