Heavenly. Teen Wolf (s.s)

xiii. the silver lining

Gracie nodded. "Come to my place at 9:00. Plan to stay the night. I like to cuddle."

"Oh," Stiles bobbed his head, still in shock. He looked at Scott before turning back to Gracie, actually considering it. "That's-that's-Yeah, yeah, okay..." He nodded. "...are you serious?"

Gracie's semi-serious expression faded as she grinned, laughing at her friend. "That was way too easy."

"Okay," Stiles shook his head as Gracie started to walk away as the two boys followed her. "...you know, you don't toy with a guy's emotions like that, Grace. It's not attractive, all right?"

Gracie turned, walking backwards. "Says the guy who's begging for sex."

"Hey, what about you? You're not worried?" Stiles asked.

The Hale girl shook her head. "Not really, and how are you so sure that I'm a virgin?"

Stiles faltered looking back at Scott, who gave his best friend an amused look. Gracie laughed as she walked into the girl's locker room, shaking her head, pleased with herself.

"Mr. Lahey!" Coach called as Isaac scurried into the locker room fifteen minutes late. "Happy to have you back. Not happy that you're late."

"Sorry, Coach," Isaac mumbled as he went to his locker, only a few away from Stiles and Scott; they both nodded at him in greeting.

"I'll remind you all, cross-country is not optional for lacrosse players," Coach shook his head and addressed the boys' team. "I don't need you turning into a bunch of fat-asses in the off-season." He paused as Isaac and Danny took off their shirts, both of them totally fit. "...so work on that."

Five minutes later, Stiles, Scott, Isaac, were lining up outside of the mini cross-country trail behind the school. Stiles and Scott settled at the back of the group with Gracie and waited for Coach to blow his whistle, allowing them to start running.

Coach blew his whistle and everyone took off. "Pace yourselves! Come on!"

Stiles started jogging beside Scott but both of them stopped by Isaac, who hadn't started running and was still on one knee where he had been tying his shoe.

Just as he was about to start sprinting, Gracie grabbed his shoulder when she heard him growl. "Isaac!"

Isaac turned to face them, an angry look on his face. "It's them."

Before Stiles could even ask who "they" were, Isaac ripped himself away from the Hale girl and took off.

"Isaac, wait!" Scott called after him.

"The twins," Gracie realized, seeing Isaac chase after them before disappearing from her view. "Ethan and Aiden. I think they're the alphas that attacked him."

Leaving her and Stiles behind, they watched as Scott started running after Isaac. By the time Scott had caught up to Isaac, the Lahey boy was on his knees as Aiden held him by his arm with a tight grip around the back of his neck.

"Ethan, I always forget, how many bones in the human body?" He asked, looking at his twin.

"I don't know. Let's count," Aiden said.

Just as he leaned forward, Scott came out of nowhere and took a swing at him, which landed. Aiden fell back, holding his jaw.

"That's one..."

Just as they were about to get into a fight with the twins, a high-pitched scream caught their attention. Following the direction of the noise, they found the rest of the group of students crowding around something.

Pushing her way through the crowd like Scott and the alpha twins, Gracie stopped in her tracks when she saw the body tied against the tree in front of them. Like the others, it looked as though the guy had been strangled, had his throat slit, and his head bashed in.