Lillian's POV
Stiles and Scott came with me up to the loft to talk with Derek, my legs shaking as I ascended the stairs. I could feel the stress seeping out of me, but my mind was preoccupied with all that we still had to do. Finding the Alpha was still a top priority.
But my brain felt like mush. All I wanted to do was take Ophelia and ride away into the forest. My life wasn't over. Derek wasn't a wanted anymore. I doubted the police would care or ever find out I lied to them. A massive weight was gone from my shoulders and I trembled in the freedom.
I collapsed into Derek's arms the second I stepped into the loft, barely noticing that he picked me up off the ground as I wrapped my arms around his neck. "You're off the hook," I breathed, shaking like a leaf in the embrace, his hands firm on my back.
"We're off the hook," Derek said lightly, setting me back down and kissing my cheek.
Stiles cleared his throat pointedly. "So are you guys back together now, or what?"
"Obviously," Derek scoffed as I turned back to Scott and Stiles, and grinned a bit at the ease with which Derek said the confirmation.
"What exactly happened last night?" Scott asked, patting Hudson who was doing laps around him.
"I came to the school, dragged Derek into my truck, drove home, stitched him up and now we're here," I summarized. "Come sit, I think I'm going to collapse out of stress if I stay standing much longer."
The boys complied, and I took a seat at the head of my bed after kicking off my shoes at the door. The mattress beckoned, and I almost laid down right then and there and sank into a blissful sleep, forgoing all the things the four of us still had to talk about. But I knew there was too much to go over.
Without prompting, Stiles launched into an account of what their night was like. The Alpha trapped them in the school but let their three friends, Lydia, Jackson and Allison into the building. Allison was apparently Scott's girlfriend but she told him the night Derek was attacked that she needed space. I felt bad for both of them, but especially Scott. Poor kid. The most urgent matter Stiles had concerned himself with was the fact that Allison said Scott texted her to come to the school but he did no such thing. He was in the process of figuring out where the text was sent from. He promised he would tell us as soon as he found out.
Once I was satisfied at the conclusion of that part of the discussion, I glanced at Derek and thought about where I should even start with the next bit about what was going on with me. It all seemed pretty ridiculous, still.
"So, we should probably get you guys caught up on what's been going on with me," I started, hugging my knees gently. "Remember when Derek was shot?"
"Vividly," Stiles replied immediately, his eyes bulging slightly.
"I felt his pain," I said. "And I felt it last night, that's how I knew something was wrong. And when I went to get Derek at the school, the Alpha charged at us, but I yelled at it to stop and it did. I don't know how I did it but I did. And the night Derek and I broke up, I told him to stay away from me and he did."
"Are you sure that's not just because you broke up with him?" Stiles interjected, and my eye roll was audible.
"Yes," I snapped. "Derek and I talked about this. He tried to come after me and literally couldn't."
"Hm," was all Stiles said back for a moment. "So you're accidentally engaging in witchcraft or something?"
Derek scoffed. "That's what I said but after looking into it, I realized you can't 'accidentally' do witchcraft. And I don't even know if witchcraft is legit in the first place."
"Well, a lot of things are apparently legit that seem pretty whack," Stiles pointed out. "But okay. So you feel pain whenever Derek feels pain and you told him what to do and he had no choice but to listen? So you have some kind of control over him. Does it work on other people?"
"Not that I know of," I admitted. "But I don't actually know."
"Why don't you try it on me?" he suggested and I narrowed my eyes.
"What should I tell you to do?"
"Whatever you want," Stiles said. "Just try it."
"Okay," I replied, my brows furrowed as I thought of what to tell him to do. "Pick up my cup of tea and dump it on the floor."
No one said anything for a moment, but Stiles didn't move. "I don't think you actually want me to do that," Stiles pointed out. "You like your tea. Maybe you have to really mean it when you say it."
"Okay," I replied. "Go downstairs." I tried to really mean it that time. He didn't move. I laughed softly. "This feels ridiculous," I sighed.
