Hi Guys! Longest chapter yet. It took me a looong time to write this. By the end of this chapter, you will know what episode of the show that the story is currently taking place through. And for all of you Stiles lovers (like me), he will make his appearance soon ;) There's some brother-sister type fighting going on between Scott and Karaline in this chapter, too. Read, review, and enjoy (: !
Don't forget to check out the Photobucket page ;) New Miranda Kerr as Karaline banners up!
http : / s1123 .photobucket .com/albums/l543/ImLikeMonica/
• •
"Why the hell haven't you called me?" Kaylen shrieked through the phone. "I've been worrying about you, Karaline!" After about an hour of debating with myself, I finally decided to call my sister. It had been about a week since I had talked to her and as far as I knew, she thought I was still at my parent's house. However, since she lived over eight hours away in San Diego, she demanded that I called her at least every couple of days to check in with her.
I started fiddling with the bed comforter. "I'm sorry Kaylen. I've just been busy with homework." I admit that I was a horrible liar when it came to my sister. It was rare that I ever had to keep the truth from her.
"Have you been out partying? Is it drugs? Because I know that you haven't been at home studying the whole time since you last called me, Karaline." Her tone grew more intimidating with every word she spoke. I rolled my eyes and sighed. There were no secrets between my sister and I. "Do I need to fly up there to check on you or can I just call Mom and Dad and say that you're trashing the house?"
"Alright, Kaylen!" I thought that getting married and having a child would mellow out my sister somehow, but she has become twice the bitch that she had been before. I took a deep breath as I hesitated with the words I was about to say. I didn't want to say it, but it was the only excuse that my sister would buy while still being somewhat close to the truth.
"I've been with a guy." The words came out in a rush as I held my breath waiting for her reaction. Technically, it wasn't a lie – it was true, just in a different context.
"WHAT? Karaline!" she screamed in excitement. I could picture her jumping out of her seat. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? Oh my God! What's his name? What does he look like? How old is he?" her questions flew out.
"Um," I was overwhelmed. Shit. I peeked over at the bedroom door to make sure that it was closed. "His name is Derek," I said quietly.
"Oooh, Derek! And?" my sister pushed.
I hesitated again. "He's a little bit older than me." My goal was to answer the bare minimum of questions.
"How much older?" her tone suddenly changed. I could see her frowning at the phone in concern.
"A year or two," even though my sister was over eight hours away, I still felt as if she were watching me, looking for any body language that indicated I was lying. I continued to fiddle with the comforter.
"And what does he look like?" she continued. I could feel myself blush as I pictured Derek in my head.
"Tall, dark, and handsome," I smiled to myself. She gasped in excitement.
"Good for you, Karaline!" she said approvingly. I sighed in relief, and just as I thought that the questions were done, she threw out another. "So do I get to meet him?"
"No!" I suddenly replied, wincing as I immediately regretted it. Maybe I should have just told her that I was bitten by a werewolf and that Derek was one himself...
Kaylen was silent for a moment. "Karaline, I don't mean to sound like Mom. I am just looking out for you," she began. I winced as I prepared myself for what she was about to say next. "But if this is just some college fling then… make sure you're using protection."
My eyes widened in shock. "Oh my God, Kaylen!"
• •
While Karaline was on the phone…
I opened the door as quietly as I could as soon as I heard the elevator ring. I doubled checked to see if Karaline's door was shut and sneaked out of the apartment into the entrance room.
"Where is she?" Scott asked as he stepped out of the elevator.
"Sh!" I warned. "She's in her room," I said keeping my voice as quiet as possible. He narrowed his eyes at me.
"Where are you going?" Scott asked, this time keeping his voice down in obedience.
"Where do you think I'm going, Scott?" my sarcasm starting to seep out of me. He rolled his eyes.
"Well," he began, "don't you think I should come with you, then?"
"And leave your cousin vulnerable for the Alpha to take her?" my sarcasm starting to get heavier. "No, Scott. I do not need your help. Plus, it's not very smart for you to go out and hunt the Alpha if the Alpha is already hunting for you, himself."
"Fine! Just make sure you don't die while you're at it. You would just be making things harder than it is," he said. I rolled my eyes.
Suddenly Scott hesitated awkwardly. "Does she know that I'm… like you? A werewolf?"
My body suddenly tensed. "No. And you cannot tell her. You hear me?" I said in a low, serious tone.
"Why not?" he asked. "She already knows about wolves! And how does she know about werewolves anyway?"
"Because she already knows enough. Ask her yourself," I answered. He looked away in frustration.
"Is there anything else that you're hiding from her?"
I glanced away, unintentionally. "No," I lied. "Just make sure that you always keep an eye on her. Do not leave the apartment. And if I anything happens to my place," I leaned a little closer to him threateningly, "I will kill you."
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever," he waved his hand as he started to walk past me and opened the door to the apartment.
Suddenly he stopped in his tracks as if he had just walked in on a surprise party. Scott stared around himself in shock. He turned around with the oddest look on his face of awe, shock, confusion, and excitement. "Where the hell did this come from?"
• •
After Derek had left, Scott immediately took advantage of what he called the "Holy Grail of Man Caves". I leaned back against the comfy couch watching as Scott leaned forward, intensely watching the screen with the controller in his hands. He had been in that position for what seemed like forever and once in a while he would scream out a curse at the game suddenly, making me jump in shock. This wasn't exactly what I had in mind for bonding time with my cousin who I hadn't seen in months. I had tried to start conversations with him, however they ended unsuccessfully…
"Where is Derek, really?" I asked at one point. Scott kept his eyes on the screen as he continued to play his game. "I know he's not out 'buying groceries'."
