This is basically a fanfic about what would have happened had Derek had someone with him after Laura died, not only that but he knew her since he was a kid and what more….. She's his werewolf mate. Her family and his had always been friends and it was with them that he and Laura had lived all those years since the fire. It must be noted that to him Kayla (his mate) is his everything; she was his childhood friend then his best friend and now his lover, so his attitude and reactions to her are different to those to everybody else. I'm sorry if he appears a bit too OOC but I can't work with him being… Well… Sour all the time, you know…. He does love Kayla and he won't act, when around her, the same way he acts around everyone else, plus I personally suspect him to be a big softy at heart :D

Disclaimer: of course I don't own teen wolf, yada yada…..


Chapter one:

Pack Mentality Part One:

IMPORTANT A/N (FILLER): the night before Derek made Scott and Stiles a little visit warning them that his mate -a born wolf like himself- was coming to town, and that Scott -like any other young wolf- will have a strong reaction to her. He had to stop that reaction, if not Derek would -in a few words-…. Kill him.


"Dreams are not memories, Scott." Stiles told his friend as they walked to an unoccupied table in the middle of the cafeteria.

"What if it wasn't a dream?! Something happened last night, I just can't remember what!" Said a thoroughly distressed Scott.

"What even makes you so sure that Derek even has all the answers?" Stiles asked him.

"Because!" Scott sighed. "During the full moon he wasn't changed! He was in total control while I was running around in the middle of the night attacking some totally innocent guy!" He said frustrated.

"You don't know that!" Stiles protested.

"I don't not know it!" Scott countered, he really didn't know if he attacked the guy or not and he was rapidly starting to believe he was a monster, either way he was being plagued with guilt. "I can't go out with Allison, I have to cancel."

"No! You're not cancelling, ok! You can't cancel your entire... life...?" Stiles trailed off with his mouth slightly hanging open.

"What-"

Stiles said nothing -he wasn't capable of speech at the moment anyway- he just grabbed Scott's shoulder from across the lunch table and forcefully turned him towards the door, his eyes unblinking and still trained on the figure that had just entered the cafeteria.

He was not the only one staring; her appearance had caught the attention of practically all of the student population. She was a new student, of that Stiles was sure, must have transferred because there was absolutely no way she could have lived anywhere near Beacon Hills without anyone ever noticing her, because GOD Did she stand out! Everything about her practically demanded attention; it was like having a second Lydia Martin around.

She was tall with wavy reddish brown hair, tumbling down in luscious curls over her shoulders and slightly past her waist. Her thick fiery bangs were artfully swept to the side over perfect arched eyebrows and piercing blue-grey eyes made even more penetrating by a slight layer of eyeliner, Lush pouty lips painted the colour of cherries, and light freckles kissed a small nose and porcelain pale cheeks. Her face was heart shaped and delicate in an almost vulnerable way, to put it simply, her features were beautiful and she had a body that would surely, thereafter, haunt every guys' wet dreams. She had on a grey sweater dress that hugged her mouth-watering curves impeccably, reaching to her mid thighs and leaving creamy long legs on display, it dipped into a teasing V showcasing just the top of her generous cleavage and displayed her curves to their best advantage. Atop her breasts a beautiful ornate silver pendant of two wolves circling each other lay comfortably, the dress hugged her firm ass stretching over her muscles as she walked, the clicking of her black high heeled pumps sounded very clear to every male's ears as they seemed to just sit there, mouths agape, and thoroughly bewitched by the enticing creature before them, 'cause really who wouldn't be bewitched? You could very well be gay and you'd still be bewitched! She was so captivating it was ridiculous; it was almost like she had been constructed to be the downfall of every moving thing with a dick, like every single cell of her body was specifically designed to entice! The only thing that could be considered out of place in her seeming perfection was the open leather jacket that was obviously several sizes bigger than her and seemed to hang around her like a protective shell, doing nothing but make her look even more vulnerable and almost disturbingly breakable.

She stopped for a minute pursing her lips in concentration, seemingly either unaware of all the attention she was getting or not caring in the slightest, probably the latter. Balancing her tray of food with one hand she gently touched some stray strands of hair falling over her eyes with long elegant fingers and tucked them behind her ear, her sharp grey eyes swept over the cafeteria taking everything in as she played with her diamond earring until they landed on Scott and Stiles, giving both a brief smile, she started walking towards them.

