Walking forwards I came up behind Stiles and Scott and grabbed them both by the back of their necks, making them both yelp and squirm as I dragged them towards my car and pushed them forwards to trap them, placing my hands on my hips before pointing to my car. "Get in. You boys and I are going to talk." I announced to them and Stiles gulped, immediately knowing he was in trouble.
"But my bike…"
"I already dropped it off at home." I informed Scott, pulling open the door and drawing the seat forwards so that he and Stiles could climb in the back, not giving my brother an option to argue as I ducked his head down and he climbed in, muttering prayers to god for protection from his big sister as I eyed Scott evenly. "So you either get in the car and start talking or I'm going to drag you behind as I speed. What's your choice?" Slowly Scott slid into the back, allowing me to flick my seat back into place before I climbed in and wrenched the door shut, the engine flaring noisily before I slammed my hand on the horn, making kids shriek as I tore backwards then screeched out of the parking lot.
"Oh god, we're in trouble. Listen, whatever it is I did…I didn't do it." Stiles tried to wriggle his way out of trouble however I just glanced at them in my reflective mirror before continuing to drive, taking them out of school and only slowed down when we were a fair distance away. I didn't take Scott home immediately, I drove around a while to give them a chance to cool down.
"My bike was chained up, how did you…?"
"I'm pretty strong." I answered him, my voice now calm as I glanced back at them, still facing the road. "So Scott. How do you find being a werewolf?" They both looked at me sharply, their faces dropping and paling as I didn't bat and eyelid. I continued driving until I'd found a quiet spot for us to talk near the nature preserve, out of the way of others and a place where we could all talk together without interruption. "Don't look so shocked. I told you I'd seen a thing or two in the city." I said to them both as they continued to stare, pulling up. "Listen, I know what it's like to go through such a profound and drastic change. You'll be experiencing more unpleasant things along the way, trust me. Wait until you start malting." I informed Scott who looked like I was talking in ancient Greek or something.
Opening my door I slid the seat forwards and left the offer open to them to get out or not, walking a little way off before heading towards the cliff top where you could look out over the town. I'll admit, it was nice to be home and this used to be one of my favourite places to go. Still is, the air was fresh and I wasn't being permanently bombarded by the smell of pollution and gas fumes. "Wait, wait, how do you know about Scott being a werewolf? And what did you mean by all that?" Stiles demanded, stumbling after me with Scott hurrying after him, still staring at me as I sighed then turned around.
My eyes burned deep crimson, standing prominently apart from my usual features as both my brother and Scott backed away slightly, shocked and a little overwhelmed so I calmed down, hands tucked in my pockets. "It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you." I promised them both, wanting to reassure them with a smile. "I'm still me, I just got into a little trouble when I reached the city. So Scott, you can understand my surprise when I come home and smell you'd changed from being an average human nerd to being not only a star on the lacrosse field, but newly reborn supernatural being that can change into a wolf." Stepping closer I lifted my head, sniffing the air to double check and sure enough, there it was, lingering and pungent.
"I don't…but…wait, so you're like me? You're a werewolf?" Both Scott and Stiles still had their mouths hanging open so I rolled my eyes and made slow hand gestures.
"Okay, I can see we have to take this slowly, so here we go." I began, making sure to annunciate my words so that they could understand as my voice dripped with sarcasm. "Me…wolf…Scott…wolf…Stiles…human." Pointing to each of us in turn I then paused, watching their faces as Stiles finally started to speak, catching on after having processed things in his head.
"So you're saying that my sister, is actually a werewolf and just so happens to come back just as all these crazy attacks are happening and it just so happens that Scott was bitten and turned into a werewolf too and that just leaves me as an ordinary, completely normal, human, right?" He questioned, his face still stuck in an expression of disbelieving shock. Nodding my head I pursed my lips.
"Just about sums it up, yup, but that hurts Stiles. It sounds like you're accusing me of doing all the killing. Ouch." Shaking my head I exhaled, folding my arms as I glanced between them. "So are you boys going to tell me the truth from now on or are you going to continue trying to lie to me?" They glanced between one another before all at once, the entire story came spilling out. I listened, nodding my head occasionally as I finally was brought up to speed over everything that had happened. I felt guilty that Scott had been drawn into this, but there was nothing I could do about it now. The damage had been done.
