I do not own teen wolf.

This chapter is a bit slow, i'm sorry. It's just one of those "setting the mood' kind of chapters. Lots of Jackson and Bentley fluff, awkward conversations, and some BAMF-ness.

Trigger warning for references to abuse.

Jackson woke up to his alarm and the feeling of utter safety and contentment. He inhaled deeply and the scent of autumn filled his nostrils. He let out a surprised grunt and jerked awake to find that he was pressed up against Bentley's side, with his nose in the crick of Bentley's neck. He looked up to see Bentley's smirking down at him and somehow the smirk made the feeling of contentment even stronger.

"Your mom is watching us from the door," Bentley whispered. Jackson turned his head slightly to see that his door was indeed ajar but he couldn't make out anyone behind it. He sighed and instinctive buried his face back into Bentley's neck. Bentley laughed softly and Jackson heard the soft catch of someone's voice outside the door as if they were holding back tears. The scent that wafted in through the door was a mess of emotions; happiness, sadness, anxiety but overall pleased. Then the scent receded and Jackson sat up and Bentley rolled off the bed.

"You can borrow some of my clothes," Jackson said eyeing Bentley up and down, "You seem to be my size so they'll fit." Bentley nodded and Jackson showed him where the shower was as he went down to get breakfast and face his parents. They were in the kitchen trying to play off being calm and composed but the scent of anxiety and concern was making the place reek.

"We didn't have sex," Jackson sighed going to take plates out, "So you don't have to worry. I don't think we're ever going to be ready for that." He paused for a second thinking about the fact that Bentley had, after all, given him a good cover and then added, "Well at least not anytime in the near future." The anxiety disappeared but the concern remained. Jackson sighed and began to pile toast and bacon onto the plates. His parents were used to him eating massive amounts of food from his lacrosse days in Beacon Hills but he had no idea how much food Bentley ate. He sat down to eat and a few minutes later Bentley was down, rubbing his hair over with Jackson's towel and wearing Jackson's t-shirt and jeans. . Jackson almost choked on his toast as his saw his mother's facial expression. Jackson gestured to the plate and took his towel from Bentley. They held hands briefly before Jackson headed upstairs. It retroflection he realized that the hand holding wasn't for a show but it was simply for comfort. He shook his head and showered quickly. When he got down, Bentley had his father and his mother engaged in a lively conversation dealing with the arrest of minors and how the judicial system could be re-made in order to better assist with rehabilitation. It was the first time in years that he had ever seen real relaxation on his parents.

The drive to school was tense. Jackson tried to engage Bentley in conversation but the boy had seemed to turn off completely. When Jackson pulled into the parking lot he didn't open the doors. Bentley looked at him with one raised eyebrow.

"Tell me what's going on," he demanded, "And don't say that it's nothing. I can smell the tension off you, Bentley." Bentley looked out the window for a long moment then looked down at his hands.

"My parents don't know where I am right now," he said softly, "I turned my phone off last night." Jackson opened his mouth to explain that they would just use the same cover that they did at his house but then Bentley continued.

"I only used to do that when I was out…doing really bad stuff…like…drugs and….other things," Bentley said looking out the window again. Jackson noticed that his fingers were clenching and unclenching, then wrapping around each other in what seemed like painful positions. "I made a change you know, I'm making a change. I know I can't tell but I can't lie to my father Jackson. I don't want him to think that I'm going wrong again. And what we have, what we told your parents, we're not together."

Jackson reached over and pulled Bentley's hands apart and held them in his. He let Bentley stared down at them for a bit and then when he turned to Jackson, Jackson held his gaze with his own.

"We are together," Jackson said, "It may not be the conventional gay relationship, but we are together. See this thing that we have," he squeezed Bentley's hands, "This is more than normal friendship. You said it before, we are connected. So that's what we tell your father. It's not a lie Bentley, we are together." Bentley let out a soft sob.

"I thought…I thought you really didn't…you do think…" Bentley began then rubbed his face with one hand, "Gosh, you know I am not like this. Geez." Jackson laughed.

"Well I am never like this either," he admitted, "So we do this to each other." Bentley squeezed his hand back, then he looked Jackson with that firm gaze of his.

"About what I said, with the drugs and stuff…" he began. Jackson sighed and flipped the open switch for his car.

"Forget it. You said you were making a change. I believe you. I'm making a change too. Believe it or not, I never used to be a werewolf all the time," Jackson said. Bentley asked what he used to be.

"A poisonous lizard called a Kanima," Jackson answered and left Bentley standing beside the car with his mouth open.