Stiles was shaken out of his daze when Scott made to stand up, abruptly dragging his chair noisily with him. His eyes were fixed on the girl unblinking and his movement were stiff like his body was on autopilot. Stiles instinctively grabbed his arm and roughly pulled him down, panicking when he noticed his friends eyes flash gold.

To his surprise Scott actually growled at him with an angry expression on his face, but what really caught Stiles' attention was the dazed look he had in his eyes, it kinda reminded him of the dreamy look his friend got whenever he would see Allison, or speak about Allison, or think about Allison, or be relieved because he didn't kill Allison in his wolfy out-of-controlness, or anything Allison related really, and although it was pretty normal for that look to creep him out -and it did on a daily basis-, the fact that that same look was directed at someone other than Allison, downright sent a shiver down his spine and sent red alarms blaring through his mind.

Stiles shook his friend's arm roughly but got no response out of him. It was like Scott wasn't there anymore, like his mind had been detached from his body and someone else was controlling it, and if Stiles knew one thing, it was that, this, it was bad man, it was a huge package of bad, stuffed with bad, covered in bad, and with a pink and sparkly ribbon of bad neatly tied around it in a cute little bow.

Scott tried to pry his arm away from his grasp and looked towards the girl again, Stiles followed his eyes confused, and then he looked at her and it clicked, like attaching two pieces of a puzzle and the sound vibrated through his mind. God, he was so stupid! Of course it'd be her, who else could it be but her? the conversation -*cough* threat *cough*- they had with dark and broody the day before, the too big leather jacket she had on, the way she had all the male population reacting to her especially the werewolf part of that population, oh, and, had he already mention the leather jacket!?

Stiles mentally sighed because really, what did he expect? Some average dumb blond bimbo to come spiralling around and saying she was the girl who had caught Derek Freakin Hale's eye? Or maybe some emo broody chick whose signature pickup line would be 'Would you like me to rip your throat out for you? 'Cause you know, I could totally make it worth your while.' No, of course not! He just had to meet the second hottest girl to walk the earth -she would totally be the hottest hands down if it wasn't for the...err... 'Obsession' he had with Lydia Martin, he was struggling to keep his loyalty to her as it was- and of course she'd simply have to be Derek's... He doesn't even know why he's so surprised really, because honestly, that's life for you, guys like Derek and Jackson got girls like Lydia and the goddess standing before him! And Derek Hale? Well, he couldn't imagine him settling for any less. I mean he was pretty sure the guy could land any girl he wanted with nothing but a look, so why not go full out and land a freakin' runway model? Damn him! Damn all of those freakishly hot people! And gueeeesss who's gone all dreamy and will most likely go all touchy feely with said runway model the moment he escapes Stiles' hold on his arm? That's right! The stupidest idiot to walk the earth. Yes my friends, you got it right, Scott McCall! And who would go all kill-y murder-y I'm-gonna-rip-your-throat-out-y on the aforementioned idiot and his pitifully unlucky friend? Ok don't answer that, not gonna help in Stiles' futile attempts at not freaking out!

"Allison!" He exclaimed remembering what Derek had told them the day before, Scott jolted a little at her name. "Yeah, that's it wolfboy, Allison, you like her right? Keep thinking about her. That's it!" Scott started blinking rapidly as if trying to remove the daze out of his eyes.

"Oh God, I can't believe I'm about to do this..." Stiles mumbled forcing on an encouraging smile which, in actuality, turned out to look like a very pained one, "You know Allison, with her curly... pretty...brown hair." His voice sounded squeaky even to his own ears and he cringed internally. "And err... and her eyes... sparkle-ly? Brown eyes, and err... Oh my God!" He exclaimed exasperated and stood up to smack his friend on the back of the head.

"Wake up, will you! That's Derek's wolf-chick, alright?! Seriously! This was so not on my job description when I agreed to be your friend, ok?!" He snapped angrily at a rapidly blinking Scott who had, thankfully, gotten out of his daze.

"Wa...what?... did I...?...what happened?" Asked a disoriented Scott.

"Thank you!" Stiles exclaimed sitting down and crossed his arms over his chest sulking.