"And now I'm freaking out because I can't remember anything that happened the other night and then the bus driver turns up almost dead and there was blood everywhere and…" To keep Scott from panicking I placed my hand on his shoulder and made him look at me, giving him my best sisterly smile. I'd seen these two grow up together, for the most part and I was rather fond of Scott, if anything he was like a second brother to me. If ever any of the kids at school bullied either of them, I was the first person they both ran to. I'd knocked in a couple of teeth for their sake and I wasn't afraid to take on a mean ass Alpha wolf to keep on protecting them.
"It's going to be okay Scott, if anything I think that you didn't have anything to do with the attack itself, you just happened to be there. You see, Alpha wolves can call their pack to them with their howl, with you being so new to this and unstable with your control, it's actually almost definite that you weren't even aware of anything that was going on around you when he called. Scott, you weren't the one who attacked that driver, it was the Alpha." I revealed to him, giving a firm nod as my brother frowned at me.
"And you know this…how?" I pretended to be hurt, placing a hand over my heart as I looked across to Stiles.
"It still sounds like you're accusing me, that really stings you know." I told him before exhaling, explaining it to them. "I dropped by the station and went looking for the bus. I caught quite a few scents, but there was definitely more than wolf there that night. It was faint, but I caught it. I need something a little stronger if I'm going to go hunting for it, though, so you guys are going to have to be a little more patient with me." Frowning slightly I tried to come up with a plan but so far, I only had my basic outline. Hunt and kill. It was better than nothing.
"Hold up, you're not really going to go after this thing alone, are you?" Stiles asked me, gripping onto my arm tightly with a panicked look in his eyes. More panicked than usual. In addition, I could smell his concern as it penetrated the air.
"Uh, duh? I'm not going to let you two go after it because one, you two are still kids and need to study and two, this Alpha is going to take some serious strength to take down. You two are a little out of your league here." I told them harshly, wanting them to understand just how serious this was. "This thing, it could kill you and I'm not going to let that happen to either of you. I came back to protect everyone, so that's what I'm going to do."
"But you could get hurt! Right? Or it could kill you instead." Stiles argued, still holding onto me with a surprisingly strong grip. "I mean, what if it's too strong? What if you can't take care of it all on your own? I can't just let you go out and hunt it without any kind of backup. I just can't." Touched by Stiles's concern I placed my hand against his face, soothing away his concerns as I felt a rumbling growl of affection in my chest.
"Don't worry, I can manage myself. If not then I can always just put a poisoned bullet through its skull." A little alarmed I gave the two boys a wink as they recoiled, stepping back with my hands on my hips. "Just leave it to me, okay? Scott, if you ever have any questions or you're in trouble, you just call me and I'll be right there to help. I have a few years more experience on you, so you'll be needing my help for a few months to come."
"You have no idea how amazing that sounds." Scott sighed in relief, relaxing completely. "You see there's this girl and I've been killing myself with worry about whether or not I'm going to hurt her and I really don't want to ruin anything as she's actually the first girl that I've dated and…" I held up my hand to stop him right there. It's cute and everything but I needed to make sure that Scott understood fully the responsibility he now managed.
"Listen Scott, I understand that you want everything to carry on as normal, but things are changing. You've changed. Your life has changed. Don't forget that or take any of it lightly." Keeping a stern eye on him I wiggled my finger between the two of them. "Don't go looking for any trouble and you'll be okay. But Scott, the danger you pose to others is very real. You need to find a way to hold onto your human side and do not allow yourself to get too angry. You lose control, your beast will come out and trust me, it won't be there to play." With my little pep talk over I checked my watch and noted that it was about time I got them home. "Okay, we'll talk more in the car. Though I want to hear all about this girl you're into, come on. I've been gone for a few years now so fill me in on everything that's happened, okay?" With a wink I turned around and opened the door, gesturing they should jump back in.
As I drove Scott home he told me all about Allison and how they'd started dating, though I believe the names Jackson and Lydia were tossed about once or twice and I cringed when he told me about the double date Lydia had invited herself and her boyfriend Jackson to join. When I dropped him off I let him out the car and told him to give my best to his mom before reassuring him that everything was going to be okay and that he should focus on his classes. "Thanks, I appreciate it." I could smell how much more relaxed he was so I smiled.
