"So, you're teaching Scott control?" Olivia asked Derek, leaning her head against the window of his Camaro. "How is that coming along?"
"It would be better if he actually listened to me," Derek huffed, turning down the road that led to the high school. "I told him to stay away from Allison until after the full moon and the first thing he did was go to Allison's house."
"He's an idiot."
"Yeah and he saw the alpha there."
Olivia whipped her head toward her cousin, her eyebrows raised. "Did he really? What happened?"
"He said that the alpha drew a spiral on his window," Derek glanced at Olivia, watching as her mouth slowly opened in shock. "I'm gonna look into it, all right?"
"But, Der, the spiral!" Olivia exclaimed.
The Hale family—and some of the werewolf packs that used to live around Beacon Hills—had always used the spiral to signal vengeance. Did they know who the alpha was?
Did anyone else survive the fire that they didn't know about?
"I know, Ollie, all right? I know," Derek sighed, pulling into the school parking lot. "Don't worry about it, okay? I'm looking into it."
"All right," Olivia sighed, unbuckling her seatbelt. "Just be careful, okay? For my sake."
"I'll be careful," Derek confirmed with a small smile. "I'm glad you're okay, Ollie."
Olivia gave him a bright smile and shut the passenger door. As she walked away, Derek couldn't help but be glad he didn't tell her about his run-in with Kate Argent.
As she walked into school, Olivia dropped her smile into a calm, stoic mask. Like always, she didn't want anyone to see through her. It made some of the people she went to school with think she was a stuck-up bitch, but she didn't really care what those people thought of her. She had Lydia, Jackson, Allison, and Danny—she didn't need anyone else.
She walked into her history class and corrected herself when she saw him sitting at the back of the room—maybe she had Stiles too.
Olivia caught Stiles' eye and smiled sympathetically—she had been worried about him. The night of the parent-teacher conferences, a mountain lion—a real one—attacked the school as all the parents were leaving. In the chaos, Sheriff Stilinski had been hit by a car.
She knew from the text messages she received from Stiles that Sheriff Stilinski was okay, earning only a couple of bruises. She was relieved about his dad but also kind of annoyed that the messages gave Stiles the go-ahead to rant to her about Scott McCall.
Apparently, they were in a little fight.
"Hey," Olivia greeted him, taking the seat to his right. "Feeling any better?"
"You mean am I still seething with impotent rage at my best friend?" Stiles asked bitterly. "Then no. I'm not feeling any better."
"Okay," Olivia sighed. "Well, have you talked to him?"
"No."
"Have you had any contact at all?" she prodded. "Did you play Call of Duty or something with him? Text him? Send him a message in a bottle?"
"No, no, and really?" Stiles raised an eyebrow at her. "A message in a bottle would never arrive at his house. It's nowhere near the ocean or any river."
"Okay, smartass," Olivia rolled her eyes, causing Stiles' lips to twitch. "Honestly, Stiles, I don't—"
"No, no," Stiles interrupted her, pointing at her. "You can't take his side, okay? I need someone on my side."
"I'm not on anyone's side."
"You were going to say that it wasn't Scott's fault."
"Well—"
"Nope, I'm not listening to you anymore," Stiles shook his head. "You're cut off."
"Oh, no," Olivia griped sarcastically. "What will I ever do without Stiles Stilinski in my life?"
"Die probably."
Stiles stopped speaking then because Scott walked into the room. Olivia watched as his eyes immediately fell on Stiles; she turned back to the spastic boy next to her as Scott sat down behind him. Stiles looked aggravated and uncomfortable, sitting straight in his seat and staring at the board at the front of the room.
"Still not talking to me?" Scott asked him quietly, though it was loud enough that Olivia could still hear.
She tried not to eavesdrop, but she couldn't resist looking at Stiles to see his reaction.
