—
Austin could hear Mr. Yukimura shout his name as he rushed out the classroom in a panic. He didn't bother to listen to Scott try and calm Stiles down while he pulled him to the locker rooms.
"Where is she?!" He barged into Ryder's classroom, startling the students and the teacher that demanded an explanation for why he wasn't in class.
"She just ran off." Lydia told him, collecting her books as she got up from her seat.
"Lydia, you do not have permission to leave."
"I'm already ahead in this class and I probably understand the topic more than you do." She sassed the man, "I won't be long."
Austin smiled apologetically at him, "Sorry, Mr. Gonzales."
Running down the halls, they came to an abrupt stop as the bell rang.
Lydia winced, knowing how heightened her hearing would be, "How sensitive to sharp noises is she?"
"She hates it."
"Then we need to find her before someone else does."
•••
Kira walked around the school in search for Scott, Stiles and Austin. She figured she would make friends by offering her help and bringing them their backpacks so they wouldn't have to walk all the way back to class.
Unfortunately for her, she ran into more than three teen boys.
Kira's eyes grew wide, a scared whimper leaving her lips as she stared at the two wild animals in front of her. One slightly larger than the other, but both seemingly harmless, aside from the threatening growls that fell from their lips.
If it wasn't for the fear that coursed through her veins, Kira would have questioned the fact that a wolf and a coyote were in the same area without brutally trying to kill one another.
"Oh, my God." Kira mumbled, dropping the bags, running into the closest room with an unlocked door, which happened to be the locker rooms.
Thinking she was safe, Kira let out a sigh of relief, only to suck it back in as the pattering of footsteps alerted her. Her brown eyes locking in on the animals in front of her.
The coyote stepped forward, snarling at Kira while the wolf simply watched with a tilted head, not too bothered to see the girl getting cornered by her new friend.
Suddenly, Ryder finds herself jumping forward, ramming the coyote out of the way as a locker comes crashing down towards her.
She growled at Scott, digging her paws into the ground as she prepared to charge at him, only to turn at the sound of footsteps running into the room. Scott took Kira away,
"Ryder?"
The multiple voices and heartbeats entering the locker room startled Malia, the coyote looking at Ryder, flashing her eyes before she ran off, leaving the girl by herself.
"Hey, Ry..." Austin spoke softly, gesturing for Lydia and Stiles to stay back, "What made her turn?"
"A number of things, I guess." Lydia said in an uncertain tone, "Someone was kicking at her chair and the teachers voice was irritating her."
"She told you that?"
"She didn't have to, it pretty obvious."
Slowly falling to his knees, Austin flinched as she snapped her teeth at him.
"She's going to be naked and i'm pretty sure Kira just called the cops." Stiles said, looking down at Lydia, "Do you have any extra clothes in your locker?"
"Do I have any extra clothes in my locker?" The Martin scoffed, almost offended her would even think that, "Obviously, I'll go get them."
"I'll distract my dad." Stiles told Austin, his heart sunk as he took a second to watch with soft eyes as he spoke so gently to the wolf in front of him, before leaving the room.
"Ry—you're okay, I promise. I wouldn't lie to you, you know that, nothings wrong. I need you to turn back. To my Ryder, please."
Their eye contact didn't break until the girl picked up on a radio static a few halls down, the Sheriff's voice booming in her ears.
Her nails clicked against the floor as she went behind a locker, bones cracking back into place.
While he was disgusted by the sound, Austin couldn't be more relived to see a pair of jeans and loose tee shirt fly threw the door before it quickly shut back.
"Hurry up!"
•••
"A couple of students said they saw it running
across the field and back into the woods. Thank God, nobody got hurt."
Stiles looked at his dad, "What happens if she does hurt someone?"
"Most likely they'll have to put it down."
"Put her down? Dad, try not to forget there's a girl in there, one that you'll be killing." Stiles agreed with the girl, "Come on, you aren't back to not believing, are you?"
"I believe there are a lot of things I don't understand yet. But that doesn't mean that everything and anything imaginable is suddenly possible. Now, are you 100% sure that this is a girl and not an animal?" Noah looked at the teens.
"Yes. Because Scott's sure." Stiles said, watching his dad walk away. He turned around as to not look suspicious, tilting his head down, "Scott, you been listening?"
"All right, let's get this figured out. Come on."
•••
"I wasn't trying to attack her. I don't even remember the girls name!" Ryder whisper-shouted.
"Her name is Kira—"
"Hey, guys. I think I know what she was looking for."
Scott's eyes grew wide in disbelief, "You took the doll from the car?"
"Yeah, I thought you could use it, you know, for like her scent."
"You're an actual idiot."
"Stop waving it around, dude." Austin pulled the Stilinski's hand down. The action didn't help much, as a voice began shouting at them from down the hall.
"Where did you get that? Where did you find this? It belonged to my daughter." Mr. Tate snatched the doll out of Stiles' hand, making the teen flinch away.
"Mr. Tate, I don't know how you heard about this. If you got your own police scanner or what but you can't be here." Noah began to ease the man away, tensing as his hand hit something, pulling the man's coat back to see he was hiding a gun.
Austin pulled Ryder behind him. Logically speaking, she was more likely to survive getting shot, but his instincts to put her life before his own took over.
"I-I have a permit."
"California schools are gun free zones, permit or no permit. You need to leave, Mr. Tate. Now."
The man began to stutter, struggling to come up with a response, "You find that animal. You find that thing."
