CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:
HE'S THE ALPHA

"I CAN'T BELIEVE HIM." ALLISON cried, sitting down with Elaine and Lydia for lunch. Elaine glanced over towards her brother who was sitting with Stiles before looking back towards Allison.

"Oh god, what did my idiot brother do now?" Elaine sighed, immediately putting her food down in order to focus on Allison. Allison bit her lip before handing Elaine her phone. The female looked at the pictures her brother sent Allison, making her jaw clench. "Ali, I'm so sorry. I'll smack the shit out of him when I see him next."

Allison smiled lightly at the girl's humor. "Thanks, Ellie."

"Of course, Ali." She looked up when Jackson joined them, offering the boy a small smile, and pretending like nothing happened. "Hey, Jackson."

He sent the girl a smile. "Hey, El." Immediately, Elaine, Lydia, and Allison all went back to talking, none of the three girl's noticing Jackson who was staring at Scott and Stiles, mumbling words under his breath so that only Scott could hear. The boy at the other table was clearly panicking. They didn't even notice when the boy had gotten up from the table. But Elaine was too busy focusing on Allison, trying to make her feel better for the stupid stunt that her brother had pulled. Suddenly, a loud crack could be heard, making all attention move over towards the area it had come from, and of course it had come from her brother cracking his lunch tray in half out of anger from the words Jackson had spoke to him, the words that only he could hear.

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"Can you come over for a little while?" Lydia had caught up to the girl as the school day ended. Elaine looked at her best friend with a small smile.

"Of course, Lyds." Noticing the look that covered Lydia's face, she frowned slightly. "Lydia, is everything alright?"

"Jackson broke up with me." The strawberry blonde whispered.

"Movie night?" Elaine smiled. Lydia couldn't help but smile back and Elaine quickly hooked her arm with Lydia's. "He doesn't deserve you anyways. Only I do." With that, the two were quick to drive to Lydia's house. Elaine did everything in her power to have a fun time with Lydia, and she couldn't help but smile upon noticing the girl actually enjoying herself. They watched movies, had girl talk that for once didn't involve boys. When Stiles had came to pick her up, Elaine made sure Lydia would be alright before she left.

"Why's Derek here?" Elaine frowned, getting in the back. "And don't we have a game to get to."

"Yeah, about that. . ." Stiles trailed off, quickly pulling away from Lydia's house so Derek wouldn't be seen in the car. It was dark out, and the game was starting soon.

"No." Elaine shook her head. "Stiles, whatever it is, I'm not doing it."

"You don't even know if it's a bad thing." Stiles defended.

"It's always a bad thing!" Elaine snapped. Stiles rolled his eyes before pulling out his phone just as they parked in front of the hospital. "Why are we here?"

"Jesus, stop asking questions." Stiles groaned before answering the phone.

"Did you get the picture." Scott asked on the other line.

"Yeah, I did, and it looks just like the drawing." Stiles told him.

Derek took Stiles' wrist, pulling the phone towards him whilst Stiles let out silent cried of pain, making Elaine smile in amusement. "Hey, is there something on the back of it? There's gotta be something―︎an inscription, an opening, something-"

"No, no, the thing's flat. And, no, it doesn't open. There's nothing in it, on it, around it, nothing. And where are you? You're supposed to be here. You're first line." Scott told him. "Man, you're not gonna play if you're not here to start. . ."

"I know. Look, if you see my dad, can you tell him. . . tell him I'll be there, I'll just be a little bit late, okay? All right, thanks." Stiles said before hanging the phone up with a sigh.

"You're not going to make it." Derek deadpanned.

"I know." Stiles sighed.

"Wow boys, way to be optimistic." Elaine spoke with a sarcastic smile before leaning back in her seat and mumbling to herself, "I literally left the safety of Lydia's house for absolutely no reason."

"And you didn't tell him about his mom, either."

"Wait, what about my mom?" Elaine was quickly in the conversation again.

"And you brought Elaine along and didn't even bother to tell her about her mom." Derek mused.

"Uhh, I'll tell you later."

