Grievances (Book Three Of Hale Wolves For Teen Wolf :))

Ch. 16: Illuminated

I was already out in Beacon Hills as I thought about what I was gonna do.

About Scott.

I was already thinking about forgetting all of it, to push it away. I didn't want love or loss, so . . .

The more I thought about it, the more angrier I got, which I knew was ridiculous. Anger was just something I was used to. Better than something I had close to no idea about.

When I finally got back to the loft, it was dark, and Derek was growling at kids in Halloween costumes to get them to run away, smiling as he turned back to the car.

I stopped behind him, and he turned to swing an arm at me. I caught it with a bored look on my face, pushing his arm away. "You're not an Alpha anymore, Derek, remember that. I could kick your ass."

"Keep telling yourself that, Tara," Derek replied as he turned back to the car.

We both stopped when we heard the snarls, and I turned my head to look at two guys in black and faces covered with masks rise up from the ground, both of them grabbing either of my arms as I struggled, the other three closing in on Derek. One turned to me.

What the hell  were they doing to us?

*

I woke up, and I turned to Derek, who was passed out, with me feeling behind my ear as I felt a mark I couldn't see.

"Derek," I said, crawling over to him and shaking his shoulders.

I saw the backwards five behind his left ear. Was that what I had?

I sighed an annoyed sigh as my eyes glowed blue and I yelled in a deep, thundering growl, "Derek!"

He finally woke up, touching the back of his ear like I had, and it got so quiet, I could hear Scott's voice. "Tara?"

*

What the hell is this? I thought as I walked into the party in the loft--a black light Halloween party, no less, with horny, drunk teenagers covered in paint.

I walked over to the DJ stand, which was on top of the table that was always here, and the guy below it out a hand on my shoulder. "Sorry, the Bloody Beetroot doesn't take requests." I nodded once with bitter sarcasm, about to walk around him when he stopped me again. "Seriously, I said the DJ doesn't take--"

I gripped his throat to shut him the hell up. "He'll take mine."

I threw him behind up, grabbing the DJ table to pull myself up onto the actual table underneath, standing on top, and then nodded to the DJ with a black mask and white flashing eyes, grabbing the DJ table, flipping the stand to the floor, making the music stop and getting everyone's attentions.

Derek's voice thundered as he yelled, "Get out!"

The partiers started to clamour their way out, yelling and running, and I took a step toward the DJ like I was going to hurt him, and he instantly jumped off the table and took off running.

I looked back over the leaving crowd, still standing on the table as I saw those masked guys that came from the dark stand still. There were five of them.

Aiden, in green paint, stayed, and Isaac and Allison helped Ethan in and Scott and a Japanese girl came in too.

All of the masked people looked toward Aiden. "Guys, they're looking at me." They each took a step forward, toward him. "Why are they looking at me?" They took another step forward, then one more. "Guys?"

Derek ran forward first, then Scott, and I jumped off of the table, jumping toward one that was closer to me, grabbing around him and taking him down. We both rolled into standing positions, all of us fighting one in black and a mask.

I swung at the one in front of me, and he ducked and spun, kicking me toward the wall as Scott and Derek continued to fight.

I saw Scott flip over one as I turned back, blue eyes, canines and claws as I growled and ran toward one, snapping his neck.

His bones crunched as he looked back at me, still alive.

What the hell?

He pushed me into the wall, and they kicked Derek into a pillar, and Scott into a wall.

"Somebody do something!" Allison said.

You have any brilliant ideas?

Isaac stepped forward, his claws out as one turned back and pulled a sword out of his chest, swinging and rotating it dangerously. Isaac stepped back, and the masked man in black turned away.

Two of the men in black grabbed Aiden's arms as another did the same thing thing to Aiden as he did to me and Derek, the number five behind his left ear.

They all turned toward Scott, Scott standing defensively, shifting in front of the girl behind him, but we all knew they were after Scott next.

Even after I had thought I wasn't going to do anything about Scott, I was still worried about him now as  I stood slowly from the floor. Scott couldn't die. Or be hurt. I wouldn't let that happen.

We all looked out the windows as the sun rose and the five men disappeared.

"What the hell were those things?" Scott asked.

Isaac looked at Allison. "Your dad's 24 hours are up."

I needed an explanation too.