Waking with a start, Scott turned his senses to the house around him finding three other heartbeats. His mother was safely tucked away in her room, the smell of antiseptic telling him that she was too tired after her shift to shower before crashing. He turned his attention to his best friend, smirking at the mumbles about Lydia bleeding from his dreams. Scott frowned when he remembered the events of last night, the feral need driving him from the moment that Derek tackled Jackson in the warehouse to the moment he let his fangs sink into Stiles. Jumping off the bed, he let his legs carry him into the bathroom as he retched into the toilet. The knowledge that he could have killed Stiles last night was throbbing through his mind in red hot guilt. He endangered his best friend just to build a bigger pack.
"Just realizing that you're stuck with Stiles forever now?" Jackson's smug grin grew when he saw the glare from the young alpha. Scott was the Kanima's master, but that didn't mean that Jackson was going to stop tormenting him when he could get away with it. His compulsion was to protect Scott, even obey him, but while he was possibly starting to like the guy, reluctantly, he wasn't about to start showering him with devotion like Derek's simpering little wolves. The pair had worked out a system, one that was mutually beneficial, and Jackson preferred it to remain a series of snide comments burying any questionably soft urges.
"I could have killed him."
Jackson shrugged his shoulder. "Unfortunately not."
Scott glared at him, snarling in reproach. "He's pack."
Jackson didn't bother to point out that he wasn't bound by pack, only an infuriating tie to the pack's leader. He and Stiles didn't get along and he was planning on keeping it that way. Making concessions for his "master" didn't include his screwball cast of friends. "Whatever." He looked at his watch, already bored with the exchange. "I'm heading to the weight room."
Scott started to object, to warn him about the dangers of going off alone but he knew it wouldn't work. Jackson allowed him to show concern last night under the stress of Gerard's forced obedience and the gun fight, even obeyed his order to hide out at the house for the night, but in the harsh Saturday morning light, his shields were back in place and he was feeling less vulnerable. Being almost constantly in his presence in the last week and a half, Scott knew enough about Jackson's moods to know when it was worth fighting. Instead, he nodded, watching the other teen vacate his room without another word. His mind clashed angrily between the urge to force Jackson back with the bond and letting him have the freedom of choice as his body drifted to the window, watching the shiny sports car pull out of his drive.
In the absence of distraction, his mind turned back to the new wolf passed out on his couch downstairs and guilt washed over him again. Needing another outlet, Scott threw on clothes and resolved to renew his search for a way to control this animal trapped in his body. Quietly heading downstairs, he studied the sleeping pup as he lifted his friend's phone and retreated to the kitchen. Taking a deep breath, he opened the messaging app, again wishing this cloak and dagger process wasn't necessary just to communicate with his girlfriend. 'Morning beautiful. Any luck on cure research?'
Looking at the clock, he wondered if she would even be up at seven am. He was relived when the phone chimed a few minutes later. 'Not cure, but something that might help.'
'When?'
'Dad home, but distracted, come now.' Scott wiped the message history from the log and returned the phone to Stiles' side. Double checking again that Stiles had a steady heartbeat and wasn't in pain, Scott turned and left the house in a rush to get across town before his window of time closed.
Ten minutes later he was dropping his bike around the corner behind a bush and climbing her neighbor's fence to get the old pine. He scrambled up the trunk and jumped onto the garage roof, listening intently to the occupants inside house. He detected only two heartbeats and one was in the basement on the other side of the house. Taking in a relieved breath, he slid into the bedroom and waited for the girl across the room to notice him.
"Scott!" Allison's harsh whisper of admonishment brought a shy grin to his face. "Are you okay? I heard there was a fight last night."
He frowned sitting on her bed but forced a smile when she joined him, her arms immediately surrounding him. "We're okay. Your grandfather almost convinced Jackson to kill Derek but I stopped him." He took a heavy gasp, holding back a tremor. "It got loose last night."
"What?"
"I heard Erica threatening Derek and I shifted to alpha form." He shivered. "When I tried to run to Jackson's I couldn't stop the shift back." A stilted sob tore from his chest. "It made me turn Stiles last night."
"What?" Allison jumped off the bed, pulling away from him in shock.
"Stiles asked me for the bite. He really wanted it, but I'm not sure I could have stopped it, even if he did change his mind." Scott wrapped his arms tightly around his body, at war with his own mind. "Please tell me you found a way to stop it."
Allison watched his defeated posture before nodding, hesitantly. "I found something in the journals." She pulled a box out of a drawer in her desk and placed it carefully on the bed. She opened the ancient box to reveal syringes and bottles of cloudy yellow liquid. "They use it to control females during heat so they wouldn't attack innocents."
"You think it will work?"
Allison smiled at the glimmer of hope in his eyes. "The book says that it suppresses the feral drive." Her hands shook as she pulled out a bottle and started to fill a syringe.
"And you're sure it won't kill me or anything?" While he trusted Allison implicitly, hunters weren't known for being concerned about the beasts they were trying to control. He wouldn't be surprised if there were side effects.
She nodded, biting her lip as she rolled up his sleeve. "It will sting and you'll feel a little weaker, but it won't hurt you." She waited for his nod of approval before sliding the needle into his skin and pressing down on the plunger.
"How long will it last?" The words were hissed as the serum burned his veins.
"It should last a week." She rubbed tenderly at the injection site as she pulled out the needle, pressing her lips against the already healing mark. "Are you okay?" He nodded, allowing her to pull him back onto the bed before curling around her in a moment of serenity. He could feel the wolf rearing up against the drug, but the protests grew weaker as his eyes closed in relief. He couldn't remember when the rage began to build in his heart, but he felt it deflate for the first time in weeks.
Allison allowed him fifteen minutes of peace, running her fingers through his hair before she drew him off the bed and sent him out the window with a kiss. Just as she saw the figure on the bike fly down the hill the door behind her opened. "You're sure this won't hurt him?"
Her father's hands came to rest gently on her shoulders. "I'm sure. As long as we can suppress the alpha, your grandfather will continue to target Derek and leave Scott alone."
"I don't like lying to him."
"Would you rather he be dead?" She flinched at the harsh warning in his voice. "Stay the course and make sure your mother and grandfather never catch you with him or the drugs."
Allison nodded, unable to speak as her father left the room.
