Two Pack II: Teen Wolf Season Four

by lordtrayus

The Nogitsune is gone, Scott and Isaac are back together, and Stiles has gone back to normal. But, rather than deal with the grief of losing Allison, Scott's pack has to contend with Derek's imprisonment, former foes of the twins trying to settle scores, and taming Malia. But worst of all is a new enemy coming to town, bringing with them an old friend who could destroy them all...

10. Episode 2: Silence Part 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf (or we'd have had better views of Scott being shirtless this week)

Two-Pack II

Scott was now mostly calm, and dry (he had improvised and had stood under the hand dryers in the bathroom, that was admittedly a major blow about Jackson not being on the team anymore, no easy access to a hair dryer), and now he was making sure he was totally calm by styling his hair again, trying not to let it bother him that he had been willing to rip poor Liam's head off just for accidentally knocking Aiden on his butt. He shuddered as he considered the problem, he loved Aiden, and he had become a firm friend and as a pack member he would do anything for him anyway, but...well that had been bad enough, he dreaded to think about his reaction if Liam had accidentally knocked Isaac or his jerk best friend on their ass.

How was he meant to captain the team if he had this problem? What was he meant to do, he couldn't go on the field like this, not if he risked biting someone on the other team should they tackle one of his side. Aiden assured him that Liam was fine, and by and large it was only really Liam, Mason and Garrett who were in danger, as they were technically in limbo, neither in the pack or out of it, but it still scared him.

The door banged open to reveal a wet haired and leather jacket clad Isaac and Ethan, followed by a frantic Stiles and the three of them crossed to Scott as he washed the gel of his fingers while Aiden rolled his eyes in amusement.

"What, don't think I can handle a pissed Alpha on my own?" he challenged, and Ethan looked at him worriedly, Aiden feeling the alarmed gaze penetrate his chest where he had been stabbed. This had become customary, one night Aiden had cut himself when slicing onions and when he had swore, Ethan had come rushing through and had immediately looked to his chest even though his hand was the thing that was clearly bleeding. It was endearing, and he was his twin, but still, it was slightly annoying.

"What happened?" he asked, apparently satisfied his twin was alright as Stiles hovered nervously in the background and Isaac crossed to his shirtless boyfriend, cupping his face in his hands.

"Are you ok? I heard you, you sounded angry, I was afraid the old Jedi lady with the whip was kicking your ass again." He said worriedly, Scott feeling the last tension leave him as Isaac focused his blue eyes on him, and smiled a little as he looked at his boyfriend's long eyelashes. He nodded and kissed Isaac's nose, then nuzzled him a little, soothing Isaac's agitation, which was subtle, but there.

"I'm fine. I kind of lost control. Liam knocked Aiden on his ass, and the wolf part of me kind of went nuts, saw it as a threat to a pack member. I could have hurt Liam but they got me away, he's fine, he's out playing with Kira." He assured him, and Stiles spoke up quietly from the back.

"Really? You've never had problems like that before, controlling your wolf bit, even if one of us was in trouble." He said, and Scott glowered at him, still stung by his accusation from the previous night.

"Yeah maybe I just needed my best friend to tell me I basically suck at keeping people alive to bring it out." He bit back, and he knew he was being unfair, but he didn't care.

Stiles looked ashamedly at his shoes, and despite being firmly on his side, Isaac still gave him a reproving look. Admittedly though, if he and Stiles fell out, he would be in the middle of it, well not entirely, after all, he lived and slept with Scott so kind of had to go with what he said, but still, he was Stiles friend even if he was a bit annoyed with him.

Aiden felt the frostiness in the air and looked hopelessly at Ethan, who took the initiative.

"I think that's our cue to leave." He said with finality, and Aiden nodded.

"Yeah, I need to make sure Liam isn't destroying Kira's confidence." Aiden agreed, following his brother from the room.

"And Ethan and I need to go and get our stuff, and the rest of our clothes." Isaac admitted, ruffling his damp hair experimentally, and Scott looked at him in playful curiosity.

"Wait, are you telling me you've got nothing on under that jacket?" he asked hopefully, looking at the zipped to the top leather jacket, and Isaac grinned maddeningly.

"I've also not got anything on under these jeans. See you in a bit." He said, kissing him softly, his hand stroking his gelled parting to make it look combed and he left the room, leaving Scott tense again, but the pleasant sort of tense.

Well he was until he saw Stiles standing there, looking at his shoes but clearly not going anywhere, a look of tremendous guilt on his face as he hovered awkwardly. The two of them stood in silence for a minute before Stiles looked up desperately.

"I'm sorry!" he blurted out, his eyes looking tortured, but Scott wasn't going to let him off that easily.

Well, he was, because as soon as he apologised he felt a million times better, but he wasn't going to let this go without Stiles grovelling a bit.

"For what?" Scott asked, pretending he didn't know, not looking at Stiles as he sat down, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Stiles grin a little at the familiar grovelling process (last time this had happened was when Stiles had told him Professor McGonagall died in the last book, and Scott had been devastated for months, one at receiving this 'spoiler' and two thinking a character he liked die, he hadn't been happy when he found out the truth, well he kind of was, but not with Stiles) as he sat down beside him.

"For what I said. Malia, you know what she's like, kind of like Derek, kind of a one track mind. I know that doesn't justify what she said..." he began and damn it Scott was hitting him with sad puppy eyes.

"What she said didn't bother me Stiles! I mean, it's Malia, and whether I like it or not, she has a point." He said miserably, and Stiles hesitantly wrapped an arm around Scott's shoulder and gave him a slight squeeze.

