Chapter Two – The Darkness

With a frustrated sigh Samantha dropped her phone on the counter in the kitchen as she rubbed her forehead, nervously she tapped her foot for a few seconds before picking her phone back up and trying Isaac's number again.

"I thought you were picking your brother up." Derek said as he walked into the kitchen of the loft with her.

"No, my aunt's taking him to school." She admitted as she tried to call Isaac's phone again.

Derek sighed as he leaned against the wall, he knew exactly what had her stressed. The same thing that had him awake all night, the fact that Isaac didn't come home the night before and neither of them had heard from him in almost twenty four hours.

Blowing out a heavy breath, Sam spun and faced him as she asked, "If we split up, we can cover a wider area faster, if we can just get a lock on his scent..."

Cutting her off, Derek pointed out, "Not with the rain we had yesterday."

Her lips pressed into a thin line and she shot him a look, "We have to find him, Derek."

"I know." He said, appearing calm even though inside he was anything but.
Three of his four betas were now missing and he didn't have a clue where to begin. They'd spent all summer looking for Boyd and Erica and hadn't gotten any leads, now Isaac was gone too.

"He doesn't have any family. We're all he's got." .

"I know." He repeated.
He pushed away from the wall.

"What if the alphas got Isaac too?" She shakily breathed out, nervously tucking her hair behind her ears as she looked up to him, "If they got him then that means all that's left is us... we can't fight a pack of alphas with just us."

"Sam-" He started to say but she didn't hear as she took in a few shallow breaths and said, "And... and what are they even waiting for, huh? Why haven't they made a move? My god! It's like Gerard all over again, we try so hard, but no matter what we do we're always several steps behind and-"

"Sam!" He repeated louder. "We'll figure it out, okay?"

Her eyes moved back and forth searching his face as she nodded at his words, he was the one person she had complete and utter faith in.

Seeing she still looked worried, he repeated, "We'll figure it out -later today when you get home from school."

She started to agree again but then her eyebrows knotted as she stuttered out, "Wait, what? No... no, I'm not going to school... Isaac is missing."

His eyes met hers as he reached out and rubbed his hands down her sides, holding onto her hips as he pointed out, "It's the first day, you have to go."

He knew he needed to find Isaac but in order to focus entirely on that, he also needed to know that Sam was safe.

He had the same suspicions that she did; it was the alpha pack again –which now meant they had all but one of his betas. All he had left was Sam now and she was the one he wanted to protect more than anything or anyone else.

With a hand on her lower back he led her back into the main downstairs room where he grabbed her book bag off the coffee table and handed it to her.

"What are you going to do while I'm gone? Try and find him yourself?" She questioned as he pushed her towards the door of the loft.

"I'm going to look into a few things." He vaguely answered as they walked up the few steps towards the large, heavy metal sliding door.
He figured that she'd be safe at the school with so many other people there, it wasn't likely the alpha's would attack there.

Pulling the single strap of the bag up on her shoulder she crossed her arms over her chest and said, "You have to be careful, Derek."

"I will be." He assured stepping closer as he gently rubbed his hands over her upper arms knowing how stressed out she was, "Just keep your phone on and I'll call you if I find anything."

She nodded but there was still a frown on her face; the entire situation felt wrong to her. Something was off and she wasn't sure what it was but she had a bad feeling deep in the pit of her stomach.

When she kept her arms over her chest and glanced down to the floor, he let go of her arms and took her face in his hands as he leaned in kissing her.

Almost immediately some of her stress faded and she uncrossed her arms, running her hands up his chest and around to the back of his neck as she pulled him closer to her; a part of her was afraid if she let go –she might not see him again.

~()~

Her anxiety had only increased tenfold by the time she made it the school.

Not only did big crowds make her nervous but she hated being the center of attention and she was well aware the town was still buzzing with gossip about her dad escaping jail and murdering her mom. She could just imagine the whispers she'd hear as she walked through the halls, that thought alone was enough to get back in her car and go home.

