Animal Control

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I had no idea which night was worse: the one where Peter terrorized us at the school or the one where he was simply dragging Derek and me with him to the boys' locker room. What was this weird affiliation of his that involved our school? Everything was messed up. Stiles missed his first game, the Alpha turned out to be Derek's last remaining family, and now Peter was after Scott to form his pack.

But let's not overlook the fact that I was being used as leverage to get Derek to help him. Peter literally threatened to hurt me if Derek didn't join his plan to get rid of those responsible for their family's death.

We paused outside the locker room and Peter draped an arm around my shoulder. He grinned down at me to which I flipped him off, then he fixed his eyes on Derek, "Well, what are you waiting for? Lead the way and make my entrance... dramatic. Riley and I will be right behind you."

Derek clenched his jaw, his eyes darting to me. I inhaled slowly, hoping that someone I'm radiating some calming energy towards him. I still had no idea how to use our bond to both of our advantage, but it seemed to work since he didn't try punching Peter on the nose. Derek stomped off ahead of us, reluctantly leaving me with his psycho uncle.

"So," Peter looked down at me with a shit-eating grin, "you and my nephew, huh?"

"Shut up."

"Oh, you're perfect for him."

Derek did exactly as he was told, waiting for everyone except Scott to leave, cutting the lights of the locker room and drawing Scott towards a dark corner. Peter saw his cue and forced me to walk out with him, arm still over my shoulder. Scott was staring at Derek in question when he sensed our presence behind him.

"I really don't get lacrosse." Peter started as we emerged out of the shadows.

Scott spun around, pausing when seeing me in a psycho's grip, "Riley?" His eyes widening in instant realization when looking at Peter, "It was you..."

Peter seemed truly satisfied with himself for yet another dramatic entrance, "When I was in high school, we played basketball. There's a real sport. Still, I read somewhere that Lacrosse comes from native Americans tribes and that they played it to resolve conflict. I have that right?" His eyes darted from Scott to me and back to Scott, "I have a little conflict of my own to resolve, Scott. But I need your help to do it."

Scott clenched his jaw, "I'm not helping you kill people. Let Riley go."

"Well, I don't want to kill all of them. Just the responsible ones." Peter clarified, "And that doesn't have to include..."

He looked down at me, his grip around me tightening ever so slightly. I rolled my eyes and sighed, "Allison."

"Good girl." Peter patted my cheek and I almost wanted to bite his disgusting fingers clean off, "And you don't have to worry about Riley. We're getting along just fine - ask Derek."

Scott's eyes fixed on Derek, "You're on his side? Are you forgetting the part where he killed your sister?!"

"That was a mistake." Derek replied in a monotone, "It happens."

"And Riley?!" Scott nearly yelled, "Are you just going to let him kill her too?"

"Scott, I think you're getting the wrong impression of us. We really just want to help you reach your full potential. And Riley..." Peter interrupted any outburst the young werewolf might have, "I'm just showing her what being a werewolf's all about. You ought to know, Scott, it great being more advanced than normal humans."

"Killing the people that are close to you doesn't exactly count as a great experience." Scott snarled.

"Sometimes the people closest to you can be the ones holding you back the most." Peter looked from me to Derek. I caught Derek shifting his eyes to me. I hated the fact that Peter was using me to turn Derek into his puppet. I hated the fact that I couldn't do anything to help him - I was only human.

"If they're holding me back from becoming a psychotic nut job like you, I'm okay with that." Scott clenched his fists, restraining himself from wolfing out.

Peter dropped his arm from my shoulders and advanced towards Scott. I didn't stand around too long before running towards Derek and into his open arms. His warmth surrounded me and calmed my raging nerves.

"Maybe you could try and see things... from my perspective." Peter allowed his claws to grow, holding his hand up for everyone to see.

I knew what was coming but was too late to warn Scott. Peter's hand shot out so fast, I had to blink to process what just happened. Scott roared out in pain when Peter's claws dug into his skin and fell to the floor while clutching the bleeding marks in his neck. Scott's eyes flashed yellow as he was sent back in time to the night the Hale House burned down - just like I was moments ago.

