Chapter 7

School ended and Madison was help up in her room when there was a knock at the door. Isaac waited for her to answer before letting himself in. She was sitting on her bed with homework spread all around her but it looked like she hadn't actually started any of it.

"Do you trust me?" Isaac questioned, fully concentrating on her heartbeat to see if she was going to lie or not. He wasn't the best at always being able to pick up on it but it was worth a shot.

She pushed her reading glasses on top of head that she only wore when she was home, "What?"

Even though they were home alone, he closed the door behind him before he asked again, "Do you trust me?"

She shrugged her shoulders as if it were obvious, "Yeah, I guess so, why?"

Isaac watched her closely and then slowly held up a hand. She raised a brow confused on what he was doing until she saw his nails morph into claws. Madison couldn't fully grasp what was going on until she saw his eyes turn yellow and instantly grow facial hair. She gasped as she scrambled off the bed, cowering in the corner of the room. He changed back into himself and went to crouch in front of her and she pushed herself as far back as she could go, shaking in fear.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

Madison's heart sounded as if it was going to beat out of her chest as her breathing hitched, "What are you?"

"Werewolf," he simply answered. He offered her his hand but she refused to take it.

She sharply inhaled thinking back to the large bite on Rory's shoulder, "It was you. You killed her!"

"No, I didn't," Isaac promised, hoping Madison could see the sincerity in his eyes.

She felt like she was trapped in one of her nightmares but she remembered Stiles telling her that when you were dreaming you didn't have ten fingers and she counted hers over and over to be sure. "But the claws! And she heard howling. God, I am so stupid she told me she heard it and I didn't even believe her. I could have done something!"

Isaac sat down, close enough but not touching her. "I promise you it was not me but it was another werewolf and I can promise you there is nothing you could have done."

Madison's eyes shot to his that were no longer yellow, "Another? You mean there are more of you?"

"More than you know."

They sat like that for hours, Madison asking him as many questions as she could think of and Isaac answering the best he could while still being completely honest with her. Eventually she pushed herself off the floor but still flinched as Isaac moved.

"You don't need to be afraid of me."

Madison crossed her arms over her chest as she shivered, "I just found out that my nightmares are coming true. I don't even know what to feel right now."

"I'd never hurt you."

She pointed to her bedroom door, "Please just go."

X-X-X

Scott came home to find Madison sitting on his bed with a vacant expression on her face. He knew she was taking Rory's death hard and while he couldn't blame her he also wasn't sure how to explain to her what had happened.

He sat down next to her, "Hey, long day?" Madison responded by taking a pencil and stabbing him in the arm with it. He grunted in pain and pulled the pencil out, covering his wound with his free hand. "The hell was that for?"

She simply shrugged, "Give it a few minutes."

Scott stared at her wide eyed, "Give what a few minutes?"

"It'll heal."

Scott cursed Isaac in his head, he hadn't been able to distract her as well as he hoped and now she knew his deepest secret. "Mads…"

"Don't you Mads me. You are a werewolf, aren't you?" She did all she could not to fall apart again because she was living in a horror movie and she wasn't sure how everything went to hell so fast.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Scott took one last shot in the dark to keep her out of his world.

Madison got off the bed and pulled his hand off his arm, confirming her suspicions as the wound had already started to heal. "Was it you? Did you kill Rory?"

"No, of course not," Scott was thoroughly offended by the accusation. She had been just as much Scott's friend as she was Madison's. "How could you even ask me that?"

Her breathing hitched as she tried to process what was going on, "How could you be a freaking werewolf?! How many more are there? Stiles? Allison? Lydia? Mom?"

Scott took a step towards her and she took a mirrored step back in fear. "They aren't werewolves. Allison is actually a hunter, Lydia is a banshee, and Stiles is just Stiles."

"You're messing with me, right?" she chuckled in disbelief, her head spinning from all the information that was just thrown at her.

"I was trying to protect you."

"And who was supposed to be protecting Rory?"

"I am -"

"You're what? Sorry? Don't even go there right now. I haven't slept for weeks trying to find her, trying to deal with her death, and when I did sleep it was filled with nightmares only to find out that the one person I am supposed to be able to trust more than life itself lied to me this whole time."

Scott went to take a step towards her but she backed up again. "Are you really scared of me? You know I would never hurt you."

"I need to go."