"I know buddy. What I mean to say is, don't let what she said get you down, because, well, even though we got our asses kicked, you're still the best Alpha this town has ever had." He said, and while he knew it was only to get in his good books he didn't mind what he said in the slightest.

"But..."

"Hey, I'm not done. I'm sorry about what I said. I...I was scared. I know that doesn't excuse me knocking you like I did, but, after everything we've been through, I thought we were stronger you know, safer? And then this chick, which we still don't know what she is, comes along and nearly kills us all. I thought we were stronger than that. I was afraid that one of us was going to die, and I took it out on you. I mean, Allison's gone, Aiden nearly died because of me-"

"Hey, none of that was your fault! You were possessed. The only thing you get blamed for is kissing Isaac, and that's really just me being a dick because you kissed my boyfriend. Nothing else is your fault." He told him sternly, though with a small smile on his face.

Stiles smiled.

"Yeah I know that. But last night when it seemed like we were going to die again, that someone else we care about was about to die, that you, or Malia, or Lydia, or Isaac, that any of us might die, I, I didn't handle it well. I was frightened, scared. I was afraid that I was going to lose someone, again, and that we'd be powerless to stop it again. And, because I felt powerless, I took it out on you. I know that you would never let us get hurt if you could avoid it, and I know that you still feel guilty that Allison died, I know that. I'm sorry Scott, I should never have blamed you. And, I'm sorry it looked like I was just going along with Malia. I swear, I wasn't just going along with her to get laid, well, we didn't even have sex last night, well not real sex, we played doctors and nurses," he said with a smile gracing his face, "but I wasn't, you know, going along with her just because I sleep with her. I was scared, and took it out on you. I know you're a great Alpha, and that you'll do anything to protect us. And I'm just an ass." He complained, and Scott was rubbing his eyes, and Stiles smiled mockingly.

"Did I make you cry?" he asked, kind of hopeful, he did a good job grovelling if he made him cry.

"No! I'm trying to get the image of you and Malia playing doctors and nurses out of my brain you sick git. And besides," he said, yeah, that image would need to be replaced by him and Isaac doing something very soon, "I know you're still having a tough time and feel powerless. But you're not. You're my best friend you idiot, I'll do anything to protect you ok? Nogitsunes, pissed off coyote girlfriend, anything, you hear me?" Scott asked sternly, smiling as he did it and Stiles nodded and smiled back.

"Got it." He said, and hugged his brother fiercely, both of them grinning.

"Ok, get off, if Isaac comes back and sees this, he might get jealous. Not as bad as you do though." Scott teased, all resentment forgotten and Stiles scuffed his shoe.

"Yeah that was also me being a dick. Sorry about that too, I shouldn't get pissy just because you care about other people, especially Isaac. He's your guy, I'm your brother. He gives you a happy." Stiles teased back, and Scott grinned mercilessly.

"Actually he rarely gives me an actual happy, I do that to him and makes me happy as a result." He bragged cheerfully and Stiles groaned, rubbing his eyes.

"Alright, fine, your revenge, now my brain's seared too, happy?" he asked, nudging Scott's bare shoulder with his own as Scott laughed.

"I am now. But I'm still worried about you. Are you ok?" he asked, his brown eyes looking at him in concern, and for a brief moment, Stiles considered telling him everything.

Like the dark thoughts he still had in his head, the mind games he could still play, his increased strength, his accelerated healing, his money problems, his annoyance that Malia couldn't control her claws when they were having sex, his fears that he was tainted...but no. Scott had enough on his plate, and with the way he had acted, he didn't deserve turning to Scott for help. Not right now, if at all.

"Yeah I'm fine. So, what did I miss?" he asked, and Scott grinned.

"Oh not much," he commented innocently, looking in his bag for another top to wear, "Jackson's back." He said conversationally.

"WHAT?" Stiles demanded in shock, and Scott laughed.

XX

The air had certainly cleared, as Stiles and Scott came out together, talking rapidly, and Kira smiled a little as she watched them approach. A now fully dressed Isaac and Ethan had joined them, as had a curious Garrett and Scott was splitting them into teams (while sending Isaac a disappointed look which he only smiled in response to as he was now wearing one of his scarf necked tshirts that so excited him) when he pulled Liam aside, and Kira smiled happily at the younger kid as he edged closer to their Alpha. She'd enjoyed playing with him, just on their own, and he had helped correct her grip, checking her posture and her poise nervously, as though thinking he shouldn't be doing it.

He was sweet, and cute, and she made him happy.

Garrett watched Kira skip towards her team, fresh from her solo session with Liam, smiling slightly proudly as he watched her, and deciding rather than wind him up mercilessly (he'd let Mason do that), he'd just sit and bask in the glory that was his tutoring of Liam on the art of girls.

"I'm sorry." Liam muttered sadly, his head bowed, but Scott took his shoulder, making the younger boy look up at him nervously.

"Hey, don't be. It was an accident, and me, well, I shouldn't have lost it the way I did. I didn't mean to get so angry, least of all at you. You didn't do anything wrong ok? In fact, in a weird way, I don't think I've have gotten so angry if you were doing something wrong." He assured him, and Liam looked at him in confusion.

"Huh? So what, you're mad at me because I'm doing right?" he asked, and Scott shook his head

"No, I'm not still mad at you, I was never mad at you, not really. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, I wouldn't have even gotten mad if I didn't like you so much." He told the younger kid, and it was odd, but the happy expression he put on Liam's face made it all worth it.

"You like me?" Liam asked, slightly shy, but looking quite happy, and Scott grinned.

