Author's note: set in 1x06.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. No financial gain is made from this. This is for entertainment purposes only.


Ta-ta-ta-ta.

Ta-ta-ta-ta.

Ta-ta-ta-ta.

A sigh.

Ta-ta-ta-ta.

Ta-ta-ta-ta.

A long aggravated sigh.

Ta-ta-ta-ta.

Ta-ta-ta-ta.

Ta-ta-ta-ta.

A shivering sigh.

Ta-ta-ta-ta.

Ta-ta-ta-ta.

I stopped the drumming of my fingers over the handlebars of my bicycle.

I could have laughed at myself.

For the past fifteen minutes, I had been staring at the Hale's house. Or what was left of it. It was devastated, but you could recreate with little imagination how magnificent it had been before the flames had licked at its walls and the fire had consumed everything lively about it.

Today's excuse? I wasn't feeling so well, so my parents had left for a shopping spree advising me to rest.

Minutes after I heard the car pull off, I descended the stairs and scurried out of the house. Finding the Hale's manor had not been as difficult as I expected, but now I faced trouble taking the final step.

I grimaced with the sound of crunched leaves under my boots.

I gulped before I took the stairs to the porch.

The entry door looked fragile, as if it was about to crush into dust when I knocked on it. But it didn't, and the sound of my knuckles against the battered wood echoed in the forest.

No answer.

I considered going back home, but now, going back home was not an option. No when there were lives at stake.

I knocked again.

When had I grown so bold? When had I grown so brave? When had I grown so stupid?

"Derek!" I shouted. "Derek!"

When I was about to turn, convinced that he wasn't home, he opened the door. Grumpy, as usual.

"What are you doing here? What do you want?" he growled, leaning against the door.

Now or never. This was me getting involved in this madness. A bookworm girl in the middle of a supernatural feud. I met his eyes.

"I think I have figured out who is the Alpha." I held my breath.

He looked stunned. Surprise suited his features better than menace. "What do you mean?"

"I have been investigating-"

"I told you to stop investigating," he cut me.

I looked to the ground. "Well, I have, so deal with it." I didn't know who was more surprised by my bravado, he or I. "Now, as I was telling you. My investigation leads me to believe that there's only someone who can be the Alpha."

"And that is?"

I swallowed and looked away, at the beautiful forest waking up. "Your uncle, Peter Hale."

Derek scoffed. "Come again?"

I held up my hands. "Look, I'm telling you this because I think you are in great danger. The Argents are going after your family and your uncle is going after the Argents, and you seem to be in the middle."

"My uncle has been in a hospital for six years, unable to even utter a word," his tone was low, but threatening.

"The Alpha has been attacking everyone connected to the Hale's fire. He's not trying to form a pack, as you've been telling Scott. His goal is to get revenge." I raised my voice. Why couldn't he see it as clearly as I did? "The bus driver? Insurance investigator of the fire. The video club boy? Suspected arsonist… Whoever is doing this is going after those who attacked your family. Considering there's only you and your uncle left, I would go after your uncle. Unless you have something to confess…"

"I told you I didn't do it!" he yelled, but he seemed to be pondering over my words. He didn't believe me though. "And I told you to keep away from the Alpha!"

"And I have. I figured it all out in my house, as a good obedient girl," I retorted. My pulse was racing, but now that I had seen things so much frightening than Derek Hale, I wasn't going to be intimidated so easily.

"What about your father?"

"What about my father?" I asked back.

"Do you already know what his part in all this is?"

My voice quavered, "I know he's involved with Chris Argent."

He frowned. "Involved how?"

"I don't know."

"Well, why don't you investigate that?" he said snidely.

I leant against a pillar of the porch. "I'm on it. What are you going to do about your uncle?"

Derek ran a hand across his face. I was bothering him, I knew. But he relented. "I'll talk to him. Though I know there will be no answer. But I'll humor you if you do me a favor."

I crossed my arms across my chest and raised an eyebrow. "Shoot."

"Well, first, you'll stop for once to meddle into my business. No more playing detectives. Second, try to find out why your father is such good friends with the Argents. And find the missing parts of the red book. They are very important right now."

