Look at me coming through on my word! I had some free time because my project partners skipped out on our meeting, so I wrote you guys a new chapter! Yay! This chapter is a little longer than normal, but thats because I smashed a lot of stuff into it. Thank you to everyone who has been reading, reviewing, favoriting and following! It means so much and it makes me want to continue writing, not only this story, but every story I've ever started. I hope you all like this chapter and expect the next one sometime next week! As always I do not own anything except for Maxine and the storyline. Enjoy!
"Where are they?" Peter grunts pushing Derek out of the way.
"I don't know, I assume they have her at her house?" I stammer. My heart is beating in my ears and I feel my hands getting clammy with fear.
"Let's go," Derek instructs pushing Isaac in front of him.
"Wait! Wait!" Max yells and Derek stops. "You can't just barge in there! Don't you think that's what they want? How do you expect one alpha, two betas, and a used-to-be-dead-alpha to beat a pack of extra-strong-never-dead-alphas?"
"Scott's an omega," I say quickly scratching my head.
"Whatever!" Max glares at me. I shrug as an apology.
"We'll bring Cora and Boyd," Derek declares looking up where I assume Boyd and Cora are.
"They won't be any help," Peter sighs. "Stiles' wolfbane cuffs have them still crippled. Cora wakes up for only a few hours a day, Boyd even less. Their bodies need time to recharge and heal the wounds."
"I'm calling Allison…" Scott says pulling his phone from his pocket.
"Wait, why?" I yell putting my hand over the slim metallic phone.
"You have a better idea?" Scott says ripping the phone from my hand.
"We have to think this out," Isaac says worriedly. "Are you sure we should bring the Argents into this?"
"Didn't you say they gave up hunting?" I add trying to get Scott to rethink the call. But it doesn't work I can hear the faint ringing before he puts it to his ear.
"They still know more about hunting alphas than any of us. Maybe they could tell us what we are walking into before we walk into it… Allison?" All of us hold our breath, Scott included. "Yeah," he laughs slightly and air refills the room. "The alphas have Lydia, Allison… Hey! Hey!" he shouts into the phone now. "Allison calm down! We are going to save her, but we need to know anything your dad can tell us about hunting alphas!" We all wait in silence watching Scott wave his hands and spin around as he tries to communicate to his once lover. "Hi Mr. Argent," he pauses, his eyes locking on mine. "Alpha's look for a weakness in an enemies pack? Ok… But they didn't take someone from Derek's pack…"
"They took someone from your pack," Max grunts as she shoves her book back into her backpack. "They're after you Scott, not Derek."
"She's a friend of ours…" Scott stares at Max like the rest of us. "Max what's your last name?"
"Discite…" I say before she can.
"Discite?" Scott says into the receiver. "Why? What does it matter? Yeah, I guess she's coming… Wait! No Mr. Argent, you don't have to-" Scott looks at the phone now.
"Daddy Argent still doesn't like Scotty?" Peter asks mockingly.
"I don't think so," Scott grumps shoving his phone back into his pocket. "He told me he'd meet us at Lydia's…"
"So what is the plan?" Isaac asks quickly.
"I say we just charge in, we engage them long enough to get them away from Lydia. Then the last person gets Lydia out. There are five of them and with Argent; there are five of us. That leaves Max and Stiles, they can get Lydia out," Derek says in one long sentence.
"That plan has a lot of holes," Peter says leaning back against the closest wall.
"Well we have to do something and fast!" I yelp. My mind racing through possibility after possibility. They are hurting her, torturing her. She is screaming, they won't stop! I grab hold of the table to support myself.
"I think it's the best we can do under the circumstances. This girl is important, yeah?" Max asks looking between our faces.
"Yeah," I say shaking slightly. Lydia won't leave my head. She's tied up there. I see her, in her own bedroom, snarling wolves circling her.
"Well yeah we know she's important to you," Max groans and Isaac snorts.
"She's important to me too," Scott says quickly.
"We also have a bond…" Peter adds.
"We had a bit of a thing for awhile…" Isaac admits quietly looking only at Max. I bite my tongue to stop myself from screaming at him. Since when? When did they have a thing? Where was I? My head feels heavy like it might fall off.
