𝙁𝙍𝙀𝙀 𝙁𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙂 ◊ 𝘚. 𝘚𝘛𝘐𝘓𝘐𝘕𝘚𝘒𝘐

◊ 𝟏.𝟗 𝐖𝐎𝐋𝐅'𝐒 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐄

༻இ༺

***

I GROGGILY made my way to my locker. Percy thought it would be a great idea to call me at two in the morning and inform me of the car chase he, Stiles, and Scott were in earlier that night. Apparently, Derek almost had the Alpha and had a way to cure Scott.

"Ollie!" A familiar voice called out to me. I pressed my forehead to my closed locker, letting the cool metal soothe the oncoming headache I could feel brewing. Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Wait, I take that back, the devil is a dick. I roll my eyes at myself.

"If God is out there, I'm sorry for not ever believing in you, but please have mercy on me." I mutter to myself before turning around to see the bright smile on Percy's face and the nervous expressions on Scott and Stiles's faces.

"Why are you always chipper in the mornings?" I groan at him as I lean against the lockers. They come to stand in front of me, and the smile on Percy's face is yet to falter.

"Because I wake up knowing that I get to see your beautiful face." Percy's tone was cheeky, and three pairs of eyes rolled at him.

"Put a lid on the flirting, Romeo," Stiles scoffs at his friend before his gaze lands on me. "We need your help."

I raise an eyebrow at him. "With what exactly?"

"We need you to get Allison's necklace." Scott spat out so quickly I almost didn't catch his request.

I let out a laugh of disbelief, "Yeah, no that's not going to happen."

"Why not?" Stiles asked.

"Are you serious?" I stopped leaning against my locker. "It's like if you asked me to borrow my necklace. The answer is going to be no." I rolled my eyes at the idea of me just asking Allison for her necklace.

Scott furrowed his brows, "But she has a necklace like yours." He pointed out, and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Yeah, because I made it for her. But other than that, my necklace could be considered a family heirloom, like her's is. Her aunt gave it to her." I explained.

"Well, Olympia here isn't going to be much help. So we go to plan B. You just ask her to borrow it." Stiles told Scott.

"How?" Scott questioned.

"It's easy. You just say, 'Hey, Allison, can I borrow your necklace to see if there's anything on it or in it that can lead me to an Alpha werewolf that I need to kill in order to get back together with you?" Stiles remarked sarcastically, making Percy and I chuckle.

Scott sighed. "You're not helping."

"Why don't you just talk to her?" Percy asked Scott.

"She won't talk to me. What if she, like, only takes it off in the shower or something?"

"That's why you ease back into it, okay?" Get back on the good side. Remind her of the good times. And then you ask for the necklace." I tilted my head at Stiles's words. That might have the opposite effect on Allison. She's been taking it harder than Scott might realize she has been. I think to myself, and Percy nudges me to snap me back into the conversation.

"You're thinking about her in the shower, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Scott admitted sheepishly, making me roll my eyes at him. Boys, honestly, can you think about anything else than naked girls?

"Alright, stay focused, okay Scott?" Percy said.

"Get the necklace, get the Alpha, get cured, ger Allison. In that order. Got it?" Stiles told his werewolf friend sternly.

Scott nodded. "Get the necklace."

Stiles and Scott went their separate ways, but Percy stayed standing in front of me.

"Is your necklace really a family heirloom?" He asked me, his blue eyes shining with curiosity.

I make a so-so gesture with my hand. "Technically, no. My brothers considered it a family crest, but any hunter can have one of these." I gesture to my necklace.

Percy nodded, "Okay, but what does it mean exactly? All I know is that it's a pentagram encased in a ring of fire."

"Well, it's an anti-possession charm blessed with holy water."

Percy's jaw dropped slightly, and I rolled my eyes for what seemed to be the fifth time today.

"Have you not learned about demonic possession yet?" I ask in disbelief.

