Chapter 21

"Cora?" Derek's voice broke around the word, as if the mere sound of it was ripping open a wound. The petite girl's wide hazel eyes pull him in closer, after a moment she squeaks, "Yeah Derek, it's me."

A low growl fills the room, radiating from Isaac, who is clearly anxious and scared at the new presence in the room and at his Alpha's odd reaction. Isaac moves even tighter in front of Lydia, his first reaction to protect her and the baby. Jacob is still screaming, scared and confused as Lydia holds him to her chest, trying to reassure him even as she watches the bizarre interaction of Derek and this girl.

In a swift movement, Derek pulls the girl closer, lifting her throat to his face and she bares her neck instantly, an instinctive sign of submission. Breathing in her scent deeply, Derek releases a shaky breath and slides his arms around the girl, pulling her into a hug which she readily returns. Watching the two gently holding each other, Lydia feels a bit of her panic ebbing, this is not the person who has been watching them over the past week that has given her so much unease. Running her hand down Isaac's back, she takes his hand and speaks softly, "Isaac, I think it is okay. I don't think she is going to hurt us. Why don't you go put on some water for tea, I know I could use some and I think we are all going to have to relax a little so we can figure this out."

Shuddering a little, Isaac grips her hand, his claws already retracting when she took his hand even though his face was still in Beta form, "Lydia she isn't pack, we can't trust her, I can't leave you and Jacob alone." His words are so determined and sad that Lydia just wants to hug the boy.

"You are not leaving us along. Jacob is safe with me, you know that neither Derek or I will let anything happen to him, I just need you and Boyd to make sure that everything downstairs is safe before we go down there and I am not joking about the tea, I think we are all going to need some."

Sighing, Isaac looks like he is going to argue some more when Erica moves forward and takes his other hand. Releasing the girl, but keeping his left arm around her, Derek turns to face his family, "Guys, you don't have to worry, this is Cora, my little sister," he begins, his eyes wide and full of unshed tears.

"Your sister, as in your dead sister?" Boyd shocks everyone a bit with his uncharacteristically blunt statement, his shock causes everyone to chuckle a bit, "Yeah, my obviously not so dead sister," Derek responds with a smile.

It is then that he notices Lydia struggling a bit with Jacob, who is still screaming, and trying to calm down the Betas. Crossing to her, he gently lifts to baby to his chest, rocking him a bit before looking to Isaac, "Isaac, will you please go check the downstairs with Boyd, make sure to sweep the tree line and secure the house when you come back in. I don't want anyone else watching us. Erica, call the others, they need to be here for this too," they all nod at his orders and move reluctantly to the door, both Isaac and Erica running their hand along the exposed skin of Lydia's arms before leaving the room.

Derek watched them and wondered, not for the first time, if they realized that they did this all the time. Whenever one of them was upset or nervous, they would touch Lydia, scenting her. As the Betas left Derek took her in, looking tiny standing in the middle of the room wearing nothing but his Henley and her hair tousled from both sleep and his hands. After a moment she moved forward, taking the baby back, "Hey baby, it's alright buddy, it's alright," she cooed, rocking the baby gently and he quickly responded, snuggling into her neck and settling down as the tension in the room and in his mother eased, "That's right," she reassured, "mama is right here and nothing is going to happen to you."

Crossing to her, he pulled her close and pressed a kiss into her hair as the baby drifted back off to sleep. Looking past Derek, Lydia took in the girl still standing by the window; she was small, maybe a few inches taller than Lydia herself, but very thin. Her eyes were wide and a bit sunken, as if she had not been eating or sleeping well and her dark hair and skin were dirty. Her clothes were threadbare and looked dirty as well as being damp from the snow outside. Where ever this girl had been, she had not been well taken care of and from her body language, it was clear that she was as scared about this meeting as the rest of them were shocked. Handing the baby to his father, Lydia crossed to the girl and reached for her, causing the brunette to flinch a bit.

"I am not going to hurt you, Cora, is it?" She promised, her voice soft.

Nodding, Cora made eye contact and Lydia could see that her eyes where darker than Derek's but they still had hints of mossy green in their hazel depths.

