Chapter Eight
"Discovered"

The next couple of weeks I spent asking questions which the pack were happy to answer, although I got the feeling they were keeping something from me. Something big. But I shook it off, blaming it once again on my own paranoia. I'd learnt about Allison and her family's history, the pack had filled me in on Derek's family and past and I felt as if I knew a whole new side to him. I'd even been allowed to watch a training session- although Derek had been very strict about not letting me join in. That had been the only time I'd seen him too. He barely even glanced at me throughout the session and as soon as it was finished, disappeared into his house. Not that I had anything to say really. Stiles on the other hand, had been spending a lot of time at our house though, although not for me. Lizbeth and he were spending a lot of time together, much to Reese's annoyance. He mostly just cooked dinner for us while Lizbeth sat and watched him dreamily. I left them to it. Unfortunately, two weeks after I'd been told of 'the Secret', I felt I had to step in. I woke up on Saturday morning, the day of the Halloween Party feeling fresh and decided to go on one of my early morning runs. But as I passed Lizbeth's room in the hall, I saw her bed empty as her door was open a crack. I searched the rest of the house silently, but couldn't find her anywhere. As I walked out the front door, I had a nagging suspicion as to where she was, and headed to Stiles' house. Lizbeth had been home when I had gone to bed, but I'd retired early and knowing Lizbeth, she'd found a way to fool our parents. I knocked on Stiles' door, slightly out of breath.
It opened, and I was faced by Stiles, standing in boxers and a t shirt. He started when he saw it was me.

"Hi Stiles." I smirked. "Nice bed head. Is your dad home?"

"My dad? No he's not here- he had the night shift. I was all alone last night," he said, looking guilty.

"Uh-huh." I said suspiciously, just as I heard another set of footsteps on the stairs. "So can you explain as to why my younger sister is standing behind you on the stairs in one of your Kings Of Leon t-shirts?" I asked. He blushed furiously.

"Um..."

"She's sixteen, Stiles! You're lucky I found her bed empty instead of my parents or worse my brother. Just wait until he finds out about this!" I said. "You're in deep shit." I told him.

"Mer, we only slept!" I gave him a look. "Ok, we maybe made out a bit, but that was it! God, what do you take me for?!" he asked.

"A horny idiot." I replied. Lizbeth appeared at the door, a sheepish look on her face. She'd changed into yesterday's clothes.

"Please don't tell Reese!" she pleaded. I decided to let her sweat for a bit by not replying. Instead I turned to Stiles.

"I'll see you tonight." He nodded, and Lizbeth stepped out of the door. We set off.

"Lizbeth..." I started. She looked at me apprehensively. "I trust you and I trust Stiles. But you need to think a bit before you act. You've known him two months!" She nodded.

"I promise, Mer. All we did was talk. And some other stuff. But I'm not like that! You know I'm not."

I nodded. "I know. That's why I'm not telling anyone. And maybe also because Stiles deserves to reach his next birthday. But still. Promise me you'll be careful."

She nodded, and sighed in relief.
"So are you going to Danny's party tonight?" I asked her.
"I was one of the few sophomores asked but my friends are having another party so I decided to go to that one instead. And if Stiles saw me in my costume he wouldn't be able to keep his hands of me." She smirked. I rolled my eyes, but laughed along with her. That was Stiles alright.


The rest of my day was spent with Lydia, Allison and Erica, all of whom took the whole day to get me ready for the party. Apparently, I needed to make a good impression at my first party in Beacon Hills, but I thought my idea of good impression was slightly different to Lydia's. But I let them prepare me anyway.

"Ok, I think we're good. You can look now!" Lydia cried, once the sky outside my windows had gone dark.

"Finally" I muttered. I stood and face my floor length mirror. And did a double take. My feet were clad in golden gladiator sandals, which wound up my legs. I wore a white dress that draped across one shoulder and fell at the front to my knees and trailed to my mid calfs at the back. Golden bracelets encircled my arms, making them seem longer and more graceful. My long hair was tied in a plait at the front that curled behind my ear. The rest of my hair lay naturally over my shoulders, but they had dip-died the ends a light golden colour, that set off my dark blonde roots. My face was subtly made up, with darker eyebrows and eyes that seemed as round as saucers. They were a dark silver with lots of black and grey eyeliner. My lips were a dark reddish pink. I looked like a fierce Greek Goddess.