But she'd promised Derek she'd go to school, and with that thought she groaned in frustration and forced her legs to carry her from the parking lot to the school.

Once inside she went straight for her locker to drop off extra notebooks and a few other things before her first class. As she was entering her combination a chill ran down her back carrying a feeling with it of her being watched, but as she glanced behind her she didn't see anyone paying attention to her.

Taking a deep breath she shook her head, not only was the stress of Isaac missing really getting to her –she also hadn't been sleeping very well from the repeated nightmares she was haunted with.

She hadn't told Derek, but she was starting to see some things while she was awake too.

Shaking her head she grabbed her locker door and flung it open, hitting the person beside her right in the face with the door.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" She quickly spilled out an apology as she looked to the unfamiliar teenager next to her.

Rubbing the side of his head he turned to face her, shooting her a smile as he said, "I'm not. I can think of worse ways to start at a new school than being injured by a pretty girl."

Her eyes bugged out and she turned her face, staring ahead into her open locker barely able to keep her jaw from hitting the floor.
She replayed what he'd said in her head several times to make sure she'd heard him right.

Slowly, she glanced sideways to see he was still smiling at her causing her to grow more uncomfortable by the second.

If she had to be entirely honest she was still amazed Derek was interested in her, but now she had some random guy at school flirting with her.

Feeling her cheeks darken she cleared her throat and asked, "New school?" Giving him a once over, she questioned, "You're a freshman?"

Laughing he put the black helmet in his hand on the top shelf in his locker and removed his leather gloves as he explained, "No, I just transferred here. I'm Aiden."

As she shut her locker she saw him extend a hand, she hesitated for a moment before shaking his hand and saying, "I'm Sam; welcome to Beacon Hills."

"Hey..." He said his voice trailing off as he pulled a paper from his pocket, looked at it and asked, "I'm supposed to see someone in the guidance office for my schedule, could you show me where it's at?"

Nervously she looked down and played with the zipper on the front of her book bag hanging at her side.

Not only was he making her uncomfortable but there was something in the air around him that felt off, whatever it was about the other teenager -she didn't like it.

"Yeah, I'll show you." She agreed as she turned and nodded for him to follow her.
As they reached the door they saw that it was closed and the lights were off inside.

She opened her mouth to say someone would probably be by to unlock it in a few minutes but before she could he pointed to some papers tacked to a bulletin board on the wall as he asked, "You hear about those teens that went missing?"

Her blood ran cold as she followed his gaze to the board and saw the missing posters for Boyd and Erica.

Seeing her expression he questioned, "Did you know them?"

"Yeah, they're good friends." She quietly whispered as she took a small step away from him, slowly becoming aware that they were the only students down the small side hallway.

"Scary isn't it?" He continued, "One day you're hanging out with your friends then they next day... you could be gone."

"Well, uh, someone should be here soon to unlock the door for you." She stammered over her words as she took another step backwards almost tripping over own feet.

Glancing down he smirked at her hearing her heart starting to race, when he looked back up his eyes stopped on her necklace and he pointed out, "Interesting necklace, what do they call that symbol, a triskelion?"

She nodded looking over her shoulder and frowning when she still didn't see any other students heading down the hallway with them.

"Your boyfriend give it to you?"

Raising her head with a confused expression, she asked, "Why would you ask me that? I never told you I had a boyfriend."

Flashing her another smile that almost seemed menacing he reasoned, "I just assumed, I mean girls like you don't stay single for long."

"What do you mean girls like me?" Her voice was slightly shaky as she spoke and took another small step away from him.

Nodding he reasoned, "Yeah, you know...pretty. It's a compliment."

Her eyebrows pushed together and she swallowed hard feeling like she'd just made the worst mistake in the world by agreeing to show him the guidance office.

Hearing the clicking of heels on the floor Sam looked up to see Ms. Morrell headed towards them, once she reached them she stepped in between them as if she were trying to shield Samantha.

