AN: Hey there! Sorry for the break, not too much between the last and this one though. I hope to update more now that I have run through my Sterek ideas and got them out, though there are two other stories I writing beside this one so I'm never all that focused I guess.

Enjoy, thanks for reading. This one is a bit short.

24- Kori

Kori bound down the stairs, pulling her sweater on as she threw open the door, eyes narrowing at the driver climbing out of the Jeep.

"Stiles." She growled, striding toward him. "What are you doing here?"

Stiles closed the door to the Jeep, stepping back against it as his angry cousin stormed up to him. "What are you doing here?" He asks her, with a false bravado. He spares a glance over Kori's shoulder, his eyes widening as Derek steps from the house. "What's he doing here!?" He yells, pointing at the man as he approaches.

"Stiles." Kori growls again.

Stiles glances down as she steps closer, he looks back up with a quirked eyebrow. "Where are your shoes?"

Kori stops, looks down at her bare feet and back up to Stiles. "My…you're worried about my shoes? Seriously? I-I honestly don't know what's wrong with you."

"No Adderall." He answers with a shrug.

"Oh my god! Whatever, you need to go, now. Before Derek decides to kill you."

"You said he wasn't dangerous! Why not let him prove it!?" Stiles yells over Kori's shoulder, acting braver than she knows he feels.

"He's not when he isn't being arrested for something that he didn't do!"

"Why is he even out?!"

"Because, idiot," Derek strides up to Kori's side with his arm across his chest. "I didn't do anything. They found wolf fur on Laura's body."

"Yeah, and you're a werewolf – wait…Laura? They released the ID?!" Kori groans at the sound of excitement in his tone.

Derek sighs, rolling his eyes. "No, but I knew who she was already."

"Because you…killed her?" Stiles says slowly.

Kori feels Derek tense up next to her; she reaches out, running her over his forearm to pull his hand out and hold it in hers at their side.

"Because, she's my sister!?" Derek says through clenched teeth.

"You killed your sister!?"

"Jesus! Stiles! He didn't kill anyone! He didn't bite anyone! He hasn't done anything!" Derek squeezes Kori's hand gently as her voice rose, scaring a few spying crows from the trees above. She took a breath to calm herself, squeezing back on Derek's hand. "You've got everything all wrong, Stiles."

"I'm not the one who killed my sister; she was dead at least two days before I even came back."

"What about the other body?" Stiles asks skeptically. "That was just the other night. Found not far from here, just past the creek. You saying that wasn't you?"

"Believe it or don't, Stiles. I don't really care. But I didn't kill anyone."

"What about Scott?"

Derek sighed. "What about him?"

"You bit him, right? Why?"

"He didn't, Stiles."

"Why is your cousin an idiot?"

"Hey! Standing right here big guy!" Derek jerk his body at him, making him flail and stumble back into the Jeep. "Oh god!"

Kori smirks, shaking her head. "Look, we really should talk about this with Scott, but since you're a pain in my ass; he would have had to have been bitten by an alpha to be turned."

Stiles looks between the pair, not getting his cousins point. "Okay…so?"

"I'm not an alpha!" Derek yells in frustrations.

"And besides that, he wasn't even here! Ergo, Derek didn't do it."

Stiles thought for a moment, considering what he was told. "Okay." He took a breath, collecting his thoughts. His eyes fall to Derek and Kori's entwined hands, cause him to lose those thoughts. "Um…" He pointed at their hands. "What's ah, what's this?"

"Stiles, focus. Please." Kori groaned.

"Yeah fine, but seriously…are you two like…a thing?" He looks back up, studying them both more carefully. Derek's hair tousled, Kori's flatter and slightly matted like she just woke up. Neither of them wearing shoes, both with the button of their jeans undone, Kori's zipper half down. Derek's shirt sat slightly off center on his shoulders. Stiles' eyes widened, taking in and processing their appearance.

"Oh my god!" He whined, putting his hand over his eyes. "Oh my god! You defiled my cousin! And I like…drove right in the middle of it!"

