Safe & Sound

True to his word, Peter didn’t leave my side for the next forty hours while I sorted out an excuse to take a leave of absence from my residency position. All too soon I found myself in the passenger seat of my own car as Peter drove us north to Beacon Hills from Los Angeles.

“Are you going to pout like a child the entire drive?” Peter asked.

“I told you I’d come back, not that I’d enjoy it,” I said irritably.

“How long has it been since you last saw Derek?”

I thought about it in silence for a few seconds, “Since I threw the cinder block at his head. That was about an hour before I left for Columbia, just after the fire.”

Peter glanced at me through his periphery. I tried to keep a straight face, but Peter and I were very much alike and he’d always been able to read me better than others. I turned to look out the passenger window; blocking the fact that I wasn’t overly happy with my decision to leave Los Angeles to go to Beacon Hills.

“He must’ve said something pretty stupid for you to throw a cinder block at him. Not to mention you not contacting him for the past seven years.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat before a sigh left my lips. Peter wouldn’t drop the subject until I told him.

“I tried to comfort him after Laura dragged us to Brooklyn; this was a few weeks after the fire. He told me I couldn’t possibly understand what it felt like. As if I hadn’t lost my entire family to the Argents six years before that, but then he blamed me for the fire. I flipped, he’s lucky all he got was a cinder block to the head. And yes, I actually did hit him with it. I left for Columbia the next morning. He never tried to contact me, I cut off contact with Laura a few months after that.”

Peter shook his head, “That boy has always been a fucking idiot where women are concerned.”

I snorted, “Is that what you call it?”

Peter’s cell rang from one of the cup holders of the car where he’d dropped it and his wallet when we got in a few hours prior. The screen showed Derek’s name, and my eyebrow rose.

“I didn’t tell him where I was going,” Peter admitted, “I’ve been ignoring his calls for three days.”

“Want me to answer?” I asked.

Peter shrugged indifferently.

I picked up the phone on the third ring, sliding my finger across the screen to answer the call.

“What?”

The other end of the phone was silent, although I could hear Derek’s enraged breathing on the other end.

“Where’s Peter?” he asked.

“Driving,” I replied.

“Where is he?”

“We just passed a sign for Bakersfield,” I replied, “But if you’d like to get technical we’re on interstate five.”

I realized then Derek had no clue who he was talking to. His end of the phone was silent for thirty seconds before it seemed to dawn on him.

“Eliza.”

“You’re brilliant Hale. You should get a Nobel Prize for being so clever,” I replied sarcastically.

Peter snorted loudly from the driver’s seat.

“I specifically told you to leave her out of this Peter!” Derek yelled through the phone.

Peter took the phone from my hand as I rolled my eyes.

“She is our best chance at getting them to leave. I’ve told you this countless times,” Peter replied, “No pack is stupid enough to pick a fight when a Bolton wolf is around. She’s our best fighter whether you want to admit to it or not. A pack of sixteen year olds isn’t going to scare off a pack of Alphas Derek.”

I could still hear Derek’s silence on the other end a minute later before he huffed in irritation.

“Fine, call me when you get to Beacon Hills.”