I was sitting on the side as I watched and listened to Derek chasing Scott through a parking garage.
"Damnit," Scott cursed. "Oh, crap. No. No, stop."
Derek pinned Scott to a car as he said, "You're dead."
"What--What the hell was that?"
"Said I was gonna teach you. I didn't say when."
"How come Eliana doesn't have to deal with this? You scared the crap out of me."
"Not yet. Ella has control, remember?"
"Right. Okay, but I was fast, right?"
"Not fast enough."
"But--but the car alarm thing, that was smart, right?"
I stood from my spot and said, "'Til your phone rang."
"Yeah, but that was--I mean--Would you just stop? Please? What happened the other night, Stiles' dad getting hurt, Ella's dad almost getting hurt, that was my fault. I should have been there to do something. I need you to do something. I need you to teach me how to control this."
"Look, I am what I am because of birth. Ella, too. You were bitten. Teaching someone who was bitten takes time. I don't even know if I can teach you," Derek replied.
"What do I have to do?"
"You have to get rid of distractions. You see this?" He held up Scott's phone. "This is why I caught you. You want me to teach you? Get rid of her."
"What, just because of her family? Wait--wait--whoa--whoa!" Scott cried as Derek threw his phone into a wall.
"You getting angry? That's your first lesson. You want to learn how to control this, how to shift, you do it through anger, by tapping into a primal animal rage, and you can't do that with her around."
"I can get angry. What about Eliana? Can she control her shift?"
"Obviously. Not angry enough. This is the only way that I can teach you. Now, can you stay away from her? At least until the full moon?"
Scott nodded and I suspected he was lying. "If that's what it takes."
"Do you want to live? Do you want to protect your friends? Yes or no?"
"Yes. If you can teach me, I can stay away from her."
Scott walked away and once he was gone, I muttered, "He's lying."
Derek nodded. "I know. He can't stay away from her."
"Don't do anything. Promise me, Derek."
He scoffed and I shot him a look and he relented.
"Fine," he agreed gruffly. "I'll leave it alone. For now."
"For now," I repeated. "That's all I ask."
Later, Scott made his way to Derek's house and began yelling, "Derek? I-I know I said I would stay away, but you broke my phone. I had to at least tell her why I wasn't answering. Derek?"
Derek appeared behind Scott and I followed behind, but a branch crunched beneath my foot, causing Scott to turn around. "You seriously need to stop doing that."
"So what happened?" Derek asked. "Did he talk to you?"
"Yeah. We had a nice conversation about the weather. No, he didn't talk."
"Well, did you get anything off of him? An impression?" I questioned.
"What do you mean?"
"Remember your other senses are heightened," Derek said. "Communication doesn't have to be spoken. What kind of feeling did you get from him?"
"Anger. Like I'm getting from Eliana right now."
"She's been feeling a lot of anger lately. Focused on you?"
"No, not--not me. But it was definitely anger. I could feel it. Especially when he drew the spiral."
"Wait. The what? What'd you just say?"
"He drew this spiral on the window of my car, in the condensation, you know? What? You two have this look like you know what it means."
Derek hesitated, glancing at me. "No, it's--it's nothing."
"Wait--wait--wait--wait a second. You can't do that. You can't ask me to trust you and then just keep things to yourself. Ella, come on. We trust each other, right? We're best friends."
Derek shook his head. "Doesn't mean anything."
Scott frowned. "You buried your sister under a spiral. What does it mean?"
"You don't wanna know." Derek turned to me. "Don't say anything, Ella."
I pursed my lips, glaring at him. "Scott deserves to know."
Scott nodded. "Yeah. I do."
"But he almost got my dad killed, so I won't tell him."
"Seriously? You're gonna act like a child now? You've been pretty nice this whole time."
"Yeah, and now I'm mad at you. My dad got scratched. So, buh-bye, Scott."
Scott huffed and left.
At school the next day, Derek drove me to school. Scott had texted me during the night, telling me he was sorry repeatedly, and I'd ignored all 27 messages. They were from his mother after all, since Derek had broken his phone.