Percy shook his head, "Sorry, I haven't gotten to that part of the lesson in hunting school yet." He snarked, making me smirk.

"But if you wear one of those, you're safe from possession?"

I nodded. "Pretty much, but it's better to get it tattooed since you could lose the charm and then become susceptible to possession. I planned to get the tattoo with my brothers once I turned seventeen. But, um, I don't know if that's going to happen." The smirk on my face fell, and the mood I was in had dampened.

Percy seemed to notice, "Well, it's pretty cool. I-I mean the necklace and tattoo part, not the possession part obviously." He stumbled over his words, making me smile.

I chuckled lightly, "Yeah, I never really thought of it that way."

The bell rang. I cleared my throat, "Well, I'll see you later Perce."

He nodded, and we both went to class.

***

Later, at lunch, I sat beside Percy in front of Scott. I would have sat with Allison and Lydia, but I didn't feel like dealing with Jackson. Stiles came to our table and sat down next to Scott; his tray clattered on the table loudly.

"Did you get her to give you the necklace?" Stiles asked Scott.

Scott grimaced. "Not exactly."

"Ah. What happened?"

"She told me not to talk to her. At. All."

"So she's not giving it to you." Percy popped a carrot in his mouth after pointing out the obvious.

"She's not giving me the necklace!" Scott exclaimed.

Stiles sighed, "Well, did you find anything else out?"

"Just that I know nothing about girls, and that they're totally psychotic."

I coughed, reminding Scott that there was a girl at the lunch table. "Take it from the actual girl sitting at this table: not all girls are psychotic. They may be a little crazy, but not psychotic."

"Which type of girl are you?" Scott asked curiously.

I smirked devilishly. "Oh, I definitely have a few screws loose in the old noggin."

"I thought you said that all of the screws up their were tight." Stiles asked with a scoff.

Percy and I shared a knowing glance. "I lied." I shrugged with a smile on my face. I leaned back in the chair and popped a chip in my mouth.

"Okay..." Stiles trailed off. "I came up with a plan 'C' just in case anything like this happened."

"What's plan 'C'?" Scott asked.

"Just steal the stupid thing!"

I scoffed. "Yes, because stealing a necklace from a girl who doesn't take it off or want to see Scott's ugly mug is going to blow over so well."

Stiles glared at me. "Couldn't you try to be more optimistic?"

"John Winchester raised me. Optimism isn't a part of my vocabulary." Percy made a noise of agreement, and Stiles pulled a confused face at me.

"Am I supposed to know who your father is?"

"Couldn't we try at least getting to Harris?" Scott interrupted, wanting to avoid getting off-topic, needing the plan to try and get Allison's necklace.

Stiles looked back at Scott and shook his head. "My dad put him on a twenty-four protective detail, okay? The necklace is all we got. Steal it. Thank you."

Scott sighed and glanced behind me before sitting up straight in his seat. "Guys, he's watching us."

"Who's watching us?" I ask as I look over my shoulder to see Jackson staring intently at our table, but his gaze is honed in on Scott.

I turned back to see a nervous Scott and Stiles in front of me. "Why is the jackass staring daggers at you Scott?"

Percy leaned closer to me. "Jackson managed to find out that Scott is a werewolf." He murmured in my ear.

Percy pulls back but stays in close proximity. I glance back at Jackson before looking around the table. "How in the hell did he figure it out? He's not smart enough for that." I hissed lowly.

"We honestly have no clue." Percy shrugged.

"Well, until we find out how he found out, ignore him," I instruct the table, but Scott flinches suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Stiles asked.

"Jackson's talking to me. He knows I can hear him." Stiles tries to glance at Jackson over my shoulder, but Scott stops him.

"Look at me. Just talk to me. Act normal. Pretend nothing's happening." Scott said, slightly panicked.

Stiles seemed to be at a loss for words as he stared at Scott.

"Say something. Talk to me!"

"I can't think of anything. My mind's a complete blank." Stiles tells Scott.

