The Guardians

Next morning, I wake up with a loud banging on my door. With a pain in my back, I lazy get off the couch; my phone and book falling off of my chest as I do so. I tiredly walk to the door and peak out the window, seeing a very distraught Derek standing there. Quickly, I open the door and let him in, “what’s going on? What happened last night?”

“No one told you.” He said in a horse, monotone voice as he sits on my couch.

“Maybe they did, I just haven’t checked my phone yet.” I reply, “I fell asleep early last night, researching.” I explain I walk over and pick my phone and book off the ground and sit next to Derek. While he’s staring blankly at the TV, I check my phone. There are 20 missed calls from Stiles, 5 from Isaac, 10 from Scott, 13 from Cora and I have a voicemail from Stiles along with a few “where the hell are you text messages” from all of them. Bypassing the text message, I check the voicemail. I couldn’t understand most of it, thanks to Stiles frantic rambling, but from what I did catch; my heart stops. Kali used Derek’s claws to kill Boyd.

“Yea, I killed Boyd.” He mutters before sitting up and burying his face into his hands that still have dried up blood on them. Not knowing what else to do, I put a hand on his back; rubbing it gentle.

“You need a place to hide, don’t you?” I ask, knowing how he gets after this. After Paige, he kept to himself; hiding away from everyone. Everyone but me, of course.

“You still have the secret spot in the attic?” He asks, not bothering to look at me.

“I fixed it up.” I reply, “want to see it?”

He forces a smile, as I grab his hand and begin our journey upstairs and to my room. Once there, I pull down the door to the attic and begin to climb up with Derek behind me. As soon as he inside, memories of our childhood come flooding back.

I remember building this hideaway with him. Since we never used our attic, my dad thought it would be cool that I make it my own. There is a mattress in the corner, right under a skylight. I put up a bunch of rope lights to have some kind of ambiance. Derek helped me with a good chunk of the work that needed to be done to make this place truly ours. And every since then, this was his place to hide. Whether he had fights with his mother or after what happened to Paige, he’d come here and hide for a few days. This has always been our oasis.

“You’re welcome to stay as long as you want,” I tell him, “if anyone asks, I’ll lie and tell them I have no idea where you are.” Something I’ve been known to do. Lying for Derek has become a second nature.

“Why do you put up with me?”

“Because you’re family Derek,” I remind him as I head to the opening, “I’m going to get you some clothing, I’m sure you’ll fight into some of my ex’s stuff, while I do that please take a shower. You’ll feel better when you get Boyd’s blood off of you.” I descend and head to my room to get him some clothing. He’s going to need more than clothing and a shower to feel better but this is a start.

**

As I’m making breakfast, I see Derek slug his way into the kitchen and sit at the table, brooding. “I see the shower made no difference.” I mutter before returning my attention to the bacon in front of me. “But my world famous omelets always made you feel better.” He doesn’t say anything, but sighs. “It’s not your fault,” I tell him as I look over my shoulder, “Kali is a psychotic bitch; she always has been.”

“You know here?” He questions me, causing me to sigh.

“My Uncle Silas was the Guardian for her pack.” I reply, “she wasn’t happy when he stepped down after she killed all of her Betas. She nearly killed him and my Aunt Gwen. They got away and have been running since.”

Derek just sighs once more. I take the bacon off the skillet and turn the heat down before taking a seat in front of Derek, “stop blaming yourself for something a crazy ass werewolf bitch has done. She’s the reason why Boyd is dead, not you. The only thing you can do is kill that bitch in honor of Boyd. Defeat them, defeat the Alphas.”

“It’s not that easy,” He admits in defeat, something that Derek would never do.

“You won’t win with that attitude.” I scoff, “I’m going to make it my mission to get you back into your cocky, mouthy and stubborn Alpha male mode. Trust me, this will happen. And you want to know why?”

‘Why?” He asks, half interested and half uncaring.

“Because I know you.” I reply, “you’re going to bounce back from this. You’ve bounced back from worse things. You’re strong, whether you believe it now or not. And if you seriously don‘t start getting happy again, I will be forced to sing Don‘t Stop Believin‘; I don‘t think you want that…”