70K reads is fucking crazy. That's all.
*
"She failed the test," Derek says, standing across me and Scott in our school's parking lot, looking as intimidating as possible.
"Yeah, which doesn't prove anything," Scott says. "Lydia's different."
"I know. At night she turns into a homicidal walking snake," Derek retorts.
"And how are you so sure about that?" I ask, making him pause and shoot me an annoyed look.
"That's right, you aren't," I say.
"I'm not going to let you kill her," Scott tells him.
"Who said I was gonna do it? I didn't form a pack for nothing," Derek smirks.
Oh. So it's gonna be the betas.
"Then I'm not gonna let them kill her," Scott says.
"I don't know why you think you have to protect everyone now, Scott, but even so, Lydia has killed people and she's gonna do it again, and next time, it's gonna be one of us," Derek says.
"What if you're wrong?" I ask, meeting his eyes.
"She was mauled by an alpha. It's her."
"You saw that kanima thing up close, you know it's not like us," Scott says.
"But it is!" Derek shouts. "We're all shapeshifters. You don't know what you're dealing with. It happens rarely and it happens for a reason."
"What reason?" I ask.
"Sometimes the shape you take reflects the person that you are. Everyone calls her cold blooded," Derek says.
"Well, what if she's immune?" Scott asks. "What if she's got something inside of her that makes her immune to the bite, which is why she didn't get paralyzed?"
"No one's immune! I've never seen it or heard of it. It's n- ... it's never happened," Derek says, looking a bit worried.
"What about Jackson?" Scott asks.
Derek is lost for words, and Scott notices.
"That's why you tested him, isn't it? Because you gave him what he wanted, didn't you?"
Oh my god. He bit Jackson?!
"Scott-"
"Peter said the bite either kills you or turns you. You were probably hoping that he would die. But nothing happened, right? And you have no idea why, do you?" Scott asks him.
"No," Derek admits, looking away.
"Well, I have a theory," Scott says. "Lydia's immune, and somehow she passed it on to Jackson."
There's a moment of silence, and I give Scott a confused look.
"You know I'm right," Scott says.
"No!" Derek yells.
"We don't know anything for sure, that's the thing," I say.
"You cannot do this!" Scott shouts at Derek, ignoring my words.
"Look, I can't let her live! You should have known that!" Derek replies.
"I was hoping I would convince you, but then..." Scott says, eyes glowing, claws appearing. "I wasn't counting on it."
I put a hand on Scott's arm when I see Derek take a step forward as well.
"Is that really gonna help?" I ask Scott, who frowns at me.
"What else is gonna help?" he asks.
"I think you should save your energy," I say.
"She's right," Derek says. "This is useless now. Just know what you should expect."
And with that, he leaves, casually walking away.
***
By some crazy miracle, we managed to get Lydia to come with us to Scott's house after school, because we decided it was the best way to keep her safe. Unfortunately, Scott himself hasn't even showed up yet.
"If we're doing a study group, why didn't we just stay in the library?" Lydia asks us, pulling a strand of curled hair back behind her ear.
"Because... it's more fun? It's like hanging out together, like the time we went bowling, only... less bowling and more studying," I say.
"And less toe injuries," Stiles adds, making me meet his eyes and laugh.
"I do hope so," I reply.
"But where's Scott?" Lydia asks.
"Meeting us here, I think. I hope," Stiles says.
"But-"
"Lydia," Jackson snaps, stepping up to grab her arm and lightly force her to move forward, towards the living room.
"Thanks for doing this," Allison says to Jackson once Stiles has taken over, him and Lydia a few steps in front of us.
"I needed to talk to her anyway," Jackson replies.
"Oh?" I ask, amused. Perhaps they're getting back together?
"It's nothing," Jackson sneers.
"Uh, there's been a few break ins around the neighborhood," Stiles says loudly after Lydia asked him why we were acting so strange, locking the front door and pushing a chair underneath the doorknob, looking out the window expecting some kind of danger or something. "And a murder. It was bad, right, Grace?"
"Wha-" I turn around, caught off guard. "Yeah, very bad. This is a very dangerous area."
Lydia just looks out the window, watching the fancy houses, the toddler cycling past with a laugh, and everything else outside that implies it's a safe neighbourhood.
"Lydia, follow me," Jackson sighs, wanting to distract her. "I need to talk to you for a minute."
"Seriously? What is going on with everyone?" Lydia exclaims, following anyway as he leads her upstairs.
***
"Have you seen anything?" Allison asks, looking over at me, both of us staring out of different windows.
"No," I say. "But they'll get here soon enough."
"I hope not," Stiles says, stepping closer right when I take a step back from the window, making his body accidentally brush against my back, and uh, mostly my ass.
I gasp a little and turn around, meeting Stiles' wide eyes.
"I didn't- oh my god, I'm sorry," he blurts out, Allison immediately bursting out into giggles as she watches us.
"It's... fine," I say, a bit dazed.
"No, I swear it was an accident," Stiles continues, still looking scared.
"Guys," Allison says.
Oh god. I don't want her to make a stupid comment about Stiles and I.
"Allison, don't you dare-"
"Look out the window!" she yells, panicking.
Our eyes snap to the glass, my heart jumping when I spot Derek, Isaac, Boyd and Erica standing outside in front of the house, just watching.
"Fuck, all four of them, too," I mutter, pulling the curtains fully closed.
"We can't protect her like this," Allison says. "Not against them, I- I'm calling Scott."
I nod, getting more and more frustrated as I watch Allison move to the other end of the room and get out her phone.
"I just wish I could do something," Stiles says. "Anything to, like, keep my friend alive. When they could kill us in a heartbeat."
"Yeah, it fucking frustrates me," I say, giving the floor my ugliest glare until my view is blocked by Stiles, wrapping his arms around me in a light hug.
