METAMORPHOSIS • DEREK HALE [COMPLETED]

Chapter Twenty-Three

THE BENEFACTOR: ALL CONTRACTS TERMINATED.

Three words.

Seeing those three typed words was all she needed to feel relieved. 

Those three words automatically lifted the crushing amount of weight on every supernatural being's chest within Beacon Hills. The fight for their lives was finally over, but none of them knew another battle would soon be beginning. 

Around them, all gunfires ceased at the buzzing ring of a cell phone.

Looking up at Scott, Alex's eyes faded from the amethyst purple to the calm blue, and his changed as well. But she also read the clear guilt laced within his chocolate irises. 

"Scott," she breathed, "it's okay."

He shakily nodded in response, but when he looked back down at the man cowering beneath him with blood staining his face, a gulp echoed in his throat.

The two descended from the table they were kneeling on and watched the disoriented man run. 

"It's over now," she exhaled.

"How did you do that," he wondered, regaining his composure.

"I had a little help," a small grin appeared on her face as she glanced in Derek's direction. 

"Thank you," he uttered.

"Come on," she smiled as she gently took his arm to lead him to the forming group of survivors. Thankfully, all of them remained unharmed, a little bloody yes, but alive.

With Scott reuniting with Kira, Alex joined Derek at his side. Satomi and her pack also came together along with the lone hunter and mercenary. Everyone stood wearily, unsure if they could believe it. 

All of their eyes gazed over the wreckage, and Alex heard Kira turn to Scott, "Is it over? Really over?"

And with the slightest nod of his head, they all felt the heaviness settled on their shoulders ease off, allowing them to breathe in a peace of mind.

**********

When the warehouse had lulled to a calm state, Scott and Kira left to take home Satomi's pack. Alex said a saddened goodbye to the elder Buddhist with hopes of seeing her again. But she then found herself standing beside Derek, Braeden, and Chris in the now empty Argent Arms. 

Each studied the remains of the building, unsure of what to do with the bodies of assassins littering the floor, not to mention of thousands of bullet holes covering the walls.

Chris made the first move, hoisting one of the assassins over his shoulder to bring him outside, and Braeden followed too. 

Alex slowly made her way to another one of the fallen bodies, her chest constricting in waves of guilt. I killed some of these people.

Knowing her own supernatural strength, she knew she was capable of killing them during the fight. With her mind set on to overdrive, she couldn't control how much force she used on them, all of her focus was on protecting her friends.

Derek noticed her hesitation, and he soon joined her. In a consoling voice, he said softly,"Alex, it was in self-defense." 

"But Derek, I killed some of these people," her voice almost broke. As the fact settled in, the same feelings from when she metamorphosed returned. The remembrance of Kayleen's death came flooding into her mind along with each nightmare that followed. 

And it pained her more to know that the night when she knew she truly became a monster, she had no control, but on this night, she had full restraint over herself. She didn't let the drift take over, but her other werejaguar senses won instead. In her opinion, both opposing teams lost. The assassins lost their lives, but she felt she had lost more of her humanity.