It's the Same Wherever You Go

Chapter Twenty-Eight

We Need to Talk About Jackson

Jaydra's eyes never waver from Detective Henriksen, as the man gestures for Jaydra to sit in front of him, beside Scott and Stiles.

"Hello, Miss Winchester," Henriksen grins darkly. "Imagine my surprise when my good friend, David Whittemore, called and told me about all the horror his son endured at the hands of a Winchester!"

The teenage hunter glares at the detective. "Isn't that a breach in keeping everything anonymous? You know?" Jaydra says, a small smirk on her face. "The whole innocent until proven guilty?"

David Whittemore scoffs loudly. "Oh please! My son mentioned all three of you by name! You're all guilty!"

Jaydra's glare moved from Henriksen to Mr. Whittemore, and the latter was clearly nervous by the state of the girl's glare. Her normally bright and vibrant eyes were hard, cold. Almost like she went into a trance.

And she was in one. One of the many training routines John Winchester put his children through, police interrogation was one of the more common ones, outside of the usual, "How do you kill this?"

When the teenager's glare broke away from him, Henriksen looks over to Sheriff Stilinski. "I'm amazed, Sheriff. You took in this young rebel, brought her into your house! Even let her around your son with her track record!"

"What are you talking about?" John looks over at Jaydra, with a mixture of shock and slight disappointment behind his eyes. And that put a crack into her stoic appearance, and once it cracks, it begins to crumble.

Henriksen grins, knowing he couldn't break Jaydra, so he did the next best thing. Go after her live-in family. "You don't know?"

"SHUT UP!" the teenager snaps, making everyone in the room jump. "None of that shit matters now!"

"What are you two talking about?!" the Sheriff growls, looking between the two of them.

"Oh, nothing much! Just about her involvement with her brothers in some possible murders, grave robbing, and theft," Henriksen reads off a paper inside a folder with Jaydra's name across.

Before the Sheriff could even fathom a thought about what the detective talked about, Jaydra jumps in. "For one, none of those ever stuck to me! I can even call a detective that will back my case on this!"

And as Jaydra opens her mouth to continue her second point, Henriksen jumps in. "Even in Indiana? Your brother almost killed that woman!"

Jaydra leans back in her chair, laughing mockingly. "You didn't do your homework on this, did you? That wasn't my brother! Just a man that looked a hell of a lot like him!" Jaydra's green eyes narrow in on the detective, noticing a small line of sweat forming on his forehead. She's got him in a corner. "That man is currently six feet in the ground. Want me to show you the plot he's buried?"

Henriksen doesn't say a word, but Jaydra isn't finished. "I finally have a good life here in this town. And you come in here and try to destroy my world with all your false accusations!"

"Jaydra," John says, making the teen look at her father figure. "That's enough. You, Scott, and Stiles go into the other room. I have some things to discuss with the Lawyer and Detective."

ITSWYG

Jaydra sits in a chair in an empty interrogation room, while Stiles and Scott stand across the table.

"I'm calling Allison, she's got to have some idea about what's going on," Scott declares, his fingers flying over the numbers of Jaydra's phone.

Due to Allison's mom and dad suspecting their daughter is still running around with the werewolf pup, Scott decides to use a separate phone than his. Usually his best friends.

Allison answers on the second ring, and quickly receives a rundown of what happened in the past few hours.

"If Jackson doesn't know what he's doing, then he probably doesn't know that someone's controlling him," the teenage Argent reasons, coming to the same conclusion Jaydra did.

Scott jumps in. "Or he doesn't remember."

Stiles leans over the table, staring at the phone on the middle of the table. "What if it's the same kind of thing that happened with Lydia when she took off from the hospital?"

"What?" Jaydra inquires. "Like a fugue state? That would explain the memory loss . . ."

Scott closes his eyes, his brain swimming in thoughts. "He'd have to forget everything . . . The murder . . ."

"Getting rid of the blood," Allison chimes in.

Stiles sits in the other chair in the room. "Yeah, he had help with one thing though, the video." The buzzcut teenager runs his hand over his face, trying to think clearly. "And someone else helped him forget that."

"Whoever's controlling him," Scott puts in.

The three teens slowly went into silence, until Allison broke the tension. "Are you sure Jackson has no clue about any of this?"

Stiles scoffs at the idea. "He thinks he's still becoming a werewolf and that being with Lydia somehow delayed the whole thing."

"Which is the stupidest idea I've heard," Jaydra sneers, leaning back in her chair.

Ignoring the hunter's comment, Allison continues, "So do we try and convince him he's not?"

"If it helps us find out who's controlling him, then yeah . . ." Scott resolves, relieving some of the tension that held in the air.

