In addition to their sense training sessions, Derek added an extra session every week solely focused on physical training. They started with getting her into shape. Rowan was running and lifting and stretching like crazy, even during whatever free time she had anymore. She needed to impress Derek before he taught her how to fight.
She was exhausted. And sore.
She prepared herself for a nap, flopping on her bed and getting comfortable. Until there was a knock on her window. Rowan groaned when the knock was more insistent. She shoved her face in her pillow and muttered 'go away'. Even if it was muffled, she knew Derek would hear her, y'know with the super senses and all. He ignored her.
Derek opened her unlatched window that she made a mental note to lock after he left and climbed inside with his unnatural grace. Rowan heard his footsteps crossing her room and stopping in front of her bed but she continued ignoring him.
Until he stole her pillow.
"You're the worst." Rowan glared at him.
"Get up. We have a problem." Derek said in his deep voice. The voice that meant that something was wrong and he was worried. That combined with the frown pulled Rowan into a sitting position.
"And it's important enough that you need my help?" Rowan asked. "Cause I don't really think I'll be as much help as Scott would. I really need a nap and a hot bath."
"The Alpha killed a man tonight." Derek said. Rowan stood, too quickly if her lightheadedness said anything about it. Her legs groaned in pain at the movement so she sat back down. Derek reached for her arm and pulled her back up. "C'mon. We need to prove a point to Scott."
Right. Scott, who still had doubts about helping them stop the Alpha.
"Ugh, fine. Let's go get him." Rowan said. She motioned to her bedroom door and led him to Scott's room.
🐺
Three werewolves stood on top of a movie rental store, watching the pandemonium below. Jackson and Lydia were being looked at by paramedics and interviewed by the police, both lucky to be alive. Stiles was there too, with his dad and looking more enthusiastic that he should ever be at a crime scene.
"Are you starting to get it?" Derek asked Scott.
"I get that he's killing people, but I don't get why." Scott said.
"Yeah, I don't understand that either. Everything just seems so random." Rowan said, looking at the two to her right.
"This isn't standard practice, right?" Scott asked. "We don't go out in the middle of the night murdering everyone, do we?"
Derek continued watching the scene below. "No. We're predators. We don't have to be killers."
"Then why is he a killer?" Scott asked, looking more confused than before.
"That's what we're gonna find out." Derek said. He walked back toward the roof entrance with the twins trailing behind all the way back to his house. Well, what was left of it after the fire.
"You know, I have a life." Scott complained to Derek.
"No you don't." Derek said instantly.
"Yes, I do!" Scott yelled. Rowan scoffed and he sent her a dirty look. "I don't care what you say about him making me his pet or..."
"Part of his pack." Derek corrected.
"Whatever. I have homework to do. I have a parent-teacher conference tomorrow because I'm failing chemistry." Scott complained.
Rowan crossed her arms and laughed. "Good luck with that, by the way. Mom is going to be pissed."
"Shut up, Rowan!" Scott yelled at her.
"You want to do homework or do you want to not die?" Derek asked, interrupting their spat. Scott sighed and rolled his eyes at him. "You have less than a week until the full moon. If the two of you don't kill with him, he kills you."
Scott looked at Rowan as if just remembering that she was a part of this too. He looked back at Derek. "Okay, seriously, who made up these rules?"
"It's a rite of passage into some packs. Usually, it's hunting animals. In his case he's after people." Derek explained.
"You know what else is a rite of passage? Graduating high school! And you don't have to kill anyone to do it. Why can't you just find him yourself?"
Rowan uncrossed her arms and stepped toward Scott, getting his attention. Good, she thought, she was sick of his complaining. "This isn't just his problem, Scott. It's ours too. If you haven't forgotten, he's coming after us. Not Derek, us."
"I haven't forgotten, but we shouldn't have to deal with this. We shouldn't be worried about whether or not we're going to die, we should be worried about things like school and sports and friends. I don't want to be a part of this anymore. I just want a normal life!"
Rowan raised an eyebrow. "You want your asthma back? You want any athletic ability you gained through the bite gone and with it Allison's interest in you? Face it Scott! Even if you actually wanted a normal life, we can't go back, so deal with it."
"It doesn't matter what you want anyway. You two are connected with him. Linked in a way you can't understand. There is no ignoring him anymore. If I can teach you to control your abilities like I'm doing with Rowan, the three of us can find him and stop him." Derek said and Rowan winced. She hadn't told Scott about training yet and was hoping he didn't notice.
"So, if I help you, we can actually stop him?" Scott asked.
Derek nodded. "We're stronger in numbers. A pack makes the individual more powerful."
"You'll help us?" Scott asked skeptically.
"That's what he's been saying the whole time, stupid." Rowan said.
"I'll teach you what I've been teaching Rowan. Teach you control. Do you remember that first night when you were shot in the arm? Right after you were hit?" Derek asked. Rowan remembered perfectly.
"Yeah, I changed back." Scott said. "And Rowan showed up."
"Mmm-hmm. And when you were hit by his car? Same thing, right?" Scott nodded. "What's the common denominator?"
"Don't use math analogies, he might be failing that too." Rowan said. Scott ignored her, but Derek's lips twitched slightly so she counted it as a victory.
"Rowan was there both times." Scott guessed. That must not have been what Derek was going for because he grabbed Scott's wrist and twisted it, taking Scott to his knees in pain. Rowan winced and held her own wrist to her chest.
"What the hell?" Rowan asked.
"Don't worry, he'll heal." Derek said.
"It still hurt!" Scott yelled, getting back to his feet.
"And that's what keeps you human. Pain."
"Isn't that a disadvantage, though?" Rowan asked. "We're about to fight someone a lot bigger and stronger than us and you're saying if he hurts up, we'll turn human again?"
