Deafening Silence

2 // I Can't Stay

 I saw the fear, the panic that was running through him when I alerted him with my eyes. I would be confused if I saw a supposed werewolf hunter flash their eyes another color—a color that symbolized being a werewolf themselves.

Sighing out of frustration, I strolled over to the faucet and poured him a cup of water. He only took a small sip before sitting down, not taking his eyes off me. Eventually the silence was too thick, and I had to stop it.

"What are you thinking?" I murmured, looking down at my hands.

"You're supposed to kill werewolves, not be one of them." He said stiffly.

"I...I thought you would be a little more..." I trailed off.

He took my hand, this time with a tighter grip than before.

"I can't be happy about this, Bryn. This was something that I never wanted for you."

He rose from his chair without another word, partially in anger and partially in frustration. I saw him go into his room and return with a pillow and blanket, and without a shirt. I frowned, seeing as I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I shut my eyes tight until he spoke.

"You can have the bed." he growled.

Reluctantly, I went back into the bedroom and slipped into bed with my clothes on. It didn't matter that I had a bed; all that mattered was how impossible it was to get to sleep. I breathed heavily, memories flooding my mind about my family, about my mother, about Derek. Who was I to just show up and demand his friendship again? I couldn't stay here and torture him all over again. Now that we were older, I could sense the shift becoming more recurring with him, and I could sense that things may turn into more than a friendship for him.

As I rose from the warm bed, I held my red high-tops in my hands as I tried to tiptoe out of the apartment. As I reached for the handle, I had neglected to notice the fact that he wasn't on the couch. He stepped out from the corner, causing me to stifle a scream.

"What the hell, Derek?" I shrieked.

"I knew you were going to try and leave." He scowled, sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. I sighed, taking a deep breath and putting my shoes down by the door as I sat beside him. Our legs were just millimeters from one another, and I was being careful not to touch him. I took his hand so that he had to look at me.

"I can't stay here, we both know that. You think I haven't heard the stories of what's going on in Beacon Hills, Derek? I'm no idiot, I know about the Kanima and about your pack."

"I didn't want you to suffer from this the way I have to." he looked away from me again.

"Derek, you had no choice." I reminded. "You know, a pack's purpose isn't only for power and survival." I added on a softer note.

I rose from my seat, walking over to my high-tops as I pulled them on once more. I half-turned my head so that I didn't have to look at him directly, letting my gaze fall to the wooden floor.

"Goodbye, Derek." I whispered.

I left the room without another word, regret filling every inch of my body. I let the silent tears continue down my face, trying to tell myself relentlessly that this was for the best. I headed into the woods, taking that as my best bet to get as far away from this town and the memories it was accompanied by. I couldn't risk becoming his anchor, and if I let him get any closer, just that would have happened.

The forest floor shuffled underneath my feet, and as I was about to take that last step that would mark me to get the hell out of that town, I stopped. I stopped, and turned around to discover four piercing sets of eyes, all of which belonged to werewolves. Evaluating my chances of survival, I clenched my fists and felt the shift coming on. I shot out my claws, feeling my canines grow out. They all took a step back at my yellow flashing eyes, and it wasn't until Derek spoke that they all snapped back into reality.

"Stop it! All of you!" he shouted. They parted, shifting back as he stepped through. I retracted my claws, feeling my human features return again. I cocked my head to the side, looking down as I waited for this entire thing to pass.

Unlike most werewolves, who had the characteristic of being fatefully hotheaded, I tried to never shift. So far, I had resulted in only shifting on every full moon, except for tonight. Tonight was the first time I was truly aware of what was going on.

"Derek..." I muttered.

"I thought you were leaving Beacon Hills." he said, his jaw rigid.

"Who is she, Derek?" One of them hissed. She was blonde and obviously undeniably attractive. She made an abnormal exaggeration on the word 'she'.

"She's an old friend." he said quickly. "If she decides to stay in this town, she is not to be harmed."

I looked at him, hurt. How could he not tell me that he was the alpha of Beacon Hills? Maybe I was right, maybe our friendship before was just childish. How on earth was he supposed to trust me? Looking to the ground, I took a deep breath and started walking off.

"I'd be happy to debrief you on what's been going on in this town." he offered.

Reluctantly, I agreed and we trudged back through the woods to his house. I walked beside Derek, the rest of the betas walking behind us. I could feel their ice-like stares stabbing me in the back of my head. I tried to shake it off once we got inside. I sat on the steps as they all gathered in a half-circle around me, arms folded.

"First off, we have no idea who the Kanima's master is." one of them said.

"Scott, that's really not under the category of helpful." Derek piped up from the couch. He stood, walking over to me. "I guess I'll just have to do this myself. The Kanima is afraid of water, but since Jackson's captain of the swim team, we know that fear doesn't come from him. We've been...working on it, but so far we still have no idea. In addition to that, we know that Jackson Whittemore, the kid who's the Kanima, was bitten by me."

"Derek, for the last time, it's not your fault. He was the one that was pure evil, not you." Scott said.

"Look, guys, as helpful as this is, I've been an Omega since I changed. I...I haven't interacted with any other packs, only Omegas. So I'm going to need time to adjust to this situation." I said, rising as I walked over to the charred door.

"Where are you going?" Derek asked, a pang of guilt running through me. This is the second time I've left him.

I turned, my eyes flashing yellow once more.

"I'm going to find the Kanima."