The next day, Scott, Stiles, and I are chatting in the locker room, waiting for Coach to show up for morning cross country practice.
Scott's telling us about a client who left his dog and car near the animal clinic. Stiles, of course, has detective mode activated.
"Okay, was he, like... could he have been a virgin, maybe? Did he look like a virgin? Was he, you know, virginal?" Stiles interrogates.
"No, definitely not," Scott retorts, scoffing, "Deaton makes me have sex with all of his clients. It's a new policy." Scott sighs when Stiles looks blank. "No. I don't know if he was a virgin... and why are you talking like he's already dead? He's just missing."
"Missing and presumed dead because he's probably a virgin, Scott! And you know who else is a virgin? Me. I'm a virgin, okay? And you know what that means? It means that my lack of sexual experience is now literally a threat to my life! I need to have sex, like, right now."
Stiles gets more and more panicked. I just lean against the locker, deeming that it's healthy for him to express his concerns/frustrations.
"Someone needs to have sex with me, like, today. Like, someone needs to sex me right now!" Stiles yells, loud enough for every team member in the locker room to look at us. I grimace.
Someone shuts a locker near us. "All right, I'lI do it," Danny says.
"What???" Stiles yelps. I giggle.
"Come to my place at nine. Plan to stay the night. I like to cuddle."
"Aww, that's so sweet," Stiles replies earnestly. He frowns. "Wait, are you kidding?"
"Yes! I'm kidding!"
"Okay, you know, you don't toy with a guy's emotions like that, Danny! It's not attractive, all right?" Stiles protests.
I giggle more. Danny winks at me before he saunters off.
"Don't worry, Stiles," I say from where I stand, "I'm in just as much of a predicament as you."
Stiles gapes at me. "You mean, you and Isaac haven't...?"
I shake my head. Scott and Stiles both look very surprised. I frown slightly. Hmm...?
Speaking of Isaac, there he is right now.
"Mr Lahey, happy to have you back!" Coach exclaims, "Not happy that you're late."
"Sorry, Coach," Isaac apologises, smiling at me as he walks past.
"I'll remind you all that cross country isn't optional for lacrosse players! I don't need you turning into a bunch of fat-asses in the off-season."
***
Outside, I'm bouncing on my toes beside Scott and Stiles, waiting for Coach to start us off.
Twins with chiseled jawlines and defined arms appear at either side of Isaac, taunting and baiting him. The whistle blows, and everyone starts jogging.
"It's them," Isaac informs Stiles, Scott, and I. These twins are part of the alpha pack...?
Right now, they're leading the group of us before they veer off the course completely. Scott and I sprint after Isaac when he, against his better judgement, chases the twins down, trying not to stumble over the leaves, stumps, and stones on the path.
When we reach the three of them, one of them has Isaac pinned to the floor. "Ethan, I always forget — how many bones in the human body?"
"I don't know, let's count!" Ethan responds. I gasp in shock and outrage as the unnamed twin breaks Isaac's arm.
Scott throws a punch at Ethan, dislocating his jaw with a sickening crunch. "That's one," Scott remarks.
I pick up a plank of wood, not questioning how it got into the forest because of its convenience. "Over here, bitch," I say to the other twin, who spins around with a smirk, his dark eyes locking with mine. Swiftly, I raise the plank and whack it over his head. Despite it splintering into pieces, it succeeds in knocking him to the floor.
Isaac staggers to his feet, standing on my other side, ready to fight the twins. Ethan clicks his jaw back into place. Ow.
They advance towards us. Though I don't always agree with mind control (because it takes away people's free will), I'm out of other options.
I stare the unnamed twin dead in his eyes.
Don't hurt us. Don't come any closer.
Fascinatingly, he stops advancing. So this works on powerful alphas, too. Cool. Ethan halts, turns, and starts yelling angrily at his brother.
"It's her." That's all the unnamed twin has to say.
Ethan shuts up instantly. Eerily, the twins turn to stare at me with some sort of creepy recognition.
Um, what?
Isaac and Scott's smirks get replaced by frowns. They both shift closer to me, protective.
Abruptly, someone emits a blood-curdling scream nearby. We all temporarily forget our feud and whatever that strangeness just was, leaving the war zone to investigate the source of the scream.