"Just be careful, that Alpha will still be after you but I'll be on my guard and listening. If you feel something is wrong, even if it's nothing, call me right away. You have my number right?" He nodded, showing me to satisfy my head before he went inside. Stiles had already moved to the front seat and when I sat down, I paused slightly, not moving off. He was looking at me and I could feel it, so after a few moments I sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you Stiles."
"No I get it. I get it. If you'd told me last month then I wouldn't have believed you. Funny how quickly your perspective on things can change." He mused as I began to pull away, taking us both home. "So, what exactly happened?" I flinched slightly, memories hitting me like rusty nails in the face. It wasn't a pleasant story and I wasn't quite ready to tell anyone yet.
"I'll tell you at some point, just not right now. It's been a while but I'm still not quite ready to talk about that yet." I murmured to him and he seemed to understand. "Stiles, I'm really proud of you." He looked surprised by that but I just smiled at him warmly. "You stuck by your best friend even when the most unimaginable thing happened to him. You've been helping and supporting him all the way and trying to maintain a normal life for him. I really couldn't be any prouder of you." Stiles shifted slightly, rather smug at the praise as he smirked.
"Well, Robin has to be useful at some point for old Batman, right?" I laughed at that, shaking my head.
"In my eyes, you'll always be my Spiderman." I promised him, giving him a look. "You may not have supernatural powers, Stiles, but you got something that not many people are lucky to have. You're smart, you're brave, considerate and quite frankly the greatest friend Scott could ever hope for. If I'd had a best friend like you back when I'd started to lose my mind, I'd have been a lot better off." I did almost have something like that in Laura, but I'd always kept her at arm's length, as if I'd purposefully tried to keep people away from me. She'd tried to get closer, but there was only so much distance I'd allow her. Back then, I'd kept everyone away from me, even my own family. I guess I figured that the further people were away from me, the less they'd be able to hurt me. In some ways it worked, in most ways it just killed me more. "I'm going to protect you Stiles. I promise. I'll find a way, even if it kills me."
"That's the point. I don't want you to die, not you or dad. That's what makes this whole thing so crazy." He argued pointedly, leaning against his fist as he rested against the window. "Everything is changing so fast I feel like I can barely catch my breath. A few days ago I was just a normal hormonal teenager, now I'm constantly looking over my shoulder for some Alpha werewolf or whatever or Derek Hale…"
"Hale? You know Derek Hale?" I repeated, frowning as I looked away from the road to glance at my brother who sat up, eyebrows twitching slightly.
"Well yeah, we figured he was involved in this. It was his sister we found and we know that he's a werewolf too, he really freaks me out too. Have you seen how terrifying he looks with those eyes and how he looked like he just wants to eat you?" My eyebrows jumped upwards slightly as I inclined my head, knowing full well what he meant.
"I went to school with him, remember? I was in his classes." Stiles blinked before the recognition dawned on his features. "But yeah, I know Hale. I knew his sister too, I was a little closer to her but not by much. I knew their mother pretty well, she kind of looked out for me from time to time. Remember those pies I used to bring home occasionally? They were from her." At the mention of food I heard my brother's stomach rumble hungrily and I chuckled as he groaned.
"Those pies were always so good."
"Great, I'll make one tomorrow if you want?" I offered and instantly he was agreeing. I smiled, glancing across to him again before flicking on the indicators to turn. Somehow I felt a lot closer to Stiles after we talked, a mutual understanding coming between us. I never would have thought my brother would have become involved in the supernatural world, it had been my intention to keep him out of it but I should have known better. Of course he'd have found out eventually, trouble always seems to find him. Somehow. It was like his own supernatural gift that he possessed.
As I pulled up outside Stiles went in first but I paused, glancing across to his jeep. It had been our mom's and I had always called it a hunk of junk, but now it was a term of affection. Pausing as I passed it my hand brushed against the bonnet, feeling a deeper connection to my mother and I could almost feel her standing right next to me. "I miss you mom, we all do." Running my fingers over the smooth hood, I exhaled softly. "But I'm going to protect them, no matter what it takes. So if I arrive a little early…don't be surprised, okay?" Leaving the jeep behind I went inside and instantly yelled for Stiles to do his homework whilst I made dinner.