Good Grief ✧ Stiles Stilinski

Chapter Two: An Alpha, a Beta, and an Argent

CHAPTER TWO: An Alpha, a Beta, and an Argent

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"How was school?"

"Quite eventful actually. I made first line on the lacrosse team. Oh, and I found a Beta and an Argent. Weird, huh?"

Derek landed hard on the ground outside,  jumping down from one of the gaping holes on the top floor of the Hale house to come face to face with the younger of the two. The impact of his landing was enough force to send tremors through the earth beneath Jay's feet.

"That's not funny." Derek snapped at him, his temper flaring. Of all the stupid things his younger brother did to provoke him, bringing up an Argent was by far the most foolish.

But in the face of Derek's fury, Jay just looked at him, unimpressed and annoyed. "Unfortunately, I'm not. And next time you bark in my face, I'm going to rip your arm out of its socket." Derek visibly seethed but took a step back out of Jay's personal space, because when Laura threatened him it was always a bluff. Jay on the other hand was a vindictive little brat. He'd do exactly what he said he would and worse if you gave him the chance.

"Stay away from them," Derek said instead, voice low and serious, obviously more focused on the Argent part of the revelation. But of course, it was like Jay lived to piss him off because the boy just rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure I could handle her. She's just some little girl, clearly still weak and untrained."

"And you're just a boy!" Derek growled, his fist tightening at his side. "Just as weak and untrained. If you go near her I'll fucking lock you up."

Now, to a normal person, Derek's threat would seem borderline crazy, branching off into abusive territory. But to Jay, although insulted and annoyed, he could pick up on the undercurrent of intense anger and the very small almost barely there trace of fear emanating from him in waves.

Not to mention, the man's scent which was usually earthy had turned sharp and bitter like ashes and smoke. Strangely enough, it was never like that before the fire. Before Derek's scent was like fresh linen and would turn a little stale when he was angered.

But Jay never liked to think about what it meant that Derek's scent had changed so drastically after the tragedy. And he's never said it out loud, but the smell of smoke and ash was a little too reminiscent and it sometimes made him sick to his stomach to be around.

It was so nauseating that for once, Jay decided to back down.

"Okay," he replied with uncharacteristic seriousness, taking a deep breath through his mouth but maintaining eye contact for a moment before side-stepping him and launching his bag straight through the gap in the ruined house that Derek jumped down from.

Derek just watched him silently, his eyes never leaving the boy as the tension slowly seeped out of his body.

Jay turned back to the matter at hand. "More importantly, there's a Beta. Clearly recently turned which means there's Alpha in town. Maybe the Alpha we're looking for and the thing that howled in the forest the other night." He took a few contemplative steps toward Derek, thinking back on Scott. "The Beta was kind of lame actually. You'd think the Alpha would go for a strong muscular jock, or maybe a strong intelligent woman, but Scott's clearly not either so—"

His words were quickly silenced as distant voices reached his ears. Normally he would've just ignored it, dismissing them as random joggers or passersby, but he recognized the voices almost immediately.