Chapter One: Wolf Moon, Pt. 1
-Ash-
It was late Sunday night on the last weekend of winter break and both Scott and I were preparing for the first day back at school. I was sitting on top of my bed, rifling through papers and folders that I needed to get organized for tomorrow. For some reason, my honors literature teacher had decided that he wanted to assign a reading assignment and paper to be due the first day back. I'd struggled the whole two week break with reading the boring book and trying to write a 6-page essay.
I gave up and shoved all of my papers in my backpack, deciding to let the mess be a problem for future Ash McCall, and picked up the book I was currently reading from the nightstand by my bed. It was called Zodiac and had been recommended to me by a school acquaintance. I blocked out Scott's music as I leaned back and flipped to the page I was currently on.
It was about 15 minutes after I'd given up on preparing for school that I heard it. A noise that was a cross between scratching and creaking. I could tell my twin heard it too as his music was shut off, letting both of us hear the mysterious noise more clearly. I swung my legs out of bed and stood up to cross the floor and stick my head out the door.
Scott was just exiting his room, pulling on a hoodie, with a baseball bat in hand.
"Did you hear that?" he asked me. I nodded and stepped out of my room, following him down the stairs.
It was a dark foggy night, perfect for getting murdered. I stuck close to my brother's back as he slowly stepped outside, surveying the area around the porch. There was another noise and Scott moved towards the edge of the porch, only for his best friend to swing upside down into his view.
Both Stiles and Scott alternated yelling as Scott braced himself to hit something. My heart rate slowed as I saw that it was just Stiles and I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Stiles, what the hell are you doing?" Scott yelled, still not lowering the bat.
"You weren't answering your phone," Stiles exclaimed. "Why do you have a bat?"
Scott huffed. "I thought you were a predator."
"A pre-" Stiles cut himself off with a laugh. "Look, I know it's late but you guys have got to hear this. I saw my dad leave 20 minutes ago. Dispatch called, they're bringing in every officer in Beacon Department and even state police." Stiles was grinning.
"For what?" I moved to stand by Scott and shook my head at Stiles.
"Two joggers found a body in the woods," Stiles answered, twisting to let himself drop down to the lawn.
"A dead body?" Scott asked.
"No, a body of water," the buzz-cut boy answered sarcastically, shaking his head. "Yes, dumbass, a dead body." He climbed over the railing to stand on the porch with us.
"You mean like murdered?"
"Nobody knows yet," Stiles said, putting his hands on his hips. "Just that it was a girl, probably in her twenties."
"Hold on, if they found the body then what are they looking for?" I butted in.
"That's the best part," Stiles grinned. "They only found half. We're going." He pointed between the three of us.
"Not a good idea, Stiles," I said, shaking my head, and angling to go back inside before Stiles caught my arm and whined.
"Come on, it'll be fun!"
After less than a minute of Stiles pleading, Scott caved. I rolled my eyes and huffed. "Fine. Let me put on shoes and grab a jacket."
Stiles fist pumped and grinned, following us inside. Scott and Stiles waited downstairs as I pulled on jeans and my converse. I made sure they were still downstairs before I pulled my trunk from underneath my bed. I popped the false bottom and pulled out Glock 26, checking that the safety was on before I shoved it in my waistband. I pulled on a bulky hoodie to hide it and slipped the case back under my bed.
Beacon Hills was not a safe place, especially at night, and there was no way I was going to let my twin brother and I walk into the preserve without some protection. I walked down the stairs and joined up with the two boys in the living room.
Scott helped me push the front seat forward so I could get out of Stiles's jeep when we arrived at the preserve. It was cold and I shivered as I watched Scott pull his hood up.
"Are we seriously doing this?" Scott asked. I rolled my eyes...it was a little late to say no now that we were already here.
"You're the one that always bitches that nothing ever happens in this town," Stiles shot back, climbing over the chain and into the preserve.
I followed Stiles.
"I was trying to get a good night's sleep before practice tomorrow," Scott admitted.
"Right," Stiles drawled. "Because sitting on the bench is such a grueling effort."
"No, because, I'm playing this year," Scott retorted. "In fact, I'm making first line."
"Hey, that's the spirit. Everyone should have a dream, even a pathetically unrealistic one."
I slapped Stiles's shoulder and he rubbed the spot, shrugging and giving me a face like I should know it was true.
"Just out of curiosity, which half of the body are we looking for?" Scott asked.
