CHAPTER SIX, heart monitor
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"Derek, you are such an idiot." Iylah seethed at her Hale friend through the phone. After informing the girl about what he had just been doing, she was definitely annoyed by his actions.
"I'm trying to teach them control. And I thought the element of surprise would help with that."
Iylah scoffed at Derek's excuse, tilting her head to lean her phone on her shoulder while flicking through her clothes in her closet, figuring out what to where for school that day. "The element of surprise?! You stuck your claws in their milk that they just brought from the store!"
Iylah groaned. "Can't you just let them get their groceries in peace, man!"
"It's not like I intended on doing it." Derek said, defending himself through the phone. "I'm just trying to make sure they stay in control at least until the next full moon."
"This guy." Iylah sighed to herself, briefly shaking her head as she layed out her clothes on the bed that she picked out for that day.
"And I may have smashed Jason's phone, telling him to avoid Allison."
"Ah you- fuck a shit." Iylah went to huff at Derek, only to spit our curse words herself when she accidentally stubbed her toe on the foot of her bed. "That fucking hurts."
"What does?"
"I stubbed my fucking toe." Iylah answered the Hale, who laughed through the phone. "Don't laugh at my pain, sourwolf. I don't laugh when you get hurt."
"That's because I'm not as clumsy as you are."
"Still hurts, bro." Iylah scoffed lightly through the phone, shaking her head as she grabbed a jacket from the closet to go with her outfit.
"Also I may have more information on who the Alpha could be."
"Okay, what is it?" Iylah asked, intrigued by his comment.
"Well it doesn't really say who it is. But, Jason told me that when the Alpha caught him at Allison's and Jason was hiding in his car, the Alpha drew a spiral on his window."
"What?!" Iylah almost screamed, knowing what the spiral meant. "What?" She asked, lowering her voice so she wouldn't catch Stiles' attention from downstairs.
"Yeah. And Jason said that he could also smell anger coming from him as well."
"Anger towards him?" Iylah wondered, her brows furrowed in question, making Derek shake his head.
"No, just in general."
"Great. So he just wants revenge. That's bloody wonderful." Iylah said sarcastically, brushing her hand through her hair with a sigh. "Look, I'll talk to you later because I've got to get ready for school." Iylah sighed through the phone.
"Alright. I'll see you later."
"Bye. And don't even think about going near my groceries!" Iylah shouted down the phone before the call ended, making her huff in annoyance.
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Iylah had practically spent all morning at school with the girls since the boys were off doing their own thing. When lunch came around, Iylah sat with Lydia and Allison in the cafeteria, the latter of the three currently explaining to them about what was in the book she was holding.
"The what of who?" Iylah hummed, looking up at Allison before taking a bite of her food.
"The Beast of Gevaudan. Listen-" Allison glanced at the brown haired girl through her response, informing Lydia as well. She looked down at her book to continue reading aloud. "A quadruped wolf-like monster, prowling the Auvergne and South Dordogne areas of France during the year 1764 to 1767. La bête killed over a hundred people, becoming so infamous that the King Louis XV sent one of his best hunters to try and kill it."
"Boring." Lydia pointed out, having no interest in what Allison was reading. The Argent ignored her comment as she continued to read aloud. "Even the church eventually declared the monster a messenger of satan."
Lydia sighed once again. "Still boring."
"Cryptozoologists believe it may have been a subspecies of hoofed predator, possibly a mesonychid..."
"Slipping-into-a-coma bored." The Martin sighed again, mentally rolling her eyes, making Iylah nudge her in the arm, sending her a look. Upon realising what she said, Lydia sent her an apologetic look, in which Iylah sent her a smile of reassurance before the two turned their attention back to Allison.
"While others believe it was a powerful sorcerer who could shapeshift into a man-eating monster."
Lydia sighed. "Any of this have anything to do with your family?"
Allison nodded at the two girls before going to respond. "This. It is believed that La bête was finally trapped and killed by a renowned hunter who claimed his wife and four children were the first to fall prey to the creature. His name was Argent."
Iylah winced, looking away from Allison, unlike Lydia who sent Allison an unimpressed look before asking. "Your ancestors killed a big wolf. So what?"
