Pools and broken wolves

Flames

It had been a while since the Hale house fire.

Derek thought he was fine, he felt fine until it came to fire. The flickering of the red and white flames brought back the memories of his family. The screams he heard, the ones that tear through his soul. The ones he wakes up hearing, and never forgets.

Things had been going well, he had avoided fire after discovering that it was a major trigger. Avoided it until he absolutely had to face it, that was when they had to take down peter. He had frozen in his pursuit of his deranged uncle when he saw the bottle of chemicals burst after being hit by one of Allison's arrows. He physically shook himself before completing what had to be done. He watched his uncle's charred body, throat closing. Scott was yelling at him but the words weren't processing. His mind was filled with the screams once again so he did the only thing that came to mind, he ran. He ran until he found the lake and didn't stop until his body was plummeting under water. As he held his breath the screams stopped, the water drowning out the pain and the panic.

He hadn't had another accident around any of the pack since that night. The pack had actually increased in size, now it wasn't only him and Scott. It consisted of one hyperactive human, a hunter, a banshee, a kitsune, a kanima turned wolf and then the wolves... Isaac, Boyd, Erica, Ethan and Aiden who were fallen alphas. Lastly Scott, who seemed to hate Derek which he understood. It didn't bother him, nothing bothered him as much as the burning smell of a flame.

"Derek, are you listening?" Scott snapped, he was tired they all were.

"Mhm" he nodded, unable to find it in himself to speak. The pack had been trying to figure out the cause of random murders. Stiles said his dad was convinced it was just a normal killer and not supernatural. The wolves however could smell it, it wasn't normal. It wasn't until Lydia sat straight up and whispered 'it's here it's not human' that they actually started looking into the problem.

"We need to do more research, well I do but you get the point. I need something to go off, Deaton do you have any idea? These murders seem completely random but I don't know how to connect the dots. The bestiary is still only partially translated so I can't really do any more research yet." Stiles rambled.

"Unfortunately no, I'm afraid I haven't heard of anything even remotely like this before" Deaton sighed, he was as fed up with the endless stream of supernatural villains as the rest of them.

"Ughhh" Isaac groaned, "I'm so fed up with mysterious beings" he slumped forwards and rested his head in his hands. They were all sitting around the table in Derek's loft.

"I think it's because we're stuck inside. Derek, could we continue the pack meeting outside?" Scott suggested.

"I guess so, do you mean the woods?"

"Yeah, come on let's go I know a place" he stood up and the rest of the pack followed. Leaving Derek to grab his leather jacket. He didn't need the extra warmth; it just made him feel safe, he would never admit to the level of comfort it gave him though. He was known to be a brooding tough alpha and he wasn't going to let that reputation go. His pack needed him to be strong so he would be.

He left the loft making sure to lock it and headed towards the rest of the pack.

"Stiles will lead cause I can ride with him and two others the rest of you follow" Scott ordered, any other pack would assume he's the alpha not Derek. Derek however didn't have enough energy to argue, he found himself weakened further everyday. He hardly slept because nightmares of his past kept him up. When he was awake he was almost always confronted with an issue that drained him. Whether it be a supernatural being or a small candle flame.

He walked over to his camaro and opened the door. He slipped into his seat, unsurprised when Isaac climbed in the passenger seat and Boyd and Erica took the back seats. He noticed that stiles took Scott, Allison and Kira. Jackson squeezed Lydia, Malia, Ethan and Aiden into the Porsche. Deaton has left claiming that he needed quiet to figure this out. Derek's hand found the ignition and he started the car pulling out of the drive and following the battered blue Jeep that Stiles loved so much. Jackson's car was behind him, he saw Isaacs hand reach out to turn the radio on, timidly as if Derek would bite his hand off. Which to be fair he had threatened in the past, but now he just nodded the thought of an argument exhausted him.