SUCCUMB

CHAPTER XV - ALLISON

Allison struggled to free herself from the ropes that were tightly tied around her hands. Her mind darted back to when she had first started her training to become a hunter and cursed under her breath when she realized, that like a talented magician, the nogitsune had removed all of her knives and all of her weapons and she has no way of escaping with the tightly tied ropes enveloping both her legs and her hands.

The nogitsune chuckled darkly, and even though Allison knew that it wasn't one of her closest friends, Stiles Stilinski—the very same Stiles who, despite his body's gasping protests, served as a human messenger for her and Scott when her family kept watching them closely—she couldn't help but feel a pang of betrayal, or fight this growing fear for Stiles, her friend, and not the fox spirit who decided to wreak havoc when it escaped purgatory.

"Even if you were to break your thumbs, Miss Argent, you would still find yourself incapable of escaping." Stiles' painfully familiar voice rang out and she couldn't help but think that it's Stiles. She knew it was wrong, but she would shudder every time he would speak. "We can't have you running off, now can we?" the nogitsune tore his gaze from the broken window and turned around, his face had a sickening grin and his eyes held a psychotic glint that made Allison think to herself that what she's seeing couldn't just be from the trickster spirit.

Allison knew, somehow, that somewhere deep inside Stiles, there's this killer instinct waiting to be released. She knew that there was this line inside of Stiles' mind just waiting to be crossed for this side of him to appear. That it was only a matter of when and how. Allison couldn't help but think that maybe this darkness and evilness inside of him was innate and that it only took a matter of triggering.

Finally resigning, Allison's shoulder eased down and her eyes shifted, looking passively around the wooden cabin room she was in. Taking a moment to take in her surroundings, Allison looked up to see a single light bulb illuminating her spot by the column that supported the small cabin. Dust caked around the entire room, though she wasn't sure because the light didn't reach the far off spots and corners. However, near to the door, was an electronic LED clock.

"Where am I?" she asked, hoping that her captor would spare her that detail the very least. "Where did you take me?" she coughed, the dust trickling her nose.

The nogitsune tilted his head to a side, painstakingly like how Stiles would when he would try to figure out a mystery or how to save more money when ordering the value meal from the Big Belly Burger near the hospital without sacrificing the large fries. "Now, where's the fun in that when I'm to just give away the answer? Figure it out on your own!" the nogitsune grumbled before waving his hand, as if to dismiss the thought. "I might as well give you back to that ragtag group of abominations if I were to tell you."

Allison smirked. "That would be nice." She remarked dryly, earning an annoyed glare and for the nogitsune to narrow his eyes on her.

"And here I thought only the banshee possessed a sharp tongue." Then, all of a sudden, a devilish smirk appeared on Stiles' face—nogitsune, she corrected herself because that's not her friend—and grabbed her by the chin, the few meters in between them had suddenly vanished when the nogitsune appeared before her. "A feisty woman. I like that." Without thought, Allison spat on the nogitsune's face, the smirk on his face long gone.

In a second, Allison felt pain explode as she tasted something metallic in her mouth.

"I can see why McCall is so infatuated with you. Though I do honestly prefer the Yukimura girl. After all, she had more power than you could imagine, much prettier, too." That had hurt Allison in a way she had not expected it to hurt. And the fact that it came from Stiles' face and it reached her ears with his voice didn't help ease the pain. "Scott could have had someone who could match his strength, someone who could have handled him in ways you couldn't—and yet he chose you." It came out harsher than Allison expected it to be.

Steeling herself up for what seems like hours of degrading and snide comments, Allison held her chin up and gritted her teeth. "You can play your mind tricks on me all you want, but you won't get anything from me." The nogitsune, however, rolled his eyes and ignored her.

"But it's obvious that the love you have for each other, it's the type of love people write epics about. It's the kind of love that never dies." Allison had to listen closely, she had to replay that over and over again in her mind just to make sure she heard it right. There was a pang of jealousy, she was sure of it. And it wasn't from the nogitsune. She was sure of that. "To the point where he'd choose you over everyone else." For a second, Allison breath got caught in her throat.

Even if it was only for a second, Allison knew that it was Stiles. The slumped shoulders and the cloudy whiskey-brown eyes that she came to familiarize herself with. It was unmistakably Stiles Stilinski who knelt in front of her. "Stiles?" she whispered in a shaky voice, her breathing already uneven because she was so sure that it's her friend. Deciding to act against her better judgement, Allison tried to reason with the man in front of her and tried to reach out for Stiles.