Allison turned the book around so the girls could see the image on the page. "Not just a big wolf. Take a look at this picture. What does it look like to you?"
Like they were drawn to the picture, Lydia and Iylah both leant forward, staring at the photo that resembled the features of the alpha. Noticing the silence coming from the two, Allison furrowed her brows in question as she stared at the girls who were in a trance. "Lydia? Iylah? Girls!"
They snapped out of their trance, looking up at the Argent who stared at them in worry. Lydia was the first one to speak up, keeping up with the act as she spoke. "It looks... like a big... wolf."
Iylah sighed, sending Allison a small smile. "See you in history." The two girls grabbed their belongings before turning to walk away. As Iylah walked past the boys' table, she ruffled Scott's hair who smiled softly, watching her leave the room.
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"Let's go! Sit, sit, sit, sit. We got a lot to cover today. Let's go! Quicker!" Coach instructed his students who began to fill the classroom, sitting down at their desks.
Jason looked towards his brother, motioning for him to sit behind him, although Allison managed to approach the desk first, sitting behind her boyfriend, leaving Scott to take the desk in front of Iylah.
Allison looked towards her boyfriend with a frown. "I haven't seen you all day."
Jason looked at the Argent nervously. "Uh, yeah, I've been, uh, super busy..."
Not sensing his tone, Allison continued, going on to ask him about his broken phone. "When are you gonna get your phone fixed? I feel like I'm totally disconnected from you."
"Uh, soon. Real soon." Jason stammered out through his nervous state.
"I changed lab partners, by the way." The Argent chirped, changing the subject.
Jason raised his brows in surprise. "Oh, to who?"
Allison smiled. "To you, dummy!" She chuckled at the brown-haired boy who continued to stare back at her in surprise, stammering out his response. "Me? I mean, are you sure?"
Iylah chuckled under her breath. "Smooth..."
Their friends continued to listen as Allison spoke up again. "Yeah! This way, I have an excuse to bring you home and study." Upon noticing Jason's stare, the smile fell off her face before asking. "You don't mind, do you?"
Jason brushed his hand over his arm, nervously looking at his girlfriend as he excused. "I just— I don't want to bring your grade down..."
Allison looked at him, voicing her thoughts as she spoke. "Well, I mean, maybe I can bring your grade up. Come to my place tonight. Eight-thirty?"
Jason raised a brow in surprise. "Tonight?"
"Eight-thirty." Allison nodded in confirmation.
Before the conversation could go any longer, they were all interrupted by Coach who slammed a book down on his desk. "Let's settle down! Let's start with a quick summary of last night's reading."
Greenberg raised his hand, causing Coach to sigh in annoyance. "Greenberg, put your hand down. Everyone knows you did the reading."
Coach scanned around the classroom before his eyes stopped on Jason. "How about, uh... J McCall?"
Jason looked up alarmed. "What?"
"The reading?" Coach questioned, sending him a pointed look.
"...Last night's reading?" Jason stammered out through his panicked response, knowing damn well he didn't do the reading because his mind was elsewhere the night before due to Derek's attempt to teach him and Scott how to control.
Coach glanced around the room. "How about, uh, the reading of the Gettysburg address?"
The classroom erupted in laughter, coming from some of the students, earning a confused Jason who questioned. "What?"
Coach furrowed his brows. "That's sarcasm. You familiar with the term 'sarcasm,' McCall?"
"Very." Jason said, glancing back at Iylah and Stiles who smiled proudly as Scott shook his head at the two in amusement.
"Did you do the reading, or not?" Coach asked the werewolf, beginning to get annoyed.
"Uh, I think I forgot..." Jason responded through his embarrassment.
Coach sighed before telling him. "Nice work, McCall! It's not like you're not averaging a D in this class like your brother. Come on, buddy— you know I can't keep you on the team if you have a D. How about you summarize, uh, the previous night's reading? No? How about the, uh, the night before that? How about you summarize anything you've ever read in your entire life?"
Iylah's brows twitched, her lips tugging down in to a frown as the sound of someone's heart beating rapidly rang through her ears.