Taking her keys out she said, "Sorry, I'm running a little late today." Looking to Aiden she continued, "I'll have your class schedule in just a few moments."

Letting out a small sigh of relief Sam started to walk away until Aiden called after her, "I hope you find your missing friends."

"Thanks." She replied, but just as she started to walk again he called out, "But you should be careful, Sam. You never know who might wind up disappearing next."

Turning around she stared at him confused as he flashed her a smile before turning and following Ms. Morrell into the office.

Closing her eyes Sam took in a deep breath trying to see if she could pick up a scent from him, but she didn't smell another werewolf.
Derek had warned her that some wolves were able to mask their scent.

Her eyebrows lowered in confusion as she wondered why Aiden would say those things to her, it was like he knew something she didn't and she was also pretty sure he'd threatened her. But the entire encounter had left her thoughts tangled.

Keeping her head down she quickly walked a few hallways over where she called Derek, but he didn't answer. Ending the call she tried again but he still wouldn't pick up, this time she left a voicemail saying he needed to call her back as soon as possible.

Tucking her phone into her pocket she leaned against the wall and rubbed her hands over her face trying to keep in control of her emotions and stay calm. Taking a deep breath she reminded herself she just needed to get through the school day.

She stopped and talked to Lydia for a bit until she saw Allison coming towards them, then she quickly gave an excuse and walked off but the brunette chased her down, "Sam! Wait, can we just talk for a minute?"

Coming to a stop she tucked her golden blonde hair behind her ears as she tuned to face her, silently crossing her arms over her chest and waiting for Allison to say something.

"I tried to call you when I got back in town." Allison admitted, knowing the beta wolf had no reason to answer the calls, not after what she'd done.

"Well, I've been kind of busy." Sam excused.
It wasn't a total lie, she had been really busy but she'd also been ignoring her.

"Yeah, Lydia kind of filled me in on things; you've been living with Derek, right?" She said with a smile.

But the smile was met by an angry expression at her even having the nerve to say Derek's name in front of her.

Swallowing hard and looking down to the floor, Allison shook her head and said, "You have every right to hate me."

"You were supposed to be my friend, Allison." Sam finally spoke up.

Once the brunette was looking at her, she continued, "You hunted my pack... you chased Boyd and Erica down and you loaded them full of arrows. And you know what? I'd bet a million dollars if I had been with them you'd have done the same to me."

"I wasn't thinking clearly... I lost my mom and all I could think of was how badly I wanted revenge, how much I wanted Derek to pay for what he did. And then Gerard got in my head and I... I turned into a monster. But Sam, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry." She apologized, hoping there was some sliver of hope that they could be friend again.

"If you're expecting me to tell you everything is okay, you came to the wrong person. Your grandfather tried to kill me, he literally cut my throat, and for what? To break Derek down even more before he planned on killing him too?" Sam said, speaking a little louder than she should have been as a few students looked over to them.

Allison looked from side to side before quietly saying, "I didn't know what Gerard was planning, not really. He –he used me."

"Yeah, but you knew. Allison, you knew how much Derek meant to me and you wanted to take him away from me –forever." Samantha whisper yelled at her.

"When I lost my mom, it just changed something in me. I can't explain it but something somewhere inside of me just snapped and all I cared about was retribution... I lost control." She attempted to explain.

Sam swallowed hard as her mind flashed back to when she'd killed her dad, something similar happened to her.
All of her reason and control had flown out the window and all she wanted was for him to suffer, to pay for what he'd done. To pay for it with his life.

"I know it's asking a lot... but I really hope we can be friends again. I missed you this summer." She admitted her eyes a little glossy as she spoke.

The bell rang and Sam mumbled under her breath how she needed to get to class before she was late; she walked away leaving Allison without an answer.

~()~

After stopping in the hallway to try Derek's phone a few more times, she finally gave up and walked into her first period class. Her blue eyes scanned the room before landing in an empty seat by the windows in the front row, she made a beeline for it and quickly claimed it as she sat down.