X-X-X

Madison burst into Stiles' room with so much force he was surprised the door was still on the hinges. He had just about fallen off his bed by the loud noise and sudden disruption.

"Scott is a freaking werewolf?!" She screeched, eyes wild, and while the exterior showed anger Stiles could see the fear swimming in her eyes.

He got off the bed, mumbling, "Thank God my dad isn't home."

"Stiles, I swear on everything holy if you are something…not normal I am going to lose my shit."

He held his arms out as if to prove a point, "Just flesh, bones, and sarcasm."

"Good," she nodded and then hit him in the chest. "Then that will actually hurt and not heal like some freaking science fiction movie."

He rubbed at his chest; she could pack quite the punch. "Maddie, I wanted to tell you."

"But you didn't! I came to you for help! I sat right here," she motioned to the bed, "and told you everything I could think of so you could help me find her and you knew all along!"

"I knew Scott was a werewolf and that he didn't want to say anything because he was trying to keep you safe but I promise you, none of us knew what happened to Rory. I was trying to find her just as much as you were."

"I don't even know who or what to believe anymore," she sat heavily on the edge of his bed.

He sat in his desk chair and rolled over so he was sitting in front of her. "Now that you know Scott is a werewolf don't you feel at least a little bit safer knowing he can protect you?"

"No," she answered truthfully, feeling as though her whole world was crashing down around her. "Because if he is so powerful then why didn't he save her?" He stayed quiet because there wasn't anything he could say. "Stiles, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did."

"Please, I'm being serious." She waited to make sure she had his full attention. "How do you handle this?"

He tilted his head to catch her line of sight. "What do you mean?"

"Your best friend is a werewolf, isn't it terrifying?"

"With everything happening in this town, I'd rather have one of them on my side."

"Don't you ever feel helpless?"

"All the time," Stiles admitted, shocking Madison. "But it's more than just having crazy strength or hearing, they also need common sense which is where I come in."

"You? Common sense?"

"Book smart."

"That I'll give you." She rubbed at her tired eyes, "Can I stay here tonight?"

"Always," he instantly agreed, knowing that at least she wouldn't be alone while her mind wasn't in the right place.

She kicked her shoes off and helped herself to some of his clothes to wear as pajamas. Stiles spun in the chair giving her some privacy as she changed and only turned back around when he heard her climbing into his bed. She laid down facing the wall and though she was trying her hardest to be silent Stiles could hear the soft cries coming from her.

He turned the lights off and laid next to her, wrapping an arm around her.

It was the safest she had felt all day and it only made her cry harder, "Please, don't ever leave me."

"I'd never," he promised, tightening his hold on her.

X-X-X

The leaves crunched under her feet as she strode through the woods with a flashlight and silver knife she had snagged from Lydia's house the last time she visited. She didn't bother trying to be quiet. She hoped that who or what ever attacked Rory would make their presence known. Not that she really had a plan as to what she was going to do once she found it but she had to know who would do this to her and why.

"What are you doing?"

Madison gasped as she spun, shining the light in Derek's eyes causing him to squint. "I'm looking for a werewolf and not you."

"You shouldn't be out here all alone," he followed her as she stumbled over fallen branches.

"Good thing you are here now. Sniff out the one that killed Rory."

He tried to bite back the sardonic comment that he would have spit at anyone else, "Doesn't work like that."

"Then go play fetch with yourself and I'll find him…it…them myself." She continued with the knife clutched tightly in her hand.

"You remind me of my sister," he muttered.

She pushed leaves from a bush out of her way so that she could make it further into the woods, "Wonderful."

"She's a pain in the ass too," Derek commented before grabbing Madison's arm so she couldn't go any farther. "You're not going to find what you are looking for out here. The werewolf that killed your friend was an Alpha and my bet is that he was trying to turn her but unfortunately the bite either changes you or kills you."

She easily pulled her arm out of his grasp but didn't try to continue on again. "Alpha, Omega, sounds like you guys are a part of some stupid fraternity or something. Why would anyone want Rory to be a werewolf?"

"I don't know." He wanted to add that it was most likely not about Rory at all and that she was just a pawn in a deadly game but he knew that wouldn't help Madison.

She wasn't sure how she felt. Her purpose since Rory had disappeared was to find out what happened and now that she did she thought she would have felt better but she was only angry.

"Come on," he started walking away, pausing to make sure she was going to follow. "I'll take you home."