Percy leans forward slightly. "What do you mean your mind's blank?" He asked in slight shock.

"Are you sure you can't think of anything to say? You seemed to be able to let your lips loose anytime we're in Chem." I tease Stiles, making him glare at me.

"Not under this kind of pressure." Stiles hissed at me, making me smirk.

"Aww, do you have performance issues?" I cooed as I put my elbows on the table and leaned forward, resting my head on the palm of my hands. "You know they aren't uncommon. One out of five-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," Stiles cut me off with a harsh whisper. I could hear Percy snicker quietly while Stiles stopped glaring at me and looked back at the table.

"FYI, he's not even sitting with them anymore." He informs the table.

"Where the hell is he?" Scott asked as he looked around the room.

Something seemed to catch Scott's attention, and he stopped looking around the cafeteria. I can only assume that he's listening to whatever Jackson was saying. Scott increasingly got more and more tense.

"Yes." Scott said through gritted teeth, making us stare at him weirdly. He gripped his water bottle tightly, his hand shaking, trying not to crush the bottle in his hand as he took a small sip from it.

Percy and Stiles look at him worriedly.

"Scott, come one, you can't let him do this." Percy tries to convince his friend.

"You can't let him have this kind of power over you, okay?" Stiles adds, but it seems that their words fall deaf on Scott's ears.

Then, the tray in Scott's hands snaps in half, the sound loud enough to catch everyone's attention and become quiet as they look at the culprit. Scott looks around the room, and I see his glare land over my shoulder, where I assume Jackson is standing.

I glanced over to where Scott was staring, and I caught Jackson taking an obnoxious bite of his apple before smirking and strolling back to the table he was sitting at.

***

After school, I'd joined Percy and Stiles at his house since I had nothing else to do, and Stiles needed help researching who the Alpha could be.

Stiles threw his bag off as he walked into his room and straight for his desk. As Percy and I walked into the room, Percy headed straight for Stiles's bed, sitting on the edge of it and throwing his stuff at the end of it, facing Stiles's desk as he looked over his friend's shoulder at his laptop.

I walked into the bedroom after Percy, shrugged off my backpack near Percy's bag, and went to sit on the bed next to him. But a leather-covered arm caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.

Derek was standing stoically behind Stiles's door, and I furrowed my eyebrow in confusion as we made eye contact.

"How in the hell-" I get cut off by Stiles's dad calling out for Stiles in the hallway.

Stiles turns around at the sound of his dad's voice. "Yo, D-Derek," Stiles calls his name in shock, making Percy turn around and spot him as well. Percy's mouth falls agape as he slowly points at Derek.

Derek puts a finger to his lips, signaling to be quiet, and gestures for Stiles to deal with his dad. Stiles hastily got up from his desk chair and closed the door, leaving a crack open so his body could fit through it, and leaned on the doorway as he talked to his dad.

"What'd you say?" Noah asked his son.

"What?" I said, 'Yo... D-dad.'"

Stiles closed the door enough that we couldn't see his dad but hear the exchange between them.

"Uh, listen, I've got something I've got to take care of, but I'm gonna be there tonight. I mean, your first game."

"My first game. Gosh, great. Awesome. Uh... Good."

"I'm very happy for you. And I'm really proud of you." Noah's words make me smile wistfully. The sheriff seemed like a great person and a good dad. John never felt the need to praise any of us, but there were the rare moments that he did.

"Oh, thanks. Me too. I'm happy and proud... Of myself." Stiles's words break me out of my thoughts, and Derek shoots me a look of 'You come from a family of ruthless hunters and this is the guy to decide to befriend?'

I shrugged at him. I'll take what I could get in terms of the friend department. At least, I can say that I have more friends than Sam and Dean combined.

"So they're really gonna let you play, right?"

"Yeah, dad. I'm first line. Believe that?"

"I'm very proud." I could hear the smile in Noah's voice.