I frowned. "That's not a favor. That's three favors!"

He sighed. "Just do it."

I mock saluted him and took the first step of the porch, but then remembered something else and turned. He was crossing the threshold, but stopped too.

"One more thing. Kate Argent is back," I said quietly, suddenly ashamed for bringing this up.

He nodded. "I know." He turned. "Goodbye, Imogene."

Ta-ta-ta-ta.

I tapped my finger against the pillar.

"Goodbye, Derek."

I let out a breath of relief when I noticed my mother's car was not parked. Not that I hadn't already come out with an excuse if they were to find me out of house, but it was better this way.

I almost fell when I stumbled over something lying by our front door. A package, it seemed. I took it. It didn't have any name on it. I shrugged and went inside.

The rest of the morning was uneventful. A piercing headache stopped soon my process of translation of the leather book, so when my parents returned, they found me in the living-room, re-enjoying the adventures of Hercules Poirot in 'Cat among the Pigeons'.

My mom was the first to greet me over the bulged shopping bag she carried. My father just acknowledged me with a nod.

I went back to my book when a scream made me jump and run to the kitchen.

Over the kitchen table, laid over the torn package, a dead big bird.

"What is this?!" My mom shrieked. No one had the answer. I don't know who looked more disturbed of the three. "Imogene, do you know what this is?"

"I-I don't know," I stuttered. "It was by the front door. I thought it would be for one of you."

"Who would do this?" My mother asked.

I had an idea. Well, two ideas. My father seemed to have also his own theories, because he quickly fetched a glass of water for my mother and excused himself.

"I have to check on the bookshop," he had said before he disappeared.

My mother said the words I didn't want to hear, "Do you think it's some kind of threat?"

What else could it be? I thought. "I don't know, mom."

"Oh, god! But why us? We don't have any enemies."

Not anymore. I now had enemies. Powerful enemies. Had the Alpha heard me speaking with Derek? Did he know I figured out who he was? Had the Argents assumed I was on the Hale's side?

I wrapped the poor dead animal in the package. "I'll get rid of it, mom. You just go and rest," I said to my hysteric mother.

She nodded mutedly and dragged her feet to the living room, where she collapsed in the chaise longue dramatically.

But instead of disposing of the bird, I grabbed my bicycle and drove to Beacon Hill Animal Clinic, praying it would be open on Saturday.

I was lucky and Dr. Deaton greeted me with a kind smile. "What can I do for you, Imogene?"

I glanced behind him, trying to find Scott, but he was nowhere near.

"Could you take a look at this?" I said and placed the package on his counter.

He peaked at it and scrunched his nose. It was starting to smell.

He took the package and guided me to his inspection table. I remembered it well with not fond memories of a night not too long ago and a werewolf and saws. I grimaced when I saw said instrument lying near.

"Are you alright?" Dr. Deaton glanced at me.

I forced a smile. "Peachy. Not too fond of dead things."

"Yes, about that. What do you want me to do with this bird?"

"An autopsy?"

He frowned. "Something broke its neck. Why are you so interested in this bird?"

"I found it in the forest," I lied. "And… well, it's a big bird," I said lamely.

"Actually, it's the smallest of its kind." He took off his gloves. "It's a Sharp-shinned Hawk, a common hawk of this area."

"A hawk?" I repeated.

"Yes, beautiful animals," he agreed. "Very clever."

I walked with him towards the front part of the shop. "This one not so much. What do you think killed it?"

He shrugged. "Any kind of bigger predator. Even another bird, if it caught it with its claws. Or some kind of mammal."

"A mountain lion?" I asked.

He paused. "By the marks at its neck, more like a wolf." I looked at him alarmed. "Are you alright, Imogene? You look pale."

I nodded. "Yes, yes. I'm alright. I-I have to go. See you around, Alan."

"Goodbye."

I tried phoning Stiles. He didn't answer.

I tried phoning Derek, but it went straight to voice mail.

So, having no one to assure me that I wasn't in danger – which I was sure I was, but sometimes a proper lie can be comforting -, I decided that I was safer at home. Wolfsbane filled walls wasn't so bad an idea when there was a huge werewolf after your sorry ass.