There was this sharp breathing. Allison could notice that Stiles' fingers were balled into a fist and that blood began to stain his pale skin. Allison could see the tense muscles and she realized that she had managed to reach out to her friend, that Stiles was actually fighting for control.

After a few minutes of struggling, she saw a pained expression. She saw pain reflect in Stiles' eyes. "Allison?" Stiles asked and she let out a breath of relief that she hadn't realized she was holding in. "What. . . ? Where are we?" Stiles tried to stand up but his ankle failed him and dropped to his knees.

Allison quickly looked at Stiles and noticed the blood staining his clothes, the bruises that turned to a dark hue of purple. "You're not healing." It wasn't a question when Allison breathed it out.

Stiles grimaced darkly with shallow and quick breaths of air. "Figured out that my body will only heal when my roommate up here," he pointed at his head and chuckled weakly and without humor, "el nogitsune is in control. And that, if he gets hurt when he's in control, he wouldn't feel a thing but. . ." he trailed off and Allison noticed the cuts and bullet wounds that began to reopen.

"You would be the one to feel all the pain." She finished off, horrified at the sudden revelation, wishing to herself that she hadn't shot too much arrows into him. "Oh, God, Stiles! I'm sorry—I didn't know!" she tried to apologize when he began to slowly untie the knots that trapped her to the column.

"It's okay." Allison felt a pang of guilt when he assured her, especially when she remembered that she was actually scared of him. "You guys, you couldn't have possibly known." He said bashfully after finally managing to untie the rope around her hands. Allison rubbed her wrists, feeling the rope burn her skin, but the guilt she felt far outweighed the discomfort her wrists felt.

Stiles looked around worriedly, his eyes racing.

That prompted Allison to take a look around her surroundings, finally free of the threat that was nogitsune who restricted her every movement. However, as Allison began to move towards the door, she noticed that Stiles was rigid and his knees gave. Stiles fell to the ground and he was practically shaking. Worry began to swim in her vision. "Stiles?" Allison asked in a small voice, almost scared to ask. "Are you still there?"

The eerie silence Stiles gave off didn't exactly inspire confidence for Allison, leading her to grab the knob and her breathing slowing down.

After what seemed like an eternity, Stiles breathed out. Allison mirrored the action, let out a breath of air she didn't realize she was holding in. "The nogitsune?" Allison asked, however she regretted even mentioning the spirit's name considering the look it brought on Stiles' face. And besides, she scolded herself for being insensitive, he blames himself enough for everything that's been happening around.

Stiles, however, didn't answer her. Instead, he just stood up rather too quickly—Allison noticed how he grunted in a low voice and his face twisted in pain—and went straight for the door, pausing when he reached her hands. Together, they went out of the small cabin and were greeted by tall trees and the dark, night sky. Beside her, Stiles cursed under his breath before turning to her, giving her a sheepish smile. "So, most of the time the nogitsune-spirit-thingamajig kept me in the dark and I'm kinda hoping you know where we are. So, do you?"

There was this strange expression on his face, something that made Allison take a step back, to put some distance between them. There wasn't some underlying tone in his voice but there was something that rang in a wrong way with her. A part of her thought of the nogitsune, when, she felt a painful stinging on her forehead. Frowning, Allison lifted a finger and grimaced at the sight of blood that stained her hand. "Guess he kept me in the dark, too," Allison realized that she was knocked out earlier.

And her massive migraine stood as a testament to that.

More so, the fact that it was bleeding made her frown deeper.

Looking around, Allison took in the forest scent, remembering her father's notes that, at nights like these, mists and forest scents can be thick enough to mask a human's scent. "Guess we're stuck here for a while." Allison was worried about the nogitsune. She was scared shitless, honestly, wondering what's to happen if Stiles were to suddenly lose control. "Come on, we have to find some place to stay."

Stiles didn't move and was, however, more focused on her bleeding forehead. "You're bleeding." He said simply, his eyes looking around as if there was something to be done. Pausing for a second, Allison saw Stiles scramble into action, in deep focus to do whatever it was he wanted to do. "No. We've just got to find higher ground." Stiles muttered loud enough for her to hear, turning around frantically to meet her. "Your scent, yeah, that'd be enough to get us rescued."

