He's nowhere near the coffee shop when the lunch rush hits but Derek finds a parking space near his apartment building and decides to ditch his car in favour of walking the rest of the way. The sidewalks are filled with people and the street might as well be a car park, considering how many taxis and cars were sitting bumper to bumper.

He can just make out the coffee shop windows and entrance when he spots Leslie pulling the door open and striding inside dressed in some black tights and a jacket. Her hair is sleep-mussed as usual and Derek feels himself breathe a little easier at the sight of her. He's still too far away to call her name and as a bunch of Japanese tourists spill out of a bus parked to his left, another man approaches the entrance and Derek frowns as he recognises Zach.

Derek finally clears the cluster of tourists and shoves his way through the coffee shop door just in time to see Leslie staring warily at Zach. Her face has lost all of its colour and it's like she's looking at a ghost.

Derek senses no other wolves in the coffee shop aside from Zach who is emanating all kinds of tension and anxiety. And he wishes that he knew how to scent the Cylph out somehow, because he's just come to realise that either this guy is looking for the same thing he's looking for, or he might be It and has no idea.

They still haven't said anything to each other by the time he steps protectively into Leslie's personal space. Leslie flinches before she realises that it's him and takes a half-step back into him so that her shoulder blades are touching his chest.

"This guy bothering you, Les'?" He concentrates on keeping his voice calm and easy, even as he keeps his senses focussed on Zach's scent, makes sure that he's not about to attack or anything. Zach startles when he hears Leslie's name leave Derek's lips and his eyes dart between the two of them with surprise, mouth parting on a gasp.

"W-wait, y-you…you two…" Zach motions between the two of them, eyes going back to Derek, then Leslie, then back to Derek again. Zach doesn't seem to know what to do and Derek just wants to know why Leslie seems so shaken up.

Another second passes by before Leslie seems to get a hold of herself as she moves to Derek's side, takes his hand, and asks the question that Zach had been choking on. "You two know each other?"

Her eyes are narrowed and angry? as she glances between the two of them and Derek can't help saying the same exact words but as a statement, because aside from the paleness of Leslie's face, he'd also seen the recognition in her eyes.

"You two know each other."

Zach gestures vaguely with a wave of his hand before stuttering out an answer. "I-I'm a friend—was, was a friend of her brother's."

Leslie looks at him expectantly and Derek acquiesces without protest. "I just met him here the other day."

Derek looks at Zach again, and the more he spends time with the guy, the more he's convinced that Zach is the one harbouring the Cylph. The spell Elspeth had done had pointed him to the coffee shop and if the essence of the Cylph was dormant he wouldn't be able to smell anything else but Zach's wolf scent anyway. He guesses that the guy hasn't had the bite for very long and whoever's looking for him back in Beacon Hills must think he's there for a reason, right?

Derek's mind flashes back to the conversation they'd had at the coffee shop the other day and Zach's amused words. "Not a big fan of the city, though, send me to a beach any day, I say."

"Hey," Derek says, looking at Zach. "Where'd you say you were from again?"

Zach tears his gaze away from Leslie to answer Derek. "California, man. San Diego."

Derek swallows, tightens his grip around Leslie's hand and silently wills her to listen to what he's about to say. Leslie's looking at him questioningly but Derek knows that she isn't getting the message about Zach, so he squeezes her hand again.

"Listen, remember what I said yesterday about helping my friend out? Um, turns out that uh, I found it and I need you to go tell Cora that it's in the book I tagged, okay?"

Leslie's shaking her head at him but he's already walking her towards the entrance, leaving Zach by the counter. All he can think of at that moment is getting Leslie out and away from the coffee shop because even if Zach isn't it, then someone else in the immediate vicinity is.

"N-no, Derek, Derek I have to tell you something, wait—"

Derek shakes his head. "Leslie, not now. I know he's your brother's friend but this is important, okay? Just let me talk to him and I'll meet you at my apartment."

"N-no, Der—"

"Les'. Go," he says again, and there must be enough pleading in his eyes because she lets the door close behind her, her eyes wide behind the glass.

-x-

When she sees him for the first time, there is no fear. His eyes are blue, they're not gold like Owen's first were, but there's something about him that makes her feel safe. Even as he flashes his fangs and roars and the mugger pisses his pants with fear, Leslie knows better.

She knows that this wolf won't hurt her.

The next time she sees him, she doesn't even hesitate because it's like she's known him all her life, even though he ran as soon as he made sure she was safe that night. He's standing by the window with his coffee in hand and he doesn't even realise she's there until she speaks.