"Oh, me too. Again, I'm-Oh." Stiles leans forward as his dad hugs him, the door shutting close.

"See you there."

"Take it easy."

"Say hi to Olympia and Percy for me."

Their voices filter into the room through the door. After a quiet thump on the door and a beat of silence, Stiles walks back into the room and closes the door. I see Derek move quickly and pin Stiles to the door.

Percy and I quickly stand up.

"Derek," I say his name warningly, but he ignores it.

"If you say one word-" He points at Stiles.

"Oh, what, you mean, like, 'Hey, Dad, Derek Hale's in my room with my friends. Bring your gun?"

Derek doesn't seem to have a retort and stays silent as he stares at Stiles.

"Yeah, that's right. If I'm harboring your fugitive ass, it's my house, my rules, buddy." Stiles slaps his shoulder lightly, his face changing to regret as Derek stares at him before nodding. Derek lets go of Stiles, and the tension in the room seems to dissipate.

As Stiles moves back to the desk chair, Derek feigns a lunge, making Stiles flinch. "Oh, my God!"

Percy laughs loudly at his friend's reaction while I giggle lightly at Stiles, and we fall back onto the edge of the bed, looking at the exchange in front of us.

"Scott didn't get the necklace?"

"No. He's still working on it. But there's something else we can try."

"Yeah, Olympia, you can get it." I scoff at Derek's suggestion.

"No, can do wolf-boy. They already asked me that and I said no."

Derek glares at me, and I smirk at him in response. "Stiles says he has another plan. Why don't you listen to him?" I gesture for Stiles to continue with his idea.

Derek huffs but moves his stare to Stiles. "The night we were trapped at the school, Scott sent a text to Allison asking her to meet him there." Stiles informs Derek.

"So?"

"So, it wasn't Scott." Percy spoke up.

"Well, can you find out who sent it?" Derek asked.

"No, not us," Stiles shook his head. "But I think I know somebody who can."

***

"You want me to do what?" Danny asked Stiles. Apparently, Danny had experience in hacking and tracing phones, which was convenient.

"Trace a text." Stiles tells Danny.

"I came here to do lab work. That's what lab partners do."

"And we will, once you trace the text."

"And what makes you think I know how?"

"I looked up your arrest report, so..." Stiles trailed off.

"I-I was thirteen. They dropped the charges."

Stiles threw his hands up. "Whatever," He murmured.

"No, we're doing lab work." Danny insists as he grabs the chair next to the desk and sits beside Stiles. I looked up from the book that I had grabbed out of my backpack and made eye contact with Danny, a quizzical brow raised on his face. Then his gaze moved to the boy who was next to me, Percy, lying on his back on the bed, scrolling on Twitter.

"When did Olympia start hanging out with you guys?" Danny mumbled quietly, but I still heard him.

"I'm not here out of my own free will, those two kidnapped me." I joke, pointing at Percy and Stiles. I hear Stiles huff, and I can imagine him rolling his eyes at me while Percy didn't seem to acknowledge my joke, his eyes glued to his phone screen.

Danny smiled at my joke before his gaze moved behind me to where Derek sat in a spare chair against the wall, reading a random book that Stiles had lying around.

"Who's he again?" Danny asked Stiles as he snuck glances at Derek.

Stiles looked back and seemed to realize that Derek was still in the room.

"Um... My cousin... Miguel." Stiles lied, making me huff a laugh as I saw Derek look up from the book he was reading to send a glare at Stiles.

I closed my book and fell back onto the bed. I glanced over at what Percy was doing, and he was watching a random cat video on his phone. I shuffled closer to him to see the video more clearly, our shoulders brushing against each other.

Percy gave me a side-eye before huffing slightly and tilting his phone at a better angle for me to see the video better. I smiled slightly as we both ignored the conversation that was happening and focused on the video playing.

