"Stiles! Stiles!"

Jackson's voice came from behind him and Stiles internally sighed and hunched his shoulders forward. He did not, repeat, did not feel like talking to Jackson. After all that had happened between them, like Jackson turning into a giant lizard and trying to kill everybody, Stiles didn't really feel comfortable around the guy. But a few weeks ago they had successfully ridden Jackson of his Master and Lydia of her Peter hallucinations and everything was shifting back towards normalcy. Which meant that Jackson was Pack, as Stiles was, and that Stiles was going to have to suck it up and talk to the ex-Lizard Jock Douche combo.

"Hey, Jackson what's up?" Stiles asked as Jackson caught up with him in the hallway.

"Hey Stiles listen," The taller teen started, Stile noticed the bags under Jackson's eyes and his bloodshot eyes, Damn Jackson must be having a rough time. "I know that we have a pack meeting today but my parents are making me go talk to a shrink after school. I'm trying to get out of it but if I'm not at Derek's be sure to tell him that's why."

They stopped at Stiles' locker and Jackson leaned heavily on the wall as Stiles asked, "Why are your parents making you see a shrink?"

Jackson took a deep breath before answering with an un-amused look, "Because they think that I'm keeping secrets and that I'm probably on drugs."

Stiles whistled, wow his dad thought Stiles was pretty shady with all that had gone on but he had only tried to talk to him a few times. Stiles didn't like therapists, not since one had diagnosed him with ADD. Stiles felt for Jackson, he had just gotten out of the hospital a few days ago and this was only his first day back to school in two weeks.

Stiles remembered how Jackson AKA the Kanima and his Master had finally been tracked down. Derek, Scott, and the rest of the rag tag pack had killed the Kanima's Master freeing Jackson from the bond, but Derek had roughed him up badly in the fight. Stiles put his arm on the guy's shoulder, "It's cool, Derek probably won't even mind." Lie. "Hey when you're done if you want to come over to my house Scott and I were going to order pizza and play Call of Duty." Truth. "You look like you could use a little down time." Truth. Stiles hoped two truths would make up for the lie he told.

Jackson smirked at the lie but he was gracious for the invite, he didn't have many friends, and Danny was chasing after some guy so he hadn't been around lately. "Yeah, sure thanks Stiles."

Stiles opened his mouth to reply, but as if on some sick cue from the Powers that Be, who secretly wanted to destroy Stiles' life, he was cut short and he slammed his locker door shut and the two boys rounded the corner filing into Chemistry. Jackson suddenly stopped a foot into the classroom, and as usual Stiles wasn't watching where he was going, so yeah of course Stiles walked right into Jackson's back, and thankfully the guy was so distracted with something else he didn't even strangle Stiles.

"What the hell man?" Stiles asked as Jackson turned around sniffing the air.

"Do you smell that?" Jackson asked looking around the room trying to identify where the mysterious, delicious smell was coming from.

Stiles dragged Jackson to two empty seats and sat down looking the other teen, "Dude you're the werewolf not me, whatever you're smelling I can't."

Stiles watched as Jackson stuck his nose in the air and inhaled deeply, the teen wolf was seriously acting weird. Stiles hit Jackson on the arm, "Calm down you're going to make a scene."

Jackson stopped sniffing but he scanned the classroom instead, "No, I think it's someone's scent." He said tracking the smell down to one girl sitting in the other side of the classroom in the back and Jackson's heart skipped a few beats when he first looked at her. "Holy shit." He whispered.

The girl had shoulder length hair slightly kinked with natural curls, it was a dark red color; the red only catching when the light hit it just right. Jackson thought she must have the greenest eyes in the world, because goddamn they were so green and he wanted to stare at them forever. Jackson's eyes slid down the girl's body while she mounted a stool and set her books down. Her body was full of sensual curves. But the way she held herself, Jackson thought of Lydia and then shook his head. Whoever she was, she was the very opposite of Lydia. The girl wasn't extravagantly beautiful like Lydia or Allison but she was still just as attractive. Jackson growled low and felt Stiles grab his arm cautiously.

"Jackson are you okay?" Stiles asked grabbing his arm. Jackson jerked away from Stiles' touch and looked down at the table in front of him.