Scott sighed when he got no response. "Can you at least tell me if your dad's okay?" he asked. "It's just a bruise right? Some soft tissue damage? Nothing that big…"
Stiles narrowed his eyes, irritated, and clenched his jaw, poking the inside of his cheek with his tongue so he wouldn't lash out at his best friend.
"You know I feel really bad about it, right?" Scott continued. With no response, he sighed again. "Okay, what if I told you that I'm trying to figure this whole thing out and that I went to Derek for help?"
Stiles looked at Olivia to see if Scott was telling the truth. When she nodded in confirmation, he exhaled heavily.
"If I was talking to you, I'd say that you're an idiot for trusting him," he grumbled, ignoring the glare Olivia sent him. "but obviously, I'm not talking to you."
Olivia rolled her eyes, knowing what Scott told him was enough to pique his interest. Stiles didn't trust Derek, that much was clear, so there was no way he'd allow his best friend to get help from the older werewolf.
As if proving her right, Stiles turned around to face Scott. "What'd he say?"
The bell rang, so Scott couldn't give Stiles details about Derek's lessons. As soon as class was over, though, he told Stiles and Olivia—which surprised him—what Derek was planning.
"What?" Stiles exclaimed as the three of them walked out of class together. "He wants you to tap into your animal side and get angry?"
"Yeah," Scott confirmed.
"All right, well, correct me if I'm wrong, but every time you do that, you try to kill someone," Stiles reminded his best friend. "and that someone's usually me."
"I know," Scott agreed. "That's what he means when he says he doesn't know if he can teach me. I have to be able to control it."
"Well, how's he gonna teach you to do that?"
"I don't know," Scott shook his head.
"Derek uses anger as an anchor," Olivia spoke up, causing the boys to jump in shock.
They might have forgotten she was walking with them.
"An anchor?" Stiles gave her a confused look.
"Yeah, it's something or someone that anchors you to yourself," Olivia informed them. "Something that keeps you human. Anger is Derek's anchor. That's why he wants you to get angry, Scott."
"But how is Scott gonna control himself when he's so angry?" Stiles asked, trying to wrap his mind around Derek's thinking. "He changes when he's angry."
Olivia shrugged; she had no idea how to calm down an out-of-control werewolf. She didn't exactly have experience, being human and all.
"Okay," Stiles sighed, turning to Scott. "when are you seeing him again?"
Scott shrugged. "He told me not to talk about it. I have to act normal and get through the day."
Stiles held out his arm in front of Scott, stopping him in his tracks. "When?"
"He's picking me up at the animal clinic after work."
"After work," Stiles repeated under his breath. "Well, that gives me to the end of the school day, then."
"To do what?" Olivia gave him a curious look.
"To teach Scott myself."
"The what of who?" Lydia asked Allison, piercing a blueberry with her fork.
Allison, who had been telling Olivia and Lydia about something her aunt showed her on the internet, looked back up from her old book that gave details about her family history.
"The Beast of Gevaudan. Listen," Allison said, starting to read a passage from the book. "A quadruped wolf-like monster, prowling the Auvergne and South Dordogne areas of France during the year 1764 to 1767. La Bete killed over a hundred people, becoming so infamous that the King Louis the 15th sent one of his best hunters to try to kill it."
Olivia shivered and laid her head on her propped-up hand. Did this mean that Kate was trying to tell Allison about the family business? If so, this wasn't good…
"Boring," Lydia drawled, plopping another blueberry in her mouth.
"Even the church eventually declared the monster a messenger of Satan—" Allison started reading again but was interrupted by Lydia.
"Still boring."
"Lydia," Olivia nudged her cousin with her elbow before nodding at Allison to continue.
Allison gave her a thankful smile. "Cryptozoologists believe it may have been a subspecies of a hoofed predator, possibly a mesonychid."
"Slipping-into-a-coma bored," Lydia groaned.
"While others believed it was a powerful sorcerer who could shape-shift into a man-eating monster."