I walked into the school and up to my friends, ignoring Scott. We sat in our regular seats in class.
He looked between us. "Oh, come on. Still not talking to me? Either of you? Okay, can you at least tell me if your dads are okay?" He looked at Stiles. "It's just a bruise, right? Some soft tissue damage?" He looked at me. "Your dad was just scratched. Not too badly, right?" He looked between us again. "Nothin' that big--you know I feel really bad about it, right? Okay. What if I told you that I'm trying to figure this whole thing out, and that I went to Derek for help?"
Stiles narrowed his eyes. "If I was talking to you, I'd say you're an idiot for trusting him. It's fine that Ella does. He cares for her and won't hurt her. But I'm obviously not talking to you. What did he say? Wh--he wants you to tap into your animal side and get angry?"
"Yeah."
"All right, well, correct me if I'm wrong, but every time you do that, you try to kill someone, and that someone's usually me."
Scott nodded. "I know. That's what he means when he says he doesn't know if he can teach me. I have to be able to control it."
I sighed. "How's he gonna teach you to do that?"
He turned to me. "Oh, so now you're talking to me. I don't know. I don't think he does either."
"When are you seeing him again?" Stiles asked.
"He told me not to talk about it. Just act normal and get through the day."
"When?" I demanded.
"He's picking me up at the Animal Clinic after work."
"After work," Stiles repeated. "All right, well, that gives me to the end of the school day then."
"To do what?"
"To teach you myself."
I noticed a message from a friend. "Enjoy whatever idiotic plan you're concocting. I need to save a bored friend."
I walked to the cafeteria and found Lydia and Allison talking. I was about to make my retreat when Lydia called my name. I joined them, sitting on Lydia's left. I preferred not to sit next to Allison if I didn't have to.
"The what of who?" Lydia questioned.
"The Beast of Gévadaun," Allison said. "Listen. "A qadrupled wolf-like monster prowling the Auvergne and south Dordogne areas of France during the years 1764 to 1767. La Bete killed over a hundred people, becoming so infamous that King Louie XV sent one of his best hunters to try and kill it."
Lydia yawned. "Boring."
Allison continued. "Even the church eventually declared the monster a messenger of Satan."
"Still boring."
I glared at Lydia, not wanting to be here.
My glare went unnoticed by Allison who continued. ""Cryptozoologists believe it may have been a subspecies of hoofed predator, possibly a mesonychid."
""Slipping into a coma" bored," Lydia said.
""While others believe it was a powerful sorcerer who could shape-shift into a man-eating monster.""
I crossed by arms and asked impatiently, "Any of this have anything to do with your family?"
Allison nodded, pointing to something. "This. "It is believed that La Bete was finally trapped and killed by a renown hunter who claimed his wife and four children were the first to fall prey to the creature." His name was Argent."
"Oh. Wonderful."
"Your ancestors killed a big bad wolf," Lydia replied sarcastically. "So what?"
"Not just a big wolf. Take a look at this picture. What does it look like to you? Eliana? Lydia? Lydia."
Lydia's eyes widened as she stared at the picture. "It looks--like a big--wolf. See you in History." She walked away.
Allison turned to me, about to say something, and I was rescued by Stiles.
As we walked to Coach's office, I said to Stiles, "Thanks for the rescue."
He nodded. "Sure. Why do you hate Allison?"
"Well; get straight to the point why don't you."
"Ella, just answer the question."
"She's an Argent. Her family hunts my kind. And your best friend's. So pardon me for disliking her."
He sighed. "Make sense. I need you to find a heart rate monitor."
"Why? Is this another one of your insane ideas?"
He grinned. "Whatever gave you that idea? Hurry. Scott's waiting for us on the field."
In Coach's office, I rifled through Coach's desk and found a heart rate monitor.
I held it up. "Got it."
Stiles frowned. "Right, but now what? How do we use it?"