"Who is that girl? I've never seen her before." Jackson asked opening his text book trying to look in any direction but at her. Stiles looked and shook his head, "That's Raleigh McKenna, she just transferred here about a week ago while you were in the hospital. She's pretty nice and smart too, she gave me and Scott copies of some notes we missed, you know having to run around saving your ass."

Jackson rolled his eyes at Stiles' comment and glanced back at the girl, no Raleigh, right as Mr. Harris walked in the room and silenced the classroom. Harris made Stiles read two full pages of their textbook before he even started teaching which would have made Jackson smile, but he had picked a picture in his book and focused on it.

Harris put the names of polyatomic negative ions on the board and Jackson swore under his breath when he heard both his name as well as Stiles' called to the front board. There were five problems and two students already at the board, Mr. Harris looked at Raleigh and smiled making Jackson's grip on his chalk to tighten as the girl made her way over to him.

Jackson stared at the chalkboard hard like if he looked away he might explode, he stared at his problem; only he hadn't been paying attention and now he had no idea what he was supposed to do with the word Borate. His body tensed up when Raleigh stood beside him writing slowly on the chalk board.

"Borate is BO3 3neg." Raleigh whispered to him.

"What?" Jackson asked his senses going crazy just from being next to the girl and he made the biggest mistake, he cocked his head to the side and looked at her right as Raleigh looked in his direction with a smile, she whispered again, "BO three at the bottom, three at the top and a negative sign."

Jackson wrote the formula down quickly as Raleigh returned to her seat and Jackson did the same. Only this time Jackson opened his textbook and shoved his face into it. He didn't want to think about the girl or look at her something was very wrong here and Jackson wanted to know why she smelled so good, and why Raleigh made him feel like a complete idiot.

Suddenly there was a voice in Jackson's head, a voice he recognized as his wolf. Mate. What?! Mate. Claim her.

Jackson took a deep breath he felt like he was going to suffocate like there wasn't enough air to breath. How was this possible, the first time his wolf decided to speak to him it was to tell him that some girl was his Mate? Maybe he could just ignore her, or switch classes. Jackson's palms started sweating and thank God because Stiles had just gotten back from the board and he seemed to notice.

"Dude what the hell? You look like you're about to throw up." He heard Stiles say in a low voice. Jackson looked at Stiles with his jaw clenched and the smaller teen drew back, "Your eyes, look down."

Jackson lowered his head but spoke where Stiles could hear him, "There's something about that girl. Something weird." And that seemed enough for Stiles who saved his ass by telling Mr. Harris that Jackson, who had just gotten out of the hospital, was not feeling good and should be allowed to leave. Thankfully Mr. Harris allowed both boys to be excused and Jackson gathered his things quickly and was out the door in a matter of seconds with Stilinski right behind him. The two never stopped until they were inside the empty boys locker room and Jackson had his face in the sink, reveling in the cold water.

"Jackson are you okay?" Stiles asked nervously from behind him, "Because if you say no then I'll be forced to call Derek to come and save me 'cause he'd be real pissed off if you rip me to shreds in the locker room and-"

"Stiles!" The overactive boy shut up immediately, "I'm fine now." He said wiping the cold water from his face, "What do you know about that girl, Raleigh?"

Stiles shrugged sitting down on one of the benches, "Not much really, I've only talked to her like twice, and she was real nice to me. I have next period with her though."

Jackson growled low in his throat and he narrowed his eyes at a very concerned Stiles, "You have to find everything you can about her! My, my wolf said something to me…"

"Oh, so you're not a lizard anymore?" Stiles asked nonchalantly receiving a dark look, "Sorry couldn't help it. What did your wolf say?"

Jackson wiped at his face with a towel, "He said Mate. What does that mean?"

Stiles grinned and jumped off the bench, "Oh, man this is so cool, you found your Mate. Okay so your Mate is supposed to be like the one, like with Scott and Allison, and me and Derek. We're Mates."

"Yeah but I don't even know that girl, how am I supposed to-"

"Relax Jackson, I've got this. I'll scope her out for you and give you the details." Stiles says grabbing his back pack as the bell rang, "You just stay calm and try not to think about her okay?"

Jackson shrugged getting his own books, "Yeah easy for you to say."

