Shepherd [Sterek]

Chapter 15

"This is a very old and dangerous technique; I want for you to keep that in mind," Deaton sat Derek down in a chair and stood Talia behind him. "I have personally only seen it done a handful of times successfully."

"That's reassuring," Derek gulped.

"We're doing the thing, aren't we?" Talia chewed at her lip while wringing her hands together.

"What is the 'thing'?" Derek sighed, looking to his mother.

"Memory Manipulation. Alpha's and a small few other supernatural creatures can do it. It can be extremely dangerous if the process is interrupted," Talia looked to her hands; they felt cold and numb.

"This situation makes it even more dangerous as we're not technically looking into your memories; we're trying to see if your wolf has memories that aren't yours. If our theory is proven, then we'll try to dig deeper." Deaton continued for Talia. "The process cannot be interrupted, or it could harm not only you but your mother as well. I'm going to make sure that won't happen."

"How long does it take?" Derek rubbed his hands down his pants, taking a deep breath.

Talia rested a hand on his shoulder. She would never forgive herself if anything happened to Derek, and it was her fault. "Seconds to hours, it depends on how hard it is to find what we're looking for." Derek nodded at his mother's answer.

"We should begin," Deaton weakly smiled at the two of them.

Talia sighed, moving to stand behind Derek, "Just relax, Derek," she tells her only son when in reality, she was saying it to herself. Like Deaton, Talia has only seen this done a handful of times; her father did it to get information; she did it once when she first inherited the Alpha roll from her father. It wasn't the most reassuring experience.

Extending her claws, Talia looked to Deaton for some support; one look from her old friend, and she knew this had to be done. Clearing her mind and taking a deep breath, Talia slowly inserted her claws into Derek's neck at the base of his skull. Everything was instantly black, but there was a familiar humming within the darkness. Talia wanted to believe that she didn't need more information, but she knew better; Talia pushed through the darkness.

The scent of balsam wood and mint wafted around her, a smell she knew by an old fading flannel. A small flame flickered in the distance, and a page turned in a book. A warn leather recliner squeaked as the person sitting in it sat up and placed the book on the small wooden table. A thick head of black hair, with not a single gray hair, sat atop the person's head; brilliant greens eyes glanced at Talia and a smirk plastered across chapped lips.

"I would have thought you and that boy Deaton would have figured this out years ago; I'm surprised it took this long," A gravely southern accent chuckled. The accent wasn't strong; it hadn't been since Talia was a little girl, it faded out slowly over the years, but she knew it was always there.

"I thought that I would never speak to you again." Talia choked out, staring back at the man.

"Just because I'm not in front of you doesn't mean I'm not talking back. I'd love to answer all of your questions, honey, but you've got the information that you need. Never dig deeper than you believe necessary. Let Derek do what he believes is best; I'll be there to help guide him. Derek and that Shepherd are stronger than everyone knows."

There was murmuring around her as her vision cleared, "Talia, what happened? Are you okay?" Deaton kneeled next to her with Derek on her other side.

"Everything is perfect." She smiled.

A glance at Derek, Talia watched as his eyes flashed between the three colors. They would soon settle.