Noah approached the three who were waiting for him. He had arrived shortly after they called him. "You're sure it was her?"
"I looked her right in the eyes." Scott told him, recalling how he caught up to Malia just before she ran off. "And they glowed just like mine."
Stiles nodded, looking at his dad. "It makes sense, Dad."
"But it wasn't a girl." Noah pointed out, not believing their story. "It was a four-legged coyote, right?"
"Well, okay." Stiles muttered, holding Emily's hand. "But yeah, see, that's the point that we don't exactly have figured out yet."
"Okay, but if it was a full moon and she did change while her mom was driving, then anything could've happened."
"Horrible things could've happened. Ripping, shredding, tearing things." Stiles listed with a grimace.
Scott nodded. "Which is probably what caused the accident."
Emily hummed. "It does make sense." She said, glancing at them. "If they were driving during the night of the full moon, Malia could've started to shift before going out of control and her mom lost control of the car before crashing, killing everyone."
"Except for Malia." Stiles chimed, while Scott nodded his head in agreement.
She continued with her explanation, thinking about the emotions she got from the memories. The guilt had been what stood out the most at the end of the flashes. "Who is probably swimming in guilt and is now stuck as a coyote."
"Werecoyote." Her boyfriend corrected her causing her to give him deadpan look.
"That makes sense." Noah paused, watching the relieved looks on their faces that he believed them before speaking a bit louder. "In a Chinese folktale." Emily and Stiles both pouted while Scott frowned. "This is this is insane. I need this kept quiet. The three of you, not a word. I don't want anyone hearing about this. I especially don't want Mr. Tate hearing about this." He glanced at the alpha who seemed to be staring off into the woods. "Scott? Scott!"
"Sorry." The alpha muttered. "What did you say?"
Emily, Stiles, and Scott turned their heads at the approaching sirens, a flicker of dislike passing through their gazes when they realized who it was. Noah glanced over, a grimace on his lips when he caught sight of Rafael McCall coming towards them with Mr. Tate by his side. "Oh, hell. Mr. Tate." He slowly handed him the object that was inside of the den.
"Mr. Tate?" Raphael muttered.
Mr. Tate stared at the object in his hands with watery eyes. "It's hers."
"All right, wait here."
Scott glanced at his father with a small frown on his lips. "Dad."
"I'll talk to you in a minute. I wouldn't mind hearing how your mom's okay with you running around in the woods this late." The man said before walking with Noah, leaving the three to stand there.
oOo
The following day, the three stood in history class with Allison and quickly explained what they found. Emily stood beside Stiles as he pointed at the spot on the map on the tablet. "Here's where we found the den." He told the huntress. "It's right in the middle of the hiking trails."
Allison hummed. "Well, that could narrow it down. Coyotes travel in fixed trails. But I think you're right about her not going back to the den. Coyotes don't like wolves. And they're really smart." She informed them. "If they don't want to be heard, they actually walk on their toes."
He made a face. "Coyotes tip-toe?" Emily blinked her eyes at the piece of information, also surprised by it.
"They tip-toe." She confirmed with a roll of her eyes. The bell rung. "I got to go, but send me the pinned location."
Stiles sighed as the brunette headed out the door. "Okay."
Emily and him walked over to their seats, she turned in her seat to look at him. "So is there a particular reason why you're still carrying around the creepy doll?" She asked him.
He shuddered. "I don't like it but, it's the only thing I could think of grabbing so Scott could use it as a way to track Malia's scent." He told her.
Mr. Yukimura walked to the front of the classroom. "All right, everyone. Let's get started. We were just talking about internment camps and prisoners of war. There's a passage in our reading that I'd like to go over in more detail Who would like to come up and read aloud for us?" His eyes fell on the Sheriff's son. "Mr. Stilinski, how about you?"
Stiles swallowed nervously, he still couldn't read yet. "Oh, maybe someone else could."
"Everyone participates in my class, Mr. Stilinski."
"Okay." He whispered getting up reluctantly.
Emily watched him get up and began to worry when the sound of his heart slammed against his chest and his breathing was getting heavier. "Stiles?" She murmured in concern and quickly got up from her seat when she noticed his shaking. She had to get him out of here and it seemed that the True Alpha had the same idea as he got up as well.
The two each put an arm over their shoulder to keep him up. Scott glanced at the teacher. "We should take him to the nurse's office." They quickly took Stiles to the nearest bathroom where he stumbled out of their hold and went over to the sink. "Stiles, look at me, man. Is this a panic attack?"
