CHAPTER 24

"Do you have any idea what that meant?" Stiles raised the question after they left the restroom.

"It means Derek wasn't the one who bit me. It's someone else." Everything was becoming more complicated the more he got deeper into it. What did he even mean by an Alpha's eyes were red while a Beta is gold. What does Derek's blue signify then?

"So we're back to square one? Finding the dude who bit you. Do you even think he knows you exist? Like what if he's forgotten about you?" Stiles suggested. "Who knows? Maybe he's gone around biting other people and couldn't give two shits about you."

Scott finally lost it and shouted. "This is not a joke, Stiles! If anything, they just showed that werewolves don't have problems with killing people." Scott was hyperventilating. 

Stiles shut up as he realized something else they both overlooked due to their insistence for help. 

"Scott, wolves migrate in packs, right? What if, hear me out first, what if there's not just one Alpha in Beacon Hills? If Malia and Tristan were not turned by the Alpha that bit you, then doesn't that mean there's probably another, maybe even more?"

Scott's face became resolute as he pondered on Stiles' words. "I'm going to die, aren't I?" He said it with absolute assurance as if it was a guaranteed fact. 

"Well, it could be worse." Stiles muttered offhandedly which earned him a blank stare from Scott. "Much worse?"

Scott sighed at the complications. "I don't even know what to do at this point."

"Honestly, to me you're doing quite fine. It's not as if a 'how to do it' manual came with being a werewolf." He said so in a bid to comfort Scott, at least not have him plunder into despair. 

"That leaves me only one choice; I've gotta talk to Derek." He announced much to Stiles' astounded expression. 

"You want to meet Derek Hale? THE Derek Hale, the one who promised to kill you if you play the game?" Stiles grabbed Scott's collar and shook him as if he just said the most stupid shit. 

"At least he's the only one who might know who the Alpha is. And besides he is the reason I didn't kill anyone on the full moon."

Stiles was stumped at Scott's reasoning. If he were to choose which of the two presentable options he could go for, he'd go for the murdering pair than go for Derek. He would never admit it but that guy scared his weaker man spirit. 

"Fine. But I'm going with you. Y'know, strength in numbers." He said with a tone of finality as if he wasn't hearing any of Scott's dissuasion. 

Scott wondered if Stiles would be of any use if Derek came on their ass but decided not to say it. 

… 

[Tristan Hayes POV] 

I hate this place. My initial thoughts of coming to school was being able to relax without Satomi nagging at my back on every turn, but I've ended up being drawn to a quagmire of happenings that I'm constantly trying to extrapolate myself from. 

The first friend we made turned out to be the daughter of an ancient Hunting Family with us only finding out recently. It was still quite early but we still needed to keep an eye on Allison because we were able to find out a few things from Malia's questions; either she was ignorant of her family ways or she genuinely meant it when she said she wouldn't kill us if we were 'good' werewolves. 

Next was Derek, McCall and the revenge-filled Alpha running about. Honestly this didn't concern us in any way but we still had to keep our ears open because we were quite close to an Argent after all. To be honest, Allison was more trouble than she was worth. 

'No one said high school was going to be this stressful.'

We did manage to talk with our ghost of an Alpha and the advice she gave us was something we all expected. 'Try your best not to involve yourself. If they seek revenge then let them exercise it.'

She never seems to change. Always playing spectator to everything happening. 

Hopefully this vendetta pass quickly and things return to normal because the more it goes on, the more other parties and supernaturals are dragged in. 

… 

Despite what happened between us and Allison, she still hung out with us during the day and drove home by herself after school. She asked about where we lived but I won't be stupid enough to give her my home address when I still don't know what to do with her. 

Driving home, I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched and Malia noticed it too. 

"Who do you think it is?" I asked as I steered us off the main road. 

"Someone. Fast. Definitely not a Hunter, probably a werewolf." She sniffed the air and gave me a reply. 

"We only know of three werewolves; Scott, Derek and the unidentified Alpha. It can't be Scott, too sloppy to be this stealthy. It's either Derek or the Alpha, probably the former." I stopped the car and we both got out. 

It was better we squashed anything going on than let them continue tailing us as if we were some kind of hunt. 

"You're gonna come out or what, pal?" Malia called out to a specific direction. 

We heard the bush rustling as a young man, quite rugged looking, made his way towards us but stopping at an appropriate distance. 

"I knew I smelt something different when I went to the school. You're not werewolves, are you?" He asked with a little smile on his face as that would fool anyone. 

"What do you want from us, Derek?" 

He chuckled. "Nothing. I just want to know which pack you're from. Tell me that and I'll leave." He shrugged his shoulders. 

So this was an interrogation. Depending on our affiliation, he might be forced to attack us which I know will happen if the imperceptible tightening of his fists were any indication. 

Besides me, Malia was triggered and growled at him with her eyes alight and claws grown. 