Stiles paused walking for a moment. "Huh, I didn't even think about that."
"And what if whoever killed the body is still out here?" I inquired.
"Also something I didn't think about," Stiles admitted.
"Comforting to know you've planned this out with your usual attention to detail," Scott muttered sarcastically as we climbed a particularly steep hill. My twin's breathing was getting labored and I was getting weak trying to climb as fast as the two of them. Health issues prevented both of us from keeping up with Stiles, who was a hyperactive ball of energy 24/7.
"Maybe the, uh, severe asthmatic should be the one holding the flashlight, huh?" Scott reached the top and slumped against a tree, digging his inhaler out of his hoodie pocket. Stiles and I hit the top of another small hill and he pulled me to the forest floor, rather painfully, and I felt Scott throw himself down next to me as we spotted flashlights and dogs ahead.
Stiles grinned. "Ah come on."
"Stiles!" Scott exclaimed as Stiles shot up and off, leaving the two of us in hiding. I refused to leave Scott as he shook his inhaler and took a puff of it before getting up and going after our friend. "Wait up! Stiles!"
"Stiles!" I called.
A dog barked, frightening the teenager and causing him to fall backwards.
"Stay right there!" A cop ordered, shining a light in Stiles's eyes. I grabbed Scott's arm and pulled us behind a tree.
"Hang on, hang on! This little delinquent belongs to me," Sheriff Stilinski said as he walked up to his son. I shook my head, cursing Stiles to the heavens for dragging us out into this mess.
"Dad, how are you doing?" Stiles asked as he stood up, shaking his head as if still blinded by the flashlight.
"So, uh, do you listen in to all of my phone calls?" I could practically see the disappointment on the sheriff's face.
"No," Stiles answered. "Not the boring ones." I shook my head as Scott took another puff of his inhaler.
"Dumbass," I whispered under my breath.
"Where's your usual partners in crime?"
"What, Scott? Ash? They're home," Stiles lied. "Scott said he wanted to get a good night's sleep for first day back at school tomorrow. Ash said she liked being boring. It's just me in the woods, alone."
A flashlight shone on the trees surrounding us.
"Scott? Ash? You out there?" Sheriff demanded. I pressed further up against the tree as my twin and I stayed quiet. "Ashlyn? Scott?"
I rolled my eyes. I hated being called by my full name. Only my dad ever called me by it.
The Sheriff sighed. "Well, young man, I'm gonna walk you back to your car and you and I are going to have a conversation about something called invasion of privacy." He put his hand on the back of Stiles's neck and pulled him towards the entrance to the preserve.
Scott silently cursed next to me, thumping his head on the tree, and I groaned. Thunder rolled in the sky and we waited for the cops to be gone before Scott took my hand and pulled me away from the tree.
Normally, I knew my way around the preserve. In the daylight I knew every way around the forest. But with the fog and clouds covering the moon and putting everything in darkness, I had no idea where we were.
I reached to grab my phone to call Nadia to pick us up before realizing that I had left it in the backseat of the jeep.
"I vote we never listen to Stiles again," I huffed, eyes swimming. I didn't have the energy to be running around in the forest all night. Especially not after the day I'd had Saturday.
"Agreed," Scott wheezed, pulling out his inhaler again, staring at the forest ahead of us.
A herd of deer charged from the woods, straight at us. One knocked Scott backwards and I saw his inhaler going flying before I, too, was thrown to the ground. I rolled and covered my head as deer jumped over us or came close to hitting their hooves into our faces.
Scott sat up first after they were gone and I slowly lifted my head.
"You okay?" he asked. I nodded slightly and pushed myself off the ground. "My inhaler…"
I grimaced and watched as he pulled out his phone to shine a light on the ground, sweeping through the leaves to find his inhaler. It was one in a long line of replacements from getting broken or lost, usually because of Stiles.
I kept close to him and tried to look for it the best I could in the darkness.
"We're not gonna find it, Scott," I said. "We should try finding a way out."
"I can't afford another one," he stubbornly responded, shining his light in an arc in front of him. All of a sudden Scott let out a yell and stumbled backwards, rolling out of sight.
"Scott!" I cried out, barely noticing the incline before I would have fallen after him.
"Ash!" He yelled back, breathy, after a few moments of me waiting in silent suspense. "I'm fine! But I can't get back up. We'll have to find our own ways out!"
I grimaced. I did not like the idea of splitting up one bit.
"How'd you fall?" One minute he'd been fine and the next he was flailing like he'd seen a ghost.
