𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

                                    

                                          


 

┏━━━━⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆━━━━┓
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS



"I NEED YOUR HELP." 
"Well aren't you just full of manners," Emerson appraised, mock kindness in her voice. "I'm doing great, Derek, how are you?"  
Emerson had just got through the front door, having spent the day at the Miller household to both help the girl with last minute college preparations and avoid any mention of her own preparations. The latter had been the more difficult task between the two, with Emerson offering up the excuse of a gap year. 
It was enough to keep Elizabeth at bay, for now at least. Still, she hadn't been expecting to get any calls that evening, much less from the Alpha whom she hadn't seen since the last full moon. 
She knew he must've swiped her phone number from Isaac, and she made a mental note to remind the boy to put a damn password on it. 
"I need your help," he emphasized, and Emerson was quite literally getting sick of hearing that statement come out of the man's mouth. "We have one shot at defeating the kanima and Gerard Argent, and my betas are missing. We need the numbers." 
"Uh-uh, no way," she outright denied. "Helping you with your betas is one thing, but this? It's borderline suicidal." 
Mind you, while the other wolves in town were on Gerard Argent's radar, Emerson blissfully was not. Helping Derek of all people at a time like this would put her name on blast for the hunters, and in turn, would put her name on blast to anyone with ears to hear it. Like the bad man. 
"I'm sorry Derek, really I am," she said as she tried unclenching her stiff jaw, "but I just can't—" 
"I'll never ask you for anything ever again," he interrupted, something akin to a plea in his tone. "I'll stop offering you a place in my pack, I'll leave you be, if you just do this one last thing. If not for me, for Isaac." 
Emerson's eyes closed on their own at the mention of the Lahey boy, the one she'd continued to tutor during these past two weeks since he had come to her. 
"You have my word, Emerson." 
For some cruel reason, maybe with the way he'd said her name in a tone different than the usual annoyance she received, she believed him. "This is the last time, Derek." 
A sigh was heaved from the man before he added, "Meet us at the school." 
Though, before Emerson hung up, she paused. 
"Us?" 


ೃ࿔*:⋆


No. Fucking. Way. 
Emerson was barely stepping out of her car when she was met with the face of not just Derek, but also Peter Hale. Yeah, the very much dead but now not-so-dead Peter Hale. 
"What the fuck?" 
"It's a long story," Derek dismissed, not particularly loving the way Peter was looking at the girl with newfound curiosity. It certainly didn't help when the man waved at Emerson, fingers dancing in the air. "Come on, we need to find Scott and Isaac."
She trailed behind the uncle-nephew duo, trying to reel in her utter confusion as best as she could. She was hoping that there would be time for questions later, but given her shit luck, she wasn't so sure. 
They led her into the boys locker room with quiet steps, the place almost deserted if it wasn't for the two heartbeats she could detect. When they rounded the corner, the unlikely trio (and boy, wasn't that an understatement) was faced with the boys Derek was searching for. 
And Scott McCall might as well have had his jaw glued to the floor, what with the sheer amount of disbelief on his face. 
"Holy sh—" he started, uneasily looking at Peter before his gaze switched to the blonde's. "What the hell is this?" 
"Emerson," Isaac greeted her, a smile despite the tense energy swirling around in the locker room. 
She couldn't help but grin back, rolling her eyes as she tried to brush it off. "What, you my biggest fan, Lahey?" 
He laughed good-naturedly, but Scott on the other hand looked just as confused as Emerson had felt just minutes ago. "You know her?" 
"Emerson's my chem tutor," Isaac supplied, before he stage-whispered into Scott's ear, "and she's an Alpha. Dope, right?" 
Scott looked even more confused. "No, she's not? I would've—" His words were dropped by the flow of crimson emitting from Emerson's eyes for a single beat, before vanishing altogether. "How is that possible, you have no—" 
Derek, having had enough of the literal dillydallying, crossed his arms over his chest. "I saw you talking to Gerard at the sheriff's station." 
"Hold on, he threatened to kill my mom!" Scott argued, "and I had to get close to him, what was I supposed to do?" 
Peter, rather unhelpfully, decided to pipe up. "I'm gonna go with Scott on this one. Have you seen his mom? She's gorgeous." 
Simultaneously, the other four werewolves in the room yelled the same two words. "Shut up!" 
Peter rolled his eyes dramatically before Isaac asked, "who's he?" 
"Peter, Derek's uncle. A little while back he tried to kill us all, and then we set him on fire, and the. Derek slashed his throat," Scott explained flatly. 
Peter waved nonchalantly. "Hi." 
Emerson pinched the bridge of her nose. She knew this was going to be a long night based off of that alone. Isaac was thinking the same, based on his quiet, clipped response of, "that's good to know." 
"How is he even alive?" Scott asked. 
"Yeah, no I'd also love to hear about this," Emerson added, gesturing to the McCall boy. 
"Look, the short version is he knows how to stop Jackson, and maybe how to save him," Derek said instead, not even answering the question Scott asked in the first place. Jackson Whittemore was the kanima, the lizard creature, and thankfully Isaac had filled her in on that during a tutoring session. 
"Well, that's very helpful, except Jackson's dead." 
Alarm spread through the Hale duo first, and Emerson didn't need to smell chemosignals to know what emotion was running through them at the revelation. 
"What do you mean he's dead?" Emerson asked on behalf of the now silent men to her right. 
"It just happened on the field," was Scott's solemn reply.  
Emerson was quick to see the wordless exchange that played out between Peter and Hale, and her eyebrows furrowed on their own. 
"Okay, why isn't anybody taking this as good news?" Isaac asked, genuine confusion in his tone. 
It wasn't until Peter came to stand right next to Derek that Emerson realized just how intertwined the kanima problem was with the Argent problem. 
"Because if he's dead, it didn't just happen. Gerard wanted it to happen."
 

⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆

[ wyn's note ]
next chap will conclude the season 2 plot line (which thank god cause season three is where shit is gonna get juicy for sure) !! big plans for emerson will ensue... but before that, we get to experience the end of emmy's senior year AHH 
two words: soccer championship!! hannah won't be the only supporter in the stands if u catch my drift LOL
all my love xo