The two boys went their separate ways, Stiles to History and Jackson to English, where he sat alone the entire class period staring at his blank notebook. This was humiliating. He's Jackson fucking Whittemore, he doesn't get sweaty palms when he sees a pretty girl. He's the guy who charms all of the pretty girls with his fake smiles and his incredibly good looks and money! Come on, Jackson had even dated Lydia Martin and survived; Jackson wasn't a scared little boy. He had survived being a Kanima and controlled by a douche bag Master who had forced him to kill people and still wasn't as freaked out as he was when he looked at… Raleigh.

What the hell kind of name was that anyway? Wasn't Raleigh a city in North Carolina or something? Jackson's heart started beating twice as fast when he remembered how she had given him a smile. No, focus, don't freak out. This is nothing, she's nothing. Just breathe! Jackson inhaled a deep calming breath. Jackson started to get angry, this was ridiculous, he was actually getting worked up over a girl.

Mate. No. Mate. No fucking way now shut the fuck up you stupid wolf. Ours. What? She is Ours! No, she most definitely is not ours! You'll see. No, no there will be no seeing, just shut up!

Jackson's wolf decided to get with the program and shut up, making the boy sigh a sigh of sweet sweet relief. He felt his heart slow down and the nervous panic that felt like he was free falling without a parachute finally went away and Jackson actually started listening to his teacher talk about Shakespeare or something.

Thankfully the rest of the class period was peaceful and when the bell rang Jackson was standing by Stiles' locker desperately waiting for the scrawny spazoid to bring him good news. "Jackson!" Stiles said as he strode to the locker with a grin on his face, Jackson suppressed the urge to slam him into the lockers as Stiles started putting his books away babbling.

"Okay so Raleigh is from a tiny town in Kansas. She just got legally emancipated from her parents and moved out here because she's always liked California. She has an apartment just off campus, her favorite color is purple, she likes classic rock and sad depressing music, she drives a hunter green Cherokee and she wants to be a writer when she grows up." Stiles took a breath, "She's also super nice, like I already said and you'd better not scare her Jackson."

Jackson rolled his eyes, "Right now she scares me more than I'd scare her." He froze when Stiles looked at him abruptly, "Oh, shit I just said that out loud didn't I?"

Stiles slapped him on the back reassuringly, "Relax dude, I'm sure if you take it easy and don't act like a total douche bag she'll like you." Jackson looked at the boy dangerously, "Not that you do act like a douche bag at all or ever, it's just you know girls like nice and Raleigh doesn't really strike me as a Lydia girl. You know sixty percent evil and what not, not that I'm comparing Raleigh to Lydia because that would be ridiculous and they're both very different people and you know what? You should so talk to Derek about the whole Mate thing and maybe you can figure out how to not freak out every time you see her, or smell her, or you know think about her."

Jackson backed Stiles into his open locker and spoke in a scarily low tone, "Fine, I'll talk to Derek but you don't tell a soul about this or what I just said. Got it?"

Stiles smiled, "Don't worry dude I won't say a word." He said as Jackson backed away from him looking at his phone. His parents had texted him to remind Jackson of his appointment. "Hey you still want to come over after you get done with… that thing that you have to do? If you needed the down time before you definitely need it now."

Jackson nodded slipping his phone back in his pocket, "Yeah sure. And tell Derek I'm sorry about missing the meeting." He said walking away from Stiles shouldering his back pack. When he opened the school's doors Jackson caught Raleigh's scent and he watched as she got in her Jeep and drove right past him with some kind of music blaring out the windows Jackson had never heard before. He took a deep breath and got in his Porsche, all he had to do was survive one hour of torture and then he free. Jackson gritted his teeth and drove away, barely paying attention to where he was driving until he parked at the shrink's office. He slunk in the office tentatively and sat down in one of the many uncomfortable chairs.

Jackson's eyes caught the television, the Discovery channel was on and wouldn't you know it they were talking about wolves. He sighed heavily averting his eyes to the floor but he could still hear the sound, "Wolves are widely known for mating for life. When a wolf finds that one other wolf that they want to be with they stay together until the death. It's quite beaut-"

"Mr. Whittemore?"

Jackson almost jumped out of his chair and looked at the small woman in a business suit who was smiling at him, "Hello, sorry if I scared you, I'm Elise Hawthorne, I'm your therapist."

Jackson smiled his, I don't give a shit smile, "Wonderful."

