This chapter is almost 2.6K words long so beware...
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"Where's the big guy?" Stiles questioned, watching Ryder kneel down to place a soft hand to Cora's face. The group had hidden themselves in a random room while they thought over what they wanted to do.
"He's close."
"What about Ms. Blake?" The auburn eyed teens question was answered with an odd look from Derek, "What do you mean? What does that mean? Like, she's gone? Scott, are you kidding me?"
"Shh, quiet." Derek whispered.
"Me be quiet? Me, huh? Are you telling me what to do now? When your psychotic, mass murder girlfriend... the second one you've dated, by the way... has got my dad somewhere, tied up, waiting to be ritually sacrificed?"
"Stiles, they're still out there."
"And... and they want her, right? Which means now we don't have her either, so my dad and Cora are both dead!"
"Don't say that!" Ryder shoved him.
"Not yet." Scott tried to reassure everyone, he looked at Aaron, "Is she really dying?
"She's definitely not getting any better." Peter answered for him.
"There has to be something that we can do. We have to help her."
"You can't."
They all collectively turned at the sound of Jennifer's voice.
"Only I can. I can save her, and I can tell you where Sheriff Stilinski is. But there is a pack of alphas in this hospital who want me dead. So I'll help you... but only when I'm out of here and safe. Only then."
"You don't seem to be in the right predicament to be making deals like that." Austin mumbled.
"Derek, wait!" Scott yelled, getting ignore as Derek knocked over a table, charging forward.
Ryder rolled her eyes, stepping back into Austin's chest to avoid anything touching her, "How dramatic can you get?"
"She was trying to get out."
"She technically did get out, seeing as you were too busy getting your ass kicked by those terror twins to pay attention to someone that has control over all our lives."
"I was trying to keep from getting killed. You can't blame me for that."
"If you want to show you're one of the good guys, then heal her."
Jennifer glanced between them, "Not until I'm safe."
"Oh, bullshit."
"I'd like to volunteer a different method of persuasion. Let's torture her." Peter raised a hand.
"The only time i'll agree with you." Ryder mumbled.
Derek also shrugged, "Works for me."
"We're not doing that." Aaron grabbed his daughters arm, gently tugging her away from the Hale and closer to him and Austin. He could feel Peter's eyes boring into the side of his face, but he didn't care enough about the man to look back.
"Um, can I have your attention? Mr. Deucalion... excuse me, just Deucalion... Requests you bring the woman calling herself Jennifer Blake to the E.R. reception. Do this, and everyone else can leave. You have ten minutes."
"He's not gonna hurt her." Jennifer said.
"Shut up." Derek irritably said.
"Ryder Miller, Mr. Deucalion is also requesting your presence as he has your mother and sister."
"She'll be fine too."
"Seriously, shut up!" Ryder snapped at her, roughly shoving Peter out of the way to get to the door.
"You can't go out there." Peter touched her arm, instantly regretting it as she grabbed his hand, pushing his fingers back until she heard a satisfying crack.
"Do not touch me."
Peter simply hummed. He knew from experience that if she had gotten his temper, it would be tens times worse than what his own mother had to deal with. So he stepped back, cracking his fingers back into place with a grunt.
"Ryder, chill out."
"Don't tell me to chill out, Scott. Just because you don't give a shit about your mom getting hurt, doesn't mean I feel the same." She scoffed at him, looking him up and down before ultimately deciding that she would ignore him all together.
She knew he loved his mother with all his heart, but him telling her how to feel knowing that both her mom and little sister were being held hostage, pissed her off to no end.
Aaron ran a distressed hand through his hair. His frustration was a lot less visible to the public eye, unlike Ryder's, but the werewolves in the room could hear his skyrocketed heartbeat.
"Ry..." Austin whispered under his breath, her name being unheard by Stiles and Aaron. They watched her shoulders relax a bit, though her anger was still very much clear.
"He won't hurt them." Ms. Blake continued on.
Austin glared at her, stepping away from her to grab onto Ryder's hand, forcing it out of a fist. He could feel her blood smearing onto his skin due to how hard her fists were clenched, but he didn't care, "Stop talking."
"He won't! Scott, you know why. Tell them it's true."
Jennifer said, eyes darting to the McCall, "Tell her."
"What does she mean?" Austin asked, uncomfortable with the way she looked at his girlfriend.
Jennifer glanced between Ryder, Scott and Derek, smirking slightly, "You're not the only one he wants in his pack."