The cross country team is crowded around a large tree. "Are we not going to talk about how weird that just was?" Isaac asks us as we push ourselves to the front of the group.
"I don't know what just happened..." I confess, glancing over my shoulder to locate the twins. They're staring at me intently.
"Me neither," Scott chimes in.
Uneasy, I tear my attention away from them and take a good look at the sight in front of us. Oh. Oh no.
A guy has been garrotted and strung up to a tree. Blood trickles down his neck and onto his clothes. I'm horrified by what I'm seeing. This is barbaric.
The Sheriff and a few deputies arrive and tell us all to back off. When only a few people listen, Mr Stilinski turns to Coach. "Coach, can you give us a hand, here?"
"You heard the man!" Coach yells. "Nothing to see here! Probably just some homeless kid..."
"Coach?" Scott chimes in.
"Yeah?"
"He was a senior."
"Oh..."
"You see the way the twins looked at him?" Isaac asks Stiles, Scott, and me as we traipse down the leaf-strewn path.
No, I actually didn't see their reaction. I was too busy staring at that poor boy. Who the hell would do that to someone? And why?
"Yeah, you mean, like, they had no idea what happened?" Stiles responds.
"No. No, they knew."
"The kid was strangled with a garrote, all right? Am I the only one recognizing the lack of werewolf-itude in these murders?" Stiles utters.
"Oh, so you think it's a coincidence they turn up and then people start dying?" Isaac challenges, accusatory.
While Stiles, Scott, and Isaac argue, I watch Ethan and his twin saunter off. They glance back at me and start whispering about something that I can't hear.
I frown at how strange this is — the way they're acting like they recognise me somehow. I brush off my unease.
***
In the middle of chemistry, I ask Mr Harris if I may be excused to go to the bathroom. Unimpressed, he reluctantly lets me go.
I absolutely have to fill dad in on what happened, now — this is just too weird not to share.
Lost in thought and trying to process the events of earlier, I stroll out into the empty hallway and rummage through my locker to find my phone.
Out of freaking nowhere, the unnamed twin appears at my left side, a smirk fixed securely on his face.
With a clanging sound of metal, I slam the my locker door shut and fold my arms across my chest. "Can I help you, psycho number twelve?"
What? I've dealt with a lot of psychopathic, mentally unstable, and sociopathic people over the years... the most recent examples being Gerard, Kate, Matt, and Peter.
"Well, actually, you can. I just have one question, sweetheart..." he responds, stepping closer to me and unleashing his claws with a menacing grin.
As quick as a flash, I grab the collar of his T-shirt and pin him against the lockers, my forearm pressed firmly against his throat. My other palm is flat against a locker behind him. "First, you can tell me your name. It's only polite."
He makes no move to free himself from my hold, which I know isn't strong enough to keep him pinned there. Instead, his gaze rakes up and down my body. He smirks — something he seems to do often.
"It's Aiden."
"Alright Aiden... pet names from anyone other than my boyfriend don't sit so well with me. And I know you're not stupid enough to transform into your wolfy-self in a school hallway, so you can stop with the act. I'm not scared of you — not here."
He looks down at me. "Feisty." He chuckles mirthlessly before his claws disappear. "Fine."
I release him from my grip and cross my arms across my chest. "Now talk," I instruct, "I don't want to face the wrath of Mr Harris."
"You used mind control earlier."
"Yeah, and?"
"That means you're not a werewolf."
"Yeah... and?" I inquire once more, failing to see the point.
Aiden's eyebrows raise. "What did you say your name was, again?"
"I didn't."
Aiden rolls his eyes.
"Fine." I sigh. "It's Nylah."
"Nylah who?"
"Argent."
"Okay, Nylah Argent. I'll see you around," he says with a smirk before striding off.
I frown, even more confused than I already was.
***
Allison and Isaac aren't at lunch, and I really need to talk to them both.
They both have detention: Allison got it for sleeping in French, and Isaac got it for supposedly beating up Ethan. Scott tells me Isaac was framed, and that Aiden was actually the one to do it. I don't understand why they're doing this...? What have we done to them?