"The...the body," he told me, voice distant. I froze, turning around.
A dark shape laid on the ground and their features were barely visible in what little moonlight shone through the clouds. I could still see the dark wet blood and entrails hanging out the waist. The girl was naked and her unseeing eyes stared off into nothing. I choked back a sob. It was Laura Hale.
Before I could even begin to freak out at seeing her lying there, a low growl shuddered through the forest, putting goosebumps on my arms. I turned slightly, slipping my arm back to my waistband to pull out my gun, before finding it missing. I cursed loudly, it must have slipped out when the deer trampled us.
I heard the growl again from behind me and started running, tripping over branches and trees that I couldn't see in the darkness. I barely heard the heavy feet behind me before I was struck from behind.
I was spun around and landed heavily on my shoulders, the rest of my body flipping over me with a painful thud. My head hit a tree and everything went dark.
"Ash...Ash...Ash!" Someone was calling my name from far away, like they were talking underwater. I slowly rose to the surface as their voice got louder and I registered hands on my shoulders.
"Scott?" I blinked slowly and groaned at the pain in my head. My brother came into focus, leaning over me with a concerned and slightly pained look on his face. He let out a small sigh as he saw my eyes and stood, gripping my hand to pull me up.
I looked around us and frowned. We were on the edge of the woods next to the road leading into town, nowhere near where I had been when I'd lost consciousness.
"What happened?" I asked Scott, turning to him. He pulled my hand and we started walking towards town.
"After we got separated, there was this thing. It attacked and bit me. I ran and ended up on this road," Scott said. "I almost got hit by a car and that's when I saw you lying there, in the ditch. How'd you get there?"
"I don't know," I told him honestly. I had gotten hit at least a mile into the forest and there was no way I'd walked that far without knowing. From the throbbing pain in my head, I'd probably been unconscious the entire time. Someone had to have moved me.
"Let's get home," Scott suggested, pulling his hood up as it started to rain. A long howl echoed from the trees and I shivered, moving closer to my brother as we started walking. It was going to be a long night.
The next morning I caught a ride with my best friend, Nadia, to school. I didn't tell her about what happened the previous night, for multiple reasons. The first reason was that with my previous health issues, going into the woods when it was below 40 and raining was not good for me. Secondly, she was the one who had taught me more about all of the dangers in Beacon Hills, the one who had opened my eyes to what really happened after dark. I'd known about werewolves from the Hales, but I learned about everything else and how to protect myself from her and her older brother. If she knew that I went out into the preserve in the middle of the night with only my gun for backup, I'd never hear the end of it.
When we got to school, I saw my brother and Stiles off to the side, talking. They were probably discussing the previous night.
"Hey, I'll meet you in class," I told Nadia. She saw who I was headed to talk to and nodded. She and Stiles did not get along very well. In fact, the two of them insulted each other more than Dean cussed on Supernatural.
"Because California doesn't have wolves," Stiles was saying as I walked up next to the two boys. I raised an eyebrow at the conversation. "Not in like, 60 years."
"Really?" Scott furrowed his eyebrows.
"Yes really. There are no wolves in California," Stiles insisted.
"Didn't we hear a wolf howling last night?" Scott turned to me.
I nodded. "It was pretty loud." Stiles didn't look convinced.
"Well if you don't believe me about the wolf, you're definitely not gonna believe me when I say that we found the body," Scott smirked. Stiles jerked, a huge grin on his face.
"Are you kidding me?" he asked like a giddy child on Halloween.
"I wish, I'm gonna have nightmares for a month," my brother admitted. I winced as I thought back to seeing Laura's body. I'd already had nightmares and finding her would just add to them.
Stiles chuckled. "That is freaking awesome. I mean this is seriously going to be the best thing to happen in this town since the...since the birth of Lydia Martin. Hey Lydia. You look...like you're gonna ignore me."
"Hey Ash," Lydia greeted as she walked past, completely disregarding the two teenage boys I was with.
I wouldn't say Lydia and I were close friends, but we were in some of the same classes. I also was one of the few who knew how smart she actually was since she'd helped me with schoolwork when I was trying to get through my first round of hospital visits. She was one of five people who knew about my cancer.
"You're the cause of this you know," Stiles said, turning to Scott.
"Uh huh," Scott agreed.
"Dragging me down to your nerd depths. I'm a nerd by association."
I shook my head as the bell rang and I walked ahead of the two friends and into our classes.