Kori's check felt flush. "What are you talking about?" She tries deflecting.

"You and Mr. Scarybrows! You, you…ugh! You hooked-up, didn't you?! With a suspected murderer!"

"You're the only one who suspected anything." Derek pointed out.

"Totally beside the point, dude. God, what is this like payback? I get you arrested, you hook-up with my cousin?"

Kori releases Derek's hand and lunges at Stiles, grabbing him by his flannel shirt and shoving him against the hood of the Jeep. He yelps in surprise at the sudden attack from his cousin, his eye getting bigger when he sees her eyes glowing brighter.

"Oh my god." Stiles says breathlessly, sounding on the edge of panic. His heart was practically hammering through his chest. In the back of Kori's mind, she knew she was terrifying him, knew she overrated, and knew she could end up giving him a panic attack or worse. Everything from the past few days had been building up and she was just pushing it down; she just snapped.

"Kori." A voice called out to her, sounding distant and muffled. "Kori." It sounded closer but the owner was still unclear. "Kori!"

A pair of hands grasped her shoulders firmly, pulling her back. A hand slides up to the nape of her neck, then everything came into sharper focus.

Derek.

Her mind began to ease, her eyes darting around, searching his face frantically. "Kori." He says slowly, her hands dropping to her sides. "You're okay." He tells her, placing his hands on either side of her face, his fingers reaching to the back of her neck to gently massage the tension away and calm her further. "You're okay. Breath for me Kor, yeah?" Derek breathes with her as he coaches her through it. "Good, again." Kori's exhales are ragged and uneven; Derek keeps breathing with her until her heartbeat levels out and her breaths are smooth.

Kori closes her eyes and leans into Derek, wrapping her arm around his waist with her cheek pressed into his chest. His arms come up and wrap around her body, making her feel secure, as he rubs soothing circles on her back.

"Um."

Kori's breath hitches, hearing Stiles. "Oh my god." She whispers, turning in Derek's arms. "Stiles. I am so sorry! I-I…I didn't mean to…" Kori shakes her head while Derek rubs her arms, whispering in her ear.

"Relax, he's okay. You're okay."

"What was that?" Stiles asks, still sounding uneasy.

Kori feels a tightness in her chest, guilt at the way her cousin is looking at her and how she was the one to put that look a fear there. She turned away from him, unable to bare the frightened look settling in his eyes.

Derek pulls her back into his embrace, running his hand up and down her spine.

"That," He starts with a sigh, tucking Kori's head under his chin. "Was a panic attack."

"I'm so sorry." Kori mumbles against Derek's chest.

"She…like almost fully…her eyes even…that was a panic attack?"

"That was a werewolf's panic attack. And it's the only time Kori can lose control.

"Kori," She heard Stiles' soft footsteps as he came closer, his shoes crunching the dries leaves scattered around them. "Kor? Hey." He reaches out, Derek dropping his hand as Stiles touches her back. He's nervous, Kori can hear it in the quick thumping of his heart. "Can you look at me?" Kori turns her head, still presses against Derek. "It's okay."

She shook her head. "No, it's not. I could have hurt you. That's not okay."

"I didn't mean to trigger you, I wasn't serious." Kori raised an eyebrow. "Okay, so I was a little serious. I'm sorry Kori, really."

"It wasn't you, honestly. It was just another thing on top of a lot of other things. Laura, Scott, this alpha, the thing with Luke." Kori sighed, leaning into Derek's touch as he continued rubbing her back. "It just built up, I knew it was going to happen at some point. You just added one little thing and it was too much. I…I was just done. With all of it. I'm really sorry."

"Thing with Luke? What thing with Luke?" Kori froze, not even realizing she mentioned it.

"Kori." Stiles zeroed in on her hesitation. "What thing with Luke?"

Kori glanced at Derek looking for help, his mouth pulled back in a thin line. Derek wasn't going to help her get around this, but that wasn't really a surprise to her.

She turned back to Stiles, sighing in defeat. "It was at the party the other night, at Jackson's."