"So she is literally connected to all of you except Derek?" Max's brow dips and looks over at Derek.
"I have no connection except I know she is their friend," Derek shrugs. "So maybe I'm not going into this fight hoping to save Lydia. I'm going in hoping to rid my town of these alpha sons of bitches."
"Alrighty," Max nods. "Derek's plan is going to work then. All of you have a reason to fight. Let's go," Max says pushing against my shoulder. We all look at each other and then file out of the building. Max pulls herself into my car as the rest of the boys sprint on all fours towards Lydia's house, Scott leading the way.
"What's the book about?" I ask as I pull into gear. Keep your head away from Lydia, I think. Distract yourself.
"My family has worked for thousands of years uncovering the truth on everything most people believe to be false. That book contains everything we know," she shrugs eyes focused on the road. My headlights dance in strange yellow forms on the wet pavement.
"So when you said research?"
"I meant for the book," she nods, but doesn't turn to me.
"Isn't it dangerous? Going after basically killing machines?" I frown.
"That's why my entire family is dead," she says in a monotone voice. "That's why you need to take this."
"What?" I say glancing down at her. She's rifling through her bag, her hand comes up holding a glinting revolver. "Whoa! Whoa!" I exclaim my knuckles turning white under pressure on the steering wheel.
"Ever shot a gun?" she asks quickly as she loads silvery bullets into the revolver.
"Like once, with my dad. I was like ten and it was at the police shooting range! I have never ever shot at anything alive! I've never even thought of-"
"Stiles!" she cuts me off and I go silent. "It's loaded with silver bullets. If you shoot a werewolf in the heart, they will die. It's not instantaneous, this will not keep them from killing you, but it will slow them down."
"Ok," I say sternly as we turn onto Lydia's street. All the lights in her house are off and its silent on the road. "She might not be here."
"My bet is, she is," Max says. "Stop here." She instructs and I pull the jeep to the side of the road. She hands me the gun, her icy blue eyes cutting into me like some kind of warning. She pulls open her door silently and steps out keeping her body low. I watch her slink over to the nearest tree. I try to copy, but I make exponentially more noise then her, she doesn't seem bothered by it though. I put the gun down the back of my pants like badasses on TV. We sit in silence then and watch the seemingly empty house.
"What are we-" I whisper, but she cuts me off with a shhh. I roll my eyes my heart beating faster now. My feet twitch and I want to get inside. I want to know what's happening. I want to know where Lydia is. Suddenly there is a loud crash killing the silence on the street, Max stands up as a body comes flying from the one of the kitchen windows.
"Oh my God! Who was that did you see?" I yell.
"Come on!" Max yells over me and the crashing and snarling pouring from Lydia's pretty little house. How perfect is it that her parents are never here? We dash toward the back gate and she quickly unlatches it. Someone hits the lights in the kitchen and the bloody scene unfolds in front of us like some sick play I never wanted to see. I feel my throat tighten as one of the twin's hands comes down hard on Scott's face blood hitting the French doors. Max's hand grabs mine and she turns into me. "We have one shot at this. We save Lydia at any cost? Right? That's what you want? Get her out no matter what?" I stare at her a minute not sure what she wants me to say.
"Yes…" I say slowly, the moment the word is gone from my lips her hand is gone from mine and she is charging at the French doors. Scott and the twin roll into the next room leaving Derek and the big guy wrestling amongst the cabinets. I catch a glimpse of Mr. Argent engaging the alpha, alpha, his eyes lock on Max as she pulls open the back door.
"Maxine!" Mr. Argent calls and Max turns her attention to him. "Upstairs!" She turns toward the stairs now. They're clear and Max takes her shot. We are up the stairs faster than I have time to realize we are running up stairs.
"Which room!" Max yells anxiously.
"Last door! Last door!" I point to the one with the flowers and Max throws it open. Lydia is inside tied to a chair, gag in her mouth. Tears are causing her makeup to fill her cheeks, she moans when she sees us. "It's ok! We'll get you out." I say in a steady tone, bending down to try and untie her. I hear cords snap and look over at Max who was smart enough to bring a knife.
"Knife," Max says quickly.