Olivia winced and asked, "Does any of this have anything to do with your family?"
Allison nodded and continued reading, "It is believed that La Bete was finally trapped and killed by a renown hunter who claimed his wife and four children were the first to fall prey to the creature," she looked at Olivia and Lydia with a smile. "His name was Argent."
Lydia was unimpressed. "Your ancestors killed a big wolf. So what?"
"Not just a big wolf. Take a look at this picture," Allison corrected the redhead. She held up the page she turned to, allowing the girls to see the drawing of La Bete. "What does it look like to you?"
Olivia was surprised by the drawing, which looked exactly like the alpha she had seen the other day. It was almost like the author of the book was there in the video store with her and took the time to snap a photo.
"Olivia? Lydia?" Allison called her friends' names, seeing the almost-dazed looks they were giving the picture.
Olivia shook her head as Lydia snapped, "It looks like a big wolf," she grinned and stood up. "See you in history."
As she walked away, her heels clicking against the linoleum tiles, Allison turned to Olivia. "Do you think she's okay?"
"Yeah," Olivia nodded, trying to hide how freaked out she was becoming. Allison finding out about her family's history was not good, especially when her freaking boyfriend was a newly turned werewolf. "She's probably just stressed."
Allison nodded, accepting Olivia's excuse and went back to reading about her family history.
A few rows away from them, Stiles and Scott sat at their usual table. Stiles was eating like every other day they sat in the cafeteria, but Scott was hiding. He used Stiles' history book so hide his face so Allison couldn't see him. He was supposed to be staying away from her for right now, at least until he could control his shift.
Stiles glanced back at Olivia's table and then looked to Scott, annoyed.
"I think the book's making it more obvious," he quipped, rolling his eyes. "Besides, she's reading, anyway."
Scott peeked over the top of the orange textbook and saw that Stiles was telling the truth; Allison looked fully engrossed in the book she was reading.
"Did you come up with a plan yet?" he asked Stiles.
"I think so," Stiles took a bite of his apple.
"Does that mean you don't hate me now?" Scott smiled hopefully.
"No," Stiles grumbled with his mouth full. "but your crap has infiltrated my life, so now I have to do something about it," he paused before adding, "Plus, I'm definitely a better Yoda than Derek."
"Okay, yeah, you teach me," Scott agreed, his eyes back on Allison.
"Yeah, I'll be your Yoda."
"Yeah," Scott nodded, having no idea what Stiles was talking about. "You be my Yoda…"
Stiles snickered and imitated the small, ancient, Jedi Master, "Your Yoda I will be," he laughed and informed Scott, "I said it backward—"
"Yeah, I know," Scott gave him an unimpressed look.
Stiles pursed his lips, annoyed yet again. "All right, you know what? I definitely still hate you," he declared, ripping his textbook from Scott's grasp as he stood up. "Uh-huh, yep."
Olivia didn't want to be out here.
She definitely didn't want to be skipping her Calculus class so that she could hang out at the lacrosse practice field with Dumb and Dumber—also known as Stiles and Scott. But, alas, she had been dragged away from Mr. Baker's room by Stiles, who declared that they needed her expertise to help Scott control his change.
Of course, she suggested going to Derek for help but Stiles just glared at her.
"Okay," Stiles dropped his lacrosse bag and net on the bench as he sat down. To Scott, he held out a black strap with a small monitor attached. "put this on."
Scott grabbed it and studied it with narrowed eyes. "Isn't this one of the heart rate monitors for the track team?"
"Yeah," Stiles confirmed. "I borrowed it."
"Stole it," Olivia corrected him, crossing her arms over her chest.
She felt a little antsy about missing her math class, to be honest.
Stiles glared at her. "Temporarily misappropriated," Olivia rolled her eyes while he continued, "Coach uses it to monitor his heart rate with his phone while he jogs. You're gonna wear it for the rest of the day."