"At the strip club," he answered mindlessly. I rolled my eyes.
But finally after an hour, I couldn't take it.
"That's it. Give me a controller. You suck, Scott," I sighed. Suddenly, I had forgotten about everything as I was reminded of my childhood with him. I couldn't remember the last time I had played video games, but after a couple rounds, I figured that I still had more skill than Scott.
"I don't understand how you always beat me, even after all these years," he mumbled with a full mouth of food as we sat at the table. After playing Black Ops for almost three hours, Scott took his boyishness to the next level by ordering pizza at two in the morning. I smirked as we continued to eat and talk while watching a marathon of his favorite reality TV show. He was the definition of a teenage guy. We caught up on everything from school, work, family, and even Scott's new girlfriend, Allison. From the way he described her, I demanded Scott that I meet her as soon as possible. When he talked about her, he seemed different – not like his other girlfriends from middle school or whenever. He seemed very happy, and I was glad to that he was.
After he finally finished eating, I took a deep breath. Small talk was over. "Scott," I said. He looked over at me with concern.
"What is it, Karaline?" he asked nervously.
"Enough of this. I want to know," I stated.
He looked away from me for a moment in hesitation. "Know what?" he asked trying to sound confused, however he knew exactly what I was talking about.
"How do you know about werewolves?" I asked slowly with emphasis.
Suddenly he looked down at the table with his thinking face. He was silent for a moment as I waited for him. He lifted his head back up - the humor in his eyes from the past couple of hours was gone.
"I was attacked by the Alpha, too" he said. I searched his face for any signs of lying – there were none. Suddenly, just as I was about to speak he buried his head in his hands. "God damn it, Karaline," he mumbled, sounding like he was accusing me.
"What?" I looked down at him very confused.
"Why didn't you tell me that you were in town Karaline?" He looked back up at me with anguish on his face. "You wouldn't be in this position if you would have just told me that you were here in Beacon Hills. I could have protected you! You could have died, Karaline." His face twisted in despair.
I was speechless. I hadn't thought about how me being attacked would affect Scott since I didn't even know he knew about werewolves. And I wasn't even sure if Derek told him about me being bitten! However now that I thought about it, I didn't care about what happened to me as the horror of what Scott had just told me began to sink in.
"When were you attacked? What happened?" I was on the edge of hysteria as I ignored everything Scott had just said.
Scott blinked a couple times as he caught be trying to divert the topic of conversation back to him. He sighed, calming down from his panic moment a few seconds ago. He began to explain, "there have been random attacks around Beacon Hills lately. And let's just say that," I leaned in to listen closer as he paused for a moment finding the right words to say, "I was at the wrong place at the wrong time." He added, "Derek… saved me. If you want to put it that way." I scowled at him as he rolled his eyes.
"Why do you hate him so much, Scott? He saved not only my life, but your life apparently. Yet you're still so rude to him," I accused. The bad tension between them was starting to get to me.
"I don't hate him, Karaline. I just don't trust him. I'm still not 100% sure about whose side he's on," he revealed. "That's why I don't want you to stay here with him," Scott looked at me intently.
"I trust Derek, Scott," I stated firmly. "I understand where your concern is coming from because he's a werewolf like the Alpha, but I know that he won't hurt me."
His eyes squinted as he leaned closer. His voice became a bit more frightening, "I know more about werewolves than you think, Karaline. A hell of a lot more than you do."
"Good for you, Scott," I said, leaning closer and lowering my voice to match his. "But I will judge for myself."
Scott huffed in frustration. "God damnit, Karaline! Stop being so stubborn!" he yelled suddenly.
"Stop being so protective, Scott!" I cried back.
"Karaline, I'm serious! This is not me getting protective over some guy trying to hit on you at the mall, okay! This is serious stu-…" he paused suddenly. My face twisted in confusion as his anger washed away and he started to eye me with suspicion. "Wait," he squinted over at me from across the table. "What is really going on between you and Derek? No bullshit, Karaline!" he bellowed.
My eyes widened. "Are you kidding me? Nothing is going on between us! I already told you that, Scott," I replied in frustration.
"Then do you like him?" his voice calmed down a bit. He still sounded concerned, but now his voice held a hint of amusement. He tilted his head, squinting at me in suspicion even more.
Unintentionally, my eyes drifted away from Scott. A lump grew in my throat. "Um" I began to stutter. Honestly, I wasn't really sure how to answer.
Suddenly, a knock came to the door. I breathed out a huge sigh of relief as Scott's attention was diverted away from me. He motioned for me to stay at the table as he got up.
"Scott…" we heard a muffled voice come from the other side. "Open… the door…" a breathless voice said. Scott swiftly hustled to the door while I followed behind, ignoring his attempt to get me to stay back. I knew that voice.
After checking the peep hole, Scott's body tensed as he unlocked the door hurriedly. As soon as he pulled open the door, Derek stumbled in and fell to his knees before us.
"Derek!" I shrieked. My heart started to race as my eyes bulged. "What's wrong?"
"What the hell happened?" Scott said at the same time. Derek was hunched over on his knees breathing heavily. "Help me get him up, Karaline," Scott ordered. Both Scott and I quickly bent down to move him onto the couch as Scott took most of his weight while I grabbed a hold of Derek's waist and arm. My hands started to shake in fear as soon as I caught sight of Derek's pale face once we sprawled him out on the couch. I knelt down beside him. "Derek, what happened?" I asked as my eyes flooded with worry. He struggled to keep his eyes open while his forehead beaded with sweat. I waited as he tried to catch his breath.
It took a moment for him to answer in a short-winded voice. "I was… shot."