"Right," I nod switching positions to untie the gag. I should start carrying a knife. At the very least, a knife. Lydia's hands are free then and she undoes the gag herself before screaming and pointing at the open doorway. The wolf woman with black hair and unkempt toenails and fingernails stalks into the room, her face covered in blood. I can't tell if it's her own.
"They brought humans?" the woman's laugh is deep and throaty. Her claws try to meet Max's face, but Max ducks out of the way just in time. I watch in horror as Max's silver knife sinks into the woman's chest. The woman screeches thrashing around pulling the knife from her body, now glinting with blood. Max grabs hold of my shirt and shakes me hard.
"Get Lydia out no matter-" Max's stinging eyes are gone as the claws find Max's face and her body hits the ground. Lydia has wriggled her way out and is standing at the door. I glance over at Max the werewolf has dug her claws into Max over and over. Blood has started to pool around Max's now motionless body. I make a move to stop the werewolf, but Lydia's screams stop me.
"Stiles!" Lydia screeches looking backward down the hall. The wolf Derek had been in combat with is charging up the stairs. Huge muscles, giant height and terrible teeth and claws headed straight for Lydia. I fumble trying to pull the gun from the back of my shorts. It hits the ground and I copy scooping it up, I make a decision then that I didn't think I'd ever have to make. I chose Lydia. I let the trigger go, sending the silver bullet spinning at the large man. It knocks him back in surprise, but then he just laughs.
"It will heal," the man laughs like the woman, who is now watching our exchange.
"Doubt it!" I yell and his smile fades. He rips at his chest blood soaking his white shirt. He rips his shirt off around him exposing the hole Max's gun created. Black veins start to pop from his skin running quickly up his body, covering his face. The red-eyed alpha opens his mouth to speak, fury on his face, blood pours out instead of words. He reaches for Lydia, but before he can reach her Derek is pulling the monster down the stairs with him. I scramble to my feet as the dark haired woman turns to me, she has clearly seen me shoot her friend. Max lays still beyond her, blood and muscle are visible in the place the werewolf has bitten her. I plaster myself against the wall and cock the gun, I feel my eyes going wide as the bullet plows into the woman's chest, but it doesn't seem to faze her.
"He is my husband!" I hear her scream before a pain cuts through me and darkness surrounds me.
"Max!" I yell flipping up in a hospital bed. My room is empty only a dividing sheet, my bed, a slow flickering TV and me. I look sideways at a chair holding a shredded blood soaked vintage t-shirt, that once said Atari. I grab my heart feeling the thick cottony bandages stuck over my chest. I peel the bandages back to get a look at how bad it is, a couple of stitches, but nothing too bad. "Oh thank God…" I say my head hanging back. Pain screams through my head then, holding behind my eyes. Movement is bad. "Oh my God!" I say grabbing my forehead, also covered with thick bandages.
"Stiles!" Ms. McCall comes running in.
"What in the hell happened!" I yell angrily squinting my eyes hard, trying to kill the pain.
"Werewolf fight. They knocked you out, cut you up pretty good…" Ms. McCall explains calmly trying to push me back down in my new bed. "Don't get up! You might have a concussion." I push her hands off and spring from the bed. Darkness threatens the corners of my gaze, but I push through it into the hallway. I spin around looking for Max, her still bloody body hot in my head. I squint trying to dispel it.
"Stiles!" Dad yells pushing a few officers out of the way to reach me. "Get back into bed. You are hurt." His voice is serious, but his eyes are soft.
"Where is Max?" I say quickly spinning around; again, darkness threatens the corners of my vision.
"She's safe, you need to get back in bed until you feel better," Dad tells me sternly. I shake my head causing more black to creep in. I fight it off holding my hand to my wrapped head.
"Let me see her." Dad gives in then and escorts me to Max's room. Her room is dark besides the light of a few monitors. I almost miss the still head peaking from under the white cloth. She has oxygen running to her nose and an IV running into her arm. She looks small and helpless, fragile, like a doll. I inch closer to her bedside letting me see the left half of her face, eye included, has been completely covered in thick white bandages, spots of blood bleed through. Her mouth hangs open, but her stinging blue eye holds shut. I feel tears start to burn down my cheeks. If only I had shot the woman first… "She's going to wake up right?" I turn to Ms. McCall the moment she enters the room.
