"You're thinking about a girl," I guessed, straining to catch the flecks of emotion as they passed his face. "Somebody you haven't known very long….a friend of a friend….there's no approval for it…."

"You can do better than that, Carter!" Deaton called from the entrance desk. It had been thirty minutes since he left us alone in the room with the wolves. "Brian, how are you doing?"

"Fucking Christ on a fucking cracker. A relative? Maybe? Maybe it's not a blood relative, maybe it's just a relative in a spiritual sense. So it could be a legitimate family member, a friend, or a fucking member of his pack! Why did I get the alpha?" Brian snarled.

"Because your sister is more violent than you."

"We're both pacifists!" We argued together.

"Now, that's what I'm talking about! Feed off of one another! And, you, Carter, you were taught to be a pacifist. That doesn't mean you are one. Get back to work. Give me a name."

"Okay, you want a name? That's all? We have to tell you who they're thinking of?" I demanded.

"Yep. And no guessing. It has to be definite. Because if you give me an answer and it's wrong, they'll start over thinking about something else entirely."

"Okay, a name. Brian, we can do names. Names are easy because we don't have to look for the name!" I cried out. "We just have to look for identifiers!"

"We can use what we know about them when they're not wolves!" Brian cheered.

I turned back to Isaac and smiled wide at him. He said calmly, "Your heartbeat's faster but you're not scared anymore."

"I'm still terrified, Isaac, but I know a few things about you from Stiles and from your human form! Like I know that there aren't too many people who are guys that you consider friends. So the connection has to be through one of two people." I searched quickly. Looking for identifiers that would lead to the alpha. I didn't know the wolves well enough to identify relationships, but I knew humans well enough to know when somebody was thinking about the person who was in charge of them.

Across the room, Brian said slowly, "It's not a female family member. So let's play the emotion game, Scott. Dad?"

Brian was using words to try to change thoughts quickly and gauge the new reaction against the old image. It took a lot longer than pathways but it was more obvious. I couldn't find a power symbol in Isaac's face so I muttered, "Stiles then. You know the person through Stiles. Who do you know through Stiles? You know Lydia through Stiles, don't you?"

I searched his face again and again, trying to find links to Lydia and not finding any. I could only find similarities as he thought of them. There were similarities in the two people. When the readings changed from the unknown to Lydia, some things were left behind. Some things stayed. I didn't know what they all were, but I could tell it wasn't Lydia. I nodded and said slowly, "Okay. Who else did you meet through Stiles?"

He just stared at me, his hazel eyes glowing and the signs beneath the shadow shifting slowly. I sighed, "Isaac, please tell me you met somebody other than me through Stiles."

I briefly saw embarrassment flash to the surface of his face and I called out, "Deaton, Isaac's chosen topic was me. You told him to think of me. That's really messed up, Deaton."

"You see yourself as attractive, Carter. Not as somebody boys fantasize about. You should have been able to see your name within seconds of looking at Isaac, werewolf or not. And you, Brian?"

"Almost there so shut up, all of you! All of you, shut up!"

Isaac shifted back to human form and grinned sheepishly at me. I stated bluntly, "You have a thing for Allison."

"And you have a thing for Stiles. But you still find me attractive. Attraction isn't about emotions," he shrugged it off. "It's about hormones. And you are freaking dumping hormones. Seriously. Don't you have an outlet?"

I chose not to mention the gift my mother got me so that I could combat "feelings of extreme passion." Instead, I turned my attention to Scott and Brian. Brian growled, "I have it narrowed down to three people. Carter, come here."

I crossed the room and stood behind him, placing my hands on his shoulders and sighing into him. I took a deep breath, filled my lungs, closed my eyes, and let it pour from me. I imagined the breath, the energy, the life force, flowing down my arms, down my fingertips, and into my brother. I created the bridge between me and him and let the energy cross it, leaving me and lingering in him. I boosted him and he cried out, "Who the fuck is Derek?"

"Scott's ex alpha. How did the two of you do that?" Isaac demanded.

I opened my eyes and stepped away from him, trying not to waver as I did. I reached behind me and grabbed the table to steady myself. Brian heard me falter and leapt up to grab me and steady me. From the doorway, Deaton explained, "They cheated, and they know it."

We looked over at him and Deaton tossed Brian a juice. Brian opened it and handed it to me. Deaton continued, "She uses her abilities to build a bridge between them, a bridge that is easy to build because it's already established. She just has to raise it back up. Then, she pours energy into him. It amplifies his power and he's able to see everything. But it burns up a lot of energy, which is why power must be built up."

"We've built our power," Brian argued while I downed the bottle of apple juice.

"You two have been walking your entire lives. Yes, every now and then you run a mile or two. You do extraordinary things. But I'm trying to build you up to running all the time. It's a form of exercise. Carter, how many miles did you start out with when you were trying to get ready to bring him back?"

I took my mouth away from the bottle to admit, "I had to learn to walk a mile in under fifteen minutes before I could run one."

"Exactly. Now the two of you see why I'm making you exercise. By the time we're done, you'll be able to look at Isaac and Scott and determine what they're thinking at a glance. But, for now, the two of you can't even tell what Stiles is thinking all of the time. The two of you will be doing flashcards and chemical memorization this week. Carter, eat something and sleep. The rest of you, clean the cages."

All three boys whined but moved to start cleaning. I took my hand behind me to move to the operating table and faltered. Isaac reached out and grabbed me. He smiled before sweeping me up princess style and carrying me to the operating table. He laid me down and stepped back. I looked up at Brian, who rolled his eyes and commanded, "Clean the cages. I'm going to get Carter something to eat."