Hawthorne talked all the way to her office, "I've been told by your parents that they think you've been having some problems." She smiled at Jackson and offered him a seat as she closed the door, "Now I know you must be feeling uncomfortable about all of this but I'm not here to judge you or tell you that whatever you may be feeling is uncalled for." She smiled at him again when she sat down and picked up a notebook. "I'm just here to listen to what you have to say."

Jackson settled himself into his chair and proceeded to stare back at Hawthorne in complete silence. She wanted him to talk? She was going to have to beat the words out of him. Hawthorne got the hint and looked down at some papers, "Your parents tell me that you were adopted at birth after your parent's death, do you have anything you'd like to say about that?" She asked completely innocently. Jackson stayed quiet.

"Okay, uhm, I read that you were attacked in the woods by a wild animal and the two boys who found you, you had filed a restraining order against them but while you were in the hospital you had it dropped. Are they your friends now?"

Jackson sighed, "Friend is a strong word, they're more like… acquaintances."

Hawthorne seemed pleased he had finally spoken and he could tell she was trying to tread carefully, "So do you have anyone that you would classify as a friend?"

He smirked a little before answering, "Danny, Danny Mahealani. I've known him for a few years. He's a good guy."

"Ah, okay, so do you have a girl in your life? Or a boy?" Hawthorne's face flushed, "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I- I just meant like a special someone, regardless of sex."

Jackson shifted in his seat, "No, I had been dating this one girl for a while but I broke it off."

The therapist inclined her head, "Did you not like her anymore?"

"Lydia was… different. I guess at first I dated her for the status you know and because she pushed me to be the best. But after a while it just got annoying and I…" Jackson paused feeling like an idiot for how he had treated Lydia and he realized maybe he was a douche bag, but at least he had a reason for it. Not that anyone would ever find out, especially not his therapist. "I kinda just realized that we had grown apart, but we still hang out stuff so it's not like it was a bad break up or anything."

Hawthorne smiled legitimately, "Well, that's good. Have you thought about finding anyone else? Not that you should, I'm just wondering where you are right now."

Jackson shrugged, "Not really." As Hawthorne prattled on about feelings and freaking unicorns Jackson pretended to listen and waited for his hour to run out. God, could this be any more annoying?

When Jackson was finally released with a reminder of their meeting in seven days he made a mad dash for his Porsche. There was no way Hawthorne could get him in there, nope, no way. He was safe. He looked at his phone realizing that Stiles had texted him about ten minutes ago, saying that he and Scott were back from the meeting. Jackson sucked in a deep breath and drove, way too fast, over to Stilinski's house. The Sheriff answered the door looking a little bit surprised but the older man stepped aside and welcomed him in, "The guys are upstairs with pizza and Mountain Dew so watch out."

Jackson wondered while he was climbing the Stilinski's stairs if he really should watch out. Stiles was a half crazed ADD, and sugar and killing people online probably didn't make him any calmer. He hoped Scott would act as a buffer. McCall had actually started treating him decently since the incident in the woods with the Kanima's Master. Jackson knew he didn't deserve the kindness but he appreciated little things. When he walked through Stiles' door both boys were yelling and screaming at the TV.

"Hey, Jackson glad you could make it!" Scott said pausing the game, "Wanna kill some zombies?" He asked handing Jackson a spare controller. Jackson planted himself on the end of Stiles' bed and after they restarted the game all three boys were rapidly hitting buttons and yelling at each other for getting killed. Two hours later the pizza was gone as was the Mountain Dew and they were currently zombie free.

"If this didn't recharge your batteries I don't know what will." Stiles said with his mouth full of the last slice of pizza.

Jackson shrugged, "Yeah it did kinda feel good to just not worry about anything for a while."

"Just remember Jackson, we're all a part of the Pack now." Scott said, "If there's ever anything you need we're all going to be there for you."

Jackson stood up stretching his back, "Way to go sounding like a girl, McCall." He said with a grin, "But thanks, I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Jackson left Stiles' house feeling a little lighter. He felt more like himself, I'm Jackson fucking Whittemore, I can do anything. He smiled a little to himself as he pulled into his drive way thankful to find that his parents weren't home. Jackson went inside stripped off his clothes and laid down on his bed. He listened to all the noise his now wolfy, and not lizard, hearing could pick up before falling into a deep sleep.

Yeah he was Jackson Whittemore and nothing fazed him, not werewolves, not hunters, and especially not girls named Raleigh. Of course, he had been wrong before.