"Don't underestimate the allure of darkness.
Even the purest hearts are drawn to it."

INSTINCT

Dear Chris,

I miss you.

I start every letter the same, but it's because I do. A lot.

The past six months haven't been the same without you, not after I had just gotten you back. Yes, it's been that long since we last saw each other, but it's okay because I'm doing well, just like you knew I would be. As well as can be expected, anyway.

I decided to take your advice and embrace my "inner huntress" as Derek liked to call it. I practice once a week with different weapons in different scenarios, but my best weapon is still a bow and arrow. I'm a near perfect shot now, and I know if you were here, you'd say Allison would be proud of me – at least, that's what Scott keeps telling me.

Speaking of the true alpha, I know I promised I'd keep him out of trouble, but that's easier said than done. Especially since he and Stiles are parents now – to my boyfriend. Yeah, Liam and I finally made it official. And yeah, I'm still getting used to it. So are Scott and Stiles. Especially Stiles. He almost ran the jeep off the road when I first told him. Liam and I couldn't even go out for ice cream without him or Scott chaperoning from a table away.

It's weird to think they'll be leaving for college in a year. They won't stop talking about it. In fact, all they've done all summer is make plans. I'm happy for them, I am, but I don't know what I'm going to do without them around. My greatest fear is losing them, and sometimes, I wish they wouldn't go. Is that selfish of me, Chris? To want them to stay with me?

Just like you, they're my family, and I'll miss them when they're gone, just like I miss you.

Please, come home soon.

Love,

Joey.

I sighed as I folded up the letter and slid it into the envelope resting on my lap. I'd been writing to Chris ever since he left with the Calaveras, once every month. I'd originally tried to call him, but all I got was an automated message, telling me his number was no longer in service, so I decided to send letters to the Calaveras "headquarters" instead. Braeden had been kind enough to text me the address.

Chris wrote back to me every time, filling me in on his progress with tracking down Kate and reassuring me he'd return to Beacon Hills soon, but I still had my doubts. It's been half a year — the longest he'd ever been away — and I was beginning to think he just wasn't going to come back at all.

Taking my feet down from the jeep's center console, I leaned forward in the backseat and retrieved my purse from the floor, tucking the letter safely inside to mail later tonight. I figured I'd drop by the post office while Scott and Stiles went to their top secret senior scribe (Scott was still a terrible liar).

I peered out the windshield at them, watching Stiles chatter on as his eyes darted over the map he had spread out in front of him. Scott was staring up at the sky, specifically at the moon, and I had to wonder what he was thinking about.

Carefully, I pushed my way out of the jeep, clutching Stiles' gray hoodie tighter around my shoulders as the cold night air hit me full force. I was only wearing a thin white off the shoulder top and a pair of denim shorts since it had been significantly warmer during the day.

Thunder rumbled warningly from above me, and I wearily let my eyes wander to the sky, where I could see storm clouds move across the full moon. It was clear it was going to rain, but Scott and Stiles didn't seem too concerned about the weather.

I released a shaky breath and ran a hand through my waves—my hair had grown out over the past six months, nearly reaching my waist now—before I walked over to stand beside Stiles.

"We could try Nob Hill, but the jeep would probably burn through a lot of clutches," he was saying as I approached.

"You're bringing the jeep?" I asked, raising an amused eyebrow as a fond smile pulled at my lips.

Stiles looked at me with a blank expression, like he couldn't believe I was even asking him that. "You both know the plan, 'kay?" He glanced between me and Scott. "No one gets left behind—that's the plan," he said with conviction. "Lydia's not going to have a problem getting into Stanford—neither will Joey when the time comes—Kira's thinking USF, Malia's, uh, gonna, you know, she's going to figure something out, okay? The plan is perfect."

"Or we could wait until we actually get into college and then figure out where to live," Scott suggested.

"I have a vision, dude, okay," Stiles began, exasperated. "And it is a beautiful vision—don't ruin the vision." Scott and I shared an amused glance as Stiles turned his attention back to the map to resume his apartment hunting. "Okay, we can, uh, we can check out the East Bay," he continued, but Scott had returned his gaze to the moon, a distant look on his face. "We haven't looked at Oakland yet, you know."

Stiles tore his eyes from the map then, noticing Scott had withdrawn from the conversation, and we all looked up at the moon, surrounded by dark clouds and flashes of lightning.

"Are you starting to feel it?" I asked worriedly, turning my gaze on my brother.

Scott vaguely shook his head. "No, just thinking," he said softly.

"About what?" Stiles questioned, setting his red marker down.

"Senior year," Scott answered, glancing over at us.

I leaned my side against the jeep, prepared to listen.

"Senior year," Stiles repeated. "Come on, that's—that's nothing. That's going to be easy."

"It's more like something Deaton told me once," Scott said, shifting his position on the hood to sit a bit straighter. "You ever hear of regression to the mean?"

"No, I don't think so," Stiles responded, while I simply shook my head.

I remembered Scott once mentioning something to me, but it had been after Allison's death, and I could barely recall anything that happened the first couple weeks after her passing. I had shut myself down back then.

