Chapter 10

"She's not talking," Lydia said as she breezed into the kitchen. "At least not to me." She put her hand on her hips, looking a little put out.

"Did she talk at all?" Jimmy asked as he stirred the sauce that was puttering on the stove. "When Matthew tried, she just stared at him. It was a little creepy actually." He looked at Scott, who was leaning against the wall with a pondering look.

Scott straightened up and looked at Stiles. "There's something off about this. I mean; she was talking a few days ago. Lyle said she stopped talking, in the middle of a sentence and everything. What did Jodi say?"

Stiles pursed his lips and shrugged. "Kiera had answered her, but not about the things that we'd like some answers to." He got up. "I'll try one more time."

Al entered the kitchen just then and everyone bowed their head in respect. Except for Scott, they were like co-alphas or some shit. Stiles just nodded at him, he was human and had already a healthy amount of respect for the elder alpha. "There is no point in talking to her. She won't talk now," Al claimed but Stiles looked to Scott for support.

"Try it. But I have to say I'm inclined to agree with Al, this is getting us nowhere."

Stiles stepped out onto the porch and took a deep breath of air before crossing the lawn over to the shed. It was worth a try. Something was nagging in the back of his head, but he couldn't grasp it and it had him agitated.

Derek came out of the bushes and trotted towards him. Yes, he was in wolf-form and yes, he had dirt and grass all over him. Somehow he had gotten more comfortable being in his wolf-form in front of the other packs.

Good for him, Stiles thought. Derek was a magnificent wolf. Soft, black fur over hard, unyielding muscles and intelligent eyes that saw everything. Pretty terrifying really- every movement showed just how powerful and vicious he could be when needed, but Stiles thought he was beautiful like this. Also; he purred when Stiles scratched him behind his ear.

"Where have you been?" Stiles asked as he watched Derek come to a halt beside him.

Derek just tilted his head and nudged Stiles hand.

"Out running, huh? Anything new?" Stiles asked as he let his hand slide through thick fur.

Derek shook his head before sneezing.

"Okay. But talk to you later?"

Derek licked his hand and Stiles grimaced. "Ew."

If wolves could smirk, Derek just did. Then he looked towards the shed, then at Stiles with questioning eyes.

"Yeah. I'll try talking with her again. Not that I have much hope, but you'll never know, right."

He opened the door and felt Derek follow him. "At least brush the dirt off before you come inside, dude."

He got a shove and a nip on his calves as an answer.

Stiles leaned back in his chair while he twirled the pen he was holding. Concentrated, he tried making it spin at least eight times before it stopped.

He held the pen between his forefinger and thumb. Pretty interesting actua-

"What are you doing?"

Stiles looked up from the pen that was still twirling between his fingers. "What?"

Kiera looked at him with dark eyes. "Are you just going to sit here and play with that pen?" She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for him to answer. "Well, aren't you going to interrogate me?"

Stiles raised his brows. She was talking again. He kept himself calm. "Do you want me to interrogate you?"

She huffed and looked away from him.

Stiles kept twirling the pen and had almost managed to figure out how much speed that was needed to make it spin nine times before the pen was slapped out of his hand. "Hey! I was using that," he exclaimed.

Kiera sat back with a satisfied smirk. "Not anymore."

"Obviously," he said, looking over to where the pen was thrown. Kiera's magic had been momentarily bound, so she wasn't a threat to them while she was here. But she could still slap pretty hard.

"So," he folded his hands on the table and looked at her. "We've decided we don't like that pen. We've also figured out that you'll never answer our questions. But because of no answers, we can't let you go. Werewolves get a little growly when someone attacks them." He shrugged. "Not that I can blame them. I didn't like it all that much either. Especially because you tried killing my friends."

"I didn't try killing them," Kiera protested. "I hexed them."

Stiles looked at her with a frown. "Nah, I don't buy it."

"Alright, maybe not hexed but," she sat back in her chair, clearly tired. She had been in here for days with a minimum of food and fresh air. "I tried to steal their powers. But I never meant for them to go catatonic!"

"But yet, they did."

"I didn't know that!"

Stiles sighed. This was getting them nowhere. "What does Cassandra have on you?"

"Nothing."

Well, that was quick. "I don't believe you," he said while shaking his head. "I know she made you help her. You are a white witch." He shrugged. "A good one. Or at least you were. How does that work anyway? Once you go black, you won't or can't go back?"

She levelled him with a look that said just how done she was with his shit and he figured out it was time to get serious. He leaned forward, looking at her with curious eyes. She had reacted when he had talked about Cassandra.

"So, this Cassandra. She's not feeling all that well. But she was pretty coherent when she managed to convince you to work with her. You probably started your collaboration at least a few months back. She has probably gone deeper and deeper into her illness since then. But what do you have against werewolves?"

Kiera made a grimace but it was gone before Stiles could decipher it. "Nothing."

"But yet you chose to work with her?"

The young witch dismissed his words, looking at him.

Stiles tried something different. "You didn't choose to work with her. No, she made you."

And there was the grimace again.

