Heartbeat // A Derek Hale Love Story (Teen Wolf)

Control

Derek's POV

Scott was about as good as a limp fish as I helped him into the back of my car, Lillian quietly getting in the passenger's seat without a word or even a glance at me. Whatever had happened between her and Scott, however it happened, it rattled the hell out of her, but I still couldn't shake the dread I felt when she showed up in the dark like that. After I begged her to stay in the car and she said she would. I'd never begged for a thing in my life before her. I'd never cared enough.

The drive back to Scott's was next to silent, but Lillian's heartbeat nagged me as I fought to keep my breathing under control. Hers was fast. Way too fast. I stole a glance or two in her direction only to find her staring blankly out the car window.

It was minutes before anyone spoke, and it wasn't until after Lillian's phone rang.

"Who is it?" I demanded, too unhinged to check my tone.

She looked at me, her eyes holding that horrific blankness that made my insides clench, as she picked up the phone. "Stiles."

"Lillian! My dad found another body! Where is Scott, did you find him?!"

Stiles' words changed Lillian's expression, but it wasn't something that I was as happy about as I thought I would be. I wanted something other than that bleak, empty look, but the horror that replaced it was not what I wanted, either.

"Derek and I are driving him home right now, he's safe."

"Stiles, whose body?" I asked sharply.

"I don't know yet," Stiles said back. "Someone has to ID him and the medical examiner needs to look at the body. We'll know probably tomorrow. I'm sure glad you guys found Scott. I was worried for a second."

"Stiles!" Scott yelled from the back seat. "I would never kill someone!"

"Says the guy who nearly ripped his hand off trying to escape tonight because his bloodlust was so intense!" Stiles snarked back, and Lillian sighed tightly.

"We know it wasn't Scott who killed him, and it wasn't Derek, so it must've been the Alpha," Lillian reasoned. "We've seriously got to do something about them, this is getting totally out of hand. Even one death is too many, and how many is this now? At least three?"

I grimaced, going through everything I'd learned about the Alpha. Whoever killed Laura had become the Alpha, but I still had no idea who that was. The image of her body ripped in two came flooding back and I gripped the steering wheel tightly. The thought of finding the person responsible and ending them... it was oddly comforting.

"We'll find him," I vowed.

*

When we got to Scott's house, thankfully, his mother wasn't home. It made hauling Scott up the stairs and into his bedroom much easier, considering I had to practically carry him, Lillian lagging behind us.

Scott groaned from beside me and I helped him down onto his bed. "Derek..." he muttered, wincing. "I can't do this. I can't be this, or even be involved in this and be with Allison."

I frowned at the tone in his voice, the desperation and the despair in it. Lillian looked much the same next to me.

Scott looked up at me, his eyes dark and pleading. "I need you to tell me the truth. Is there a cure?"

Lillian turned to me, eyebrows raised.

I sighed, for a moment actually caring about whether my answer crushed Scott's spirit or not. I realised I didn't want to do that. But I knew my answer might, anyway.