The Feud (Young Derek Hale)

12

"You reek of that Hale boy".  I sighed in annoyance, dropped my bag on the floor and rose my eyes to find an identical pair staring at me in suspicion. 

I squinted in pretented confusion. "What Hale boy?"

My mother merely rose an eyebrow. "The Hale boy whose scent you're covered in. The one who you were passing notes with just last week."

I gulped. Okay, so maybe after crying my eyes out in the libary I might've hugged him."I-I got in a fight..with him".

My mother tusked and walked forward until the scent of her perfume would linger on myself. She frowned down at me in disappointment while cupping my cheek. "You shouldn't fight mature wolves Avery until you, yourself have matured. Its an automatic loss, remember that." 

She sighed down at me in almost pity. Like my age is something I could even control?!? Urgh.  She kissed my cheek before strutting  to some other area of the mansion. Or maybe its to check up on a less disappointing child...

Typical. No, 'How was school?', 'Did you have a nice day?'. Nope. Nada. I blew out a frustrated breath, causing a lose curl to fly infront of my face. Today hasn't been a good day. I closed my eyes and listened, only to find three heartbeats. My mother's, obviously. I picked up on a faint scent of my grandmother wafting over from the kitchen. And the fresh scent of tabacco outside on the porch is an indication that grandfather is the third pack member home.

In a split second decsion I took a step back, turned around and ran out of my den. I'm not in the mood to either make small talk with my psychopathic grandfather or bake with my belittling grandmother.  And my mother...well, I think it's safe to say I've disappointed her enough this week. Plus, everyone smothering me to keep our 'bond' strong is just insufferable. 

I ran, ran until I couldn't think. Until it was just me being wild and free. My run turned to more of a jog when I came to the end of my territory.  Just a bit of no-mans-land. Only one to two miles of netural territory and then...Hale territory. I felt myself smirk. Derek's territory. I shouldn't even be considering it. I won't cross, obviously I'm not that stupid. Wouldn't want the Creeper to find me instead. But, Derek...I found myself smiling like an idiot.

I found comfort in the thought of him. Leaning against a tree, I sank to the ground in thought. Friends, maybe more. It's so dangerous. But I couldn't forget how natural it felt being in his arms or how with one kiss I'd instantly taken control. Or how more and more he's all I can think about.  To the point that right now all I wanted to do is to run out of my territory and scream for him on the boundary line. But obviously I can't, I can't incase my pack hears, I can't incase his hears. 

I growled in annoyance. It'd be easier to just hate him. But I've tried, and yet I'm still here arguing with myself. It's like a fight of will. Like, one part of me wants to spend the remainder of my life in his arms while the other hates him to no end because he's a Hale. I just don't get it. It all started when I crossed their territory. 

Suddenly I was filled with curiosity. Whose murder did I witness? Was it even Paige?, Why let me go?...What are they hiding and more importantly did they break the feud?. My head was a mess but I decided to continue to explore neutral territoy. I can only survive so much before I get murdered for being an idiot.  I felt my face scrunch up in disgust when an abandonded warehouse came into view. 

Upon closer inspection, I felt the air become slightly more heavy. Automatically my head tipped to the side in confusion before I froze. Vendetta.  There, directly facing me were angry claw marks in the shape of a spiral. From the inside it reeked of blood. I knew my heartbeat had increased along with my shallow breathing. My first thought was Tahlia. I guess it's just how I'm raised. Blame them. But whose it for?...

I felt a hand clasp my shoulder causing me to jump in freight. He sighed deeply. "I don't want you coming here again, Avery".

My father's voice had woken me up from my blank stare before I gazed up at my Alpha. Tall, muscular and young for a father of older teens but yet nothing less than intimidating. Intimidatingly beautiful, strong and fearful in  every sense of the word. I swallowed and nodded. "Yes, Sir."

I felt him ruffle my hair causing me to glower in annoyance. He chuckled and lightly bumped my shoulder. "Your mother says you got into a fight with the Hale kid today".

I shrugged and focussed all my attention on resting my pulse. It's an artform having to lie infront of the most power Alpha in America. That is, depending on whose side of the feud you belong to. 

He smirked and winked at me. "You win?".

I shrugged again. "I think it was a tie".

I saw him nod outside my peripheral vision as both of us now stared at the spiral on the tin shed wall. I bit my lip hesitantly. "D-did Thalia do it, Sir?".

He clicked his tongue as if annoyed it wasn't Tahlia. "Ennis, nearly a month ago now".

I nodded before hesitantly asking more about matters that almost always apparently 'don't concern me'. "And who is it directed at?"

I saw his eyebrow rise in amusment. "Hunters. Argents, more specifically".

I tusked. "Because they killed his Beta?"

My father nodded, no empathy at all on his face. "The boy was young but naive. He killed a hunter and they killed him in return. But it's all been taken care of, mostly".

I swallowed and turned my head up to him but he didn't meet my gaze. "Mostly?"

He nodded curtly. "It wasn't our fight. While Ennis' pack are our allies, Deucalion is Tahlia's."

I felt my eyebrows crease in confusion. "I'm not following, Sir".

My father turned to me, a soft look crossed his features before he broke our stare. "A meeting was called, And I agreed to help out Ennis. It's our promise to help our allies in their time of need, Avery. I got him the body of the boy at least to ease his grief but in the mean time, Deucalion along with Tahlia and our Emassary consipired to attempt a peace treaty with the Argents. Needless to say, it did not go to plan because the hunters can never be trusted. Originally I saw it as Tahlia's problem, therfore hers to fix. Casualties were on both sides and from what I gathered, no Hales were actually present. Deucalion was blinded and killed one of his own. Now, he wants to become our ally." My father's eyes met mine, a cunning and expectancy amoungst them. Instantly I knew this was a test, one I needed to get right. "What should I do?".

Now, to be frank I'm the last person that'd ever make a decsion in my pack. A Beta, not matured and still has problems with control. Its just a test that if I get wrong will come with homework. Like, 'read this on battle stratergy' or 'next week I'm testing you on your senses, be prepared'. I nodded to myself in thought while my father stared down at me expectantly. I sighed. "He killed one of his own?"

My father smirked and nodded. I smiled up at him. "No way, He'll go mad on power, right?"

He chuckled. "Right. And that's why the strongest packs are family. So we never have to think twice about killing our own."