"Emily? Derek?" I hear, and it causes me to bolt upright and nearly fall off of Derek's lap. Isaac's seated next to her on the bed, and that's when I notice the discomforted way Cora's squirming around. She still looks ghastly: pale, coated in sweat, green.

"They have to induce labor if Carter's going to be alright." Isaac whispers, "She's poisoned and it's already in her bloodstream." He kisses her forehead, interlocking their fingers. I smile, and notice my Mate's still clinging to me in his sleep, snoring into my shoulder. I laugh quietly at this, but shake him awake.

His hazel eyes flash open and sleepily lock on mine.

"You're going to be an Uncle soon." He grins broadly at my words as I hop off of his lap and grasp the ice chips and allow her to swallow them heavily, crunching them with her teeth.

Labor with Cora is hellish. She may be weak, but damned if her grip on my hand isn't strong as I help hold her leg back to push. Gritting my teeth, I keep her left leg pinned while Isaac pins the other. Derek left the room earlier—he can't handle births.

"Push, out for ten breaths. One…Two…Three…Four…Five…Six…Seven…Eight…Nine…Ten." She lets out a cry of pain, her whole body stiffening as she pushes the last time, and my Nephew's first cry fills the room. I press my palm against my mouth, tears blurring my vision as he's cleaned off and set against Cora's chest. It's the second we've been anticipating—finding out if he's Isaac's or Aiden's.

Looking at him, there's no doubt this kid belongs to Isaac Lahey. His ice blue eyes look up at his mother and briefly at me, a tangle of honey-brown hair on top of his head, and he's pale white—like his father.

Carter Camden Lahey, 6lbs, 1oz, 24 inches long. Jesus. He's freaking tall like Isaac already.

They dress him in a blue onesie with a pale blue hat like they always do for boys. I watch Cora, who looks even worse when she pulls Carter closer.

"Isaac, you take him. I'm going t-to-" her black vomit narrowly misses me and my beta takes his son into his arms as we call for the nurses.

"Clear the room, please." Isaac trails behind me, carefully holding his infant son easily in his left arm. His other hand tickles the baby's tummy and a small giggle comes from his throat.

"You're ticklish, huh? Mommy's going to have fun with that when she feels better." Isaac croons, kissing Carter on the nose. I smile, leaning over to stare at him.

"My Great-Nephew is beautiful," A lazy arrogant voice says. Peter.

"Stay the hell away from my son." Isaac snarls. I can see the Hale side in the infant when he scowls over at Peter. Both of us burst out laughing at the Cora-and-Derek-like expression, while Peter purses his lips.

"He's definitely got some Hale in him," I tease and then the little blue eyes flash gold before he closes his fingers around my finger. He's definitely full wolf, too.

"Hi, little guy. Your uncle Derek's going to be so excited to see you. I'm warning you, he's very grumpy, so give the Sourwolf a chance. Okay, Carter?"

Zac smiles at the sentence.

"Yes, but Aunt Emily keeps him pretty grounded. You'll learn to like her better than him, too." He lifts the infant up to cradle him against his chest. My phone buzzes and I glance down at it.

9-1-1 Scott & Stiles. I'll brb. Love you.

Bullshit, I think. The power shuts off as Melissa McCall reaches us.

"We're evacuating children first. Get him out of here. Deaton and I already fixed his charts to list him as ready to be released. Isaac, take your boy and go."

"I'll stay with Cora," Peter offers, "I won't kill her."

"Preston will be here shortly to see to it that you don't!" I shout as we take the stairs two-at-a-time.

I send Isaac into his apartment with my nephew and head into the Loft myself. Scott and Stiles are standing speaking to Derek, arguing.

"She wouldn't do that. It doesn't make any sense. Jennifer's not cruel, or-or cold like that." Derek murmurs.

"What is it?" I speak, crossing my arms.

"Jennifer's been the one committing the sacrifices. She tried to kill Lydia earlier tonight, and she kidnapped Stiles' dad." Scott growls. I turn my gaze to the human and immediately pull him to me, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. He snakes his arms around me in response, trying not to cry.

"Where's Makenna?" I whisper. He nods to the couch, where she's asleep, headphones in.

"We're going to find him, okay?" I say, resting my hand against his cheek, "Everything's going to be okay…Look at him, Derek. Stiles wouldn't be in tears for no reason. Your little whore is a serial murderer and a kidnapper. If you don't have feelings for her, you wouldn't be taking up for her."

"I don't have feelings for her! I've been trying prove that to you for days!"

"Then shut up and listen for once in your life!" I argue. Hurt flashes across his face and I have to swallow the urge to apologize. I lean heavily against Stiles, narrowing my eyes at my Mate. He growls at the close contact.

Fine. I want to piss him the fuck off.

I reach over and take Scott's hand, pulling him to stand beside me as well. Derek's eyes flash red.

The boys tug me to stand behind the broken brick wall, out of view of them.

"Derek! Derek, where are you?" Her annoyingly gentle voice makes me want to rip her face off.

Rip her face off. That's when I put the pieces together. She's the Emissary I watched struggle with Kali. The one that took Paige's life force from the Nemeton. Oh, Shit. That's why she has this power over Derek, she knows it was him that gave it life. SHIT!