"What-" Scott tried again.

"Just sit down, will you!" Stiles cut him off looking at the figure standing to Scott's left looking at them with an amused smile.

"Hey... em... Scott and Stiles...right?" She asked in a slightly British accent biting on her full lower lip, and damn! Even the sound of her voice was sexy... 'If the sound of someone's voice could be sexy...' Stiles amended in his own mind.

"Err... yeah! Hi!" Stiles said awkwardly raising his hand as a way of greeting.

"Hey..." Scott said with a strangled voice shaking his head as if to clear it from its dizziness.

She nodded with a sweet smile, "I'm Kayla, Kayla Holden... emm... would you guys mind if I joined you?"

"No! No, we wouldn't mind! pshhh... Why would we mind? I mean..." Stiles trailed off with an awkward laugh and a blush knowing very well that he was making a complete fool out of himself. She didn't seem to mind though; she simply chuckled and took a seat to Scott's left.

Just as she was about to sit down, she placed a perfectly manicured hand on Scott's shoulder and leaned in close to his ear.

"The naughtier the thought you have about her... the more effective... just sayin..." She trailed off with a wink and a wicked grin on her face.

They both looked at her with wide eyes as she absentmindedly took a drink of her water.

She eyed them then placed her bottle down noticing their expressions.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to my scent in a couple of minutes. Once your wolf senses I'm claimed he'll automatically back off, and then you'll easily be able to ignore it. Only one wolf is supposed to be continuously driven mad by how I smell, others...well they are just not prepared when hit with its intensity at first, especially ones as young as you are, it's totally normal." She assured Scott.

Scott nodded then slowly and experimentally took a deep breath. She was right, her scent -although still intoxicating- was becoming bearable and now that she was closer he could smell a familiar male sent underlining hers, for some reason it helped a lot in clearing his mind of its foggy state.

"So... you're the girl Derek told us about?" Scott asked cautiously, not too sure what to expect from the woman whom Derek had called his mate.

"Yep." she stated simply popping her 'p' at the end.

"And... that's... errr... Derek's jacket, right?" Stiles asked leaning back in his chair with a slightly surprised look on his face, then snorting he added, "You'd have thought he'd never take the thing off he's so attached to it."

"Yeah, he is." She confirmed looking at the boy with amusement. She grabbed the jacket's collar and buried her nose in it taking a deep breath of the musky smell and almost moaning as her mouth salivated. She gave a contented sigh, snuggled further into the jacket, and let the smell of aftershave and musk cloud her nostrils.

"It just smells so heavenly! I made him give it to me." She declared smugly and it was obvious that she was proud of the fact that she was able to make Derek give her his precious jacket.

Scott sniffed at the air, curious about the heavenly smell she was talking about. Concentrating, he tried to use the new werewolf powers he rarely even remembered he possessed. Surprisingly he found it quite easy; pinpointing and recognizing scents. Carefully ignoring the smell he knew belonged to her perfume and intoxicating natural scent, he concentrated on the jacket. The smell was masculine, after shave, musk, leather, cinnamon, something sweet, an earthly fresh forest scent, an ashy smell like smoke and an extra scent he couldn't name. It was familiar, he was pretty sure it was a scent he had smelled before. It distinctly reminded him of the night Derek had decided to pop up in his room for a friendly visit and apparently thought his back was lacking a few black and blue bruises and that shoving him up a wall was a great way to remedy that situation... Ignoring that train of thought, he concentrated on the scent again. It wasn't unpleasant but there was also nothing special about it, and definitely nothing heavenly.

"It smells of Derek." He told her plainly with a confused expression marring his features.

"Like I said, heavenly." She grinned wickedly, her pearly white teeth flashing as she held the jacket's collar closer to her nose.

They both still looked confused for a minute before getting surprised looks on their faces as they understood her meaning and Stiles, in a very Stiles fashion, started gagging.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

He started acting as if he was trying to keep the bile down his throat. "Sorry..." He choked out, "It's just... Derek? Heavenly?! Now there's two words I never imagined I'd hear in the same sentence!" He gave her an incredulous-slash-disgusted look.

Her eyebrow arched even higher as she gave him an amused smile. "You really never have seen Derek being flocked with girls, have you?"