He looked genuinely surprised as he saw Malia's eyes and his smiling face changed as he looked at me with inquisitiveness. 

"What do you want from us, Derek?" I asked again. 

He took a quick look at Malia but shook his head. "I just want to know who your Alpha is. It'll determine if I have to get rough with you or not." Saying that, his eyes turned blue with a fierce intensity. 

Intimidation like that won't work on me unless you were an Alpha strong enough to contend with Satomi. 

ROAR! 

Derek was faced with two pairs of blue eyes and yet he didn't flinch, only looking at us challengingly as if daring us not to comply. 

We stared at each other with none of us giving an inch to Derek who returned it with an intensity that matched the both of ours. 

Rather than a simple matter of stubbornness, it was us not wanting to look weak in front of a beta like us in any way. He was older than us by a few years but that didn't give him the right to come and demand what he wanted from us as if his authority was higher than ours. 

Supernaturals had their pride after all. 

Seeing us not acquiescing to his demand, he finally got off his high horse with the same smile on his face. 

"So how about it now? No need for this to get bloody for you guys." Even his words sounded infuriating and I knew that he was doing this on purpose as he was this close to ticking off Malia. 

My eyes lost their intensity as I scratched my head. "Seriously man, you would want to lay off trying to piss us off. It's not going to end well, for you that is." I double tapped at Malia's shoulders to calm her down. 

"You're quite ballsy, Tristan. I like it. But you still haven't told me what I wanted to know."

Great. Derek was as much of a hard head as the both of us were… which means we won't be making any progress in this conversation if he doesn't stop antagonizing us. 

"And you're quite rude, you know? Acting all high and mighty." Malia spat. 

"It's called self-importance, kid. Something all adults have." He wasn't even trying to veil the insults he threw at us. 

"The Buddhist pack." I said, stunning him for a moment before he turned serious. 

"Prove it."

I sighed under my breath and pulled up one of my sleeves up to my shoulders where a tattoo of four stacked ovals of decreasing size was drawn. 

He looked at the tattoo and nodded his head, his expression no longer holding the disregard it once held. "Well, sorry for that. Never thought I would have met members of the Buddhist pack upon my coming back, not a pair as interesting as you both. Take care."

He turned around to leave but I was the one who stopped him this time. "What do you know about the Alpha and why he's killing?"

"Why do you want to know? Your pack doesn't involve itself in conflicts not concerning it, right?" 

"We don't. It's a personal tick of mine, but I hate when something I don't know stalks my den. It makes me paranoid… and I end up doing things out of proportion when I'm paranoid."

"…"

"…"

"…I don't know who he is. That's why I'm seeing if Scott can draw him out." He said that and left into the woods, disappearing from our senses with impressive speeds. 

"I'm starting to think that this was not the high school experience everyone was talking about." Malia huffed as she sat on her seat. 

"Tell me about it. I don't know how many times I've had to talk." I groaned. 

… 

[During Derek's confrontation with Tristan and Malia] 

Scott and Stiles went to the abandoned Hale house where the fire had happened to look for the sole Hale. 

"Derek! Derek! I want to talk to you." Scott called out but he received no response and his senses told him no one was inside the house. 

"Maybe he's not around. I don't think he lives here anyway. Let's go, we'll try again another day. This place creeps me out." Stiles said as he uncomfortably looked around, shivering from the dreary atmosphere around the house. 

Scott cursed at Derek's lack of appearance and turned around to leave, only for his nose to catch a weird smell. "Stiles, hold up. I smell something."

Hearing that, Stiles looked around in panic. "Well what is it?"

"I don't know, it's this weird smell. I think it's coming from the back of the house." 

Stiles brought up both hands in the air and looked at Scott as if asking 'what are you waiting for?' and walked around to the back of the house seeing nothing but a clearing and a weird flower. 

"There's nothing here, Scott." He said. 

"I think it's buried under that flower." Scott said and pointed at the weird flower he was sure he had never seen before. 

"Now that you mention it, that flower does seem odd. -!!" Stiles rushed to the flower and knelt down to observe it more. "Scott! I think this is wolfsbane."

"And what the hell is that?" Why should he care about a flower?

"You… you really are hopeless without me." Shaking his head at Scott, he uprooted the flower only to find a rope bound to its root. Pulling on the rope, he started drawing on it, forming a spiral pattern on the ground. 

"Stiles." Scott called out, looking at the ground with utter transfixion. "The smell changed. I'm smelling dried blood."

"Is it what I think it is?" Unlike Scott's shocked expression, Stiles was very happy at the morbid discovery. "Come on, let's go get some shovels." He pulled Scott towards where he packed his Jeep so they could drive back and go bring back some shovels and dig up whatever or whoever Derek buried there. 

.

.

.

=================

Read up to 20 chapters ahead on my patreøn

Patreøn.com/Draul_TheOminous