The Feud (Young Derek Hale)

30

We retreated once we found the body.

Alec going as far as picking up our hysterical sister and dragging her away from the body. I was still in shock. Every time I closed my eyes I'd just see his pale face.

But, there was something about his death all three of us can't ignore. 

His throat was slashed. As if someone had clawed it. 

Which means his death wasn't an accident. Someone had killed Aaron Baker and left his body there to rot.

Alec still carrying a now passed out Anna sighed in disgust. "It was them".

I shuddered. Even in our own land, I still couldn't shake this odd feeling to protect the pack that has every reason under the sun to kill us. "We don't know that".

He scoffed. "His body was left at the place we all decided to kill Peter at. What more proof do you need, Avery?".

My silence said it all. Even I have to admit that its too coincidental. "Well, it makes us even now right?. We attempted to kill a member of their back and I guess its vendetta. His body was left under the spiral afteral-"

He paused and stared at me in disbelief. "Are you even listening to yourself?. They killed an innocent boy!."

I tusked. "An innocent boy that knew about us. Even if they just did it to save their own necks you have to admit its all very convenient".

He nodded. "Sure. Explain that to Anna. Or his parents. This isn't right and you're starting to sound like our parents. What they've done..."

He shook his head and looked down at Anna with all the hurt in the world.

I bit my lip before saying my racing thoughts out loud. "What they've done is kept the peace. You and I are even now with the Hales.  You slashed Peter's throat and someones slashed Aaron's. And he died before he could blab about our kind."

Alec's eyes swept from our sister then to me and they narrowed. "You disgust me. That boy is dead. Rotting there for us to find. It should be against the feud. They killed a human. The Hales don't normally kill".

I shook my head. "They killed a human girl my age a couple months back. They're more deadly then we give them credit for".

Alec frowned. "I hate it. But...its kept the peace.  What's the point of a peace treaty or peace in general?!? If all we're doing is killing humans instead of eachother?".

I blinked and looked down in shame. I almost forgot that if there's one thing Alec can't stand it's the feud. And myself?. Did it not worry me that the pack across the reserve are killing people left, right and centre?. When did I become so accustomed to it?. When did I choose to over look murder in the sake of protecting my family's own skin?.

Aaron was innocent. Eighteen with his whole life ahead of him. The reason that two people lost their son? Because he was naive enough to beileve that the supernaturally beautiful girl in his math class loved him. He got too close to a girl who wasn't human enough to love him forever and with one glance at the wrong time, becuase she didn't want to be alone, he paid the ultimate price. 

I looked down at my sister, fragile and broken in my brothers arms. Passed out from her own hysterical grief. I shook my head.

No.

What the Hale's did was wrong. They killed a boy. And my sister will forever live with the consequences of her actions.  I won't defend them. Not after this. Because he's right.

We Woods are vicious, cold and yes we do kill. But not children. I turned to Alec with my eyes tearing up. "I need you to tell me right now. What happened to the girl you told about us?".