Allison frowned when Stiles ran to the nearest hill he could find and started climbing despite the unstable terrain. "Stiles, slow down!" she called out, running after her friend, unsure if he was still Stiles or if he was the nogitsune. When she finally caught up to him, she panted. "Where are we going?" she half whispered. Allison didn't know why she was whispering exactly because it wasn't like they were hiding from someone.

Stiles looked unfazed, a look of firm determination was on his face. "There," he said, panting and breathing a few deep breaths when he stopped to point at the top of the mini-hill. "We need to get up there. There's a better chance for your scent to get picked up by those hormonal wolf-boys." His nose scrunched up in disgust and Allison could practically make out who he was thinking of: Aiden Steiner, Lydia's ex-boyfriend who couldn't seem to grasp the concept of the word 'no'.

Allison stopped to breathe when she saw Stiles, pale in the moonlight and the bags under his eyes grew more darker and prominent. Allison felt herself shiver at the cold wind that blew through the trees as they moved up north as a passing thought plagued her. A cold corpse looked a whole lot better than Stiles.

Feigning exhaustion, Allison let her knees buckle—which wasn't much of a deal considering she was weak and tired—to the ground and called out for her friend. Irritated, Stiles scaled a few steps back and helped her up to her feet. Allison protested and hissed. It was only now when she realized that she had a large gash running from her knee to her ankle. "Can't we take a break?"

What she got as a response, Allison could never forget the black and almost dead irises glaring back at her. "Can't you see what's at stake here?!" he angrily hissed at her. Stiles was shaking with anger.

Or fear, a poisonous voice answered in Allison's mind. A wave of helplessness washed over her as she imagine the pain the nogitsune managed to inflict before deciding to knock her out cold.

Allison gulped, mentally berating herself for leaving the shack without managing to search for a few of her weapons. "Stiles, we're both tired and hurt. All I'm asking for is a break." Stiles scoffed and pushed her up hill, supporting her weight by throwing her arm over his shoulder. Allison honestly never felt so scared of Stiles in her life.

"We're not stopping. We can't. I can't!" there was this fear that trembled in his voice that made Allison jump. She wanted nothing more than to get away from Stiles, fearing the worst, thinking that the nogitsune will take over. "We need to get to them." Then suddenly, Stiles turned to her, his eyebrows scrunched up together. He looked like he's had a panic attack. "What time is it? What time is it?!" he asked frantically.

Allison watched Stiles carefully. "Stiles, are you okay?" Allison knew that she was practically sailing on uncharted waters. She never expected or prepared for possessed friends and kidnapping when she began packing her stuff up to move to Beacon Hills.

Stiles was unfazed, still looking at her without blinking. "You. You know how to tell the time, don't you?" Allison wanted to lie and tell him that she can't but her heart tugged at her in a way that told not to. It was, as if, Stiles had the ability to tell if she was lying and considering the madness she went through just for one day, Allison decided to play it safe and tell the truth.

Allison looked up to the night sky only to find it covered by branches and emerald green leaves. She sighed and faced Stiles, shaking her head. "I can't get a good view of the stars. There's no way to tell right now." Hoping that her inability to tell the time would somehow convince Stiles to take a break or realize that they're way in over their heads, Allison was disappointed when he grabbed her arm and started climbing their way up the hill again.

In between panting and breathing in deep, Stiles looked back at her direction, his ever-present determination written all across his face. "Once we reach the top, they'll get our scents and once they do, we'll be saved." Then, a flash of irritation and frustration crossed Stiles' face and Allison took a step back, not knowing entirely what to do. "It's simple enough. Why can't you understand that?"

A surge of courage and strength exploded in her chest. Allison glared back and pointed an accusing finger at her friend, hoping that an outburst would somehow guilt her friend back to control. "Tell me what's the use of being rescued when we're brought back as lifeless corpses?!" Allison remembered Cora and her dry remark. It was a bitter scoff but it came off as an insult to her and her friends. "I will not let Scott find another body, let alone ours because that will break him."

For a second, Allison saw Stiles' eyes soften and water. She knew that it was her friend and she was sure that whatever struggle for control Stiles was fighting inside his mind, she had given him a push enough to have the upper hand. "Allison," he said, looking away guiltily before turning around, climbing again. "We have to go."

Finally seeing the reason in his eyes, Allison followed Stiles and began trekking her way up the hill, following her friend as they reached the top. The wind was bowing strongly towards the city and Allison felt hope. The pack was going to find them and once they did, they'd find a way how to get rid of nogitsune from Stiles.

