The Absence of Truth | S. Stilinski

XVII. | pack

XVII. | pack

                  "YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED to hit girls!" I screamed, ducking behind the couch as Isaac Lahey stalked over to me. This wasn't what I expected from my first witnessed house invasion. To be fair, I'd thrown a knife at him just a minute ago while he'd been busy tossing Stiles around like a toy, hitting him just below the shoulder blade. In my defense, he was the one that healed at a super human rate while I was still healing from injuries I sustained over two weeks ago.

He grabbed my hair and made me stand to my full height. "Usually girls don't throw steel knives at guests. I think this," he shook me around and smirked when I yelled out in pain, "is an understandable reaction."

He lifted a clawed hand in the air, flashing the long sharp nails in the light of the living room. I struggled to get out of his grasp, but he was strong - too strong to fight. Outside, the day had turned to night. Somehow, the wolves had found us. Erica, Derek, and Boyd waited outside, while Isaac had found his way into the house. Faintly, I felt guilty. I remembered, from a few weeks ago, that Stiles and I had attempted to stop Boyd from getting turned. It appeared that we'd failed.

Now, my worry was focused on the wolf in front of me. Without fur sprouting from his face, Isaac Lahey was a conveniently handsome boy. His eyes, when not flashing that hideously terrifying yellow, were a lovely blue color. If he wasn't trying to kill me, I probably would have a crush on him. But he was trying to kill me, so I bared my teeth and yelled out at him.

His hand began its descent to my neck, and my heart beat faster than it had in weeks. The makeup Lydia had worked so diligently on, was probably smeared down my face in hideous streaks. I wasn't crying, but running around so much had made me sweat.

When I was sure that I was a goner, I felt Isaac's body go rigid. A growl so loud it shook the walls filled the room. I pulled away when Isaac's attention was thin, and smiled when I saw Scott behind him.

"Took you long enough," I said as he sent Issac crashing into a wall.

He turned and smiled, showing his grown teeth and the fur on his face. "Had to see if you could keep up."

After that, the fight was quick. Scott took control and had Isaac out cold in under a minute. Crashing came down the staircase and I looked over to see Allison dragging Erica behind her, face thumping against the wooden stairs. They made it to the main floor, and Allison dumped Erica's leg to the floor. "Got her," she said, obviously exhausted.

Scott grabbed Erica and Issac by the backs of their leather jackets, then had Stiles open the front door so he could throw them out into the front lawn, right at Derek and Boyd's feet. Allison, Stiles and I followed Scott onto the front porch, breathing heavily after our battles. Derek's eyes wandered over us, stopping slightly when he saw the bruises on my neck where the turtleneck had ridden down. Then he moved on.

"I think I'm finally getting why you keep refusing me, Scott." Derek's green eyes tore into the teenager in front of me. "You're not an omega, you're already an alpha. Of your own pack." A smile grew on his face. "But you know you can't beat me."

"I can hold you off until the cops get here," Scott replied smoothly. I sent a wink to Allison, then turned my smile to Derek, who's eyes had widened considerably.

Sirens began to wail in the distance, proving that Scott wasn't just all talk. I was about to smile again, but then I heard it. That slow, steady hiss that had haunted me since last night. All of our heads swiveled until they faced the sound, coming from the roof of Scott's house. The kanima. We rushed into the yard, ignoring the danger of Derek, and looked up onto the house.

High above us, the kanima crawled, scales catching in the moonlight. It turned to us and hissed, screeching so loud that I put my hands over my ears. Before anyone could stop it, it melded into the shadows and disappeared into the trees around the home. My stomach dropped in my body. The only two people left in the house were Lydia and Jackson. And since the venom didn't affect Lydia, that meant...

"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?"

My eyes went to the front porch, where Lydia stood, eyes wide and full of tears. I grabbed Stiles's arm as Allison took hold of mine. Scott looked back at the roof, then said, "It's Jackson."

-

When I got home, Mom was waiting for me.

"Stiles dropped you off?" She asked me, sipping from a full glass of red wine.

I nodded, leaving out the part where he practically pushed me out of the Jeep so he and Scott could go chase the kanima down. "He says hi," I said softly, dropping my backpack down on the steps.

"Sweet of him." She placed the wine down on the coffee table and made her way over to me. I didn't expect a hug, but she folded herself over me. "I'm sorry I always think the worst of you. I should stop thinking you're doing something bad when you don't answer me."

"I'm sorry," I said in response, hugging her back.

She pulled away and looked at me. "Quinn, I called your father." I opened my mouth to protest, but she shook her head. "I think it's time for you and Presley to get your own opinion of him. You only ever thought what I thought. You need to be able to decide if you want him in your life for yourself. I can't control what you or Presley want with him."

"Mom," I began to say, but she already had me back in her arms.

She sniffled. "You all will spend the summer with him in New York."

"Have you told Presley?"

"Yes," she said. "He understands why, but he's not too happy. Even though I want to keep you two to myself, I know I can't. Not when he wants to see you all too."

My heart shuddered. "He wants to see us?"

Mom nodded her head sadly. "He's been asking over recent years - wants to prove that he can be a better father." I began to laugh, but she stopped me. "Quinn, he wants to try."

"And what about his new family?"

The hate in my voice seemed to take her off guard. "He got remarried years after we ended things, Q. They'll be there too. Isn't this what you wanted?"

My eyes trailed the interior of Sarah's house. I'd been thinking about how easy my life would have been with my father only a day earlier. What had changed? Internally, I screamed. Why had this been my excuse so many weeks ago. Why hadn't I just accepted my consequences without brining him up?

I swallowed my pride. "Yes, it's what I wanted."

"Okay, then," Mom said, tucking a piece my hair behind my ear and turning me around before nudging me to the stairs. "It's late - go to bed."

-

My phone buzzing on my bedside table is what woke me up a little after midnight. My eyes were heavy with sleep as I struggled to answer it. When I finally got it to my ear, Stiles was already speaking too fast to understand.

"We got him! We have Jackson!" He wailed through the speaker.

I sat upright in bed, breathing heavily. "What? Where? How?"

"He went after Danny. Paralyzed him. He's fine," Scott's voice filtered through. "We're taking Jackson somewhere we can watch him. We'll text you when we know where we have him. Don't tell anyone."

"Obviously," I mumbled, nodding off. "Just...tell me when you..."