I screwed my eyes shut when remembering the memories - the flames, the people who did it, the agonizing screams, and the smell of burnt flesh. I even felt the pain of having half of my face burned off. Every person Peter killed was involved in creating the fire. He only killed Laura to speed up his healing process to take his own revenge on those who destroyed his life. It was tragic and a small part of me felt sorry for him. But it didn't justify for the hell he's put Derek through. I don't think I could even forgive someone for betraying me like that and killing someone I cared about - especially if that someone turned out to be my own flesh and blood. It was Derek's hatred I was feeling that sparked my dislike for Peter Hale.

Peter left after transferring his memories to Scott, leaving me with Derek to keep an eye on him. Derek grasped my hand and made me sit down on one of the benches near the lockers. Scott was still on the floor, eyes wide while he saw the flashbacks, though I wasn't worried about him that much. The flashbacks Peter showed Derek and I only lasted about five minutes, so he'd be back soon.

I rubbed my thumb over Derek's knuckles, giving his hand a gentle squeeze, "You okay?"

His lips were settled in a thin line as he nodded, "I just never saw that coming. I never..."

I enclosed his hand with both of mine and leaned my head on his shoulder. His emotions washed over me and I could almost taste the betrayal he felt. This will take some time to sink in.

He emitted a tired breath and fixed his eyes on me, "I think I owe you an explanation."

"No, you don't." I quickly replied, "I would never want you to feel like you're forced to tell me anything. If this is about the girls you dated before or your family, then I want you to tell me when you feel the time is right."

A broken smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as his eyes fell to the floor, "You once asked me why my eyes are blue and not gold like Scott's. I never told you why."

"Yeah, the cop showed up and stuff." I frowned, "Why bring this up now?"

"Because..." He inhaled slowly, "A werewolf's eyes change from gold to blue after they've taken an innocent life. It's a sign of a dark soul." I froze after recalling what Peter said earlier and instantly connected the dots. Derek continued, "When I was in high school, I was this obnoxious teenager - like Jackson. But then I met Paige, the only girl who was immune to my attitude. I fell for her and we had a good thing going. Then Peter had to ruin that by telling me that our relationship would never last, that she'll hate me if she found out what I am. He told me the only way of being with Paige forever was if..."

I swallowed, "If she becomes a werewolf."

He nodded, still not meeting my eyes, "So he organized everything, all I had to do was to get Paige to meet me at the school where an alpha would bite her. But I couldn't go through with it and made a last-minute decision to stop the alpha. I was too late. Paige was already bitten and her body was rejecting the bite. She asked me to kill her to end her suffering, and because I loved her, I did it. I killed her."

"And she was innocent," I muttered as saw the big picture.

His head hung low, his face twisted in regret as painful memories returned to him. I should know - I could feel everything. Since I had this link with Derek, I've never been in that much constant pain, whether it was physical or emotional. The longer I knew him, the more I began to realize that Derek Hale didn't have any happiness in his life. And it broke my heart to know that I get to wake up every day under the same roof as my Dad and Stiles, while he has no one, not even a decent house. It's been him and Laura for the majority of his life and now that she's dead, he was alone.

I went on my knees in front of him, placing my hands on his cheeks to make him look at me, "Derek, I know nothing that I can do or say will make anything better, but if there's one thing I'm absolutely sure of, is that your soul could never be dark. Not even if you wanted it to be. And I will remind you of that each and every time you feel like this because I hate feeling you resent yourself because of something that wasn't your fault. You only wanted to be happy."

His eyes searched mine for any signs of doubt, but I meant every word from the bottom of my heart. When he couldn't find any ambiguity in my words, his hands withdrew mine from his face before tenderly kissing each knuckle individually. Then his lips were on mine, moving at such heated passion that I thought I would combust. His fingers tangled in my hair, tugging gently while pulling me closer at the same time. My breath hitched when his teeth grazed my bottom lip, and my hands shot up to grab fistfuls of his shirt, holding on for dear life, so afraid that he'd pull back. I kissed him whole, and he kissed me wild.

"What the hell, Riley?!"

