| CHAPTER NINETEEN, Void of Fault |

I wasn't in control anymore.

I wasn't in control when I dressed myself and left the hospital room.

I wasn't in control when I set off down the dark street towards the Argents, knowing full well I should be heading home to Scott.

I wasn't in control when I snuck into the Argents' apartment and lurked into Allison's room.

And I sure as hell wasn't in control when she finally got home and I kissed her.

"Isaac, what're you—"

"Shh," my lips released, my body placing a finger on her lips, its eyes still closed from the kiss.

"Isaac…" Allison said, more worried now. "Scott?"

"I've had time to figure out my priorities." I banged against the lid of the coffin above me, damning those words.

"Isaac, you've been aslee—"

"You know what they say about coma patients…they can sometimes hear you. I was aware of everything. I could hear still…I heard when you and Scott came to visit me."

"Then you know how much he—"

"Allison," my lips said slowly, my eyes opening, looking tempting at her. "I don't want him…I want you…" My body leaned and tried to kiss her again when she stopped it.

"Sleep on it…I'm not convinced all the drugs in your system are out."

My head nodded and she pointed to the top of the bed before walking into her bathroom and closing the door.

— Ʌ | Ʌ | Ʌ —

I tried to sleep. I really did. But my body…my 'mind'…it was relentless. There was noise…a buzzing. It was the sound of the fluorescent tubes from before, only this time they were louder, almost as if they were inside my head. My body stirred next to Allison, clad now only a white wife beater and my jeans. Eventually…sometime near dawn…it got up and shackled Allison's ankles to the frame at the foot of her bed. I pounded even harder this time…pounding, kicking, and screaming. But I was trapped, and the bzzzw noise only got louder…

— Ʌ | Ʌ | Ʌ —

I knew my eyes wouldn't turn blue. I knew wasn't about to take the life of an innocent. And I even knew, deep down, that part of my actual mind wanted this. But that wasn't what I really feared. I feared living with myself after this. I feared knowing that I was helpless to stop this, being stuck as only a witness, a bystander while my own body took a life. I feared what Scott would say. What he'd think. He'd forgiven a lot over the past year, the most egregious probably when I attacked Allison in the supply closet a month or so ago. But this…this was different. Burning the twins alive…there was no forgiveness here.

— Ʌ | S | Ʌ —

He found me again.

I was lost in him.

Close to him.

I want him.

I wanted him to get lost in me.

And with his lips on mine…I knew he was.

"Why are we in the bathroom?" I said as he pressed me closer against the door, the lights off, the only dim shine coming from under the door.

"We're hiding," Isaac said, smiling against my lips before kissing me again.

"From who, my mom?"

"Don't worry about it."

"She knows we're together, remember?"

"I know, but your father's downstairs," he said, placing two of his fingers against my lips. I smirked and he replaced them with his lips. I tilted my head up more and met his fervor with an energy of my own…when a slight electric surge buzzed through my body as quick as a heartbeat.

"Hold on. Isaac, you're still in the hospital."

"What do you mean? I'm right here," he said, pulling on me so he closed in tighter, trying to steal another kiss.

"No, you're still at Beacon Memorial. You were attacked." I flicked on the light and looked into his eyes, the black burns still on his face. "This is a trick. It's a trick."

"Lydiaaaaaa!..."

I felt a tickle under my nose, checking and seeing the blood on my fingers. The bathroom shook like an earthquake and Isaac's yellow eyes burned yellow, his fangs becoming visible as his mouth opened to attack. I turned the knob behind me and tripped out into an all too familiar white room. And there, standing yards from me, was Lydia.

— Ʌ | Ʌ | Ʌ —

Like every fight I've been in, they all rushed by so quickly. Claws. Fangs. Arrows. This time even a blade was involved. There's always blood drawn and pain and grimacing. But this fight, this fight I was merely watching a TV screen, first as I watched Ethan and Aiden jump me and then to have Kira and Allison join in against us. And despite being the werewolf, I worried for myself during this fight.

But when I collapsed to the hard concrete floor, the twins doing just the same, it wasn't the fight that worried me anymore. It was what Boyd and Erica were going to do next. I could see them, as the only thing in my vision was still the square black tunnel to reality. But I could hear them. I could hear their movements. I could hear their growls and soon their taunts and threats. I closed my eyes and breathed, willing them to return back to bottom of my mind. I wanted to forget their loss. I wanted to force the vengeance that had seeped into me out like a poison.

But then someone opened the lid…someone that wasn't my late packmates. I opened my eyes and I was back. The tunnel was gone and my eyes were my own again, staring at the concerned face of Dr. Deaton. I was wet…cold-wet from the shower head that had just been on, coughing from the fingers and fly that had been jammed in my throat. I listened to them, somewhat arguing about Lydia. She was missing…kidnapped more like. But now there were two of them…two Stiles. How? How are there werewolves…?

"Hold on…how are you so sure which Stiles is which?" Kira asked.

"That's what they're trying to figure out now," Deaton answered.

"I'm gonna' go look for Lydia," Aiden said.

"She could be anywhere," Ethan replied, clearly apprehensive.

"I wouldn't recommend that," Deaton said. "We don't know to what extent you've been affected."

"I don't care," Aiden said, straightening out before turning to his brother and motioning for him to follow. They made their leave from the locker room and Allison and I exchanged a look.

"I should take you home," she said.

"Allow me, Allison," Deaton said forwardly. "I need to speak with Melissa and Scott." I nodded and the four of us made our way out to the parking lot, Allison and Kira breaking off to head towards her car and Deaton and I heading to his.

— Ʌ | Ʌ | Ʌ —

Tight arms wrapped around me as soon as I stepped through the door frame, Melissa McCall's motherly embrace one of the most welcoming sensations I could have asked for. It was warm. It was comforting. It was home.

"Is Scott in?" Deaton asked from behind me.

Melissa shook my head and my stomach flipped a little; my ache to see him was kicking into overdrive. "I'm just gonna' go upstairs," I said and Melissa cupped my cheeks before pulling me down and kissing my forehead. I slowly sauntered up the stairs and breathed in: the smells emanating from the familiar place somehow spoke to me truthfully. I was out of the nightmare realm the nogitsune had placed me in. I was free and back in the one place I called sanctuary…free from hell and safe from the world.

I slipped into my room to change, finding my key and kissing it before slipping its chain over my head. It connected me to Scott when he wasn't there, and his room even more so after I stepped inside it. I breathed in again, finding his strong scent greeting me at the door. But there was also a hint of Kira, too, on the bed. I stripped the comforter and scented the sheets atop...nothing but my alpha. I fell atop it, curling beneath the sheets after pulling them over me and basked in the feeling of my alpha surrounding me like a heavy fire.

Author's Note: So here we are...finally. School's been a little dominating but good news: the chapter for Insatiable/3x23 will be up tomorrow in advance of the finale...an hour before its start at the latest. I'll have more to say then but I just wanted to thank my loyal readers now and, whatever happens during the finale, I'm glad to have gotten this far in this project.