A few days passed without any attacks on the Pack. They still hadn’t found the banshee, redith, but at least they enjoyed a few days of peace.
At Derek’s loft, he was relaxing with Braeden in his arms while Peter sat on the iron staircase, sipping a drink.
Suddenly, the loft’s alarm went off.
Braeden glanced up at Derek. "Again! Seriously, Derek, you need better security in this building. Or we should just move sowhere else."
Peter raised an eyebrow. "Again? What do you an again? Has soone attacked you two here before?"
Braeden nodded. "Yeah. One night, eleven vampires showed up."
Still lounging on the couch with Braeden in his arms, Derek didn’t even care about the alarm. "Actually, I’ve been attacked here once before the vampires by Deucalion and his pack. They beat the shit out of and made kill Josh."
Peter swirled his drink. "Oh yeah... that hateful kid. May he rest in peace. Anyway, you don’t have to make a move, Derek. Let handle whoever’s trying to break in."
Derek gave a lazy shrug. "Go ahead. Just don’t make a bloody ss. Break their necks if you want to kill them, but leave so alive so we can read their mories. I really don’t want to stay at the ranch with a bunch of horny teenagers until the blood sll fades. Especially that annoying kid, Stiles. I’m not in the mood to hear him moan all night."
Braeden laughed. "That kid Stiles is really sothing else."
Peter sipped his drink. "You know, we should ask Scott if we can build a house at the ranch. Like lissa and Deaton. I heard Chris and Noah are planning to build their own places there too."
"That’s a good idea." Derek said. Then he paused, eyes distant. "Have you noticed sothing, Peter?"
Peter looked over. "Noticed what?"
"I don’t know how to explain it." Derek said. "But when I’m at the ranch, with the whole pack... it feels peaceful. I feel comfortable. Happy. It just feels..."
"It feels right." Peter finished. "Like you’re complete."
"Exactly." Derek said. "I never felt that way with our old pack, when my mom was alive."
Peter nodded slowly. "That’s normal, I guess. I an, we can sense where every mber of the pack is, even when we’re far apart. And we can even communicate telepathically. Our old pack and this one? Completely different. The bond we share now is stronger than anything I’ve ever heard of." He paused, a hint of excitent in his voice. "And let’s not even talk about the strength I’ve gained since joining. As a beta, I could take down a few versions of my old alpha self."
"well, just don’t do anything stupid and lose it all." Derek warned.
"I might not be a good person." Peter said. "But I’m not stupid, Derek. I’m not doing anything that would get kicked out of the pack. As for betraying them? I’d rather die than do that. I never want to piss off Scott again. I still rember the two tis he whooped my ass."
Braeden asked. "What did you do?"
"The first ti?" Peter said with a sigh. "I just looked at Allison from a distance. The second ti, I lost control and tried to attack her. I still have PTSD from that night. Sotis I wake up screaming from nightmares of Scott in full werewolf form, chasing down. No matter how fast I run, he’s always right behind . No matter where I hide, he always finds . And the worst part? He always has this terrifying, evil smirk on his wolf face."
He shivered. "Just thinking about it gives goosebumps. Thankfully, ever since I joined the pack, the nightmares stopped."
Braeden raised an eyebrow. "Isn’t Allison an alpha? Can’t she just beat your ass herself?"
"She wasn’t a werewolf back then." Peter muttered.
Derek glanced toward the loft door, frowning. "What are those idiots doing? They’re so slow, they can’t even open a door. Peter, just go open it for them. If we wait on them, we’ll be waiting all night."
Peter stood up and strolled toward the door. "They’re just regular humans." He said, sniffing the air. "But they’ve got a lot of firepower. I can sll the gunpowder. Braeden, you might want to hide—just in case a stray bullet hits you, or worse, if they toss in a grenade."
Derek got up, lifting Braeden effortlessly into his arms. "Co on, let’s watch from upstairs."
Once Peter saw Derek and Braeden had climbed the stairs and taken position above, he smirked, then casually slid open the large loft door—revealing a group of twelve ard assassins mid-mission, trying to rig explosives around the fra.
Peter grinned. "There’s no need for all that, gentlen. Co on in."
The twelve assassins stord into the loft without a word. But Peter didn’t flinch. His eyes glowed blue.
"Let’s have so fun." He said with a grin.
One of the assassins attacked first, trying to tase Peter with a taser wand, but Peter casually sidestepped and slamd his fist into the man’s chest. The impact launched the attacker across the loft, crashing into the brick wall with a sickening thud. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.
Another ca from behind. Peter twisted, grabbed him mid-motion, and snapped his arm at the elbow, then kicked his legs out from under him, breaking one with a sharp crunch. The man scread and slamd onto the hard floor face-first, blacking out.
A third tried to stab him with a combat knife. Peter caught the blade mid-air, spun the assassin, and drove him headfirst into the concrete floor—a clean knockout.
Two more rushed him together. Peter slapped one so hard his head whipped around, and he dropped like a sack of rocks. The other raised a rifle—Peter grabbed the barrel, bent it with one hand, then shoved the weapon back into the man’s gut, doubling him over. Then he hit him with his elbow to the back of his head, and the man collapsed.
Then Peter saw a man with no mouth—just smooth, pale skin where lips should’ve been.
Peter tilted his head. "Where’s your mouth? How do you eat?"
The mute didn’t answer—obviously—and instead hurled a tomahawk. Peter snatched it mid-air, stepped forward, and grabbed the assassin by the wrist, snapping his arm at the joint with casual force.
"Lucky for you." Peter growled, catching the man by the throat and lifting him off the ground. "Derek asked not to make this too bloody."