I rolled my eyes. "I thought you were the smart one, Stilinski. You use an app."
He grinned and held up a phone. "Coach has an app on here."
"See? Told ya."
We made our way to the lacrosse field and Scott eyed us suspiciously as Stiles said, "Okay. Now put this on."
Scott frowned. "Isn't this one of the heart rate monitors for the track team?"
I nodded. "Yeah, we borrowed it."
"Stole it."
"Temporarily misappropriated."
"Coach uses it to monitor his heart rate with his phone while he jogs, and you're gonna wear it for the rest of the day," Stiles said, holding up the phone.
"Isn't that Coach's phone?" Scott asked.
"That, I stole. Blame Ella. It was her idea first."
Scott shot me a disapproving frown and I shrugged.
"Why?" Scott wondered.
"All right, well, your heart rate goes up when you go wolf, right? When you're playing lacrosse, when you're with Allison, whenever you get angry," Stiles explained. "Maybe learning to control it is tied to learning to control your heart rate."
"Like the Incredible Hulk."
I laughed. "Kind of like the Incredible Hulk, yeah."
"No, I'm like the Incredible Hulk."
"I never said you weren't. If you're like Hulk, then I'm like She-Hulk," I replied.
Stiles rolled his eyes. "Would you two shut up and put the strap on?"
As Scott put the strap on, he muttered, "This isn't exactly how I wanted to spend my free period."
I sat cross-legged on the field and teased, "This is exactly how I wanted to spend mine. I always enjoy Scotty getting his ass kicked."
Scott glared at me as Stiles said, "All right. You ready?"
Scott frowned. "No."
"Remember, don't get angry."
"I'm starting to think this was a really bad idea," Scott said as Stiles, in full lacrosse gear, pelted Scott with a ball. "Oh, man. Okay, that one kind of hurt."
"Quiet," Stiles ordered. "Remember, you're supposed to be thinking about your heart rate, all right? About staying calm."
I stood, reaching for the lacrosse stick and Stiles handed it to me. I readied to toss a ball.
"Stay calm. Staying calm. Staying totally calm. There's no balls flying at my face--Aah! Son of a bitch!"
I chuckled. "Sorry not sorry."
Stiles said in an excited tone, "You know what? I think my aim is actually improving. Ella's doing pretty good for someone who's never played lacrosse."
"Wonder why," Scott muttered. "She's like me."
"Don't get angry."
"I'm not getting angry."
"Stop. Just--can we just hold--" he bent down.
"Scott? Scott, you just started to change."
"From anger. But it was more than that. Was like, the angrier I got, the stronger I felt."
I handed the lacrosse stick back to Stiles and tilted my head. "So it is anger, then. Derek's right."
"So I can't be around Allison."
"Just because she makes you happy?" Stiles asked.
"No, because she makes me weak."
"All right, you stay away from her for a few days, you can do that."
"But is it a few days or is it forever?"
"You know, this whole "women make you weak" thing is a little too Spartan warrior for me. It seems to be pissing Ella off. It's probably just part of the learning process."
"Yeah, but you've seen Derek. I mean, the guy lives totally alone. What if I can, like, never be around her?"
"He's not living totally alone. Ella sort of lives with him. Well, if you're not dead, that could be a good thing."
"Rather be dead. Why is she living with him?"
I crossed my arms. "I'm living with him because he lives in the forest. If I live closer to the suburbs or with one of you two, my parents are bound to know where I am. Remember, my dad's a cop. That or Mrs. McCall or even the sheriff might say something. And if you two morons tell anyone, I will personally rip your throats out with my teeth."
Stiles nodded. "Fair enough. All right. You're not gonna end up like Derek, all right? We'll figure it out."
"'Kay," Scott muttered.
"Come on. Let's get out of here."
I made my way to Economics and waited for the rest of the class to show. Coach entered and said, "Let's go. Sit, sit, sit, sit. We got a lot to cover today. Let's go. Quicker."
"Hey, Stiles, sit behind me, dude," Scott said, seeing his friend.