"It's basically his way of saying that life can't ever be all bad or all good. You know, things eventually have to come back to the middle," Scott explained and I nodded as he looked over at us, understanding what he was saying. "So, think about the last few months. Things have been, good, right? But not amazing."

"Yeah, but, no one's tried to kill us in six months either," Stiles pointed out.

"Right." Scott agreed. "We've been pretty much in the middle for a while. Which means at some point, the scale has to tip one way or the other. Things are going to get really good again . . ."

"Or really bad," I finished in a whisper, my gaze falling to the ground. The past few months had been good, and I wasn't ready for that to change yet, but I knew nothing could last forever. I knew it was only a matter of time before our lives would be thrown into danger again, and although we all came out together the last few times, I didn't know how much more we could take before we broke.

The sky thundered above us and I looked up at it once more as lightning flashed, illuminating our faces.

"Do you think it's been long enough?" Stiles questioned after a moment, exchanging a pondering look with Scott.

"Yes!" a voice called out and we all turned to look at Liam, who was chained against a tree a few feet away.

I sighed as I stared at him. I had been completely against the idea, but as usual, I didn't really get a say when it came to werewolf business—even if that werewolf was my boyfriend. Actually, that may be the reason why my lanky friend had wanted to chain him up in the first place.

"Hey, trying to have an adult conversation over here," Stiles called back to him, ignoring the look I gave him for that remark.

"Alright, you're two years older than me," Liam reminded him. "And I'm fine. Just let me go."

Scott slid off the hood of the jeep and we all began to walk over to the tree Liam was chained to. I had been trusted with the keys—making me feel a little better about the situation—and I quickly dug them out of my shorts pocket as we neared him.

"It's not that we don't trust you," I began apologetically.

"It's that I don't trust you," Stiles cut in.

I shook my head at him and started to mess with the chains, searching for the lock.

"But after that last full moon . . ." Scott trailed off, and I cringed as I thought back to that night. It hadn't been Liam's finest moment.

"It was one slip up," Liam defended himself.

"Slip up?" Stiles echoed dubiously. "A dozen calls to the Sheriff's Department about a monstrous dog-boy running around the streets of Beacon Hills naked. That's a slip up?"

"Why were you naked?" Scott questioned as an afterthought, making me freeze as I shared a glance with Liam, both of our cheeks beginning to burn.

I quickly averted my eyes back to the chains, relief flooding through me when I finally spotted the lock.

"It was really hot out that night, okay?" Liam said sheepishly as I began to untangle the chains. Stiles had really done a phenomenal job. He should've just chained Jackson to a tree two years ago instead of keeping him in a stolen prison transport van. It probably would have saved us a lot of trouble.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I heard Scott ask as I circled around the trunk.

"It won't happen again," Liam promised him.

"You're in complete and total control?" my brother pressed.

"Yeah," Liam assured after a moment of hesitation. "Complete and total."

Scott nodded in acceptance of his answer and gestured for me to let the rest of the chains go. They dropped to the forest floor and Stiles quickly shoved them into the bag he kept them in before he and Scott headed back to the jeep.

I started to follow them, but stopped when I realized Liam was still lingering by the tree, staring down at his hands.

There was something wrong. I knew him well enough now to know that, but I also knew I couldn't push him.

This was Liam. He would talk when he was ready.

Hopefully.

"Is it a party?" Liam guessed, sitting forward so he was in between the two front seats, much to Stiles' displeasure. He'd been trying to figure out what Scott and Stiles were doing later tonight for the last ten minutes.

I, content and surprisingly relaxed during a full moon, sat beside Liam and stared out the window at the passing trees as the jeep sped down the wooded road. Scott seemed to block out their conversation entirely, his eyebrows furrowed slightly as he concentrated on his phone.

"It is not a party," Stiles told Liam in a clipped tone.

"What's a midnight?"

"Your bedtime."

I bit my lip to hold back a laugh as Liam pressed for a better answer. "Why aren't the girls going?"

"They're meeting us there, okay, and just stop asking questions, alright?" Stiles said impatiently, glancing back at us through the rearview mirror. "It's a senior thing. You'll know when you're a senior."

I was beginning to feel a little guilty that I knew and he didn't, but Stiles had threatened to use his chains on me if I were to say anything. Apparently, this was something he took very seriously.

Thankfully, Liam seemed to let it drop, letting out a dissatisfied sigh as he sat back, his shoulder brushing against mine. I looked over at him and he pouted dramatically, jutting his bottom lip out. My lips lifted into an amused smile and he let the act go, smirking back at me as he managed to wrap an arm around my shoulder in the tight space we were in.

"Hey, not in my jeep," Stiles protested.

Both Liam and I sighed in exasperation, but before either of us could retaliate with a smart remark, Scott spoke up.

"Are you guys having trouble with your phones?" he asked.

Drawing my eyebrows together in confusion, I moved to reach for my purse to retrieve my phone, but the jeep began to splutter before I could dig the device out. I dropped my Michael Kors bag—a gift from Lydia, she'd had quite the influence on my style over the past year—back to the floor as we slowed down.

"What the hell?" Stiles muttered as his car rolled to a stop, the headlights flickering once before going out completely.