My mother had left a note. She was out with Lizzy and Kristin. I knew that meant that she was calming her nerves with a few martinis. I was convinced I was alone at home, when I heard noises from the library. Yes, we did have a library, one of the luxuries my father indulged.

Silently, I tiptoed to the door. Voices. One I did recognize immediately. My father. The other belonged to Chris Argent.

"…any right to barge into my house… daughter… scared… she doesn't know… say to her…"

I struggled to hear, so I placed my ear against the door.

"And what am I supposed to tell my daughter when she finds a dead hawk on our doorsteps?" That was my father.

"You know how this works, Nathan. Get me that book, we will bring down those animals and then you can carry on as if nothing happened."

I moved away from the door. My father was involved in all this. He was a hunter.

But if he hadn't ripped those pages from the book, who had?

I heard footsteps and ran to my bedroom. My heart was pounding in my ears. In front of me, mocking, the blackboard.

In three long strides, I reached it and wrote my father's name under 'the Argents'.

Knock, knock.

The door opened and it revealed my father. He squirmed. "You-you're home."

I nodded and erased the blackboard with a movement of hand. "What do you want, dad?"

'To look for the book' was the correct answer, but he said, "I wanted to apologize." He took a tentative step. "I had been tactless with you lately, but I'm worried, that's all. You have been acting strange."

"So have you," I shot back.

"The shop is not working as it used to. It's stressful."

Silence fell between us. His eyes skipped around the room. I stiffened. It was uncomfortable and it saddened me. I used to have such a good relationship with my father. He was the one who embedded in me my passion for literature.

"I-I'll go now," he barely whispered.

I followed him out of an impulse, placing my hand over his arm. "We will sort it out. There will always be people wanting to buy books, we just need better marketing."

He laughed half-heartedly. I smiled without feeling it.

Mia had been pestering me about Rick. Someone had given Cody my phone number and now he texted me to remind me of our deal.

I could have murdered them both and be happy.

But my life had regained some normalcy. My father and I were on speaking-terms. No one had threatened us anymore. And there hadn't been any more deaths. In conclusion, I was bored.

After weeks of live-danger situations, the banality of my existence resembled dull, boring, eventless. So I played with my friend's romantic lives and got a chance to meet Scott and Stiles again. They would surely be up to something exciting.

And I had figured out how I would solve the paradox Mia-Cody-Rick. Yes, for once, I had a brilliant plan. Easy and simple. Fools-proof.

First, I'd get Rick to go on a date with Mia. Then, I would make sure that date was a catastrophe. And finally, Cody would be there, quite the gentleman, to show Mia that not every boy is a jackass.

Yes, perfect plan.

With a huge problem.

Rick had already other plans in mind. Other plans of dating another girl. Another girl being me.

I did my best impersonation of a fish. And believe me, it was quite convincing. "You… you what?"

He rolled his eyes. "I want to take you out on a date."

I raised an eyebrow. "Me? On a date?" He nodded. "Why?"

"Well, because you're older. I have been thinking about it, and I need a more mature woman. All these girls, they are not at my level." He took a drag of his cigarette.

"At your level?"

"My intellectual level," he added.

I laughed. He frowned, offended. "Wouldn't you rather date Mia? She's really gorgeous… mmhh… she's hot! She works on a bookstore, she's clever."

He shook his head, a lock of blond hair falling over his forehead. "No, I can have Mia any day. But you…" he rounded on me. If he thought that grin was sexy, he was delusional. For me it screamed pervert. "… well…"

"Well, what?" I shot back, frustrated.

"Is it true you have never been with anyone?" He wriggled his eyebrows. Did people still do that?

"I don't know what you're implying, but it would be best for everyone if you could take Mia out on a date," I insisted.

"Only if I can take you first."

Stubborn little piece of… "Okay. I'll go out with you if then you go out with Mia."

He smirked. "You won't be saying that after our date, sweetheart."

"Oh, I will. And do not call me sweetheart again."

"Oooh, feisty. I like it."

I looked around me, hoping no one would witness my embarrassment. "It's not feisty! It's disgust…"

But he paid me no attention. He got on his bike and drove off, completely ignoring me. "Pick you up at eight!"

