Killer Queen [Book 1]

Chapter 23

"Parker, have you talked to Scott lately?" Derek asked as I walked into our old house, seeing him sitting on the steps.

"No. Given what happened at the sheriff's station a few days ago, I don't think it's me he wants to talk to." I answered, taking a seat beside him on the steps.

    My brother looked at me. "Same with Stiles?"

    I shrugged. "Don't know. I haven't called or texted him. We don't really talk at school, either. His father has gotten pretty...protective of him after what happened at the police station."

He nodded. "I can understand that. Humans need to be cautious. One wrong slip-up from anything—a broken bottle, a hammer, nail, a brick—they're dead."

I scrunched my eyebrows together, looking at him. "Why would people just be carrying around bricks?"

"I don't know. Humans are messed up." he answered me, walking into the next room over and looking out the broken windows.

A soft creak of the door opening was heard and I looked back, seeing Erica and Boyd standing by the stairwell.

"Where's Isaac?" I asked the two.

"At lacrosse practice. Getting ready for the big game tonight." Erica answered.

Derek finally looked at the two. "You've decided. When?"

Erica looked at her Alpha. "Tonight."

Boyd nodded. "Everyone's gonna be at the game. We figured it was the best time."

"It's not like we want to." Erica said.

Derek crosse his arms. "What do you want?"

   Erica shrugged. "Since I just turned sixteen a month ago, I wouldn't mind getting my license...I can't do that if I'm dead, you know."

Derek scoffed. "Well, I told you there was a price."

"Yeah, but you didn't say it would be like this!" Boyd answered.

Derek looked at Boyd. "Yeah, but I told you how to survive—you do it as a pack. And you're not a pack without an Alpha."

"We know." Boyd said.

"You wanna look for another pack?" Derek asked the two. "How are you even gonna find one?"

Boyd looked at Erica, then Derek. "We think we already did..."

"Really? What makes you think that? Couldn't it just have been Scott?" I asked.

Erica shook her head. "No. It was another pack. Boyd and I were walking through the woods when we heard howling. It was unbelievable. There must have been a dozen of them. Maybe more!"

Derek scoffed again, shaking his head. "Yeah, or maybe only two. You know what the Beau Geste effect is? If they modulate their howls with a rapid shift in tone, two wolves can sound like twenty."

Erica frowned. "Look, that doesn't matter, okay? There's another pack out there. There's got to be. We've made up our minds."

"Yeah. We lost, Derek. And it's over. We're leaving." Boyd answered.

"No. No, you're running. And once you start, you don't stop. You'll always be running." Derek said.

Erica looked at me. "I take it you're choosing to stay, Parker?"