Broken Trust (Broken Book 3)

18: Death

Malia tracked all day and couldn't find Brett's scent. Or any werewolf's scent. It was well past dark when she, Derek, and Isabel returned to the Cruiser.

"I'm sorry," Malia said. "I really tried."

"There's nothing to be sorry about," Derek answered. "If they don't want to be found, we're not going to find them."

"They have the ability to hide their scent, don't they?" Isabel asked.

Derek nodded.

"Wait, that's a thing?" Malia asked. "Some werewolves can hide from other wolves?"

"Yeah. But I couldn't sense any other werewolves where we looked," Isabel said.

"Maybe we need to try something different."

"Like what?"

"Maybe we need to think like Stiles."

"Like a hyperactive spazz?" Derek asked. Isabel smiled.

"No, like a detective. If they're really Buddhists, then maybe instead of asking where werewolves hide, we should be asking..."

"Where would Buddhists hide?"

"Are you familiar with Buddha's teachings?" Isabel asked.

Derek was quiet for a moment, glancing out the windshield. "When Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree, he looked to the east for enlightenment."

"Is there some kind of eastern point in Beacon Hills?" Malia asked.

"Lookout Point," Isabel said. The place where she and Derek had their first kiss. When Isabel decided to stay in Beacon Hills and stop running from Vincent.

"Come on," Malia said as she stepped out of the Cruiser.

They reached the overlook and saw nothing. Isabel's eyebrows knitted together and Malia stopped Derek.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm sensing a lot of werewolves," Isabel said.

"Do you not smell that?" Malia asked.

"Wait here," Derek said, moving in the direction Malia and Isabel had been looking. Isabel followed Derek anyway. "What part of 'wait here' did you not understand?"

"Have you met me?"

Derek shook his head with a smile. The smile faded when he saw the scene before him.

"Oh, my God," she whispered. Before them, several werewolves were scattered. Isabel went to the nearest one. His eyes were wide open, unseeing, a black substance trailing from his eyes, nose, ears, and the corners of his mouth. "I've never seen anything like this."

"Neither have I."

Isabel looked down and saw that the substance was even around his nails.

"What happened?" Malia asked, having followed them to the clearing.

"A genocide," Isabel answered.

"I think they might have been poisoned," Derek said.

"Well, that's just great," Malia complained. "If assassins with guns and tomahawks don't get you, then ones with wolfsbane poison will."

Isabel stood. "You're not helping, Malia," she said.

"Maybe we should be running from Beacon Hills. Running for our lives. As fast as we can."