"Yeah. Now, my little vice captain, see if you can't manage to beat my time since you're so good." Scott challenged, hoisting his stick, and Liam gave him a cocky grin.

"Oh, you're on." He goaded cheerfully, and took his place in front of one goal, Garrett standing as a loyal bodyguard, Ethan behind him having been press ganged into service and Kira slightly behind Liam, looking at ease, goading Scott, Isaac, Stiles and Aiden and the scrimmage began.

XX

"Well, I'm glad to have you aboard Dexio." Deaton said, shaking the young man's hand firmly, and the young man across the operating table from him smiled happily.

"Thank you so much. I won't let you down." He assured him and Deaton nodded, looking at the young man across from him.

What with one thing and another, he had been considering hiring another member of staff for a while, especially as the supernatural was getting completely out of hand due to the nemeton being switched back on. Another vet would mean he could keep an eye on things other than the animals for a change, and would also hopefully get the princess and the pack off his back every time they wanted him to do something.

He suppressed that thought in distaste. He didn't like the pack being so pushy. He wasn't foolish enough to deny that he deserved their distrust and anger, but he had helped them a lot since Scott had become a wolf, and he was getting no thanks at all. He was trying to help Scott, after all, he was the key to the future. Speaking of that he would need to tell Scott about Dexio before Scott tried to sue him for unlawful dismissal, he didn't want Scott going anywhere. He needed him here where he could keep an eye on him, help him, guide him towards his destiny, to do what needed to be done.

All without the princess finding out of course.

He looked at the young man he had just hired. Tall, tanned, with long flowing black hair to his shoulders, he actually looked a little like an older version of Scott. He was basically on his probationary year, and, to be fair, the amount of stuff they had to deal with that was normal around here would be a good grounding for him. It might also mean he could get weekends off, which would be pleasant (he still hadn't watched Lost) so once Dexio was up and running and he'd checked how competent he was, Dexio would basically get a lot more work thrown his way. And besides, if Deaton should ever go anywhere, it would mean that there would be someone to open the clinic for proper consultations (admittedly, Scott did run a popular minor injuries clinic which Isaac (who refused to go anywhere near Deaton for his role in his and Scott's break up) helped out with). Yes Dexio being here would be very useful.

And considering what he was, it wouldn't hurt to have the lad around Beacon Hills, just in case.

Dexio stroked his long black hair behind his ear, smiling.

"Ok great, so, I'll see you tomorrow then." He said, Deaton smiling.

"Yep, and every day after that. I have an actual assistant, Scott, you can meet him too, but I'm sure you two will get along fine." Well, better than he and Scott were getting on at the moment anyway, and Dexio smiled.

"Cool. See you." He said, bidding Deaton goodbye and the tall, well built long haired young man left the building, leaving Deaton to muse on how happy and cheerful, and hopefully easy to work with he seemed. Like Scott used to be with him.

He needed to try and win back Scott's trust, try and get things back to the way they were. Admittedly, him encouraging Scott to break up with Isaac hadn't been particularly inspired, but he hadn't wanted Scott distracted, but he also hadn't wanted him revealed to the world, both of which had happened but Scott still seemed to be going strong.

The problem was there was so little information about true Alphas, the council had seen to that, so he was playing by ear. He knew that true Alpha's received a much greater power boost from their pack than normal ones but that didn't help him understand it any better.

The door rang, jarring him from his thoughts, but rather than his new long haired probationer, it was someone much worse.

It was Princess Melody.

"Princess." He said, not even bothering to put any false cheer into his voice as he bowed, loathing every second of it, but to his surprise, she waved her hand at him patiently, bidding him to stand up.

"Alan. Hmm, who was that?" she asked, looking out the door with curiosity, and he suppressed a grimace, he hadn't wanted her to know about Dexio, couldn't he do anything now without her sticking her nose in?

"My new probationer, he needs to do a year with an actual vet in order to qualify. Besides, I'm fed up of working weekends." He explained, hoping she would go no further.

"You ought to be careful Alan." Melody warned, and his blood froze.

There was no way she could know, as far as he knew even the wolves wouldn't be able to tell what Dexio was, there was no way for them to know...

"How is that?" he asked coolly, praying and she smiled.

"Keep hiring attractive staff like him and Scott and you may be out on your ear by popular demand." She purred, sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting area, and Deaton breathed a silent sigh of relief.

She didn't know what Dexio was, and apparently couldn't tell. While she didn't have a sense of smell nearly as acute as the wolves, he figured he was in the clear if she hadn't twigged.

"What can I do for you princess?" Deaton asked, feeling slightly more civil towards her now he knew Dexio's secret was safe, and she leaned back in her chair.

"I need advice on the pack." She told him, and he narrowed his eyes, if she thought he was going to help her get close to the pack, she could think again.

"Take it from me princess, coming between them doesn't work." He advised her, but she shook her head.

"I don't want to split them up, I just want to know more about them. I know everything you told my mothers from a distance, not that that's very much," she said coolly, her eyes narrowed and he gulped nervously, "but I need to know more. I don't want to harm them, I just need to understand them, that's all. Nothing more." She assured him and he nodded slowly.

"I can help with that. But what are you up to princess?" he asked curiously and she smiled.

"Wouldn't you like to know? I only want to understand them, know them, that's all." She said, but Deaton would be a fool if he believed her, she had another agenda, but what it could be he didn't know. Thankfully the pack had only just gone back to school so she couldn't have done anything too extreme yet, but what she could be up to he couldn't figure out.

"I can give you a brief overview." He said and she nodded.