"We think so," she sighs wrapping her arm around my shoulders. "Let me get you a shirt-"
"She has to wake up." I say quickly. Ms. McCall won't look at me now.
"Stiles," dad sighs and I flip toward him.
"This is my fault! I had the chance to save her! I didn't take it!" I yell pushing tears away.
"What happened back there?" dad gasps slightly.
"Scott said it was an animal attack," Ms. McCall answers for me. "Somehow a wolf got into Lydia's house, scratched up a few off them seriously attacked these two…" I turn back to Max. She was dying and it was my fault. I chose to save Lydia.
"Stiles!" Scott's voice cuts the air as he barges in the room, I don't turn to him.
"Guys we can't stay in here," Ms. McCall informs us.
"I'll be out in one minute. Just give me a second alone," I say turning to them, love and hurt mixed on their faces. They nod then and one by one leave the room. I pull a nearby chair closer to Max's bedside and take up her hand laying as still as the rest of her. "I chose her, Max. Why did I choose her?" My throat catches as the tears start coming faster. "I could have saved you, you could be awake right now!" She doesn't move. "I made the wrong choice." Her hand squeezes mine back as the one stinging blue eye flutters open.
"No," she smirks slightly shifting in her bed.
"Were you awake the whole time?" I ask, violently standing up, the chair flying backward away from me.
"You guys were yelling a lot," she says quietly.
"Max I'm sorry," I sob.
"Hey," she grunts and I bite my lip to stop it from quivering. "You do look good without a shirt on." I just stare at her a moment and she starts to laugh. Then the room that felt like death suddenly feels like home. "You made the right choice, we were there to save Lydia," she shrugs. "That's why we talked about it before going inside." She smiles putting her hand over my bandaged chest.
"But if we were to go back," I say quickly. "I'd make the other shot."
"No you wouldn't," Max keeps that smile, but I can see water form in the corners of her eyes. "You love Lydia, you'll always save Lydia."
"No I don't," I shake my head hard covering her hand over my heart. "When I saw you… When I walked in here and you were lying so still I thought you were-"
"Stiles?" Ms. McCall say pushing open the door. I turn to her sharply as she bursts in the door yelling. "She's awake!" A bunch of nurses come flooding into the room then as Ms. McCall pulls me backward out the door. She slams it on me.
"You can't!" I shout trying to reach for the door handle, dad and Scott hold me back. "Please!" I plead trying to push them off. Dad loses his grip, but not Scott. He forces me into the chair beside Max's door and holds me there as my masculinity comes pouring down my face.
"Stiles," my dad grabs onto my shoulders before pulling me into a hug. "She's awake, the doctors can better help her now!" He drops the hug and I drop my face into my hands.
"What happened Scott?" my dad demands.
"Truthfully sir, I didn't see," Scott says quietly. "Lydia and Max were the only ones with Stiles. I was downstairs…"
"I'm going to speak with Lydia," dad says sternly. "Stiles do you want to see Lydia?" dad asks looking down at me. I shake my head and he sighs before marching down the hallway.
"You don't?" Scott asks quickly as he sits beside me. His cheek was covered from where the twin's claw met his face, but we both knew it would be healed in an hour or so. "You sure?"
"Do I look sure!" I yell pointing at my hard face.
"Ok, ok," Scott says as my crying reseeds into unsteady breathing.
"She's alive," I say quickly.
"Yeah," Scott says happily.
"But she's going to be a werewolf." I say turning to Scott, his smile fades.
"We don't know that, Lydia didn't-"
"Then she'll go insane! That isn't much better Scott!" I bark at him then think better of it. "I'm sorry." We sit in silence a minute.
"Mom says you weren't bit," Scott says quietly.
"No, I wasn't…" I sigh turning my head with passerbys. Wheelchairs, beds and feet carry patients on their way. We sit in silence again. "How many did we kill?"
"All of them except the leader…" Scott says quietly his head drooping.
"I shot two of them." He nods his head. "In the wrong order."
"What do you-"
"Max wasn't bit until after I shot my first bullet. I could have killed the one that was going to bite her. I could have saved her."
"It's not your fault-"
"Don't." We sit in silence. For the first time in a long time I have nothing to say to my best friend. Max's door opens and I jump up peering inside the bodies pass and then the door closes. Ms. McCall stands in the way of the little window on the door. "Can't I see her?"
