CHAPTER 149

On their way home, Tristan opted for calling Satomi to ask if she knew anything about the tree stump on Lydia's sketch.

[Tristan dear, how are you doing?]

"I'm fine grandma, how are you?"

[Well, I still have a few years on me so you don't have to worry for the time being.]

It didn't need to be said that Tristan was by far Satomi's favorite when it came to her betas because of how close Tristan drove their relationship during his years growing up.

Of course all her betas were loyal and grateful to her but most of it stemmed from her either being a respected elder, their benefactor, or their Alpha. For Tristan however, the relationship was different as he was the first one to call her his grandmother and mean it in every way.

And while she did see all her betas, mostly the young ones, as her children. Tristan, however, she saw as her doted grandson – hence how jovial she was anytime they spoke, different from the mask of impassiveness she wore most of the time.

[Can I help you with anything?]

"Yes, actually. Do you remember those pictures I sent you? The one Lydia Martin, the banshee girl, drew?" He inquired tentatively.

[… Hmm, I seem to faintly remember those. Any specific reasons why you are asking?]

Malia replied loudly for Satomi to hear. "Yeah, he thinks it's some type of important landmark for witchcraft."

[Yes, good day to you too dear. As for those pictures… I might know a thing or two, though I doubt it'll help you all that much.]

The two of them looked at each other but Malia snorted and looked away as she saw the faintest thing to a smirk contemplating whether to stretch across Tristan's lips or not.

"We are listening, grandma."

[… Well, for context, it's an ancient tree that serves as the nexus of natural energies that flows through not only Beacon Hills, but also this part of the world.] Tristan slowed the car as they listened attentively to her words, not missing a single beat.

[It's called the Nemeton; something the druids used to worship back in the day – A living beacon that made Beacon Hills what it is…] She spoke to that point and slowed down, wondering for a second if she should continue or not, ultimately choosing to continue.

[The both of you might not remember, but the stump of the Nemeton was where I found you, Tristan, along with Malia who was protecting you from me at that time.]

The three of them fell into a silent spell, dumbstruck expressions on both of the teens' faces.

They knew the story of how Satomi found them, hell they both had flashes of memories about that day but knowing the origin of the tree, Tristan's weird connection with the sacrifices, and Lydia drawing of it made it too much of a coincidence to just pass up as a random location.

Malia exhaled sharply, still rocking the surprise from Satomi's words. "Fuck! Your instincts must be something else, Trist." She exclaimed.

It was a genuine surprise to Tristan but that wasn't the only thing that left him dumbfounded. If before he was edging to it, now he was fully convinced that Beacon Hills had something against him.

"Can you point us to this tree, grandma?" Pushing those unimportant thoughts off to the side, Tristan pressed on for the information he needed.

They heard Satomi sigh from the other side. [I want to, but the Nemeton isn't a normal tree. It's not entirely wrong to say that it possesses some sort of awareness, and its presence is not something that can be easily found.]

"Huh? What does that mean?" Malia was baffled. What was this about trees being alive?

[Basically, the Nemeton can only be found if it wants to be found. I've tried looking for it quite recently but I couldn't find it.]

Tristan massaged his forehead as he was mentally lost, inhaling and exhaling a deep breath to steer the frustration away.

'Why is everything never straight? I don't like this.'

His paranoia was once more creeping its head through the hood of Tristan's calmness. The last attack on Boyd had rattled him more than he would like to admit, and now after being flung to the side by a magical druid and finding out that a possible key to finding the dark druid rested on the whims of a shy ancient tree just served to tickled his straining mind.

[You can try to find it if you want, hopefully you do.]

After that, they didn't speak much and Tristan ended the call and proceeded to stare absentmindedly at the road before them.

Malia let him gather his thoughts after reading his breathing pattern and blood flow. It was easy to tell how everything was getting to him and how his control was slipping.

It didn't matter how much control he had over his emotions, he would lose his grip on them if they were poked too much.

Not only Satomi, but even Derek had stressed how harder it was for Alphas to control their emotions when compared to betas. They had to have an almost constant leash on their emotions in order not to go into a rampage at every slight inconvenience.

As for Tristan, who was also an empath, even if his hunger went down, the urge to feed only skyrocketed. If before it was the creeping hunger that drew him to the blood, now it was just the primal urge to drink as much blood as he could. To bathe himself in it – and every little bout of frustration only seems to goad him further.

Seeing him still staring into nothing, Malia brought her wrist towards her mouth and bit down on it before slowly drawing it to Tristan's mouth.

"Drink… slowly." She hissed as he bit down on it, breathing evenly as he slowly drank her blood.

Holding one of his hands, she brought it towards her own mouth and punctured through it with her fangs, drawing his exotic blood in a slow pace.

The both of them sat there in the car with each other's hands held to their mouth as they slowly drank the sweet tantalizing blood of the other in silence, with the only sound being the faint thrumming of their throat as they savored and swallowed every drop.

"Hahhhh!"

They both exhaled in pure contentment as they released the hands they held, but not before licking it clean of the trickling blood stains.

"I… I think we both need that." Malia said, slightly out of breath, with Tristan fully nodding in agreement.

After getting their breathing in order, Malia turned to Tristan. "What are we going to do now?"

Twisting his neck to a few pops and smacking his head a little hard to headrest, Tristan let out his thoughts. "Only two things come to mind; continue to look for the shy tree stump and hope it comes through and let us take care of the witch…"

"And the other?"

The two of them locked eyes together, Tristan's flashing with a twinkle. "That or we go back home and drown ourselves in blood and sex till five in the morning."

The sexual tension in the car instantly quadrupled as soon as those words were said with both of them staring transfixed at the other, only for them to slowly pull their eyes away.

"Let's look for the tree first." Malia spoke slowly as if counting her words.

Tristan deliberately nodded while pointing out. "We might end up finding nothing and return home increasingly frustrated."

Malia didn't care about that, instead letting her reply tell her innermost thoughts. "Even better. The night will make the frustration worthwhile."

Both said nothing else as Tristan kicked the car into gear, cutting from the road and going back into the unending forest surrounding Beacon County.

...

[In Derek's loft]

Up in Derek's loft, the air was far from the usual air of serenity that cascaded it on silent days.

BOOOOOM! CRASH!

Derek and Scott both crashed against one of the pillars in the open space of the loft, both sporting different levels of injury on them.

ROOOOOOAAARRRRRRR!

In front of them was the titanic fusion of an Alpha of Ethan and Aiden.

"Isaac, get the both out of here. It's you guys they want to kill. We'll hold them off as much as we can!" Derek shouted at Isaac who was holding a fully shifted and snarling Cora while also looking torn as to what to do.

"GOOOOOO!"

Jolting back from Derek's roar that caused all their eyes to flicker, Isaac held down the bile in his throat when drew along a frozen Erica and screaming Cora.

Knowing Deucalion had a use of him and Scott, especially now that he had lost two of his Alphas, Derek's best bet was getting his betas far away from the fused Alpha who was on a mission to either force him to kill them or kill them personally.

"You okay, Scott?" He looked to his sides at Scott who was clutching his ribs.

"I've been better." Scott jokingly remarked.

They both looked at the looming Alpha in front of them, knowing just how grim their odds were, two pairs of red and golden eyes staring up at their gigantic adversary.

"Deucalion sent you to come get me, right? THEN COME GET ME‼"

ROOOOOOAAARRRRRRR!

ROOOOOOAAARRRRRRR!

ROOOOOOAAARRRRRRR!

.

.

.

Read up to 20 chapters ahead on my patreøn

Patreøn*com/Draul_TheOminous