We broke apart when Scott's voice bounced off the walls of the locker room. And after one look at him, I knew that we had to start working on either an explanation or a way to knock him out and hope he wakes up with amnesia.

Remember our little Jackson problem? Well, Derek found out about it and he wasn't exactly happy that the jackass knew about them being werewolves. To ease everyone's minds, Scott and Stiles decided to follow Jackson around the next day, just to make sure he didn't do anything stupid with the information that he so 'brilliantly' obtained.

I politely declined their invitation to go along. As long as I stayed far away from Jackson Whittemore, the longer my record will stay clear of any mauling and attempts on murder. Besides, it's been a while since I could just enjoy a normal day at home, without any homework, no running after Scott, no car chases - just a good book, easy-listening music, and a steaming mug of coffee.

Well, that was partly what I did today.

The other part...

Derek's weight felt perfect on top of me, our bodies fitting like puzzle pieces when I wrapped my legs around his waist. Somewhere between the millions of kisses he smothered me with, I could feel his hands trailing along the length of my legs through my jeans, and the friction of his excitement as I rolled my hips on the rhythm of his. Our tongues fell madly in love while he kept my arms firmly pinned above my head, grabbing and treasuring my ass with his free hand. I wished I could say we did more than just that, but we stopped before I could throw all dignity to the curb. We were taking it slow, remember. Well, as slow as it was possible - feeling each other's lust and arousal made it harder than I anticipated.

Though, if it wasn't for Derek's 'quick' visit, I would've never made it through the day with only reading to keep me busy with. By the time Stiles came home, I had barely enough time to magically conjure up something to eat for dinner.

"How did it go with the jackass?" I asked my brother while checking on the pie in the oven.

"You know," Stiles started with an irritated eye roll, "I'm starting to think karma has it in for us."

"Oh no. What happened?"

"Long story short." My brother hopped onto the counter before continuing, "Allison's dad thinks Jackson's the beta. Jackson still obsessed with becoming a werewolf. Jackson does not see the consequences of becoming a werewolf. Jackson still a jackass."

"And some things will never change," I muttered dryly and removed the pie from the oven.

Stiles was quiet for a short moment and I knew he wanted to say something but didn't know how to. I waited patiently until he drew out the question on his lips, "So... you and Derek, huh?"

It wasn't actually a question, more like an awkward statement - like finding out your parent's dating your teacher. After Scott caught us making out last night, we told him the truth. The whole truth. We were mates and nothing could change that. Scott didn't understand the whole concept that well, but Stiles did. He walked in on us having the talk with Scott, and being the nerdy geek he was, immediately dropped every single fact he knew about wolves and their mates. He nearly drowned us with questions: Was it like imprinting like in Twilight? Can we communicate telepathically? Were we like, extra sexual around each other? We ended the conversation after that last question.

"Yeah." I replied to his question with a cheesy grin, "Derek and I."

"Mates." Stiles smiled awkwardly, "You're mated. Doing matey things. Wait..." His eyes widened, "How do you suppose it works? Will he like, do it normally - or from behind like a dog?"

Holy hell, Stiles!" I exclaimed and threw him with a kitchen mitten, "Why don't you get your head out of the gutter and lay the table? Dad said he'll be home early."

And don't think I didn't notice how my brother was debating over his own question in his head while setting the table. I shook my head, wondering how he was able to human with all that crap in his head.

Dinner went by smoothly after Dad arrived. The pie was great, the conversations light and fun, and the atmosphere pleasant. So pleasant, that Dad didn't even send us to our rooms when he started laying his case out on the table for us to see. Stiles' eyes twinkled as he studied the case files and the stack of papers underneath Dad's nose. I tried throwing a more subtle eye on what he was working on.

'Hey, Dad, you need any help with that?" My brother hinted and nearly drooled over the case files.

Dad didn't look up from his work as he mumbled, "Well, a glass of whiskey won't hurt."

I took one look at Stiles to know what he was planning. His eyes lit up with that hidden spark of mischief, his mouth corners twitched upwards ever so slightly, and he nearly ran me out of the way to get to the liquor cabinet. I left him to pour the drink and threw a subtle eye over Dad's case. From what I could make out here and there, the case was about all the victims the Alpha killed over the weeks. He was trying to find connections between them. I already knew that they were all involved in the Hale House burning down, but couldn't just exactly tell Dad that. As far as he knew, I went to school, came right back home and spent the rest of the day doing homework - not sneaking out at midnight for high-speed car chases and stuff.