I scoffed and fuming, thundered across the High School's corridors. For a girl who had never liked too much high school, lately I spent a hell of time in there. Through the windowpanes I saw Scott and Stiles, and I tried to find my way to the fields.

By the time I got there, I could be spectator to the ridiculousness of my friends. Scott was being hit repeatedly by the balls Stiles threw at him. I laughed despite of myself, and was about to march towards them when my phone rang.

"What have you found out?" Derek didn't let me say a hello.

"Nothing. Why are you calling me? Something happened?" I asked instead.

"You tell me. You called me."

"I did?"

"Saturday."

My eyes widened. "Oh, yes! About that…" I looked around me. I was by the bleachers, and there was no one around. Still, I lowered my voice. "Someone left a dead bird on my front door. As I threat, I think."

"A bird?"

I rolled my eyes. Details! What did they matter? "A hawk."

"Where is it now?" He was insistent, angry and worried.

"I took it to Dr. Deaton. He has it now."

"Dr. Deaton?"

"The vet." Enough explanation. There weren't any more vet clinics in Beacon Hills. "He said it was a wolf," I added as an afterthought.

I could hear him gritting his teeth. "Okay. I've things to do, but I'll pick you at eight."

"No, I…" He had already hung up. "… have a date."

I let out a long breathe. Stiles and Scott had left to the locker rooms. I turned and found myself nose to nose with a young man. A really gorgeous man. I took some steps back and almost fell. I regained my balance. "Sorry. You scared me. I didn't know there was anybody here."

He smiled, but looked… ill. "Sorry. I didn't want to scare you."

My cheeks colored. "Never mind." Then I fled.

When I arrived to the bookstore, my father welcomed me with work to do. New books to place on the crowded shelves. I had loved this simple task. Every book in its place, the soft covers and the smell of ink, words and stories. But now, my mind drifted to the outside world, the world out of these walls.

Werewolves. Hunters. Mysteries.

So the hours drifted slowly until my father said he was leaving and I had to tell him that I would stay, because I was going to meet a friend. He looked at me skeptically, but let it pass. I was offended by his incredulity. If only he knew it wasn't one, but two. And the two of them were late.

I waited outside the shop. I had learnt my lesson when Scott tried to step into it; I wasn't going to risk a repeat with Derek.

But Rick arrived first in his motorbike.

"Ready to experience the best night of your life?" was his greeting line.

I frowned. "No."

"Don't be afraid. It's just me and you," he said, invading my personal space. I liked so much more the Rick that ignored me.

"Actually, it's not. So if you could go inside the bookshop… I'm waiting for a friend."

He scowled. "I thought this was a date."

I rolled my eyes. "It will be in a second." He glared at me. "Please."

I saw him go inside, and take out a cigarette. "Do not smoke inside!" I shouted, but he omitted me.

Now, if just the other dickhead could appear… But instead, I grew anxious. I gulped. The street was quiet. Rubble on the opposite sidewalk, as Miss Martinez's bakery shop wasn't finished yet. So, if there was no one, no wind, no movement, why was I hearing the debris being crushed?

My head flew in every direction. I regretted any previous thoughts of a wish for danger. I heard a growl and my hand searched frenetically for the knob of the door behind my back.

"Shit!" I hissed.

I saw the black beast emerge from the darkness. The horror of its appearance had not comparison in the real world, just in the world of nightmares and terrors. Its eyes glowed red, but I could only focus on its bared fangs.

Another growl at my right brought me out of my reverie. "Get inside the shop!" the other beast yelled.

I hadn't had to be told twice. I turned, opened the door and closed it behind me. Rick was by my side, looking out of the window, horrified.

"What-what is that?" he bawled.

"Don't worry. We're safe in here," I said, not taking my eyes from the fight outside.

I was too concerned about Derek lashing against the Alpha to pay any attention to the teenager boy weeping by my side. It was useless, I realized bitterly. Derek was in clear disadvantage. He was going to get himself killed.

The Alpha soon overpowered him. It was about to draw his claws across Derek's chest, when I got a stupid idea.