"Are you out of gas?" Liam wondered, not used to Stiles' jeep acting up.

Stiles let out an annoyed sigh, frustrated with his car. "No, it's electrical," he said as he unbuckled his seatbelt. "Probably the alternator again."

He shared a knowing look with my brother and they both pushed out of the car, slamming the doors behind them. I watched with faint concern as they walked around to the front of the jeep and popped the hood, obscuring them from my line of sight.

With a sigh, I sat back in my seat and ran a hand through my hair, trying to keep my nerves at bay. Something about this night just felt . . . off.

And it didn't help that I couldn't stop worrying over what Scott had said about regression to the mean. How long did we have before the scale tipped?

"Hey," Liam murmured, tucking a curl behind my ear. "What's wrong?"

He let his hand rest against my cheek, absentmindedly brushing his thumb across my skin. "Nothing." I turned to him, flashing him a tight-lipped smile. "It's just been a long night."

I knew he wasn't convinced, but he didn't press the subject. Instead, he simply hummed in acceptance of my answer, gently tracing down my neck and bare shoulder with the tips of his fingers, his eyes following the path he made. I shivered at the sensation, my pulse beginning to accelerate and my breaths coming out a little less even. The touch was innocent, but Scott and Stiles barely left us alone together for five minutes, if we were lucky, and the lack of affection between me and Liam over the past few weeks was effecting me more than I thought it ever could.

Liam looked up at me then, no doubt able to hear my heart pounding, his lips pulling into a cocky smirk.

He loved the effect he had on me.

Before he could tease, I cupped his face in my hands and hungrily pressed my lips against his, not caring that my brother and his best friend were standing just outside. Liam was surprised, I could tell—I rarely ever initiated these things—but he recovered quickly and kissed me back with the same amount of fervor.

He pushed his hands into my long hair and I moved mine to his shoulders as he gently tugged at my bottom lip with his teeth. I let out a soft whimper and pulled him closer by the collar of his jacket, deciding to ignore the flush of warmth I felt on my cheeks.

Just as I was about to be uncharacteristically bold and hook a leg over him, lightning flashed from behind us, effectively breaking Liam and I apart as we both turned to look out the back window in bewilderment. I felt a little dazed, and it took me a moment to come back to reality, realizing I'd just acted like a crazed, hormonal teenager.

My cheeks burned with a renewed intensity, but my embarrassment was quickly replaced by fear as a bright bolt of lightning struck the ground right behind the jeep, making both me and Liam jump. We turned to each other with wide eyes.

I'd never seen lightning that close before and I hoped I never would again.

"Scott!"

"Guys!"

"Yeah, give us a second please," Stiles responded to our shouts, sounding none too unconcerned.

"Guys, stay in the car, okay?" my brother added.

Like I said, they've turned into parents.

I let out a girlish yelp as another strike of lightning touched down in front of the jeep, dangerously close to where Scott and Stiles were standing. As if we weren't already on edge enough, the jeep chose that moment to rumble back to life, startling all four of us.

Liam and I shared another worried look before he climbed into the front to stick his head out the window.

"Can we go now?"

x

AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's been 84 years . . . BUT SERIOUSLY.

HOLY SHIT GUYS I'M BACK. JOEY IS BACK. LIAM IS BACK. IT'S A GLORIOUS DAY.

This literally came out of nowhere though. I was just reading back through BPE and I remembered how much I loved writing for Joey and reading all your reviews again just inspired me to write. I honestly thought I would have this published months ago, but I just got so caught up in life that I didn't really have time to plan where I wanted to take the story. BUT THAT'S ALL CHANGED.

SO FIRST, some things you guys want to see in this sequel:

1. More of Brett and Brett/Joey interaction. Believe me, there's going to be lots of it. Some of you want them to be really close friends and some of you want something more to happen. At this point, I know what I want to do with them, I'm just hoping you guys enjoy it.

2. More overprotective Stiles and more Stiles/Joey/brother/sister dynamic. Their relationship is going to grow much stronger in this story and it's actually going to cause a strain between Joey and Scott. Overall, Joey's going to find herself being very, very torn in several of her relationships with different members of the pack.

3. A lot of people would like Joey to finally embrace her "inner huntress" and kind of take Allison's place as the hunter in the pack. You all really seem to like when she's badass haha. Not to worry, you WILL see more of her doing just that.

4. Hayden. To be honest, I haven't made a decision on her yet. I sort of have, but I'm open to suggestions. Some of you want her and Joey to be friends, but not have her come in between Joey's relationship with Liam, while some of you want Joey to just replace Hayden completely. However, I'm not going to do that just because Joey has always been her own character with her own conflicts. She's not going to follow Hayden's story line, she's going to have her own issues.

Overall, season 5a is all about the pack falling apart. They're keeping secrets from each other, going their separate ways, disagreeing on whether to trust Theo or not trust Theo. Many of you want Jiam to be indestructible, but sadly, they are not. Every relationship has its problems. Like I mentioned before, Joey's going to struggle emotionally. She's going to be torn and her relationships with different pack members are going to suffer because of it.

With that said, WELCOME BACK BABIES. LET'S DO THIS THING.