Sam glanced around the room, her gaze stopping on Stiles who was sitting a few rows back when he saw her he smiled and waved.
Her eyes widened as she saw Scott sitting down next to him, who also smiled and gave a quick wave causing her to groan as she turned back and stared out of the window remembering the embarrassing incident at the store just a week prior.

Moments later her phone went off and she couldn't pull it from her pocket fast enough thinking it would be Derek, but disappointment set in when not only did she not know the number it came from but the text itself made no sense. Soon everyone was scrambling for their phones too as text alerts sounded throughout the classroom.

"The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway, leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky, seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness."

Hearing an unfamiliar voice Sam looked up to see their new teacher, Ms. Blake as she walked into the room read out loud from her own phone. Looking up to her students she continued, "This is the last line to the first book we are going to read. It is also the last text you will receive in this class. Phones off, everyone."

Sam looked around seeing everyone else shut their phones off, but she didn't touch hers. She couldn't shut it off, Derek or even Isaac could call her at any moment.

As Ms. Blake took roll call, Sam opened her notebook pausing when she saw the page she'd scribbled the symbol from her dream on was torn out of her notebook.
Isaac had mentioned something about remembering seeing that symbol from somewhere, but he couldn't think of where he'd seen it at the time.

Her heart started to race as she replayed her nightmare of watching Erica be killed by a female alpha, and she started to fear that maybe it wasn't just a nightmare.
If it wasn't a dream, if by somehow there was a way that she'd had a vision of something with the alpha pack then that symbol she'd drawn was where they were keeping Boyd and Erica.

She swallowed hard as she thought Isaac might have torn the page from her notebook and left the day before trying to remember where he'd seen it before. If he'd managed to find the alpha pack they could have killed him.

Just as their teacher finished up roll call, she saw Sam's phone light up.

"Samantha?" Ms. Blake questioned, as the teenager quickly picked up her phone.

"Sorry." Sam apologized as she laid her phone back down, it was just a text from her little brother.

When she felt eyes on her, Sam looked back up to see the teacher still watching her.

"I said phones off." Ms. Blake said with a small laugh and a friendly smile.

Sam looked around, seeing everyone's eyes were on her. Sliding down in her seat some she said, "I've got it on silent, it won't even make noise vibrating."

"Everyone pays attention in my class, and I don't think you can do that with your phone out. It's a distraction." Ms. Blake pointed out as she kept a smile on her face.

Adjusting in the now painfully uncomfortable seat, Sam knew everyone was still watching her and she hated being the center of attention. She'd rather be invisible than have everyone's eyes on her.

"I'm sorry... but I can't shut my phone off."

"Can't or won't?" The teacher asked her, eyeing the rest of the class as a low rumble of whispers started to echo through the room.

"I can't." She quickly answered, her voice slightly cracking as she continued to explain, "I have some family stuff going on right now and I need my phone."

Leaning down slightly her teacher quietly said, "I don't want to have to be that teacher who gives a student detention on their first day. So, can you just cooperate with me?"

Samantha looked behind her to see the entire class was still watching her and her cheeks darkened as she looked back to Ms. Blake and apologized, "I don't want detention either... but I can't shut my phone off."

Looking around the room she knew if she cut one student some slack, the rest would expect the same treatment so she cleared her throat and said, "If you're going to be in my class, your phone has to be turned off and tucked away in a pocket or bag somewhere, I don't even want to see them out on your desks."

Her entire face felt hot and her legs shaky as she slowly stood from her desk and grabbed her book bag, a part of her was in shock at herself.
She wasn't the type of student to defy a teacher and walk out of class, but she wasn't going to turn her cellphone off. Not when Isaac was missing and Derek was out looking for him alone.

"Samantha, where are you going?" Ms. Blake asked, looking as shocked as Sam felt.

Silently crossing the room at the front of the classroom, she internally prayed she wouldn't trip over something or lose her balance and humiliate herself.

