For There Was One

Magic Bullet (or That Probably Hurt Too)

"If Derek isn't the Alpha," Stiles started almost as soon as the three of them were in the school corridors, "if he's not the one who bit you, then who did?"

Rose sighed. Sometime she would like to make it through an entire week without spending the morning conversing about her new status as a werewolf.

"I don't know," she said instead of voicing her opinion, "Derek doesn't either, but he has been following the Alpha when he can, trying to find out who it is. He went out last night, but I haven't heard anything back yet."

"Did the Alpha kill the bus driver?" Scott asked, still upset over the deaths of the people and not entirely convinced that Derek was completely innocent.

"We think so, we just don't know why."

"'We' meaning you and Derek," Scott said a touch grumpily.

"Yes," she said flatly, rolling her eyes at his tone. Rose knew his objection was entirely about the two werewolves still interacting with each other, even though he, personally, seemed to have something against the older man. She had decided to ignore Scott's opinion unless he did something like have Derek arrested again.

"Do those hunters you mentioned know about the Alpha?" Stiles asked.

"They probably know there is an alpha, but not who he is. They wouldn't be very good hunters if they didn't know something was happening, and Derek says that they are very good at killing werewolves."

"So the Alpha is going to die?" Stiles asked.

"Most likely."

"And, what about you and Derek?"

"Dunno. Depends on what the hunters think."

"So you could die too..."

"Yes Stiles," Rose finally snapped, frustrated with all the questions. "If the Alpha doesn't decide to kill us for whatever reason, the hunters might." Scott and Stiles stared at her. Rose was not typically the sort of person to lash out at others, even when Stiles was being his most annoying.

"Sorry," Rose said, deflating a little. "Derek was following the Alpha last night, but so were the hunters. I don't know what happened, but there were several gunshots. I haven't heard from Derek since. I'm just a little on edge."

"Okay," Scott said, wrapping an arm around his sister. "Maybe stop with the questions, man," he said to Stiles.

"Done," the other boy agreed. "No more questions. No more talk about the Alpha or the hunters or Derek. Especially Derek - who still scares me," added, making Rose laugh at him.

~{•.•}~

The familiar rhythms of the school day settled Rose's nerves slightly, but if she had known that Derek was wandering the school looking for her, she would probably have felt differently.

The problem with any public place is that the high number of people using the space mixes the scents together, fo Derek was having little luck finding either of the three people who could help him. He had been shot less than 24 hours ago by a hunter with a wolfsbane bullet, and the lack of a pack was having an adverse effect on the rate of poisoning. He was having difficulty walking, and he could feel the blood running down his arm, the wound not closing as it should. Derek's senses were fluctuating all over the place, and by the time he got them under control, most of the students had cleared the corridor.

"Where's McCall?" he asked managed to say to the only person left.

"Why should I tell you?" Jackson Whittemore asked in return, eyeing the stranger up as he turned from his locker.