moonlight.

19

☾

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHRIS AND HIS sister, kate argent, stood in the living room. scott had left no long ago, saying an emergency came up and he needed to rush home. but really, he was meeting stiles and derek at the animal clinic.

kate paced back and forth, explaining to chris what happened. "the one that attacked me was big, it had width and power. but the one i shot was lean and fast."

"well, that would be derek hale." chris told her.

"are you sure?" she questioned, narrowing her brown eyes at him.

chris stared at her before shrugging his shoulders as he took a sip of his drink. "mostly."

"well, how do we know it's just the two of them?"

"we don't know yet. but if derek is still alive, he will lead us to the alpha." chris told her, leaning back against the couch as he rested his feet upon the coffee table.

"take the pack leader and the pack." kate smirked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"and we do it according to the code." he warned her, giving her a long stare with furrowed eyebrows.

she huffed, rolling her eyes. "you and the code."

"it's there for a reason, kate." he slightly glared at her.

"of course." she said, her lips curling into a smirk as a sadistic glint appeared in her eyes. "i always play by the rules."

•••

derek and scott walked inside the beacon hills long term care facility in silence. they had left the animal clinic not long ago after scott managed to steal a bullet from the argents. derek had told him he needed the bullet in order to save him from being killed due to the bullet wound kate had given him.

now, derek was showing the true nature of the hunters to scott by bringing him to see his uncle. they entered the room, facing the back of his uncle who sat practically lifeless in a wheelchair.

"who is he?" scott asked quietly, staring at the older hale.

"my uncle. peter hale." derek answered, not looking away from his uncle.

scott stepped slightly closer, "is he... like you? a werewolf?"

shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, derek nodded slightly. "he was. now he's barely even human."

scott turned to look at derek as he continued talking. derek didn't even once glance at scott. "six years ago, my sister and i were at school, and our house caught fire."

"eleven people were trapped inside. he was the only survivor." derek explained, tightening his jaw as his green eyes darkened and his face turned stone cold.

"so... what makes you so sure that they set the fire?" scott asked, talking about the argents.

"'cause they're the only ones that knew about us." derek snapped, glancing at the teen with a glare.

"maybe they had a reason." scott tried to say, then taking a step back when looking at the harsh look on derek's face.

"like what? you tell me what justifies this!" derek raised his voice, turning the wheel chair around to show scott the half burnt and scarred skin of peter's face.

scott's eyes widened slightly, staring at the vacant and closed off man who had incredibly scarred skin. half of his face was completely burned.

"they say they'll only kill an adult, and only with absolute proof. but there were people in my family that were perfectly ordinary in that fire. this is what they do!" derek explained, trying to make scott understand. "and it's what allison will do."

scott watched derek leave the room. he stood there deep in thought for a moment before glancing at peter then leaving as well. a heavy sigh escaped his lips, running his fingers through his hair stressfully.

•••

"you're terrible!" haven laughed, throwing a grape at jackson who chuckled and caught it in his mouth.

"i wouldn't say terrible! i would say... strong opinionated." he shrugged, smirking at haven who just shook her head and rolled her eyes. "how did your therapy session go?"

have looked down at her lap, twiddling her thumbs. her and jackson have gotten closer as friends. just like derek, she trusted jackson. but there was something about jackson that made him trust him more because she knew he would understand.

"it was okay. we basically talked about how to face my feelings and deal with them rather than keep them inside. i think it's dumb if you ask me." she told him, rolling her eyes as she remember what she talked about yesterday.

he chuckled. "it's not dumb."

"i also met with my social worker. melissa wants to adopt me." she said, jackson being the first person she's told.

"is that what you want?" he asked.

she shrugged, "yeah, i mean, i always thought i was gonna age out of the system and practically be on the streets. i never knew what it was like to have a nice, loving family in a long time."

"when can you get adopted?" he stared at her, stealing another grape from her bag.

"it'll take a few weeks. my social worker needs to find my dad and serve him with papers to give away his parental rights. then he needs to go through my paper work and get everything settled." she explained, playfully glaring at him as he reached to take yet another grape.

"i'm your best friend. i'm allowed to steal your food." he joked and she laughed, shaking her head. "do you know where your dad is?"

"prison. he was the drunk driver that caused an accident, killing my mom and a few others. so he was charged with man slaughter." she told him, swallowing thickly as she looked around the schools field. "i used to write letters to him but he stopped writing back."

"how come?"

"i don't know. i guess it just got... too hard. i don't know." she sighed, picking the grass with her fingers. "i used to think he would come after me if he ever got out but i don't know."

"if he did, would you still let melissa adopt you?" she looked at jackson, thinking about it for a few moments.

"maybe. but probably not. it would never be the same. i mean, to look at the person everyday who killed your mom? i don't think i could do that." she said, chewing on the inside of her cheek.

"yeah. i know exactly how you feel."