harbouring [3] ⇻ stiles stilinski

v. muted

[ start of muted part one ]

  WAKING UP AT six thirty in the morning was not on the list of things Eleanor had expected to happen the morning after her family were robbed. In fact, she was expecting to spend her day sulking in the confines of her room, alone.

  Startled by a loud knocking on the loft door, it seemed as if her expectations were not going to become a reality. Eleanor's bed head rose from buried deep in her pillow, glancing around and straining her ears to overhear the visitor.

  Recognising the female voice and knowing that she wanted to be present for the imminent conversation, the teenage girl leaped out of bed and threw her hair up into a unkept bun. She swung her door open and stopped to look at Jaden, who was simultaneously exiting his own room.

  They nodded at one another wordlessly and walked side by side into the living room, their eyes falling onto the brunette who had made herself comfortable on the leather couch, her boot-clad feet resting effortlessly on the coffee table in front of her. Braeden.

"That table is Italian." Peter hissed spitefully at the woman, standing across from her with his arms crossed, his back to the twins as they entered the room.

  Derek stood at his side and turned as the twins entered. He gave them a silent nod, but turned back to the woman almost immediately,

  "So are these boots." She bit back, a smile playing at her lips.

  Stifling a laugh, Eleanor sensed the tension and stepped further into the room, clearing her throat and lifting herself onto the wooden dining table. "Are we going to talk interior fashion design or are we going to talk numbers?"

  Braeden nodded at Eleanor's question, agreeing with her silently. They watched in silence as Peter ripped a piece of paper from the book sat on top of the Italian coffee table. Eleanor chucked him a stray pen from the dining table and observed as her uncle scrawled down a number, pushing the piece of paper across the table to Braeden.

  Silently, Braeden took the pen from his grasp and with not so much as an expression, scribed the number out. She wrote down a new number and handed it back to Peter.

  Eleanor jumped down from the table and joined the men peering down at the paper.

  Jaden let out a choked laugh at the number, "We're asking you to find Kate, not assassinate the damn president."

  "I was hired by the Calaveras to find Kate. You're hiring me to find her first. Going against the Calaveras is what's going to cost you." Her expression remained stoic as she spoke.

  Derek rolled his eyes and ripped up the paper, tossing it to the side of the table.

  "We'll pay. Just find Kate, that's all we want."

  Nodding curtly, she removed her boots from the coffee table and stood up, walking out of the loft and into the morning air as daylight infiltrated the loft.

  "Have you completely lost your mind?"

  Derek looked at Peter for a split second and sighed, "We don't have a choice."

  Jaden groaned and opened his mouth to argue, but quickly shut it with Derek's one movement. The eldest Hale flashed his eyes at his family and their breaths caught in their throats as they were hit with the realisation. His eyes were gold, instead of their usual blue.