Chapter 39: Unleashed

Sammy didn't know where exactly she'd gone wrong with life. She didn't understand how so many bad things could happen to her in the last year and a half. She certainly had no clue as to why she had so many people in her life that were willing to forgive her time and time again. Sammy had a clueless dad that didn't mind how she's changed, as long as she was happy. Her brother and his best friend were undoubtedly committed to getting her back onto the right path, as well as keeping her there. She just wished her love life wasn't so full of drama. All she wanted was for Aiden to come climbing in through her window and hold her close. She just wanted him to hold her tight as they fell asleep. But apparently, at the behest of Deucalion, Aiden had begun their relationship with a lie.

Though, instead of sitting with her drama, Scott had the bright idea of convincing Sammy to quit her job at the diner and Deaton to give her a job at the vet clinic. Something about being around animals and connecting with nature doing her some good. Sammy figured he was just trying to find a way to keep a closer eye on her instead of each of them stalking her around town. This way, she'd either be with Scott at work, any of their group at school, Stiles with be with her at home, and then if any of them couldn't be with her? Derek, for some godforsaken reason, was on tap for babysitting...or jaguar-sitting? Whatever it was, it was kind of annoying. Made her feel things she didn't wanna feel.

Anyway, Sammy was working with the kittens someone brought in a few nights ago. She was carefully taking them from their mother and weighing them. It was funny how when Scott was showing her what to do, the mother cat hissed and snarled at him. But when Sammy got close, the mother cat relaxed. Scott figured at that moment that he might just push the cat tasks to Sammy since the cats were so inclined to be agreeable with her. That assumption earned a small chuckle from Deaton.

Sammy continued on with weighing the kittens and checking their mouths to see if their teeth were coming in yet. Once she was done, she went to go see the new patient that was brought in by their owner. Deaton was already doing the examination, so she slipped into the room and stood off of Scott's shoulder to keep a better view.

"Uh, hi," the owner greeted her. It was Kyle, an upperclassman from their school.

"Hey, sorry. I'm new and I'm supposed to observe," she clarified. Kyle nodded and watched Deaton prepare a syringe.

"It's not gonna hurt him is it?" Kyle asked, worried about his dog.

"Just a little," Deaton answered calmly. "But I usually find that it's the owners-" Kyle winced, "-who feel the most pain," Deaton said as he gave the dog it's shot. "All right, well, we'll just check the stool sample for parasites, but my guess is that he probably just ate something he shouldn't have," Deaton explained. Scott put the dog on the ground and Kyle squatted down with him.

"Cool name. Bullet?" Scott commented.

Kyle responded with, "he's got two brothers at home named Beretta and Trigger. Military family." Scott gave the dog a good belly rub while it whimpered lightly, rolling its belly towards Scott.

"Looks like he knows who the Alpha is," Kyle commented to Scott. Both boys chuckled, but Scott's was more awkward.

"You go to our school right?" Sammy asked.

"Yeah, I'm a senior. You're Sammy right? Sheriff's kid," Kyle answered.

"You got it, we've met before at some parties," she laughed.

"Yeah, my friends and I have never seen a freshman party as hard as you do."

Sammy smiled and said, "Good thing I'm not a freshman anymore."

Once Kyle left with the dog to go back outside, Scott got to work at sifting through the stool sample they left behind.

"Do you do this a lot? Go through dog poop?" Sammy asked with a disgusted look on her face.

"Sometimes, but I got over the gross factor when Deaton told me it can sometimes tell us what's wrong with an animal," Scott explained. "Hey, I got something."

"Rinse it off," Deaton instructed, giving him a bottle of water. Scott did as he was told and then lifted the end of the tweezers into the light.

"What is that?" Sammy asked. Scott handed the tweezers off to Deaton so the vet could get a better look.

"Definitely poisonous...for the dog. Actually for you two as well."

"Wolfsbane?" Scott asked.

"Wait I thought not all wolfsbane would affect me like the wolves?"

"That's because this isn't wolfsbane," Deaton explained. "This is Mistletoe," Deaton answered in a confused manner.

