I woke up to the chattering of several voices. I recognized my adopted sister's voice but the rest were unfamiliar. My parents were out of town, but not before expressly telling my sister and me that we were not to have any parties. Though I knew I was being stupid if I thought that would stop her if she really wanted to throw a party. But I didn't hear any pounding music and there were no drunken shouts. There were only ten voices I heard at tops, anyway. I climbed out of bed, stumbling through the hallway towards the sound of voices.
Before I peeked around the corner, it seemed everyone was in a heated debate. My adopted sister was talking at the moment; she seemed annoyed by the sound of her voice. "Scott, you can't always be the hero all the time! You're going to have to make a decision. You're going to have to make a choice!"
"No one is getting hurt because of me!" A boy, probably Scott, yelled back. I took that moment to round the corner before things got worse. I was surprised to find six people, including my sister, crowded around the living room coffee table. There were three dark haired boys, a dark haired girl, and a dirty blonde, curly haired boy along with my sister. Three of the boys were handsome enough to be movie stars or models. The fourth boy was cute, but in the average, high school kind of way. All eyes were immediately on me.
"Lydia, who is that?" The oldest of the guys, asked. If I didn't know better, I would've sworn his eyes glowed red for a second. My sister turned around in her seat, her eyes hardening once she saw it was me.
"Oh, that's my new adopted sister, Cass. Don't worry about her." She waved her hand absently, as if I were inconsequential. I was probably was to Lydia though. It wasn't that she didn't like me, but I don't think she particularly liked me either.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you. I just heard loud voices and woke up." I explained, nervously fidgeting as the group continued to stare at me. "I was just going to the kitchen for a drink of water, does anyone want anything?" I asked, looking for a way out of this situation.
"Lydia, you didn't tell us you had a sister." The other girl asked the strawberry blonde. Lydia just shrugged. I stood there, not sure anyone was going to answer me. I took the opportunity and slipped away to the kitchen while no one was looking at me.
I was filling a glass with water when the boy that didn't look like a male model appeared at my side. "Uh, what exactly did you hear us talking about?" He asked me nervously.
I just shrugged, leaning up against the counter. "Nothing, really. But if you're worried that I'll snitch to my new parents, don't worry about it. I won't say anything." I told him.
He sighed, obviously relieved. "I'm Stiles, by the way." He told me, sticking his hand out. I shook it.
"Cass." I replied, even though Lydia had already introduced me.
"Got anything sweet in the house?" He asked me then, grinning. I smiled back, already rifling through the cabinets.
"I can make cookies." I told the boy while preheating the oven.
"I hope you have some milk then." The younger dark haired boy said, making me jump. I wondered how long he had been standing there.
"Jesus, Scott." Stiles said, obviously surprised too. "You know I hate it when you use your werewolf skills like that."
I quickly turned around at that, confused. I was happy to have found out who Scott was, but riddled as to what Stiles meant by werewolf. Before I could say anything, the other dark haired boy had appeared out of nowhere and cracked Stiles hard across the head. "Idiot!" he snarled, before glaring my way.
"I guess we have to explain now." The blonde boy said to no one in particular as he strode in with Lydia and the other girl, Allison I think. She was the only girl Lydia ever mentioned in a positive light.
"Who are all of you?" I asked, frustrated, as the group took their places on the bar stools or against counters.
"They're werewolves, Cass." Lydia said shortly, moving towards me to help make the cookies.
"Very funny, but really?" I asked, laughing.
"She's serious. We are." The guy who had hit Stiles responded. I wavered; either this guy was deadpanning or telling the truth. I didn't respond, just raised my eyebrows.
"We're not all werewolves." Allison shot at the boy, narrowing her eyes.
"Whatever. Actually, only Scott, Isaac, and I are if it makes any difference."
"Lydia, Stiles, and I are completely human." Allison added, smiling like she knew how I was feeling right now. But she probably did, if she was human, someone would have had to tell her.
"I don't even know your name." I directed at him.
"Derek." He supplied. "But that isn't important. The important thing is whether we can trust you or not."
"Of course you can trust me. Who would I tell, anyway? I don't have any friends here." I answered him, crossing my arms across my chest. It was probably a good idea since Stiles and the blonde boy, Isaac, were staring. Not that I blamed them, I only had a paper thin white tank top consisting as my top. Derek just shrugged, dismissing me, and turned back to Scott, picking back up the conversation they were having before I had interrupted.
I turned back to my cookies, trying to busy my hands while I processed this new scrap of information. Even though I had grown up with people telling me that things like werewolves didn't exist, I immediately believed Derek. What reason did he have to lie to me anyway? It also explained the near perfection of the three werewolf boys, they had to be supernatural to look that good and not be actors or models.
Suddenly, I felt someone beside me and looked up to find Isaac. "We're telling the truth, you know." He told me quietly. I just nodded.
"It's a lot to take in."
He nodded, helping me ball up the cookie dough. "How come I haven't seen you before now?" He asked.
I shrugged. "I don't know. It's not like Lydia takes me everywhere with her. I'm kind of just there as she sees it. Besides, I'm a grade below Lydia."
"Well, I'm glad you're around now. We could use another girl to balance things out."
I smiled at his comment before popping the sheet of cookies into the oven. While I waited for the cookies to come out, Isaac and I chatted, and I sometimes listened to the debate that was going on around me. Isaac explained things quietly to me most of the time. "There's this thing called the Darach going around and killing people in sacrificial groups of three right now. We're trying to figure out a way to stop it and everything about it right now. We're trying to plan, but we aren't really getting far." Isaac sighed. "And if there isn't enough already on our plate right now, we have a pack of alphas like Derek and Scott to deal with. You'll see soon enough." He told me, leaning back against the counter.
After maybe ten minutes in silence I asked Isaac a question, "Can only boys be werewolves?" I asked quietly.
Isaac laughed a little at my probably silly question before answering. "Of course not. Derek's sister, Cora, is one too. She just isn't here tonight." He told me. "There used to be two more of us, Erica and Boyd, but they're…gone now."
I nodded, knowing what he exactly meant by gone. I knew that meant that the deaths were probably recent if he wasn't ready to say the word dead yet. I realized another thing then, this was a serious matter.