Derek was awoken from his sleep. He knew why. The steady thump of Cora's heart beat had risen to frantic canter. The man quickly swung his legs over the side of his bed and threw open the door. Rushing down the hallway, he slid into Cora's room.
Cora thrashed on the bed, her legs tangled in the sheets as she whimpered. Her brows furrowed. "Daddy...run." She whispered. Derek's heart broke. His 20-year-old baby sister looked painfully small in the bed as she curled in on herself.
Derek sat on the edge of her bed and gently grabbed her arms which were thrown up in front of her face as if to protect herself. Cora resisted at first, pulling against him and crying out. Soon, though, her arms slackened and Derek pulled her against his side.
As she was calming down, Laura entered the room looking tired. She looked on sadly at her two siblings. Just like every other night it happened, Laura kneeled on the bed behind her twin brother and baby sister, combing her fingers through Cora's hair. Derek shushed Cora who slowly opened her eyes before shutting them again, embarrassed.
Derek and Laura looked at each other. They knew that until the hunters had been dealt with, Cora would be paralyzed by this fear nearly every night.
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The next night, Stiles speed-walked home from the grocery store. He knew that he was cutting it close with the pack curfew as a result of the hunters, but they had run out of butter and he wanted cookies.
Plastic bag in hand, Stiles turned the street. The sky was not yet dark, but the timer-controlled streetlights were already alight. Ahead of him walked a mildly familiar young woman. Stiles thought that maybe he had seen her around school before. Dismissing it from mind, the young man turned his thoughts back to last night.
He knew that Cora had another nightmare. He could see it in her face in the morning. Stiles wished that he had known last night so that he could be with her, ut he also knew that Laura and Derek were there for her.
Stiles was brought from his thoughts as a car sped down the street. His heart jumped in his chest as he saw it near the young woman, unslowed. The girl was distracted as she stared down at her phone while crossing the street.
"Hey-!" Just as he shouted, the young woman looked up and threw herself backward, narrowly being missed by the speeding sports car. Stiles' eyes widened as he watched sparks fly out from her as she fell, bolts of lightning striking the surrounding streetlights and causing them to explode. Stiles stood slack-jawed as the scene unfolded.
The girl looked up, glanced at his face, and then got up and hurried away.
What the hell was that?
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Stiles threw open the door to the pack house, drawing the attention of everyone.
Sheriff Stilinski's brows were drawn in concern. "Cutting it close there Sti-"
"I think I found another supernatural creature."
Silence.
"Um, what?" Malia.
He launched into his story. "I was walking home and there was this girl, I think she's in one of my classes -medieval history or something. Anyway, she wasn't paying attention and almost got hit by this idiot who was speeding, but when she jumped out of the way she like, shot out electricity of lightning and exploded all the streetlights."
Derek was wide-eyed. "Kitsune."
"Thunder kitsune." Peter confirmed.
"What's a kitsune?" Liam inquired.
"A Japanese fox spirit." Laura supplied. "There are 13 types and thunder is one of them. They're incredibly powerful."
"But are notorious for not getting along with wolves." Peter said pointedly.
Derek shook his head. "Desperate times. If we can ally with former hunters, I think we can try this. Foxes don't normally run in packs, either, so it's likely she's alone. She'll be vulnerable to hunters."
"So we take her in?" Jackson seemed rather distrustful.
"No," Derek said, "we talk to her. If she's trustworthy, we offer her a place in the pack. If not, we warn her about the hunters and part ways."
Cora spoke up. "Bringing a kitsune into the pack...it'll make us much more powerful."
Derek nodded and addressed the college kids. "I need some of you to find her tomorrow. Not all of you, don't scare her. But all of you be on the lookout and then two or three talk to her and bring her here." They nodded. "Alright, go do your homework."
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Stiles spotted her in class the next day. While sitting in the lecture, he texted Lydia and Jackson(Scott was at home).
StilesS: foxgirl is here. meet prof hildersons after class
LydiaM: omw
JacksonW: ill be there
When the professor dismissed them, Stiles rushed out of the door. He saw Lydia and Jackson waiting for him in the hall. He greeted them and then turned back to the door. When the girl walked out, she passed them with her head down. Stiles called after her. "Hey!" He ran up and laid a hand on her shoulder.
The girl flinched and shuffled backward, eyes darting between him, Jackson, and Lydia. She grabbed Stiles' sleeve and pulled him toward the side of the hall, the other two following. The pretty asian girl spoke in a low voice. "Please, you can't tell anyone what you saw. It was jus-"
"We know what you are." Lydia cut in. The girl's eyes widened. "We're not going to hurt you but you need to come speak with our Alpha. It's important."
"Alpha?" She repeated. "You guys are wolves?"
"No, but Lydia here gets mighty feisty once a month." Stiles quips. "The only wolf here is Jackson, the pretty one. I'm Stiles and I already mentioned Lydia's lack of monthly rage outside of uterus-killing time."
"Stiles, bite me."
"Can't, I just said I'm not a werewolf."
"I'm Kira." The girl said. "Why do you need me to meet your Alpha?"
"Trust us," Jackson said, "you'll want someone other than this spazz to explain it."