Dropping to her knees, Allison gave a shaky laugh. She made it and she managed to keep her friend in control. A small smile crept up on her lips. This was her victory. Looking to her side, Allison saw Stiles, antsy as ever as his fingers fidgeted as if a colony of ants were marching up his pants. Allison's shoulders tensed up as she noticed that he had a lost expression, somewhat guarded and jaded. "Stiles?"

Stiles turned to look at her, void of all expression, and breathed calmly. "What time is it?" he asked slowly and calmly, his voice betrayed no emotion as he asked in a monotone. "Allison, I need to know what time it is."

Putting some distance between her and Stiles, Allison looked up to the sky when she heard a roar, not quite like Scott's but it was definitely familiar. Trying to remember, she remembered the time when the darach had given them all a memorable experience with an ice bath and a hunt for their parents. "It's Aiden!" she breathed out enthusiastically, hoping that Stiles would be pleased with that but he wasn't.

Allison looked over to her friend and it was like a kaleidoscope of feelings, of expression that were being flashed through his face, like he didn't know exactly how he should react.

Stiles looked the same. He looked collected and cold, completely unlike the warm Stiles she knew as her friend. "What time is it?" he asked again, staring at her as if she was the key to a puzzle or a mystery he's been trying to solve. "Allison, you can tell the time, so right now? I need you to tell me." He pointed at the sky, his arms now crossed. A part of Allison was afraid that she might die. "Read the alignment." Stiles said, his voice rang with a particular sharp edge that sounded like a dangerous foe.

Allison shook her head. "No," Stiles tilted his head to a side and, in that angle, she saw that her friend was long gone from control". It was the nogitsune she was talking to. A part of Allison felt like scolding herself—she had allowed herself to be baited to a place where the only way to escape fast enough was to throw herself off the hill and plummet some 50 feet down-slope.

Fuck, she mentally cursed.

Allison knew from the start that she had no weapon, ever since she woke up after being hit square in the head. She had no defense against the nogitsune except for the jagged rock she managed to pick up on the way to the top of the hill. A part of her was ready to strike the nogitsune dead but she saw its wounds healing. Allison remembered that Stiles was the one taking all the hits while the trickster spirit was in control.

She dropped the jagged rock and the nogitsune smirked, laughed. "Ms. Argent," he stepped forward into the moonlight and Allison saw the drastic change. Stiles' face was far more pale than it ever should. He almost looked anemic at this point. "You're losing your touch—" he looked at the noticeable jagged rock that's seemingly out of place on a patch of green grass. "Oh, and look, apparently you've lost your ability to use a weapon against dear Stiles here, too," the nogitsune hissed her friend's name like it was poison.

The tension made the atmosphere so heavy in every sense. Allison was on high alert, her skin covered in goosebumps, not really sure on what she should really do. She didn't want to hurt her friend, not when she found out what was happening to him but there was a sense of dread that if she didn't, then she would die that night.

The thought sent shivers down her spine, her mind plagued with the image of her death—brutal and gruesome—and realized that she couldn't do both. Allison stood still for a moment, watching the nogitsune slowly make his way to her before she turned on her heel and ran downhill, branches scratching her and a wounded knee stinging every once and then as she made her way through the trees, trying her best to put some distance between her and the nogitsune when she bumped into someone.

Allison fell to the ground and when she looked up, expecting to see Stiles' face, she saw Aiden who helped her get up. "Allison!" he yelled, his hand on her arm, tugging her to get a move on but her feet remained glued to the spot she stood on. "What are you doing? We've got get outta here—Scott's been worried sick about you!" for a second, all oxygen had been sucked out of her lungs and her hardened and fear-worn expression softened in an instant.

All this while, she had forgotten about. Allison didn't like to admit it but she was worried about him especially when he first told her and the pack about the nogitsune problem with Kira and her family a few days ago, of how the host is supposed to be all sick and moody and the first person that came to her mind was her boyfriend.

But she's wrong. It was Stiles.

Staying firm, Allison shook her head and pointed towards the hill, anticipating Stiles. "Allison! What the fuck are you doing?" Aiden was really pissed, that much Allison could tell until she spotted something dark around his shirt, an unmistakable dark, dried stain that she knew all too well—it was blood, werewolf blood and judging the size, a lot of it was spilled and lost.

"What happened?" she questioned, her heartbeat racing wild.