Just as she reached the door her teacher called out, "You really want to start your school year off like this?"

Taking a deep breathing and refusing to turn around and see the looks her classmates were giving her. Sam opened the door and said, "You said if I'm in your class I can't have my phone on... so I guess I just won't be in your class."

With those words and a low rumble of excitement coming from the class, she quickly walked out, almost running into an office aide heading into the classroom.

Quickly turning down a hallway she put her back against the wall and pulled in a shaky breath trying to calm her frazzled nerves, taking her phone out again she looked and saw she had a missed call from a number she didn't recognize.

Just as she unlocked her phone to call back a voicemail came through, placing the phone to her ear she listened her eyes growing wider with every word Scott's mom, Melissa had left for her.

Isaac was at the hospital, he'd been brought in badly wounded but he was healing and also scheduled for surgery within the hour which was going to raise a lot of questions if he was completely healed by then.

Darkening the screen on her phone, she tucked it into her pocket and raced towards the door she'd parked closest to. She needed to get to the hospital and get Isaac out of there, find out what happened and then find Derek since he still wasn't returning her calls.

~()~

Sam parked her car at the hospital and started to jog towards the door, pausing when she almost ran right into a nurse wearing blue scrubs coming out of the building.

"Sorry." Sam breathed an apology as she stepped to the side allowing her to walk by.

But just as she passed her, Sam let out a small gasp when she realized the woman wasn't a nurse at the hospital –she was the female alpha she'd seen in her nightmare.

Turning around Sam saw the dark haired alpha look over her shoulder shooting her a sinister grin before disappearing around the side of the building.

Racing into the building, Sam quickly found Melissa who explained everything she knew and also informed her that once she wasn't able to get in touch with Derek and Sam, she'd called the school to have Scott released from class so he should be there soon.

Sam thanked her but said she didn't have time to wait on Scott or anyone else for help, as she started towards Isaac's room Melissa called after her asking what was wrong.

But Sam flashed her a smile, trying to ease her nerves as she said, "Nothing, I just need to get Isaac."

Once she reached his room she saw the bed was empty and her heart started to race from fear. Following the signs towards the surgery wing she stopped as she saw Scott heading towards her.

"Hey." He said, jogging to catch up with the teenager.

"Hey..." She breathed out with a frown.

"Sorry, I would have found you sooner but I had to help this guy off of the elevator." He explained.

"Why?" Sam asked him.

"Well... he was blind..." Scott continued the explanation, then said, "They must have already gotten Isaac into surgery, he wasn't in his room."

"I know." Sam nodded, "If we split up we can cover more ground faster... but Scott, just be careful."

As she started to walk away he gently grabbed her arm, bringing her to a stop as he asked, "Why? What's going on?"

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and stared at him not sure what to say.
She knew Scott had no Idea about the alpha pack and that's how Derek wanted to keep it, Scott wanted a shot at a normal life and Derek wanted that for him as well.

"N-nothing, just be careful." She said with a smile as she pulled her arm away and continued her search.

Several minutes later she decided to try going up to the third floor to see if he was up there for some reason. But as she headed for the elevator she paused when she caught Isaac's scent, her gaze lifted to where she saw a tall, imposing man dressed in hospital scrubs pushing a wheelchair onto the elevator.

It only took seconds for her to realize it was Isaac in the chair as the man turned sideways she saw his claws, confirming her fears that he was a part of the alpha pack and trying to take Isaac. Something she couldn't let happen.

The alpha smirked at her as he reached a hand out and pushed a button on the panel inside of the elevator.

Sam's fangs extended and her eyes glowed blue as she snarled and let out a growl that shook the paintings on the hospital walls and made the glass covers over the fire extinguishers rattle.

The door started to close but she raced forward, she could hear Scott yelling at her to wait for him from down the hallway but there wasn't time so she'd made a break for it and jumped through the doors right as they closed; trapping her inside with the now shifted alpha and an unconscious Isaac who was sitting defenseless in a wheelchair.