A book snapping shut and nearly landing on my head made me jerk away from Percy. I sat up quickly and went to glare at the culprit, but Derek was now shirtless and rummaging through Stiles's dresser. I gazed (politely, may I add) at Derek's back, and my eyes zeroed in on the tattoo in between his shoulder blades. I recognized it. It was the same symbol on the front of Laura Hale's diary.

A pinch on my thigh breaks me out of my trance at staring at Derek's physique. I yelped quietly in pain and turned to see Percy's unimpressed stare at me.

I sent him a look saying, 'was I not supposed to look?' and gestured to Derek. Percy stared at me with a straight face, and I rolled my eyes at his behavior. He pinched me again.

"Ow!" I hissed. "Christ! What was that for Percy?"

"You know exactly what that was for."

"Am I not allowed to look?"

"You are. But you were leering at him."

"I was not "leering" at him. I was staring at his tattoo." I defended.

"Mhm. Sure you were." Percy grumbled.

I rolled my eyes again at Percy. I wasn't sure why he was acting this way. After our little exchange, I looked over to see Derek managed to find a blue and orange striped shirt. I snickered at the sight.

"Sorry. Hey, that one looks pretty good, huh?" Stiles nudged Danny. "What do you think, Danny?"

Danny glanced at Derek. "Huh?"

"The shirt."

"It..." Danny trailed off. "It's not really his color."

Derek ripped off the shirt and went back to look through Stiles's dresser.

"You swing for a different team, but you still play ball, don't you, Danny-boy?" Stiles spoke lowly to Danny but not low enough because the entire room heard him.

"You're a horrible person."

"I know. It keeps me awake at night. Anyway, about that text..."

Stiles gets cut off by an irritated huff from Derek. "Stiles! None of these fit!"

Stiles looks back and forth between Danny and Derek. Danny finally relents. "I'll need the ISP, the phone number, and the exact time of the text." He instructs Stiles, and Stiles celebrates quietly, his hands waving in excitement.

Percy and I exchanged an amused look at Stiles's little victory, and we snickered as we saw Derek throw another shirt down on the floor in irritation.

I grabbed my backpack, remembering I had Dean's old shirt at the bottom of the bag. I rummaged through it, and once I felt the soft fabric, I pulled it out and threw it at Derek, deciding to end his misery. The shirt hit his back and fell to the floor with a quiet 'thump.' Derek turned around and glared in my and Percy's direction.

I gestured to the grey shirt that landed on the floor. "That might fit you a little better."

Derek picked it up and eyed it for a moment before slipping it on. The shirt fit his frame but was a tad long on Derek since he was about an inch shorter than Dean. Derek sent me a curt nod of thanks and went back to reading the book he had set down earlier while I put my bag next to Percy's.

"Is your bag like Hermione's in the movie?." Percy joked, slightly confused as to why I had a random t-shirt in my backpack.

I smiled at his joke. "Nope, though I wish witches were as nice as the ones in Harry Potter," I quipped lowly, not wanting Stiles or Danny to hear me.

"But, it was just a random shirt of my brothers that was stuck at the bottom of it. I guess I forgot to take it out." I shrugged half-heartedly.

Percy smiled sadly at me. Though I hadn't told him the deal with Sam and Dean, he could tell that it was something I still wasn't ready to talk about.

After a while, we all surrounded the desk as we waited for Danny to do his thing and find out what happened with Scott's phone. A sigh escapes Danny once he finishes clicking on the laptop.

"There. The text was sent from a computer. This one." He pointed to the name on the screen, making me furrow my eyes in confusion.

"Registered to that account name?" Derek asked, and Danny nodded in confirmation.

"No, no, no, no. That can't be right." Stiles shook his head in disbelief.

"There's no way that can be right." Percy denies it, and I stay silent as I stare at Melissa McCall's name. I've seen some crazy stuff, but there's no way that Scott's mom did that.

***

I was dozing off in the backseat of Stiles's jeep as we parked outside of the hospital to try and figure out who actually sent the message from Scott's phone. Percy wasn't with us because Max had come over to Stiles's house and picked him up before the game. Percy explained that Max was excited to see him play on first line for once since he wasn't able to before.