Stiles went to sit behind Scott and was intercepted by Allison who said, "I haven't seen you all day."
"Bitch," I muttered.
Scott glanced at her. "Uh, yeah. I've been, uh, super busy."
"When are you gonna get your phone fixed. I feel like I'm totally disconnected from you."
I zoned out and heard Coach say, "Let's settle down. Let's start with a quick summary of last night's reading. Greenberg, put your hand down. Everybody knows you did the reading. How about, uh--McCall?"
"What?" Scott asked.
"The reading."
"Last night's reading?"
"How about, uh, the reading of the Gettysburg Address?"
"What?"
"That's sarcasm. You familiar with the term "sarcasm," McCall?"
Scott glanced at me and Stiles. "Very."
"Did you do the reading or not?"
"Uh--I think I forgot."
"Nice work, McCall. It's not like you're averaging a 'D' in this class. Come on, buddy. You know I can't keep you on the team if you have a 'D'. How about you summarize, uh, the previous night's reading? No? How about the, uh, the night before that? How about you summarize anything you've ever read in your entire life."
"I-I, uh--"
"No? A blog? How about, uh, how about, uh, the back of a cereal box? No? How about the adult-only warning from your favorite website you visit every night? Anything? Thank you, McCall! Thank you for extinguishing any last flicker of hope I have for your generation. You just blew it for everybody. Thanks. Next practice you can start with suicide runs. Unless that's too much reading. All right. Everybody else, settle down."
I glanced down, seeing Allison holding Scott's hand.
When Econ ended, Stiles said, "It's her."
"What do you mean?" Scott asked.
"It's Allison. Remember what you told me about the night of the full moon? You were thinking about her, right? About protecting her."
"Yeah, I did."
"Well, so that's what brought you back so you could score. And then after the game in the locker room, you didn't kill her. At least, not like how you were trying to kill me. She brings you back is what I'm saying."
"No, no, no, no, but it's not always true, because literally every time I'm kissing her or--or touching her--"
I cut him off, irritated. "No, that's not the same. When you're doing that, you're just another hormonal teenager."
"Thinking about sex, you know?" Stiles added. "You're thinking about sex right now, aren't you?"
Scott nodded sheepishly. "Yeah. Sorry."
"That's fine. Look, back in the classroom when she was holding your hand, that was different, okay? I don't think she makes you weak. I-I think she actually gives you control. She's kind of like your anchor. Allison's your anchor."
"You mean because I love her."
"Exactly."
"Did I just say that?"
I sighed. "Yes, you just said that."
"I love her."
"That's great. Now, moving on--" Stiles tried.
"No, no, no, really. I think I'm totally in love with her."
"And that's beautiful. Now, before you go off and write a sonnet, can we figure this out, please? Because you obviously can't be around her all the time."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. So what do I do?"
"I don't know. Yet."
Scott groaned. "Oh, no. You're getting an idea, aren't you?"
I made a backing motion with my thumbs. "And that's my cue to escape you two idiots. See ya!"
Since school was over, I made my way to Derek's. He was doing pull-ups when I walked in. "Hey."
He hopped down and smiled. "Hi. How was school?"
"Hell. No worse than usual."
He chuckled, glancing at a clock. "I've got an errand to run. Care to join?"
I nodded. "Sure. It's not going to get me arrested, right?"
"It shouldn't; no."
Derek's POV:
We got to the animal shelter and walked in. Scott's boss said, "Scott, you're late again. I hope this isn't getting to be a habit." He noticed me and Ella. "Can I help you?"
"Hope so," I replied. "We want to know about the animal you found with this spiral on the side."
Ella crossed her arms. "Please enlighten us."
Deaton frowned. "Excuse me? What animal?"
I held up a picture. "Three months ago. The deer. You remember this?"
Deaton nodded. "Oh, yes. It's just a deer. And I didn't find it. They called me because they wanted to know if I'd ever seen anything like it."
"What'd you tell 'em?" Ella asked.
"I told them no."