"Wha..." was all I could manage.

"Cool, huh?" replied Lydia, smiling, obviously pleased with the result. The other girls nodded.

"Thank you so much you guys!" I gave them all a hug. We then set to work on getting them all ready. The end result was amazing. Lydia (of course) looked amazing in her outfit, even while covered in blood and smudges in dark shadows. Erica looked the perfect Aphrodite, her blonde hair twisted into a complicated up-do entwined with small dark pink flowers, a short pink dress setting off her natural tan and was perfect to finish off the whole sexy look. Allison looked the image of Artemis, in a long silver dress and her long dark hair left down, decorated with silver accessories. She had her quiver slung over one shoulder and her bow in one hand.

"Perfect!" Lydia squealed. We heard the doorbell ring and Reese answer it.

"Mer! It's Stiles for you!" he called. We walked down stairs. Lizbeth was in the hallway with him, dressed as cat woman, in a black suit that clung to her. Reese was watching them tensely.

"Hi guys! You look awesome!" Stiles said, and with a quick peck on Lizbeth's cheek led us outside.
I turned to my mum and gave her a quick kiss. He was dressed as one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I rolled my eyes at his inner geek.

"You look beautiful, Meredith. But be careful, ok?" She asked, her eyes crinkled and I nodded.

"Of course I will" I told her then followed the others to the jeep. Scott was waiting in the front, dressed as another turtle and us girls squeezed in the back.

"Wow, guys you look amazing." he said, and I saw his eyes linger on Allison . When we arrived at Danny's, the place was already packed. Even though the evening was chilly, loads of people were on his lawn. The house had been decorated with all your average tacky Halloween decor; there were a few coffins dotted around, a few mummies and the house was bathed in flickering green light. I followed the others to the front door, shivering in my thin dress. The door opened by Danny, a guy I'd rarely seen around school, but who had still bothered to learn my name.

"Hi guys!" He said, "Party's this way." Behind him there were people everywhere you looked. I could see none of the furniture or how the house was decorated, just people milling around, dancing to really loud music. He showed us to the refreshment table, basically a table topped with every kind of alcohol you could imagine. "The non-alcoholic stuffs at this end!" He shouted over the noise, then weaved away through the crowd. We all grabbed a drink- I was the only one who got non-alcoholic. I'd only gotten drunk once at some guy's party back in England, and the next morning vowed to never do it again. Lydia left to try to find Jackson and after a couple of minutes, Isaac and Boyd found us. We were all just dancing, and I found myself having a really good time and letting go.

"Oh my gosh, Meredith! You can dance!" Allison shouted over the music.

I shrugged, "Really?" I asked. She nodded.

"Uh,yeah! Those guys are totally checking you out." I whipped round to see a group of five boys, a few of whom I recognised from my classes. One of the cuter guys, who had wavy brown hair and a lip ring, waved at me and, miraculously, I didn't blush. I actually felt confident. I smiled coyly, then carried on dancing, rotating my hips into Erica's. She smiled, and we dancing together, each trying to outdo the other. I jumped onto a table and started dancing on that. People cheered and I dropped down, and then wound my hips back up. I saw some of the Pack exchange a couple of glances, but I ignored them, letting go. After an hour, and four Sprites later I left the room, just to cool down. I had been dancing nonstop the whole party, and my head felt amazingly fuzzy and I was starting to feel amazing. I found Danny's back door and stood outside for a minute or two. Unlike Danny's front lawn, the backyard was empty and I gladly breathed the fresh air. I jumped when the door opened, and the guy who had waved at me earlier walked out.

"Oh, hi." he said, sounding happily surprised.

"Hi." I said. Was that really my voice? I actually sounded pretty sexy.

"You look really good, Mer," he said, leaning towards me. I stepped forward, surprised he knew my name. I tried to recall his, knowing that I did know it, but my brain refused to co-operate.