"Deucalion doesn't just want an Alpha pack. He wants perfection. That means adding the rarest of alphas to his ranks."
"A true Alpha." Peter spoke in realization.
Stiles looked confused, "What's that?"
"The kind that doesn't have to steal his power from another. One that can rise by the force of his own will. Our little Scott."
"What does any of that have to do with my daughter? She's not an alpha." Aaron asked, earning a narrowed eyed look from Peter.
"Yeah, but Ryder is a sixteen year old that can turn into a full wolf as a beta, who wouldn't want her in their pack?"
"It doesn't matter. We still need to get her out of here."
"Scott, your mom—"
"My mom said there's one more ambulance coming in 20 minutes. And I don't think we've been here that long, so if we can get down to the garage, get to the last ambulance, we can get out of here.
"The twins aren't gonna let us just walk out."
"I'll distract them." The McCall said with confidence.
"You mean fight them."
"Whatever I have to do."
"I'll help you." Derek looked to Ryder for backup.
"Don't look at me." She scoffed, "I'm not helping anybody until my mom and Josie are safe."
"Um, sorry, but I'm not going anywhere without you, Derek." Jennifer interjected.
"I'll do it." Peter offered, "But I'd prefer to be out there with an advantage."
"An advantage like what? You mean like a weapon?" Stiles asked.
"Something better than a baseball bat." He then looked at Austin, who was running his thumbs on Ryder's waist to keep her calm, "Or nothing at all."
•••
"Hey, wait. What about these?" Stiles raised up a pair of defibrillators.
"What? Are you gonna shock them away from you?" Aaron mocked the Stilinski, "Do you know how to use those?"
Stiles looked at the man, "Well, no."
"Then put 'em down." Derek rolled his eyes.
"Epinephrine?"
"What's that?"Austin looked at Ryder's dad.
"It's a second term for adrenaline." Aaron gave a short response.
"That's only gonna make him stronger." Derek shook his head.
Peter perked up, "How strong?"
•••
As Peter and Scott fought the twins, the others took this as an opportunity to sneak out.
Ryder held tightly onto Cora's hand as they made it outside and into ambulance. She went to walk away after ensuring the girl was safe, only to stop as a hand grasped hers.
"Wait, where are you going?"
Ryder looked into Austin's blue eyes, "I have to find my mom and Josie."
"Ry..." Aaron warned her, "You be careful, alright?"
"I'll be fine, dad." She promised him, earning a quick nod before he focused back on Cora.
Austin sighed softly, "Ryder."
"Just stay here. I'll be okay, I'll be even better if I know for sure that you're safe. If Jennifer isn't that much of liar, we'll all come back perfectly fine." She told him, squeezing his hand three times before letting go.
She began to walk away, stopping in her tracks, turning around and quickly running back to the ambulance before Stiles could close it.
Leaning up on the back of the van, she pulled Austin in by his face, pressing a firm kiss to his lips before pulling away, whispering softly,
"I love you."
Austin could practically feel his heart fall out of his ass as she turned away without a second thought. His words got caught in his throat, falling back into his seat with a dopey smile on his face.
Aaron froze, "Did she just—"
"Holy shit."
•••
"Thank you. That was more than helpful."
"What now? What do you want with me?" Melissa looked down at Josie who was cowering behind her mother, "With us?"
Deucalion smiled politely at them, "You? You three are my gesture of goodwill."
Ramona frowned, "What?"
"Go find your children. Do yourself a favor, Melissa. Be careful out there. I would give you the same amount of encouragement, Ramona, but I have a feeling I know how you are when it comes to your family's safety."
•••
"Okay, okay, okay. We're okay. We're all right. You okay? How you doing?" Stiles asked Austin, getting nothing in response as the George teen stared at his hands with a fluttering heart.
He was quite literally on cloud nine right now. His cheeks were red, his pupils were dilated, and he was sure that even in her unconscious state, Cora could hear his heart pounding in his chest.
Unfortunately, however, it seemed like Cora was a lot more than unconscious.
"Wh... why do you look like you're not breathing? Because you aren't breathing, are you? Oh, no. Oh, God. Why are you not breathing? Come on. Okay, okay, okay. What do I do?!"
Aaron quickly sprung into action, "First of all, you need to relax, okay? Take a deep breath. Now, tilt the head. Fingers on the chin. Clear the throat."
Stiles followed along to his words carefully, "Her throats clear. I see nothing."