Think quick, act faster, right?

I threw the door open and stood in the threshold, despite Rick's screams and his hands tugging at my jacket. "Alpha!" I screamed. "You ugly son of a bitch! Though, for you, that may not be an insult… I'm here!"

I couldn't hear Rick's sobbing anymore as the beast turned to me and headed my way on a dash. No, the sound of the beating of my heart was too loud to hear anything else. I trembled, I shivered, I closed my eyes. I did pray to every god. I wished I had never opened a crime novel in my life. But I didn't regret it.

And then, it stopped.

It stopped right in front of me.

And left.

And I tittered. And then I laughed. And then cackled. And then I remembered Derek, and went outside to find him.

He was leaning against the new bakery, his wounds already healed. Apparently, they had broken the window display, but it didn't matter, because he was alive and I was alive. And even when I knew he wouldn't be happy and he would give me hell about it, I hugged him.

"I think your boyfriend is running away," I heard him say and it was delicious how his voice resounded in his chest, but it served me to snap out of this frenzy fueled by adrenaline and I let go of him.

"Hey, Rick!" I waved at him.

He started to walk backwards, shaking his head. "You're-you're crazy. You…"

"That's troublesome," I said. "I should talk with him before he reveals your secret to anyone."

Derek rolled his eyes and sighed. "I'll deal with him." He sat over the edge of the rubbish skip. "But seriously, an eighteen years old?"

I blushed. "It's not what you think."

"Really, a teenager?"

"It's a long story."

He waved a hand for me to continue. "Like?"

"Like lots of stuff…" Silence. "I was just making a favor to a friend of mine..." More silence, I felt the need to elaborate. "She has a crush on this boy and I have to get her a date with him but it has to be an awful date because I'm really trying to get her back with her ex. Though I don't know if you can consider him her ex, they have only dated for what? Three days? But before all that I had to go on a date with him because… well, I don't know… Something about mature women and-"

"Imogene," he interrupted me. I looked up and in the dim light I could see a ghost of a smile touch his lips. "I don't care."

"You asked," I grumbled. "What did you want to talk about then?"

"I went to see my uncle." He paused. I wasn't going to like what he had to say. "He didn't do it. He is not the Alpha."

"What?" I exclaimed. "Did he tell you that?"

"No, that's the thing, he's not even able to blink an answer. I don't even know if he listens when I speak to him!" he spat.

"Or that's what he wants you to think!" I shot back.

"It's my uncle!" he yelled.

"That's not enough argument!" I yelled back.

He jumped from the skip and ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated. And angry. I reflected back to some weeks ago, when I squirmed under his gaze and here I was at the other end of his rage, pretty put together.

He stuck his hands in his jacket's pockets and ventured down the street.

"Where are you going?" I asked, running to his side.

"Good night, Imogene."

"No, really, I want to know where you are going. Was that all? That your uncle is not the Alpha? That's not the only reason you undertake so much trouble as to pass by the bookshop." He pursued his lips. "Am I right?"

He gave me a short side-glance. "Do you want to know who the Alpha is? We're going to find out tonight."

I tugged on my jacket. "Will it be dangerous?"

"Do you want to go home?"

I mused over it. "No."

We walked in silence, just broken by the song of the crickets.

"It will be dangerous," he said suddenly, "but not for you."

My eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

But he skirted the issue and soon we reached Beacon Hill Animal Clinic. Derek stopped.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, confused.

"Getting answers," he simply said and opened the door despite the 'closed' sign. A bell announced our presence and I felt dread.

"Wait," I hissed at Derek, and tried to grab his arm, but he ignored me and advanced forward.

The oblivious vet spoke, "Scott, you're late again. I hope this isn't getting to be a habit." But Derek didn't care and walked to the same room that had almost seen him die. Of course, this time he looked much more menacing. "Can I help you?"

"Hope so. Want to know about the animal you found with the spiral on its side?"

"Excuse me? What animal?"

"Three months ago. The deer. You remember this?" Derek produced a paper with an image of a dead dear, with a spiral engraved. By now, I was just a silent spectator. Nor did I have any idea what they were talking about, nor did I know Derek's purpose on this late night visit.