"Good. Out of interest, have you felt a sort of aura running through the town?" she asked curiously, not meeting his eyes, and he frowned.

Admittedly he had felt something strange, but he had dismissed it, figuring some other creature was passing through town. But now that he closed his eyes, he could feel it, it was still there, a sort of pall over the town.

"Yes, vaguely." He said in concern, and she frowned.

"Any idea what it is?" she asked, and he shook his head, but now he felt it, a sort of dark cloud hovering over the town, he didn't like it, and clearly, Melody didn't either.

"None, it's only just appeared though. I doubt it's much to worry about though." He assured her, and she nodded, then looked at him curiously, a suspicious look on her face.

"Did you know there's a new creature in town?" she asked, and he looked at her with genuine surprise.

To be fair there were all sorts of creatures travelling through the town now, a result of both the nemeton being powered up and Scott announcing himself to the world, but the way she was talking it seemed as if there was a new creature actually staying in town.

"Really? Scott hadn't said." He told her, and she glowered at him.

"If you hadn't bungled and made such a mess of things between him and Isaac then you might have heard it before now." She said tartly and he scowled.

"How did you find out?" he challenged and she shrugged.

"I eavesdropped, how else?" she asked as though it were perfectly natural and he rolled his eyes, he shouldn't be surprised.

"And what did you eavesdrop?" he asked her, and she looked pensive.

"The pack was attacked last night, by what was described as an old Jedi lady with a whip who got younger every time she stole a voice from one of the pack, and seemed particularly determined to kill Lydia." She informed him, and he considered it.

Getting younger could be any kind of thing, particularly if magic was involved, but the fact that it seemed determined to kill Lydia and steal voices made it fairly obvious as to what it could be.

"A Pombero." He concluded, and Melody nodded hesitantly.

"Well that would be my guess. Now, eventually, discretion will come before valour and they will swallow their pride and come and ask you for help. And for a change my dear doctor, you are going to help them." She hissed, and he glared at her.

"I always help them when they ask for it." He told her defiantly, and she laughed coldly.

"Please, you give them guidance then sit back and let them stumble in the dark. Now, I don't know why you do that, I know it isn't to hurt Scott, you do want him alive, and I can make an educated guess why too, but you don't seem willing to help the others. Now, my interest is in Scott, same as yours, but unlike you, I value the rest of the pack too as they tie into Scott's power. So dear doctor, when they eventually swallow their pride, you will tell them everything they need to know for a change, am I perfectly clear?" she hissed angrily, and Deaton glowered.

"Of course princess. Is there anything else you require of me?" he asked, trying to keep polite, and she favoured him with an irritated look.

"Nothing that I can think of. However Deaton, remember your place, you do as we say, and if I find you are advancing your own agenda in any way, then I'll kill you." She warned and with a final look of contempt, she swept from the building, Deaton steaming in rage at being talked to in such a way behind her.

XX

Agravaine looked across the graveyard, his very presence here strengthening him. He could feel it, the graveyard, the death, and more, he could feel the power of the nemeton, the corruption beginning to take hold and sending unseen ripples throughout the entire town. He had well and truly moved in.

Thane appeared beside him, his tall hulking brute of a second in command smiling grimly as they watched the rest of the pack at work.

"We've got everyone we need, even the one for Jackson. Do you really think he will bother him?" he asked curiously, and Agravaine gave him a cold smile.

"Yes. After all, he was very talkative in the time he was with us. Long after you and Malakai got bored of playing with your new toy, I was finding out each and every single thing I could about him. Yes it will work. It will work for all of them." He assured Thane, and he grinned, his blackened, sharpened teeth looking menacing in the shade of the graveyard.

"Good. Bonnie got everything we needed. But she is worried that doing it will put us in danger." He told his friend, sounding amused, and Agravaine chuckled.

"Bless her. But she always has been our conscience my old friend," he said in amusement, clapping Thane's bulging shoulder and giving it a squeeze, "allow her her foibles. Besides, her concerns are irrelevant. Did we find what we were looking for?" he asked curiously, and Thane nodded, his eyes glinting with malice.

"Yes, you were right, there is a gravesite here. You have to wonder why these people can't just bury them in the back garden like everybody else." He mused, and Agravaine had to admit, he had a point.

"Well, the oddities of the locals aside, do we have what we need?" he asked, and Thane nodded.

"Yeah, I've got enough, they just need us to do our bit with them. But you should know, a dog was killed last night in an attack that killed two young men, they were ripped apart by talons. He followed us here." Thane warned, and Agravaine nodded, a small, soft smile playing on his face as he watched Malakai and Rhyley, both of them shirtless, covered in mud as they went about their task, his eyes lingering on Malakai as they worked.

"We knew he would. It doesn't matter, we both know he's nothing compared to us." He hissed venomously, and Thane looked around, making sure the others were all otherwise engaged before he leaned closer to the leader of the pack.

"Yes but we're running out of time, eventually the others will notice you getting weaker." He whispered urgently, fear flooding his voice and Agravaine gave a low, guttural growl.

"You overstep yourself Thane. Besides, I will not fall for I shall rise! Hollis will die here in Beacon Hills, and when that happy time comes about, we shall be forever free of that annoying thorn in our side known as the Owlman! Beacon Hills will be his grave, and for the record, never question my ability to defeat that annoying gnat again." He growled murderously, and Thane backed off, looking worried and slightly bothered, so Agravaine laid his hand on his shoulder.

"Thane, he is nothing compared to me. I am more than capable of defeating him. I won't die." He promised, and Thane sighed wearily.