"She's unconscious again, Stiles," Scott's hand grips my shoulder. Instead of shaking him off, I let him help support my body weight.
"She might be faking, she was faking before-"
"Stiles. She's unconscious." Ms. McCall says quietly.
"Why don't you go home, get some rest and come back tomorrow morning?" Ms. McCall suggests.
"Because she could be dead by then." I say seriously and Scott's hand falls away.
"Can't he stay?" Scott asks his anxious looking mother.
"Of course he can, but he has to stay outside of Mrs. Discite's room," Ms. McCall crosses her arms and I nod sitting back down in my chair.
"You'll let him know when he can see her?" Scott asks for me again.
"Yes, you'll be the first to know," Ms. McCall says leaning down to kiss me on the top of my head. She smiles and then disappears down the hallway.
"Want me to go back to your place and get you a shirt?" Scott asks quickly.
"That'd be great," I nod letting my head rest on the back of my chair.
"Ok I'll be back soon," Scott says looking at me hard.
"You know what?" I ask just before he's about to turn away. "I had two chances to stop her from dying or turning… I could of shot her before her mate or I could have killed them that night in the woods, with the whistle."
"Stiles…" Scott starts, but he doesn't finish. "I'll be back in a minute."
I press back into my chair, the vinyl sticking to my skin. I had slept here before, just like this, just outside the door, for Lydia. Thinking about her left a bad taste in my mouth like cold soup or aerosol on the air. All that time I spent waiting for her, shopping for her, talking to her, being there for her and yet, she still keeps me at arms length. Max embraces me. She's my Goddamned friend. I saved Lydia. I close my eyes trying to get her out of my head, but there she stands, happy, strong and tall, leaning menacingly over Max's body. She is going to claw her, bite her, turn her into one of these things, change her life, maybe ruin it! I cock my gun at her, but before the bullet hits her, I jolt up in my chair realizing I'd dozed off. Ms. McCall walks past and I jump up to meet her.
"Nothing yet Stiles," she says solemnly looking toward Max's door. I nod and sit back down, the vinyl on my back was making me claustrophobic so I stand up again and start to pace.
"Got it," Scott says tearing down the hall waving a shirt over his head like a flag. I pull the faded red shirt over my head and laugh slightly at the irony of him picking this shirt out of every shirt I own. "Sweatshirt too," Scott says pulling a grey and navy blue drawstring sweatshirt from his backpack.
"Thanks," I nod at him as I pull it on. We both stare through Max's window, computer screens jumping along with her heartbeat.
"She's going to be ok, I can tell." Scott says clapping me on the back. "Wolf or not, she's going to live and she's going to forgive."
"Funny thing is," I smile slightly now. "She'd only be mad at me if I hadn't saved Lydia instead of her."
"Then why so upset?" Scott says cheerily.
"Because I saved Lydia instead of her."
"You'd be beating yourself up either way! If you saved Max you'd be outside Lydia's hospital room right now!" Scott declares as my dad followed by Lydia round the corner. Lydia walks up to me and stops. Her big round eyes such a contrast from Max's sharp ones.
"Thank you for saving me," she says quickly her hand brushing back her hair showing off one measly scratch.
"You aren't badly hurt?" Scott asks quickly.
"No, barely at all, thanks to Stiles," her words cut me unintentionally. "They just kept me here for questioning after they checked me over…" Scott nods as dad leads Lydia out of the hospital. I turn back to Max's door just in time to see Ms. McCall step inside.
"It could be nothing," Scott says his arms crossing. "They have to check vitals ever four hours." A moment later Ms. McCall comes out careful to close the door behind her. She looks up at me with big sad eyes.
"What? What?" I ask almost jumping on her.
"Just sad to see someone so young with no family," she smiles sadly at her son before taking his hand. "She is stable, but out cold. How is your head?"
"It's fine, it's fine! Just please help her," I point toward Max's door and Ms. McCall nods.
"We are honey, but you're health is important too…"
"Mom," Scott says quickly. "My face is already almost healed I can feel it. Do Max's wounds look any more healed?"
"I thought you said she wasn't…" Ms. McCall gestures to Scott.