Her own face shifted and her claws came out as she raised her head and looked up from where she'd landed on the floor.

The alpha stood over her, letting out a growl of his own as she pulled herself to her feet. But before she could even take a defensive pose or strike out, he grabbed her shoulder so hard her bones immediately started to crack as he threw her against the wall.
The impact shook the entire elevator.

The lights started to flicker above them and Isaac's wheelchair rolled and slammed into a corner.

With a pained groan Sam jumped back to her feet, shocked at the alpha's strength as he effortlessly tossed her backwards again.
She hadn't expected him to be so strong.

In her training with Derek she'd learned to hold her own and even managed to pin him a few times, but this alpha was a lot stronger than Derek –stronger than anyone she'd fought against before.

Her back collided with the wall before violently landing on the floor again, the elevator shook again causing Isaac's wheelchair to roll and hit against the other wall.

Jumping back to her feet she brought an arm forward slashing him across his chest but it didn't slow or weaken him in the slightest as he curled his clawed hands around her neck lifting her up in the air cutting off her air supply with the higher he raised her struggling body.

Gasping for air she grabbed onto his arm and braced herself against him as she swung her leg out, delivering a powerful kick to his stomach that knocked him backwards and forced him to let go of her.

Her body crumpled to the floor and she held onto her throat gasping for air, but it was only a matter of seconds before he roughly pulled her to her feet and grabbed back onto her throat, squeezing tightly as he raised her up and she stared fearfully into his red eyes, trying to flail her legs to kick him again, but she was too weak.

The longer he held her up by her neck, the weaker she grew from lack of oxygen, her face turned back to human.
She desperately grabbed onto his arm fighting for a breath.

Snarling at her he said, "Don't you realize what you're dealing with? I'm an alpha."

The end of his sentence finished with a ding from the elevator as the doors opened and just as she started to black out she heard Derek say, "So am I."

Putting his claws in the alphas back he threw him backwards down the hallway. Sam weakly raised her head, coughing and gasping as she scooted backwards until her back hit the wall.

Holding onto her throat she closed her eyes and tried to breath the pain as her bones healed back up, when she opened her eyes she saw Scott standing in the elevator doorway looking around, clearly confused as to who the other werewolf was and why he'd tried to take Isaac.

Kneeling down in front of Sam, Derek looked her over as he asked, "Are you alright?"

She didn't answer as she continued to hold onto her throat and fight for a breath. Gently he pulled her hands away from her neck and turned her head from side to side seeing some slowly healing cuts on the side of her neck from the alpha's claws –but nothing life threatening.

"Sam?" Derek asked, growing worried as she didn't say anything he repeated, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... I'm fine." She nodded, her voice raspy as she looked at him while he continued to watch her with a worried expression.

The truth was she didn't know if she was okay, not only was that alpha the strongest werewolf she'd ever met and he'd managed to effortlessly kick her ass.
But she'd seen the female alpha outside of the hospital, the exact same one from her nightmare.

Which probably meant a few things; one being that whatever had happened wasn't really just a bad dream. And two; Eric was probably either already dead or going to die.

"Come on, we need to get out of here." Derek said as he started to lift her to her feet before looking over his shoulder and instructing Scott to grab the chair Isaac was in.

Looking over to Isaac, Sam hoped he'd wake up soon and be able to tell them what he'd found out. Obviously the beta had seen something he shouldn't have if the alphas were going to such great lengths to go after him.

Scott led the way, pushing Isaac in a wheel chair towards the exit and Derek followed behind them with a hand on Sam's lower back forcing her to keep up the pace they were moving at. Once they got to the parking lot, she silently wrapped the hospital blanket that had been on Isaac's lap around him before Derek picked his body up and loaded him into his car.

She could hear Scott and Derek talking about how they needed to go the Hale house that there was something there to help Isaac, but she could only half listen to them as her mind was filled with so many fears and questions. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion and she couldn't quite focus on anything, Scott and Derek's voices sounded like they were getting farther and farther away from her and slowly the sunlit parking lot started to break away into nothing but darkness.