"Mistletoe isn't a typical plant in Beacon, especially not this time of year," Sammy said, confused.

"You're right. It's strange to say the least-" a dog began barking outside. Sammy followed Scott outside to see Bullet, but no Kyle. He was gone.

Sammy looked to Scott. "What the hell?"

Sammy was getting changed in the girls' locker room. Scott and Stiles had roped her into joining the cross country team. Yet another way for them to be able to baby sit her. What was really annoying was that the twins had signed up for cross country as well, which meant Sammy was going to have to see them, more than just in classes. She was stuck running trails and on tracks with them for the next few months. Stiles had this idea that maybe they could just have her hang out with their dad or Derek, but Scott was adamant that she stay with them, if at all possible. She understood it, but Sammy was still uncomfortable.

Once she was fully equipped in her leggings, her cross country jersey, a black hoodie, a high pony, and her running shoes, she stepped away from the locker room. There was no way this run was going to wind her, but Sammy figured she better fake a slower pace. No reason to become a track star if it was unfair to the others. Even Scott wasn't able to keep up with her at full speed on a good day. She was certainly athletic before, but now it was just ridiculous.

Sammy walked up to Scott and Stiles in the crowd of students, both boys standing nonchalantly. She figured she'd fake stretching, and Scott just smiled.

"You're really getting into the whole cross country thing," he commented.

Sammy shrugged, "eh, I might as well play the part. It's not like this is hard anymore."

"Speak for yourself," Stiles scoffed.

"I was speaking for myself, slowpoke," Sammy jeered, pulling her brother's right shoe so his laces would untie.

"Oh, come on," Stiles complained, fighting a smile. At least she could still make her brother smile, despite everything.

"Oh, here's Isaac," Scott said as the fourth teen joined their little gang.

"Sup," Sammy greeted, but Isaac didn't say anything to her. "Still not talking to me?" Again, no response.

"He'll come around," Scott assured her quietly with a hand on her shoulder. Isaac stepped ahead of the trio and bent down to re-tie his shoes. While he was down there, Sammy felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him, Aiden, approaching their group. But instead of stopping to talk to her, he and Ethan stood on either side of Isaac while he was still knelt down. Both boys looked at each other, the whistle blew, and they took off.

"Pace yourselves!" Coach Finstock yelled. "Come on!"

"Isaac," Scott said, trying to get the beta's attention. Isaac was clearly frustrated, his heart racing.

He turned back and said, "It's them," before running after the twins. He was chasing the head of the pack of runners.

"Isaac, wait!" Scott called after him.

"What do I do?" Sammy asked.

"Check on Stiles. If you can't see me or Isaac anymore, catch up. I don't know if we can take them on our own," Scott instructed.

"Copy that, fearless leader," Sammy responded. Scott took off, and she trailed after him until she could find her brother. He was already wheezing. Figures.

"Hi, Sammy," he gasped.

"You know, funny how you can run like hell when there are monsters or Lydia involved, but when you have to do it for a sport you're just terrible," she commented, not even phased by the running.

"Well...you know what...that's...adrenaline...I don't have...that here," he gasped. She scanned ahead and checked to see if she could still see the twins or Isaac, but she was about to lose Scott around the bend.

"Isaac's trying to get into trouble. I'll be back okay?" She told her older brother. Stiles nodded and continued trucking on at the same pace while Sammy sped off, bolting past her peers. Her speed was slightly alarming to some of the other runners, but some scoffed thinking she was just going to burn out and be walking by the end of the trail. None of that mattered. She had more important things to worry about.

Sammy sprinted beyond the leading human and followed Aiden's scent since his was the most burned into her brain. He was the easiest for her to track. By the time she'd caught up to Scott, the Twins had knocked Isaac off the trail, down into the embankment. Scott jumped ahead of her and punched Ethan square in the jaw before they could do anything to Isaac.