He emphasized his statement by pulling Coach Finstock's phone out of his pocket.
"Are you serious?" Olivia muttered. "Is that Coach's phone, Stiles?"
"That, I stole," Stiles admitted, giving her a sheepish grin.
"Why?" Scott asked curiously, looking between Stiles and Olivia.
"All right, well, your heart rate goes up when you go wolf, right?" Stiles stated; Scott nodded. "When you're playing lacrosse, when you're with Allison, whenever you get angry. Maybe learning to control it is tied to learning to control your heart rate."
Olivia had to admit that she was pretty impressed with Stiles' thinking. For not knowing about the supernatural living in this town until a couple weeks ago, he picked up things quickly.
"Like the Incredible Hulk," Scott grinned, looking down at the monitor in his hands.
Stiles shrugged. "Kind of like the Incredible Hulk, yeah."
"No, I'm like the Incredible Hulk," Scott insisted.
Olivia rolled her eyes. "The only thing you have in common with Dr. Bruce Banner is that you hulk-out when you can't control your heart rate," she snapped, ignoring Stiles' amused smile. "Now would you shut up and put the stupid strap on?"
"Fine," Scott grumped, hiking up his shirt to put the heart monitor around his torso. "This isn't exactly how I wanted to spend my free period."
Olivia pursed her lips; she was missing calculus, so she didn't know why he was complaining.
Once Scott had the strap placed around him correctly, Stiles wrapped up his wrists with duct tape behind his back so he couldn't catch any of the balls that Stiles was going to whip at him. Stiles walked across the field where Olivia was standing with the bag of lacrosse balls, his net held firmly in his hands.
"All right, you ready?" he called to his best friend.
"No."
"Remember, don't get angry," Stiles reminded him. "Livvy, the monitor, please."
Olivia glared at him—she was really tired of him calling her that—and opened up the monitor app on Coach's phone.
"I'm starting to think this was a really bad idea!" Scott called out to them.
Stiles ignored him and scooped up the ball that Olivia set on the ground, flinging his net back and throwing it at Scott. The ball hit him right in the stomach, causing him to groan and bend over from the pain.
Stiles laughed in glee as Scott's heart rate rose to one hundred and fifteen. He scooped up another ball and whipped it at Scott, hitting him in the chin.
Olivia winced; that one looked painful.
"Okay, that one kind of hurt," Scott groaned.
"Quiet," Stiles commanded. "Remember, you're supposed to be thinking about your heart rate, all right? About staying calm."
"Stay calm," Scott muttered as a ball hit him in the shoulder. "Staying calm. Staying totally calm. There's no balls flying in my face—" he groaned as another ball hit him in the jaw.
Olivia watched the rapidly-climbing heart monitor as Stiles threw another ball at Scott, hitting him in the chest.
"Ow, son of a bitch!"
"You know what?" Stiles smirked. "I think my aim is actually improving!"
"Wonder why?" Scott spat angrily.
"Uh, uh, uh," Stiles clicked his tongue mockingly, the heart monitor raising to one hundred and thirty. "don't get angry."
"I'm not getting angry."
Stiles continued throwing balls at Scott, hitting him over and over again. Scott's heart rate continued rising as Olivia watched, growing bored.
Why exactly am I supposed to be here? She thought to herself.
"Wait, wait," Scott begged. "Just—can we just hold—"
Another ball hit Scott in the balls, making a painful groan escape from his lips. He fell to his knees and grunted while the heart monitor started to beep. His heart rate was at one hundred and sixty and rising, which Olivia and Stiles knew couldn't be good.
"Scott?" Stiles called wearily.
Scott didn't answer, grunting again as he ripped the duct tape around his wrist and gripped at the grass underneath him. The beeping from the monitor started to slow down as his heart rate lowered and he resisted his change.
Stiles approached him hesitantly. "Scott?" he said softly. "Scott, you started to change."
