Chapter Text
“Where is la loba?”
Zap.
“Where is la loba?”
Zap.
Zap.
Zap.
Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. Derek’s mind was becoming too muddled from the constant stream of electricity to do more than sigh at the man’s repetitive line of questioning. Peter, on the other hand, would take a lot more than a few thousand volts to keep him from getting in a sarcastic quip wherever he could.
“You know, this is a bit of an over-the-top way to get boba recs, my man. Surely there are easier ways to assuage your tea cravings.”
ZAAAAP.
Derek looked over at Peter with an exasperated glare.
“Okay, not my wittiest comeback. Blame the copious hours of torture. Juan, do you mind if I call you Juan?” Zap. “Juan, it may have escaped your notice, but you have asked this question countless times and in every way imaginable. If my nephew or I had any inkling of what the hell you were talking about, don’t you think we would have given it up by now? If you can believe nothing else, believe this: my self-preservation instinct is bar none. There is no one—present company included, sorry Derek—whose protection I would place above myself. Whoever or whatever this 'la loba' is, I would sell them out to you in a heartbeat if I could. So, can you just cut me the hell down from here so that you can find someone to torture who actually knows the information that you want?”
Zap.
“It’s like talking to the concrete,” Peter growled.
Zap.
And so, it went. For how much longer Derek wasn’t sure. Then suddenly bullet casings were raining down through the gaps in the floorboards above.
****
Being back in Beacon Hills after his rather unpleasant stint in Central America felt a little akin to watching old family videos to Derek. Everything around him looked exactly like he remembered. He could even remember the feelings that these things used to evoke, the feelings they were supposed to evoke. But there was nothing there. No sense of warmth when he climbed into his once beloved Camaro. No twinge of pain when the memory of Laura’s bright smiling face the day she had bought it was brought to the surface. It’s like there was a glass barrier in his mind between him and his emotions and it left him feeling numb. Unbearably, freezingly numb. He could almost summon the will to be concerned about this newfound numbness, if he really tried. Afterall, pain and sadness were nothing new to Derek. It was his default setting. But numb…
Like always though, there were more pressing matters at hand and Derek had responsibilities. When he had left there were so many things left unsettled. Though the alpha pack had been dispatched, there was still the matter of the twins to be dealt with. The nemeton was once again active. Scott had just ascended to his “true alpha” status. Isaac and Erica were such new betas. Boyd… Oh, Boyd…
He really shouldn’t have left them. But when he had found Cora in that vault with Boyd and Erica his mind could think of nothing else. His baby sister…alive.
It broke his heart when she had told him she wanted to return to Central America. He wanted her to stay with him, to rebuild the Hale pack, to rebuild their home. But the memories of Beacon Hills were too painful for her and he understood—he really did, even if he hated it.
So, when Cora set to leave the morning after their showdown with the alpha pack, he could not deny himself the trip accompanying her back south. The need to witness her safe return was even stronger than his need to be there for his betas. He hadn’t meant to be gone so long. Getting kidnapped and tortured was never part of the plan. He just hoped things hadn’t gone too off the rails while he was gone.
He went first to Erica’s house. He owed her the most. Boyd had been her mate. He knew how devastating the loss of a mate could be to a wolf. He had seen older wolves than her go mad with grief over the loss. He was her alpha and he had left her just when she had needed him most. He only hoped he wasn’t too late to repair the damage.
He parked the Camaro a few houses down, planning to climb up to the window of Erica’s second story bedroom. Contrary to popular belief, Derek did know just how creepy this move was. It made him feel slimy every time he had to climb through yet another teenagers’ bedroom window. He was twenty-two for gods’ sake. But his betas did not want their very human parents involved with the things that go bump in the night. And given the ever growing list of human casualties in Beacon Hills, he was willing to do whatever he could to try to protect the people his pack loved. Even if it meant constantly living out some horrid 2000’s teen romcom cliches.
As soon as Derek climbed through Erica’s window, though, his heckles raised. Her room was perfectly neat and orderly—already unusual for her. There was a fine layer of dust covering every surface. Where there had once been a large ornate mirror with stickers and photographs tucked into the frame, there was only the faded outline on the paint to show that it had once been there. There were holes littering the walls, roughly the size of a fist. Like someone had punched the walls over and over. Her scent was so stale that it was clear Erica hadn’t been in this room in months.
Derek clambered back through the window, dialing Isaac’s number before he had even hit the ground. His heart was going a mile a minute. He felt for his pack bonds. Surely, he would’ve felt it if she was dead. The bonds were so thin, so frail. He could feel that she was alive, but nothing more than that. Issac’s was even more faded, so much so that he could barely feel it at all. Jackson’s was gone completely, broken when he had gone away to London. Shit, shit, shit, shit.