"So do you." I glanced up the length of his body and smiled. He was dressed as a werewolf. Before my brain could stop myself, I leant forward and slowly kissed him. He smiled slowly, then kissed me back, tongue flicking on my lips. I eagerly opened them, and his tongue found its way into my mouth. My hands slid up to around his neck, and I felt his around my waist, fingers gripping my rib cage. He moaned slightly, and I couldn't help but react, my hands grabbing his hair, my body pressing closer against his. He kissed me harder, his hands slipping slightly down to my hips, then skimmed lightly over my bum and onto the backs of my thighs, lifting me slightly so my back was against the wall. I lifted my legs so they were wrapped around his waist, and he pressed his groin harder against me. I gasped, my mouth leaving his and his lips found my collarbone, sucking lightly. I quickly grabbed his head and pulled his lips back to mine, and sucked slowly on his lip ring. Just as he moaned again, the door slammed open, and my head whipped to the doorway.

"Mer-what the HELL?!" Derek stood, his figure dark in the bright hallway. The guy put me down quickly and I wiped my lipstick from the corner of my mouth, where it had smudged. I crossed my arms defiantly.

"What?" I asked. He just grabbed my arms, pulling me inside. Scott and Lydia were standing behind him and they pulled me inside, quickly away from Derek, who had started on the guy. Jake- that was his name. He was yelling at him, his face angry, but suddenly I couldn't hear it and the room started swaying. I felt Scott's arms tighten around me as I dropped to the floor, the world swallowed whole by darkness.


Derek whipped round as soon as he heard Meredith's heart beat slow. His own skipped a beat as she collapsed in Scott's arms, who was looking at her in shock. He roared, and was at her side in seconds.

"What...?" Scott started, gazing at Meredith's peaceful face.

"I smell alcohol in her system," he said, grimly. "I'll take her home." Derek could barely contain his anger. How could the girl have been so stupid? Who the hell was that guy? And why hadn't Derek been there for her? He spotted Erica and Isaac through the crowd, who'd seemed to have sensed something was wrong. When Erica saw Meredith on the floor, her eyes widened and she was with them in a flash.

"She's drunk!" she gasped. "Call 911!" she said. Scott looked at her dumbly.

"She just collapsed from drinking too much," he told her.

"Meredith can't drink! She's on medication! It's some kind of steroid...I don' t know its name. Call an ambulance now!" she snapped.

"There's not enough time. Take her to my car!" Derek growled, his heart pounding. Damn that girl. Why had she done this? Why the hell had he believed her that night in the hospital? Why did he care so much? He'd heard her heart skip a beat, but had ignored it, choosing to trust her. Derek pushed the thoughts from his head, instead clearing a path with a glare for Scott who still held Meredith in his arms. They weaved through the party, and he ignored everybody, focusing on getting the girl out of there as fast as possible. They reached his car, and he had the engine revved before Scott had even managed to climb in. Erica stayed behind to get the others. Derek drove at over a hundred miles an hour, no seatbelt on, trying to get to the hospital as quickly as he possibly could. He didn't care about anyone else on the road's safety, just about getting Meredith to the hospital, where she could get help. Scott was trying to take her pain away, but it wasn't really working; the girl wasn't in pain- her body's organs were just shutting down one by one as the alcohol entered her blood stream. He should have known. The girl's scent was always laced with another smell, but he'd never put much thought into it. They reached the hospital in less than a minute, and Scott ran out through the doors to the ER. Derek was close behind, shouting for a doctor.

"What's wrong?" a man in scrubs asked, running toward them.

"She drank with medication. I don't know what it's called." Derek told him. "It'll be in her history. Her name's Meredith Greene."

"Dr Greene's daughter?" He gasped. Derek nodded. She was quickly whisked away by the doctors, and Derek felt relief course through his veins. He dropped to his knees, and Scott patted him on the back.

"She's gonna be alright, dude." he told Derek.


Derek paced up and down the hall, head in his hands. The pack were sat along the corridor, piled on the various chairs, looking half asleep and half wide awake with worry. He'd avoided the doctors once Meredith's condition had been declared stable, so as to not raise any more suspicions about it, and after that the police, who were trying to find the culprit who'd spiked Meredith's drink. He couldn't believe how he'd almost lost it, barely managing to contain his wolf in the swirl of raw emotions he'd felt. Now all that was left was anger. And he was making sure his pack knew it.

"Erica, you're telling me you knew about her condition, didn't tell anyone, then left her alone at a party where alcohol was everywhere? Why didn't you keep an eye on her?" He asked for the millionth time, trying to focus his anger on something instead of letting his mind dwell on why he was getting so worked up about this.