"From anger," Scott said, looking up at Stiles and Olivia, who had walked toward him. "But it was more than that. It was like the angrier I got, the stronger I felt."
"So, it is anger, then," Stiles confirmed. "Derek's right."
Olivia made a satisfied noise, causing Stiles to glare at her.
"I can't be around Allison," Scott declared.
"Just because she makes you happy?" Olivia spoke up, confused.
What did Allison have to do with Scott's anger?
"No," Scott shook his head. "because she makes me weak."
"All right, so you stay away from her for a few days, you can do that," Stiles encouraged Scott as they walked to Stiles' game locker.
Olivia had refused to step foot in the boys' locker room, so she had told them she'd meet them in Economics class.
"But is it a few days or is it forever?" Scott replied hopelessly as Stiles put his lacrosse things back in his locker.
"You know, this whole women-make-you-weak thing is a little too Spartan warrior for me," Stiles complained honestly. "It's probably just a part of the learning process."
Sure, Allison made Scott's heart race, but didn't everyone say that love gives you power? Did that not apply in werewolf cases or something?
"Yeah, but you've seen Derek," Scott reminded him. "I mean, the guy's totally alone."
"He's got Olivia," Stiles pointed out.
"I mean romantically," Scott corrected himself. "What if I can, like, never be around Allison again?"
"Well, if you're not dead, that could be a good thing."
Scott shook his head. "I'd rather be dead."
Stiles rolled his eyes; he knew that Scott liked Allison and she was a nice girl and all, but was it really that serious? Her family were werewolf hunters that would literally kill him and all he cared about was the fact that he couldn't be with Allison.
It was a little Romeo and Juliet for Stiles' taste. And he really didn't like Shakespeare.
"All right," Stiles sighed. "you're not gonna end up like Derek, okay? We'll figure it out."
"Okay."
"Come on," Stiles urged, looking at his watch. They had class in a few minutes. "Let's get out of here."
"Yeah," Scott agreed, following Stiles out of the locker room. "Something smells terrible in here, anyway."
"Really?" Stiles asked sarcastically. "In a boys' locker room? That doesn't make any sense at all."
Olivia was checking her Instagram feed as Coach walked into his classroom. He set a pile of worksheets on his desk as the bell rang and other students started filing into the room.
"Let's go," he urged loudly. "Sit, sit, sit. We've got a lot to cover today."
Olivia looked away from her phone as someone tapped her desk. She looked up to see Stiles grinning at her as he placed his things at the desk in front of her. No matter how much she wanted to not give him the satisfaction of smiling at him, she couldn't help it.
Stiles' grin grew larger, if that was possible.
"Let's go!" Coach exclaimed. "Quicker."
"Hey, Stiles," Scott called from an aisle over. "sit behind me, dude."
Stiles gave Olivia a reluctant look but nodded, heaving his things off his chosen desk to the one behind Scott. Unfortunately, Allison beat him to the seat and gave him a triumphant smile.
Stiles didn't seem too put out as he sat back at the desk in front of Olivia.
"Hey, so, is Derek involved?" Stiles turned around and asked Olivia, clearing his throat. "You know, like, romantically?"
He wanted to know if werewolves were doomed to be alone forever. He didn't want that for Scott.
Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want to know?"
"Um, well, it's funny," he scratched the back of his neck. "Uh, Scott and I, were—it's not like that, honestly. I mean, I like girls, so…"
"Okay…"
"It's just—"
"Stilinski, shut it!" Coach called from the front of the room. "All right let's settle down. Let's start with a quick summary of last night's reading."
Greenberg, who was sitting in front of Stiles, put his hand up to volunteer for the summary.
"Greenberg put your hand down," Coach snapped. "Everybody knows you did the reading," he looked around the room, his gaze falling on Scott. "How about you, McCall?"
Scott looked up, having not paid attention. "What?"
"The reading," Coach said simply, walking around his desk to lean against it.
