Never Let Me Go (Derek Hale Fanfiction Book #3)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Masquerade

“Wha - oh, hey Quinn,” I mumbled, taking refuge behind a row of lockers as she stopped me in front of the library doors, her round hazel eyes boring into mine. Backpacks and corners of textbooks battered against my right arm, but I bore the pain for a moment to hear what she had to say. I was, after all, trying to befriend the wolves now, figuring that if I couldn’t escape them, I might as well join them. There’s a saying like that, I think. Or something like that anyway. 

“Hey. Did you hear from Derek at all today?” she panted, almost as though she’d run all the way here.

“What do you think?” My glance dropped to the floor, despair permeating my thoughts like fog. Ever since Derek had come back from being young or whatever, he’d been determined to hunt down Kate and kill her. Nothing else mattered to him, and I hadn’t seen or heard from him in a week. No one had.

Quinn sighed, running a hand through her medium-length dark hair and grabbing a pair of sunglasses out of the purse she carried around instead of a backpack. 

“Goddammit, he’s frustrating. And elusive. Axel, Blake, and Virgin have been searching for days with no luck. You’re sure he’s with his uncle, right?”

“Positive. Peter hates Kate every bit as much as Derek does. He’s the one who tried to kill her after all.”

“I guess you’re right.” Quinn opened her mouth as though to say something more, but then thought better of it and turned to go.

“You look worried - what’s going on?” I grabbed her shoulder, spinning her back around and staring into Quinn’s swirling darkened eyes. She was gnawing on her bottom lip with a ferocity that seemed harmful, and the senses I’d built up just by living in Beacon Hills began to tingle with suspicion. Something’s up. Instead of telling me what was going on, Quinn instead insisted I come home right away so I could talk with the rest of the pack as well. I didn’t understand why that would matter, but figured that without Derek, it couldn’t hurt to try and figure something out on my own for once. After darting inside to tell Stiles that something had come up and promising to call him later, I drove home behind Quinn, Usher, Jagger, and Cash. Once we were inside and all the remaining members of the pack were gathered in the living room, I finally asked my question again.

         “So will someone please tell me what’s going on?”

Drake was the Beta, which I assumed meant he was in charge when Derek was gone, so he stepped forward to fill me in.

“It’s probably nothing, but…”

“But what?” I prodded, stepping closer to him in the middle of the living room. Usher and Jagger were holding hands on the couch beside Cash, who had one of his favorite books clenched tightly between his hands, knuckles white. Hunter and Brooke were also cuddled on one of the leather chairs, while Quinn sat stone-still, perched on the coffee table as she watched me and Drake, who were the only ones standing.

“Hunter was out last night at this party in Fountain Valley, and he said all the drinks were spiked.” Drake presented this bit of gossip as though it were a tremendous tragedy, but I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“What, like he wasn’t hoping they were spiked?” I chuckled, hardly able to believe the seriousness with which everybody was handling the situation. But the crinkle in his forehead and the downward slant of his eyebrows made me second guess my amusement. Hunter’s expression was one of complete seriousness, even as I teased him, and my smile immediately began to crackle and fade.

“No, not spiked with alcohol. The drinks all had wolfsbane in them.”

“What? Are you serious?”