I heard his heartbeat blip and glanced at Ella to notice that she'd heard it too.
"Did you hear that?" I asked.
"Hear what?" Deaton questioned.
"The sound of your heartbeat rising."
"Excuse me?"
"It's the sound of you lying," Ella told him.
"Oh, God."
"Are you protecting someone?" I asked.
"All right. The key to the drug locker is in my pocket."
Ella scoffed. "We don't want drugs."
"We want to know why you're lying," I added.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Why are you doing this to me? What do you want?"
"I want to know who you are or who you're protecting."
"What are you doing?!" Scott yelled as he ran into the clinic.
"Scott! Get out of here!" Deaton cried.
"Stop! Stop!"
I ignored Scott and knocked Deaton unconscious.
Ella glared at me. "What. The. Hell. Hale?!"
I don't scare easily, but something about Ella's tone scared me a little.
I met her eyes, calming myself. "Look, when he's conscious, he can keep himself from healing, but unconscious, he can't."
"Are you out of your mind?" Scott shot back. "What are you talking about?"
"You want to know what the spiral means, Scott? It's our sign for a vendetta, for revenge. It means he won't stop killing until he's satisfied."
"You think he's the Alpha?" Scott and Ella asked in disbelief.
Scott turned to Ella. "You don't even know him."
Ella met his eyes. "No, but I saw this idiot interrogate him and knock him out. Your boss is definitely hiding something, but I don't think he's the Alpha. He doesn't have that Alpha-ness power. 'Sides; I already have an idea that I'm not gonna tell you two."
I scoffed. "We're about to find out."
I raised my fist to hit Deaton again and Scott said, "Hit him again, and then you'll see me get angry."
"Do you have a plan?" I asked.
"Just give me an hour."
Ella crossed her arms. "Then what?"
"Meet me at the school. In the parking lot," Scott ordered.
Once he left, Ella looked at me. "What are you gonna do with him?"
"I'm gonna put him in the back."
Ella rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah. Great idea."
"Do you have a better idea?"
"Yeah. Leave him here, let him wake up on his own. Hopefully he's a nice enough guy not to be totally pissed at you."
"Or he's the Alpha and we should take him with us."
She groaned. "There's no way you're gonna listen to me, are you?"
I shook my head and she went on. "You are too stubborn for your own good, Derek Hale."
We put Deaton in the back seat and drove to the high school.
I heard Scott say, "Just make sure we can get inside. They're here." Scott walked over. "Where's my boss?"
"He's in the back," I replied, opening the back door.
"Oh, well, he looks comfortable," Stiles said sarcastically.
Ella frowned at me. "For the record, I had nothing to do with this. It was all him. He's too stubborn to listen to reason."
Scott started running towards the school and I called out after him. "Wait. Hey. What are you doing?"
Scott turned to face me. "You said I was linked with the Alpha. I'm gonna see if you're right."
The boys ran into the school and Ella huffed, leaning against the passenger's door. "I can't believe I'm friends with them."
We heard a girly sounding howl. Though, it sounded more like a cat dying and was an awful sound to our ears.
"You have got to be kidding me," I muttered.
Ella giggled adorably.
Suddenly, we heard a loud, guttural howl. Ella stood properly and her brow furrowed.
Scott and Stiles exited the school laughing and smiling.
I glared and them. "I'm gonna kill both of you. What the hell was that? What are you trying to do, attract the entire state to the school?"
"Derek..." Ella warned.
Scott smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I didn't know it would be that loud."
"Yeah, it was loud," Stiles agreed. "And it was awesome!" He sing-songed.
"Shut up," I retorted.
"Don't be such a sourwolf."
Scott turned to me. "What'd you do with him?"
"What?" I scoffed. "I didn't do anything."
Before I could respond, I felt my chest throb and I was lifted into the air.
"Derek!" Ella screamed, holding her chest.
I started choking on my own blood.
I was thrown into the air and yelled, "Run!"
My body hit the school and I lost consciousness moments later.