"Last night's reading?"
"No, how about, uh, the reading of the Gettysburg Address?" Coach muttered sarcastically.
Some of the students chuckled, including Olivia. She couldn't help it, she liked Coach's wit sometimes.
"What?"
"That's sarcasm," Coach informed Scott. "Are you familiar with the term sarcasm, McCall?"
Scott glanced at Stiles, who smirked. "Very."
Olivia rolled her eyes—from the brief time she had started to talk to Stiles Stilinski, she knew he was very versed in the ways of sarcasm.
"Did you do the reading or not?" Coach asked Scott bluntly.
"Uh, I think I forgot," Scott admitted.
"Nice work, McCall," Coach frowned. "It's not like you're not averaging a 'D' in this class. Come on, buddy, you know I can't keep you on the team if you have a 'D'."
Scott ducked his head, embarrassed by Coach's attention.
"How about you summarize the previous night's reading?" Coach prompted; Scott shook his head. "No? How about the night before that? How about you summarize anything you've ever read in your entire life?"
"I—uh—"
Olivia frowned, sympathizing with Scott. Coach was practically bullying him in front of the whole class—it was like Coach had been replaced by Severus Snape. Usually she liked Coach but he did have his bad moments sometimes.
"No?" Coach continued and Stiles turned around, subtly showing Olivia the heart monitor that Scott still wore, freaking out. "A blog? How about the back of a cereal box? No? How about the adults-only warning from your favorite website you visit every night? Anything?"
Scott shook his head.
"Thank you, McCall, thank you!" Coach shouted, banging his desk. "Thank you for extinguishing any last flicker of hope I have for your generation. You just blew it for everybody. Thanks. Next practice you can start with suicide runs."
And then, as the heart monitor reached one hundred and sixty, it started lowering. Olivia, astonished that Scott calmed down so quickly, studied the new werewolf. With a start, she noticed that he and Allison were holding hands under their desks—she nudged Stiles, showing him.
It looked like Scott found his anchor.
When Economics class ended, Stiles waited outside for Scott after Olivia took off to the library for her free period. He dragged Scott halfway down the hallway in case Coach needed to yell at him some more.
"It's her," he told his best friend.
Scott looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"
"It's Allison," Stiles said. "Remember what you told me about the night of the full moon? You were thinking about her, right? About wanting to protect her."
"Okay."
"Remember the night of the first lacrosse game? You said that you could hear her voice out on the field."
"Yeah, I did."
"Well, so that's what brought you back so you could score," Stiles explained. "And then after the game in the locker room, you didn't kill her—at least, not like how you were trying to kill me. She brings you back, is what I'm saying."
"No, no, no," Scott disagreed, remembering the times that he lost control while making out with Allison. "but it's not always true because literally every time I'm kissing her or touching her—"
"No," Stiles interrupted him. "that's not the same. When you're doing that, you're just another hormonal teenager thinking about sex, you know?"
Scott smiled, looking dazed.
Stiles sighed. "You're thinking about sex right now, aren't you?"
"Yeah," Scott apologized. "sorry."
"That's fine. Look, back in the classroom when she was holding your hand, that was different, okay?" Stiles declared. "I don't think she makes you weak. I think she actually gives you control. Remember what Olivia was saying about anchors? Allison's yours."
"You mean because I love her?"
Stiles nodded. "Exactly."
Scott stopped, surprised by his casual statement. "Did I just say that?"
"Yes, you just said that."
Scott laughed happily. "I love her."
"That's great," Stiles placated him. "Now, moving on—"
"No, no, really," Scott cut him off. "I think I'm totally in love with her."
"And that's beautiful," Stiles agreed, slightly annoyed. He was trying to help, here. "Now, before you go off and write a sonnet, can we figure this out, please? You obviously can't be around her all the time."
"Yeah, yeah, sorry," Scott focused. "So, what do I do?"