"What?!" He asked surprised. "Well... no..." He admitted while Scott shook his head, they were both trying very hard to picture Derek Hale surrounded by girls without getting royally pissed off and the whole situation turning into one of those werewolf-on-a-rampage-mass-murder kinda scene.

She gave a tinkering laugh clearly seeing that these two boys knew nothing of Derek's powers of 'attraction' and 'persuasion', not to mention his wicked acting skills... God, that man could muster the most innocent of expressions at the most messed up situations, and that smile of his! It was so charming and hypnotizing you'd start doubting your own senses! Damn sneaky bastard! Damn sexy sneaky bastard!

"More importantly." She said sobering up and gave Scott her attention. Her eyes and expression grew serious and concerned. "Tell me, how have you been coping, Scott? Has your wolf been giving you too much trouble?"

"Well..." Scott hesitated, a bit surprised that she cared. Both boys shared a look silently discussing if it was a good idea to let her in on the situation, apparently they were both of the same mind on the matter. After all, what choice did they have? It was either they ask her or they ask Derek... and honestly, when one puts it that way... "I was actually thinking of going to ask Derek for some... advice... but, seeing as you're a werewolf too, and... no offence... but you are so much easier to talk to than him..." He trailed off hopefully.

She chuckled. "Yeah, I know... Derek isn't always the easiest person to deal with, and although I'd be more than happy to help... and don't get me wrong, I will help! But I think you will have to go to Derek eventually, let's just say Derek has a lot more experience than me in being a werewolf..."

They both looked confused. "But he said you were like him; that you were born a werewolf as well..." Stiles said hoping for an explanation.

She frowned a bit in concentration then sighed. "I see he hasn't told you much about me..." Then with a small fond smile she added, "Not that I expected any different... Well, other than the fact that he's older than me, let's just say I'm not a real wolf yet but I will be one very soon, hopefully… now-"

"What do you mean you will be one!?" Scott cut her off with an angry expression on his face. "Do you want the bite!? Are you serious!? Is that why you're with him!? Because you want the bite!?" He exclaimed incredulously.

Her expression turned stony in an instant, it was scary actually how someone could go from looking angelic to having a murderous look on their face. "The bite is a gift-" She started saying in a low voice yet strongly, with conviction.

"Is that what he told you too?!" Scott yelled. "That is a lie, the bite is-"

"Is. A. Gift." She interrupted with the same tone she had used before. "And a great responsibility. I've been born to be a wolf, I was raised to expect it, and I was trained so that my body accepts it. It's all I know and all I will ever be. I don't expect you to understand without knowing the full story, but for now let's just say we are not alike, not by a long shot, in a way I already am a werewolf."

"But-"

"But nothing Scott!" She gave him a pleading look. "Just leave it, alright? Now tell me, what is it that's making you stink of so much guilt and fear?"

He sighed in registration letting the matter go for the moment as he really did have more important matters on his hands. "It's a dream I had-"

"Wait a sec!" Stiles interrupted eyeing Kayla suspiciously. "I thought you said you weren't a werewolf? How did you know he stinks of guilt and fear then? Huh?"

She grinned at him, impressed that he'd caught on to that.

"You're a sharp one, aren't you? I think I'm starting to like you Stiles Stilinski, donno why Der says you're an idiot." She frowned thoughtfully at that thought, Derek said the boy was a complete idiot but from what she had seen so far he was anything but.

And of course Stiles' reaction was... well, a typical Stiles reaction, he turned bright red and started sputtering madly in embarrassment.

"Adorable..." She muttered giggling, not helping his flaming cheeks one bit. "Like I said, in some ways, I already am a werewolf." She explained mysteriously. "So... you were saying... a dream?"

"Yeah..." Replied Scott getting a worried expression on his face. "At least I thought it was a dream..." He sighed heavily. "It basically started off with me and Allison in the school bus and we were..." He cleared his throat uncomfortable to the idea of talking about something so personal to practically a stranger, but he really did have no choice... well, there was Derek of course but... yeah...

"Getting lovey-dovey..." She continued for him with a wicked smile.

"Y-yeah... that... so anyway, I lost control and chased her down and..." He trailed off again but this time for completely different reasons.

