Tommy was still hard at work on his computer, tracking down everyone in Derek's pack from information on his phone; he was sticking to the most-called, most-texted few, and then went from there. Occasionally, just to break the silence, he'd talk to Stiles, but the conversations were incredibly one-sided. Still, anything was better than silence.

"Okay," the eighteen-year-old sighed, leaning back in his chair and picking up the notepad he'd been writing on. "So, so far I've got you, Derek Hale, Malia Tate, and Kira Yukimura as part of the pack. I found a couple different Scotts in town, and three Isaacs, but I'm pretty sure that the one we're interested in is Isaac Lahey. I've only got first names on everyone else; Chris, Lydia, Peter, and Cora. How am I doing so far?"

Stiles just shook his head, his words still silenced by the tape on his mouth. Tommy glanced to his right, down the dark hallway where Ben had disappeared, then stood up and walked around the table and removed the tape from Stiles's mouth, sticking one end of it to the side of the table.

"Better?" Tommy asked with a smirk, leaning against the table, folding his arms over his chest.

"Yeah," Stiles admitted. "You know what would be great though? If you freaking untied me!"

"Sorry, but that's not going to happen," Tommy chuckled. "So how am I doing so far?"

Stiles hesitated, looking at him angrily. Then, finally, he gave in and sighed.

"You're wrong about three of them," he told the older boy. "Three of those people aren't a part of our pack. Of those three, everyone hates one of them and I'm not sure why we haven't killed him again yet, and the other two are no longer in the country."

"Killed him again?" Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"It's a long story," Stiles shook his head.

"Look, Stiles," Tommy rubbed his strained eyes. "I just want this to be over. For four years, every day after school and every weekend, I would spend all my time hunting down my best friends—or what was left of them. I want to move on. I want us all to move on. And we can't do that until we get Logan and Kayla."

"I'm not going to help you kill two people," Stiles scoffed, turning his wrists as best he could in an attempt to loosen the knots.

"They're not people, Stiles!" Tommy snapped, causing Stiles to flinch away. Tommy sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I wish it could be different. I really do. But it's how it works with our families. I knew as soon as I heard Kayla scream that night that I lost her. Do you have any idea how much that killed me? She..."

Tommy trailed off, looking down at the concrete beneath his shoes.

"You loved her," Stiles realized after a moment. Tommy gave a short laugh, sadness in his eyes.

"Yeah, I did," Tommy confirmed quietly. "Of course, I could never do anything about it; not only was she my best friend, but she was also my other best friend's sister, so it would have been a bad idea on two levels. But yeah. I loved her. Which is why I need to find her. She wouldn't want to live as that monster."

"Well, I don't know, I think the fact that she's been running from you for four years might indicate that she just might want to live," Stiles suggested, his words dripping with sarcasm. "You know, just maybe."

"The Kayla I know would rather die than be one of those things," Tommy growled. Stiles rolled his eyes. At that moment, Tommy's phone started ringing in his pocket. Rubbing his neck wearily, the boy pulled it out and answered it without looking to see who called.

"Hello?" he said with a short yawn.

"You haven't checked in since you arrived," said Kyle Ryker, Tommy's father. Tommy immediately stood up and tensed, a glint of fear in his eyes. The senior Ryker's voice was full of both concern and criticism. "Is everything alright?"

"Dad," Tommy's edginess was clearly heard in his voice. "Yeah, sorry, I...we just got wrapped up in things here..."

"Don't be sorry," Mr. Ryker chuckled. "That means you're actually doing work for once. Have you found them yet?"

"Well, no..." Tommy admitted. "But we're close. Kayla was the one who sprung the trap, and I shot Logan as he was trying to drive away, but..."

"But what?" Mr. Ryker didn't sound happy to say the least.

"They've hooked up with the local pack," Tommy sighed. "The pack saved them both. We tracked down the one that helped Kayla escape last night, but, um...he got away. But we got his phone, and we're tracking down his pack that way. We've already got full names on four of them and first names on the rest. And we have one of the members of the pack here, except, well..."

"I'm human and I would like to go home!" Stiles spoke up loudly so he could be heard.

"Stiles, I swear to God," Tommy snarled. "Shut. Up."

"Tommy, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Mr. Ryker growled. "You can't go around kidnapping humans!"

"Okay, Dad, two things," Tommy said hurriedly, not wanting to have to face his father when he was angry. "One, we didn't know he was human when Ben grabbed him. Second, he is part of the pack. He's even admitted it. He's the alpha's best friend."

"Then why is he still human?" Mr. Ryker challenged.

"I...that's...that's actually a good question," Tommy admitted, pulling the phone away from his ear and turning to Stiles. "Why hasn't Scott turned you yet?"

"Because I don't want it," Stiles replied. "I don't need it. I saw how much trouble it cause Scott, and...I mean, I don't need 'the bite' to be useful. In fact, my being human has worked to our advantage once or twice."

Tommy was quiet, considering his answer, then shrugged in acceptance. "Well, there you have it," he sighed, putting the phone back up to his ear. "Dad, I promise; I won't let them get away again. I won't let you down. We're using Stiles to get to the pack, because the pack is protecting Kayla and Logan. It's going to work."

"It better," Mr. Ryker's voice was undeniably threatening. "Or it's you who's going to have to pay for it. Understand? If this goes south, it's on you."

A muscle in Tommy's jaw twitched as his heart skipped a beat, wondering what punishment his father would think up for this; if he failed, it would be his first official failure. In his family, it didn't really count until you were eighteen, and since his birthday the week before, everything he did counted, and every failure would be dealt with accordingly.

"I understand," Tommy said finally. He could almost hear his smile through the phone.

"Good," Mr. Ryker. "Call me when it's done."

With that, the older man hung up, and Tommy slowly drew the phone away from his ear, shoving it back into his pocket and taking a deep breath to slow his racing heart. Talking to his father always made him nervous.

"Alright," Tommy breathed, pulling the tape from the side of the table and stepping up in front of Stiles. "I'm going to go see what's taking Ben so long. You stay here and try not to cause any trouble, okay?"

Without waiting for an answer, the eighteen-year-old stuck the tape over Stiles's mouth and walked off, leaving the younger boy alone, bound hand-and-foot to the chair in which he sat.


Thanks for waiting for this, guys! I've been pretty busy as of late, trying to organize myself for college in the fall. Speaking of which, I'm leaving for freshman orientation tomorrow, so I probably won't be able to write much for a while. Sorry in advance; the next chapter may take a couple days. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to favorite/follow/review (I like the last one best)!