"Well she wasn't but she was bit…" Scott says quietly.
"No signs of premature healing," Ms. McCall says quietly. "She's all human from what I can tell." Scott nods and his mom goes on her way.
"Peter bit Lydia then died. This wolf bit Max and then died. Lydia went crazy then. Max is going to go crazy, Scott," I yelp turning to him. I feel the tears coming again. "I did this!"
"Stiles!" Scott says his had gripping the back of my neck so our faces are close. "We deal with this one step at a time, we know nothing yet. Come on let's go cool off. I'll get you a bag of gummy worms, you go splash some water on your face, ok?" Scott stares through me and I nod. He watches me turn into the men's room before turning toward the vending machines. I walk up to the sink looking hard at my disheveled appearance. I'm paler then usual, with big red eyes and a white bandage circling my head like an old time cartoon character. I run the cold water dipping my hands into it. I let it soak my face before rubbing it against my neck. Surprisingly I do feel somewhat better. I walk back across the hall to Max's room peering in the door Ms. McCall is again standing over Max's bed. She rushes toward the door when she sees me.
"She wants to see you," Ms. McCall says opening the door for me. I barrel in and pick up the chair I sent flying.
"Hey," she laughs slightly as I fight with the chair.
"How are you?" I ask once I finally get the chair to reach her bedside.
"I'm fine. Sorry I feel asleep like that, they were all so boring compared to you," she snickers. "How are you?" She says reaching out to brush my fabric covered forehead.
"Looks great doesn't it? I feel like an old cartoon character," I snort.
"What a wonderful thing to be," she smiles. "How is Lydia?"
"Fine. They are all fine. Are you fine?" I ask quickly.
"Yes!" she laughs slightly. "Just a few cuts Stiles I'm not dying…"
"Or turning?"
"Into what?" she looks sideways at me with a smile. "A werewolf?" she outwardly laughs then.
"You were bit! It's not an absurd thing to ask!" I yell at her.
"Stiles, I'm not turning into a werewolf," she shakes her head.
"How do you feel mental health wise?" I ask trying to get closer to her like I could see the crazy in that one blue eye.
"I'm not feeling like I should run through the woods naked either," she shakes her head at me. I open my mouth to speak, but I can't find any words. "Yeah I read about Lydia's jaunt after her "strange animal attack". I'm not going insane. As a Discite I have a powerful spell on me. I guess my grandfather's hoodoo loving girlfriend put it on his entire family tree. I can't become a werewolf. Or a vampire or a mermaid or a ghost or any of that stuff!" she informs me quietly.
"All of those are real?" I ask feeling like a little kid.
"You can read all about them in my book," she smirks.
"So even if you wanted to be a werewolf-"
"I would never want to be a werewolf," she says quickly. "Their lives seem terribly difficult."
"How?" I laugh. "They are ten times faster than us, ten times stronger than us, they are-"
"Hunted? Fictional?" she butts in.
"Two downsides, but overall?" I ask seriously.
"I have met everything your daddy told you was fake, twice and I have never met anything even remotely as interesting as a human. I like humans," she says taking my hand.
"But if I was a werewolf then maybe you wouldn't be in this hospital bed…" I say squeezing her hand.
"No, I'd be dead, because you would have been fighting alongside Scott and Derek," she says rolling her eyes.
"You don't know that," I say quickly.
"And you don't know that I'd be better off with you being a werewolf!" she retorts almost angrily, but she still clings to my hand. "I like humans." She pauses the one blue eye stinging into me. "And I'm going to be fine."
"Stiles? Max?" dad says as he opens the door behind me. I turn to him as he walks in. "Can I talk to Max for a minute?" he asks and I nod. Max squeezes my hand hard once more before I turn and leave. Scott stands outside the door looking impatient, a bag of gummy worms in one hand.
"Well, how is she?"
"She's going to be fine," I smirk at him. "Those all for me?"
"Well I wanted-" I snatch the bag from him. "Oh come on!" he laughs as I hold them out of his reach.
"Werewolves don't eat worms," I tell him in low tone.
"Neither do humans!" Scott grunts.
"Don't be so sure," I snicker dropping one into my open mouth. "Humans are a lot more interesting then werewolves give us credit for."