Stiles placed a glass of whiskey in front of Dad and reached for one of the documents, "Any leads?"

Dad only slapped him on the back of the hand, earning a surprised 'Ah!' from my brother, "You know I can't discuss that with you." He downed the ounce of whiskey and handed the glass back for a refill, "Not too much."

I watched Stiles carefully, already know what's coming. He poured the whiskey with a disappointed expression, only to pause when noticing that Dad wasn't paying attention to him. Then he tipped the bottle of JD a little more, subtly filling the glass to the brim. I bit my tongue to keep myself from snickering out loud. Dad didn't even look at the glass before lifting it, downing it in one breath again.

I wouldn't say Dad's a lightweight, but that second glass was already getting to him as he placed the glass on the table, "You know... Derek Hale would be a whole hale of a lot... Hale of a lot?"

I quirked a brow, "Hell of a lot?"

Dad frowned when realizing his mistake before nodding, "Hell. Yes. He would be a hell of a lot easier to catch if we could get an actual picture of him."

"How do you not have a picture of him?" Stiles deadpanned. It was, in fact, the three of us who got him arrested once. Mugshots had to be taken, obviously. So even I was confused to why Dad didn't have a picture of him.

It's the weirdest thing." Dad shook his head and stared at a picture in front of him, "It's like every time we tried to get a mug shot, it's like two laser beams were pointing at the camera."

Stiles snatched the picture from underneath Dad's nose to get a look at it. I literally threw myself over his shoulder to see. It would've been a perfect picture of Derek and his sour-wolf expression if it wasn't indeed for the bokeh effect his eyes gave off - almost like an animal in headlights.

"Nice," Stiles muttered and glanced up at me.

I gently took the picture from him and stuffed it into my jean pocket, mouthing 'thanks' to him. Dad might be wondering where that went in the morning when he's sober, but I decided to hold on to it. The mugshot brought back memories and it was anyway a safety risk for him if someone started to put two and two together.

"Oh hell..." Dad groaned and rubbed his face, "Damn, that ounce hit me like a brick. And I have said way too much, and if you repeat any of that..."

I came up behind him and threw my arms around his shoulders, "We won't, Dad. Do you want some coffee?"

He rubbed at his eyes, shaking his head, "No thanks - still has to sleep tonight." He shook his head at the case documents, "See, the thing is they're all connected. I mean, the bus driver that got killed, he was an insurance investigator assigned to the Hale House fire."

"Terminated under suspicion of fraud." I read over his shoulder.

Dad inhaled slowly, "Exactly."

Stiles grabbed a file and shuffled through the papers, "Who else?"

"The video store clerk who got his throat slashed..." Dad replied while Stiles and I shuffled through pictures of the victims, cringing at the bloody wounds on them, "He's a convicted felon, history of arson."

"What about the other two guys, the guys who got killed in the woods?" Stiles asked over eagerly.

"Priors all over their records including..."

"Arson." I finished Dad's sentence, already knowing what he was going to say. Peter's memories made it perfectly clear who was all involved in killing the Hales.

Stiles held the bottle of JD in the air, "Another shot? You work really hard, all right? You deserve it."

Dad held his hands up, shaking his head with a hazy look on his face, "No, no, no, no more. Oh hell, I'm gonna have such a hangover."

I grabbed the bottle from Stiles and quickly put it back in the cabinet, "You mean you're going to have such a good night's sleep, thanks to your son - whose going to have an eternity in the lowest circle of hell."

"What does that mean?" Stiles gaped at me.

"That means that you're responsible for getting Dad to bed and clean the kitchen." I grinned snidely, "And I'm going to bed with Beautiful Creatures."

"No..." Dad slurred as he tried pushing Stiles away from helping him up, "I got to work... There's just... so many questions. If Derek wanted to kill everyone involved with the fire then why start with his sister? I mean, she had nothing to do with it. Why make it

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