"Okay, all right, that's good, so...just pinch the nose and blow."
"Come on. Oh, come on, Cora. Come on, breathe. Come on, Cora, breathe."
Aaron sighed in relief at the sight of her chest moving up and down, "You did it!"
"Oh! You know, next time I put my lips to your mouth, you better be awake."
Austin zoned out as Stiles began to speak out loud. This seemed to be his way of coping, so he didn't dare interrupt him.
"You just hold on a little longer, okay? Trust me, if anyone's gonna get us out of this, it's Scott. Can't believe I just said that. You know, I actually used to be the one with the plan. Well, or at least a plan B. Now I don't know. Now I'm thinking maybe you were right. You know, maybe... maybe we are pretty much useless. Maybe all we really do is show up and find the bodies. I don't want to find my father's body. You know, you're a lot easier to talk to when you're completely unconscious."
"That's because she's unconscious."
The three men shared a small laugh, smiles dropping when someone began banging on the doors.
"Stiles! Austin, open the door!"
Stiles sat up as he recognized Scott's voice, "Sorry."
"Help me get him in."
"Where's Derek and Jennifer?
"And Ryder?"
"Ryder left?" Scott's shoulders dropped.
"She went to go find your moms and Josie."
Scott tilted his head back in frustration, "I have to go back for them and my mom."
"Okay, two problems. Kali's got the keys to this thing, and I just saw the twins, like, 30 seconds ago."
"Stay here."
"That was the plan."
•••
"Okay, come on." Ryder spoke to herself, slyly turning the corners, listening closely for the sound of anyone's heartbeats. "Why is this hospital so damn big?"
She perked up at the sound of a smaller heartbeat, one that she immediately identified as her little sister.
Speeding up her steps, she jumped back as she ran into another person.
Her where's grew wide at the sight of Melissa, Josie and Ramona. Her nerves easing as she pulled her mom and sister into a hug.
"Jesus Christ! You guys scared the shit out of me!"
"Ryder!" Josie laughed out, hugging her sister tightly.
"Where's Scott?"
The Miller girl looked at her, "A couple halls down, he's fighting the twins."
"Lets go." Ramona instructed, leading the way.
•••
"Where is she? We're trying not to hurt you."
"Try harder." Scott spat.
"Hey! I'd like to try something." Melissa shouted, electrocuting the twins alpha form, "Sweetheart, get up! Come on."
"What happened with Deucalion?"
"He just let us go, said it was a gesture of goodwill. No other reason."
"He had to have a reason. I don't think he does anything without a reason."
Ramona shook her head, "He doesn't do anything without a reason behind it."
"Well, if that means I should continue to be profoundly terrified, then don't worry about it. I got that covered."
•••
"So then they're essentially trapped?"
"Yeah, right."
"But there's no way of getting them out without turning the power back on."
"But wait, wait, wait, if the power's back on, they're gonna hear the elevator moving, right?"
"And they'll be on Jennifer and Derek as soon as it stops. We can't get in a fight with them."
"You've got us now."
Scott shook his head, "It's too much to risk. They want her dead, and if she dies, there's nothing that we can do for Stiles's dad or Cora."
"I say we kill her secretly and figure out the rest on our own."
"I don't even think I know which teacher this is." Argent said.
"She's... she's the one with the brown hair. She's kind of hot." Isaac cleared his throat at the stares he received, "No, it's jus... just an observation."
"A horrible observation." Ryder tapped the Lahey with the back of her hand, "You should see what she looks like under her teacher persona."
"I've got an idea."
•••
Allison's planned involved splitting everyone up, something Ryder wasn't too fond of. So, while the others went through with the girls plan, Ryder took Ramona and Josie to the van where Austin, Aaron and Stiles resided.
She cared about the others, truly she did. But Ryder's first thought, always, was to make sure that her family was safe. No way was she going to let even a small gap in Allison's plan ruin that.
"Let's go!" She tapped on the back of the ambulance just as Isaac drove up to take Cora.
"Where's dad?" Josie said.
"He left to look for you guys." Austin said in a soft voice, "Stiles too, I tried to get them to stay but they wouldn't listen, they saw something on one of the papers."
"Come on." Peter shouted out the window of the car he, Cora and Isaac sat in.
"No." Ramona mumbled, taking off in the direction of her husbands lingering scent. "No!"
"Mom!"
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A/N: One more episode until 3B !!!