Abruptly, Scott and I hear them struggling in the janitor's closet, so we sprint over to it. Allison's screaming at Isaac to stop.
Scott wrenches the locked door open and grabs a wolfed-out Isaac, yanking him out of the closet and throwing him to the floor. Allison has a few scratches on her arms, which I quickly heal.
Isaac starts apologising profusely, to which Allison shakes her head and tells him it's not his fault.
I sit beside Isaac on the floor.
He doesn't look at me, avoidant. I'm imagining it's because he got flashbacks to when his father locked him up — Isaac's told me this happens when he's in small spaces. He completely flips out when he's claustrophobic.
Scott sighs, suspecting that Ethan and Aiden did this too. "They want to get someone hurt."
"So are we gonna do something?" Isaac inquires.
"Yeah... I'm gonna get them angry. Really angry."
Scott, Allison, and Isaac decide on a plan.
I stroll off to lunch, wanting no part of their plan. I don't want to piss off twin alphas that can freaking MERGE into a giant alpha. No thanks, not for me.
Allison catches up with me. "Teds."
"Hey, Allie." I smile. "You alright?"
"Semi," she answers. My gaze falls down to her hands — she's tugging her sleeves over them. It's her tell that indicates she's either nervous or guilty. But, in this case, it's both — I can sense her emotions.
"What's up?" I inquire as we sit down at an empty lunch table. I pick up my bottle of water and take a swig from it.
"Um — uhh." Her eyes fall to her untouched lunch tray. "Okay... okay. Please don't be angry, Teddy," she implores me.
"That depends on what you're about to tell me," I inform her with a confused frown. She exhales heavily. "Allison, just... just tell me what's going on."
She buries her face in her hands, her dark brown hair falling forward. "When did everything get so screwed up?" she asks quietly, speaking more to herself than to me.
At this point, alarm bells are going off in my head. What the actual heck is going on?
"Allison, are you okay?" I query. "You know you can tell me if you're in trouble or anything, right? I can help you."
She looks up at me, her large brown eyes glistening with tears. "Your trust in me is making me feel even worse."
I gape at her, bewildered. "Allison. What's going on?"
"I didn't mean for it to happen, I swear!" she exclaims, stressed. She massages her forehead with her fingers. "It just happened. I don't even know why we did it!"
We?
I glance around to make sure no one is listening — everyone in the cafeteria is eating lunch, talking amongst themselves.
I cock my head to the side, my nerves kicking in. "Go on?"
"I-I-I," she stammers, shaking her head. "I mean, in the — in the closet, um." She swallows heavily. "Um. Isaac and I..."
My heart stops at the mention of Isaac.
"...we kissed," she confesses in a small, shaky voice.
"I'm sorry, is this a joke?" I ask calmly. I already know the answer — I can sense her emotions, I can hear the steady beat of her heart.
"I wish it was." Tears start to shed from her eyes. "T-Teddy, please," she begs when she sees my expression turn hard. "Please."
My chair shoots backwards and scrapes against the floor as I stand up abruptly. I walk off. "Teddy, please!" she calls after me, guilt flowing off of her. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for it to happen!"
I whirl around. By now, everyone has fallen silent as they watch us with gaping expressions. "Well it did, didn't it, Allison?"
At that, she sobs harder.
Angry and hurt, I flounce out of the hall, keeping as neutral a visage as possible. Fucking hell.
***
Because Isaac and Allison are going through with their plan, I haven't seen either of them since the talk my sister and I had at lunch.
Right now, I'm gazing out of the window in English, watching the two of them set up Aiden's motorbike.
My heart sinks as their gazes linger a bit too long to classify them as friends. They're both looking at each other's lips before they make eye contact. Even from outside, I can hear both their heartbeats speeding up as they realise how close they are to each other.
The more I watch them, the more I realise there's definitely something going on between them. How could I have been so oblivious?
It's not like me to miss something. It's true what they say, then: love — or something close to it — really does make you blind. I'm such an idiot.
Allison sighs softly as she wrenches her gaze away from him.
Allison: "Isaac... we can't do this. It's not fair."
Isaac: "I know."
Not wanting to see any more, I turn around in my seat to see Scott smirking happily at the twins, pulling engine parts out of his bag. They latch on immediately, glaring at Scott.
