Maybe I Was Wrong (Teen Wolf: Stiles Stilinski)

Chapter 12

"Wolfsbane is just a normal plant to humans, but to werewolves... it's extremely poisonous. It's basically the only plant that can kill them. A long time ago before I was born, they used to always dip their arrows in a wolfsbane mixture. Now we mostly use it in bullets. We collect the plants, dry them, ground them up and mix them with gunpowder to make these really effective wolfbane bullets that infect the blood of a werewolf. It doesn't kill instantly, but once it reaches your heart, you're dead."

I get no reaction from either of them and when I look up, both of them are staring at me, shocked and rigid.

"Did I go too far?" I ask quietly.

They still don't say anything.

"I'm sorry," I say, lowering my gaze to the wolfsbane flower again. I pick it up, but it's attached to a rope of some kind and I keep pulling and more and more rope appears.

"What the fuck?" I mutter.

I'm still pulling until the rope just ends. I stare at it in confusion.

"Guys," Stiles says, getting our attention.

We all fall silent when we see that the body in the hole is no longer a wolf, but a human.

***

We're there again next morning, just in time to watch Derek Hale get arrested. He stares at us menacingly, taking his time to make eye contact with each of us individually, before he gets put into a car. Before I can stop him or ask what the fuck he's doing, Stiles sneaks into the police car where Derek is being held. There's nothing I can do but follow him.

"Okay, just so you know, I am not afraid of you," Stiles begins, and I sigh when Derek reacts by furiously glaring at him.

"Okay, maybe I am, it doesn't matter. So, the girl you killed, she was a werewolf. But she was a different kind, wasn't she? She turned herself into an actual wolf and I know Scott can't do that."

My head snaps to my left, because Stiles just made me realise something I should have realised right when we saw the body. The girl was an alpha, of course. And if she was killed, someone is now a new alpha. And maybe that alpha was the one who bit Scott.

I had this thought in the back of my mind for a while, but I always felt like I shouldn't tell Stiles and Scott because Scott was only just learning how to cope with himself and the stress of knowing some super-werewolf is out there could make him go crazy.
Maybe I should tell them. But not when Derek is here.

"Is that why you killed her?" Stiles asks Derek, after being momentarily distracted by my sudden movement.

"Why are you asking me all this when you've got an expert next to you? I bet you she knows what you're talking about."

"She would tell me if she knew," he just says, and I feel a little guilty.

"Well, I don't know why you would've killed that girl, if that's what you're referring to," I tell Derek.

"Not surprising. Didn't think you of all people were such an expert on reasons for killing people. Your relatives didn't seem to have a reason at all," he practically growls. I, for once, don't try to fight back and lower my head, because I know we don't have much time left to talk to him and if I start yelling at him now, I'll probably end up in handcuffs right next to him.

"What you should be caring for instead of me, is your friend who is in such trouble. When he shifts on the field, what do you think they're gonna do, huh? Just keep cheering him on?"

We're both quiet now because we know he's right. Derek moves his gaze to Stiles.

"I can't stop him from playing, but you can. And trust me, you want to."