They didn't have their first two classes together, so they parted with a brush of fingers and Jackson felt the rage and wariness that normally followed him before he met Bentley rush back. It wasn't as strong as it used to be, but it was there none the less. It made him feel better because it was that rage and wariness, Derek told him, that would he his defense against anything that would try to hurt him. He had to be alert at all times. He took his seat and looked around, his face the normal mask of sullen and uninterested. It was odd that he hadn't seen Thomas or any of the other betas so far and he was priming himself to expect something bad to happen. Then five minutes before the bell rang for class, the two Beta's that took this class with him limped in. They didn't even try to hide it. They caught his frowning gaze briefly and then ducked into chairs on the opposite side of class from him. But it couldn't stop the scent of blood and the even heavier scent of fear, pain and sadness. It was so potent that Jackson felt sick in his stomach and even the human of the class kept giving them sympathetic glances. Jackson tried to catch them after class but they managed to get out before him however not before he caught the scent of blood on them and it smelt almost fresh. Jackson frowned at their backs before he headed to his next class.

Bentley was waiting for him by the door. Jackson automatically reached to hold his hand and squeezed. Bentley held tight and pulled him away from the door, looked around and leaned in close.

"One of the wolves are dead," he whispered. Jackson frowned at him. "I heard some of the people talking in class about how they found two bullet ridden bodies in some back alley. I didn't think anything of it until they said that one of the bodies was Michael Tin, one of the wolves you told me about." Jackson looked away down the corridor to where he had last seen the wolves.

"The ones in my class were injured," he said in a low voice, "I could smell the blood on them. And lots of pain." Bentley raised an eyebrow.

"You can smell pain?" he asked, "How the bloody hell does that work?" Jackson shrugged. The bell rang and they went inside and sat next to each other. Jackson caught some shy smiles from the girls in the class and when he looked at them they blushed, giggled and whispered to each other. After catching a few comments of 'they look so cute together', 'I horrified that he turned out to be gay' and 'can you imagine how hot is must look when they do it', he turned his hearing down and tried to lose himself in Spanish.

Jackson and Bentley sat at their own table since Jackson was now banned from the lacrosse table. Jackson was eating, while Bentley as tabbing on his computer while eating. Jackson saw Riley looking at him from the table and then after a few words with the wolves on the team, he got up and walked across. Jackson raised his eyebrows for a second then switched to his signature smirk of superiority. For some reason Riley seemed a bit put off when he arrived.

"This seat taken?" he asked. Jackson lounged back in his chair, and opened his mouth to refuse but then remembered the shower room conversation and decided to let the wolf get a free pass today, well almost free pass.

"The seats are free," Jackson said, "However sitting with me isn't. Won't your Alpha try to rip my throat out or something if he sees you?" Riley winced a bit and Jackson smelt a waft of blood in the air. "Sit down," he ordered and it was as if Riley sat down automatically. Bentley looked at him, raised an eyebrow at Jackson but sad nothing. There was an awkward silence and then Riley sighed.

"I just wanted to find out if you had any trouble last night?" he asked. Jackson and Bentley shared a quick look. Jackson shook his head. Riley opened his mouth then shut it and made as if to get up.

"Sit down," Bentley snapped and Riley dropped back into the seat with a look of surprise on his face. The surprise coloured his scent and Jackson realized that the wolf had obeyed the action instinctively. "What the hell happened to you guys?" Bentley asked, "Two of your wolves are dead and your Alpha is nowhere to been seen today. Jackson told me that he smelled blood on some of you as well as pain. So clearly something happened. What was it?" The scent of pain that washed off Riley was so sudden and potent that Jackson reached out and laid a hand on his arm. Riley looked at him and seem to just wilt.

"Michael and Johnny," he said with tears in his voice, "We got in the middle of a fight that didn't have anything to do with us. Some hunters were here for vampires knowing that they usually den up a bit on the full moon since werewolves are the most powerful on it. We were…roaming and came upon a hunter-vampire fight. The vampires took the chance to run and the hunters split forces and well…we got our asses handed to us. Those guys were hardcore!" Riley hissed the last part out. He swallowed hard then continued, "We finally got away when another pack came to help us out. If they hadn't showed up, we would have…" he trailed off and looked down at the table. Bentley and Jackson shared a look.

"So the blood is from your injuries that you got in the fight?" Bentley asked. Riley nodded but Jackson heard the slight elevation in his heart beat.