"I'm Lydia, it is nice to meet you, even if it did give us a bit of a shock with your arrival," she smiles, still approaching the girl as if she is a feral animal, because truly that is what she could be for all Lydia knows.

"You too," the girl responds with a small voice, after a moment she tilts her head, "You smell like pack, but you're not a wolf," she stats, her confusion clear. Looking to her brother for an answer, she sniffs Lydia again, "You're a priestess?"

Nodding Derek moved forward, still unconsciously rocking Jacob, "Yes, Lydia is a priestess, she is also pack, she is my," he looked to Lydia, still unclear on what to call her, "my mate, I guess."

Looking to the baby in his arms as if she were noticing him for the first time, the girl nodded and looked back to the redhead as if she were examining her.

Needing to break the girl's slightly unnerving scrutiny, Lydia spoke up, "Erica is calling the rest of the pack, but we have got a few minutes, do you want to take a shower before they get here? I will get you some fresh clothes and I am sure we can put together something for you to eat," at the mention of clean clothes and food a spark lit in the girl's eyes and Lydia took her arm gently and led her across the hall to the bathroom and brought her two fluffy towels, a toothbrush and pointed out all of the necessities, "We will be right across the hall when you are done okay," she reassured her and Cora nodded, "Thank you Lydia," she gave the redhead a weak half smile that reminded her so much of Derek.

Returning to her room, Lydia closed the door behind her and moved to the dresser, pulling out yoga pants and a long sleeve shirt before pulling on a pair of yoga pants herself and pulling the Henley she was wearing over her head. Watching her controlled movements, Derek observed her with a sense of both awe and trepidation, "The shower started so she can't hear us, what do you want to ask?" Derek asked Lydia from where he had settled at the end of the bed, still holding Jacob.

Sighing, Lydia pulled on a bra and pulled a clean t- shirt over her head before turning to face him. "How are you doing with this?"

"You mean in general or with the fact that my little sister, who I have thought was dead for six years just crawled through my window in the middle of the night?" Shooting him a look that said she was far too tired for sarcasm, Derek sighed, looking down at the now sleeping baby before looking back at her, "Honestly I don't know what to make of all of this right now Lydia. I mean, all I have wanted for the last six years was for it to not be true, for the fire to not have killed everyone I loved, but every day I wake up and it is still true. They are still dead. The nightmare never ends. I can't say that there isn't some part of me that is ecstatic beyond belief at seeing her, but the other part of me, the rational Alpha part of me that knows I have a home and a family to protect, that part can't trust this. I have seen hope perverted too many times to trust this for too long." Letting out a long breath as she climbs onto the bed and into his lap so that she can face him, "Lyd, she was gone for six years. She was only eleven when the fire happened, where the hell has she been for six years? She sure as hell wasn't alone, she would have never survived."

Taking his face in her hands, she leans forward and kisses him, "I don't know the answers to those questions, and they are good questions, but we are just going to have to ask her and listen to her answers and figure out what is going on. She is not the person who has been watching us, I can tell you that much, but I get the distinct feeling that her arrival isn't completely coincidence either."

Locking eyes he nods, "Yeah I know, nothing in our lives is coincidence, and my long lost sister showing up at the same time as the Alpha pack sure as hell isn't one, but like you said, we are just going to have to ask her the questions and listen for the truth. She knows that she can't lie to me so I don't think she will try but I am going to need you to really pay attention to anything I miss because I am not the most objective person here," he admits and she nods, kissing him once more before standing to grab a new pair of underwear and some socks to add to the pile of things for Cora.

Hearing the shower cut off, she carries the clothes across the hall and leaves them outside of the door. Knocking, she says, "Cora, it's Lydia I left some clothes for you outside of the door and I am going to go put together something for you to eat, just get dressed and meet us downstairs in the kitchen."

"Okay, thank you," the girl murmured from the other side of the door and Lydia turned to jog down the stairs.

Once Lydia leaves the room, Derek reaches for his cell phone, he knows that there is one call that Erica would have not thought to make, one call that he doesn't want to make, but also one person who deserves to know about Cora. Dialing the number, Derek looks into the innocent face of his son, seeking comfort and calmness while the phone rings.

"It is three o'clock in the morning, one of you better be on fire," Peter growls from the end of the line. Letting out a sigh, "Peter I need you to come to the house now," Derek says barely above a whisper.