"Oh, yes. It's just a deer. And I didn't find it. They called me because they wanted to know if I'd ever seen anything like it." Dr. Deaton looked calmer than I felt.

"What'd you tell 'em?"

"I told them no."

Derek didn't like that answer. Or any that the vet could provide, it seemed. He took some steps towards the other man and I braced myself for what was coming next. "Did you hear that?"

Alan moved so the table was between them two. "Hear what?"

"The sound of your heartbeat rising," Derek said.

"Excuse me?"

From the threshold, I found my voice, "Derek," I admonished.

"It's the sound of you lying," he said and grabbed the man by the white coat.

"Derek!" I yelled, started, but didn't move near as he hit repeatedly the vet. "Oh God! Derek!" But my entreaties fell on deaf ears and soon Dr. Deaton was immobile and bloody. My hands covered my mouth.

Derek put the unconscious body on a chair and readjusted his jacket. "There," he said, more to himself.

I shot him a disbelieving and disapproving look. "What… What the hell have you done?!"

He rummaged through some cabinets and found some tape, which he thrust on my hands. "Tie him," he said, and then proceeded to start tying the vet's feet to the chair.

I gaped at him.

"Just do it!" he bellowed.

I scoffed. "I am not going to tie a man to a chair. This is insane!" I took some steps back, until my back hit the wall. "Are-are you the Alpha?" I asked, forgetting logic, forgetting that I had indeed seen Derek and the Alpha fight each other and it was physically impossible for him to be the red eyed beast.

He rolled his eyes. "No, I'm not, for the umpteenth time. But he," he pointed to Alan, "he might be. We are going to find out now."

I scowled. "How? By beating him into a bloody pulp?!"

"No, by interrogating him!" Derek was losing his patience – if he had ever had one – and sensing him really altered, I measured my words.

"You interrogate someone by asking him questions! Not by almost killing him, you psycho!" Okay, maybe not really tactful.

"Leave, Imogene," he said almost softly.

My nostrils flared. "No," I said with decision.

"Leave!" he shouted at me, rising to my eye level, though I had to look up since he towered over me and my smaller frame. I gulped and stood my ground. Being so close to him was unnerving, but I hadn't come this far to just leave.

Defiantly, I walked by his side and took the motionless vet's hands, moved them behind the back of the chair and used the tape to tie them together.

"I'll prove to you that neither I nor my uncle are the Alpha," he muttered, leaning against a wall, which conveniently kept him surrounded by shadows.

I sat over the metallic table, my feet dangling. "What on Earth has taken you to suspect Dr. Deaton?" I asked after a few minutes of silence.

"He lies. He says he doesn't know anything about all this, but he does," Derek explained.

"I-I don't understand," I confessed.

He sighed. "You don't need to. Just know that he is the key to the Alpha."

I shook my head. "Nothing you say makes sense."

He kept silent, glaring at the man tied to the chair. I wasn't so sure of Derek anymore. In some point, I had ruled him out as one of the bad guys. I had believed him to be a victim, but I wasn't so sure anymore. All this behavior, it was certainly disturbing. I would first believe him to be the Alpha than the poor man unconscious in this room.

But I kept my suspicions to myself. Lately, I had been learning that before you made deductions, you better have solid proofs. And if I played along, maybe I could find the correct clues that night.

"What are you going to do when he wakes up?" I asked.

"Ask him."

"Ask him what?"

"Questions."

I rolled my eyes. My time trying to make conversation with Derek would be time lost, so I just waited, trying to make sense of the situation.

Time passed painfully slowly, but eventually Dr. Deaton stirred, opened his eyes, winced. I gawked and jumped from the table, moving to the end of the room.

"Oh God," Alan said. "Imogene?" He looked around him, tried to release his hands from his ties. I wished he hadn't seen me. "Help me."

"Are you protecting someone?" Derek asked and I was surprised he was actually doing some interrogation work.

"Alright. The key to my drug locker is in my pocket," the vet said, unable to see Derek, who just advanced and seized him by the neck. Too much for being cordial.

