Hoping for Heroes

Chapter 16

Later that night, Harley follows Scott into the old train station, both trailing Derek. 

"I'm saying we need a new plan, because next time, one of us is gonna be too hurt to heal," Derek stresses.

"Ugh," Scott groans. "I get it. We can't save Jackson." Harley shifts uncomfortably, wrapping her arms around herself.

Derek glances at her, then looks away. "We can't seem to kill him either. I've seen a lot of things, Scott. I've never seen anything like this." He shifts his stare to Harley. "And I feel like we've faced enough death these past few days." Harley smiles weakly as he looks down again. "Every new moon's just gonna make him stronger."

"But how do we stop him?" Scott asks. 

"Can we?" Harley scoffs.

"I don't know," Derek shrugs. "I don't know if we can."

"Maybe we should just let the Argents handle it," Scott suggests. Harley lets out a noise of protest.

"Killing him to save everyone else is one thing," she says. "Letting him be tortured is another."

"Harley's right," Derek agrees. "Besides, I'm the one who turned him. It's my fault." There's a moment of silence. Harley steps forward and awkwardly rests her hand on his shoulder as a form of silent reassurance. 

"You didn't turn him into this," Scott protests. "I mean, this happened because of something in his past, right?"

"That's a legend in a book," Derek scoffs. "It's-"

"So are werewolves," Harley mutters, retracting her hand and drawing back into herself. "Maybe it isn't simple. Nothing here is!"

"What aren't you telling us?" Scott asks Derek.

"Why do you always think I'm keeping something from you?" Derek asks. 

"Because you always are keeping something from us!" the two exclaim in unison. They quickly look at each other. "That was weird," they say again in unison.

"Maybe I'm doing it to protect you," Derek defends, drawing the attention back to the bigger issue.

"Doesn't being part of your pack mean no more secrets?" Scott sighs.

"Wait, we're part of his pack now?" Harley asks.

"Go home, Scott." Derek shakes his head. "Bring her with you. Sleep. Heal. Make sure your friends are safe. 'Cause the full moon's coming. And with the way things are going, I've got a feeling it's gonna be a rough one." They stay there for a moment longer before Harley wraps her hand around Scott's wrist, tugging him away. 

They walk in silence to Harley's car. She gets halfway to his house before he speaks. 

"You don't have to do this, you know?" he says.

Harley chuckles lightly. "Do what?"

"Help. Be here. Especially now, with everything that happened."

Harley swallows the lump she feels developing in her throat. Stupid, she scolds. Why are you crying? "I promised I would help."

"Harley, your dad is gone, and..." he trails off when he sees Harley flinch. "That was insensitive, I'm sorry. I just don't want you pushing yourself so hard. You're important to us, you know? We don't want you hurt. I don't want you hurt, but I know you're hurting right now and I hate that I can't do anything." 

She mentally curses herself as she blinks back tears. Sure, her family showed her a fair amount of affection over the years, but to have someone so openly upset for her is overwhelming, to say the least. She's never had the chance to experience the raw form of love that comes with friendship, and now she's facing an abundance of it. She clears her throat and pulls into Scott's driveway, attempting to ignore his previous statement.