Stiles sighed, aggravated that he didn't have a plan already. "I don't know yet."
He paced back and forth for a couple of seconds before grinning in realization.
"Oh, no," Scott groaned, recognizing that famous look. Stiles had an idea. "You're getting an idea, aren't you?"
"Yeah."
"Is this idea gonna get me in trouble?"
"Maybe."
"Is this idea gonna cause me physical pain?"
Stiles nodded, smirking. "Oh, yeah. Definitely."
An hour later, Stiles and Scott sat in Mr. Harris' classroom, serving their hour-long detention.
After Stiles led a group of guys to believe that Scott had keyed their truck, the guys started beating the new werewolf up. Luckily, Scott controlled his change, but unfortunately, Mr. Harris caught them. Instead of giving the people beating up Scott detention, Mr. Harris decided to give Scott and Stiles an hour for their trouble.
What a great teacher.
"Excuse me, sir?" Scott piped up, looking at Mr. Harris. "Uh, I know it's detention and all but I'm supposed to be at work and I don't want to get fired."
Mr. Harris simply stared at him, not at all bothered by Scott's trouble.
Scott sighed and turned to Stiles, whispering, "You knew I would heal."
"Yep," Stiles replied shortly, tapping his fingers on the lab table they sat at.
"So you did that to help me learn?"
"Yep."
"But partially to punish me."
"Yeah, well that one's obvious," Stiles sighed.
"Dude," Scott gave him a serious look. "you're my best friend and I can't have you being angry with me."
"I'm not angry anymore," Stiles admitted. "Look, you have something, Scott, okay? Whether you want it or not, you can do things that nobody else can do. So, that means you don't have a choice anymore. It means you have to do something."
To be honest, Stiles felt like Peter Parker's Uncle Ben. Here he was, giving Scott a responsibility talk.
"I know," Scott nodded seriously. "and I will."
Stiles smiled at him, glad that Scott was going to start taking his powers—and what he could do with them—seriously.
"All right," Mr. Harris spoke up. "both of you, get out of here."
Stiles and Scott grinned at each other, grabbing their things off the table and rushing out of the lab.
"Do you know what your cousin is doing?" Stiles asked into his phone, frustrated and a little angry. He glanced at Scott in the passenger seat as they headed to the school, looking just as irritated at him.
"No," Olivia replied, sounding confused. "Am I supposed to?"
"I don't know, are you?"
"I'm not his keeper, Stiles!" she exclaimed. "Tell me what's going on or I'm hanging up."
"Derek kidnapped Scott's boss," Stiles informed her.
"Dr. Deaton?"
"Yeah," Scott confirmed, glad that the call was on speaker phone. "He thinks that Deaton's the alpha."
"Really?"
"Yes," Scott grunted. "What do you know about it?"
"Nothing," Olivia answered. "Derek said he was looking into something today, but he never contacted me about Dr. Deaton. I don't know what's going on. He really thinks Dr. Deaton's the alpha?"
"Yep."
"Well, he must have a reason, then," Olivia maintained.
"Are you serious?" Scott and Stiles asked at the same time, both in disbelief.
"Well, Derek wouldn't beat up an innocent man," Olivia insisted. "Do you want me to meet up with you guys? Where are you headed?"
"No, we're going to the school," Stiles told her. "Scott's going to call the alpha."
"Wait, are you serious?"
"Yep, bye now."
"No, Stiles, wait—"
Stiles hung up his phone as he swung into the school parking lot, parking haphazardly. He and Scott got out of the vehicle, walking around the back. Stiles opened the trunk, pulling out a pair of bolt cutters.
"This is a terrible idea," he told Scott bluntly.
"Yeah," Scott agreed. "I know."
"But we're still gonna do it?"
"Can you think of something better?" Scott asked, looking around the empty parking lot.
The school seemed much creepier in the dark.
"Well, personally, I'm a fan of ignoring a problem until eventually it goes away," Stiles quipped.