"You're lying," he said. Riley shot a look at him. "The blood isn't from the injuries in the hunter fight." Riley swallowed hard. "What gave to you?" Jackson demanded. Riley shot up from the seat. Jackson and Bentley grabbed his arm. In a few seconds, the wolves from the lacrosse table were at Riley's side with barely concealed snarls and flashes of gold. Jackson flashed his own blue ones for half a second and bared his teeth. Bentley suddenly got and pushed himself between Jackson and the wolves, his head titled down a bit so that he was looking up at them a bit. The wolves tried to hold their own but after a while they all stepped back. Bentley then lifted him head, snorted disdainfully at them and stepped aside. Jackson gave him a long look and made a mental note to find out what the hell was that about and then turned to the wolves.

"We are not trying to hurt him. We are trying to find out what hurt him," Jackson said, then took a deep sniff, "What hurt all of you." The wolves suddenly looked wary and their collective heart rate elevated.

"It's none of your business," one wolf snarled. Jackson sighed and looked at Bentley who rolled his eyes.

"Look, let me explain this in terms you can understand," Jackson said, "We're both wolves. What hurts you can hurt me. I want to know what that is so I can avoid it. Can your little wolf brain wrap around that? Or do I need to draw a chart?" Beside him Bentley shifted his stance a bit so that he was angled in a way that he left Jackson clear in view but was still between him and the wolves.

"It's just normal hunter stuff," another wolf offered lamely. Jackson dropped his head to look up at the wolf with a condescending smirk.

"How stupid do you think I am? I can hear your heart beat," he paused to let that sink in and then it struck him, "It's a who." The wolves seemed to stiffen. He looked around at them. "Who's been hurting you? All of you?" Bentley threw him a glance.

"Don't…" Riley said, "Just don't." Then he pushed through the wolves and walked out the cafeteria. Jackson and Bentley watched him go and the wolves all turned and went after him. Jackson and Bentley shared a look and raised eyebrows and then Jackson asked Bentley what the hell he thought he was doing getting in between him and the wolves.

"It just happened," Bentley admitted, "It was like; I could see them gunning for you and there was no way I was going to let them hurt you." Bentley paused and then smiled sadly, "And besides, I have good practice in intimidation." Jackson raised an eyebrow, remembered the conversation in the car and let it go.

Bentley had music next and spent the last few minutes of lunch in an empty classroom, letting Jackson hold him while they worked out a story to tell Mr. Hawke. Bentley's father was the music teacher and Bentley was going to have to sit and wait until the end of class for Jackson to come and they would tell his father a modified version of their night together. Then Jackson dropped him off and went to find a seat outside to wait out his free class period. He was elbow deep into homework when he smell the Alpha dropping into the seat next to him. He didn't bother to look up. Thomas laid a hand over the back of his neck and Jackson felt claws digging into his skin.

"Seriously?" Jackson said, "Claws at the neck? Do you know that I could lunge and tear your throat out before you could even sink those claws in?" Thomas growled and dug harder. Jackson laughed.

"So you are afraid of me," he said quietly. Thomas snapped his hand away from Jackson.

"I heard you've been talking to my pack," he said with a smile. Jackson looked at him this time.

"It's a free country," Jackson smiled back, "I can talk to whoever the hell I want. In fact I could get up and leave you here and go talk to that random girl over there." Thomas grinned feral at him.

"I have bigger problem to deal with than an omega like you," he said, "So I'll just say this once. What happens in my pack is my business. So piss off or I will make your life even more miserable than it already is. You know, seeing that you're pack-less and all. Or the fact that your only friend or may I say, boyfriend is a human." Jackson narrowed his eyes at Thomas.

"You're the one who's been hurting them, isn't it?" Jackson blurted out, "That's why they haven't healed up much yet. Injuries from an Alpha takes longer to heal. Wounds from hunter don't even last that long. At least they would be healing up well if they were really bad. But you…you've been abusing your pack." This time Thomas flared his red eyes.

"I make them stronger," he said. Jackson growled at him.

"Abusing someone doesn't make them stronger," he said, "I know an Alpha that used to try something like that. It didn't work out."

"I don't need advice on how to run my pack from you," Thomas snarled at him, "I don't answer to you." He flared his eyes again. "Don't make me take another try at Bentley, Jackson." Jackson grabbed Thomas' shirt and pulled him close.

"If you try to hurt him in anyway," Jackson snarled, "I will kill you Thomas." Thomas smirked and titled his head to one side. Jackson held him there for a few seconds and then shoved him away. "Get out of my sight," Jackson said and turned back to his homework. Thomas gave him a parting snarl and left.

Jackson tried to forget himself in his Economic class, which he actually liked and did amazingly in. Then he met Bentley outside the class. The boy looked and smell tense. Jackson asked if he would be okay with this or just wanted to come out and tell his father the truth about werewolves. But Bentley shook his head. They walked to the music room and Jackson saw the tall slender music teacher packing up notes. Bentley took a deep breath and Jackson placed a hand on his back and rubbed a bit. Then Bentley walked in with Jackson behind him.