"I know you can destroy him, but..." he began, words failing him and Agravaine chuckled.

"My dear Thane, there is no but. Hollis will die here, and I will remain, and then, the world is our oyster. Now, are you sure we have enough to do what needs to be done?" he asked, moving on and trying to take his second in command's mind off of what was bothering him, and Thane nodded, the dark light of malice in his eyes again.

"Yes, and Bonnie is going to the vet's later to get more information. They just wait for our pleasure." He assured him and Agravaine nodded, pleased.

After all, it was so hard to find friends when one was away from home, so what better way was there than to create new ones?

Thane looked at where the others were all working, and looked thoughtfully out at them all.

"Are you sure this is wise? I mean, I support this whole heartedly, but what we plan to do after they're distracted? It could blow up in our faces." He warned, and Agravaine chuckled.

"You worry too much Thane. You fear they'll come after us, and ordinarily I would agree. But you forget our greatest weapon, secrecy. No one knows we are here, yet, and by the time our little Alpha pup discovers us, it'll be too late, and they will be more focused on the pack than us. After all, why would they focus on us, who are new to town, when there's the pack of the first true Alpha in a millennium in the town?" he asked darkly, his eyes flashing a sickly yellow.

"I told Bonnie that," he said, sounding smug, "you realise Scott will eventually look for answers?" he asked, and Agravaine smiled.

"My dear Thane, I look forward to it. I think it's time we introduce ourselves to the little Alpha pup, don't you? And for that, we shall need our special guest stars." He purred, looking at what the pack was doing proudly, and Thane nodded excitedly, his eyes flashing blank, shining emotionless white.

"With pleasure." He muttered in a low growl, getting on all fours and heading for a grave with a white marble headstone, and Agravaine looked on in sadistic excitement as he watched his pack work while Bonnie looked at what the others were doing with a look of slight disgust on her face as the putrid smells assaulted her nostrils.

XX

Visits were about all that Derek lived for nowadays, well, rather than unexpected assassination attempts against him. Being the only prisoner in solitary (though several times he had gotten a whiff of someone else in solitary, but had never found out where it was coming from or who it came from) he had to be escorted to and from the visitor room, and at separate times from everybody else in the prison. He sat there, mulling things over in his head, figuring it was probably best that he was kept separate from the rest of the prison population. After all, he was a werewolf sure but against what was now an entire clan of hunters who were blaming him for the deaths of four of their own, and since she hadn't been seen in months, most likely the death of their leader Araya as well.

The entire thing was still praying on his mind. He knew Scott believed that he hadn't done it, and by and large the pack also believed that, but how could he himself be sure? His memories of the entire night when it had happened had disappeared. As a result he had spent many hours with psychologists, including Marin Morrell who he had found a lot more helpful than all the other psychologists simply because she knew about the supernatural, all of them poking at him, asking him questions, if he ever saw another ink blot card in his life it would be too soon. It was a pity, he used to like Watchmen, now he wouldn't be able to watch Rorschach at all anymore. All of them trying to unlock hidden memories, reveal to him his past (why they all wanted to go back to his childhood was beyond him, when Morrell had shown up it had been a pleasant change as she had gotten right to business), but none of them, not even Morrell, were of any use in figuring out what the hell was going on. Scott had reluctantly helped her in one session, trying to extract the memories form Derek's mind but had gotten nowhere, as the memories literally weren't there to be taken. This of course had led to Morrell and her missionary apprentice, Braeden (he must remember to explain to Scott the difference between the two next time he visited) beginning a hunt for answers which had still not progressed any further. On the plus side, he did like seeing Braeden when she came to visit, so at least there was one advantage to all this.

But while he did welcome the visits of Braeden, the visits of the various officers were an entirely different story. Although both Stillinski and Parish were doing all they could to get him out of this mess, the long process meant that they could do little to help him out of this situation, and do to their connection with Stiles and by extension him, they also couldn't direct the case. While the two of them did admit that any reasonable judge would declare that even if he had killed them it would have been in self defence, the fact that Haigh, who was now the officer in charge of the case, was prosecuting it with such wanton venom that it seemed unlikely he would ever get that far, and was arguing that Derek, who of course had no memory of the event, had killed them in something other than self defence and was hence arguing that he be tried for four counts of murder, which if he could get away with he would also try and bring in the implications of Araya's disappearance. As such, the odds were pretty stacked against him and he was trapped in here, unable to help Scott, unable to do anything except sit in his cell staring at the ceiling all day wondering how the hell he was going to clear his name and what the hell had happened to his memories.

Mikaela opened the door, giving Derek a friendly nod, and at her heels was Braeden, who smiled at him as she sat down at the table, Mikaela standing outside the door as she always did to give them some privacy.

"What have I missed?" he asked, and once she checked to make sure Mikaela was elsewhere, she launched into an explanation.

"There's a new creature in town, it attacked the pack and was trying it's hardest to kill Lydia. Marin is investigating, but without having actually seen it, there's not much she can do to identify it yet." She explained grimly, and Derek sighed.

"Great. And I'm stuck in here. What the hell is taking them so long, surely Haigh has enough of a case to get me to trial now?" he asked her, peeved and she gave him a grim smile.

"Well you would think so wouldn't you? He nearly does have enough he's just waiting for a few more test results to come back and then he's going to hand you over to a judge. But if you ask me, all this is a bit extreme, particularly when any reasonable judge will most likely argue that it was self defence. Either way, it's you not being able to remember anything that's causing the problems, it makes anything you say potentially inadmissible in court." She said worriedly, and he sighed in frustration.