"So will he." Derek said. He turned around and walked up the stairs behind him.. Rowan could hardly believe they were structurally sound enough to hold him. Scott frowned at Rowan and walked out the front door. Rowan watched Derek's back as he walked away before turning and following her brother.
She ran after him and called his name, but he kept running. They made it all the way home. Scott was on the porch, pacing.
"Scott, hey what's-"
"Why didn't you tell me you were training with Derek?" Scott rounded on her.
"Because I want to be ready." Rowan said, defensive. "The hunters burned Derek's entire family alive just because they were werewolves. You think we're safe because you're dating Allison? Wrong! If anything that gives them more reason to come after us and I'm not just going to sit by and let it happen."
"They're not like that." Scott insisted.
"They've already proved they are. Just because you had dinner with them once without them killing you means nothing. They don't know you're a werewolf, Scott! They may like you now but as soon as the secret is out that will change."
"You don't know that."
"You need a reality check, brother, before you get too deep into this otherwise you'll be the one who gets us burned." Rowan stormed through the front door and slammed it behind her. She stomped up the stairs and into her room, slamming that door as well. She turned her radio and let it blare music while she opened her phone, ready to text Derek. Instead she was met with messages from Kayla.
Did u hear
Sum guy died. JnL were there
Rowan sighed and turned off her phone. Tomorrow was going to be a long day and she'd need her rest.
🐺
Rowan went straight to work after school, already exhausted from the day. She had to apologize to Kayla for ditching her for work again, but hey, at least she'd gone to school. Scott and Allison had skipped together. She couldn't believe he'd do that after everything they'd learned about the hunter's family the day before. How could Scott keep going out with her when it put their family in danger?
Rowan mulled it over as she stocked shelves. There wasn't much to do otherwise. Parent teacher conferences where that night and the Food Mart was desolate. It would probably pick up a little later, but she could relax for a bit until then.
When the doorbell rang for the first time into her shift, it was Danny. Rowan smiled and greeted him.
"I haven't seen you in a while. Usually you're at lacrosse practices. Have you been busy lately?" Danny asked, wandering into the last aisle.
"Definitely. I've got work and school work and now on top of it I've got Scott's stupid girl drama. I haven't had any time to myself." Rowan sighed. She was tempted to slam her head on the shelf in front of her. Instead, she grabbed a snack back and tossed it to Danny who caught it one handed.
"Hey, thanks." He said surprised. "This is my favorite. How'd you know?"
"I'm very observant." Rowan said, smiling at him.
The doorbell rang again and with it came Derek. A shirtless Derek. Rowan's posture straightened and she glanced at Danny who was gawking at him. He cursed under his breath and Rowan couldn't help but agree. Derek was...
Well, objectively, he was hot.
Rowan beelined toward Derek, leaving Danny behind to suffer in his gay panic. "What are you doing?" She whisper-yelled at him. "Where is your shirt?"
Derek set his jaw and Rowan recognized it as a sign he was trying not to yell. "I wasn't exactly planning on being run out of my house, Rowan. Do you have anything here I can borrow?" Derek whispered back.
Rowan turned around and looked at Danny. He was smaller than Derek, but it would fit better than anything she had.
"Danny?" Rowan got his attention. "Can you do me a favor? Do you have an extra shirt in your car or lacrosse bag or something that my friend here can borrow?"
Danny just nodded and stared.
"Can you go get it?" Rowan asked.
"Right, yeah, absolutely." Danny said. He walked past them to go out the door to his car, snack still in his hand. Rowan decided to just let him have it. She turned back to the more pressing matter at hand; Derek.
"What happened?" She asked.
"Can't this wait until I'm fully clothed?" Derek asked, exasperated.
"Absolutely not!"
Derek sighed. "It was the Argents. Kate came with a group wanting to know who the Alpha is. They thought I know, that's the only reason they haven't killed me yet."
"Not for lack of trying. Isn't she the one who shot you a couple of weeks ago?" Derek nodded at her and she huffed in disbelief. "They sure are a ballsy bunch."
The doorbell rang again upon Danny's return. He held out a plain white t-shirt to Rowan. "It, uh, it might be a bit small." He said.
"Thanks, Danny. I'll try and get this back to you as soon as possible." Rowan said, but Danny waved her off.
"I should, uh, get going. Parent-teacher conferences."
"Right. I'll see you at school?" She asked. Danny gave an affirmative and left. The doorbell rang as he left. Rowan shoved the shirt at Derek, who took it and put it on. It was definitely small.
"Who's that?" Derek asked.
"One of my classmates, Danny. He's cool." Rowan said. Derek hummed and silence fell between them. "So... where are you going to go?"
"What?" Derek furrowed his brows and tilted his head.
"Where are you going to go? You can't go back home now. They'll come after you." Rowan repeated. Derek laughed and Rowan scrunched up her face at him, offended. "What's so funny? It's a reasonable question."
"I'm sorry." Derek said, still laughing. Rowan didn't believe him. "It's just...you don't actually think I live there, right?"
Yes, she had believed that.
"That house isn't safe. It's not structurally sound enough to live there."
"Well, yeah. I know that. I just figured...I don't know. You're always there! I just assumed." Rowan tried. Derek continued being amused at her expense.
"Yeah, okay. I get it. Don't worry about me. I have a place other than the house." Rowan nodded at him. That made her feel a little better. It still didn't explain why he was at the old house all the time, though. She guessed it didn't really matter.
Derek looked at the ground and shook his head, still smiling. "Thanks for the shirt, by the way."
"Don't thank me, it's Danny's shirt."
"Either way. Thank you." Derek waved and walked out the door, ringing the bell one last time.