"That's one," Scott said as Sammy slid in between Aiden and Isaac, taking a defensive stance. This was the first time she'd been face to face with him. His eyes were filled with guilt, but that only lasted for a moment before he'd begun growling at the three of them. Isaac scrambled to his feet while Ethan popped his jaw back into place. As Aiden growled, extending his claws, Isaac was ready to fight back, but Sammy put a hand on his chest.

"Sorry, I have some anger issues I'd like to work out," she told him. Isaac nodded, but he still didn't say anything back to her. Sammy drew out her claws, glowing green eyes shining bright against her purple skin. With a roar, she was ready to face off against her ex. Ethan was ready to square off with Scott, Isaac ready to pitch in, but all four of them stopped dead in their tracks as a scream ripped through the woods.

Sammy, Scott, and Isaac made a break for it. The whole time she was praying that it had nothing to do with Stiles. They'd left him all alone, and it was terrifying to think that was the biggest mistake she could've made. Instead, she and the boys skirted up to Stiles, who was overlooking a dead body tied by the neck to the tree before them.

"It's him, isn't it?" Stiles asked, his eyes not daring to look away from the scene before them.

"Yeah, it's Kyle," Sammy said. She quickly began circling the tree and realized the thing tying him up like that was his dog's leash. It was labeled with a little metal plaque engraved with, BULLET. Her face contorted with anger.

"Sammy?" Scott said, trying to get her attention.

"Give me a minute," she snarled in a low tone.

"Sammy!" Stiles hissed after her, trying not to make a scene. Instead, they watched her storm right up to the twins and shove Aiden in the chest.

"You know, I had a lot of faith that these killings weren't related to your pack, but after everything, I'm not so sure," she said in a hushed tone.

"It wasn't us, I promise," Aiden assured her. Ethan glanced between the two of them, but didn't intervene. She shoved Aiden again.

"How am I supposed to believe that? Even if it wasn't the two of you, how do I know it wasn't Kali or Ennis? The two of them seem pretty capable, don't you think?"

"It wasn't our pack. You know it wasn't. If it was, wouldn't it look more like an animal attack?" Ethan interjected, but Sammy shook her head.

"Animal attack is too obvious if you're trying to trick the girl you're dating. Your boss-man is pretty twisted. I'm sure he could come up with killing people like this. After all, he was telling me about what I could do with those stupid ancient rituals," Sammy argued, her words rushed.

"It wasn't us, I promise," Aiden said again. He wanted so badly for her to believe him, and she wanted nothing more than to believe him, throw herself into his arms and forget about everything that had happened. But she couldn't do that now. "Sammy, can we just talk?"

"No."

"Please? Just talk to me," Aiden pressed.

"You know what?" she pulled the subject back. "It's not like I really have a choice in believing you or not. I'll probably just have to wait for Stiles to figure it out like he always does," she said, turning away from them. "And he always figures it out," she half threatened. Sammy walked away from them, regained her composure and returned to her brother and Scott.

"Did anyone call the police?" Sammy asked.

"Yeah, Coach did. They're on their way. Based on response times, they should be here soon," Stiles answered.

Scott let out a sigh, "What did the twins have to say?"

"Nothing. They said if it was them it would look more like an animal attack. But I'm still not 100% sold considering the things I saw when I was with them."

"Yeah, they could've brainwashed you and made you kill him," Isaac sneered at her.

"Excuse me, I saw him alive last night. When the fuck would I have had time to kill him? No one will leave me alone longer than five minutes-"

"Isaac, she was with me the entire time. When his dog started barking, and we saw him go missing, Sammy was with me the entire time. It couldn't have been her," Scott defended. Isaac rolled his eyes. All Sammy could feel now, after Isaac's words, was the sensation of ice water pouring down her neck. For a moment, she thought she saw Erica, staring back at her from among the other students.

"Hey, Sammy? You okay?" She could barely hear the voice, not sure if someone was actually talking to her or not as Erica was watching her.

"Sammy?" It was Stiles. He'd grabbed her shoulder, pulling her attention towards him.

"Huh?"

"You okay?" Stiles asked.

"Uh," she looked back where she saw Erica and she'd turned back into just some other blonde girl, chatting with her friends. "Uh, yeah, I'm okay."

