The Tigress | Teen Wolf | Derek Hale

Chapter Twelve- Finally

They were going to try to find the Nemeton... the same place Paige died. Tala wasn't sure she could handle it.

But after sitting around for a little while, Tala understood what had to be done.

Lydia had left soon after, barely able to get any information out of the Hale's.

Immediately, Derek turned back to Cora.

"It's gotta be now," he said, watching his sister's dying body. "I don't have a choice."

"You always have a choice," Peter warned. "It's whether or not you can live with the consequences, facing Kali as a beta."

"But it's not just the full moon coming," Tala offered. "It's a lunar eclipse. He can handle it. And he won't be alone."

Derek leaned forward, brushing Cora's hair out of her face.

He then reached down, grabbing tight onto her hand.

Tala stepped up behind him, putting a supportive hand on his shoulder. She couldn't help him with the pain, or it wouldn't work, but maybe having her there could help enough.

Then, slowly, the black veins began to pulse along Derek's forearms.

Cora's eyes opened slowly, and suddenly she was looking at Derek.

Then the veins were going up his biceps.

Onto his shoulders.

Then up his neck.

And finally reaching his face, stretching up across his temples.

Derek's head leaned back as he began to roar in pain, his red eyes shining brightly.

Tala looked down at him with worry, but all she did was watch the red bleed out of his eyes until they were blue. That same blue that Tala remembered from all those years ago.

He continued to roar until eventually his eyes rolled back, and he went unconscious, only being caught by Tala's arms.

She slowly helped lean him back in the chair, placing her fingers over his throat and waiting for a few minutes until she was sure he was okay.

He still had a pulse.

He had survived.

But he was no longer an alpha.

Derek didn't wake up until the next morning.

It had been a very tense night. Tala hadn't gotten any sleep.

But Cora was alive and well, and so was Derek, according to the pulse that Tala kept checking every other minute.

When he finally woke up, his eyes zeroed in on Cora, who was sitting next to him.

"You're okay," he mumbled.

Cora grinned. "I'm doing much better than you are right now," she said, handing him a bottle of water. "All because of you."

"Hopefully not all for nothing," Peter drawled.

Tala snapped her head to him. "She's alive, Peter, don't be such a downer."

"The moon is rising," Peter argued. "You drained your battery all the way to the red and there is a fully charged alpha on her way to rip you limb from limb."

"He won't be alone," Tala retorted.

"Besides, I'll be fine in a few hours," Derek said.

"I sincerely hope so," Peter responded. "Because a few hours is all that you have."