"Oh-" I tense up before resting my hands on his back and leaning into him, enjoying the temporary stress relief.
"But we're trying. That's something, right?"
I just stay silent, thinking about it.
"Sorry," he mutters, letting me go and stepping back. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything..."
"What? I- I wasn't uncomfortable," I tell him.
"I'm not trying to hit on you," he says. "I don't want you to think that-"
"I know," I interrupt him, ignoring the nagging feeling inside me.
"I'm sorry if I'm making this awkward," he says after a long silence, Allison even staying quiet and keeping her distance after ending the call.
"You're not, Stiles," I try to convince him.
"I'm sorry."
"I just don't want you to feel bad," I say, "Because of me. There's no need."
"I can't stop myself from feeling bad," he whispers, swallowing hard as he looks at his hands, making me feel so, so bad as well.
"Guys, can we focus on..." Allison speaks up carefully.
"Yeah!" I answer immediately, a little too loud to be genuine, and I walk over to her.
"Scott's coming as soon as he can. But what are we supposed to do now?" she asks. "They're not here to scare us, okay? They're here to kill Lydia."
"You have the crossbow, right?" Stiles asks Allison. "What if we just shoot one of 'em?"
"Are you serious?" Allison asks.
"We told Scott we could protect ourselves, so let's do it. Or at least give it a shot, right?" he says.
I pull back the curtain a bit and sneak a look at the werewolves outside, realising there's really nothing else we can do.
"Okay," I say.
"What?" Allison exclaims.
"Look, they don't think we're gonna fight, so if one of them gets hit, I guarantee they'll take off. So just shoot one of 'em," Stiles says.
"Which one?" Allison sighs, giving in and grabbing the crossbow.
"Uh..." we all look out the window as sneakily as we can, watching the intimidating creatures outside.
"Derek," Stiles says. "Yeah, shoot him, preferably in the head."
"Pretty sure he can catch an arrow with ease when he isn't distracted. Crazy reflexes," I say.
"Okay, uh, Allison, just shoot one of the other three then," Stiles says.
"You mean two," Allison says.
"No, I mean three-" Stiles begins, stopping when he looks out the window and notices there's someone missing.
"Where the hell is Isaac?" I ask, knowing the answer to my question as soon as I feel the rough hands on my shoulders, pulling me back. I try to turn around and face him to defend myself, but I can't compete against his tight hold on me. So before I know it, I'm lying on the floor with my face down, disoriented after blacking out for a few seconds.
When I push myself up into a sitting position, Allison's running up the stairs towards a frantic Lydia, forcing her to stay there, and next to the table, Stiles is on the floor, unmoving.
"Hey, Stiles?" I ask, moving forward slowly, still dizzy from whatever Isaac did to me. Stiles' eyes are on me when I reach him, looking dazed.
"I just need a sec," he slurs, rubbing the back of his head.
"I'm afraid we don't have a sec," I say, looking up to see Isaac standing there, smirking with glowing eyes.
"I thought you'd both be out cold already," he says, watching as I slowly pull Stiles up into a sitting position.
"If I can't see him, can I just pretend he doesn't exist?" Stiles groans, hiding his head against my shoulder.
"No," Isaac answers, yanking Stiles up by the back of his shirt.
"Guys, it's here!" Allison yells from upstairs. "The kanima!"
Isaac lets Stiles go, him stumbling his way to the floor in front of me.
"Where is it?" Isaac asks, panicking on the inside, oblivious to Scott bursting into the room.
"I don't know," Scott says, knocking Isaac down with one strong punch, and me and Stiles are already running away, knowing we shouldn't get in the way of this fight.
It becomes a clash of claws and roars, and it's clear Scott's on the winning hand, but meanwhile, Allison comes down the stairs slowly, dragging Erica's limp body along. The girl looks wide awake, though, moving her head around, so I assume she was poisoned by the kanima venom.
"Woah," Stiles says, impressed by Allison's skills.
"Allison, I love you," I say, unable to hide my grin when I make eye contact with Erica, shooting me a death glare she must've learned from Derek.
"Well, I love you too," Allison smiles, winking.
"Let's show these to Derek," Scott says, carrying his very own unconscious Isaac with him.
We let Scott take Erica as well, and we unlock the front door, stepping outside and watching Isaac and Erica get dropped down in front of a pissed off Derek and his third beta, Boyd.
There's a few seconds of silence, and I suddenly think of what I have in my backpack, smiling a little as I walk forward, towards Derek, my feet right between the two bodies as he sees me approach.
"What are you doing?" Scott asks, voicing the question everyone else had in their mind.
"Don't worry," I smile, setting my backpack down in front of Derek and opening it up, getting what I need.
"I should give this back," I say, getting up and handing him his own signature leather jacket, Derek taking it after a moment of hesitation.
"Thanks," he says quietly, ignoring the questioning looks just about everyone is sending him, because no one knows what the hell is going on except for Stiles and I.
"How..." Allison begins, stopping when Derek glares at her. "Never mind."
"I think I'm finally getting why you keep refusing me, Scott," Derek says. "You're not an omega, you're already an alpha of your own pack. But you know you can't beat me."
"I can hold you off until the cops get here," Scott says.
The harsh noise of glass breaking startles us all, and we look up at where the sound came from, seeing the kanima just sitting on the roof of the neighbours' house, screeching and wagging its slimy tail violently.
"Get them out of here," Derek says to Boyd, who quickly grabs Isaac and Erica and runs off.
The creature came out of Scott's house. But then...
"Is it Lydia?" I ask, right when the girl runs out of the house, panting and still looking very much like a human.
"Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" she asks.
"It's Jackson," Scott says.
He was the only other person inside the house. It's Jackson.