Chapter 20: The Gathering Storm
Derek's loft smells like coffee and desperation.
It's morning. The sun is barely up. We're all here—Scott, Stiles, Derek, and me. Sitting around Derek's industrial-chic dining table like we're planning a bank heist instead of fighting a psychotic werewolf.
"Void-touched," Derek says. "Means you were exposed to the space between dimensions. The void where things that shouldn't exist get trapped. It rewrites you at a fundamental level."
"How?" Scott asks.
"Death. Near-death. Dimensional rifts. There's no single cause. But once you're touched by the void, you're... changed. Marked. Other."
All eyes turn to me.
I stare at my coffee. "My dad. Something happened to him. Before he died. I think I inherited it."
It's a half-truth. The best I can manage without revealing the impossible.
"So you're like..." Stiles gestures vaguely. "...dimension-touched Uber-human?"
"More like dimension-touched disaster."
"That's not comforting."
"It's accurate."
Derek leans forward. "Peter knowing is dangerous. He's going to try to use you. Either recruit you or eliminate you as a threat."
"Can't he just ignore me?"
"You stopped him from killing Jackson. You created a barrier that staggered an Alpha. No, he can't ignore you."
Scott's Haki signature spikes with worry. "So what do we do?"
Silence. No one has an answer.
"We need a plan," Stiles says finally. "A real one. Not just 'hope Peter doesn't murder everyone.'"
"He's targeting people connected to the Hales," Derek says. "Kate Argent is at the top of that list."
"When?"
"Soon. Days, maybe."
"So we use Kate as bait," I suggest.
Derek's eyes flash blue. "No."
"Why not? She burned your family alive. She deserves—"
"She deserves justice. Not revenge. There's a difference."
"Is there?"
"Yes."
Stiles clears his throat. "Guys. Maybe we table the moral philosophy and focus on not dying?"
He's right. But the tension doesn't break.
We spend the next hour planning. Contingencies. Backup plans. Ways to stop Peter without getting killed.
None of it feels like enough.
The Argent house is all clean lines and hidden weapons.
Allison sits in her room, staring at the text she just sent Scott: We need to talk.
Downstairs, Kate is in Chris's study, spreading out evidence. Photos of Derek. Reports of "animal attacks." Timelines that point to Derek as the Alpha.
It's all fabricated. Manipulated. But Chris doesn't know that.
"He's the Alpha," Kate says. "I'm sure of it."
Chris studies the photos. "You think Derek Hale killed all those people?"
"I think he's dangerous. And I think we need to eliminate the threat before he hurts someone else. Someone like Allison."
Chris's jaw tightens. Family first. Always.
"What do you propose?"
"A hunt. Tonight. We end this."
Upstairs, Allison hears fragments through the vent. Derek Hale. Eliminate. Threat.
Her family aren't salesmen. They're hunters.
And Scott might be the thing they hunt.
She grabs her phone with shaking hands.
Allison: We need to talk. Now. It's about my family.
Scott: I know. I'm coming over.
Dinner at the Finstock house is surreal.
Rebecca made lasagna. Coach opened a beer. We sit around the table like a normal family having a normal meal.
"You look better," Rebecca says. "Less exhausted."
"Taking your advice. Pacing myself."
"Good. Because I was worried."
Coach snorts. "She was planning your intervention. Had a PowerPoint and everything."
Rebecca smacks his arm. "I did not."
"You absolutely did. Slide twelve was about healthy boundaries."
I laugh despite everything. This moment—normal, mundane, safe—is what I'm fighting for. This fragile peace that feels like it could shatter at any second.
My phone buzzes.
Scott: Allison knows. Her family are hunters. They're planning something.
My stomach drops.
"Everything okay?" Rebecca asks.
"Yeah. Just—Scott needs help with homework."
"At dinner?"
"Math emergency."
Coach gives me a look but doesn't object.
I excuse myself. Stand in the garage, reading the texts flooding in.
Stiles: Found Peter's pattern. He's targeting everyone who wronged the Hales. Kate's at the top. But so is the fire inspector, the insurance adjuster, the construction crew...
Derek: Kate's planning a hunt. Tonight. We need to move.
Scott: What do we do?
I stare at the messages. Everything is converging. Peter's revenge. Kate's hunt. The pack caught in the middle.
We end this. Together.
I text back: Together. Or not at all.
Scott: Together.
Derek: Agreed.
Stiles: When did we become an actual pack?
The moment we decided to survive.
The garage is quiet.
I stand in the center, hands outstretched. The Nen shimmer appears—brighter now, more stable. I hold it for thirty seconds before it flickers out.
Progress. Not enough. But progress.
My Haki extends outward. Sensing Coach in the living room, watching TV. Rebecca in the bedroom, reading medical journals. The neighborhood settling into evening routines.
Everything feels fragile. Like standing on thin ice over black water.
Stiles' text comes through: Peter's moving. Soon. Maybe tonight.
Where?
Stiles: Don't know. But I'm monitoring police channels. The moment something happens, I'll know.
Keep me posted.
I stand there, Nen shimmering weakly around my hands, Haki extended to its limit.
The storm is coming. I can feel it. In my bones. In my powers. In the way something ancient and massive pulses at the edge of my awareness—something in the preserve, old and waiting.
The Nemeton. Has to be.
I don't know what it is. Don't know why I can sense it. But it's there. Watching. Waiting.
Coach appears in the doorway. "You practicing?"
"Yeah."
"You getting better?"
"Slowly."
He nods. "Good. Because whatever's coming, you're going to need every advantage you can get."
"How do you know something's coming?"
"Because you're standing in the garage at 9 PM, glowing like a nightlight, looking like you're about to go to war." He sets down water and granola bars. "So whatever it is—win. Come home. Make your mother not regret marrying me."
Despite everything, I smile. "I'll try."
"Try harder."
He leaves.
I stand alone, Nen flickering, Haki buzzing.
Tomorrow—or tonight—everything ends.
Peter. Kate. The fire's truth finally exposed.
And we're going to end it together.
Or die trying.
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