BH×DH

8.

Over a week later, the full moon had come and gone, and it couldn't have been more of a disaster.

Derek's Betas had experienced their first full moon, actually Isaac's second, and they lost control and attacked Derek, giving Derek no other choice, but to knock them out.

Except for Isaac, who eventually found an anchor and had control.

Then Derek was kidnapped by Lydia, who took him to his burnt down house and used him to resurrect his dead uncle.

Then he went to the sheriff's station to look for Scott, only to get ambushed by the Kanima and paralysed as some weird kid, who turned out to be the Kanima's master, ranted about his sob story on why he wanted the people that the Kanima had killed, dead.

All while this was happening, Bella was keeping herself in the school swimming pool, staying away from the full moon drama.

Right now, Derek was in his old house, reading through every book he could find, that could have any information on the Kanima, but it was a fruitless search.

He was also trying to distract himself from the fact that his pack told him they wanted to leave.

Isaac, Boyd and Erica had all come to the decision to leave, after they came to the conclusion that Derek doesn't truly care for them.

The way they see it, they would always come second to Bella.

The time Erica almost died from the Kanima's venom in her system, Derek wasn't there to help her because he was with Bella.

The night of the rave, Boyd got shot by hunters because Derek was protecting Bella.

All the free time they could've used to train to be better fighters or learn to control themselves on the full moon, instead Derek spent every moment he could with Bella, wanting to be around her and get to know her more and more.

And he's badly injured all 3 of them whenever they complained, commented or said a bad word about Bella.

Derek's obvious attitude towards them compared to his attitude towards Bella really didn't help.

Derek was a harsh, aggressive, violent and impatient Alpha with them, but with Bella, he transforms into a soft, respectable, caring and loving gentleman.

To them, he's a merciless hard-ass, but to Bella, he's a lovesick puppy.

They realized that Bella would always be Derek's top priority and he'd never care or be there for them, like he would for her.

They couldn't stay with an Alpha that would put their lives on the line for a girl.

Derek was pulled from his task by approaching footsteps and looked up to see Boyd and Erica, carrying bags.
"You decided. When?" He asks them, disappointed that they were abandoning him.
"Tonight" Erica answered, shortly.
"Everyone's gonna be at the game. We figured it was the best time" Boyd adds.
"It's not like we want to" Erica says, even though it was a complete lie.
"What do you want?" Derek questions them, frustrated.
"Since I just turned 16 a month ago, I wouldn't mind getting my licence. I can't do that if I'm dead, you know?" Erica states.
"I told you there was a price" Derek reminds them.
"You didn't tell us it was going to be like this" Boyd defends.
"But I did tell you how to survive. You do it as a pack. And you're only a pack with an Alpha" Derek argues, getting angry.
"Well, it's hard to be a pack when the Alpha is never around" Erica shot back, her eyes welling up with tears.
"So, you're going to look for another pack? How are even gonna find one?" The Alpha questions, ignoring her.
"We think we already did" Boyd confesses, making Derek raise an eyebrow.
"We heard this howling. It was unbelievable" Erica adds.
"There must have been a dozen of them" Boyd says, excitedly.
"Maybe more" Erica agrees.
"Or maybe only two. You know what the Beau Geste effect is? If they modulate their howls with a rapid shift in tone, 2 wolves can sound like 20" Derek tells them, trying to get them to think clearly, but the Betas were adamant about leaving.
"It doesn't matter. There's another pack out there. There's gotta be. We've made up our minds" Erica says, stubbornly.
"We lost, Derek. It's over. We're leaving" Boyd adds.
"No. You're running. And once you start, you don't stop. You'll always be running" Derek states, getting more frustrated that they won't listen to his warnings.