This was driving him insane. Yeah he'd been arrested before (no thanks to Scott and Stiles) but it had never taken this long to figure out, and this time, it was incredibly deadly serious.

He knew how it looked, he had been found covered in the blood of those four hunters, their skin under his nails, and had no memory of whatever the hell it was that had happened that night. On top of that, Araya vanishing as she had could easily be made to look like further suspicion on him, particularly when he was already facing charges of murder. But the entire thing was a farce, a farce that Haigh was investigating far too closely. Those four hunters had broken into his home and had attacked him, which meant even if he had killed them it would arguably have been in self defence. Clearly, Haigh had an agenda.

"Look Braeden, I know you and Morrell are trying your best, but I need to get out of here, I needed to get out of here even before the entire Callavera clan got banged up in here, but now all of them are in here, it's kind of urgent that I get out before the army of murderous hunters that got arrested kill me because they think I killed their friends and their boss." He hissed in annoyance, and Braeden scowled.

"Hey don't get stroppy with me. There's more going on here than we know, we just need to figure out what it is. We're all doing all we can. Even Scott's grandmother is helping now, she used to be a cop, she can help figure it out." She explained, looking annoyed that he was taking out his frustrations on her, and he sighed.

"I know you are. Alright, let's think about this logically, who would want to frame me? I think we can rule out the Callaveras, but who else could there be? What we need to figure out is who's strong enough to take my memories away from me and leave me totally clueless, and who would then go to the trouble of framing me?" he asked irritably, because quite frankly, he wanted out of here.

Braeden looked at Mikaela, making sure she was still on the right side of the door.

"Look, you aren't going to like this suggestion, but what if it's Stiles? I mean, we all assumed the Nogitsune was finished, but that doesn't mean it necessarily is. There's something not quite right about him." She whispered, and Derek considered it for a moment.

But no, the Nogitsune was gone, it had to be, Isaac had reported that he and Argent had immolated the bloody thing. And the kid had been possessed, and was kind of a spaz at the best of times anyway. No, this wasn't anything to do with Stiles, of that he was fairly sure. But now that she mentioned it, he couldn't help but feel the solution was obvious, that it was just in front of him, but he couldn't see it.

"No. Isn't there anything else you can do to help me get my memory back?" he shot at her, and she mused on this possibility.

"There might be a way. When the pack was attacked, a Scuffock showed up to save them, says she's here to train Lydia. She might be able to help." She offered, and Derek nodded, after all, any progress was better than none at all.

"Sounds like a plan. Anything to get out of sitting around here all the time going slowly mad with nothing to do. Can you do me a favour? There's definitely someone else in solitary with me, I want to know who they are." He said, and she shot him a concerned look.

"You're meant to be in here alone. If there's someone else in solitary with you, they aren't meant to be in here." She said worriedly, and he shrugged.

"He's perfectly safe whoever he is, I can't get out even at full moon, it's just I want to know who it is, the smell's vaguely familiar and it's driving me crazy. Well being in here is driving me crazy but that isn't helping much." He complained, and she smiled.

"Other than going crazy, how you holding up?" she asked, and he sighed wearily.

"Well other than that I'm just bored rigid. There's nothing to do and I don't even have the talking of other inmates to distract me, so all I can do is listen to myself think and there's only so much I can do of that." He complained and she patted his hand.

"We're looking into everything, and so is the pack. I still reckon there's something we're missing, it's why the sheriff let Scott's grandmother take the files, a fresh pair of eyes might help." She explained, and he nodded, then looked at her curiously.

"Does she know about all this?" he asked, and Braeden shook her head.

"Not as far as I know, and Scott probably wants to keep it that way." She said, and hesitated, but before she could do anything more with it, Derek pounced on it.

"Alright, what's up? You've been off ever since you came in the door." He challenged, and she had, ever since she had started appearing to talk to him and keep him abreast of everything that was going on in the town, she had never been as to the point as she was being tonight, and she shrugged, looking disquieted.

"I don't know, it started yesterday, just a general feeling of unease. It's weird. Oh by the way, Jackson is back." She told him, and his eyes widened in surprise.

Other than Isaac, Jackson was the only beta he had created who was still alive, both Erica and Boyd being dead.

"Really? Since when?" he asked, and she smiled grimly.

"Since he was delivered in a crate to Lydia's house. Yeah, he's less than happy as you can imagine." She said in wry amusement, and Derek let out a low whistle, yeah, he couldn't see Jackson being too happy about that happening to him.

"Who sent him?" he asked, and Braeden looked concerned.

"We don't know, it might be that woman who attacked the pack, which we're beginning to think is a Pombero but it doesn't seem like her sort of style, she's here for Lydia, not to play mind games. But get this, his arm is all black, like it's poisoned, or dying or something." She explained, and Derek frowned.

His arm had turned black? That certainly wasn't anything human, but what on earth could have done that to him, to turn his arm black like that, he'd never heard of anything like that.

Seriously, being trapped in here was pissing him off.

"Look, there's stuff going on that I need to help Scott with, which means I need to get out of here, otherwise I'm going to rot. Braden, there's something going on here, this Pombero, the Scuffock, and now Jackson turning up with something wrong with his arm, all of that on top of me being framed for a murder that I might or might not have committed and can't remember either way? Something is going on and Scott needs help!" he insisted, and she rolled her eyes.