"I don't want drugs. I want to know why you're lying," he snapped at the scared man on the chair.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the vet stammered. And for his horrified eyes and mine, Derek turned him in the chair, and raised it to his eye level. I gasped and searched in my pockets for a vial of wolfsbane I always carried with me.

"What are you doing to me? What do you want?" Alan yelled.

The vial was in my hand, but fear stiffened my muscles and numbed my mind. I had considered Derek a friend mere minutes ago, he had tried to save me from the Alpha, he couldn't be the Alpha, but that didn't make him innocent. Was I willing to make him my enemy too?

"I want to know who you are or who you're protecting" Derek snapped at him.

This was not right, there had to be another way. I popped open the vial.

"What are you doing?!" Scott roared by the door and switched on the lights.

I know Dr. Deaton screamed and I know Derek dropped the chair back to the ground, and lots of yells and shouts followed but my mind didn't register what happened exactly. I was more occupied with the wolfsbane soaking my shoes.

When Scott had appeared, he had startled me and I had dropped the aconite.

"Guys," I said while I searched the cabinets, "Guys," I repeated, but no one paid me attention.

By the time I found the chlorine wipes, I could already feel the soaked socks sticking to my feet. The aconitum had passed the fabric of my converses and socks and had reached my skin, but still I rubbed furiously the wipes over my sneakers.

I only raised my eyes from the mess at my feet when I heard Scott growling, his face inhuman. I shrank, kneeled and helpless. With horror, I started to feel a growing tingling at my fingertips, both in hands and feet. But I realized I was in real trouble when the tingling was followed by numbness. Then, what worried me was not so much what I felt, but what I didn't feel.

The wipes were soaking, and so were my hands. Soaked in venom, I thought with distress. I struggled upwards.

"Guys," I finally whimpered and this time, be it because the anguish in my tone or the silence that had followed their confrontation, they both turned towards me.

"Imogene?" Scott noticed me for the first time since he entered the clinic. "What are you doing here?"

"Not important," I said. "I think I'm in trouble. In real trouble."

"What it is?" Derek asked, somber.

"I can't feel my fingertips," I gasped.

"What are you talking about?"

"I-I may have dropped wolfsbane on my feet and hands," I squeaked. Both made attempt to go near me, but I raised my hands and shouted, "Do not come near me! If you touch me… well, nothing good can come of it."

"You need to go to a hospital," Derek growled.

"What?" Scott exclaimed.

"Wolfsbane is poisonous for humans," Derek said.

I closed my eyes. "Just not what I wanted to hear."

"The numbness will spread across your articulations, until it reaches the heart. Then it could lead to arrhythmias or general paralysis of the heart," he explained and a cold sweat broke at my forehead and ran along my back. Then, he glowered at me. " . .To.A hospital," he enunciated slowly.

I frowned. "No."

"Wait," Scott interrupted. "Did you do that too?" he asked Derek, but pointed at me.

Before Derek could defend himself, I shook my head and spoke, "No, I did this to myself."

"How?" the young boy asked.

"Well, I have always considered myself quite a clumsy person-"

"Stop talking!" Derek shouted. "Go to a hospital!"

Scott seemed to understand the gravity of the situation then. "Right. Derek, we can use your car, and… and my mother will be-"

"No," Derek stopped him. "She has to go alone."

"What?" Scott raised his voice.

"We need to find the Alpha," Derek said.

"But she's dying!" Scott yelled. "You said so!"

"She will go alone," Derek said, more composed than I felt.

"I am not going anywhere!" I shouted then, tired of being ignored. "If you're going to look for the Alpha, then I am going with you."

"No, you're not," Derek argued, taking a few steps towards me. "Take your bike and ride to a hospital. You have at least one hour until it makes full effect."

I bit my lower lip. Out of frustration, out of fear, out of anger.

"I'll take you to the hospital," Scott suddenly said.

"No, you're not," Derek told him. "If you're so sure this man has nothing to do with the Alpha, then you need to prove it."

Scott fidgeted and finally heaved an exasperated sight. "Go to the hospital, Imogene," he said, threatening. I had an idea I wasn't the recipient of his temper, but still I tested its boundaries.