"Killed her." She completed his sentence again. "And then you woke up completely freaked out, you came to school, and, surprise, surprise! There the bus is, blood everywhere and a man injured..." She trailed off thoughtfully.

"I think I've already heard of a similar situation like this one before..." She told them, automatically switching to her know-it-all persona. "And it really is not as uncommon as you'd think...freshly bitten wolf, not bitten by choice, highly stressed, his creator calls, he responds to the call, working purely on instinct, the brain goes into a haze not sure if what's happening is reality or dream, it tries to make sense of what's going on, but the facts don't add up, your feelings are all over the place, you can't see straight, and BAM! That's basically the recipe for werewolf memory suppression; it all goes down to the fact that you are not yet able to fully control your shift or your natural werewolf instincts."

They both raised their eyebrows at her.

"What?" She asked with indignation. "In theory...it could work... maybe…"

"You... lost me..." Scott admitted wearing a typical Scott McCall dumb expression on his face.

"Alright... OK... so what you're saying is, Scott did go somewhere last night and he did something he can't remember...'cause..." Stiles started calmly. "'cause his brain freaked out!?" He exclaimed.

"Yep." She said popping her p.

"Alright... yeah... makes sense..." He told her grinning, eyeing her with new found admiration.

"What?! It makes sense?!" Scott asked his two grinning companions who were high-fiving each other from across the table. "It doesn't make 'sense'! How could I forget that I killed someone? Give me one big enough reason that could make someone forget killing another freakin human being!"

"Werewolf." Stiles and Kayla said simultaneously and then grinned at each other again.

"What? OK, whatever... just... until I get this thing sorted out, I'm not going out with Allison!" Scott said with forced registration.

"No! Dude, we went over this already! Just because of what happened doesn't mean you have to give up on your entire life! We'll just have to figure it out, OK?" Stiles said forcefully.

And that was when they were interrupted by the sound of a tray being placed on the table to Kayla's left.

"Figure what out?" Lydia asked with her usual high-handed smile as she dragged a chair beside Kayla, Her smile turning genuine when she turned to the girl.

"Hellooooo Lydia!" Kayla said in a sing-song thick British accent and a big smile on her face. They had met at advanced mathematics a few lessons previously and being the only freshmen taking that class they had instantly hit it off. They had both tried to comment on the others outfit at the same time and that was the beginning of an instant friendship, both were beautiful girls, possessors of an impeccable fashion sense and the sharpest of brains... was there any need for any more explanation?

"Hellooooo..." Lydia mimicked in a posh British accent and with a matching smile, then proceeded to eye the boys suspiciously.

Stiles made a sound that couldn't be described as anything but the beginning of an incredulous-slash-sarcastic laugh, and looked with wide eyes and a slack jaw at Scott.

"Just... err... homework..." Scott said lamely.

"Yeah..." Stiles confirmed sounding just as pathetic.

Lydia eyed them for a moment obviously not buying it then giving a fake smile she turned back to Kayla.

Stiles leaned in across the table with a confused expression on his face. "Why's she sitting with us?" He whisper asked an equally confused Scott.

"I don't know? Kayla maybe...?" Scott guessed noticing the ruckus around them and then Allison. He smiled at her and removed his bag from the chair on his right so that she could sit beside him.

"Thanks..." She said giving him a bright smile.

Stiles smiled at the newcomers with fake enthusiasm and Danny tried to discreetly avoid his eyes after taking a seat to his right.

"Kayla Diana Holden! How dare you not say hi to your best friend!?" Asked a teasingly angry voice as its owner placed her tray to Stiles' left with an exaggerated thump.

"Ruby! Honey! Oh my God!" Kayla stood up from her chair and hurried towards the other girl, they met by the head of the table and hugged each other in a tight embrace bouncing with excitement. They would have been downright jumping if it weren't for the high heels they were in. After a few more exclamations of 'Oh my God's and 'I missed you's they drew back from each other still holding each other's hands.

Ruby was a blond of average height, her golden hair naturally straight and her skin just as naturally tanned, she had lovely hazel eyes and delicate features, a small chin and a cute nose. She was beautiful and the males of Beacon Hills High fought over her just as much as they fought over Lydia Martin. Although she was just as shopaholic and practically the only girl Lydia liked in the whole school -before Allison and Kayla turned up that is- their attitudes were completely different. Ruby was the kind of girl who was badass when she wanted to be, an angel when she pleased and no guy could fool around with her if he didn't want to get his ass kicked. OK, so she slaughtered them with words but she still did it while kicking ass.

