Brother || Teen Wolf

Chapter 52 - Eye Opener

The strange poetry behind it was lost on Scott, and it seemed to be lost on Derek as well as he didn't waste a second before slamming the door open, sending it bump against the wall in a deafening clatter. Frustrated grunts and loud footsteps all around the old house reached Scott's ears as he struggled to catch his breath, not daring to enter the building. The moment his heartbeat returned to normal, Scott knew something was off.

The moon was high in the sky, casting ill-defined shadows in between the trees. Everything seemed to faintly glow with a pale, ominous hue, but that wasn't what put Scott on his toes. No, it was the heavy silence outside of Derek's old home that sent chills travel down his spine. The forest was quiet, without the usual chirping of a bird or hoot of an owl, and the absence of wind made Scott feel like the woods were holding their breath, waiting. Predators were coming, and only other predators were mad enough not to cower and hide.

Taking in the silence, Scott felt fear well up in his chest. He didn't belong here, in a place that only knew violence and gore. He wasn't a predator, he was a teen who'd had the misfortune of finding himself on Peter's path, one night a lifetime ago. His heart was thumping in his chest again, but this time it had nothing to do with running madly across the woods. His sensed danger, all around him, and he knew all Hell was only seconds away of breaking loose.

Oh, how he hated being right. Scott blinked, and time was flowing again. Everything happened all at once, yet his heightened senses had him suffer through it all, not missing a single cry. It started with the creaking sound of a loose floor board protesting against Derek's weight as he stepped outside of the burnt ruin, the faint light hitting his chest right before an arrow followed.

The scream that left Derek's throat was of pure pain, and it shook Scott to the core. He couldn't detach his eyes from the arrow that stuck out of Derek's chest, and from the dark stain that grew around it. A low grunt from the older werewolf brought him back to reality, just in time to snap his head towards the woods. Dread overtook him, as he had an idea who was hiding behind the trees, bow and arrow in hand.

Two dark shapes were coming closer, rustling branches as they walked forward. Scott didn't need the wind to carry their scents to know who they were. For better or worse, he could recognize the silhouette of his first love in heartbeat.

"Now the leg," Kate spoke, her voice void of emotion.

Scott couldn't believe his eyes as he saw Allison raise her bow, an arrow between her fingers. She didn't hesitate for a second, and Scott barely saw the arrow leave the string before Derek was screaming again. Scott could almost feel the pain radiating from his pack mate, and an arrow only hurt more when Allison was the one to shoot it. The worst was, the girl he had fallen head over heels for didn't even spare him a glance, her soft features disappearing behind a scowl.

"And flash bolt!" Kate instructed again.

"Scott, hide your eyes!" Derek yelled, motioning towards his pupil with the hand that wasn't digging an arrow out of his chest.

If Derek had regained some of his senses, the same could not be said for Scott. He was still staring at Allison like she was a complete stranger, and when a bright flash illuminated their fighting ground, he felt like someone had shot arrows through his eyes. Doubling over in pain, Scott finally started moving, staggering towards where he thought he could hear Derek. His eyes were burning so much that he feared to open them again, and he relied on his ears to get a mental picture of the chaos that was surrounding him. Impatient footsteps on the soft grass to his right gave away the position of the hunters, and Scott was almost glad he had spent so much time tracking Derek that he knew exactly what the older wolf sounded and smelled like.

A hand roughly grabbing his forearm made Scott open his eyes, an action that he immediately regretted when the faint light attacked his retinas. He was met with Derek's face, contorted in pain but still willing to put on a fight. This would not be the day Derek Hale stopped fighting, and Scott felt like a fool to have believed otherwise, no matter how briefly. The powerful tug on his arm made Scott stumble forward, his legs quickly catching up with Derek as he limped back into the house, finding shelter behind the wooden walls. Scott could hear the hunters on their heels, and he knew they didn't have long before they were caught.

"Scott, go! Run!" Derek shouted, breaking the arrow in his leg in half and pulling it out, allowing the injury to heal.

Outside, the sound of the footsteps changed. The hunters were walking on the floorboards just on the other side of the door, and Scott could only hope Allison would be the first one to cross the threshold. Maybe, just maybe, he could reason with her. If Kate hadn't corrupted her entirely, if she really had loved him even just a fraction of how much he still loved her, then there was still hope. When Allison stepped inside, her bow and arrow were pointed straight at Scott's heart.

"Allison, I can explain," Scott said, raising his hands in the air to show that he meant no harm.

"Stop lying," Allison replied harshly. "For once, stop lying!"

Her tone was far from friendly, but she hadn't shot him. Scott now having extremely low standards for something to qualify as good news, this small fact was close to a miracle in his eyes. Taking a deep breath, Scott kept talking.

"I was gonna tell you the truth at the formal. I was gonna tell you everything. Because everything that I said, everything that I did--"

"Was to protect me," Allison interrupted him, her voice as cold as ice.

"Yes," Scott nodded.

The genuine sincerity in his tone did not seem to reach her, for Allison's expression did not waver. Her eyes held no pity, no remorse for holding her first boyfriend's life in her hands.

"I don't believe you," Allison replied, and the words felt like a death sentence to Scott.

"Thank God. Now, shoot him before I have to do it myself."

Kate appeared from behind Allison, a gun in her hands. The look on her face betrayed her feelings towards Scott and Derek, or rather, the absence of feeling towards what she saw as beasts, monsters to hunt in the dead of night. If Derek wasn't surprised to hear those words come out of Kate's mouth, the impact they made on Allison was vastly different.

"You..." she stammered, lowering her bow and staring at her aunt in disbelief. "You said we were just gonna catch them?"

"We did that," Kate replied, unwavering. "And now we're gonna kill them."