"No, you'll tell me now." Elaine sternly said, narrowing her eyes dangerously at the boy making his eyes widen slightly before he nodded his head, quick to explain how Danny had traced the text from the night of the school incident back to the computer that Melissa McCall had been using. "So, you're saying my mom sent that text? The hell, Stiles?"

"That's why we're here." Stiles quickly spoke, not trying to face the wrath of Elaine McCall. The girl didn't get angry a lot, but when she did, it was terrifying. "To prove it wasn't her." Elaine sighed before she moved to get out of the car.

"By the way, one more thing." Derek spoke.

"Yeah?" Derek quickly slammed Stiles' head into the steering wheel, making him move his head away from it with a groan. Elaine quickly slapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from letting out a loud laugh. "Oh, God! What the hell was―︎"

"You know what that was for." Derek sternly pointed a finger at him before pointing towards the hospital. "Go." Stiles looked at him for a moment. "Go!" The two teenagers got out of the car and headed towards the hospital, Elaine snickering in amusement.

"That's a backstory that I definitely wanna hear about."

"Stop enjoying my pain." Stiles mumbled. Elaine only smiled in response before the two entered. They looked around for a moment before Stiles pulled out his phone, calling Derek.

"Yeah, I said I can't find her." Stiles snapped.

"Look, ask for Jennifer. She's been looking after my uncle." Derek told the boy.

The two moved so that they went to the room where Peter Hale was supposed to be in, only to find it empty. "Yeah, well, he's not here, either."

"What?"

"He's not here. He's gone, Derek." Stiles explained.

"Stiles, you and Elaine get out of there right now! It's him! He's the Alpha! Get out!" Derek quickly yelled. Stiles slowly lowered the phone away from his ear, the two teenagers slowly exchanging looks with one another, backing away from the room only to turn their heads to see Peter Hale standing there, his face half marred and covered with skin that was healed, burn marks there instead of smooth skin.

"Oh shit." Elaine breathed.

"You must be Stiles, and Scott's sister, Elaine." Peter looked between the two. Stiles was quick to push Elaine behind him, the two going to run only to turn and find his nurse standing there, making them back away.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. "Visiting hours are over."

"You. . . and him. . . You're-you're the one who―︎Oh, my―︎and he's―︎Oh, my God, I'm gonna die."

"We." Elaine corrected. "We're gonna die."

That's when Derek appeared, quickly elbowing the nurse in the face and sending her to the ground. "That's not nice." Peter spoke. "She's my nurse."

"She's a psychotic bitch helping you kill people." Derek snapped before looking at the two teenagers. "Get out of the way."

"Oh, damn." Stiles sighed before quickly grabbing Elaine's hand and pulling her with him out of harms way.

"I hate you." Elaine muttered. "With my entire being, I fucking hate you."

"We'll have a movie night to make up for it, yeah?" Stiles breathed, trying not to freak out.

Knowing the two hadn't had one in a while, she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Fine."

"You think I killed Laura on purpose? One of my own family?" Peter asked as Derek quickly charged, but Peter slammed him into the wall, and then to the other wall before allowing the man to drop to the girl, right beside of Elaine. The two teenagers were quick to scramble out of the way, only to almost run into the nurse. They watched as Peter grabbed Derek by the throat, holding him up as he continued to talk. "My mind, my personality, were literally burned out of me. I was being driven by pure instinct." He dropped Derek to the ground before kneeling down beside of his nurse, pulling something from his pocket.

"You want forgiveness?" Derek asked, standing up. He punched Peter in the face, kicking him only for Peter to headbutt him and send him a few feet back.

"I want understanding." Peter answered before kicking Derek backwards. "Do you have any idea what it was like for me during those years? Slowly healing, cell by cell. Even more slowly coming back to consciousness. Yes, becoming an Alpha, taking that from Laura pushed me over a plateau in the healing process. I can't help that." Derek stood up, trying to punch Peter only for the man to dodge the attacks before throwing Derek into a window of glass. "I tried to tell you what was happening. I tried to warn you."

Elaine glanced towards Stiles, worry clear on her features. They had to get out of there.