"My God! Look at you! You look gorgeous, Hun!" Kayla exclaimed to a giggling Ruby.

"Me!? Look at you! You look like a freakin supermodel! Please do tell me how mister sexy-pants manages to keep his hands off of you?!"

"Simple." Kayla stated with a wicked grin. "He doesn't!" They both laughed and hugged briefly again.

"I thought you said you'd be arriving tomorrow!" Ruby accused as they both went back to their seats.

"I did and that was the original plan but... I managed to settle some things in New York earlier than I thought I would... plus I was anxious to see Derek so... when I reached town it was like 3am and had only my duffle bag on me as my luggage was being held off at the airport for some stupid reason-it should have reached your house by now actually-... I'm sorry I didn't go straight to your house... but you know what the situation is like... Derek..." Kayla tried to explain in halted short sentences trying not to say too much in such public a setting.

"Nah, it's fine, no need to apologize, I understand." Ruby reassured her with a sad smile, she knew exactly what the situation was like.

"Get up." Jackson stated simply as he stared down at the guy sitting at the head of the table with a hard glare.

"Why do you never ask Danny to get up?" The guy complained.

"Because I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot." Danny stated simply as the guy left the seat with Jackson giving him a slight push for good measure.

Lydia smiled at Danny then turned to Kayla and Ruby who were now sitting on opposite sides of the table, one squeezed between Lydia and Scott and the other sitting on Stiles' left.

"So I see you girls know each other?" Lydia asked innocently with a flutter of her eyelashes.

Kayla swatted her on the arm with a huge smile on her face. "Oh, pleaaaase! As if you didn't know!"

Lydia laughed. "I didn't!" She insisted but she couldn't help but let a smug smile escape.

Both girls looked at her with raised unbelieving eyebrows.

"Alright so maybe I did... or at least suspected..." She relented as the three laughed.

"Alright, Alright! Whatever... more importantly..." Lydia said eyeing Kayla with a mischievous smile. "Kayla... spill!" She ordered.

"What?" Kayla asked with an innocent smile of her own.

"Oh, don't look at me like that! You know exactly what I mean! Who's the guy?!" She asked grinning.

"What guy?" Asked Jackson with genuine curiosity.

"Her boyfriend, of course!" Lydia told him with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh! I didn't know you had a boyfriend." He told Kayla.

"Of course you wouldn't!" Lydia said irritated. "She didn't tell me about him yet, so why would she tell you?"

"Really? She didn't tell you? Then how exactly do you know she has a boyfriend?" He snapped back.

"The jacket." She stated simply like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"The jacket?" He repeated sarcastically.

"It's leather, several sizes bigger than her, and I thought I could smell aftershave a while ago when I passed by her... Why exactly would a girl like Kayla smell like aftershave? Either she got it from making out with a guy who had just applied it or it's the jacket, I'm willing to bet it's the jacket..." Danny quickly explained trying to stop his two friends' bickering.

"That's right!" Lydia complimented him with a proud underline to her tone. "And I'm willing to bet both! Plus, I'm pretty sure if Kayla ever bought a leather jacket, it would be a perfect fit, perfectly hugging her every curve!" She winked at Kayla.

Kayla laughed. "My God! Who are you two? Sherlock and Watson?!" She teased.

Lydia waved her off and jumped right into the questioning. "So... tell me, who is he? Do I know him? Is he hot? Is he from New York?"

Ruby laughed at Kayla's uneasy expression. "They got you good there Kay, plus I'm pretty sure you knew this would happen when you put that jacket on, and don't even try to convince me otherwise!" She told her with a teasing look.

"Alright! Alright I give!" She exclaimed raising her hands in surrender. "What is this? Gang up on Kayla day?" She shook her head in amusement. "Alright, where do I start... yes, he's hot, super crazy hot! And I think you do know him... you might even have met him actually..."

"Yeah, he has been in town for a few days, hasn't he?" Said Ruby, "From what I heard Stiles and Scott know him and... Actually, now that I think about it... Allison met him too."

