CHAPTER 67

Tristan cursed under his breath as his sensory abilities proved useless due to the party that was going on. Alcohol, vomit, sex, perfumes and even the blazing pheromones in no way helped him in locating either of the two of them. 

Malia would try and look for them and confirm if they had taken in any alcohol from the party tonight. As for him, the person he wanted to find the most was Jackson. The boy was a loose end that represented all kinds of trouble. 

His mouth itched but he ignored it as he focused on the objective in front of him. He could only pray that neither of the two idiots had had any drink tonight but even that thought seemed like it was mocking him as he could perfectly remember seeing Jackson gulping large amounts of alcohol. 

He was tempted to make his way to the outside but doing that will put him under the scopes of the Hunters and maybe even earn him their suspicion which he didn't want for now. 

So working around that, he pulled out his phone and dialed Derek's number. 

[…] 

"Are Scott and Jackson part of your pack?" Tristan wasted no time in asking the main point of his call. 

[And why do you want to know that?] Derek's voice came out a little guarded as he didn't know what Tristan's reason was for asking such a question and thankfully for him, Tristan had no thoughts of withholding his intentions from Derek. 

"There are Hunters around the school and I'm just about to make the decision to kill them just in case." He could hear the growl underneath's Derek's voice and knew that he had stepped on Derek's fictional tail. 

This was the entire reason why he didn't act on his frigidly rational thoughts when he knew about the poison. Killing a beta of Derek will without a doubt trigger the short-fused Alpha into another instance of blind revenge. Not to mention that Satomi had some sort of affection for Derek due to him being the son of her dead friend so killing his beta was a no-go without a sufficiently good enough reason. 

[… Where are they?] 

"Scott or Jackson?"

[Don't piss me off more, Tristan] Derek warned, his voice outright threatening bordering on murderous. 

Tristan showed a lack of reaction to Derek's threat, why should he? Even with his dismissal of the danger around him, he felt less apprehension from Derek than what he felt from Peter and Satomi.

Derek sighed as he finally realized that Tristan wasn't one to succumb to threats or any show of dominance or else he wouldn't have been able to fight against Peter. [I managed to convince Scott-] 

"And Jackson?"

[He doesn't seem all that interested in joining a pack and I think it's because he is yet to understand the risks that come with being an Omega] 

"So he's free bait?"

This time Derek was irritated and he let it known to the bloodsucking teenager on the other side of the call. [Why don't you think of something to help your situation rather than killing your teammates?] 

Tristan scoffed at his words and replied. "Then try and show up on time before the Hunters bag your new betas." He cut the call and entered an empty classroom and walked towards the window to look at the surroundings around Beacon Hills and sure enough there were some cars parked strategically around the neighborhood of the school. 

He remembered the sensation he got when he was sucking away the poison from Malia and tried accurately pinpointing their location but shook his head for lack of feedback. "Too far." 

The ability was more useful than any of his sensory abilities as it registers any being with blood in their system around him but the only drawback was the average range. There was also the way the blood in the hall had called out to him, something he was looking forward to understanding. 

He wasn't interested in fighting the Argents any time soon, at least not until their cover was blown. 

Since he couldn't find Jackson or Scott, he made his way back to the party while hoping that Derek was smart enough to keep a closer eye on his betas. 

Reaching the party, he couldn't help but sigh as he was once again faced with a very classic teenager problem. 

Allison was sitting alone in a corner with Boyd and Malia out of sight and while he knew the reason for Malia's absence, he could only speculate the reason for Boyd's. 

Even without being an empath, he could tell with a glance that she was depressed. 'Shouldn't Malia be accompanying her, she coerced her into coming, didn't she?'

"Tristan, you're back." Allison said while trying to hide the despondent look that had been marrying her face while hoping that he didn't notice it. 

Tristan nodded but instead of sitting, he stretched out one of his hands to Allison. "You look pretty miserable sitting by yourself. A dance?"