Outside, Isaac revs Aiden's motorbike. Wasting no time, Aiden leaps to his feet and sprints out of the classroom, fuming that someone else is driving his bike.
Miss Blake is flabbergasted by Aiden's behaviour, pausing mid-sentence and staring at the open door in bewilderment.
Isaac rides the bike through the school hallways, not that anyone knows or sees, of course. Students in every class stream out into the hallway, staring at Aiden, who's miraculously standing in front of his bike and holding his helmet.
Miss Blake gapes, in disbelief, at the motorbike for a few seconds longer before she utters, "You realise this is going to result in a suspension?"
At this, Isaac and Allison smirk at each other before they, along with Scott, smirk at Ethan and Aiden triumphantly. They won that round.
I, however, feel like I've lost.
As soon as the bell rings, I grab my bag and make my way to the front doors of school, not saying goodbye to anyone because I can't come to terms with the bitter feeling rising in my heart with each passing second.
"Nylah?" Isaac queries as he notices me striding off determinedly. He mustn't know that Allison told me, then, otherwise he would've said something, surely?
Beside him, Scott looks at me inquisitively, whereas Allison averts her gaze to her shoes.
I simply brush past him. I can feel his guilt, too — it wasn't a one-sided kiss, clearly.
I walk home, thinking intently.
My powers enable me to sense what people are feeling — Isaac and Allison are attracted to each other, and this has only been brought to my attention today. My sister and my boyfriend. I sigh, defeated.
***
I enter my apartment building with a large iced coffee (because coffee is the only thing that can make me feel better), trying to gather and make sense of my thoughts and emotions.
When the elevator doors open, I see a group of people waiting near my apartment door, just hanging around.
Oh. Oh, no.
Fuck.
It's the alpha pack — Aiden; Ethan; this big muscular guy; a barefoot (???) lady; and a thin, blonde-haired, tall, blind guy I've seen a couple of times around the building.
Frantically, while trying to make myself as inconspicuous as possible, I press the "down" button multiple times, hoping they haven't seen me.
It's too late. I'm too late.
Aiden sprints up to the closing elevator and wrenches the metal doors open, clasping his hand over his eyes as he lifts me up with one strong arm.
Heartbreakingly, my iced coffee drops to the floor. The plastic dome falls off the cup, causing coffee to splash everywhere and coat the floor with its deliciousness. Following suit, my schoolbag thuds to the ground as I struggle in Aiden's grip.
He wraps both arms around my body, my arms pinned to my sides. He carries me over to the pack, my back flush against his chest.
"Aiden, put the girl down," the tall, blind man instructs, his accent British. Aiden obliges, setting me down. The man turns in my direction. "I apologise on his behalf. He has no manners, has he?"
"Um..." I trail off and swallow heavily. "No, he didn't even let me finish my coffee before he abducted me."
The big, muscular guy chuckles. "Unfortunate," he rumbles.
"You don't know all of our names yet, do you, Nylah?" The first man inquires. "I believe you wouldn't have, on multiple occasions, charmingly assisted me with operating the lift if you knew who I was." He pauses for dramatic effect. "I'm Deucalion."
Shock waves ripple through my body. No way. HOW DID I MISS THAT, TOO?? I'm definitely off my game. Shame on you, Nylah.
"And then there's Ennis, Kali, and our twins, Aiden and Ethan, who have told me very interesting things about you, Nylah..."
"Yeah?" I inquire, looking around nervously. They've blocked all my escape points. I'm trapped. By alphas. By the infamous alpha pack. Ah, fudge nuggets.
"They've told me you have the ability of compulsion. And you see, we've been trying to find a girl that matches your abilities and physical description. You weren't all that difficult to locate."
I swallow anxiously, confused. I notice Kali tapping her foot impatiently, her overgrown toenails making small marks in the carpet.
"This is no doubt confusing for you," Deucalion carries on, nodding at Aiden. "Don't worry about it just yet, Nylah. Not just yet."
And then, Aiden rams a needle into my neck and presses the plunger with his thumb. I whimper as I lose control of my body and crumple into his arms. I look into his emotionless eyes, feeling betrayed even though I don't know him.
I pass out, effective immediately.