"You sure?" he asked again. But before Sammy could say anything back to her brother, she heard her dad's voice.

"Hey! Get out of the way! Get back," their dad said as he approached, moving students out of the way while his deputies followed him onto the scene. "Get this area cordoned off before they trample every piece of evidence."

"Back up! Everyone back!" the female deputy called out.

"Get these kids out of here!" her dad said loudly.

Stiles grabbed their dad's arm and said, "Dad? Look, look, it's the same as the others, you see?"

"Yeah, I see that. Do me a favor. You and Sammy go back to school, yeah?" their dad said, but Stiles was silent.

"Coach, can you give us a hand here?" her dad said, looking back at Coach Finstock.

"You heard the man! Nothing to see here. Probably just some homeless kid."

"Coach," Scott said.

"Yeah?"

"He was a senior," Scott explained in a sad tone.

"Oh," Coach sighed, covering his mouth with his hand. "He wasn't on the team, was he?"

Sammy rolled her eyes. "Nice, Coach. Really insensitive, don't you think?"

"Kyle!" a girl screamed, sprinting up to the dead body. The police grabbed her as she fought her way toward the body. "Oh god, Kyle! Oh god!"

Sammy walked away wih the boys.

"You see the way the twins looked at him?" Isaac pointed out.

"Yeah, you mean like they had no idea what happened?" Stiles snarked.

"No, no, they knew," Isaac pressed.

"The kid was strangled with a garrote, all right? Am I the only one recognizing the lack of 'werewolfitude' in these murders?" Stiles explained confidently.

"I mean anyone can change up their pattern to cover their tracks," Sammy grumbled.

"Come on, Stiles. You think it's a coincidence they turn up and then people start dying? I mean they convinced Sammy to do some gnarly shit-"

"Well, no, not coincidence, but I still don't think it's them."

"If they convinced Sammy to do what she did, what if they convinced someone else to murder people like this?" Isaac added. "Scott? How about you?"

"I don't know yet," Scott answered.

"You don't know yet?" Stiles said, confused as to why his best friend wasn't siding with him.

"Well, he's got a point. Seriously, dude, human sacrifices?"

"Scott, your eyes turn into yellow glow sticks, okay? Sammy's are freaking green lightsabers. Hair literally grows from your cheeks, she turns purple, and then everything immediately disappears and if I were to stab any three of you right now, it would magically heal. But you're telling me that you're having trouble grasping human sacrifices?"

Scott sighed, turned to Isaac and said, "that's a good point too."

"I don't care," Isaac stated flatly. "Alright? They killed that kid, they killed the girl that saved me. I'm gonna kill them too."

"That's a really stupid idea," Sammy told him as he walked away from them. "You know what, Stiles? You're usually right, so if you say it's human sacrifices, I believe you."

"Yeah? Well thank you, Sammy."

"I'm a good sister-"

"Sometimes-"

"Most of the time-"

"You're right, 98% of the time, you're a good sister," Stiles agreed.

"Regardless though, if it's not the Alphas, we have a whole 'nother problem to deal with," Sammy sighed.

"Do you ever think you should pack a lunch and bring that to school instead?" Sammy asked Scott, pushing her lackluster pasta around her tray with her fork.

"Not really, but that's also because I'm a guy with low food standards."

"So, food is food, but good food isn't always a requirement?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I mean as long as it's not terrible," Scott laughed. "What did you really wanna talk about?"

"That," Sammy said, gesturing to Aiden following Lydia around like a puppy.

"Yeah, I saw him talking to her in the hall, something about trying to study with her-" Scott was interrupted by the sound of Sammy snapping her fork in half out of jealousy.

"He can't manipulate me so he moves on to my best friend?" Sammy snarled.

"You know what? You said it yourself. Aiden said he started talking to you at first because Deucalian told him to, and then he fell in love with you or whatever. Maybe he just can't say no and Deucalian wants him to get to know Lydia?"