"It's a dream, it's a dream." Stiles muttered, sweat dripping down his face. "This is just a dream."
"No, it's not, Stiles." Emily told him gently, stepping closer to him. This reminded her of the couple of times he'd freak out after waking up with a cold sweat. "This is real. You're here. You're here with me and Scooby." Her voice soft.
"Okay, what do you usually do?" Scott asked her, since it seemed that she had been in this type of situation before. "I mean, like, how do you tell if you're awake or dreaming?"
"Your fingers you count your fingers." She told him. "You have extra fingers in dreams." She switched her gaze to her panicking boyfriend. "Stiles? I need you to count with me. Look at my hands." She held up hands for him to look at.
Stiles nodded, his breathing shaky. "One Two."
She gave him a reassuring smile. "Keep going."
"Three. Four." He counted slowly.
"Five." She continued, putting up another finger.
Scott watched the two, slowly realizing just how difficult it seemed to be on Emily having to see Stiles look so anxious. Not that he blamed her since he was equally worried.
"Six. Seven."
"Eight."
"Nine. Ten."
"Ten. Ten." She finished, showing him all her fingers.
Stiles panted, leaning against the wall and slid down it. "What the hell is happening to me?"
"We'll figure it out." Scott told his best friend as both he and Emily sat down on the floor. Although, the pureblood seemed to grimace at the idea of being on the dirty floor. "You're going to be okay."
"Am I? Are you?" He said, staring at him in disbelief. "Scott, you can't transform. Allison's being haunted by her dead aunt. And I'm straight up losing my mind." He exhaled. He hated how much worry he seemed to be putting on Emily. "We can't do this. We can't we can't help Malia. We can't help anyone." They couldn't even help themselves.
"We can try." The alpha said softly. "We can always try."
It was quiet for a moment before Scott suddenly shot up from his spot and rushed out of the bathroom. Stiles was startled by his best friends action and looked at Emily who was furrowing her brows. "What is it? What just happened?"
The vampire glanced at him with a annoyed look in her gaze. "I think it was a bad idea bringing that doll to school."
"Why?" He asked.
She huffed, getting up. "Because Malia is here and I'm pretty sure it's because you took that doll of hers."
"Oh." Stiles paled slightly and followed after his girlfriend who led him to where Scott headed.
oOo
Stiles picked up his backpack as they stood in the locker room where Malia had chased Kira in and also where Scott had managed to save her. He looked at his best friend who was obviously listening in on the conversation between Kira and her father. "Scott. I think I know what she was looking for." He paused, feeling his girlfriend's eyes on him. He shifted. "Well Emily knew."
Scott saw the doll and gaped. "You took the doll from the car?" He whispered in shock, as the deputies around them worked.
Stiles swallowed, already knowing how horrible his plan had gone since Kira almost got mauled by Malia. "Yeah, I thought you could use it, you know, for like her scent." He said weakly.
"Where did you get that?" A harsh male voice sounded through the locker room. It was Mr. Tate. He quickly snatched the doll out of Stiles hands not hearing the low hiss that escaped Emily but, her boyfriend did and grabbed her hand. "Where did you find this?" The distraught father demanded before looking at it, feeling a lump in his throat. "It belonged to my daughter."
"Sorry." Noah said softly as he approached them, having heard the man. But, he had to be tough especially since the man had no real reason to be here. "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." His eyes caught something in Mr. Tate's jacket and moved it to see a gun.
Mr. Tate clenched the doll tighter. "I have a permit."
"California schools are gun free zones, permit or no permit." Noah told him. "You need to leave, Mr. Tate. Now."
The man stepped back, ready to leave but not before looking at them with a furious look in his eyes. "You find that animal. You find that thing."
Emily and Stiles shared a look, both knowing that, that thing that Mr. Tate called was in fact his missing daughter.
oOo
Deaton set three small bottles on the table. "Xylazine. It's a tranquilizer for horses. For a werecoyote, expect it to work within seconds. I only have three." He told them. "So whoever's shooting, needs to be a damn good shot."
"Allison's a perfect shot." Scott said, the thought of his ex-girlfriend didn't hurt as much as before.
"She used to be." Isaac pointed, reminding them that she was still suffered from the side effects of what they did.
"She can do it." The alpha defended her.