"I told you. I know Meredith. She wouldn't have drank even if she wasn't ill. I trusted her to be okay. And we all saw her take sprites, so we didn't think she would actually get drunk," she said, although guilt was etched across her face, and Derek almost felt bad for pinning this all on her, when he knew it wasn't really her fault at all.

"And you, surely you could all see she was drunk off her head!" Derek growled to the group. "She could have had alcohol poisoning!"

"Well for all we knew that's how British chicks party!" Stiles said, his arms flailing as usual.

"We need to tell her," came Allison's calm voice. They all turned to her. "We need to tell her about the alpha pack! She doesn't know what she's getting into. If they come sniffing around again, which they inevitably will, they'll find her and she won't have a clue what's going on!"

They sat in silence, staring between Derek and Allison in shock. Derek's eyes narrowed. Stiles cut in, trying to change the subject so as to not get Allison into too much trouble for defying the Alpha's orders.

" Why are you so worked up about this anyway?! You were the one who didn't want to tell her anything, didn't want her a part of the pack, but now you're all touchy feely about her? She thinks you hate her!" Scott lay a hand on Stiles' arm, shooting him a look. Derek didn't answer. How could he when he didn't know the answer himself?


Not for the first time, I woke up in hospital, although this time with a pounding headache. I blinked. My room was dark, the only light coming from between the slats of the blind on the window and the crack between the door and the floor. As soon as I sat up, the door opened quietly and Derek walked in. He looked his usual self, albeit slightly ruffled. He just stood there, silent, for a few moments then-
"What the hell were you thinking of?!" he demanded, walking over to the side of my bed.

"I didn't have any alcohol. I swear! Just some Sprite!" I said defensively.

"Not that. It was obviously spiked. If I find out who did that..."he trailed off scowling. "What were you thinking when you kissed that douche bag! Do you even know his name?! He could have been a rapist!" He asked.

"Um...A) it's Jake. I think. B) I wasn't exactly thinking! The alcohol took care of that. And C) what gave you the right to care? And what happened... afterwards? Where're my parents?" I asked, my questions coming out in a jumble.

"We got you to the hospital. They pumped your stomach and gave you some stabilisers. Luckily, you passed out not long after drinking and it never actually reached your blood stream. The whole packs outside, asleep. Your parents are downstairs in the cafeteria getting coffee. They were surprised to see us all here, but I think they're glad that you've got the support. The police were around here earlier as well, so you might have to give a statement." he told me, starting to get up.

"Wait!" I cried, my hand shooting of its own accord on to his forearm. He stopped, tense and turned to face me. I could feel his muscles ripple beneath his long sleeved shirt, and jerked my hand away, hoping the room was too dark for him to see my blush. "I, um...can you please just wait until my parents get back? I don't really like hospitals," I said sheepishly. He nodded slowly, then sat back down, his jaw clenched. I tried to ignore that, pretending he was just some other guy, but bathed in the golden light streaming in from the open door, he looked like a Greek god. That reminded me.

"Where's my costume?!" I asked. He shrugged.

"They probably cut it off. They always do that in all the medical dramas," he said.

I smirked. "You watch medical dramas?"

"Only ER." he said, his eyes challenging me to say something.

"Oh. I guess I always thought you just hung around in your creepy Scooby Doo house being creepy all day. Huh."

He just rolled his eyes, and lapsed into silence. My eyes closed of their own accord and I was enveloped by sleep.

When I woke again, I jerked in shock. Eight pairs of eyes were watching me, faces close to mine.

"Hi", Allison said gently. Isaac, Erica, Boyd, Stiles, Scott, Lydia and Jackson were crowded around my bed, watching me intently.

"Hi", I croaked back. My throat was dry and my stomach felt empty.

"We have to leave now- its school in less than a half hour. But we just wanted to let you know we're here for you." Allison continued. The group nodded and Erica placed a hand on my arm comfortingly.

"I kind of had to tell them", she told me. I nodded.

"That's okay. You guys told me a pretty big secret, I guess it was time I told mine." I was expecting 'the look', but they were all looking at me the exact same way they always had, except they looked as if they understood me a bit better.

Jackson cleared his throat. "Um, sorry to interrupt this touching moment, but we are going to be late for school." They slowly filed out after saying goodbye.

"Oh, Allison," I called just as she was about to leave. She turned. "Where's Derek?"
She shrugged, giving me a look of sympathy. "He's off being Derek." she paused. "We all really need to talk to you." She said seriously, then left the room.