"Maybe he wants to get his throat ripped out-"

"Easy there, Sammy. You don't wanna make a scene," Scott reminded her. Sammy sighed and looked down at her broken fork.

"You're right, I don't wanna make a scene. But, I do wanna say something to him," she said. Before Scott could argue with her, Sammy was already up and marching straight for Aiden. She grabbed him by the arm and yanked him away from Lydia, so she could guide him off to a less busy part of the cafeteria.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sammy snapped at him.

"Talking to Lydia?" He answered awkwardly.

"No, you're not talking to Lydia. Lydia is off limits," Sammy growled.

"Well, if you would just talk to me maybe I wouldn't have to talk to her."

"Are you kidding me? You're talking to my best friend because I won't talk to you? Flirting with her? That is low."

"I'm not flirting with her! I'm trying to get her to help me with fixing things with you," Aiden explained. Sammy crossed her arms, but Aiden just raised an eyebrow. "Wait, are you jealous?"

"I'm not jealous-"

"You still care, don't you?"

"About you? Please. I want to protect my best friend from getting manipulated like I did. That's the only reason I even came to talk to you."

"The only reason? You sure about that?"

"Yes," Sammy snarled at him.

"Okay, that's enough," Scott said, resting a hand on Sammy's shoulder. "Come on, you need to calm down," Scott implored. Sammy glared at Aiden before walking away with Scott.

"I still love you," Aiden said, quietly enough that only she and Scott would hear. Sammy whipped her hand up and flipped him off as she walked away.

"You still love him back, don't you?" Scott asked as they exited the cafeteria.

"Shut up," she snapped back at him, but she could only hold her exterior for a moment before cracking a small, sad smile. "Yeah, I think I do."

"It's okay...do you hear that?" Scott stopped in his tracks. Sammy listened and realized someone was screaming, pounding on a door. It was Isaac, and Allison begging him to calm down.

"Isaac, don't. Don't," Allison begged as Isaac growled. Sammy and Scott made a break for it, heading towards the sound. Once they found it, they realized Isaac and Allison were trapped in the janitor's closet with a vending machine pushed in front of it. "Isaac. Isaac! ISAAC!"

Scott ripped the machine out of the way, yanked open the door, and threw Isaac out, away from Allison. Isaac was unhinged, roaring, clawing at everything while he lay there on the floor. Scott grabbed him by the throat while Sammy placed herself between the raving werewolf and Allison.

"Isaac! ISAAC!" Scott roared, his eyes flashing at his friend. Isaac's growls weakened before he exhaled, calming down.

"Ally, you okay?" Sammy asked. Isaac backed himself up, sitting up against the wall. Scott turned to check on her.

"I'm okay, I'm fine," Allison assured them as she showed them a very superficial scratch match from Isaac's claws. She was bleeding, but she'd be okay.

"I'm sorry, I didn't...I didn't mean to do that," Isaac apologized, still trying to catch his breath.

"I'm okay," Allison said again.

"I'm so sorry," Isaac apologized one more time.

"It's not his fault," Allison stated.

"I know," Scott said. "I guess now we know they want to do more than get you angry. They wanna get someone hurt," Scott told Isaac.

"So are we gonna do something?" Isaac asked.

"Yeah, I'm gonna get them angry, really angry," Scott decided. He looked to her and Sammy sighed.

"I know exactly what would piss them off," she said with a smirk.

They were outside, and Sammy had just shown Isaac and Allison which one exactly was Aiden's bike and which one was Ethan's. They'd already stripped some parts out of Ethan's bike and given them to Scott to pull out of his back pack in front of the twins in class. Now, Allison was hot-wiring Aiden's bike so Isaac could try, and hopefully successfully ride it through the school to piss him off. She pulled the pin from between her teeth and got it all ready to ride.

"How long is this gonna take?" Isaac asked. Allison looked at both of them before starting the bike and standing up. Isaac grinned like a kid in a candy store as he climbed on the bike.

"Okay, pull back with your left hand," Allison began instructing, "kick down to put in gear, front brake, throttle," she showed him, putting her hands over his, so he'd feel how he was supposed to move. "Back brake for stopping." Isaac looked up at her and the two had this weird sexual tension that made Sammy roll her eyes while holding back a grin.