"I'm scarlet nerded by you."
I took my seat in front of Scott for class, taking a glance at the syllabus in front of me. The teacher droned on about the body found in the woods before telling the class to look over the syllabus. I rolled my eyes and quickly skimmed the sheet.
The door opened and the principal walked in, followed by a pretty brunette.
"Class, this is our new student, Allison Argent. Please do your best to make her feel welcome," the principal said. Allison let out a shy forced smile and walked down our row, taking the empty seat behind Scott.
"We'll begin with Kafka's Metamorphosis on page 133," the teacher announced. Class dragged by slowly and I almost died in relief when the bell rang to let us out.
A few class periods later and I was at my locker, spinning the combination into it while Scott leaned against his, glancing across the hall. I opened mine and noticed he was distracted before following his gaze. I found him making eye contact with Allison, the new girl who joined our class. She was smiling at him and glanced at me, giving me a smile as well, before Lydia walked up to her.
"Where did you get that jacket? It's absolutely killer," Lydia commented. I could barely hear what they were saying, but I was able to make out those words. I couldn't hear Allison's response, so I turned back to my locker to shove my textbooks away.
Stiles and another one of our friends walked up then as Scott drew his gaze away from the girls across the hall for just a brief second.
"Can someone tell me how new girl is here all of five minutes and she's already hanging out with Lydia's clique?" Samantha asked us. All of us looked over and I saw that Jackson had joined them, his arm around Lydia's waist.
"Because she's hot," Stiles simply said, "beautiful people herd together." He and Scott continued to stare over at Allison and Lydia, causing me to roll my eyes. Their ogling was very obvious and bordering on creepy.
I blocked out Stiles and Samantha's conversation and pulled my last book from my locker, slamming it shut. Scott was still watching Allison with a little half-smile on his face. I waved my hand in front of his face.
"Scott? Hello? Anyone in there?" I called. He blinked a few times and looked down at me. "You need to put your stuff away before lacrosse, or did you forget about the rest of the world except for new girl?"
Scott rolled his eyes at me and finished opening his locker, throwing his backpack in there before joining us as we walked towards the locker room. Stiles and Scott were both on lacrosse, and both second-string before now. I was on the club team in middle school and the first semester of freshman year, but after finding out about my cancer, I had to quit. Coach was another one of the five people in my life who knew about it, and he graciously let me be team manager, and sometimes coach, just so that I could continue to be a part of the team. I even got to continue wearing my jersey. I had been in remission for six months, but I still needed to get my skills back up to playing level before I could rejoin.
I left the boys at the locker room to change and continued on towards the field. Coach and a few of the players were already out there, with the stands filling up with students who wanted to watch. Lacrosse was a bit of a big deal here, and it was a popular pastime in our small town to watch practices since there was almost nothing else to do.
By the time Scott and Stiles jogged out to the bench, I had my thick jacket on and windbreaker around my neck, holding a clipboard as I checked each player off as at practice.
"But if you play, I'll have no one to talk to on the bench," Stiles protested, breathing heavily as they jogged. "Are you really going to do that to your best friend."
"I can't sit out again," Scott answered. "My whole life has been sitting on the sidelines. This season, I make first line. Besides, you'll have Ash to talk to."
"No, Ash is always with coach or yelling at the players for a stupid move. She doesn't sit on the bench," Stiles said.
"Not true," I responded. "Occasionally, I sit on the bench during each quarter." Stiles pointed at me like I'd just proved his point. It didn't matter, though, because Scott had gotten distracted as he watched Allison climb the bleachers with Lydia before making eye contact with him.
"McCall!" Coach Finstock yelled as he walked over to us. Both Scott and my head's turned, looking at him for confirmation. "Male McCall."
"Yeah?"
Finstock threw a pile of gear at my brother and I winced as he dropped his own to catch it, still managing to drop a couple items. "You're in goal."
"But I've never played," Scott trailed off. I shook my head as I watched Greenberg finally get out to the field for practice. A small part of me wanted to leave his box blank just so that he would get a chewing-out from coach, but I didn't. The creep would have deserved it, though, after staring at my ass for an entire game once. The only reason I knew was because Stiles had seen him doing it and almost punched the dude when he started talking about my ass.
"I know. Scoring some shots will give the boys a confidence boost. First day back thing," Finstock told him, waving a hand around. "Get 'em energized. Fire them up!"
"What about me?" Scott asked. I shook my head-he was going to get his butt whooped.