"Hey dad," Bentley said awkwardly. Mr. Hawke looked up at him and then too Jackson.

"Friend of yours?" he asked nodding to Jackson. Jackson nodded back to him and tried to ignore the way Bentley seemed to just shrink in on himself.

"Yeah, this is Jackson Whittmore," Bentley said and rubbed his face, "Look dad, about last night…"

"You were out," his father interjected, "You didn't call or text. Your mother was worried but I managed to calm her. Then I spent the rest of the night awake and waiting for you." Mr. Hawke looked up at Bentley. Bentley opened his mouth to say something then closed it. Jackson saw the tears that wanted to come, smelt the sadness and hurt. He stepped up and placed his hand against Bentley's lower back.

"He was with me," Jackson said, "I was having some problems and he helped me sort it out." Bentley turned to look at him, his mouth open a little since this was not the story they had planned. He smiled at Bentley gently and then looked back at Mr. Hawke. "I have problems with anger management and I have really poor coping mechanisms. Bentley spent most of the night last night helping me." Mr. Hawke looked from one to the other.

"And how did he help you?" he asked. Jackson reached and took Bentley's hand.

"He calms me down," Jackson said honestly, "There is something about him that does that. As for last night he just sat there with me while I raged about. He just had to be there and I knew I wasn't going to go overboard." Jackson paused and then added, "We connected, you know." Mr. Hawke gave Jackson a long look that was strangely familiar to the way Bentley did his 'long searching' looks.

"So you like him," Mr. Hawke said. Jackson nodded. He felt Bentley squeeze his hand.

"And you like him," Mr. Hawke asked Bentley. Bentley looked at Jackson and then nodded back to his father.

"So you two are a couple," he asked to both of them. They looked at each other, shrugged and nodded. Mr. Hawke sighed and then looked at Jackson.

"If you break my son's heart, I will break you," he said. Bentley groaned while Jackson nodded seriously. Then he fixed his son with a hard gaze.

"You know who and what you are," he said, "I advise that you tell your boyfriend about yourself before you get in any deeper." Bentley swallowed hard and looked away. Mr. Hawke looked back to Jackson and seemed to wilt a little.

"I know that that may sound ominous to you…" he began when Jackson raised a hand. Jackson pulled Bentley closer to him.

"If this about what happened in his past with drugs and most likely acts of violence with some serious implications," Jackson said easily, "I know some of it already. The rest I can read from off his actions and piece together. Like you said, we're a couple. And like I told you; we connected. He'll let me get to know him as I will let him get to know me. And hopefully we'll both be able to move on from the boys that we were and become better men." Both Bentley and Mr. Hawke was looking at him with mouths slightly ajar.

"What?" Jackson asked, looking at the both of them. The moment was broken by students arriving for extra music practice. Jackson left Bentley and his father discussing some stuff about home and signs to look for in the window and went to lacrosse practice.

It took two days for the feeling that Jackson had that something was going to happen, for something to happen. It began with someone commenting that there was a funny rotting kind of smell coming from the old Hengely School, which of course reminded Jackson that he did not clean up the dead rat bodies from his rampage against the invading rodents. So he organized with Bentley to go and clean out the rat bodies. Bentley was fine with going since he also wanted to refresh that circle of mistletoe as well as a buried trail of rye seeds. He told Jackson that he was working on getting Mountain Ash but that may take a while. Jackson told his parents he was taking Bentley out and then asked Bentley's father to take him out. He listened to a full ten minutes of date rules which had him embarrassed and mumbling and then picked Bentley up at eight. They drove around to a department store; bought garbage bags, a small shovel, a knife and bleach then went for something to eat. The entire run took an hour then they drove up to the old Hengely School, hid the car and made their way to gym. When they reached the mistletoe line Jackson stopped and sniffed. Then he flared his eyes blue and flicked his claws out.

"Wait here," he said and walked into the gym. A few seconds later he was out and beckoning to Bentley. "We have a problem." Bentley came in and Jackson pointed; lying just under the window in the moonlight was a boy. "It's one of Thomas' betas," Jackson said, "He's from the football team." They squatted next to the boy. He was pale and his clothes was matted stiff from dried blood.