Scott rolled his eyes. "Just make sure we can get inside," as Stiles held up the bolt cutters for Scott to see, Derek pulled into the parking lot. "He's here."
Derek parked his Camaro a few spots away and got out, slamming his door shut. He approached Stiles and Scott, an irritated look on his face.
"Did you seriously tell Olivia about this?" he asked sharply, having gotten a phone call from his cousin just before he pulled up.
"Yeah," Scott shrugged, unbothered. "Where's my boss."
"He's in the back," Derek pointed to the backseat of his car.
Stiles and Scott peaked into the window, seeing Dr. Deaton tied up and gagged, still unconscious from Derek's earlier blows.
"Well, he looks comfortable," Stiles commented, glaring at Derek.
Scott glared at Derek and then nudged Stiles, gesturing toward the school. They both started walking up to the bolted doors but stopped as Derek called out to them.
"Wait, what are you doing?" he asked them, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his leather jacket.
"You said I was linked with the alpha," Scott reminded him. "I'm gonna see if you're right."
Derek didn't object—though the boys wouldn't listen if they did—and they walked to the door. Stiles snipped through the chains around the handles, and they walked in, heading to the main office so that Scott could use the intercom.
"Okay, one question," Stiles spoke up as they entered the office. "What are you gonna do if the alpha doesn't show up?"
Scott shrugged. "I don't know."
Stiles rounded the secretary's desk and located the intercom microphone. "And what are you gonna do if he does show up?"
He turned the microphone on as Scott said, "I don't know."
Stiles pursed his lips. "Good plan."
"All right," Scott sighed. "You said that a wolf howls to signal his position to the rest of the pack, right?"
"Right," Stiles confirmed. "but if you bring him here, does that make you part of his pack?"
Scott grimaced at the thought. "I hope not."
"Yeah, me too," Stiles said, placing them microphone in front of Scott. "All right, all you."
Scott cleared his throat and let out a horrendous wail that had Stiles covering his ears. It sounded absolutely horrible.
Scott stopped making whatever noise he was making and looked at Stiles. "Was that okay? I mean, that was a howl, right?"
Stiles bowed his head, cringing at the memory of Scott trying to howl. God, it was horrific. "I—yeah, technically."
God, no, it wasn't.
"Well, what did it sound like to you?"
"Like a cat being choked to death, Scott," Stiles said honestly.
Scott panicked instantly, throwing his arms around in a way that reminded Stiles of himself. "What do I do? How am I supposed to do this?"
Seeing his best friend freak out wasn't fun, so Stiles walked from the desk to behind Scott, resting his hands on his shoulders. "Hey, listen to me," he said encouragingly. "You're calling the alpha, all right? Be a man. Be a werewolf, not a teen wolf. Be a werewolf."
"Okay."
Scott took a deep breath and let out a mighty roar. It was amazing and it was so loud, Stiles wouldn't be surprised if all the windows in the building shook from the intensity.
They celebrated all the way out of the school until they came face-to-face with Derek again.
"I'm gonna kill the both of you," he declared angrily. "What the fuck was that? What are you trying to do, attract the entire state to the school?"
"Sorry, I didn't know it would be that loud," Scott apologized.
"Yeah, it was loud," Stiles agreed happily, chuckling. "and it was awesome!"
Derek glared at him. "Shut up."
Stiles rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a sour wolf."
Scott shuffled over to Derek's car, peeking into the back seat again. To his surprise, Dr. Deaton was no where to be found.
"What'd you do with him?" he asked Derek sharply.
"What?" Derek looked at the empty seat. "I didn't do anything."
There was low growling behind Derek and, before he could move, the alpha appeared, piercing through Derek's chest with his claws. Blood spurted out of Derek's mouth as Scott and Stiles looked on, horrified.
As the alpha threw Derek to the side, Stiles and Scott ran to the school, hoping they'd see the next day.