"You."

He side-eye's her with a raise of his eyebrow and doesn't flinch. "Me."

"The wolf man," she elaborates, pointing a lazy finger at him.

"Jesus, any louder?" He chokes out, because he'd been sipping on his coffee.

Leslie watches him with amusement. He's wearing dark jeans and a leather jacket and his black hair glistens in the sunlight. His eyes are a peculiar mix of hazel and amber and when the sun hits them just right they glow a perfect shade of green.

"Are you following me?" she teases, wanting to push his buttons just because. She gets more than she wanted when he chokes on his coffee again, glares at her, then straightens to his full height so that all she can see is the material of the leather jacket against his chest.

"I live around the block," he snaps, glaring at her.

Leslie inhales the faint whiff of pine and wood and feels her chest loosen just a little before she shoots him a small smirk. "Relax, grumpy. I was only playing." She reaches across him to grab a napkin from the dispenser by the window before sauntering towards the door.

"I live around the block too, so I guess I'll see you around again," she throws over her shoulder. "Try smiling next time," she adds, before breezing out of the entrance with her coffee in hand and a small smile lighting up her face.

The first in a very long time.

-x-

"Listen, I don't know what you think I am, but I'm just here on some pack business," Zach says.

Derek frowns at him, confused, because his heartbeat is steady and his voice rings true. He's not lying.

"You're really not looking for the Cylph?"

Zach shrugs and shakes his head. "No, man. Our pack's relocating, Roland and I are scouting for apartments."

Derek sits back in his seat as Zach sits back in his own and sips his coffee. Before he can think better of it, he brings his phone out of his pocket and dials Scott.

Scott picks up on the first ring.

"What's the name of the alpha?"

"What?"

Derek continues to stare at Zach, knowing full well that he can hear every single word. "The name of the alpha looking for the Cylph. What's his name?"

"It's Gannon McLeod. San Diego pack. Listen, Derek, I also just found out that it was in an alpha—the Cylph. The host was an alpha."

Zach blanches, coffee cup trembling in his hand as he continues to listen in.

"I'll call you back," Derek replies before ending the call. He leans forward in his seat, props his elbows against his knees and looks at Zach.

"Now what do you know."

Zach's breaths have sped up and his coffee cup clatters against the platter as he places it back on the table. "O-Owen, Leslie's brother was the alpha. Ours. S-something happened, something that we never really got to talk about before she left and then—"

"Sometimes if a host is aware of it, it can be transferred upon the host's death, but that hardly ever happens." Magritte's voice is loud in his ears and Derek doesn't let Zach finish, already shooting out of his seat as he comes to the realisation himself.

He's rushing towards the entrance and shoving the door open, because he's thinking that Zach had been lied to about what he was doing in New York because of his connection to Leslie; Zach's partner, Roland, is mysteriously absent because he definitely has his own orders from the alpha looking for the Cylph; and Cora and Leslie are alone at his apartment and currently very unprotected.

Derek doesn't waste time getting his keys out, shifting into beta mode and barging through the apartment building's front door when he hears screaming coming from the third floor. He leaps over the first flight of stairs and then the next two with ease. His apartment door is thrown wide open and he can see Cora's unconscious form slumped against the kitchen floor. There's an alpha in the middle of his living room clutching the arm of a blonde woman, her eyes filled with black and her mouth moving fast, murmuring a low continuous chant.

Witch.

And in front of them, on her knees, eyes filling with tears as they catch sight of him, is Leslie.

"I'm s-sorry," she sobs, holding her arms out and away from her as her skin begins to glow a dark molten red. He can smell her fear and misery. Her heart is pounding a fast, deafening beat as she cries out again, pain signals making the air thick between them. Derek snarls, preparing to rip the alpha off of her but he stops abruptly when he smells the blood. Leslie looks at him with hopelessness and apology in her eyes because she sees the moment he realises that the alpha's claws are buried deep into the back of her neck.

Derek watches Leslie hang her head with resignation and all he wants to do is tell her that everything's going to be okay, but there's a look in her eyes that makes him afraid. Makes him panic and move with urgency as the air around Leslie, the alpha, and the witch begins to ripple with magic.

Leslie blinks at him, pupils blown and unfocussed. "It's me," she confirms on a gasp. She raises her skinny arms higher seeming to reach for him just as the light flares from her skin and engulfs the whole room with fire.

Derek gasps against the sudden explosion, ignores the tingling of his skin and leaps forward into the light, catching one of her hands with his own before everything goes dark.