What had Derek done? They had never had proper time to forge strong bonds. It was one crisis after another. And then Derek had left. He only meant to be gone a week, two at most. But it had been three months. And it had done more damage than Derek was prepared for.
Isaac picked up on the fifth and final ring. “Derek?” He sounded small—hurt and cautious.
Derek’s heartbeat slowed, if only marginally. “Isaac. Are you alright? Where are you?”
“I’m at school, where do you think? What do you want, Derek? It’s been months of radio silence. Why are you calling me now?” The hurt in his voice was giving way to anger. He was pissed. He had every right to be, but Derek couldn’t fix this over the phone.
“I’ll explain everything, I swear. In person. Do you know where Erica is? I went to her house, but she hasn’t been there in months.”
Isaac’s voice took on a dead quality. “She’s at Eichen House. Has been since you left. You might as well have sent her there yourself.”
Isaac hung up. Derek still held the phone to his ear like he could will the silence to turn back into Isaac’s voice, will him into saying something different.
Derek set off for Eichen House as fast as his car would take him, which given his choice of car, was very very fast.
He nearly sprinted through the lobby, schooling his appearance into something more calm as he reached the receptionist desk. “Hello, I am here to see Erica Reyes, please.”
The receptionist did a double take. “Hi,” she squeaked and then cleared her throat. “Right…sorry…who did you say you were here to see?”
“Erica Reyes.”
She typed something into the ancient looking computer in front of her and frowned. “I’m so sorry, Erica Reyes has had her visitor privileges revoked. She is in the closed ward. She is only allowed one visit per month and only by Mr. or Mrs. Reyes.”
Derek leaned against the counter and gave the receptionist his most dazzling smile—the completely fake, over-the-top flirtatious one that he used when he was exploiting his looks for personal gain. “Well, you see…” he glanced down at the name badge clipped to the front of her scrubs “…Cindy… Technically, I am a Mr. Reyes. Erica is my niece. I am only in town for a couple of days and I would really love to see my only niece before I leave. Couldn’t you bend the rules just a tiny bit? Just this once?”
The smile had the desired effect. Cindy’s face immediately started to redden and she tucked her hair behind her ear. “Oh, I don’t know…It’s really against the rules…”
“Please? Just 10 minutes? I won’t tell a soul. It will be our little secret.” He winked, only mildly hating himself for acting this shamelessly. If it worked, he didn’t care.
She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, but ultimately relented. “Okay, okay. Just ten minutes, okay?”
Derek gave her another dazzling smile as she unlocked the door and directed him where to go.
He walked cautiously through the halls, his ears pricking up as every little noise seemed to bounce around from wall to wall. The air smelled musty and old, an unsettling mix of mildew, sweat, and chemical cleaners. He did not like it here at all. He worried about Erica being in a place like this for months.
When he found the room that the receptionist had directed him to, he froze. He didn’t know what to expect from Erica. Isaac hadn’t exactly been thrilled to hear from him. Would Erica be much the same? Or worse? She had had to deal with the loss of her mate alone. Would she be volatile? Insane? He listened for her heartbeat and found it chugging along slowly, too slowly.
He opened the door and felt all the breath leave him. Erica lay strapped to the bed. Not sleeping, but not appearing awake either. She stared blankly at the ceiling. Her hair was matted and greasy, her skin grey and lifeless. There were injection marks littered across her arms. It shouldn’t have even been possible for the marks to be there. Her werewolf healing should’ve fixed them by now. Derek knew a wolf could stop their body from healing if their will was strong enough, but he never could’ve predicted this.
She didn’t move when Derek had opened the door, nor did she move when he came into the room whispering her name. He sat on the edge of the bed and put a gentle hand on her face. This was so much worse than he could have expected. He had broken her.
“Erica,” he whispered again, gently stroking her cheek. She remained unmoving, staring at nothing.
He leaned over her field of view and flashed his eyes red. “Erica,” he tried again, putting a touch of alpha power into his voice.
Her eyes weakly flashed gold, barely a ring around her iris. She blinked. Slowly, so so slowly her eyes focused in on Derek’s face. “Derek?” Her voice so rough and cracked it barely sounded like a word at all.
Derek held her hand and tried to take her pain. He tried with every fiber of his being, but there was no physical pain for him to take. “Erica…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m going to get you out of here. I’m going to fix this.”
Her face crumpled. Her body never moved, whether from the restraints or from weakness, it wasn’t clear. But her face crumpled in on itself until she began to weep. Silent and heartbreaking, she wept until her eyes closed and her breathing evened out. Derek didn’t say another word, just sat there stroking her hair until he was forced to leave.