McCall [Peter Hale]

Chapter 44

Astrid's pov.

"Long time no see" I say and his eyes narrow in confusion.

"Astrid?" he asks, unsure but also kinda pissed.

"You got it right" I say and I force a smile. I haven't seen him since he was as old as Scott now. He is so grown-up, my little wolf became a man. "And this is not awkward..." I say and I get a pissed grin from him.

"Why are you here and why now?"he asks and I feel like I'm going to facepalm myself right now.

"Because something's wrong? Obviously." I say and he rolls his eyes.

"You haven't changed a bit, heartless and cold" he spits it straight in my face.

"I'm not cold and heartless!" I defend myself, unable to realise why he's acting the way he does.

"Yeah, right, you were just raised by the Argents, totally not cold and heartless." he says, raising his arms in a sarcastic surrender.

"Hey, don't talk to me like that, you don't get to treat me like shit just because you're upset"

"She was my sister! My sister died here, AND the rest of my family died too!" he growls at me showing his blue eyes and his teeth start sharpening.

"Well mine did too!" I yell, then my eyes flash their usual blood like colour and I see Derek backing up a little. "They were my family too Derek! I was born from a banshee and a alpha werewolf, adopted by a normal family, raised and trained among hunters, but I lived and I loved among the Hales. Even if I was not part of your family, you were part of mine, and I always did what I could best to protect you! I never had a true lasting family, but with you I felt like I had one! So don't stand there, giving me the 'I'm the victim' speech when we both know that we're both involved " I finish and his eyes soften and come back to normal just like his fangs."I didn't want to begin the first time we talked in 6 years like this" I sigh after calming down a little. I wanted to be peaceful but he needs to understand that it's a loss for me too.

"Yeah, sorry for bursting at you like that but after finding the body, I was, well... let's just say that I wasn't in my mood. It was hidden so I had some much trouble trying to find it, the leaves masked some parts of the smell..." he wants to finish but he looks at me "You hid the body, so the cops wouldn't find it" he realises and his face lights up a little "You're the one who found the body"

"Yes, and I covered her in leaves so you could find her, but a cop not. I wanted to show you something" I say and I walk outside, leaning down.

"What?" he asks, leaning down next to me.

"Pay attention" I say and I kneel down to the half of Laura's body. "These are teeth marks, that's what ripped her in half, but that's not what killed her, this" I say and I point at her chest being covered in claw marks"This is what killed her, and do you know what type of werewolves kill with the claws aimed directly to the chest ?"

"The ones with knowledge of killing... the ones that had training... the pack ones"

"That's exactly what we're looking for now. This new alpha's aim was to kill her, he knew exactly what she was but he lost himself for some time and he ended up tearing her in two parts. A new alpha needs power, power usually accumulated by killing, he needs to kill to maintain his psychological balance, the power needs to be used in order to not lose his mind, but he also needs something else ..."

"His own pack" completes Derek.

"Bingo" I say and I see him covered in thoughts. "What is it?"

"Have you ever killed someone?" he asks looking at me straight in the eyes, his green eyes now locked in mine. I want to answer but my phone starts ringing. "Ray, what's wrong?"

"Hey, I just called you to tell you that they are still checking Laura's body, half of it, and they are thinking about a mountain lion. It sounds the most plausible so it goes just fine for now. Just take care so they don't find the other half. See you tonight!"

"Right, thanks Ray" I say and I end the call.

"Who was that?" he asks curiously.

"My friend, Raven" I say simply "Come on, we have to talk... a lot" I say and I start walking towards his car, earning a confused look from Derek "I ran here, I'm not going to walk home, come on, chop chop, we have to go"

"Right" he sighs and he enters the car.

«Some time later»

"So, who's Raven?" asks Derek while sipping from his coffee cup.

"Oh, my beta, she's a werewolf"

"That works at the police station?"

"Yup" I say and I throw Grace and Chaos some treats. "She was kicked from her old pack, found her in the woods 6 years ago, became friends and after the fire, I started my own pack."

"So there's only the two of -" he wants to finish but Jem bursts in the house.

"AS!" she yells concerned while sitting herself on my sofa. "I OBVIOUSLY didn't follow your advice and I went to work, but" she says accentuating the word 'obviously' , but then she observes Derek at my table. "Hi kid I don't know, continuing..."she says and I try to hold my laugh but I fail,getting a 'seriously' look from Derek "when I arrived there, I heard Melissa saying something about Scott and a patch on his side"

"Great, this day couldn't be better, oh, Derek Jemisha Lycan, Jemisha Derek Hale, now you know each other." I say with a fake smile and I begin walking in circles thinking about Scott.

"Nice to meet you" says Derek politely, but Jem decides to ignore him. Derek fakes a smile but then he turns his attention to me. "Why are you so concerned? It's about that kid in the woods? looking for his inhaler, isn't it?"

"Yeah, he's my nephew."