"I think you should start smaller and try it on Scott," Stiles said. "He's always been more submissive, anyway."
Scott shot him a glare. "Going by that logic you're saying Derek's submissive? Are you high?"
Derek smirked, for once satisfied with the words that left Scott's mouth.
"I still don't want to be the guinea pig," Scott protested.
"I don't want to possibly control him against his will," I replied. If it worked on Derek then maybe it would work on Scott. I wasn't about forcing people to do things.
"C'mon, Scott," Stiles encouraged, nudging his shoulder.
"Okay, whatever," he huffed, looking at the floor. "Just don't make me do anything stupid."
"Obviously not," I replied, staring into his eyes before mustering up a commanding voice. "Go downstairs."
Scott's eyes shifted for a moment like he would, like he was thinking about it, but as he tensed to rise, he suddenly relaxed and blinked. I narrowed my eyes. "What was that?"
"I almost felt compelled to do it," Scott said. "But it didn't feel important or like I really had to do it."
"Maybe you need to try harder," Stiles suggested, to which I rolled my eyes.
"I don't exactly know what I'm doing here," I snapped back.
"So we know somehow you were able to get Derek to do what you wanted and the Alpha, but not me or Scott. Hm," Stiles murmured. "I was going to say it has something to do with werewolves but it didn't seem to work on Scott."
"Maybe today's just not my day," I sighed.
"Can you think of anything, Sour Wolf?" Stiles directed his question at Derek, whose lip curled to expose his teeth at the name.
"Don't you think I would've said something if I knew what was going on?"
"Well, you seem to leave out some pretty important stuff from our conversations so I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't say anything,"
"I don't know what's going on," Derek admitted. "I was going to look into it, but someone made me a wanted man and I couldn't leave this loft until very recently."
"Do you think it has anything to do with your relationship?" Stiles asked suddenly, glancing between me and Derek. "Like, don't werewolves have mates or something?"
My stomach dropped. I was not in the slightest prepared for this conversation and what it would mean if I either was or was not Derek's mate. What if his real mate was out there somewhere and I was just delaying the inevitable, that Derek would eventually make it back to them once he realized they exist? What if I was his mate? What would that mean? I wasn't even a werewolf. Would I have to turn into one?
"No," Derek's voice cut through my spiralling thoughts, and again, my stomach twisted.
"What?"
"Werewolves don't have mates," Derek said as-a-matter-of-factly, completely unphased. "I guess that myth came from real wolves but werewolves don't have mates. Whoever came up with that just wanted to make whatever book they were writing more interesting. Personally, I think it's stupid."
Genuine shock jolted through me. "Oh." Was I disappointed somehow?
"Okay, so it's not that," Stiles concluded. "Time to hit the web. Text me if you guys find anything out."
"Likewise," I said. "Here's hoping we actually figure out what's going on with me. Being able to make the Alpha do what I want would be really freaking useful, if I can actually figure out how to do it properly."
"Agreed."
A/N: Hello all! Thanks for patiently waiting for this chapter! I'm trying to settle into life when school isn't happening but finding time to write is still hard. I'm trying my best, though.
I have two points for all of you. First, now that the mate thing is off the table, does anyone have any other theories? (I hope I haven't crushed those of you who really wanted Derek and Lil to be mates, I was kind of worried about posting this chapter for that reason.) I kind of have a thing against the whole mate thing as a trope that is overused, and I've spent this book trying to dismantle cliches, so I felt I'd be betraying myself if I made them mates, as much as I was tempted. So there's another explanation to all this that is to be announced at a later date once the characters actually figure it out.
Second, I was thinking of revamping Heartbeat as an original but not on Wattpad, and trying to have it published as a real book. I figured because so much of it is about Lillian and is only loosely related to Teen Wolf, it might do okay as a real book. Does anyone have any thoughts on that?
Alright, rant over. Thank you for reading and please let me know what you think! All the opinions and interactions make me so motivated to write.
Cheers,
- TAAF_