"What is it? What's wrong?" Derek said with a worried look on his face.

"No wonder I can't hear the howls." Emma whispered.

"What?"

"He's found me." Emma backed herself onto her bed.

"Get up. Come on, tell me what's wrong." Derek went and stood by her, wrapping a hand around her shoulders as she shivered. "Emma!"

That seemed to snap Emma out of her trance, "I need to leave. It was a mistake coming back here. Oh God, how could I have been so stupid? Shit! Shit! Shit!" She took out a carry-on bag and started putting in all her clothes.

Derek took both her hands and held on tight, stopping her mid-pack. "Just tell me what's wrong?"

"I need to leave. Let go!"

"No! You aren't leaving, you said so yourself."

"Well now I'm saying I will."

"What about your mom? And Lydia? You'll leave them? You'll leave me?"

"By leaving I can save you guys from getting involved in my messes. Let me go!"

"Just sit down and think rationally. Tell me what's happened and I will help you. I promise!"

"Don't make promises you won't be able to keep, Derek."

"Fine! This is what you are now, isn't it? Always running. Just stick around and finally face whatever demon you have! The Emma I remember would never walk away from a fight."

"The Emma you remember is dead! Just like the Derek I remember!"

"Emma, you aren't dead. She's still there and I know it! So do you." Just then the door to the bedroom opened and Lydia stood in the doorway, unsure whether to enter or not.

"You're leaving again, aren't you?" She whispered.

Emma winced at the sight of her sister and slumped visibly. "I, Lydia-

"Use the front door this time and make sure you let mom know too!" Lydia then left, closing the door on the way out.

"She hates me." Emma started cry as she leaned into Derek. He wrapped his arms around her and just held her.

"Come on," he said and pushed the bag off the bed. "You need to sleep and then tomorrow we can decide what needs to be done." He lay her down on the bed, brought the covers to her and tucked her in.

"Stay, please." Emma said lightly holding onto his hand.

"Okay." And he made his way towards the sofa.

"The bed, Derek." Emma moved to make room for him. "I don't want to sleep alone tonight."

Derek climbed into bed with Emma and she turned around to look at him. Both kept their eyes on each other's faces. A single tear rolled down Emma's cheek and Derek brought up his finger to wipe it away.

xXx

"There was some insane amount of howling last night. Actually for some nights. Can you tell your family to keep it down? I'm having trouble sleeping." Stiles said to Scott closing his locker.

"They aren't my family. I don't know who they are but I'm going to Derek's after school to find out."

"I'll come with. Nothing seems like a coincidence anymore."

"It's not." Lydia said walking up to them. "Derek came over last night and I heard him and Emma arguing. I think she knows who they are. I thought she was leaving but this morning she was still sleeping in her bed."

"Can we really trust your sister?" Stiles questioned.

"I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt."

xXx

Deaton was at the back of the clinic when the couple walked in. When he heard the familiar jingle of the door bell he called out, "Be there in a minute."

The couple stood waiting patiently, taking in their surroundings. The woman was of medium built, blonde hair while the man had jet black hair and a scar that ran the right side of his face. Both stood hands interlocked and at their feet was a single carrier.

"Sorry, that took so long. How may I help you?"

"Hi, my wife and I are new to town and we heard you were the man to come to for animal troubles." The man had a hoarse and thick voice. "It's my wife's cat. We don't quite know what's wrong with it."

"May I?" Deaton asked and when he got the okay, he bent down to take a look. The cat cowered at the back of the carrier. He opened the carrier and put his hand in only to be scratched. "Cats can be tricky animals. They are exceptionally moody at times and from its apparent regard of me, I can see that something scared her. Did something happen for her to be in such a state?"

The woman spoke this time, her voice sickly sweet. "We have no idea. It just happened overnight."

"I'd like to keep her here overnight, if that's alright? It seems that she's hurt as well."

"Oh please, yes! Anything to make my darling Emma okay."

"That's an interesting collar." On the collar was an 'X'.

"Family heirloom."

"I'll see what I can do about Emma. If you could just write down your contact details, I'll be sure to give you an update."

"Thank you so much!" The woman exclaimed clasping her hands together while her husband filled out the form and handed it back to Deaton.

"No problem," Deaton said looking down at the form, "Mr. and Mrs. Dawson."

xXx

"Here they come." Derek muttered and Emma looked at the loft door in apprehension.

"Well would you look at that. The whole cavalry is here." Peter said as he descended the stairs and sat down on the last steps. Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Allison and Isaac walked in.

"Something's wrong again, isn't it?" Scott asked.

"I thought you were leaving." Lydia said.

"I still think I should and you will too once you realise that I'm putting all of you in danger by being here." Emma replied.

"What's going on?" Isaac asked.

"The howls you've been hearing for the past two nights…I know who they are. And they're after me. A man and woman, Dawson and Julia. Um…Dawson was an ex-boyfriend and Julia an ex-pack mate." Emma said looking over at Derek. "I thought Dawson was the one, you know? So, I told him about me being a werewolf. I didn't realise what the consequence of that revelation would be. I always saw the good in him, what he wanted me to see. Never once did I see the bad, not till he actually became a werewolf."

"And the plot thickens." Peter exclaimed.

"When he asked me to bite him I thought maybe he wanted to become like me so that we could be together under the same circumstances but since I wasn't an alpha I couldn't turn him. So, I asked my alpha, John to turn him. His bite had killed two humans already and he wouldn't take the risk. I begged him so when he agreed I was overjoyed. I should have seen it then. I should have realised my mistake. It was successful. He became a werewolf. He caused so many problems right after; he revealed his true colours. He had divided the pack in two, and his side stood against John. I realised my mistake when I found out he was a hunter. That night I had gone straight to John's place to tell him so that he could put an end to him, Julia, John's wife and mate wasn't home that night and when I walked in I realised something was wrong. There was another scent in the house. Dawson's scent and he had killed John."

"Wait, hunters turning into werewolves is against the rules." Allison said.

"There was something completely else going on there. Some other mission, I don't know. He turned the whole pack against me and inflicted himself with a wound claiming to have been attacked by me trying to save John. Julia turned on me in a heartbeat. So I ran. He's been after me since. I didn't think he would follow me here but I guess I was wrong."

"And the 'X'?" Derek asked.

"It's Julia's mark."

"So, what do they want?" Stiles asked.

"I don't know. Revenge, maybe? I've never asked." Emma asked frustrated.

Peter got up from where he was sitting and stood in front of the window. "It's obvious. When you kill a wolf's mate, the wolf comes to exact revenge. It's the whole circle of life."