Archive of Our Own ^beta

(If you are reading this on any PAY site this is a STOLEN WORK, the author has NOT Given Permission for it to be here. If you're paying to read it, you're being cheated too because you can read it on Archiveofourown for FREE.)

They were almost at the library when Laura remembered she'd promised to give a copy of their mother's hassenpfeffer recipe to a fellow member of the Eat Meats club. It started out as a joke, but the recipe trading was fun.

Derek grumbled a little because he was hoping to see if Kate was free, but he couldn't very well say he wanted time alone with his English teacher.

"Don't be such a grump, Derrie," Laura said as they pulled into the narrow road leading to the Hale family home. "I know right where I..." She stiffened and rolled down the window. "Something's wrong."

"What?" Derek had been trying not to 'be animalistic' as Kate disapproved, but Laura's worried expression made him open his senses. "Smoke." And something else, something that burned, something that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and made his teeth itch.

"Wolfsbane," Laura identified the scent, speaking tersely. She was training to be Alpha, and knew about all the horrible things Derek never thought about because Beacon Hills was quiet and safe and he was happily a Beta, who'd only have to obey, not plan any strategies or worry about dangers. She didn't have to say anything else as Derek floored the accelerator.

"Oh, God, no," Laura said when they reached the house, leaping out before the car slammed to a stop, barely missing a tree.

It was on fire. Completely circled around. Derek sat, stunned, for a moment, watching Laura throw herself at the house, only to be flung back. Uncle Peter lay on the ground, burnt and stinking and not moving. His pack bond was gone. Derek couldn't feel him at all.

Derek followed Laura. He paused... over the stink of gasoline, of burnt flesh, of charred wood, over the sharp sting that must be wolfsbane and something woody... Kate. Kate had been here. Kate had done this.

It was his fault. His fault his family was trapped and howling in pain. His fault they were dying, all because he was a selfish idiot, stupid and gullible, telling Kate all about the house, about the 'fun' secret escape tunnel, about the family holiday where everyone would be gathered so he and Kate could sneak off unnoticed to make out, to have wonderfully illicit sex and to feel so very grown up and important.

Derek threw his head back and howled.

"Derek!" Laura screamed. "Mountain Ash! We can't pass it! It's magic!" She kept trying, and from inside the shattered windows, Derek could see his mother and father, holding the youngest, hiding their faces from the smoke and flames.

Derek had been training, too. Not to lead, but to remember. To tell the youngest the family history. Nothing should be forgot. Nothing... His head jerked up and he ran to the little shed set apart from the house. It held gardening tools. Rakes and shovels, pruning hooks, axes and saws for firewood... and a broom. A handmade twig broom, tied with horsehair to a roughly cut oak branch.

A 'housewarming gift', the records called it. A present from a witch when the Hale house was first built over a hundred years ago. No one wanted to insult a friendly witch, so they'd built a shed for it, as she requested. Desperate, Derek snatched up the broom and ran to the porch. He couldn't reach the mountain ash, but the broom could! He swept and swept, crying so hard he could barely see his family rushing past him, out of the inferno that had been their home. Out of the disaster he'd caused.

He was still sweeping as embers fell on him, as the fire winds blew hot ash in his face, still sweeping as the broom caught fire, until his mother pulled him back.

"Derek, Derek, stop, we're all out." She pulled him into a hug, and he went numbly, allowing the comfort he couldn't accept, didn't deserve.

"Uncle Peter's dead," Derek mumbled into his mother's shoulder. "Everyone could be dead. It was all my fault. I told her. I told Kate. I should be dead instead of Peter."

"What?" Talia asked, her voice suddenly Alpha to Beta, not mother to son. She released Derek and he straightened and tried to keep his voice steady.

"Kate Argent. My English teacher."

Laura audibly drew a deep breath. "Mom. I knew Derek was sneaking off. I should have told you. I thought... I thought after Paige... I thought it was good that he was opening up. Seeing someone."

"Kate Argent," Talia said, soft and fierce. "If we go after her, there will be another war." She looked around at the pack. "It doesn't matter what we say, the Argents will claim we've broken the peace. We will leave." She put the Alpha in her voice. "We have been too vulnerable here, too confident, too reliant on human promises."

No one protested. No one except Derek. He looked at Peter's still form, and then back at the house, burning all they'd built, all the memories within its walls. He shifted, and struck at his own throat with his claws.

Talia was faster, Alpha stronger and faster, stopping him, holding his hands.

"Derek, no, baby. Don't." Talia was using the mom voice now, but still holding him back from what he needed to do.

Derek was glad that she didn't say it wasn't his fault. He'd have heard the lie. "Please. Let me go."

"I don't want to lose you too, Derek," Talia said. She pulled him close, letting the scent of Alpha, of mother, soothe him.

"I don't want to hurt you," Derek said. "But I can't live with what I've done." He closed his eyes and whispered. "I wish I could forget."

"You will," Talia said softly. Before Derek could protest he felt her body tense and then sharp, sharp stinging in his neck.

"Never give up, Derek, never. Your life is precious. Always get up and fight."

"Yes," Derek muttered. "Must live to honor your memory."

"Derek!"

"Oh, no," Talia said as she withdrew her claws from Derek's spine and lowered him to the ground.

"What happened?" Laura asked.

"He was too stubborn. And I was not fully in control of myself," Talia admitted. She sighed. "He's sure the house burned down with all of us in it. I did convince him not to give up, but I don't dare try to influence him any more." Talia knelt beside Derek and stroked his hair. "He can't come with us, it would break his mind."

"You can't make him omega, mother! He's... Derek! You know he's..." Laura frowned. "He's too soft-hearted. He needs pack." She straightened her back and lifted her head. "I'll go with him. Give me the same memories." She growled. "I'll be his pack." She threw her head back and howled, sacrificing her pack bonds to the family, sacrificing everything for her brother. When she lowered her head, her eyes flashed red.

"Oh, Laura." Talia enfolded Laura in her arms. "I'm so proud of you." She held her close, and then slipped her claws into Laura's spine. She said softly, "Always remember that I love you both. We have alliances with the Andrews pack in New York. Go to the city."

Talia gently placed Laura next to Derek and then stood up to face the rest of her pack. She gave Peter a glance, before shaking her head. The pack always takes priority over the dead. They will howl for him later, when it's safe.

"We're going to South America," she told her pack. "Don't look back."