A shiver crawls up my spine as I hug my jacket closer to me, cursing silently to myself for not wearing more layers today. I was only in a white tank top, some ripped jeans, and an old black zip-up that once was owned by Sam before he hit his growth spurt.

I was spread out in the backseat as my eyelids began to feel heavier. I was about to slip into a light state of sleep before Stiles's ringtone went off, making me jerk up and sit up straight. I took a deep breath as I rubbed my eyes, now listening to the conversation that Stiles was having with Scott.

"Did you get the picture?" I could barely hear Scott's question from the phone.

"Yeah, we did, and it looks just like the drawing." Stiles answered his question.

Derek grabbed Stiles's wrist to say something to Scott, making Stiles's wrist bend at a weird angle, which he resisted since it clearly was uncomfortable for him.

"Hey, is there something on the back of it?" There's gotta be something. An inscription, an opening, something." Derek asked Scott.

I ripped the phone out of Stiles's hand after seeing the pained expression on Stiles's face through the rearview mirror and put it on speaker so I could listen in on the call.

"No, no, the thing's flat. And, no, it doesn't open. There's nothing in it, around it, nothing. And where are you?" You're supposed to be here. You're first line."

"Where the hell is Bilinski? Huh?" We heard Coach's voice come through the phone's speaker.

"Man, you're gonna play if you're not here to start."

"I know," Stiles sighed as he took the phone from me and took it off speaker. "Look, if you see my dad, can you tell him... tell him I'll be there? I'll just be a little bit late, okay?" All right, thanks." Stiles hung up the phone with a dejected look on his face.

"You're not going to make it," I told him, a slight frown on my face. Even though I didn't understand how lacrosse worked, I understood that this had meant a lot to Stiles.

"I know."

"And you didn't tell him about his mom, either." Derek noted.

"Not till we find out the truth."

"By the way, one more thing."

"Yeah." Stiles turned to look at Derek, and before I could even blink, Derek quickly brought his hand up, grabbed Stiles's head, and slammed it on the steering wheel, making the boy groan in pain.

"Derek! What the-" I cut off by Stiles.

"Oh, God!" What the hell was-"

Derek cuts him off. "You know what that was for." He pointed at him and gestured for him to get moving. "Go. Gooo!"

Stiles stumbled out of the car and headed toward the entrance of the hospital. I was glaring at the werewolf sitting in front of me, and he turned around with a raised brow.

"What's the glare for?"

"I'm thinking about driving a silver dagger into your heart."

Derek scoffed at my threat. "I thought you didn't like him?"

"Unfortunately, he's grown on me. Now, I'm going inside before Stiles does something stupid."

Once we entered the hospital, Stiles and I were searching for a while. It was getting a little frustrating, so Stiles called Derek, and once he answered, he put him on speaker.

"Yeah, we can't find her."

"Look, ask for Jennifer. She's been looking after my uncle." Derek instructs us, and Stiles leads us to the room where Peter Hale is being held and finds it empty.

"Yeah, well, he's not here either." Stiles tells Derek.

"What?" I can hear the disbelief in Derek's voice.

"He's not here. He's gone, Derek." I tell him.

"Olympia, Stiles, get out of there right now- it's him!" Derek exclaims, making my eyes widen in surprise. "He's the Alpha! Get out!"

Stiles hung up, and I grabbed Stiles's wrist just in case I had to drag him away fast. We start to back away from the room. I look over to the side to see a man, who I assume is Peter Hale, standing staring at us, half of his face covered in burn scars.

Peter's gaze was focused on the guy standing beside me. "You must be Stiles." Then his gaze left him and landed on me, his head tilting in wonder.

Before he could say anything, I turned around and almost started to run, dragging Stiles with me, but I stopped when I saw a nurse standing a few feet in front of me.

"What are you doing here? Visiting hours are over."