Allison looked surprised at the fact that Tristan would offer her a dance but hearing his all to apt reason made her smile wryly. "Is it that obvious?" She asked after taking his hands not being able to think of anything else she could do. 

"Well, yeah. It's also the reason why you've been invited to a dance on numerous occasions since I left." He didn't need a genius to point that out after feeling the envious stares directed at him. 

"Then you shouldn't have left." She muttered under her breath with an aggrieved voice which Tristan heard but acted as if he didn't. 

Feeling the depression slowly bleeding out of her, he inwardly sighed in relief as their entire reason for bringing her out would be a huge failure if she went home more depressed than she was before she left. 

"Anything on your mind?" He asked as they slowly moved to the rhythm of the beat. He could sense that her mind was spiraling in confusion, small regrets and even fear, but he had no way of knowing the reason. 

Allison looked at him before realizing how perceptive he and Malia both were. 'Maybe if…' She shook her head, not even entertaining what kind of thoughts were about to dance around her head. 

"Allison?"

"It's nothing, Tristan. Not something you can help me with, I'm sorry."

"I didn't promise my help, did I? I'm offering an ear in hopes that it'll help you figure out whatever it is you are struggling with." He said before twirling her around before locking hands with her again. 

"Brutally honest as always, huh?" Though his words were blunt and didn't leave open any ambiguous interpretation, she couldn't the chuckle that involuntarily escaped her mouth upon realizing that it was just the way he had always been. Something even told her that he was also like this before meeting Malia. 

Looking at him directly in the eyes, for once she wished she had been ignorant and had not cried to her father to make her strong. The strength that came with it was starting to not be of the same worth as the pain that followed, and not the physical pain. 

"Would you rather things grow in change or prefer they stay the same?" She asked cryptically. 

Tristan looked confused not knowing where the question came from but he didn't need to spend too much time on thinking of his answer. "I prefer they stay the same."

Change was good, an inevitability even, but the question wasn't which was better but which he preferred and he preferred everything remaining as they were. 

Hearing his answer, she didn't know why but somehow it hurt her. 'Can things really stay the same way after everything?'

"What if things could be better if they change, would you let it be or still prefer they stay the same?" She asked again, desperation in her eyes as she hoped for the words she wanted to hear. 

To say Tristan was befuddled was an understatement. He didn't know why but he could tell she had something hanging on his answers but his answer didn't change. 

"Even if things become better, I still prefer they don't change."

His answer was a basic one that most people would pick in most situations. Even though everyone agrees that change is good, you will still find them from time to time saying things like 'Damn, I miss the old days', 'I wish things used to be how they were before' or even going as far as saying 'I wish I could go back to my childhood'. 

Change was good, but not always acceptable. 

"Allison, what do you really want to ask?" His question entered her ears clearly as the music stopped but none of them paid it any mind and remained hands locked. 

He saw her smile but he knew how fake and dull it was compared to how resplendent they used to be. "If I say it, then things will change."

"And?"

"Maybe I'm being too selfish but I want things to be like this for a little while." She took a deep breath and then a step forward and hugged him. 

"Will it hurt you if these things stay the same?" He said not minding the abrupt hug she currently had him enveloped in. What was more important was figuring out what she was hinting at. 'It would be nice if I could just read minds. Makes everything easier.'

"Maybe, but not something I can't handle." She said softly. 

"If you say so." He relented after hearing her honest answer. "But let me give you a piece of advice my grandmother once gave me: weigh your choices and pick the ones that benefits your intentions, regardless of if you are hurt by the consequences."

"Quite a selfish quote."

He chuckled at those words because they were true and those were also his exact thoughts when he had heard it from Satomi, but she had something to counter his thoughts before he even voiced them. 

"Just because he chooses to be compassionate doesn't mean that Buddha is incapable of evil."

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A/N: Felt like I had to address whatever it is, at least make an effort to, that is going on with Allison towards her relationship with the duo and it took the rest of the chapter.