"Derek, what do you think we've been doing? Marin and I have been going over everything, bending over backwards to try and get you out of here, but we can't figure out how. I know you're bored and going crazy, but until the police get their act in gear, you're just going to need to suffer it like everyone else. We will get you out of here ok? The pack and us haven't given up, we will get you out you just need to be patient! So stop giving me such a hard time because I actually am on your side!" she snapped, and he sat back in his chair, cowed and looking a little sheepish as the druid raged on the other side of the table from him.

"I know, you're right, sorry." He grunted, and she glared at him.

"So you should be. And for what it's worth, we think you're right, something's happening, and it's getting worse. It might all just be coincidence, but all of this happening at the same time is beginning to look a little off. Look, we know you need to get out of here, and we're working on it. Haigh can't take much longer, and then we can get the ball rolling on all this. So until then, give me a break ok?" she asked wearily and he smiled, nodding.

"Fair enough. Have you heard from Peter yet?" he asked, and she bit her lip, shaking her head.

"No and him being missing on top of everything else that's starting to happen is making me worried too. Don't worry, we will get you out of here. Even if we need to bust you out to do it, but we will get you out." She promised, and got to her feet, visiting time clearly over for her, and Derek gave her a fed up look.

"Ok thanks. You know, you look different when you're angry." He teased, and she smiled a little and shot him an amused look.

"Take it from me, never try and flirt with anyone while wearing prison orange." She advised him and with a wave she strolled from the room, leaving a grinning Derek behind.

Yeah he might be trapped in here, but having Braeden as a frequent visitor was a definite bonus. But, he mused as he looked down at himself, maybe he shouldn't try to flirt with her until he was wearing something other than correctional facility orange.

And as he watched Braeden's dark hair bouncing on her shoulders as she left, he briefly wondered just what was going on out there, and how on earth he was going to get out of this mess.

XX

Allegra had been right. There was something curious about all this.

For a start, Derek was being accused of four murders, and was also a person of interest in the disappearance of one Araya Callavera. By all accounts, she and her friends who had been killed apparently at Derek's hands were no great losses, as they seemed rather unpleasant people at the best of times, with all of them at least involved in several different murder cases, but curiously, only ever as witnesses. But that didn't explain what had happened with Derek. When people appeared with such frequency as bystanders in murder cases, people started to look at them for all the wrong reasons. Four of them had been in Derek's loft the night they had died, and had met their grisly ends there, but all four of them had been armed, and considering Derek had been wounded, it was clear the four of them had attacked in some form. That meant this entire case was a farce from the start, because as they had clearly shot at him, it was self defence, nothing more.

However, the excessive force was something that ought to be considered. True it wasn't murder but the manner in which these attackers had died was an anomaly. Yes Derek had ripped them up, and she had no idea how he had done it, but he had certainly sustained a wound in the process. So, self defence but with excessive force, but any competent lawyer could argue that Derek had done whatever was necessary to defend himself. She remembered one case, the man had been attacked in his home, held at gunpoint while a robber had tried to strip everything of value out of the house. The owner of the house had made a move, and despite his hands being bound, had tackled him to the floor, knocking the gun away. He had then, after a vicious fight, had proceeded to rip the man's throat out with his teeth, and had remained there until the police, which she led, had arrived. So, while the owner had committed a murder by killing the man who had threatened him, he was perfectly at liberty to do whatever possible and necessary in order to protect himself.

But, she thought grimly, that was something to consider. Self defence would get him away with one dead body, most likely two, but four was pushing it. There was no way Derek was fast enough to take down all four in one strike. Surely the other two would have tried to run, only to be stopped by Derek? But by the looks of the crime scene photos the men had all been killed where they stood.

She looked at the photos, her mind whirring as she thought out all of this. She wasn't meant to have the photos, but a visit to the station after she had successfully embarrassed Melissa had resulted in her blackmailing a scowling John into giving her more files than she had, anything she thought might be relevant, along with five more packs of her biscuits and her bottles of wine. She was nothing if not an entrepreneur.

Then there was Derek's memory loss. Admittedly, all of them had heard if not encountered, memory loss linked to trauma, people so shocked by what they had done, by killing other people, that they had no recollection at all of what had transpired. Derek had no memory of the men entering his apartment, let alone what had occurred afterwards. But, unlike most others, there was something about Derek's statements, both written and recorded, that rang true with her. He literally could not remember this happening, he had no idea what had happened, and the associated loss of memory terrorised him much more than he was willing to admit. So there was that to consider.

And then there was the vigour that Haigh was pursuing this with. While she appreciated that he wanted to make Derek pay, there was also a lot more going on here than he seemed to be able to see. While John and the cute young deputy had given the case over to him, they had been looking at other options, but Haigh seemed particularly determined to get a conviction, at the cost of thoroughly analysing everything that was in front of him. She sighed wearily, no wonder this case wasn't getting anywhere, it had gaping holes in it in some places and so much filler in others it was impossible to figure out. She knew John and Parish had had a lot on their plates recently, rebuilding the force after the attack by the swordsmen that had nearly killed Melissa too but seriously boys...

Hang on...

She pulled the file on the Hale fire closer to her, peering through her spectacles at the names of the deceased. Talia Hale and her entire family (a pity, she had liked Talia, she'd met her a few times), several other names, but one that rang a bell...

She sorted through the number of files on the table, flicking through them all until she found the records of all the police in the station (also a result of her blackmailing John, who had just sighed and admitted defeat before giving them to her). Pulling out Haigh's, she scrutinised it, her eyes scanning the file, good test scores, leadership competency, background in arson investigation...and the name of his stepfather, one William Haigh. So, his mother had remarried at some point, yes here it was, mother married this Haigh guy just before he turned of age, and his former name was Pearson. And in the list of the deceased on the Hale fire, there was one Nadia Pearson, who, now she had found the next of kin, was clearly Haigh's younger sister.