"Derek?" She shakily breathed, blinking her eyes rapidly but it didn't matter how many times she blinked the darkness was all she could see and as she flipped her head from side to side, a realization set in; she was completely alone.

~(Later that night)~

Samantha descended the stairs in the loft, her socked feet lightly padded against the floor as she stepped off the last stair and paused seeing Derek watching her from where he was sitting on the blue couch.

"He's asleep." She stated pointing to the ceiling and referring to Isaac as she added, "He's still pretty weak but he's healing."

Derek dropped the book he'd been looking through on the table and continued to watch her in silence until she shifted uncomfortably on the floor and avoided his eyes. She had a pretty good idea he was wondering what had been happening to her lately with all of the blackouts and nightmares that she woke up screaming from.

When he finally started to open his mouth to say something, she cut him off and said, "Well, goodnight."

Spinning on her feet she headed for the bed but he was right on her heels as he asked, "Are you going to tell me what's been going on with you?"

"I've just been stressed out. I've got a lot on my plate right now with the alpha pack and school." She excused her behavior and hoped he would too.

But he crossed his arms over his chest with a voice laced with anger, he pointed out, "Stress makes you snap at people, Sam. It doesn't cause you to blackout and your body temperature to drop into hypothermic levels. So, what's going on?"

Sitting down on the side of their bed she rubbed her hands over her face before she looked up at him and quietly questioned, "What makes you so sure I even know what's going on with me?"

He frowned at seeing her both shutting down and feeling the fear and anxiety in the air around her.

Dropping his arms to his sides, his expression softened as he reasoned, "You know a hell of a more than you're telling me, I know that much."

"It's not important. Boyd and Erica are still out there, the alphas almost killed Isaac and you're really busy-" She kept trying to argue but he cut her off.

"I'm never too busy." He sat down next to her and added, "Not for you."

She raised her head and looked over at him in the dim lighting coming in through the large window on the far wall, a worried expression took over her soft features as she opened her mouth and stammered, "I-I-just, I've just not been sleeping much, it's messing with my mind or something."

Samantha knew he didn't believe her, not only was he a werewolf but she was never the best liar and if there was one person she hated lying to the most –it was Derek.

But what could she say? Tell him that that she thought she'd had a vision of Erica's death? Or that every time she blacked out she was haunted by shadowed figures that no matter how fast she ran she couldn't get away from?
Even thinking those thoughts made her sound crazy to herself, she could only imagine how she'd sound if she tried to explain all of that time him.

"Yeah, I know." He nodded, "None of have been sleeping... you keep waking up screaming."

A look of guilt fell over her face and she stood up as she said, "Maybe I should just sleep at my aunt's tonight so you and Isaac can sleep."

"Sam." Derek sighed, trying to point out that wasn't what he'd meant. But she was already starting to walk away in search of her shoes, when he reached out grabbing her hand before she walked too far away.

"That's not what I'm saying." He clarified, keeping a grip on her hand as she tried to pull away.

With a defeated expression she turned and gave a small shrug as she pointed out, "But its true isn't it?"

She tried to walk away again but he pulled her back to him, where she put a knee up on the bed beside where he was sitting then slowly put her other knee on the other side of him as she sat straddling him.

He ran his hands down her sides, until they rested on her hips over the soft fabric of her sleeping shorts and held her in place on his lap; even though she kept avoiding eye contact.

"I don't want you to leave." He stated, causing her to lift her head as she finally faced him and reached up holding onto the back of his neck and asked, "Really?"

Giving her a soft smile he nodded, "Yes, really."

She smiled against his lips as he kissed her and she thought to herself how much she loved being alone with him because in those moments alone he didn't have his guard up constantly, she got see beyond the rough, emotionless exterior he showed everyone else.
In those moments with him; he was her Derek, the version of him that most people didn't get to see, the one they might not even know existed.