Aiden, probably noting her distress, waved it off. "Relax, it's not mine." He said curtly as if he didn't want her to pry but she noticed.

Allison narrowed her eyes and grabbed his shoulder, turning him to face her as he tried to drag her away and back to where her friends and family are but she resisted and stood her ground. "Whose blood is it?!" she yelled, forgetting for a second that she might give off their location. In the end, she paid no mind, repeated the question and glared at Aiden who sighed and caved into her demand.

"It's Scott's, okay?" her eyes widened before Aiden continued. "Scott, he. . .he's doing everything he can to find you and then there was a fight, shit happened, and I guess the pack couldn't do much to protect him but he's okay now. He's fine now but he's reckless in his stupid crusade to find you, not that finding you is stupid." Aiden said, his head bent down just a bit and his voice ambiguous, almost like he's guilty.

Allison gave him a pat on the back, wordlessly reassuring him that it's not his fault or anything. "How's everyone else?" she asked, agreeing to slowly walk away if ever so slightly, her eyes still reeling back to the slope, waiting for a sign that the nogitsune is near.

A faint smirk appeared on Aiden's face, probably as if something was almost amusing and it probably was if it weren't for the situation at hand. "Your father's handling your kidnapping better than your boyfriend is." There was a rustle heard from behind them. It was faint and if the preserve wasn't so silent in the night, Allison probably wouldn't have heard it but even so, Aiden stiffened up and considering the werewolf's sense of smell, there was reason enough to be scared.

Slowly limping to Aiden's side, hoping to see the nogitsune and try to draw Stiles out when she was stopped. Aiden had placed a hand on her shoulder while another hand gave her a set of keys and pointed her to a direction. "What's this?" she knew the answer to her question but she asked anyway. Allison didn't know why she did that but she had the need to stay.

Allison asked and asked, shooting sharp and pointed stares but Aiden was fixed on the slope, waiting for the nogitsune, when he sighed, irritated at her. "Listen, I know you're a hunter and all that but right now you're injured so leave this one to me, okay?" Allison saw the logic in it and she tried to find other reasons to not follow. But there wasn't, not right now when the most practical choice is to get medical attention and go back to Aiden with the others as back-up.

Allison really wanted to stay but the look of her knee wasn't isn't a glowing recommendation for her to stay and fight the nogitsune without hurting Stiles. "Alright, I'll leave but just know this: you can't seriously hurt Stiles, not the body anyway because even he's physically healing, the nogitsune won't feel any pain, it's all Stiles." She explained, warning Aiden not to hurt her friend and while there was confusion and reluctance from Aiden's part, he eventually nodded, promising that he wouldn't hurt him.

"Now go." He said, turning his back on her and looked at the slope, waiting for Stiles, his fangs and claws bared out, and his eyes were glowing blue. "Get to Scott and the others at Derek's apartment." She nodded, heading off in the opposite direction and despite limping for what seemed like the better half of the night, she reached Aiden's bike.

Hopping on the bike, she started the engine and headed for Derek's apartment. She was already out of the reserve and driving along the long stretch of road that lead into the heart of the city when she caught something move in her side-mirrors. At first, Allison disregarded it, chalking it up to maybe stress and exhaustion or just a shadow. But the second time was brief, not as long as the first, and that was when she began to panic, to be scared that maybe the nogitsune had caught up with her.

Allison thought of Aiden, how she had this feeling. It was like a heavy weight in her chest, like a boa given her a warm embrace. It was kind of like how Lydia would describe a premonition. But in the end, Allison didn't get to think much before her world turned around in a full 360 degree turn and her vision faded away into darkness.

When Allison woke up, she was in her room. Light was streaming through her window and she could tell, by the color, it was past noon. Sitting up rapidly, she groaned in pain, her body sore from everything that happened and when she lifted the covers off of her body, she saw the bandages that were wrapped around her legs and her arm.

Allison began to think what the hell she got into to get those wounds and cuts.

"You're awake." A voice came from the door and there stood Scott, who wore a black polo shirt, and had this neutral expression that was so hard to read even though she knew her boyfriend. "How are you feeling?" he asked, placing a glass of water on her nightstand where her phone was. There, she saw her face which was, miraculously, not that scratched up and didn't suffer from whatever happened to her that night and—oh, she thought to herself.