"Try not to take any in the face," Finstock said, lightly tapping Scott's cheek as he walked away. My brother turned to me, bewilderment on his face.
"You should probably get to goal. Just...try not to take any in the face like coach said?" I trailed off, unsure how to make it better. "Maybe you'll score one. I'm sure Stiles won't be able to make it past you."
"Hey!" Stiles protested, jumping up from the bench where he was tying his shoes before almost falling flat on his face.
"Let's go, come on!" Finstock yelled, blowing his whistle to get the guys all lined up. Scott put all the gear on and shot one last glance at the stands before nervously walking over to the goal. He looked every bit an awkward teenager who didn't know what he was doing.
I blew my whistle to get the boys focused and begin the exercise and furrowed my eyebrows as Scott grabbed the sides of his helmet, as if the noise had hurt his ears. The first lacrosse player ran up and threw the ball before Scott was ready, and I let the whistle drop from my mouth. He stood up straight at the last second and the ball hit him straight in the face, knocking him back into the goal. I groaned and slapped a hand over my face as the others, including Finstock, laughed. Stiles was the only one who winced in sympathy as Scott hung his head and stood up. He pulled his shoulders back and gripped the lacrosse stick tightly, looking like he was determined not to make a fool of himself again.
The next ball flew and Scott quickly reached out and caught it with the net. My brother looked at it as if he were confused, then smiled as he looked back out at the field. The next boy in line shifted his stance as the others poked their heads around to see that he had, indeed, caught the ball. Stiles did a double take from his spot on the bench next to me before yelling out a quick praise.
Scott caught the next few, to cheers and whoops from people in the stands, mostly Stiles. I was slightly in shock at seeing just how much his winter break training had improved his skills. I knew he had gotten better, but I didn't know he'd gotten that much better.
The atmosphere changed when Jackson cut to the front of the line, slapping a stick across the first player's chest to prevent him from going forward. Instead, the current captain picked up the ball in his net and ran at the goal. It seemed like everyone held their breath as he threw it at the goal...and Scott caught it. Stiles jumped off the stands and cheered, while I just stood there with a shocked laugh coming out. More cheering came from the stands, and especially from Lydia. Jackson glanced over at her like he couldn't believe she was cheering for Scott, but she just sent him a "do better next time" look and went back to clapping.
Scott tossed the ball over his shoulder and it landed in the net of the next player's stick, giving a chin nod to Allison and smiling. I rolled my eyes but smiled at my brother's notable increase in popularity just from catching a few goals.
Practice passed by quickly and uneventfully, with more exercises and a mock game following Scott's performance as goalie. I grabbed my bag from the bench and waited out by Stiles's jeep as the boys changed into their regular clothes. I turned to my most recent page in my book as I sat on the hood and waited.
"Ash, what did I say about not sitting on my car!" Stiles yelled from across the parking lot. "It's old and doesn't need the added stress of you sitting on it!"
I smirked and slid down. "Stiles, if it can haul your ass everyone under the sun, it can handle mine on the hood." Scott shook his head at our banter.
"Come on, let it go Stiles," he said, opening the front door of the jeep and letting me climb in to sit in the backseat. "We have to find my inhaler or mom will flip."
"That's the truth," I muttered, leaning back to rest my head against the back of the seat. We arrived at the preserve and I wished that I hadn't dropped my gun the night before. I couldn't very well go searching for a gun with Scott and Stiles there. I'd have to come back later without them, and probably as Nadia or Carter to come along seeing as I'd gotten attacked the night before.
We splashed through a creek as we crossed the preserve, the boys still talking about practice.
"I don't know what it was," Scott admitted. "It was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball." Stiles extended a hand to help me climb up the small embankment before we continued after Scott, ducking under branches.
"And that's not the only weird thing. I hear things I shouldn't be able to hear...smell things," he trailed off. I stiffened as he described everything that was happening. I had a hunch as to what was going on, but I was hoping to god that I was wrong.
"Smell things?" Stiles asked. "Like what?"
"Like the mint mojito gum in your pocket," Scott answered. "Or the flowery perfume that Ash put on yesterday morning."
"I don't even have any mint mojito gum in my pocket," Stiles said, shuffling through his pockets before frowning and pulling out a piece of gum. I sniffed at my jacket and could just barely smell the perfume I'd put on yesterday.
Scott raised his arms like someone who knew they'd been proven right and turned to continue moving through the forest. Stiles and I jogged to catch up and fall into step beside him.