Pulling back from the kiss, she rested her forehead against his and closed her eyes wishing they could just stay like that forever.

Taking in a breath, he questioned again, "What keeps happening? When you blackout or have the nightmares?"

Shaking her head back and forth she slowly began to explain some of the things that were haunting her; she told him about all of the shadowed figures that would appear from the ground up and how whenever one touched or grabbed her there was a feeling of freezing cold that came over her.

She omitted certain parts of the nightmares, like how she was often back in the same part of the woods she'd fled to after killing her father and the visions about Erica's death.

His eyebrows lowered in confusion with each new detail she released to him.

"What does it mean?" She finally asked, slightly adjusting on his legs some as she absent-mindedly played with the back of his hair, waiting on a response.

Unintentionally, his grip tightened on her sides in a subconscious effort to keep her safe and close to him, as he admitted, "I don't know. I've never heard anything like that before."

"Do you think it's a supernatural thing?" She softly asked, her voice barely over a whisper.

His forehead lined as he questioned, "What else would it be?"

"A mental problem, some kind of disorder?" With a shrug she admitted her fears, "What if whatever happened to my dad that drove him crazy is genetic and I've somehow inherited it or something?"

With his head slightly cocked to the side he argued, "You're not going crazy, Sam."

"Maybe I am, before my dad died he said-" She began to explain how her father had somehow known her eyes were going to turn blue before they did and he'd made a comment about knowing that her mom had been cheating on him.

But Derek wasn't hearing it as he leaned, silencing her with a kiss before pulling back and restating, "You're not losing your mind. There has to be an explanation for this and a way to stop it. We'll figure it out."

"I hope so." She agreed mustering a smile through the complete and utter exhaustion she was feeling.

"I'll figure something out." He assured her, his tone was confident as he rubbed his hands up and down her sides as he pulled her closer and reclaimed her mouth.

Nodding she seemed to accept the answer but inside she wasn't so sure there was a way out of this, with those thoughts she leaned back in kissing him goodnight as she crawled off of him and past him on the bed.

He looked over his shoulder and watched as she pulled the blanket up to her chin and turned on her side away from him, as she faced the large window. After crossing the room and shutting the overhead light off, he climbed into the bed with her and she smiled when she felt his arm slide around her as he pulled her body back against his under the blanket and held her tightly against him.

Sam closed her eyes and snuggled back against his muscular frame hoping she could get a goodnights sleep and maybe everything wouldn't seem as dark and hopeless in the morning.
But Derek laid there, holding her close with his eyes wide open, he was sure he wouldn't be logging any hours of sleep that night whether Sam had a nightmare or not.

A lot of things were weighing on his mind like the alpha pack that had taken up residence in Beacon Hills and kidnapped two of his betas. He felt like he'd failed them, failed his entire pack as an alpha because he couldn't protect them and even after months of them being gone he wasn't any closer to finding out more information.

But now at the very top of his current list of concerns was whatever was happening to Samantha.
Sure, looking at everything from a logical point it was possible that the nightmares were results of the trauma of losing her mom and being responsible for her dad's death. But there were other things that couldn't so easily be explained away; like the purple he'd seen in her eyes and how her scent had even slightly changed.

Leaning his head forward and down some, he pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder next to the strap of her sleeping shirt and paused with his lips still against her skin as he breathed in. She still smelled like her, still the same sweet scent that he couldn't get enough of- but the scent wasn't the exact same, something was off, something was different.

As she slid down in the bed a little and snuggled against his body even closer he laid his head back down on the pillow and silently hoped that whatever was happening to her, he could fix it.
Failing his pack as an alpha was bad enough but he couldn't stand the idea of letting her down. And above all else, Sam was the one he cared most about in the world and the fear of losing her was crippling.

~()~

A/N- Thanks so much for reading!
By the way, do you guys like the longer chapters like this or did you prefer the shorter ones I did with Phase?