Allison saw the keys beside her phone, all of a sudden looking all out of place and wrong. "I was in a motorcycle accident." She remembered the long stretch of road, the lights of the establishments and 24/7 fast food chains was starting to pop up when she saw a shadow in her side mirror for the second time and knew then and there that something was following her.

"Yeah, you were." Scott confirmed, his eyebrows furrowed together and Allison knew then that he blamed himself for what happened to her. It was a classic Scott move, blaming himself for everything that's happening even though he didn't do anything wrong or he's not the one at fault or even if there's absolutely nothing he can do. "We found you near the new subdivision, near Kira's place. Her parents were actually the ones who found you."

Allison nodded, reminding herself to thank Kira but she couldn't seem to focus. Her eyes were glued to Aiden's keys. "Where's Stiles?" she asked, her mind still not put to rest as if there was still another question she had to ask.

Scott cleared his throat. "We got him virtually untouched, thanks to Aiden. He's at a bunker that Noshiko owns. We're still finding out ways on how we'll to get rid of the nogitsune out of Stiles." Scott avoided her looks. "We're probably going to focus on this for the next few days, just to make sure that Stiles can start recovering from this considering that every blow we gave him, he felt it." Scott said quietly.

Allison nodded and while it did lighten the weight on her chest, it's not enough. There's still this tightening that she couldn't understand until she saw Scott staring at the keys, at Aiden's keys. The look in her boyfriend's eyes was proof enough that something happened and although Allison knew, she asked anyways.

"Where's Aiden?"

That was when she noticed the black polo, the dark jeans and the smart shoes. "Allison," Scott began, his voice coming off as unsure, not knowing how to actually answer her. "When the nogitsune took you, we tried to hunt it down and when we found it, a lot of us got hurt and I got hurt real bad." Allison reached out for Scott but he moved away. She frowned, not sure where this was going. "The only clue we knew of where the nogitsune kept you was in the preserve and the only person well enough to find you was Aiden." Scott's voice broke. "Aiden. . .he didn't make it."

Allison's vision got blurry and she felt tears run through her face. She didn't know Aiden much but she knew how much Lydia cared for him and she saw how much Ethan loved him. The thought of them hurting, the thought of their pack's promise to protect them broke her heart and the sight of Scott so defeated, she had no words. Instead, she took him in her arms but he moved away again.

"Scott?"

Her boyfriend stood up from the bed and shook his head. "This is my fault." Allison tried to tell him otherwise but he wouldn't listen. "I. . .I made promise to you that I would put you first and I did. I will always put you first." He said firmly, his expression scared.

"Scott," she said softly, her eyes searching his for a reason for his distress.

"And I made promise to them that I'd protect them, Allison, but I failed because I was too consumed by the fact and I became divided and if that happens again," his voice broke and his eyes were filled with tears, "Allison, if the nogitsune would take you again and if I'm to divided to focus on what has to be done, I'd lose you for good and I can't do that. I can't let that happen." Scott was pacing around, panic in his voice and anxiety in his expression. "I can't afford to be blindsided by anything if I'm going to make sure that the nogitsune is defeated."

"Scott?"

"I think we need some space for a while," Allison's face fell and she knew what was happening. Scott was breaking up with her. "I don't know how I can move on with everything and keep everyone safe if I'm only going to have one foot in the ship. I have to be focused and I can't afford to be impartial and reckless like how I am when I'm with you."

Allison lost her voice for a second, her mouth hanging open for a moment before she was able to recollect her thoughts, compose herself again. "We're breaking up." It wasn't a question. A heavy weight rested on her chest and Scott's face was filled with worry.

"No, no, no." He said quickly, walking towards her bed, kneeling in front of her. "We're not breaking up, we're not. It's just we're gonna need some time apart, just enough to figure things out with the nogitsune."

Allison shook her head, remembering how she broke up with him in her last room. "That's what you said last time." She scoffed almost bitterly. "And look where that got us, months of being distant and damage we coudln't undo. In the end we just became damaged jerks. "

Scott gave her a sad smile. "Yeah, but I also remember saying that we'd get back together and we did." He countered, taking her hand and kissing it before pressing it to his chest, just above his heart. "It's just some time apart for a little while, only for a little while." He promised, pressing a kiss on her temple. "We'd get back together." There was a teasing smile on his lips, as much as he could manage with the recent loss of someone Allison knew her boyfriend began to care for.

"Scott. . ." she protested but he was having none of it, standing up and headed for the door.

"No such thing as werewolves, remember?"