The beta continued. "If we manage to find the thing."
"Okay, what is the point of him?" Stiles questioned, narrowing his eyes at the beta. "Seriously, I mean, what is his purpose? Aside from the persistent negativity and the scarf?" He paused, eyeing the scarf around the beta's neck. "What's up with the scarf anyway? It's 65 degrees out."
Emily snickered under breath and Isaac glared at the couple briefly. "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." Scott said confidently.
"You can?" His best friend gave him a wary look.
The alpha nodded. "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."
"That's why you need, Derek."
"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." Stiles said, he shrugged at the offended look his best friend gave him. "You know what I mean. An Alpha who can do Alpha things. You know, an Alpha who can get it going." He felt uncomfortable. "You know, get it..."
"Up?" Emily and Isaac mused, both looking amused at the alpha's discomfort.
Scott sulked. "Great. I'm an Alpha with performance issues."
"Is there anyone else besides Derek who could help?"
"I wouldn't trust Peter."
Emily blinked. "What about the twins?"
"They're not Alphas anymore." The vet told her. "After what Jennifer did, almost killing them? It broke that part of them."
Stiles agreed with his girlfriend's suggestion. "Yeah, but what if they know how to do it?"
Scott sighed. "Nobody's seen them for weeks."
Stiles glanced at Emily, noticing the way she pursed her lips and caught his eye before she glanced away. "Em?" He stared at her, wondering what she knew.
The pureblood was sure that her best friend was going to be probably annoyed that she blurted out her secret. "Okay, so maybe Lydia and Aiden are still hooking up and I knew about it." She said in an exasperated tone. Stiles gaped at her and Scott had an unreadable look in his eyes. "I'll go call her and see if she'll be able to get them to meet up."
oOo
Luckily, Lydia hadn't been too annoyed that Emily blurted out her indiscretions especially if it was to help Scott. They agreed to meet up in Derek's empty loft since Em didn't want the twins inside her home. The strawberry blonde opened the door, walking inside with her best friend and Stiles beside her. Scott was behind them. "They said they'd meet us here." She said, looking at the message Aiden sent her.
"We should move." Emily suggested, pulling the two humans away when she smelled the scent of the twins right behind them. She managed to pull the two away in time to see Scott get thrown onto the floor.
The alpha grunted, getting punched by the twins. "I thought you guys were gonna teach me to roar." He winced.
"We are." Aiden said, punching him. "You do it by giving in."
"Giving in and letting go." Ethan continued. "That's how Deucalion taught us control."
Stiles blinked a few times. "Hey, you know, that's funny." He chuckled, recalling the incident. "I've actually tried something like this one time using a heart monitor and lacrosse balls." He caught their bemused expressions and stepped back. "But you're right, beating the living crap out of him is probably a lot better."
"That's actually the plan?" Scott asked in disbelief, feeling his wounds slowly heal. "You kick my ass?
"You're afraid to turn." Aiden told him, smelling the emotion off the alpha each time he even let out a small growl.
"We're gonna make you." Ethan continued for his twin, the two sharing a look. "You turn. Then you kick our asses."
"And then you roar." Aiden said before he and his brother continued to attack Scott.
Emily, Stiles, and Lydia watched the twins continue to taunt the young alpha who refused to give in to his instincts no matter how many times he got punched. The pureblood was amused by their tactics. "You know, if all Scott needed was to get beat up, I could've easily done that." She mused thoughtfully, not seeing the looks she got from Stiles and Lydia. "Though, I'm not exactly sure if it would be a good idea since his bite would be a pain in the ass to deal with."
She also really wasn't keen on the idea of drinking blood from either Eli or Cece. Drinking blood from another pureblood or any vampire for that matter was too personal.
"Come on, Scott. Fight back." Stiles muttered under his breath, flinching when he saw Scott get punched in the face again.
"What if I can't control it?" Scott asked, spitting out blood. "What if I can't turn back?"
"Then it takes over. You become Malia." Ethan told him bluntly. "You get further and further away from being human. You turn into an animal. Or worse."
"You turn into Peter." Aiden growled before grabbing him and tossing him onto the table before straddling the alpha, punching him several times in the face. His brother stopped him. "What? I thought we were helping him."
"You help too much." His brother said, nodding to the bruising and swelling on Scott's face.
Emily, Stiles, and Lydia approached the table where the alpha lied with his face covered in blood.