She looked between Jason and Scott, Iylah being the only one to notice that the latter of the two was also starting to get nervous, his heart beating rapidly as Coach continued to call his brother out, some of what he was saying was also applied to him. "No? A blog? How about, uh, how about, uh... the back of a cereal box? No? How about the adults-only warning from your favorite website you visit every night? Anything?"
Coach sighed, slamming his hands on his desk as he continued. "Thank you, McCall. Thank you. Thank you, McCall! Thank you for extinguishing any last flicker of hope I have for your generation. You just blew it for everybody. Thanks. Next practice, you can start with suicide runs..."
Sensing how anxious he must be, Allison reached her hand under her desk and slipped her hand into Jason's to calm him down. Meanwhile, Iylah did the same and held Scott's hand from under the desk, knowing that some of what Coach said applied to him as well.
A smile appeared on Iylah's face upon hearing both Scott and Jason's heartbeats slow down, returning back to it's normal pace, just as Coach finished what he was saying. "Unless that's too much reading. All right, everybody else, settle down!"
Stiles turned his attention towards Jason and Scott to see the girls had their hands slipped into theirs, making him come to the realisation that Iylah and Allison are their anchors.
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"Okay first, you were a tree stalker. Now, you're a kidnapper." Iylah hummed, voicing her thoughts as she stepped out of Derek's car, referring to how the man had Deaton unconscious in the back seat.
"It's not kidnapping if I thought he was the Alpha. And I'm still not disagreeing with my own theory." Derek shrugged at the brown-haired girl who sent him a look of disbelief.
"Where's our boss?" Derek and Iylah turned to look at Scott at his question.
Derek gestured to the back of his car through his answer. "He's in the back."
Scott, Jason and Stiles stepped forward to get a closer look. The latter of the three glanced up at the Hale with a wince before muttering sarcastically. "Oh, he looks comfortable."
"Wait. Hey. What are you doing?" Derek called to the three boys upon seeing them begin to walk towards the school.
"You said I was linked with the Alpha." Scott told Derek before turning his head back to face the school. "I'm gonna see if you're right."
"Ah, jeez." Iylah sighed to herself, watching as the boys continued to walk towards the school, hearing the brunette call out. "Be careful!"
"You know they are going to do something stupid right?" Derek theorised, throwing his arm up in the air as he leant against the blue jeep.
"Yeah, I got that." Iylah nodded at the Hale.
Derek and Iylah closed their eyes with a wince upon hearing what sounded like a cat through the intercom in the school. "You've got to be kidding me." Derek sighed to himself.
"Wow, didn't expect that." Iylah sighed loudly, licking her lips when suddenly, a different sound rang through the intercom, a deep howl coming from Scott who managed to make multiple objects shake around the building due to his howl.
"I'm gonna kill the three of you!" The Hale man threatened, pointing his finger at the three musketeers when they finally walked out of the school. "What the hell was that? What are you trying to do, attract the entire state to the school?"
"Sorry. I didn't know it would be that loud." Scott said, quite proud of himself.
Jason nodded, agreeing with his brother. "Yeah, it was loud. And it was awesome."
"Shut up."
Stiles threw his arm out as he told Derek. "Don't be such a sour-wolf."
"Hey." Iylah wagged her finger at Stiles. "That's his nickname for me. Find another one!"
"What'd you do with him?" Scott questioned upon seeing Deaton was no longer in the back of Derek's car.
"What?" Derek asked, furrowing his brows in confusion as he turned his head to look back at his car to find Deaton nowhere to be found. Iylah would have noticed if she wasn't too focused on the low growling that she could have sworn came from a distance away. "I didn't do anything."
The hybrid turned on her heel, looking around the area, confusing the boys as they watched her actions. Before anyone could speak a word, their attention was brought to Derek who suddenly sputtered blood out of his mouth as he was lifted off the ground.
Iylah screamed upon seeing Derek's state, along with the Alpha who stood on his two legs, tears threatening to spill from her eyes as she froze in her place.
Scott had to physically pull Iylah away from her spot, pulling on her hand as the four teens ran towards the school just as the Alpha threw Derek to the wall, his body dropping to the ground.
"We can't- we have to-" Iylah stammered through panting breaths, not wanting to just leave Derek out there alone with the Alpha nor wanting to believe that he was dead.
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