"Is he dead?" Bentley asked. Jackson tried to quell the anger and fear that just sprang up at seeing the wolf seemingly dead at his feet. He failed and tried again. Bentley reached for him and he growled at Bentley, eyes blue and fangs bared. Bentley pulled his hand back then reached again. "What is it?" Jackson shook his head, inhaling deeply, blood, sweat, dirt, grime and Bentley. He focused on Bentley bringing his emotions under control. "

"It's just…he's one like me you know…a wolf like me," Jackson tried to articulate, "And I don't know how much of this is hunters or Thomas? I just…" He reached out and touched the wolf's neck. The boy sprang to life, roaring with eyes gold and fangs bared. Jackson and Bentley screamed and scrambled back. The wolf tried to move, the roar changed to a scream of pain then a horrible whine of agony. Jackson sprang forward his hands resting on the boy's shoulders. All of a sudden something happened. A wave of pain washed over him and he gasped, sucking in air with a soft whine of pain. He looked down to see black lines rushing up his fingers and hands, fading out before they reached his elbows. He felt stuck in the tide of pain, unable to pull away from it. Then he was yanked back and fell against Bentley. He lay there breathing hard, feeling sweat tickling his forehead and tears on his face. Then Bentley was hugging him from behind, arms splayed across his chest protectively.

"What the hell was that?" Bentley was yelling at him, still clutching tight. Jackson saw that the wolf was awake but blinking slowly as if in a trance. He shook his head as the wolf seemed to go boneless for a few seconds then began to writhe again.

"I think…I think I took his pain," Jackson said. Bentley pressed his cheek against Jackson's head and then pushed him off. He moved to the wolf and waved a hand in front of the wolf's face.

"Well he's awake enough now to follow my hand," Bentley said to Jackson and then to the wolf, "I'm gonna just check you out okay?" The wolf bared fangs at him. Jackson moved over and turned the wolf's head to him.

"We are not here to hurt you," he said, "We can help." Bentley was fishing their clean up gear from the bag. He too the knife in his hands, hefted in a few times and then looked at Jackson.

"Can you do that pain taking thing again?" he asked. Jackson looked at the knife and took a deep breath.

"I'll try," he said.

Two horrible hours later they were done digging out five bullets from the wolf, cutting out infected flesh, padding up the wounds with Jackson's spare clothes from the car and then breaking a limb to trigger the healing process. Then they drove out to get food for their healing wolf after sealing the place with mistletoe. Jackson mentally thanked the people who designed drive-throughs as well as the ability of humans to just look away from the weird since they were both shirtless and blood smeared, as they drove back loaded with boxes of chicken and chips. The wolf had managed to shift a bit into the moonlight when they got back but was still too weak to sit up, further more feed himself. So Jackson and Bentley took turns feeding him until another two hours later he was able to sit up with support.

"We can't leave him here," Bentley said stifling a yawn, "And it's Sunday tomorrow Jackson." The wolf, Felix assured them that he could spend the night here but then shut up with the looks they were giving him.

"Is there anyone we can call to pick you up," Jackson asked, "Maybe a member of your pack?"

Felix flinched and then said hurriedly, "I don't want them to see me like this. I…I don't think…I can't…I can't face him like this." Jackson and Bentley shared a look.

"Your Alpha?" Jackson asked. Felix paused then nodded. "Because he'll hurt you," Jackson stated. Felix started and looked at Jackson.

"How did you…?" he began then realized that he gave himself away. He buried his face in his hands. "Oh god, he's gonna kill me. I can't…I don't know what to do?" Jackson ran a hand over the wolf's back almost instinctively. Felix let out a soft moan as Jackson took some of the pain. Bentley snapped at him.

"That's enough Jackson, you're hurting yourself now." Jackson gave him a sheepish grin but Bentley was right. His bones were aching, he had a headache and he just wanted to curl up somewhere and cry for a very long time. He wondered how Bentley knew that he was hurting. "You look like shit," Bentley said as if reading his mind. Jackson shrugged and sagged.

"He's right Felix, we can't leave you here. And I won't give you to Thomas," Jackson said and then paused to muse, "I'll take him home." Bentley gave a small laugh. Jackson looked wearily at him.

"I don't know where else to take him," Jackson protested. Bentley shook his head and said he didn't have a better idea either. So they slung the wolf's arms over their shoulders, laid him out in Jackson's back seat. Felix gave them look of thanks and then passed out. Bentley kept an eye on the wolf in the back seat as they drove.

"You do know that you will be raising all kinds of hell by doing this right?" Bentley asked. Jackson nodded. "What do you plan to do about it?" Bentley asked.

"First, I plan to figure out a way to sneak him up to my room. Secondly, drop you home. And thirdly, write a long and serious letter to Danny," Jackson stated. Bentley sighed and settled back into his seat.

"In other words, you have no idea," he said, "I thought so."