The Feud (Young Derek Hale)

36

The growl of an Alpha that is not mine.

 It has me cowerding against the wall in fear. His footsteps echo around me, and I can feel everyone minus a passed out Alec are watching with baited breaths. 

I hear him tusk directly above me. "Care to elborate little wolf, whose pack you now call your own?".

I shudder and whisper the name. "H-hale".

I can hear the gasps, the growls and the shouts that follow. Of all the packs I could've joined its them. To the Wood pack its a fate worse than death, at least thats how they see it. I wasn't expecting anything different. 

My father's growl of warning shut them all up instantly though. A silent command that I could no longer register. "Why?".

His voice is seething and clipped. And directly aimed at me. I slowly lift my head to stare at red eyes, a give away of the betrayal he must be feeling. Betrayal of Anna, of his prodical son and of me. My betrayal is nothing but the worst. I swallow and try to find the words. "You have to understand, it wasn't my faul-"

A growl instantly cuts me off. "Not your fault?!?. Never has a Wood disgraced us by joining them". My Grandfather spat to the side to futher show his disgust. "We should kill you on sigh-"

A growl cuts him off. "Enough!. I should not have to remind you father, that you are no longer the alpha here. Watch your tongue before I rip it out myself".

Grandfather stands down but not before glaring at me. We were never close but that look still hurts to see. My father clears his throat and stares me down hard. "I want an explaination as to whether I have to lock you into that cell next to your sister. Do you understand what I'm saying, Avery?".

God yes. Death...B-because I'm on land that does not belongs to me. Not to mention I've broken every rule this pack has. And he will do it to keep the peace, I've never doubted my father's ability for bloodshed. Not when Alec is currently healing next to me laying in a pool of his own blood. Not when I know his hatred of Hales. The only courtesy he is giving me as his daughter is an explaination. I gulped. "Yes, Sir".

And so I start to tell them everything. I tell them that for reasons unbeknownst to myself I had crossed enemy lines. That Thalia had let me go freely without recupssions, while only taking my memory of the entire event. How I'd later realised I'd witnessed a Hale kill a girl in my year called Paige. I then told them of Derek, that he no longer hated me. How I had replaced him as my anchor, how that later lingered into human love. That I knew all along it was wrong but did so anyways. I then let out how Thalia blackmailed me into coming to her land, to share tea and make a promise. And then I told them that deathly sin, that he is my mate. That the law of our kind must be followed, my wolf wanted to recognise Tahlia. I turned to my mother, my grandmother and told them how the will to submit is something that cannot be ignored. A feeling they would know all too well. Of course all this was happening as Anna had discovered a love that consumed and killed Aaron. I told them that the Hales blamed us, that I had proof that Tahlia and Derek would not believe. That I know Anna is innocent. That the Hales and Emmissary demand her at dawn and what they will do to her, even if they show her mecry because of me. Anna will always be their prisoner.

I looked him in the eye and told him that sometimes blood is thicker then water and if there is a war it will not be started over the death of my sister. I could hear my voice breaking "I came back to fight for her".

My father's face hadn't changed but he'd listened patiently to every word I'd said. "What tea?".

Now that suprised me. I could tell it suprised most in the pack. Father had instanly put his arm out before my mother could even think about taking a step forward in anger. He knew her reactions that well. Could've even been a subcouncious move on his part. Either way she pounted but didn't dare move. He sighed. "I won't ask again".

oh right. I shrugged. "She never told me the name of it. But she said it was used by ancient druids to bind two souls in a sacred promise. A-and if I broke that promise death, destruction it'd follow me".

He muttered something under his breath that sounded eerily like "Idoit children". He frowned and tipped his head to the side in consideration. "If Tahlia is not willing to consider Anna's innocence then we have no other option but to protect our own. Tommorrow we go to war".

He turned to me in solidarity. "I do approve of your mate. I do not approve of his pack nor his alpha. Both of which you cannot change now. You are a Hale. One that wants to fight with us. And as the alpha of this pack I cannot abide it".

I felt the colour drain from my face. "b-but she's my sister. I'm not just going to stand with them while the-"

He clicked his tongue. "La route est dure mais c'est notre route".

I frowned as all those conscious around me repeated it. He tipped his head at me. "I understand, but you put my pack at risk the longer you stay here".

And then it finally clicked in my head. The tea. I can't fight to protect my sister, not on this side of the line. I felt tears falling now. "J-just tell me what to do...I-i don't know what to do..."

I sounded desperate. Maybe even slightly pathetic. But at sixteen my life seems to be falling apart infront of me.  

My father sighed and squatted so we were eye to eye. I'd never believed my siblings when they'd tell me that I was father's favourite. I'd hardly been punished, and now his love for me over my bloodied brother and my crying sister locked in a cell is too blinding not to see. "What you do, is you go back to their territory. You tell them what you told us, how you're now apart of their pack. We showed you mercy, but it will not be given again. You fight with them and turn a blind eye to your sister. Yo-".

I shook my head. "I can't just preten-".

He cut me off with a glare. "Let me finish, Avery. You gain their trust and in doing so you can protect your sister. You can help, if you believe truely that she won't be killed on the off chance we lose this war. Then it is your duty to protect her. That, is how you keep our trust and our love. That is the part you play for us in this war".

He kissed my forhead and again repeated the family motto as if in final confirmation. The road is hard, but it is our road. I might never see them again, but they will know and so will I. That we'll still love eachother despite being declared mortal enemies. 

And this time I felt myself repeating it with all of them.

La route est dure mais c'est notre route.