The Hunted • Teen Wolf

4 - Twenty-four

"Leo," I called out to him, he looked away, he shifted again, his fangs, eyes, everything, it was the middle of the day and Leo's body was acting as though he was under the light of a full moon, but the worse part was the fact that he didn't even realize he was doing it, "Breathe, and calm down, please. That burden isn't yours to carry,"

"If I don't stop her who will?" Leo snapped, I leaned back and looked at him, his eyes were burning red, and I knew he was beyond upset, heading straight towards angry,

"You who can't shift? Malia who doesn't know how dangerous Kate is? Liam who still learning? Stiles with his baseball bat?" Leo asked with a dejected tone, "I'm the only person who can go toe-to-toe with her... so the burden is mine, and I won't let hurt you, not again,"

I wanted to say something, but I couldn't because Leo was right. . . He was the only one strong enough, fast enough, skilled enough to fight Kate, and I couldn't help him. He stepped back from the table and grabbed his trident before he made he way towards the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked him, but he didn't stop,

"Getting more," he started as he pulled the doors open,

"More what?" Braeden asked,

"More teeth," He replied as he threw us a glance then walked out,

"Be..." I started to say but he was already gone, "Careful,"

I heard his footsteps echo down the stairs, until the we gone completely. There was a moment of silence before Braeden walked around the table and gave me a look.

"What?" I asked her,

"Don't what me Derek, we both saw and heard that, if he keeps going down this path, it will change him, forever," Braeden said to me in a low voice,

"You don't think I know that! Killing someone does things to you, it takes away pieces of who you are, trust me I know from experience, but killing someone out of anger, vengeance, hate... that's different, its dark," I said to her and she didn't respond, so I kept talking, "He sounds just like Peter,"

"He sounds like Deucalion," Braeden stated, "And from the way he was starting to shift, the heat, the anger, I can see now why he wanted him. . . Leo is strong, but if he can't control his temper, he'll do more harm than good, you need to stop him,"

"How?" I asked, I walked away from the table and rubbed my face, I looked out to the door and then around the loft that was full of memories of him, but none were as dark as the one that just happened, "You heard him, none of us can stop Kate, he's the only solution,"

"True, but stopping her, and killing her are two different things, Derek, are you really going to let him become a murderer? For you? For Scott?" She asked me, I groaned before I turned to look at her, "When he takes her life, who say he won't take another?"

I sighed as I listened to her talk, unsure of how I felt.

"Derek, I know you love him, he brings out something different in you, something you lost all those years ago, and you look at him like he hung the moon, like he's the best thing that ever happened to you-"

"Because he is!"

"Then you need to stop him, before he does something he can never take back,"

Braeden and I held each other's gaze before I cursed under my breath. She was right, I took Paige's life and I still hate myself for it, I'm the reason why my family died and I hate myself for it, but to let Leo ta, become a murderer, that I don't think I would ever live down. I sighed and turned to look back at the table, full of weapons.