"Hey, not cool."
"Just come with us." Lydia continued. "We promise that it's important."
Kira hesitated before conceding. "...okay."
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Derek had kicked everyone else out of the house when Stiles texted. Only he and Laura remained, deciding that they should start small as to not scare her.
They heard the car pull through the gate first. When the sound of the door opening reached their ears, a scent smacked Derek in the face. He didn't know how to describe it except...warmth.
Derek rolled his eyes as Stiles' voice floated to them.
"He's kind of a sourwolf but I promise he's mildly normal about 2% of the time. A bit broody, his soul is probably made of leather. Yeah that actually makes a lot of sense."
The voice grew louder as they approached the door. Stiles entered first. "Oh, Alpha Hale, I bring thee that which you ha-" Derek shot him a glare. "Shutting up."
Derek and Laura straightened as the next person entered. A petite young asian woman gingerly slipped through the door, looking around before meeting Derek's eyes. It took all of his willpower to control his eyes and keep them from flashing red.
She was beautiful. Delicate. Tiny. The exact opposite of him. But when he focused harder, he could see the faint luminescent outline of a fox encompassing her small body, flames appearing to lick around her.
Kira herself was feeling quite...awed. The man before her was gorgeous. His mossy green eyes locked on hers. He was tall and built. His muscles bulged through his long sleeve and the scruffy beard on his face looked kind of soft. Kira shook her head a little to rid it of the thought. Nope nope nopedy nope nope.
He was powerful, that much Kira could tell. It practically radiated out of him.
Derek cleared his throat and licked his lips. "I'm uh, I'm sorry about having these these guys ambush you at school, but I needed to talk to you as soon as possible."
Kira's voice grew impossibly small at the sound of his deep, booming, freaking hot as all hel- wait, chill out Kira-voice. "It's alright, they were fine." A beat passed. "Maybe a little weird, but I mean, not the I'm gonna kill you and harness your supernatural power unless you come with me kind of weird. Not that that's ever happened, but I've heard that it…" Kira trailed off as she met the Alpha's mildly amused eyes, a smirk sitting on his face. "...sorry."
A chuckle rumbled through Derek's chest. He couldn't help it, she was adorable. "It's okay. My name is Derek Hale, I'm the Alpha of our pack." He gestured to the woman who stood behind him slightly. "This is my sister, Laura. The rest of the pack is out running, we didn't want the shitheads to freak you out."
Kira gave a small smile and Derek's heart jumped a bit. Oh. Derek ignored the raised eyebrow that Laura sent him and kept his attention trained on the fox. "I'm Kira Yukimura. Lydia said you...already know what I am."
Derek nodded. "A thunder kitsune. If my memory serves me correctly, there aren't very many left."
Kira's gave a sad smile and shook he head. "Not after the Ryōshi(huntsman) determined that we were...too dangerous to exist anymore."
Derek nodded and exhaled long through his nose. "Kira...we brought you here because something is coming. Something big."
Her brow furrowed. "What do you mean?" Kira asked.
"Hunters." Derek glanced at his few packmates around the room. "A rogue faction of hunters is coming and they mean to wipe us out. All of us."
"You mean your pack?" She clarified.
"No." He replied. "They want to exterminate all supernatural creatures."
Kira's eyebrows shot up to her hairline as she looked around the room. "Everyone?" They all nodded. "My God."
Laura spoke for the first time that night. "Kira, everyone is in danger. We think that Beacon is home to many supernatural creatures, but...after this same group of hunters attacked years ago," she glanced at her twin sadly, "most went into hiding. These people are dangerous to not only supernaturals, but humans too. If they so much as suspect that someone is supernatural, they'll slaughter them."
Derek locked eyes with the young fox. "Kira, let's cut to the chase. Do you have a pack?"
The young woman's eyes widened a bit. "Me? No, no foxes are solitary, usually." She hesitated. "Not that I haven't tried, but I've been sort of forced to be alone. Kitsunes stand alone."
Derek considered her carefully. "But you wouldn't if you had the choice?"
She shook her head slowly. "I guess I'm an anomaly."
Derek made eye contact with each of his present pack members. Everyone seemed to be in agreement. "Things are going to get rough. People are going to die and we need to stick together."
Kira's eyebrows shot straight up as she realized what he was saying. "You want me to join you?"
"It will be safer for you and all of us. Pack members feed off of each others' power-the more members we have, the stronger we'll be."
She seemed unsure. "Are-are you sure? You only just met me and I don't want to cause problems because my mom always said that wolves and foxes don't get along which I don't understand because I like you just fine."
Derek raised an amused eyebrow. Kira flushed and backtracked. "Not you. I mean, not just you but everyone here. But I don't not mean you, Derek, cuz I do like you but like-I should really stop talking right now."
Stiles smirked and put a hand on her shoulder. "I think I'm gonna like you."
Derek shot Kira a small smile. Her heart skipped a beat. "Somehow I don't think we're gonna have any problems."
Slowly, a shy smile spread itself across her face and Derek had to calm his heart beat which increased at the sight. Behind him, Laura hid a smirk behind her hand as she caught Jackson's eye. D's got a cruuushhhhh.