"I was right!" he said with a grin. "So, what is it exactly that she has on you? Did you do something illegal and she caught you doing it? You stole something. Killed someone? Nah, what about stole something from her? Or maybe she found out you cheated on your boyfriend?" He paused. She didn't react to any of those except to sneer at his stupidity. "Not boyfriend then. Alright, how about you tell me then? Because from the looks of it, we'll be here all night. I can sit here and keep guessing. I'm good at talking as I'm sure you've noticed." He grinned at her rolling eyes. "I've been told I can be a real pain in the ass but hey; I get the work done. And to be honest; I know I'm a pain in the ass. I can be a real asshole actually, but the end justifies the means and all that."

She sighed. "I don't think that's the correct use of that expression."

"Yeah, well, you get what I mean." He let his smile slide of his face and looked right at her. "You didn't do anything that could be used against you, did you? You got forced into helping her. Why?"

He watched as a myriad of emotions flickered across her face before she closed off. It was just a few seconds, but he knew he was onto something. "Do you have a boyfriend, Kiera?"

She looked at him with a disapproving glare. "What's it to you?"

"Nothing. Family?"

"Everybody has someone."

"Really?"

"Guess so."

"U-hu." Stiles blew air out his nose, frustrated. "And now we're acting like twelve year olds. Come on. Help me help you. I mean; who is it that you're covering for? It can't be Cassandra, we've already dealt with her."

"Or so you think." Just as she said that, her face crumpled like she was in pain and Stiles got up and was next to her in a second.

"Hey, what happened? Are you alright?" he asked, but she just nodded. She looked a little pale he noticed.

Then he froze. What if she couldn't talk? What if Cassandra had made sure she couldn't tell them? He glanced at her only to see her regard him with hooded eyes. "I'm on to something, aren't I?"

She didn't answer, but kept looking at him intently.

"I am so onto something," he breathed as he went back to his chair and blinked several times as he tried connecting the dots. "You tried talking to Lyle the other day, didn't you? But he said you suddenly stopped talking. At all."

She still didn't give any indication that what he said had any meaning to her, but she kept looking at him and that had to mean something.

"But you couldn't because you're not allowed. You physically can't tell us." He got up and started pacing. "She did something. But she doesn't have any powers. What did she do? How did she do it?" He nibbled on his lip, trying to work out how this could have happened. "She cursed you. Or forced someone to cast a spell on you. Maybe she forced you to cast a spell on yourself." He stopped and considered the suggestions. "Can you show us?" He looked at her and she just swallowed. "That's a no then. Can you write it? Draw it? Anything?"

She shook her head. "I was forced to cast it myself," she managed to say before almost falling over in pain.

He ran over and barely stopped her from tipping over in her chair. "Okay. Okay, don't try to tell me, alright?" He gripped her arm and squeezed. "I'll figure it out."

Tears gathered in her eyes and he knew he had to help her. He had to tell Derek. And Scott. And Lyle. And Jodi. Hell, all of them.

"I'll inform the others, we'll make a plan to help you."

She drew a deep breath. "I'm not telling you what to do." Her voice was petulant but she looked at him with huge eyes. Only then could Stiles see the helplessness deep in her eyes.

"Okay. Alright. I'll be right back."

He opened the door and looked back at her. "Promise."

"So what you're saying is that she was forced into this?" Scott asked after Stiles had gathered all of them outside the shed.

"Compelled, forced. Something like that, yes." He rolled his shoulders, trying to calm his jittery nerves. But if Kiera had been under this spell this whole time, it had to be lifted.

"Then we have to help her," Lyle said as he stepped closer to Stiles. "Are you sure she is telling the truth?"

Stiles looked at the two werewolves that had been standing outside Kiera's room. "Did you listen in?"

The two of them looked at their alpha Matthew, before nodding.

"And?"

"She didn't seem to be lying, but then again; if she's under a spell.." one of them said and Stiles clenched his fists trying not to start a discussion.

"She might have been dodging the truth, but her reactions can't be forced. When she tried to tell me something, she had to stop from the pain. All I got was that she was forced to cast the spell herself. My gut tells me that Cassandra has something she uses against Kiera, to make her collaborate with her. Something big."

Lyle looked at Jodi. "She stopped talking to me the other day, but before that, she answered one of my questions before suddenly breaking of in the middle of a sentence. She almost passed out."

Lydia caught Stiles eyes and held his stare. "I think you are on to something. I'll help you."

Scott nodded. "Yeah, me too."

"Me too." Derek came up next to Lydia.

"I'll call Deaton, see if he has any information about these kind of stuff." Erica pulled out her phone.

Then everything became chaos until the alpha's got their packs into groups about where to look for books, where to call and who to talk to.

Derek came up to Stiles and gave him a soft, private smile. "Good work. Come with me, let's get something to eat."

"But we have to-" Stiles protested but was dragged over the lawn and into the kitchen.

"Food first, then research," Derek said, opening the fridge. "We've got salad, steak, sandwiches and chicken."

"Only if Kiera gets some of that," Stiles said, nodding towards the chicken salad. "She hasn't been eating enough. And now that we've discovered that she's more or less like a prisoner by Cassandra and us, maybe the big bosses will let her have a more varied diet?"

Derek hid his grin but nodded. "Sure. Eat."

"Big boss bossing me around."

Derek smacked him over the back of his head and Stiles rubbed a hand over his head. "Hey. Don't hit the brain in this operation." He grinned. "I'm the brain and you're the muscle. You know this, Der."

A lifted brow was all he got in return, but Stiles was satisfied.