The two boys mentioned snapped their heads up to look at her in alarm, how much exactly did she know?

"I did?" Allison asked confused.

"Yeah! That night at Lydia's party, you said he offered to drive you home, right?"

"Oh! You mean Derek!? He's your boyfriend!?" Allison asked grinning at Kayla wickedly.

"Yep!" Kayla admitted with a proud grin on her face. "He's hot isn't he?"

"Err.. Yeah!?" Allison said in a duh!? tone.

Scott stared at his girlfriend with a look of betrayal on his face.

"What?" She asked him with a defensive tone to her voice. "I'm not saying I'm in love with him, but the man is hot, I can't deny that!"

"Derek? You mean Derek Hale? Isn't he like five years older than us!? An older guy?! I liiiiiiike that!... OK! This is sooooo not fair! How is it you all met this hottie and I still haven't!? What more, he was at my own party and I didn't even see him!" Lydia complained.

"Well... he will be picking me up after school... you can meet him then if you like..." Kayla offered.

"I'd love that!"

"OK, OK, guys!" Stiles interrupted the girls. "Aren't you all forgetting a little something, here!? He's Derek Hale! The guy was thrown in jail a couple of days ago because he was a suspect in his own sister's murder!?"

The moment the words left him mouth, he was met with two angry death glares from both Ruby and Kayla. For a moment there he had a sudden sense of déjà vu and could practically see someone unmentionable reflected in the two girls' glares.

"Aaaand he was let out. I don't know what the police were thinking, but I for one think he's innocent." Surprisingly it was Lydia who contradicted him.

"And how do you know that!?" He asked more than a little shocked that Lydia had even bothered to share her opinion in the matter, especially to him.

She raised an eyebrow at him and stated simply. "Ruby got all defensive the other day when we were talking about the arrest, It was the first time I've ever seen her defend a guy, if she thinks he had nothing to do with it then so do I."

"You defended him!?" Stiles asked Ruby incredulously.

She glared at him and said forcefully. "Derek would never hurt Laura."

"And...How exactly do you know that!?"

"Because! She was the only family he had left! Derek loved her! He'd never hurt her!" Ruby yelled at him her eyes alight with anger.

"Rubes..." Kayla warned looking at her best friend pointedly, this was not a conversation she should be having with someone outside of the pack, Laura's death was a sore subject as it was, and neither Derek nor the two girls nor anyone in the pack for that matter, were past their grief yet.

Kayla could feel the tears starting to burn her eyes already, she took a deep calming breath, Laura would hate seeing her like this! At that thought she shook her head and plastered on a smile, a forced smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"So..." Danny started saying trying to change the subject and break the silence that had followed Ruby's burst of anger; he could clearly see how upset the two girls were. It was totally understandable, Ruby always went on about her two friends from New York and how close she was to both of them; he could only imagine how that much closer Kayla must have been to the deceased girl. "I hear they're saying yesterday's attack was some type of animal attack? Probably a cougar?"

"I heard mountain lion." Jackson contradicted him.

"Cougar is a mountain lion." Lydia stated calmly, then at Jackson's frown she hastily tried to cover up for her slip from the dumb-blond act she had going on so she continued, "Isn't it?"

Kayla frowned at her, she'd noticed more than once that the girl tried to act like a dumb bimbo around people when what she really was, was a genius! It was really starting to get on her nerves, as a fellow genius she knew exactly how it felt to be the outcast, to be that person in the group that actually was on a higher intellectual level but couldn't be himself because he'd get judged and ultimately hated, Derek had helped her stand up to those people who had been determined to call her a freak and be confident in herself, so, she had decided to make it her goal to help Lydia do the same.

"Who cares?" Jackson asked in his usual ass attitude.

"Actually..." Kayla interrupted. "Yes, they are the same, cougar, mountain lion, puma, panther, or catamount, they are all different names for the same large cat of the family Felidae." She said eyeing Lydia meaningfully.

They all gave her weird looks while Lydia shrugged giving her a half smile only to get an amused crooked grin and a raised eyebrow in return.

"I like animals." She said as an explanation to all their questioning glances after turning to defiantly face their judgmental looks.

"Whatever." Jackson said again. "The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyway."

"Jackson." Kayla reprimanded throwing a serious, disappointed look his way.