"Yeah, been there, done that," Isaac mused. Allison pulled out her phone to take a picture of Isaac to show Scott he was ready to go.

"Alright, make sure you kick the bike stand down when you see Aiden. He's gonna try and get the bike out of there before anyone sees-"

"You know what would really piss him off?" Isaac started. Sammy knit her eyebrows, worried about what he was going to say.

"Why am I afraid of your answer?"

"It would really piss him off if you were on the back of this bike with me," Isaac grinned mischievously. Sammy felt his smile, like it was contagious, one forming on her own lips.

"Screw it. Let's do this," Sammy agreed, climbing onto the back of the bike, holding on tight to Isaac.

"Hell yeah," Isaac said before pulling the throttle and racing off. They blasted through the hallways, leaning tight to keep from crashing around the sharp turns. When they finally stopped it was as Aiden ran at them and gripped the handle bars.

"Get off my bike!" He roared. Sammy peaked around from the other side of Isaac and hopped off. Isaac nonchalantly removed the helmet and handed it to Aiden before she got off the bike.

"No problem," Isaac said calmly before using Aiden's shoulders to vault and flip over him so the two culprits could get out of the way.

"Sammy? What the hell!" Aiden snarled. As Sammy and Isaac moved away, people began to exit their classrooms to see what was going on. They blended in with the curious crowd while they all saw Aiden seated on his own bike.

"You have got to be kidding me. You realize this is gonna result in a suspension," Ms. Blake said, entering the hallway. Scott patted Sammy on the back, Allison and Isaac all excited about what they'd just done.

"Yeah, I wish I could've seen their faces. Did they look seriously pissed?" Isaac asked. The three of them were walking through the halls to go home for the day.

"Yeah," Scott laughed. But, all three soon froze at the sight of Ethan and Aiden looming before them at the end of the hall. "Kind of like that," Scott observed. The two boys looked at each other before stripping down. Ethan took off his jacket first, but Aiden stripped right down to his shirt. Scott and Isaac just looked confused. Sammy knew what was coming the second Ethan removed his shirt as well, Aiden kneeling down to the ground. She'd never seen it before, but he'd told her about it. Ethan slammed his hand into Aiden's back, and the two of them merged with one another. With a bone crunching finish, the twins fuzed together, and stood up, significantly taller and larger than they were before.

Isaac dropped his backpack and said, "We can take 'em." The merged Alpha roared.

"Are you kidding? Isaac!" Scott yelled as the two of them scrambled to escape. Sammy ran with them, but she was faster, breaking ahead of the two boys. Unfortunately, the merged alpha grabbed both of them, lifting them from the ground as they scrambled in an attempt to escape. Sammy stopped and faced them. The boys are knocked together and thrown back down the hallway, away from Sammy. She bolted into action and stood between her friends and the merged Alpha.

"No! That's enough!" She roared at the twins, shifting herself. The alpha roared right in her face, blowing her hair back with its force. Sammy roared back, even angrier as her claws pulled into a stance, ready to slash at them. The only reason she didn't attack was the reaction the merged Alpha had to the sound of light tapping. Sammy whipped around to see Deucalian approaching. All he did was look at them for the twins to separate, becoming two people once more. Deucalian uncapped his seeing-stick, revealing a small blade. Both twins looked shameful before their master stashed the stick at them, the small blade cutting each of their left cheeks before re-capping the stick. Ethan and Aiden walked away with their master, Aiden looking back at Sammy as she turned back to normal.

"Who the hell is that?" Isaac asked.

"That's Deucalian," Sammy answered, frozen in place. She'd never seen him behave like that with one of his pack. That's what Aiden had meant when he told her that Deucalian may like to say that it's a democracy, but he controls the twins through sheer intimidation. Much like he controls Kali and has controlled Sammy with manipulation and belonging.

Now she was feeling really stupid for not believing Aiden. He really didn't have much of a choice.