"So, all this started with the bite?" Stiles confirmed.
"What if it's like an infection of some kind? My body's flooding with adrenaline before I go into shock or something?" Scott theorized. I bit my lip, unable to tell my brother what I knew was happening. Not him, anyone but him.
"You know, I think I've heard of this," Stiles threw out. "It's a specific kind of infection."
Scott drew to a halt and spun to face Stiles. I almost ran into his back but caught myself at the last minute. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah," Stiles said, putting his hands on his waist as he dropped the news. "Yeah, I think it's called lycanthropy." My eyes closed shut and I cursed every god that had ever existed in any religion. Of course Stiles was a huge nerd and knew about lycans. They were going to figure it out...or rather, Stiles was going to figure it out and then I'd have a happy-go-lucky nerd and a werewolf to chase around Beacon Hills.
"What's that?" Scott asked, panic lacing his voice. "Is that bad?"
"Oh yea, it's the worse," Stiles answered nonchalantly. "But only once a month."
"Once a month?" Scott repeated. I visibly facepalmed when he still didn't understand.
"Mhm, on the night of the full moon," Stiles said, howling softly. I groaned at his pathetic attempt at a growl as Scott smiled and hit him in the chest."Hey, you two were the ones who said you heard a wolf howling."
We continued on walking through the forest and I tried to keep my heartbeat from increasing too much. Obviously Stiles was just joking, but the two of them were so close to the truth that it was going to become dangerous soon.
"There could be something seriously wrong with me," Scott protested.
"I know, you're a werewolf!" Stiles exclaimed. I resisted the urge to punch him in the throat. He shouldn't be yelling that in a preserve that was known to the supernatural world as a nice hang out spot. He growled lightly before catching the look on Scott's face. "Okay, look, I'm obviously kidding. But, if you see me in shop class trying to melt all the silver I can find, it's cause Friday is a full moon."
I rolled my eyes, this time at the myth that silver killed werewolves. Scott turned to me, sighing. "What do you think?"
"I think Stiles has been reading a little too much of his comic books," I answered. We came to a stop in one of the places we'd walked in last night.
"I could've sworn this was it. I saw the body, the deer came running, I dropped my inhaler," Scott knelt down. "Right, Ash? Doesn't this look familiar?"
I nodded as Stiles replied. "Maybe the killer moved the body?"
"If he did, I hope he left my inhaler. Those things are like 80 bucks," Scott said. I drew my gaze away from him and stiffened in shock as I saw a man dressed in all black appear twenty feet away. Stiles saw him next and jumped, slapping Scott on the back to get him to stand up. He moved slightly in front of me as the man started walking towards us.
As he got closer, I realized that he actually wasn't that much older than us. When he got even closer, I realized that it was not just a young man, but it was a young man I knew. Derek Hale. Memories flashed through my head from my younger years-playing dolls with Cora while Laura babysat us. Cora's uncle Peter playing hide and seek with us, always letting us win even though we all knew that he knew where we were. Derek and Laura cooking mac and cheese for us when we had a sleepover, burning it and giving up to order pizza. I hadn't seen Derek since the day before the fire when I'd needed help from Laura to finish a particularly hard math problem on my homework. I'd only heard about the fire when my mom sat me down and held me as I cried over the loss of my best friend. I hadn't seen Derek or Laura, the only two unharmed survivors, until these last two days. Even with the almost seven year age difference, I knew it was Derek the moment he opened his mouth.
"What are you doing here, huh?" Derek asked. Stiles averted his gaze to the ground and rubbed the back of his head. "This is private property." I caught Derek's eye and watched as his widened ever so slightly as he recognized me.
"Uh, sorry man, we didn't know," Stiles said.
"Yeah, we were just...looking for something, but, uh, forget it," Scott trailed off as Derek raised his eyebrow. He pulled something from his pocket and tossed it to Scott, who looked down to see he had caught his inhaler.
I caught Derek's eye and mouthed 'later?' at him, tilting my head to the side. He nodded slightly before turning and walking off. Stiles mouth was hanging open and I reached around Scott to place a finger under it and shut it.
"Alright, come on, I gotta get to work," Scott said, moving to turn. Stiles slapped his chest.
"Guys, that was Derek Hale!" he told us. "You remember right, he was only like a few years older than us."
"Remember what?" Scott asked.
"His family, they all burned to death in a fire like 10 years ago," Stiles answered.
