Grievances (Book Three Of Hale Wolves For Teen Wolf :))

ch. 7: Currents

Derek was alive. But Kali wanted blood for what happened to Ennis.

The alarm blared, waking us, and Derek launched up, shutting it off as Cora nodded to the window. "What does it mean?"

We both turned to the Alpha pack's triskele.

The same one that had been painted on the door at our old home.

"It means they're coming," Derek told Cora.

"Tonight," I finished.

*

Cora was told by Derek to go to the school to ask Lydia to stop seeing Aiden when Boyd and Isaac slid open the door to the loft, me sitting on the stairs, looking down at the triskele on the back of my hand, and Derek sitting on the couch as he told them, "Go back to school."

"Well, actually, we can't," Isaac said. "Boyd and I are incredibly and unbelievably sick."

"With what, brain damage?" I asked, looking up.

He ignored that. "Well, I have a migraine, and, uh, Boyd here has explosive diarrhea."

Boyd went on like Isaac hadn't said anything. "We're here to protect you."

"You're here to protect me?" Derek asked, standing up.

"Well, you're in trouble, then," I told him.

"Actually, Boyd here came up with a plan," Isaac said, an open book in his hands, sitting on the table.

"Yeah, I thought about the time Gerard had me and Erica locked up, tied up with electrical wires, pushing current through us," Boyd said, putting his back on the floor, kneeling next to it as I stood up, finally walking toward them. "I was wondering how we could do something like that . . . " He pulled out the wires from the bag. "But on a bigger scale."

*

"In a pool of electrified water, it can take up to 50 milliamps to kill a normal human, less than the power it takes to turn on a light bulb," Boyd said as we readied the plan, the hose already starting to fill the loft with water.

"That's comforting," I said.

"If we disable the circuit interrupter in the building's electrical room, the current will keep coming, and anyone who steps in foot here, they'll get a pretty shocking surprise."

"Especially someone who's barefoot," Isaac said.

*

The whole loft was ready now, and there was literally a pool around Derek, Isaac, Boyd and me, staying completely out of the water, but the light to the alarm system wasn't on.

"Isn't the light on that supposed to be on?" Isaac asked, noticing too.

"Yeah," I answered.

"What does it mean if it's not?"

"Someone cut the auxiliary power," Derek answered.

"What about the main--?" Boyd started to ask when the power went out, all of us standing.

I took the first step into the water, Derek following as I asked, "Derek . . . what do we do now?"

"We fight," Derek answered, already shifting, his eyes glowing red.

*

Kali slid the door open to see Derek, Isaac, Boyd and I standing together. "Gonna be honest, Derek. When Ennis died, I thought to myself I'd just go for it. Find you and kill you, wherever you stood. Then I remembered how you surround yourself with these teenagers, hiding behind them, and I thought, 'What's a girl got to do to get you alone?'" Then, behind her, Ethan and Aiden came into view, a girl in their arms, a clawed hand at her throat, and it got Derek's attention. "You and me, Derek, or they tear her apart. What do you say? You think you can beat me one on one?"