Jackson's eyes flickered to hers and he gave her a bit of a sheepish grin, for some unearthly reason -he himself didn't know of- he actually cared for her opinion.

"Actually," Stiles interrupted with a solemn look on his face. "I just found out who it is." He moved his cell-phone to the middle of the table so that everyone could have a look. Stiles jumped slightly when Ruby placed her hand on his arm and leaned in on it so that she could see better and locked eyes with her, she gave him a bit of an apologetic smile for snapping at him before which he returned with a red faced embarrassed one.

"The Sheriff's department won't speculate on details of the incident but confirmed the victim, Garrison Meyers, did survive the attack. Meyers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition..." The reporter went on as the picture of a smiling man in his fifties appeared on the screen.

"l-l-l l know this guy!" Said Scott with a worried expression on his face.

"You do?" Asked Allison.

"Yeah, when I used to take the bus, back when I lived with my dad... he was the driver..." Scott explained.

Stiles leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please." said Lydia in a bored voice. "Like...Oh! Where are we going tomorrow night?" She asked Allison.

Allison froze as the meaning of Lydia's words sunk in. Scott on the other hand looked at her with the beginning of a very pissed off look.

"You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow night, right?" Lydia asked.

Allison tried to swallow and think of a way out of the situation as she saw the look Scott was giving her. "Err... we were thinking about what we were gonna do..." She trailed off not knowing what else to say.

Stiles' eyes widened meeting with Kayla's and Ruby's equally wide ones as they exchanged incredulous looks.

"Well!" Lydia started. "I'm not sitting home again watching Lacrosse videos, so if the four of us are hanging out... we're doing something fun... better yet... why don't you and Derek join us? It'd be fun, right?" She asked looking at Kayla expectantly.

"Me and Derek? Err... no, I don't think so..." Kayla started, trying not to ruin Scott's supposed date even more than it already was.

"Yeah, I don't think Derek would like 'hanging out' with teenagers..." Ruby said adding air quotes to the words 'hanging out'.

Kayla nodded. "Plus, I think I remember him telling me he had something to do tomorrow night..."

"Too bad... another time then?" Lydia asked with a bit of disappointment.

"Yeah... if he has no problem with it... why not?" Kayla said leaving out the fact that there was no way in hell he wouldn't have a problem with it.

Lydia nodded then went to look expectantly at the couple at Kayla's right.

Scott turned to Allison with a panicked expression.

"H-h-hanging out?" He asked looking at a wide eyed Allison, and occasionally throwing glances Stiles' way. Allison shrugged helplessly at him, she really didn't like what was happening either but could think of no way out of the situation. "Like, the four of us...?"

Stiles closed his eyes and frowned as he placed his hand over his mouth and shook his head, Ruby smacked her forehead lightly and closed her eyes as if in pain while Kayla played with the food in her plate as she chewed on her lower lip.

"Do you wanna hang out, like us and... them?" Scott asked her.

"Yeah..." She said. "I guess...sounds fun..."

"You know what else sounds fun?" Jackson asked with a sarcastic look, then grabbing a fork from the table he added, "Stabbing myself in the face with this fork!"

Lydia hastily removed the fork from his hand and Stiles rolled his eyes and motioned with his hand as if to say 'Oh! pleaaase! Drama Queen!'

"How about bowling?" Lydia suggested with enthusiasm trying to persuade her boyfriend. "You love to bowl!"

"Yeah, with actual competition." He told her removing her hand from his knee.

Stiles' expressions were going from incredulous to downright unbelieving by the second, and Kayla was currently trying not to laugh at how ridiculous the situation was getting and how even more ridiculous Stiles' expressions were becoming.

"How do you know we're not actual competition?" Allison asked with a confident expression daring him to look down on them. "You can bowl right?" She asked Scott looking bad-ass.

"Sort of..." Scott answered seeming on the verge of a panic attack.

Jackson leaned over the table pushing his tray to the side. "Is it sort of?... or yes?"

"Yes." Scott lied, and even without being able to hear his uneven heartbeat proving his lie, Kayla could easily read it on his face. "In fact, I'm a great bowler!"


OK, so this is the first part of pack mentality... i have a few more chapters done so I'll definitely post them soon... Hope you guys liked it and please don't hesitate to review!