The girl averted his gaze once again, the shock beginning to take control of her entire body. Tears were inevitable, thought she did try to fight them off. The Hales were like a second family, and she had just found out they were all gone.
"All of them?" Her voice was shaky, as was her breathing. "They all died?"
Derek's facade was slowly crumbling by the second. The emotions he had been so used to suppressing were trying to resurface like vomit, and he couldn't stand it. He hated showing vulnerability and couldn't remember the last time he had allowed himself to do so.
Derek wasn't sure how to answer Amara's question. There had been so much that had occurred following the Hale fire that he couldn't put it in short. He didn't want to tell the girl that Laura survived, but was later killed by a man she used to look up to yet.
So, he decided there was no harm a little white lie just for the time being. "The only other survivor left now is Peter."
Her mouth went agape. Derek studied her expression as well as her heartbeat out of skepticism.
"You really don't remember?" Derek inquired. Breaking the news to her opened a wound that he had managed to close for years. Although, it had likely already ripped open when he saw her for the first time again. Amara shook her head again.
"Some people did survive," He continued. "Five. Deaton was the one who hid them from the hunters that did all of this. They were supposed to escape Beacon Hills when things had settled, but someone burned down the cellar they were living in. Nobody survived this time.
Amara shifted at the mention of her uncle, which led her to the thought of her family. She hoped that they weren't affected by the fire.
Amara picked at her surprisingly clean nails. "The Argents did it, didn't they?"
"They started the house fire," He began. "I wouldn't put it past them."
Amara placed her elbow on the damaged couch, placing her hand over her mouth. Hot tears made contact with her knuckles as she silently reflected on the bomb that Derek had just dropped on her.
Derek, on the other hand, was lost. She didn't seem to remember anything that happened, including the Hale fire. It seemed her memories stopped when the tragedy struck, even though she wasn't in it.
"That's not it," He confessed, prompting the girl to bring her head back up. "There was something else about that fire in the cellar I didn't tell you about. You were there, Amara. You didn't make it."
That's when Amara felt it. The burning sensation in her chest that started spreading to every inch of her body like rapid fire. She tried to breathe to ground herself, but her lungs felt poisoned, tainted.
Her fingernails dug into the couch, desperately clinging onto something to bring her back to the reality, but it just felt like she was just getting and farther from it. Her eyes burned so bad that she was tearing up and what was once perfect vision had become splotches of images.
"Amara!"
The sound of Derek's howl brought her back in an instant. She was confused, yet relieved. The confusion quickly returned to her features when she noticed his eyes.
His red eyes.
"You're an alpha?"
The man easily brushed off her question, more concerned with the trance she was in just seconds prior. "What the hell was that?"
She shook her head, lips parting while she tried to come up with something. "Nothing, I was just....trying to figure out how it's possible I'm dead. I'm right here, aren't I?"
"That brings me to my next question." he pushed himself up from the table, crossing his arms. "What are you?"
The brunette stared at him in disbelief. "Is that- are you joking?"
He looked dead serious. His straight face didn't falter once despite her attempt to lighten the gloomy mood.
When he didn't respond, Amara spoke once again. "I'm not anything, Derek. As a matter of a fact, maybe you're the one lying. How do I-"
"It's 2013," Derek interrupted, maintaining a serious expression. "You've been dead for six years."
Amara blinked in confusion once again. "That doesn't make any sense."
"I saw your body get put into a casket," the alpha informed. "I could barely even recognize you. But you're back, and without a single mark. That's what doesn't make any sense."
Her head was starting to spin. Six years? She had been away from everyone for six years?
Her mind wandered to her family. Her sister. She was about to start high school. These thoughts were the reason why her stomach began to churn again.
"My family, are they...?"
"They're okay," Derek reassured her, listening as her heartbeat slowed down once again at his statement.
Amara swallowed thickly. "Can I see them?"
"Not yet," he declined. Guilt flashing in his eyes at his next words. "Not until I know that you're safe."
A scoff escaped her lips with ease. "You think I'm dangerous?"
"I don't know what to think." he shot back quickly. Derek rubbed his forehead, visibly stressed out.
Once again, silence enveloped the two. Amara was brought back to other things in her life that may have changed. Her friends, her belongings, her best friends.
Isaac hadn't even crossed her mind until then. She had been so caught up with everything else that she didn't even realize he could've moved away, or worse.
Amara glanced down at her foot, becoming aware of the fact that it stopped aching after some time. She examined it to see how badly the detritus scarred the bottom of them, but to her surprise, there wasn't even a scratch.
"Healed, didn't they?" Derek broke the silence. "Do you believe me now?"
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AUTHORS NOTE!
ARGHH i'm so excited to get into her story i have so much planned for this fic 🙏🏾
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