Then he headbutted the mute, knocking him cold.
One of the still-standing assassins panicked and fired his rifle but missed Peter entirely, hitting his teammate square in the face. The man dropped instantly, dead before he hit the ground.
From upstairs, Derek called out. "Damn it, Peter! I said no blood!"
Peter glanced up. "Not my fault. They’re killing each other."
The remaining four hung back near the door, clearly not expecting this outco.
Their leader hissed. "Use the wolfsbane fog grenades!"
They threw two small canisters. Purple mist burst across the room, thick with concentrated wolfsbane. It should’ve dropped Peter to his knees.
Instead, he disappeared into the fog... and silence followed.
One of the four took a cautious step forward—then Peter shot out of the haze like a bullet, faster than any of them could react. He grabbed the leader by the throat and slamd him against the wall.
There, just below his jaw, Peter saw a tattoo of a skull.
Peter’s eyes narrowed. "Calavera hunters, huh?"
The hunter struggled, but Peter tightened his grip.
"Take a nap. I’ll read your mories later."
One clean punch knocked the man out cold.
The last three turned to run.
But Peter moved like lightning. He grabbed the first by the neck and snapped it cleanly. The second managed three steps before Peter swept his legs and crushed his windpipe with a precise stomp. The third didn’t even make it to the door before Peter cracked his neck in mid-sprint.
Silence returned to the loft.
Peter dusted his hands off and looked up at Derek and Braeden, who were watching the fun from above.
"That was fun." He said. "although I didn’t get to rip them apart."
Derek sighed as he walked downstairs with Braeden. "Okay, let’s read their mories and see if we can find anything useful. Then we’ll call Scott to help us take them to the ranch with his shadow portal."
Peter nodded. "Alright."
After reading their mories, Derek said. "There’s nothing about the Benefactor in any of their minds. They’re not even from the sa group—they just tead up to claim the twenty million bounty on my head. What about you, Peter? Did you find anything?"
Peter nodded. "Sa as you. But four of them are Calavera hunters—here as scouts. Apparently, Araya sent them to gather intel on you, Cora, and . She wants revenge for humiliating her when we retrieved Talia’s claws. She also ordered them to spy on the McCall pack, not realizing we’re part of it. More importantly, she told them to watch the Argents. She’s planning to kill Victoria."
He smirked. "But these idiots saw the bounty on your head, got greedy, and decided to kill you and the other hunters they tead up with—planning to split the twenty million four ways and escape the Calavera family."
Derek frowned. "Forget about these four idiots. That old woman’s trying to get her whole family wiped out. Not only is she targeting us—she’s also targeting Victoria. Of all the people she could choose, she picks the worst. Even if Victoria could let her live—which I doubt she will—Allison and Malia definitely won’t. Anyone who cos after their mother is signing their own death warrant. The Calaveras are dood."
Then Derek reached out to Scott telepathically. [Co to the loft.]
Almost instantly, a shadow portal appeared in the middle of the loft. Scott stepped out, followed by Stiles.
Scott looked around. "What’s going on?"
Derek gestured at the attackers. "We got attacked by these idiots. They ca for my bounty."
Stiles asked. "Did you read their mories?"
Peter replied. "Yeah. Nothing about the Benefactor."
Derek added. "But Victoria and Chris might be interested in one of them. Let’s take them to the ranch first."
They dragged the twelve assassins through the shadow portal, and dropped them outside the pack house at the ranch.
The rest of the pack, who had been inside, ca out as Derek filled them in. Then he pointed to the still-alive Calavera hunter and said. "Victoria, you should read his mories."
Victoria stepped forward, inserted her claws into the back of the unconscious hunter’s neck, and closed her eyes. A mont later, her eyes glowed red with rage—then she snapped his neck.
Allison blinked. "What’s going on, Mom? Why are you angry?"
Victoria’s eyes returned to normal as she answered coldly. "The Calavera family is after . Araya wants dead."
"Why?" Allison asked.
"Because I’m a hunter who got bitten—and I didn’t follow the Code. I didn’t kill myself. So now she’s planning to co here and do it herself... and wipe out the Hales while she’s at it."
Malia’s expression darkened. "Then let’s kill them first. Where are they?"
Cora answered. "xico."
"Then let’s go tomorrow." Allison said without hesitation.
Chris shook his head. "No need. Your mom said they’re already coming here. We’ll wait. Let them make the mistake of stepping into our territory."
Malia grumbled. "What? Why? I think we should go anyway—and maybe stay there for a week. Or two. Maybe three..."
Victoria chuckled and pinched Malia’s cheek. "Okay, young lady, that’s enough. You’re going to school tomorrow. No skipping."
Malia groaned. "Damn it."
Scott clapped his hands together. "Alright. Stiles, Parrish—let’s take these guys to the woods and burn them to ash."
He opened another shadow portal, this ti leading into the woods. The three of them dragged the assassins through it.
So of the assassins were still alive—just unconscious—so Scott and Stiles began breaking their necks like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Parrish hesitated. "Do we really have to kill them? They’re just humans. We could take them to jail."
Stiles glanced at him. "They ca to kill us for money, Parrish. This is self-defense. If you can’t stomach it, that’s fine. We won’t judge."
Scott placed a hand on Parrish’s shoulder. "Being kind to your enemies is being cruel to yourself."
Parrish sighed. "I know. It’s just... I still need ti to adjust to this reality."
Scott nodded. "Take your ti. No one’s forcing you to do anything."
Then he and Stiles activated their fire abilities, incinerating the bodies into ash.
Afterward, Scott opened another shadow portal, and the three of them stepped through—returning to the ranch.
To be continued... 😊
Reviews
All reviews (0)