"What's wrong, what happened," Peter demands, an uncanny sound of concern echoing across the line.

"I can't explain it over the phone, just get here." He answers, the exhaustion leaking through his voice as he ends the call. Closing is eyes, he tries to center himself, looking down at the baby once more he stands, grabs a shirt out of the dresser and makes his way into the hall. Opening the door at almost the same time is Cora, now clean and dressed in Lydia's clothes; she looks more like the little girl he thought he had lost six years ago. Looking at him with trepidation, she smiles brightly when he reaches his free hand out to her. Taking it, she silently allows her big brother to guide her down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Lydia is hurrying around the kitchen, heating up tomato soup and collecting the ingredients for a grilled cheese when Derek joins her a few minutes later; Jacob still nestled against his chest and his sister clinging to his hand. Spinning to face him, she offers him a smile and moves toward him, he returns her smile and leans down instinctively kissing her quickly as he lowers their sleeping son into her arms, pulls on the shirt he had carried down there and moves past her to start making the grilled cheese.

Watching her brother interact with this girl, Cora is shocked; the seamless, silent way they seem to communicate is very interesting to her. She can see the sadness, the anger in her brother, but she can also see the connection that he has to this girl and this baby; they make him happy.

Chuckling at the girl's perplexed face, Lydia clarifies, "I am not really much of a cook," she smiles as Derek chuckles, "Yeah, that is putting it lightly, but she can microwave like no bodies business."

"We all have our talents," the redhead smiles and it is clear that this is a common banter for them. As he finishes the grilled cheese, serving up a bowl of soup and plopping both the sandwich on a plate and the bowl in the counter he gestures for his sister to sit.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Lydia asks politely.

"Um, sure, do you have any milk?" Cora asks, still apprehensive. Smiling, Lydia nods and moves to grab two glasses and fill them, sitting one in front of Cora and walking to the door off the kitchen, sitting the other glass on a table in the room. Catching the brunette's confused glance, Lydia smiles, "Milk is Isaac's favorite too, when he comes back in, he will drink it."

Nodding, Cora stares at her plate for a moment before tucking into the food as if she hadn't eaten in days, and the truth was, she hadn't. She tried to not make a mess as she slurped the soup and tried to chew the sandwich without choking.

"Sorry," she mumbles around it, "It is just really good, and I didn't realize how hungry I was," she tried to apologize but Derek only smiled, "Don't worry, you are still a neater eater that Stiles, and he eats every few hours. Here," he drops another sandwich on the plate and she represses a groan. Noticing that he places a plate in front of Lydia too, she smiles quickly at the other girl as the priestess watches her with slight fascination between dainty bites of her own grilled cheese.

Before she can ask anything more, the others return through what seems to be a bedroom off the kitchen, the tall blonde wolf, Isaac drinking the glass of milk that Lydia had left for him. He crosses directly to the young redhead and presses a kiss to her hair, "Thanks," he smiles and it is clear that this a ritual between the two of them. It is also clear that the priestess is important to the whole pack, not just her brother.

"Status report," Derek commands as he cleans up the kitchen.

"Everything is clear in the woods immediately around the house, no sign of anyone on the tree line in the last few hours except for Cora," Boyd reports.

"The pack is on their way," Erica says quietly," Derek nods but before he can respond there is a quick knock at the backdoor and Derek crosses quickly to open it, allowing Peter to enter.

"What the hell is so," Peter starts, but allows his words to taper off as he takes in the stricken look on his nephew's face. As Derek steps aside, Peter is hit by a scent that he never expected to smell again. Stepping into the house and allowing Derek to close the door behind him, he takes in the skinny, damp girl eating at the breakfast bar, "Cora?" He questions, his voice devoid of its usual sass.

"Uncle Peter?" The girl stands, her eyes filling with tears, "you're alive?"

"So are you it would seem," he chuckles, the emotion thick in his voice as he move forward and pulls her into a hug, "My God child, where have you been? How did you survive?"

"A better question is who the hell is she? And why are we all here at three fucking thirty in the morning?" Jackson snaps from the living room, where he, Scott, Allison and Stiles are peering into the kitchen.