"You..." Stiles points at the nurse with his free hand before looking back at Peter. "And him." He points at him. "You're-you're the one who-" Stiles looks at Jennifer, and I can start to piece together the puzzle that Stiles is no doubt figuring out in his mind as well.

"Oh, my- and he's the-" Stiles looked back at Peter once again. "Oh, my God, we're gonna die. we're gonna die." His gaze flittered back and forth between the werewolf and the nurse.

"Stiles, shut up!" I hissed at him as I looked around the room, trying to find an exit.

"How are you not freaking out right now?"

I ignore his words as I let go of his wrist. I took a deep breath to steel myself for what might be the most idiotic thing I've done in a long time. I rushed at the nurse full force and punched in her face, knocking her out.

Peter tsked at me. "That wasn't very nice, and I don't even know your name."

"You'll find out once I carve it into your corpse." I snapped.

"Ooh, you've got fire in you, but she's was my nurse."

Then Derek came rushing in, standing in front of me now and acting as a barrier between me and Peter. "She's a psychotic bitch helping you kill people." Derek jerked his chin at Stiles. "Get out of the way."

"Oh, damn." Stiles dropped to the ground in between Peter and Derek. I tried gesturing for Stiles to slowly make his way towards me but couldn't when Peter started to stalk towards Derek.

"You think I killed Laura on purpose? One of my own family?"

Derek growled at him, his eyes flashing a dangerous blue. His canines were extended, and Derek jumped off the wall and lunged at Peter, but Peter grabbed him and shoved him against the wall before throwing him into the opposite one before Derek fell to the ground.

I started to inch closer to Stiles, his limbs flailing about as he tried to avoid getting hit by either werewolf. I was close enough now to grab him by the hood of his jacket and pull Stiles in a direction away from the battling werewolves.

At this point, Peter had picked up Derek by the throat, the younger Hale gripping his wrist in an effort to let him go.

"My mind, my personality were literally burned out of me," Peter started to drag him down the hall by the throat. "I was driven by pure instinct." Peter let go of his grip on Derek's throat, and I heard a groan escape his mouth when he hit the ground. Peter had crouched down where Jennifer's pocket was for her keys.

"You want forgiveness?" Derek asked as he got up and punched Peter in the face. He goes to hit him again, but Peter blocks the hit, grabs Derek's jacket, and headbutts him, making me wince for Derek. I've been headbutted by a vampire before. That wasn't a fun time.

"I want understanding." Peter says before kicking Derek in the chest, making him tumble to the floor to his stomach.

"Do you have any idea... What it was like for me during those years? Slowly healing, cell by cell. Even more slowly coming back to consciousness." Peter said as he strolled over to Derek while Derek was beginning to stand up, I quickly moved Stiles behind a desk, keeping him out of sight since it wasn't safe for either of us.

"Yes, becoming an Alpha, taking that from Laura, pushed me over a plateau in the healing process. I can't help that. Peter said nonchalantly, and I scoffed at him. I couldn't believe that he was acting as if he hadn't killed his niece for his own benefit.

Clearly, the words hit Derek hard since he got up to his feet and started to swipe at Peter but dodged each hit before catching one of them and squeezing his nephew's hand until Derek was on one of his knees in pain.

"I tried to tell you what was happening. I tried to warn you." Peter grabbed Derek and threw him into the protective glass over the nurse's station and desk. I saw Derek start to crawl away from his uncle, but he followed his injured nephew.

I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I grabbed Stiles's hand. I could feel him jump at the contact, and his panicked whiskey-colored eyes met mine.

"We have to go now," I stressed, my words coming out clipped. "Before things get even more uglier."

Stiles nodded furiously at my words. We slowly got up from our position and sprinted through the hospital entrance and outside. The cool February air hit our flushed cheeks as we ran through the parking lot and back to Stiles's jeep.

