CHAPTER 152

[In an unknown location]

Scott woke up with a sharp gasp that almost threatened to tear a hole through his windpipe with how sharply he inhaled.

Looking around, he saw that he was laying on a bed inside a dark room. It took him just a second to identify that he wasn't in a familiar room and to remember what happened before he lost consciousness.

"Derek!" His leg that was about to touch the floor shot back into the bed as he heard the unmistakable voice of Deucalion and the rhythmic tapping of his cane against the ground and walls.

"So active upon waking up. I have to say, this youthful exuberance is something I dearly miss from my younger days." The door was gently pushed open to allow Deucalion walk in.

"Oh, don't be afraid. I'm not here to hurt you, far from it. I'm here to help you, even if you might find that hard to believe." Deucalion started with both hands resting on top the end of his cane. "As for Derek, if his luck persists he'll live, if it doesn't, well… I can only say we had to make a few omelets."

Looking at Deucalion who was only a few feet from him, and no matter how he strained his senses on the man, Scott couldn't sense anything wrong or dangerous from him.

Even his instincts were somewhat dulled in how dangerous it felt the man was.

Steeling his heart, Scott slowly stood up from the bed he was sitting on and faced Deucalion. "What do you want from me?"

The genial smile on Deucalion's face widened, and just for a very brief moment, Scott was able to peek under the human hood that Deucalion wore and the feeling he got wasn't one of abject horror, but one of surprising numbness.

The old phrase of a deer frozen in headlights was exactly how to describe what Scott felt.

The assurance that nothing you do would change the inevitability, hence living you in freezing despair – in this state, even the feeling of fear was useless. All you feel being an all-encompassing numbness.

"You Scott, nothing much. But that solely depends on you if you're up to it." He said, looking upon the boy with an expression that one might even call fondness. "Walk with me."

....

[Derek's loft POV]

The group were already awake, not that they could get much sleep excluding the couple who slept cuddling, and were currently seating on the sofas with plates of hot food in their hands.

"There was little to nothing in the fridge so I made do with what little I found." Tristan said as they dug into their food.

As for Derek, Tristan's blood and his kick-started consciousness was an effective combo that took care of all his wounds during the night, at least externally.

"Take it easy for a while, Derek. You still have few internal injuries that'll hamper extreme movements." The vampire teen advised after he took notice of Derek's blood flow.

This was proof of how different Alphas were. If it had been a beta in Derek's place then they would have been dead in mere minutes after slumping.

Opposed to what would be the general belief, internal wounds were harder to heal and healed more slowly than external wounds. It was more likely for a wound to fully close and yet is still healing under the skin.

Derek ran a hand over his abdomen, almost flinching at the phantom pains of the memory of the twin Alphas almost slashing his innards out.

"Derek, do you have any idea why they took Scott?" Cora asked after they ate a silent breakfast.

Everyone had their eyes trained at Derek, waiting for his answer, having a little suspicion that he knew more than he let on.

'What importance is it at this point?' He asked himself, his head hanging low wearily.

"He came to Beacon Hills, not just because of the druid, but because of Tristan and Scott. The both of you are the one he wants." He said, looking directly at Tristan whose expression failed to shift as this was something they already knew.

"Specifically he came here looking for a vampire and a werewolf to join his pack. An evolved vampire with the spark of an Alpha, a Primearch, and an Alpha wolf unlike any other, a True Alpha."

"What's up with McCall being a True Alpha?" Tristan asked out of genuine curiosity.

"And why 'True' Alpha? Are there false Alphas or something?" Malia too asked. To her, the title was a little presumptuous to other Alphas.

On their other sofas, Isaac, Erica and Cora sat silently and just listened to what Derek had to say.

"A Beta that doesn't need to steal the spark from an Alpha to ascend. Evolving on the strength of their own will – that's a True Alpha."

As he said that, not just Tristan and Malia, but also Erica looked at him with healthy amounts of blatant skepticism.

"I've never remembered Scott as someone with a mountain of sheer will, or even a strong backbone at that."

Even Isaac had to reluctantly agree with Erica's words. The boy was nice no doubt, a bit too selfless even, but even he couldn't see Scott in the light that Derek described him.

"Believe it or not, but that's the main reason Deucalion came here. And it's not like Scott will turn into a True Alpha in the coming weeks, it's just that he has the potential of one." He stopped there and looked at Tristan whose face was now donning a pensive look. "You of all people should know how stubborn and unrelenting he can be at times."

Tristan said nothing at that, only lightly nodding. It was unknown what goes on through his mind but the others left him to his thoughts while Derek recounted what happened the previous day.

The twins wanted to force Derek into killing his betas and given that one of them couldn't face Derek alone, they fused together so Derek would pose no problem. What they didn't expect however was that Scott would be at Derek's loft at that time given how his boss had been kidnapped as a sacrifice.

Unfortunately, his presence gave Derek the breathing space to let his betas run away while Scott, in his unending stubborn streak, refused to leave Derek behind which ultimately led to him currently missing as an hostage of Deucalion.

"Well, maybe there's still hope left for McCall." Tristan suddenly said with an unreadable smile. "Deucalion's obsession aside, what do you know about a tree called the Nemeton?"

Derek was a little taken aback by the question but once he remembered everything that was happening, his eyes gleamed as an understanding of why Tristan was looking for the Nemeton cake to mind.

"It's an old tree that has been around since before Beacon Hills was inhabited, though it's cut down now. Back in the day when I was young, it was a sacred site for druids and emissaries and also the reason why a lot of Alphas have been drawn to Beacon Hills."

Not missing a bit, he continued, "With the kind of power she'll get from finishing the rituals, she will most likely channel it through the Nemeton. As for telling you its direction, that I can't because even I have no idea where it is."

Tristan seemed to have expected a likely answer to that of Satomi's so he didn't put more hope in Derek telling him where it was or how to get there.

"Don't worry about that. Malia and I will try to look for the tree while you have to recuperate as fast as possible. With how you're healing, I reckon you should be fine by tomorrow morning. At that time, you're free to start your search for McCall."

Tristan pushed himself off the chair and grabbed Malia's stretching hand to pull her up. "I'll call if we find anything." He waved as he walked towards the door only to stop as Derek called out to him.

"Thanks, for yesterday." Derek gave his appreciation but Tristan fluidly brushed it aside. "I don't know if anyone has told you this but you kinda talk a lot nowadays. It's nice to see."

Tristan paused, turned around and looked weirdly at Derek. Of course he knew of just how much he has changed since getting into Beacon Hills, but having Derek point it out to him made him feel a somewhat awkward and irritating way.

"Don't do that again." Were his last words to Derek as the both of them left his loft.

They had already missed the time for attending classes so they opted to spend the day continuing their search from where they stopped.

It didn't need to be said of how difficult it was to find a supernatural tree that didn't want to be found. They spent hours after hours, trying to find the tree but ending up running in circles.

Even when they used a map to mark everywhere they've been, they still failed to find the tree trunk of the Nemeton.

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