I Can't Love You

Search Party

Chris POV

"Hey, Dean. This is a bit unexpected. How are you and Sam doing?" I ask.

"Yeah, I guess it has been a while, Sammy and I are doing alright. We were thinking about coming to crash at your place for a few days. He says.

I am mentally punching myself.

"Ah, yeah that sounds cool. You guys can finally meet Isaac." I say.

"Oh, yeah that boy you adopted. Can't wait, we will be getting into town probably early tomorrow morning, I'll call you when we are close." Dean says.

"Great, see you tomorrow," I say hanging up.

They have the worst timing. I feel like throwing up.

Isaac comes out to the porch.

"Dad are you ok? You look pale." He asks.

"Get prepared to lie your ass off," I say.

He knew about my family and how they felt about werewolves and of course I never mentioned Isaac was a werewolf or that a pack lives about 20 minutes from me. This is my nightmare; I need a smoke.

I head to the back porch and light a cigarette, Isaac follows me.

"So, are you going to tell them about me and Derek, and Derek's family?" Isaac asks.

I take a long drag as I say "I do not even want to touch the subject, but I don't want anyone to be in danger either. The problem is I don't know if my word will be enough, they might think I am possessed or something."

"Dad, why can't you just be honest with them?" Isaac asks.

"Isaac, they grew up in the same family I did, we were taught to hunt, to shoot, and ask questions later. I think they will be more understanding with you, but as far as Derek and his family...I think they might try to hunt them and that scares me." I say finishing my cigarette.

"We will figure it out, but you should call Derek and let him know," Isaac says as he walks back into the house.

I am overwhelmed, so many secrets threatening to escape, and I am trying to control all the pieces.

I sigh as I call Derek.

It rings, and rings, and rings then go to voicemail.

"Hey, Der I need you to call me as soon as you can. It's kind of important. Ok, bye."

I wait an hour.

I try again it goes to voicemail.

I wait another hour.

It goes to voicemail again.

It's fine, maybe he is busy, I wait two more hours.

I am on the edge of anxiety.

I call again and now it goes directly to voicemail.

Something is wrong.

I call Scott.

"Hello." He answers

"Scott, look I might be overreacting but I haven't heard from Derek in like 4 hours, he said he would call me after his run, does he usually take this long? I ask hopefully.

Scott is silent for a moment then replies with "No, Derek's absolute max is 2 hours on a run. Let me try to call him to see if he answers and I'll call you back." He says and hangs up.

I run my fingers through my hair, this is not good.

"Isaac!!" I yell up to him.

He comes bounding down the steps as my phone rings.

"Hey," I say.

"Yeah, he's not answering and it's going straight to voicemail. No one has heard from him." Scott says.

I swallow the lump in my throat.

"Ok, Scott can you come over so we can start a search party?" I ask.

"Yes, I'll be right over." He says as he hangs up.

"Search party?" Isaac asks.

"Yes, I haven't heard from Derek in 4 hours and his phone is going straight to voicemail. I wouldn't be worried but he said he would call me and Derek almost always does what he says. I am hoping I am just being stupid and this is nothing, but I have a bad feeling in my gut." I say.

Isaac hugs me, he can see I am worried. Hoping for the best, but I am expecting the worse.

Derek POV

I was happily running the trail I usually run when I noticed an unfamiliar scent, mixed with a very familiar scent. I could smell hints of that woodsy smell but it was muddled with dirt and earthy tones, not bright and citrus-like Chris. I turned around too late; I felt the sting of the bullet piercing my chest. This was not a normal bullet, I realized that these were hunters and I was in trouble. I felt another bullet nip my ankle as I fell to the ground. Two more bullets slashed through my stomach, I was losing lots of blood. These were wolfsbane bullets. I was on the ground, too weak to run. I close my eyes and sleep envelopes me.

I wake up, I can't see anything, a hood has been placed on my head. I try to struggle, but I am tied up tight against something cold, possibly metallic. I can feel the warm blood slipping out of me. The pain is almost unbearable.

"Good you are awake." I hear as someone kicks me.

I growl in pain.

"What do you want?" I ask through pained breaths.

"Oh, so nice of you to ask. I want you to tell me where your pack is so we can have a chat with my gun." The unknown person says.

"I am not going to give up my family," I say knowing I might not make it out of this alive.

These were definitely hunters. I was definitely in trouble.

"Oh, we will see." He says as he punches me in the face.

I blackout.

I don't know how much time passes, I just know the never-ending pain and the persisting questions about my pack.

After I've said nothing for the billionth time, I hear their side conversation.

"Dean, I don't think he is going to tell us, we need to just end this. Why are you going so far this time?" unknown man two asks.

"Sam, if these wolves are still here, something is up with Chris, he was sent here to take care of this pack. If he is hurt or whatever reason can't kill them it's our job to finish it." Dean says.

These hunters know Chris.

I know he was sent here to hunt us, but things have changed, I thought.

God, is Chris in on this.

I can't think straight, I am pretty sure I am dying.

I try with my last amount of strength to howl. I let out a strangled weak howl, but I was hoping it would be enough for someone to hear. I was blackout again.

"Shit, let's hope no one heard that. Let's go get prepared." Dean says.