"Actually, it was 7," I corrected. "Scott, his younger sister, Cora, was my best friend. I'm sure you remember her. She was my Stiles until...the fire."
Recognition and understanding lit Scott's face and he brushed his hand across my arm in an attempt to comfort me. "I wonder what he's doing back."
Stiles scoffed and shrugged, turning to walk back to the entrance of the preserve. "Come on."
I trailed after them. I knew he had most likely come back because of Laura, but I couldn't very well tell my brother and his best friend that. Just the sight of Derek being back in town combined with finding Laura's dead, mutilated body was keeping me on edge.
Scott wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me in for a side hug. "You ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Stiles dropped Scott at the animal clinic before taking me home. Before I got out of the car, he put a hand on my arm.
"Hey, uhm, I know we're not really the serious conversation type but if you need to talk about...it, then I'm here," he told me. I smiled at him, patting his hand.
"Thanks Stiles," I answered. "I think I'm okay, though. I've had 7 years to come to terms with it. Doesn't hurt any less, but I've dealt with it."
Stiles nodded, releasing my arm, obviously content with my answer. I walked into the house, noting that my mom's car was in the driveway. She was in the kitchen finishing up a sandwich, no doubt about to crash after a long shift at work.
"Hey mom," I greeted, giving her a side hug and sitting down on the stool next to her. I drew the bag of chips closer to me and munched on a couple.
"Hey sweetheart, how was your day?" my mom asked, taking a bite of her sandwich.
"It was okay. School was boring but Scott blew everyone away at lacrosse today," I told her. "I guess his winter training really did pay off."
"I supposed I'll have to take a shift off to come see him play his first game, then," my mom said. "What about you? Are you going to join back up?"
I chewed on the chip in my mouth slowly, trying to figure out how to phrase my words so that she didn't suspect anything. "I'm still considering. I took such a long time off that I'm nowhere near as good as I used to be. I'd have to seriously train hard to get back up to where I was, and even then I was just barely first-string potential. Scott is most likely going to be better than I ever was, and I'd prefer to be manager than sit on the second-string bench."
"Just because Scott could make first-string doesn't mean that you can't also make it," my mom pointed out.
I sighed, picking up another chip. "I know, but I figure he deserves some time to shine. I had all my success, he deserves to not have to compete against his sister, too."
My mom made a noncommittal sound. "Well, if you do decide to compete again, I'm sure he would support you."
"I know he would, but he also supported me for the first five years we played. He deserves to be supported this time around," I pointed out. I also was still regaining full normal strength, and it would still take a little bit longer to be back to a level where I could begin to train again.
"Anyway," I continued. "Could I borrow your car for a couple hours? I wanted to swing by Lydia's to get some help on a Chemistry worksheet that we already got assigned. Plus, it's raining and I'm sure Scott doesn't want to bike home in the rain."
She looked over at me, chewing the last bite of her sandwich, and smiled. "Sure, I don't need it until tomorrow morning anyway. And I think it's a great sisterly move to pick Scott up. The keys are in my purse." My mom sighed and stood up, piling her hair on top of her head.
"Thanks mom," I smiled.
"No problem," she answered, kissing the top of my head. "Now, I'm going to head upstairs to shower and sleep. Don't stay out too late after getting Scott-you both have school tomorrow."
I nodded and waited until she was upstairs before grabbing the keys from her purse and heading out to the car. I flicked the windshield wipers on and pulled my glasses out of the glove compartment. I had pretty good vision, but sometimes things were a bit blurry around the edges. I also just prefered to wear my glasses when driving in bad weather.
It took me almost twenty-five minutes to arrive at Derek's house. I'd almost taken a wrong turn and the rain had made the normally fifteen minute trip take an extra ten. I was hoping that he was home, or else I'd have to wait for him until it got too close to the time that I'd have to go pick up Scott.
I killed the engine and pulled my hood up before making the dash from the car to the porch, trying to stay as dry as possible. It didn't work very well and I was very damp by the time I was knocking on the front door. Almost immediately, the door swung open and Derek filled the frame.
We stared at each other for half a second before I wrapped my arms around his torso. He had always been taller than me, but now he was so tall that his chin rested on the top of my head as he returned the hug. I relaxed, feeling at ease for the first time in weeks. Peter was my partner in crime, but Derek had always been the one, other than Scott or Cora, that I turned to when I was feeling down. My comforter and my protector rolled into one.