•••
"Xylazine. It's a tranquilizer for horses. For a werecoyote, expect it to work within seconds. I only have three. So whoever's shooting, needs to be a damn good shot." Deaton explained to the teens.
Scott had mentioned to his boss the situation they were going through with Malia and how they needed to catch her in order to possibly turn her back into a human.
Deaton almost instantly had an answer to their problem.
"Allison's a perfect shot." Scott nodded confidently.
"Tuh." Ryder chuckled.
"She used to be." Isaac mumbled.
Scott frowned, "She can do it."
"If we manage to find the thing."
"You're a real debbie downer." Austin looked at Isaac, shaking his head slightly as he spoke.
"Okay, what is the point of him? Seriously, I mean, what is his purpose? Aside from the persistent negativity and the scarf? What's up with the scarf anyway? It's 65 degrees out." Stiles voiced his dislike for the Lahey.
"I'm kind of rocking with it, honestly."
"Look, maybe I'm asking a question no one here wants to ask. How do we turn a coyote back into a girl, when she hasn't been a girl for eight years?"
"I can do it."
"You think you can do it." Ryder told the McCall, "You've been an alpha all of one month, Scott. And within that month, you haven't even reached your fully capability. You shouldn't have so much faith in yourself."
"Well, damn." Isaac snorted.
Scott looked down before he perked up and glanced at Stiles, "You remember the night that Peter trapped us in the school? In the gym, he was able to make me turn using just his voice. Deucalion did the same thing in the distillery."
"This is a werecoyote, Scott. Who knows if it'll even work if you can find someone who can teach you." Deaton told him.
"That's why you called Derek, first." Stiles realized.
"Yeah, I could try it on my own. But right now, I'm too scared to even change into just a werewolf."
"We need a real Alpha." The Stilinski declared.
Scott gapped at his words.
"I don't think he means it like that." Austin tried reassuring him.
"You know what I mean. An Alpha who can do Alpha things. You know, an Alpha who can get it going. You know, get it..."
"Up?"
Ryder and Isaac hid their smirks at Scott's red face, refusing to look at each other as they knew they would burst into uncontrollable laughter.
"Great. I'm an Alpha with performance issues."
"Sounds like a real 'you' problem."
"Is there anyone else besides Derek who could help?"
Isaac crossed his arms over his chest, "I wouldn't trust Peter."
"Do not trust that asshole."
"Maybe the twins?" Stiles suggested.
Deaton hummed, shaking his head, "They're not Alphas anymore. After what Jennifer did, almost killing them? It broke that part of them."
"What about Ramona?" Austin looked at his girlfriend.
"Hmm. Maybe."
"You think she'd be down to help?" Scott's doe eyes flickered to Ryder in question.
"Yeah, i guess. She has nothing better to do." Ryder pulled her phone out, "You might not like her 'alpha training' tactics, though."
"I don't even care, as long as it's helpful."
•••
"As long as it's helpful, he says." Stiles let out a wince as Josie took a second swing to Scott's back.
"I thought you were gonna teach me to roar." Scott dodged Josie's bat, looking at Ramona with wide eyes.
"I am. You do that by giving in." The woman towered over him, "Giving in and letting go. That's how I learned control. That's how Ryder learned control, and if the time may come, that's how Josie will learn control."
Stiles chuckled a bit, "Hey, you know, that's funny. I've actually tried something like this one time using a heart monitor and lacrosse balls. But you're right, beating the living crap out of him is probably a lot better."
"Literally no one asked." Austin rolled his eyes dramatically, moving his leg as Scott came falling down in front of him.
"That's actually the plan? You kick my ass?"
"You're afraid to turn, Scott." Ryder started, walking so she was stood between Josie and Ramona, "We're gonna make you turn. Then you kick my ass. Or try."
"And then you roar." Josie giggled happily, slamming her bat down towards him again.
"You don't think you can let go with us? You think you're going to hurt us? Come on, Scott. Give it your all."
"Ryder and I can always heal."
"You're an Alpha. You want to roar like one, you've got to give in full throttle. You've got to be the monster. Become the beast. Become everything you're afraid of. That's what gives you power. It gives you strength." Ramona spoke softly, unintentionally capturing the teens in a trance, "Giving into it doesn't make you the bad guy. So long as you can control it."
"But then again, sometimes control's a little overrated." Ryder kicked him so he was on his back.
"Come on, Scott. Fight back." Stiles spoke under his breath.
Scott's head flew back as Ryder punched him in the face, "What if I can't control it? What if I can't turn back?"
"Then it takes over. You become Malia. You get further and further away from being human. You turn into an animal. Or worse. You turn into Peter."
While they hadn't spoke much, Ryder and Scott had a mutual understanding.
Scott didn't dislike Ryder for being the biological daughter of Peter Hale. If anything, he applauded her. That in itself seemed like something he couldn't handle.
Ryder didn't even try and build a bond with the man, despite how many times Peter tried contacting her. She lives everyday a little different knowing that there was a possibility of her becoming just like him, and she hated that.
Knowing Scott could become just like Peter Hale rubbed her the wrong way. While she could end up the same, it wasn't as surprising than if Scott did.
He was Scott McCall, he helped people, he put others first. He wasn't a killer, he had amazing parents, or as amazing as parents could get.
And her father was Peter Hale.
She was bound to fall off the deep end if pushed hard enough.
She couldn't let that happen to him.
She wouldn't let that happen to him.
—
A/N: i'm so excited for husband void 😩