"Ian, open the damned door."
I went to the front door of my parents house and opened it to see Jakob standing on the doorstep. Tyler, Danny, and Ryan had warned me that he would show today, so we'd hidden Derek and Scott in the basement of the house. They weren't happy about it, to say the least.
"Hello Jakob. My cousins warned me that you would be coming to see me."
He grumbled something indecipherable. I stepped out onto the porch and shut the door behind me.
"After you told me about being engaged to Hale, I've...reconsidered killing you."
"Is that so?"
"I'm here, aren't I?" I shrugged. "You know your cousins are a part of my pack, so I thought it'd only be right if you were too." I narrowed my eyes.
"You're extending an invitation to join your pack after I threatened to send my fiancé to kill you? That's big for a peace offering."
"Are you interested or not? I don't have all day."
"I'll...think about it. Try not to be too impatient, OK? I'll be seein you."
Jakob motioned with his hand and I turned, going back in the house.
I waited until he was out of hearing range to move from the front doorway, and go to the basement. When I opened the door, Scott almost tumbled out.
"About time. He's trying to kill me, I swear..." I laughed as Derek and the rest of my family filed out of the basement. They'd hidden there as well, to make Jakob think they weren't home.
"Looks like using the Hale name worked in my favor after all. Jakob's scared enough to ask me to join his pack." Ryan clapped his hand against my back.
"Knew you could pull it off. Think you can pull off making dinner for six wolves and a human?" I raised an eyebrow. "I'm starved."
"It's seven wolves, remember? And yes, I can cook." He shot a hand in the air. "Might take awhile though, because I know you all are fatâsses."
"I'll will patiently be waiting for it...within the hour." I groaned as Ryan laughed and walked away.
I went to the
kitchen and into the freezer, and pulled out a package of frozen ground beef. I turned the hot water on in the sink, and left the package of meat to defrost.
I'd make a Beef Nacho Casserole. Being a house full of men, they'd undoubtedly have the salsa, cheese, and tortilla chips I'd need, and love anything using them in it.
As I was digging out a pan and casserole dish, I looked out the window to see delicate white flakes drifting down in the backyard. I set the pans down and went out onto the back porch to watch the snowflakes swirling around in the air.
"Did you know it was supposed to snow today?" I felt Derek's arms wrap around me from behind.
"It's almost winter, it'll tend to snow." I whirled in his arms to face him.
"Almost winter? What's today?"
"December 4th." I though back.
I hadn't noticed the days passing at all.
"I missed Thanksgiving, that's fantastic...And there's only 3 weeks until Christmas!" I hadn't prepared for the holidays at all!
I groaned and Derek said "You don't have to worry about Christmas. It's just a holiday."
"A holiday where we're supposed to celebrate and give eachother gifts and eat cookies and ham dinners until we gain 10 pounds. We don't even have a Christmas tree at the house yet! Or lights! Or anything!"
"Your friends probably didn't want to worry you with it, since you've got a bunch going on already."
"I don't care what's going on! You and I are supposed to be a family now, and families celebrate Christmas." Derek chuckled. "I'm not kidding."
"Alright. We'll get all your Christmas things once we're done dealing with Jakob, alright?"
"You'd better not be lying. Now go away, you're distracting me from my cooking." He chuckled and kissed me lightly before leaving the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Tyler, Danny..." They looked up from the couch. "Would you mind coming with me to see Jakob?"
Tyler spoke first. "Why do you need to go see him?"
"Do you not remember what we said earlier? I told him I'd be coming to see him, since he's apparently decided to try to trust me. Or spy on me, which works out even better."
"Why..?"
"If Jakob wants to spy on me, he'll keep me close, try to find out why I'm here."
"What if it's a lie, and he just tries to ambush you?"
"That's why I want to bring you two."
"I'm coming too." I turned to face Ryan. "No baby cousin of mine is gonna go face off with an Alpha werewolf and his pack all by herself. Of course I'm coming. And..." He got in close and whispered. "...I'm pretty sure your fiancé and Scott are gonna wanna go too."
"We can't have everyone go...It's gonna look suspicious enough as is."
"We can follow behind in a seperate car." I resisted a laugh as Derek's voice and footsteps echoed into the room. "You're not gonna go there again without me." I turned.
"You are really stubborn sometimes, you know that?" He didn't move. "You can only come inside if something goes wrong. Jakob will go berserk if you just show up in the middle of his wolf den."
"Let him go berserk. I can protect myself, and you too. I'm going." I sighed.
"I suppose we should all get going then. Me, Ryan, Danny, and Tyler will ride in the Camaro, since that's what I drove before. You, Scott, and Stiles can ride in Ryan's car."
"Since when did I agree to let you use my car?" I faced Ryan, who had just entered from the kitchen.
"Since I'm letting you continue living in my house." Ryan's mouth twitched. "Can we leave now?"
Everyone begun to file outside. I waited until the last of them, Stiles, was outside to shut and lock the door with the set of keys Ryan'd given me. We split into our respective cars, Scott and Stiles getting into Ryan's grey 2009 Honda Accord.
Derek came to me before getting in the drivers seat.
"The second I hear so much as a shout, I'm coming in."
I nodded. "Just don't bust the door down too early. I might end up being the one to have to save you." He barked out a laugh. "Go on, they're watching through the car windows."
"Hey." Just as I turned to walk to Derek's car, he pulled me by the wrist to him. After planting a kiss on me, he muttered against my lips "If we make it out of this, I'm marrying you."
I laughed and kissed him back. "I know."
We seperated and got into the different cars then.
Ryan said from the passenger seat "Could you be any more ardent?"
I narrowed my eyes. "Don't make me slaughter you." He only laughed.
"I think this Hale is rubbing off on you."
"Yeah, yeah..."
I pulled out of the driveway, heading in the direction of the bar I'd went to before. I glanced in the rearview mirror every time we stopped, checking that Derek was still following. And every time I looked, I would see his green eyes looking right into mine, and smile.
After the few minutes it took to get into town, Derek pulled off on the side of the street, a block or two away from the bar, but still close enough to hear any loud sounds. I continued ahead, to where Jakob was just coming out of the bar, smirking.
I pulled over and shut the car off, and we all climbed out. Ryan stood to my right, and Danny and Tyler on either side of us.
"Jakob. We're here to talk about our...situation. I've told my cousins about how you came over earlier."
"Good. Saves me the time of doing it again. I assume you three have shown her the...benefits of being in our pack?" Ryan, Tyler, and Danny all nodded. "Come on inside, we'll get you all set up."
"However appealing that may sound...I can't." He raised an eyebrow. "I intended to come here today to discuss that with you, but my cousins here have warned me that you were going to try to spy on me and my fiancé." I had no idea where all of this was coming from, or why I was saying it, but I kept with it. "I don't appreciate that very much."
Jakob's smirk lowered into a bit of a frown. "I had hoped we'd be able to...reconcile our differences. I was even considering making you my second in command, considering the connections you have with Beacon Hills. Lot of potential there."
I chuckled. "You can quit it with the proper talk. Just have your temper tantrum and be over with it."
Jakob stepped away from the doorway of the bar, coming within feet of my cousins and I.
"If you're not going to join my pack, then I guess I'll just have to get rid of you." The atmosphere around us filled with tension immediately. "The other 8 members of my pack are right inside, so this should be relatively quick. Anything you want to say, Ian?"
Pursing my lips, I nodded. "Just that you only have 8 pack members, not 11. My cousins have so graciously left you to help me." His slight frown turned into an ugly, snarling grimace.
"Get out here, NOW!" There was a moment's pause before the door to the bar opened and the pack began filong out. The six men from the last time were there, now with two females, one of whom rushed to Jakob's side. "All I wanted was to have you as a member of my pack. Yes, I wanted to spy on the Hale idiot, but so what?! That guy is a serious liability to you, and you should've dumped him the first chance you got."
"I'd never chase off the father of my son. And you should'nt have expected me to willingly spy on him, either. So I could call you the idiot. For that, and for expecting me to trust you after you knowingly killed my family."
The look of pure hatred on Jakob's face confirmed his guilt. My sensitive ears began to pick up on sounds coming from where Derek, Scott, and Stiles were waiting. Derek was becoming restless.
And by how focused Jakob looked, he didn't hear what was going on. I could see several of his packmates looking nervous though, and glancing down the street.
"I've been waiting for this since the day they found my parents' bodies."
"Well, you won't have to wait long. You'll get to see your parents soon enough."
The air around us seemed to freeze. Nobody moved for the space of a heartbeat.
Jakob yelled out "GET THEM!"
All was chaos.
Wolves snarled and turned, their ugly faces jumping out at us, growls ripping through the formerly quiet air. I ducked out of the way, feeling one of their claws slice through where my head had been. It was the female that had stood by Jakob.
"So, are you the little tramp that's been sleeping with Jakob?" She screamed, and I grinned. I could hear Derek's struggles down the street, trying to get here, but having Scott hold him back. That wouldn't last for long.
"I ain't no tramp, you bîtch!" And she came for me again.
Her claws grabbed at my shirt and sliced across my face, and I grimaced in pain. She clawed me again, and I heard someone shout "Go for the throat!"
This girl was inexperienced.
I shoved her back and swung my leg around, making contact with the side of her head. She stared at me wide-eyed for a moment before falling to the ground. Dead or unconscious, I didn't know. I wiped at my face, which was already healing, and looked around.
My three cousins were each fighting about two wolves each, and there were two standing off to the side. Jakob and the second female. I meandered my way through the fighitng to them, keeping careful ears on the scramble down the street. From what I could tell, Derek was out of the car, and about to run up here.
"That was quick, Ian...I just hope my second female will do a bit better." The she-wolf grinned wickedly.
"Why not fight me yourself? Or are you afraid?" He grimaced.
The she-wolf stepped down and appeared to be sizing me up. She didn't get the chance to attack though, thanks to my illustrious cousin Ryan.
I saw his hand snake around her neck and rip it out, blood spurting across my shirt. I winced slightly at the sickening crunch of her head hitting the sidewalk, and almost immediately she was trampled. Ryan winked and grinned before turning back to his opponent.
"Now Jakob, where were we..?" Jakob snarled and screamed, his furious eyes glowing red. His hand shot out and came around my neck.
I shot my hand out as well, but seemingly instantly, a painful cramp seized my midsection and I almost doubled over. Jakob mistook my grimace of pain for defeat.
"Don't worry, i'll be sure to save your precious Derek Hale for last...He'll get the most painful death, and i'll make sure of it. I'll slaughter him just like I did your worthless parents."
I shouted. "DEREK!" I swung a claw across Jakob's face and he momentarily released me, only for me to be taken up by two more wolves. I scrambled and fought, and in the process, saw that Danny laid bleeding on the ground motionless. "DANNY, NO!"
A hand came across my face in a hard slap.
"That'll teach you, you dirty little bîtch..." I glared up at Jakob, before hearing a bellow more painful, more furious then i'd ever heard from anyone, human or wolf.
"DON'T YOU TOUCH MY WIFE YOU BÂSTÂRD!" A large shape flew through the air and slammed against Jakob, throwing him to the ground. Derek stood over him, landing blows with incredible speed.
the two holding me were distracted by it, and I took the oppurtunity to change.
My howl ripped through the air, cuasing my cousins and their counterparts to pause their fighting. The change was faster this time than before.
My arms and legs sprouted out, the skin darkening into a grayish black color, and covered with fur. My teeth lengthened. My eyes glowed an almost evil red. And I stayed concious and aware through the whole thing.
I grinned internally as my clothes tore from my expanding body, too small to contain the enourmous wolf I now was. And the look on Jakob's face as he realised what was happening...
Oh, the satisfaction.
I turned my attention first to the wolves that had taken down Danny, and now ganging up on Ryan and Tyler. Tyler had a slash across his forehead, and Ryan looked to be limping.
I launched myself at them, teeth and claws tearing into the soft flesh of two of them. The other two ran, but I heard their screams follow soon after they disappeared.
I swallowed down chunks of the now dead wolves' flesh, licking across my great teeth satisfactorily. I felt my baby kicking within me, almost as if cheering me on. I kicked the dead bodies out of the way, and turned toward Derek and Jakob, now both standing.
"You're an Alpha?" Jakob backed up several steps. "The both of you?"
Derek said "Hope you like the surprise Jakob." Derek reached for Jakob, who could only seem to keep his eyes on my massive form.
There was a loud crack as Jakob's neck was snapped, followed by several more. I laughed internally, thinking it was almost as if Derek was folding Jakob's useless body to be thrown away.
When he seemed satisfied that Jakob was dead, Derek threw the body down and came to me. I changed back into my human form, still grinning.
"Our boy was cheering for you, you know. I could almost hear him scream 'get him Daddy!'"
Derek brushed a hand across my stomach and said "I got him. Now..." Seemingly from out of nowhere he produced his leather jacket, and slung it around my shoulders. I laughed.
The laughter soon died off as I heard wet, drowned coughing. We both turned to see Tyler cradling his twins head in his lap, and blood running from Danny's mouth.
"Come on bro, you got this...It ain't nothin..." Danny smiled feebly.
"We're twins...I can tell when you're lying." He coughed again, blood spurting across Tyler's face. He seemed not to notice.
I kneeled down beside them both and said "You probably have some internal injuries. But you're gonna heal, and you'll be fine..."
"Liar...If I was going to heal from this, I would've already..."
"We'll get someone to look at you, and you'll be fine...I'm not gonna lose one of my favorite family members."
"One of your only family members." More coughing, and wheezing. "And I can't exactly go into any hospital. They'd know something was up." I frowned deeply. He was right.
I turned my head and looked around at Scott, pulling him by the pant leg. He kneeled down beside me, looking confused.
"Do you think...you could get your mom up here? Right now?" He looked shocked.
"My mom..? She doesn't know anything about us, and if she found out..."
"What more important, keeping your secret from your mom, or keeping my cousin alive?" He sighed, and eventually nodded.
"It'll take her awhile to get here, if she even will."
"She'll come because your here. She hasn't already because you're with Stiles and me." I paused, and thought. "Call Allison's family too. They'll want to know everything that's happened." I tugged on Tyler's arm. "Let's get him back to the house..."
Tyler nodded and we stood. He grabbed Danny under the arms and I took his legs, and we shuffled our way back to where we'd parked the cars. I could hear sirens starting off in the distance, and knew the police would be here soon enough.
"Stiles..." He looked up. "You should stay here, for when the police come. They'll need someone to explain what happened."
"But... Why me?" I narrowed my eyes.
"Just do it, please. Tell them they all attacked each other with dogs or something, I don't care. Please?" He groaned, and begrudgingly sat on the nearby curb.
I thanked him silently as we slipped Danny into the backseat of the Camaro, Tyler and I climbing in with him.
Derek drove off immediately, leaving Ryan to take his car back with Scott. I felt bad about leaving Stiles there, but if nobody was left to say anything, fingers would start to be pointed. And with the way several of those guys had been ripped up, combined with the fact that I was in town...
My family would be among some of the first to be questioned.