"What are you doing back?" I asked after we'd pulled away and walked further into the house. I grimaced as I saw what had been such a huge piece of my childhood charred and almost unrecognizable. Derek looked my way before moving into the living room and sitting on the half-burned couch. I sat on the coffee table, almost falling when it collapsed underneath me. Only Derek's werewolf reflexes made him catch my arm before I fell. I decided then the sit on the remaining good part of the couch next to him.
"Laura returned here, looking for something, and I hadn't heard from her in a few days," Derek explained. "So I came to find her."
"And you found her dead," I whispered. It wasn't a question.
"Yea," his voice was shaky. Even back when we were kids, something had changed one day and he started hiding his emotions. Always either acting like there was nothing wrong or being completely stoic. I rubbed my hand across his arm. "You scared the hell out of me, you know?"
I furrowed my eyebrows and looked up at him. "What do you mean?"
"I got here and found the same half of Laura that you did, just after the police found the first half. And when I found it, I smelled you all around the area and then found your blood. I thought you were dead. It was only after I ran by your house and smell you there did I realize that you were okay," Derek admitted. My hand strayed to the back of my head where my braid hid the injury from the previous night. I looked back up at him again and the way he was looking at me told me he was obviously waiting for me to explain.
"Stiles thought it would be good idea to go out into the woods last night, despite never considering that whoever killed...Laura...might still be out there. I couldn't let him and Scott go alone, so I went with," I explained. "Stiles got caught by his dad, and Scott fell down a hill after finding Laura. I...found her body and was too distracted to notice that there was a werewolf in the woods last night. He chased me and knocked me out, but that's all that I remember before Scott found me on the side of the road."
"Did you recognize him? Do you remember anything about him?" Derek asked.
"I didn't recognize him at all," I said, shaking my head. "I barely caught a glimpse of him in the first place. He was like no other werewolf that I'd ever seen. It was almost...a monster more than a werewolf. More wolf than human, but not quite all the way wolf."
Derek furrowed his eyebrows. "I've never heard of anything like that, but I'll look into it."
I nodded before remembering that he'd found Scott's inhaler. "Thanks for finding my brother's inhaler. Uh, did you perhaps find a Glock 26 while you were out last night?" His eyebrows lifted and he stood, walking over to the fireplace and pulling my glock from inside the chimney.
"What are you doing with this?" he asked, walking back towards me. He didn't move to hand the gun to me and I sighed.
"I found out that werewolves existed from you guys...but I learned how to protect myself from a family of hunters," I admitted. Derek stiffened.
"You know hunters?" He demanded.
I nodded, pulling in a deep breath. "Yea, I mean, they don't hunt just to hunt. They hunt only those who have killed an innocent. Even then, that doesn't mean they kill them, it might mean they just send them to Eichen House or to another guarded area."
"Are you talking about the Moore's?" Derek questioned. Now it was my turn to be surprised.
"Yes but wait, you know them?" I asked. He nodded.
"Carter was a few grades below me, but I knew him, mostly because his parents would often meet with my mom. They were one of the few hunter families who got along with supernaturals. They didn't see the bad in being a supernatural, they just saw that there was no regulation on our kinds."
"Well, Nadia and Carter explained everything one day and were surprised to know that I already knew quite a bit about werewolves," I told him. "They then went on to tell me that as long as I knew anything about this world, I should learn to protect myself. So, I'm an honorary Moore, just like Cora called me an honorary Hale."
Derek sighed. "I guess it is good that you know what you're dealing with, and how to protect yourself. Just promise me you won't go out looking for trouble."
"I'm not a little girl anymore, Derek," I told him, voice soft so as to not let him take it the wrong way. "I can take care of myself. Besides, I don't hunt. I only let them teach me because I didn't want to be vulnerable if I ever came across certain situations."
"I'd like to see what they taught you," Derek said. "And maybe teach you further."
I nodded, glancing at my watch. "Ok, o protective one. But I can't tonight. I told my mom I needed help from a friend on homework before I picked my brother up, and that wasn't a lie. I really do need help, so I'm going to have to head out in a couple of minutes."
"We can do it some other time," he answered, nodding. "But before you go, I want to talk about your brother."
My chest tightened at his words. There was no denying it now...Scott was transitioning into a werewolf.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Hey guys! I know it's been a while and yes, I'm aware that this is the third time I've rewritten this first chapter. I plan on going from here and I think here is a much better starting point than the other chapters I tried out. I hope you enjoyed it!
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xoxo -Lauren