"I told you. I am not going anywhere. I am fine," I lied.

"No, you're not," Derek said and I reflected on how much he was repeating those same words that night. Then again, this conversation wasn't taking us anywhere. And the dizziness gripping at my senses worsened slowly any possibility to form a coherent thought or argumentation. "You're dying, Imogene! Can't you see this is not a game?!"

I shuddered, and this time it wasn't in fear. It was my body telling me something was wrong and I wasn't doing anything to help. I tried to focus my eyesight. The instinct of preservation kicked in. "How much time do I have left?" I whispered and my voice trembled.

Derek's eyes softened and I appreciated it, because, goddamnit, I was scared. "You need to leave now." His words sounded ominous.

I used the counter as support as I circled the table and the unconscious vet. I pondered if really I was a mere inches from the Alpha. I also pondered if I would ever know the answer to that question. Though it didn't seem important anymore.

No one spoke a word until I reached the door. Just the sound of my ragged breathing.

"Be careful," Derek muttered.

I nodded groggily. "Yeah, you too. Both of you."

Then, it was all trying to focus. Focus on taking one step at a time. Focus on finding the exit. Focus on leaning against the walls. Focus on a world that moved too much and too fast for my confused senses.

I greeted the cool air with a sigh of satisfaction. It helped clear my head, although the numbness kept crawling up my limbs.

Run, I needed to run.

If I could make myself run, I would get better sooner. And getting better was my only thought and aspiration.

This was survival. I remembered my brief days as Girl Scout, after my mother had decided that I would be cute selling cookies to the neighbors. There hadn't been much survival there, but in those days I had gone camping, I liked to imagine impossible scenarios where I had to survive in the forest for days, using only my strength and intellect.

Now was the time to live the fantasy. It had turned real and frightening.

And as much as it hurt, I ran. I ran until my sides ached and I had no breath left. The cold air was no longer pleasant, as it pierced my lungs with every huff.

And when I reached my bike, parked by the bookshop, I rode as fast as I could. I couldn't feel my feet, neither my hands, so I almost fell a few times before I arrived at the hospital, drenched in sweat. My chest ached, but it only drove me to pedal faster.

I reached the counter and collapsed over it from extenuation. "I'm suffering aconitum poisoning. I need help," I told the surprised nurse.

With gentle hands and soothing words, but with the diligence of a sergeant, she, with the help of other nurses, placed me on a wheeling chair and took me to a consultating room. A balding man with thick eyebrows hastened to my side. He took my blood pressure and placed electrodes around my abdomen, chest, wrists and ankles, all the while asking me questions which I answered automatically.

Then, I was given a shot of atropine and was told to rest.

"Doctor," I called before he left the room and while I got dressed. "Am-am I…?"

He raised his caterpillar eyebrows. "Yes?"

"Is there any danger…?"

He laughed. "Did you really think you were going to die?" I blinked, disconcerted. His laughter died in a low chuckle. "You absorbed aconitum through skin. The chances of death by contact are not that high. I don't know how you got your hands on aconite. Or why. But I hope this scare helps you to understand not to play with certain things, among them, poisonous plants. Now, all there's left for you is to wait for its effects to wear off. Call your parents or your boyfriend and ask them to take you home, young lady."

I didn't find my voice, so he left the room snickering.

I remembered Derek's insistence in me leaving, which I had assumed as concern, but it was actually just a way to get me out of the way. I would have felt hurt or outraged. I did feel stupid. But I had little time to reflect on my naivety as a distant howling interrupted the quietness of the consulting room.

With shaky steps as I still felt the effects of the wolfsbane, I reached the window. I placed my hand against the cold surface of the crystal, suddenly tantalized by the frozen world outside.

Quietness and darkness, most of the time partners in crime. I left the noises of the hospital fade away to a distant corner in the back of my mind and relinquished on the peace that brought the world outside the window.

My head throbbed and I craved the comfort of my bed, but as I have come to learn things do not usually go as wished. And I waited for the inevitable and wasn't disappointed.

A shadow crossed the hospital's yard.

A very particular shadow.

A known shadow.

A supernatural shadow.

An Alpha's shadow.