Payment (revised)

Chapter 35

Derek watched the door close swiftly; Scott and Peter were lost from sight. It bothered him that Scott and Peter had gone up, but Lydia and Isaac had yet to come back down.

Though not for the honorable reasons those who looked up to him would hope for.

The truth was, if Lydia and Isaac had yet to return, then how would they get to Stiles.

Stiles had been taken, and Derek had raised an army to get him back. The Alpha owed salvation to the boy. He wouldn't let this turn into another regret.

Even when they fought, even when they had screamed at each other until their voices were sore, and even when they hated each other, it was all worth it. It was all worth it if it meant Derek got to love, and be loved, by Stiles.

Even if only for a short time.

A bullet hummed past Derek's head, but this time it didn't miss. The chrome pill exploded against the side of the crate, sending shattered chips into his hair.

The Alpha knew he had wasted too much time already. Soon Derek would be able to think of Stiles, but not now.

Biting understanding dowsed Derek. Reality.

He had let the bastards shooting at him think they had him cornered; his smile revealed his fangs. They didn't have him, he had them.

Derek rose like a gilded god.

Seven men surrounded him, already starting to fire. Derek had three of them down before they could pull the trigger, and he dove from the bullets that managed to fly. He landed behind another crate, and watched as the men wasted their ammunition shooting at the wall. He let them; it gave away their position. The next time he showed his face, the rest of them dropped.

That was earlier in the fight, when Derek foolishly thought the majority of them would make it out alive. Now it was nothing short of a blood bath.

Everyone had run out of bullets. Instead of two armies facing each other on opposite sides of the battlefield, it was a merge of bodies. Derek just barely recognized who was friend and who was foe.

Remains carpeted the floor.

Derek didn't bother avoiding them anymore; he had to trust his foot wouldn't careen through a ribcage.

The Alpha finished off his current victim. He had gotten the man on the floor before ripping him open from navel to neck with the man's own blade. Blood speckled Derek's face, innards sloshed from their previous container, yet he didn't have the presence of mind to be disgusted by his actions.

He wiped away the sweat beading on his temple, knowing full well he was smearing red along with it.

The battle continued to rage around him, but for the first time there wasn't an opponent waiting to take him on.

Derek, almost unwittingly, watched the carnage unfold around him.

Allison was caught in the middle of a group of six. She fought wickedly, and with deadly precision as she took down the men around her. But Derek could see the strain, the toll it was starting to take on her. She wouldn't succumb to the pressure yet, but they both knew it was coming.

Erica was a whirlwind as she danced around her opponents. She sliced incisions in their throats that laid them down quickly. The girl was bouncing from group to group, taking out what she could before people realized she was even there.

Boyd was wrestling with another four. He got three down easily, but the last man had managed to get an arm around Boyd's throat. He drove a knife into the meat of Boyd's shoulder. Derek's packmate had been weakened from the start, a lump jumped in his throat. But before The Alpha could even find the strength to move, Erica was there, protecting Boyd with a ferocity only she could possess.