"Right here." I hear him say gently.

I growl lowly and Scott grips my wrist tighter in his hand. He has to full-on restrain me when I hear her kiss him.

"They're already here, aren't they?" She says and we round the corner. I smirk at her as I do the most childish thing I've done in my life—storm across the room, grab Derek by the front of his shirt, drag my sleeve to wipe her off his lips, and then kiss him roughly for a brief minute.

When we pull apart, he tucks me into his side and I wrap my arm around his abdomen.

"So, this is your ex-girlfriend?"

"Current fiancée, actually." I reply with a sour smile, "Bitch." I add.

"You're the pregnant one. Doesn't that make YOU a bitch?" She sends me a similar sour grin to my own. I go to lunge for her and Derek's strong arms restrain me.

"No fighting. Think of Elijah and Nathan." He murmurs in my ear.

That takes all the tension from my body and I relax against him, but not without a retort only Derek understands.

"Je la hais! Il a tout gâché! Si elle ne tient pas sa bouche fermée, je vais déchirer sa gorge avec mes dents et attendre jusqu'à ce qu'elle soit saigné!" I growl. He leans in and kisses the corner of my jaw.

"Compris." He agrees, "I'm going to let you go now."

He releases me and I don't try to attack her. I stay still, with my fingers locked with his.

"So, they told you it was me? I'm the one taking people?"

"We told him you're the one killing people." Scott snarls.

"Oh, that's right. What, committing human sacrifices? Cutting their throats? I probably do it on my lunch hour so I can get back to teaching High School English the rest of the day. That makes perfect sense." The sour, sarcastic tone of her voice doesn't fool me, and

"Where's my dad?" Stiles asks.

"How should I know."

"Do you know what happened to Stiles' father?"

"No!"

"Ask her why she almost killed Lydia."

"Lydia Martin? I don't know anything about that!" She turns to Derek, reaches up and sets her hand on his face, "Tell me you don't believe this."

I grasp her wrist and force the whore to lower her hand.

"If you touch him again, with any part of your body, I'll tear it off."

"Sure you will."

"If you don't know where the Sherriff is, what do you know?"

"That these boys are filling your head with this absurd lie, one they can't prove—by the way, to make you hate me, for her."

"What if we can prove it?" Scott pulls the vial out from his pocket and I wrinkle my nose at the smell, grasping Derek's arm and tugging him backward. When it meets her skin, she transform into the remains of what Kali did to her, scratched up and beast-like.

Jennifer starts to run and Derek seizes her by the throat.

"Derek! Derek, wait!" She shouts, "You need me!"

"What are you?"

"The only one who can save your sister! Call Peter. Call him!"

He dials, and then his face falls, "Mistletoe." And he shuts the phone. His claws lower as he poises them to slit her throat. Cora. NO! I grab his wrist as Scott repeats his name in attempt to get him to stop.

"Cora. We need to save Cora. Carter needs his mother, Derek." I whisper, "We need her."

He drops the Darach and she falls to the ground with a wheezing noise before her head rolls back to look at us.

"That's right. You need me."

"Just until you save Cora, and then you're dead."

I also have a second realization—she's an older version of Delaney. I calculate the woman's age when Kali tore her apart; around twenty. Old enough to have a 7-Year-Old. That would make Delaney fourteen. Right age to be her daughter.

Both Emissaries. Both evil women I want to sink my claws into.

I elect to ride in the Jeep with Scott and Stiles, sharing the passenger seat with Scott, packed in like sardines. When Scott hears the two excess heartbeats, his eyes go wide.

"Are you…?"

"Yeah. With Twins."

"Twins? What?" Stiles murmurs, and then bellows, "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!"

"I was a little preoccupied, if you didn't notice!"

"Sorry." He pouts like a little kid.

"Oh, Stiles," I sigh, ruffling his hair, "I'm just being cranky because of her."

"I understand, Em. I just…I don't trust her either. She had this look on her face like it didn't matter. That we're all playing right into her trap."

"All that matters is saving Cora. Nothing else is important." I growl, "I don't care what she wants us to do, as long as she's okay."

Derek grips her arm so hard I even feel the pain when he drags her behind him and into the elevator.

When Peter slides to our feet and the twins—as one—burst through the door, I break my silent promise to Derek not to fight. Because Aiden speaks with words that completely wipe what Kate did to him from my memory.

He says, "Where's my kid?"

I throw myself at them, knocking the pair to the ground and slicing through his cheek, hearing a smaller whimper. Ethan. Aiden's in control, but Ethan doesn't want to hurt us. My knee slams against his groin and then everything changes.

Their fist meets my stomach, and pain shoots through before swirling lower.

Blood beads through my jeans from between my legs.

No.

It takes me a moment to realize the screaming I'm hearing is my own.

Je la hais! Il a tout gâché! Si elle ne tient pas sa bouche fermée, je vais déchirer sa gorge avec mes dents et attendre jusqu'à ce qu'elle soit saigné!

I hate her! It ruined everything! If she does not keep her mouth shut, I'll rip her throat with my teeth and wait until she's bled out!

Compris.

Understood.