We made it back to his jeep, and Stiles quickly started the car and sped out of the parking lot of the empty hospital. He might have broken a few driving laws as he drove through the streets of Beacon Hills and pulled over once we were far enough from the hospital.

Our chests were heaving from adrenaline, panic, and exhaustion as our heads fell back on the headrests. The jeep was silent as we tried to catch our breaths and process what had just happened.

"You're crazy you know that? Knocking that nurse out." Stiles's breathless voice broke through the silence.

An amused huff escaped my lips before it turned into a full-blown laughing fit. The absurdity of the night caught up with me, and I could feel Stiles's confused stare on me as I laughed hysterically, the tears of laughter streaming down my face.

It seemed like my laughing was infecting Stiles because he started to chuckle until he started to cackle along with me. Our crazed laughter filled the once-silent jeep. We eventually calmed down after a couple of minutes. I wiped away the stray tears that were on my cheeks and rested my head on the window. The chill from the window calmed my heated skin.

"How did my life get so crazy this fast?" Stiles murmured.

"I've been asking that same question since I was able to walk." I sighed, my breath fogging up the glass as I spoke.

"Have you've been hunting all your life?"

"Yeah, pretty much." I took my head off of the window to look at Stiles and found his curious stare on me.

"How does that even work? Did you go around trying to find werewolves and kill them?"

I pressed my lips together, trying to think about how to answer this question. Stiles wasn't entirely wrong with going around and killing werewolves. We just killed other things than werewolves.

I nodded. "Yeah, traveling all over the country with my dad trying to track down werewolves was such a fun time." I sang sarcastically as I broke eye contact with him and looked out the window.

"It sounds like it wasn't all that fun."

"Wow, what made you think that?" I deadpanned, looking back at Stiles with a sarcastic smile.

Stiles pressed his lips together into a tight smile. "Right. Clearly, that wasn't the right question to ask." He thrummed his fingers on the steering wheel.

Stiles took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "Why are you helping us? I mean, you should have killed Scott, Derek, or both at this point."

"Like I told you before, I don't kill things that haven't killed anyone yet. I'm not like the Argents. Besides, they aren't our problem. Peter is."

"Still, it doesn't explain why you're helping us."

"I'm sorry? Would you rather not have all the help you can get?" I snarked with a raised brow. Stiles was unamused by my sarcasm and pinned me with his stare, expecting an answer.

I ran a hand through my hair, tucking a stray strand behind my ear. "Would you believe me if I told you that you, Allison, Scott, Percy, hell, even Lydia were the first friends I've ever made? And that this entire thing-" I gestured around the air with my hand.

"-is the most normal thing that's happened to me in the past couple of months." My head fell back onto the headrest, staring up at the metal ceiling of the jeep.

"This is normal for you?" Stiles asked me, disbelief seeping through his tone.

I chuckled at Stiles's reaction, looking back at him and seeing his wide eyes on me.

"You wouldn't believe me if you told you the things I've seen." The past year flashed through my mind. Michael, Lucifer, Sam falling into hell with Adam, the fight with Dean, and now being here in Beacon Hills.

"Try me."

I laughed at his attempt to get me to tell him my entire life story. "Nope." I shook my head as I popped the 'p.'

"Maybe when you're older. I tease, avoiding the question altogether.

Stiles scoffed, but a small smile was on his face. "I'll find one day, Winchester." He turned the key to the ignition of his jeep, starting up with a loud roar.

"And that day won't happen even in your wildest dreams, Stilinski," I cooed. "Now, we should get going."

Stiles revved the engine and drove down the street that he parked on.

I looked out on the empty streets of Beacon Hills, resting my head on the window.

Hopefully, one day, they'll know the truth, but today's not the day.

***

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[WORD COUNT: 6.2K]

A/N: I lowkey struggled a little with this chapter, but I got through it in the end. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

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𝗡𝗘𝗫𝗧 𝗨𝗣:
𝟭.𝟭𝟬 𝗖𝗢-𝗖𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗡