The song for this chapter is Alex Vargas - Shackled Up Live from the Distillery version (a must listen to lol)

MALIA'S POV:

"You've got some nerve coming here," My eyes glowed as my fangs came out.

She waved me off, a gun with a silencer hung from her hip. "You're not still mad about that old dirty alcoholic, are you?"

My blood boiled. "He was my father!" I ran for her but she shot me twice in the stomach before I could get close enough. I stilled at the shock, but tried for her again. Another bullet went into my knee. I fell to the ground in agony, my hand clutched to my knee. "Why are you doing this?" I looked up at her with pitiful eyes. "You don't have any supernatural power, you're human now. What do you get out of killing me?"

She shrugged as she circled my apartment. "I get the pleasure of ending your miserable existence. I'm doing you a favor really." She walked by the couch and knocked over the picture of my dad with the end of the gun. "Do you really want to live like this?" She peeked out of the curtains, then looked my way.

I edged away from her.

She aimed at me. "Answer your mommy when she's talking to you."

"Screw you!" I scowled.

She shot me in the other knee.

I cried out in pain.

"Manners. You've got to learn some manners, little girl."

I supposed this day was going to come sooner rather than later, right? If I was going to die by the hands of my biological mother, I didn't want anyone I cared about around. Surely, it was better this way. If this meant no else I loved was going to die then I'd take this over a big brawl out any day.

She crouched over me, her gun in hand.

"If you're going to kill me just do it and go."

Death wasn't all bad. I believed in Heaven and Hell. I wasn't sure if I entirely believed in God, but there had to be some presence out there that made all of this okay. I wanted to believe my dad was in Heaven and that if I died I'd see him there. Cheesy, I know, but it's what I had to work with right now. I didn't know Allison all that well, but if she loved Scott then surely we had some things in common. And if Scott loved her then she was a good person.

"I'm not going to kill you. Yet." She rose.

I gave a small sigh of relief that I was ashamed she heard. "Then what are you doing here?"

She sat at the bar. "I'm here to make a deal."

I couldn't stand if I wanted to, so I started to dig the bullets out. An insult was on the tip of my tongue but she would shot me again. "What do you want?"

She sighed. "Your Alpha."

My hand stopped mid pull of a bullet. "What?" A growl sat in the back of my throat.

"You can relax. At this point in time, I don't want to hurt your boyfriend, but I will if he doesn't back off." My confusion must've been on my face because she said, "Oh, you don't know?" She chuckled. "How sweet and noble that one is."

Scott said he maybe had a plan or a way out of letting Theo help, but that's all he said.

"What did he do?" I asked cautiously.

"Not just him. Braeden, too. They've been following me. I'm beginning to feel a little targeted."

Scott didn't tell me he'd been following her. Then again we haven't talked. But I couldn't believe he did this for me. He was trying to get Theo out of the picture. Well, I could believe it.

I gave a wry grin, then finished getting the bullets out. "What do you want me to do?"

"Call them off. I'll let them live. Along with the rest of your pack."

My eyes shot to hers. "Why would I believe you?"

Her eyes rolled, she pulled out her phone. "My men are tracking your pack everywhere they go, they could kill them at any moment of my choosing. Maybe this will make you a believer." She showed me a bunch of live feeds. Most were dark, but I recognized the houses. "I've got my men at each pack member's house. They've placed bombs in their basements. Unless I tell them otherwise they'll blow them all to Hell if you don't agree to my deal. No more family for you. Then I'll kill you myself." She tilted her head. "How does that sound?" She pulled up Scott's house. "You want to watch your lover blow up?"

She figuratively had me by the balls. What other choice did I have but to listen to her?

"I'll do it." I rushed out. "Whatever you want, just don't kill them."

"Just so we're clear, the pack is spared if you agree to meet me the day of my choosing. We'll settle this then. You tell no one about this."

My head shook. "Why not just kill me now? Get it over with."

She lightly slapped my face. "There's no fun in that. I want you to hurt." She crouched over me. "The only way I see Scott letting go of this is if you break what's left of his bleeding heart."

Warning bells went off in my head. "I've already hurt him more than I care to admit."

A grin crossed her face. "No, I get it. It's just he really loves you," She pushed my hair out of my face. "Which means he won't give up this fight until you crush his heart. That's the only way we have a deal."

"You bitch." I spat at her.

She laughed. "Thanks," She rose. "So should I tell my men to set off the bombs or evacuate them?"

"If you kill my friends killing you would be the last thing I do." I threatened as I got in her face.

She pressed into one of my stomach wounds. "Do we have a deal, little girl?"

I groaned. "Yes! Just call them off!"

She rose, then pressed her phone to her ear. She spoke in Spanish.

I only knew a little bit of Spanish, but I hadn't realized until this moment that I was part Hispanic. Why hadn't I realized it before now? I wondered if Scott knew Spanish?

I tried to stand, but my knees hadn't healed enough to allow that, so I fell back to the floor.

"I'll keep in touch. Nice chat." She headed for the door. "Cut Scott out of your life, Malia." She walked away.

With no motivation to move I stayed there for who knew how long. My wounds healed, but my heart didn't. There was no good way that any of this could end.

Someone knocked on the door some time later. "Malia," Theo called. He twisted the knob. "You should really lock this door." He walked in. When he saw me he turned serious. "What happened to you?" He rushed to my side.

"Did you know she was coming?"

"Who?" He checked me over.

My eyes focused forward. "My mom."

He stilled. "She did this to you? She was here?"

I nodded.

"Why didn't you call me? We need to go. Wait, why didn't she kill you?"

Despite still not trusting him fully, I told him what happened. He seemed genuinely shocked. Even though he didn't like Scott, he still had the tact to look sad for me.

"That's gotta be rough." He looked down.

"I can't break his heart, Theo." I looked at him. "I don't have that in me."

He nodded. "If you don't she's going to kill them then it will all have been for nothing."

I scoffed. "You're glad this is happening, aren't you?"

He sat beside me. "Not particularly, no."

My head turned to his. "You hate Scott. You like me. What's there to not be happy about? With him out the way you can woo me."

"If you love Scott enough to not bare the idea of breaking his heart, then what chance do I have?" He gave me a half grin. "And how tactless do you think I am to woo you now?"

A grin sneaked past my resolve. "You don't want me to answer that."

He laughed. "I guess you're right."

In that moment, I felt semi a little bit okay about Theo. I was a far cry from welcoming him into the fold, but I felt a little bit better about having him on my side. It was still a seventy-five percent chance he'd triple cross me.

"How am I going to do this?" I spoke out loud.

"Use me. Easiest way to get Scott to hate you."

I gave him the stink eye. "God, you're right."

Fuck!

"Do you really believe her? Are we really going to give up?" He asked.

I shrugged. "No, but I'm not risking their lives. Better I than them."

He looked at me long and hard.

"What?"

He looked away. "I just always said the exact opposite. Better you than I. That's gotten me nowhere. Everyone hates me."

I made a sad face. "Is someone having feelings?"

He laughed. "No, of course not. Just reflecting. Am I allowed to do that?"

I grinned. "Just don't reflect too much. I like to hate you."

He stared at me with a half grin.

My eyes averted before he could think this was a flirtation. I stood. "I'm going to shower."

"You want company?"

I shot him a narrowed eyed sneer. "Leave."

"Cool." He headed for the door, then turned around. "Seriously, though. If you want this to work then you're going to have to tear Scott down. Just tell yourself if you survive this then you can tell him that it was all a lie. He'll forgive you. He always does."

I nodded, then watched him leave.

Before I showered I texted Scott to come over. We needed to talk. Maybe just maybe I could tell him what happened, so he'd back off. If he knew the truth then we could devise a plan. I didn't have to make him hate me.

When I got out of the shower my phone rang.

"Theo, you just left. What could you possibly want?"

"Listen to me! Has Scott gotten there yet?" He sounded panicky.

I dressed. "No, why?"

"Don't trust Corinne. I think she might've bugged your apartment."

I stilled. "Why would you think that?"

"Why else would you she come to your apartment? Think about it. She could've ambushed you anywhere. Why your apartment?" He sighed. "Malia, get off the phone. I'll text you. Be careful what you say until we make sure there is or isn't a bug." He hung up.

Great. So there went the tell Scott the truth plan. If she was listening in then I'd have to follow through with the heartbreak plan. And I hated that plan.

I made my way to the kitchen. Maybe I could butter him up with food before breaking his heart? When I opened the fridge I remembered I didn't have any food.

I smelled Scott before he knocked on my door. I ran to the door and opened it before he had the chance to knock.

He looked surprised. "Hey,"

He wore a dark green hoodie, black jeans, and tims. He looked so yummy, I didn't want to do this.

"Should I come back? If I come inside will you promise to keep your hands to yourself?"

I let out a breathy laugh, then turned on my heels.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," He followed me. "As promised, the other photos your dad took. Everyone gave me any they took of him, there's a bunch in there."

I couldn't do this. He went out of his way to give me something to remember my dad by. How could I break his heart? Then I pictured him dead along with the rest of the pack. I pictured Melissa, Deaton, and Argent dead because I couldn't follow through with the plan. I'd rather he hate me and be alive than love me and die because of it.

"Can we talk?" I gestured to the couch.

He nodded. "You first. I want to hear your side of the story. Then I have some really great news."

I silently prayed for the strength to do this. I swallowed the hugest lump in my throat, then gave a shy grin. My heart was rapidly beating out my chest. Air wouldn't come easily, I began to breathe heavily.

"What's wrong?" His hand went to my knee. "Breathe."

People always said breathe when you're having a panic attack. Like I didn't know that. But I couldn't. Hence the panic attack.

He moved closer, his hand went to my neck. "Malia, you have to breathe." His eyes flashed red.

I wanted to breathe. I tried to think about him as my anchor, but that only made it worse.

"Look at me," He urged. "Focus on my voice."

I nodded.

"You're going to be okay."

I nodded.

"We're going to figure this out together." His eyes searched mine. "Do you trust me?"

I nodded again. I took in how close he'd gotten. As if all the air hadn't left me before.

He looked down at my mouth, then pressed his lips to mine in a feather light kiss.

My heart stopped as I let the slightest touch take over my entire body. I breathed out.

He pulled away.

I stared at him with no idea of what to say or do. I wanted nothing more to lean in and continue more of that, but at what cost?

"Was that about us?" He asked. "Your panic attack. Was it because of us?"

Instead of answering his question, I turned to him and said, "You have to stop looking for the Desert Wolf."

His forehead crinkled. "How do you know about that?"

Well, I couldn't tell him she stopped by.

"Theo," I lied. To make this somewhat believable, I added, "He kind of slept over last night."

As if he didn't believe me, he sniffed the air to confirm that his scent was here not too long ago. "So you want me to stop looking for her why? Braeden and I are closer than we've ever been. Besides, you can't trust Theo. He's only using you to get to me."

While I was pretty sure that was accurate, I ignored it.

"This isn't your battle to fight." I told him. "You need to give it up. I have it handled from my end."

He shook his head. "What are you talking about? Have you even gone after her yet?"

"Scott," My voice rose. "I don't need you to do this for me. Just take care of your own stuff. I'm not your girlfriend, you gotta stop treating me like I am."

Confusion stayed on his face. "I'm sorry, I'm just having a hard time understanding where this is coming from. You said yesterday that you wanted to choose me, so what changed?"

If I didn't stick to my guns then he'd sniff out lies within a second. I swallowed any minute particle of pride I had left.

I looked him in the eye. "I've been thinking about what you said. This was a mistake. We took things too far." My insides were panicking.

His eyes hunted mine as if to find some hint of what was going on.

"I don't want to be with you." I lied. "What I really wanted was sex and I got that...last night."

"With Theo?" He questioned.

I nodded, my eyes drifted down.

"So it was him all along? You never liked me, was that it? You just used me until he came back into the picture?" It still didn't sound like he fully believed it fully.

My heart definitely broke down the middle. I was so incredibly angry at Corinne for making me do this. When I got the chance, I wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Look at me."

My head shook as I fought tears.

"Look at me!" His voice shook with his anger.

I reluctantly met his glare. "A part of me has always hated you for turning me back. This past week, I realized just how much. I wouldn't have experienced any of that pain if it hadn't been for you. My dad died because of you." I accused. "I blame you, Scott."

As if it finally sunk in he nodded.

I still felt as if he'd see through all of that and forgive me when convinced by the pack. So I said the one thing that I knew would cause him to look at me completely different.

"If you really want to know why I didn't choose you over Theo, it's because I can kill with him and have it not make a single difference in how he looks at me." I threw in his face.

He looked at me with foreign eyes. "You killed someone?"

I nodded. "I liked it. And I don't feel guilty about it at all."

A few moments passed before he stood. He looked down on me with disappointed eyes. "You're out."

I looked to him in question. "What?" He didn't mean what I thought he meant.

"You're out of the pack." He said again, his voice teetered on the edge of scary calm. "Don't contact me again. If you need help call Theo." He headed for the door. "I'm done."

No.

"Scott?"

He slammed the door shut behind him.

My hand covered my mouth to stifle my cry.

What have I done? I couldn't take any of it back. Not until the Desert Wolf was dead.

SCOTT'S POV:

I was done.

After everything that we've been through, after everything I did to help her, she does this. So now I didn't mean anything to her? Those feelings she convinced me she had last doesn't exist. Just like I feared she did want Theo.

This was going to be a problem for everyone else for sure, but like I said, I'm done. I was done helping those who didn't want my help. People took advantage of you, then left you with a gaping hole in your chest where they used to be. I definitely had a gaping hole where Malia used to be. I didn't understand her at all. She made a big deal about wanting to choose me, but then turns around and says it was a mistake. Was all of it a mistake or just the parts with us?

I revved my bike forward down the street.

There was no us. Not anymore.

While I wasn't one to go for a casual hookup, I needed some relief and distraction. I knew Malia wanted to take that next step. I went over there in hopes of taking her on a date and seeing where things went, but looked how well that worked for me.

Against my better judgment, I pulled into the parking lot of the Mexican restaurant I went to with my mom yesterday. If she wasn't here then I'd keep riding.

When I walked in I was welcomed by Latin reggae music and the smell of fried tortillas and meat.

"Welcome to..." The blonde noticed me and grinned. "Oh, I remember you."

I cracked a grin. "Good to hear."

Her gray eyes ran over my body. "Are you sitting at a booth or table?" She grabbed a few menus, then met my eyes.

I leaned on the podium. "Neither. I actually came here to see you."

A sexy smile broke out on her face. She was sexy, it wasn't like I hadn't noticed yesterday, I just wasn't interested. Now I guess I was.

She leaned forward. "Is that right?" She batted her fake lashes. "What's your name?"

"Scott," I offered my hand.

She took it.

Her hands were really soft.

"Scott," She grinned. "I'm Kenzie. Are you legal?"

"Define legal." I gave a dimpled grin. "Just graduated."

She nodded. "A bit young, but with a face like yours I can make that work."

I looked around the nearly empty restaurant. "So what time do you get off, Kenzie?"

She smiled.

I grinned at her.

A/N: Okay so a lot just happened. Don't hate me. A lot of readers were really wanting Scott to be mad at Malia a lot longer than one chapter. Some doubted that I would make his anger last. While I did make it last, the story had to move on so he had to forgive her at some point. Scott kicking her out of the pack was originally planned later in this big dramatic scene of Theo telling him in a fight in front of everyone, then Scott got so mad he kicked her out. Everyone was gonna be like no what are you doing, but he was just going to walk away. What I plan for this fic vs what I actually write is always changing. Especially when you guys give me your feedback. Someone said they wanted Scott to go into Victor's mind, I wrote that because they wanted it to happen. Someone said make Scott mad at her longer, now this is happening. What do you guys think? Too much or are we on the right track? I think this leads to what some of you want as far as smutty Scalia. While I never said I was going to write smutty Scalia, I can do a lot of sexual tension Scalia, especially if Scott hates her at this point. So if you don't like it where it's at right now, don't write me off just yet. Let me know what you think and i can incorporate fanservice. I'm not doing fanservice for Stydia in this because if we're being totally honest this season has done a lot of that, but that's a different discussion. Still stydia af just don't agree with how they're doing things this season with other relationships affected by Stydia. :'(