So, Haigh's younger sister had been killed in the Hale house fire, and was now in charge of an investigation that could very well see Derek put to death if the judge ruled it was murder and not self defence. Yes, there was definitely a conflict of interest going on there, and that could potentially discredit everything that Haigh had thrown at Derek before now.

She nodded to herself, John would have to be told, after all, if Haigh hadn't volunteered the information there was little chance the sheriff knew of his conflict of interest. But she still couldn't help but think there was something else going on here.

She was just about to get to her feet when she heard the front door creak open.

"Melissa? You're home early dear." She called, getting to her feet to go and greet her daughter, catching sight of the clock as she did so.

Wait a minute, Melissa wouldn't be home yet, it was far too early. And other than some gently footfalls, Melissa hadn't answered. Allegra frowned, the boys had practice, Isaac actually had both being on both the swim team and the lacrosse team, and having been briefed by Melissa about how overprotective of Isaac Scott was, there was little chance Scott would let Isaac come home without him.

All in all, it meant that no one was meant to be in the house.

That meant whoever was next door in the hallway was an intruder.

She strained her ears, cursing her slight loss of hearing in one ear, so she turned her head to the right so she could hear with her better ear. There was definitely something moving through there, there was a sort of shuffling noise going on. There was a padding noise, the bottom stair creaking a little before whatever was out there seemed to think better of it.

Allegra frowned, reaching around her back to find her gun. While Melissa didn't like her having the gun in the house (owing to an incident when Stiles had found it once and he and Scott had played cowboys and Indians with a real gun), she had put it on when she went out, and now, she was thinking that it was a very good thing that she hadn't taken it off.

Whatever was out there ought not to be there. Admittedly, it most likely wasn't a person, otherwise they'd have either attacked or scarpered by now. Unless it was Scott playing a joke (he could whistle Dixie for an inheritance if he was) the thing out there shouldn't be there. She rolled her eyes, figuring she was probably overreacting, but after having been attacked by a very antisocial possum that had strolled in the house once before, she wasn't taking any chances. She edged forward, gun at the ready, the shuffling noise getting louder as she made her way forward. She hesitated, certain she heard a steady dripping sound too as she got closer to the hall door. Shaking her head, she raised her gun, and entered the hallway.

And then breathed a sigh of relief.

It was just a dog, a golden Labrador by the looks of it.

"Hello boy, what are you doing in here, where's your owner?" she asked kindly, moving towards the dog, but as she got closer, she saw drops of blood covering the floor and the carpet, charting the way the dog had moved, from the ajar front door, in a circle around the entry way, to the stairs and back.

"Aww are you hurt boy, is that the matter? Don't you worry, my grandson can fix you right up...wait..." she said, looking at the front door.

The door had been shut. Years of being a police woman had ingrained that into her, you always shut the door, the better to hear it opening. The front door had been shut, she was sure of it, so how had a wounded dog managed to open the door?

The door was now open, enough for the dog to have gotten in through. Its golden tail was wagging, but Allegra looked at the door, and to her shock she spotted trickles of blood running down it, a small pool at the base of the door where the dog had clearly shoved the door open.

Something wasn't right here.

"Come on boy, let's have a look at you." Allegra said, keeping a finger on the trigger as she hesitantly reached out to pet the dog's tail.

She did so, touching it's fur, and it seemed to stop, as if considering whether to turn around or not. And then, to her shock, it gave a vicious, snarling growl. Allegra took a step back, gun at the ready as it snarled, its body tensed, as if prepared to pounce.

And then the Labrador turned around, and Allegra screamed.

The dog had no head. The head had been cut clean off, and blood was still dripping from the wound, a jagged, shattered bone sticking out from the middle of its neck. Blood covered its golden chest, drops falling onto the floor as it inexplicably growled at her viciously, and with a monstrous bark, the headless dog pounced at her, blood splashing off of its decapitated corpse, its lethal shattered spinal column aiming right for Allegra's stomach as she screamed.

The dog barked, shots were fired, there was a gasp, a thud...

And then there was silence, as the front door creaked, dripping with blood, with a long trail of blood heading down the garden path and into the bushes.

And within the bushes, a glowing pair of sickly yellow eyes waited, watching the house.

What on earth just attacked Allegra? Seriously not nice, a headless dog attacking grandma, some things are just not on. Will she be alright? Or will this horrible creature take someone else Scott cares about?

I hope the reconciliations were cute enough for everyone, Liam was cute again this week, being so worried about Scott bless him, I still want a Liam, hes lovely. And so Melody has a plan for the pack, but something makes me think that Deaton has a different plan. And just what is Dexio since Deaton was so worried about keeping it quiet from Melody?

Agravaine is up to something, what does he have his pack doing in the graveyard, and what exactly is Thane and Bonnie so worried about?

And so there is more to Haigh than meets the eye, I didnt mean to make the sheriff look incompetent, far from it, but to me, with everything else going on he would be keeping less of a watch on things than he ought to be. And more than that, there are things going on behind the scenes, but just what are they exactly, and where does Haigh fit into it?

So, that;s us for another chapter, only one left to go in chapter two then were on to the action packed episode three (which will include shirtless Jackson and possibly Aiden, maybe Scott and Isaac playing too), but we still have an encounter with Peter to go before then

As always my lovely people, you know the drill, and very soon I'll need more help as I'll be running a poll related to my Two Pack series, so watch this space, and until then, please favourite, follow and review!