"But the main question, will he talk to us after what we did?" Jaydra offers, returning the tension back to the room.

"Yeah, he'll talk to us!" Stiles assures, before giving a nervous expression to the other two in the room. "R-Right?"

ITSWYG

Back in the room with Jackson's father, Henriksen, and John Stilinski, Jaydra had a sinking feeling that Jackson wasn't going to be talking to them anytime soon.

"You will not go within fifty feet of Jackson Whittemore," the Sheriff reads. "You will not speak to him, you will not approach him, and you will not assault or harass him physically or psychologically."

~A restraining order?~ Jaydra hums in the back of her mind. ~Add another to the list . . .~

"What about school?" Stiles asks, looking up at his dad.

John crosses his arms, staring down his son. "You can attend classes while attempting to maintain a fifty-foot distance."

Stiles rubs the back of his neck, another question popping into his brain. "Okay . . . but what if we both have to use the bathroom at the same time, and there's only two stalls available and they're right next to each oth-"

Jaydra elbows Stiles in the ribs, hissing under her breath, "Shut up!"

Stiles looks up at his dad, who is glaring at him. "I'll just hold it . . ." he softly admits.

After reading the restraining order, the sheriff pulls Jaydra and Stiles aside. "Do I need to remind you two how lucky we are that they're not pressing charges?!"

"Oh, come on," Stiles groans out. "It was just a joke!"

"A joke?!" the sheriff scoffs, looking between the two teenagers.

Stiles, not seeing how truly angry John was, continues, "Yes, I didn't think it would be taken this seriously!" Stiles notices the disbelieve look his dad gives him. "Dad, humor's very subjective, okay? I mean, we're talking, like, multiple levels of interpretation here!"

John pinches the bridge of his nose, breathing out long and hard. "Okay, well, how exactly am I supposed to interpret the stolen prison transport van, huh?"

"At least we filled the tank," Jaydra interjects, leaning against the wall.

At her interruption, John turns his attention onto her. "And you! What's all this information that the FBI agent gave me?!" he snaps, slamming down the folder with Jaydra's name on it.

"Oh please!" Jaydra sneers, glaring at the stack of papers before looking up at John. "None of those stuck with me! Henriksen just has a raging hate boner for my brothers, okay? All because of a misunderstanding!"

John sighs loudly, his shoulders slumping. "You couldn't have warned me about this?"

"Have you even looked at them?!" Jaydra snaps, the silent anger that's been bubbling up inside of her since she first seen Henriksen bursting. "My name is nowhere on there! Only that I'm related to the two brothers and was in their custody after our dad died! Then I was put into Bobby's care because I was a minor and they didn't think that a life on the road was good enough for me!"

Jaydra takes in a deep breath, angry tears prickling at her eyes. John Stilinski was her father figure now, and she's disappointing him. Just like she did with her real father.

"I'm going home," Jaydra announces, before looking at back at the sheriff. "That is if I'm still allowed to be there, since I'm such a delinquent."

John opens his mouth to rebuttal her comment, but Jaydra storms out of the sheriff's office, the tears finally falling from her eyes.

ITSWYG

Laying in her bed in the Stilinski home, Jaydra reads one of her books, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to be exact.

As her redden eyes scan over the letters, she feels her phone vibrate on her thigh, but she's planning to ignore it, thinking it's another text from John, until a small chime echoes in the room.

Derek's text alert.

Unlocking her phone, Jaydra reads Derek's message.

"Everything okay?" the message reads. "Haven't heard from you all day."

The teenage hunter smiles fondly at her phone at the message, glad Derek worries about her.

"Just had a run-in with the FBI, and I think John might not trust me anymore . . ." Jaydra sends back.

"I have a feeling Jackson is the root of the problem," Derek writes, making Jaydra snicker. But before she can respond, another text comes in. "Which reminds me, I'm testing the betas to see if they can figure out who the Kanima is on their own."

Jaydra raises an eyebrow. "You haven't told them?"

"If they're going to be in my pack, I have to know if they can figure things out on their own. It's the perfect learning experience," he defends.

Even if Derek has confidence that his betas can solve the riddle of who the Kanima is, Jaydra felt worry creep up her spine.

"Aren't you worried that they'll be alone with Sir Jackass? And he could snap?" Jaydra sends, biting at her lip.

"Not really," Derek texts. "You'll be with them, mama wolf."

Jaydra's eyes widen as she reads his words over and over. He called her mama wolf. Jaydra couldn't stop the blush creeping up her cheeks, even if her life depended on it.

"Cute, Alpha . . ." she mutters to herself, a small smile on her face. "Really cute."

ITSWYG

After messaging Derek, Jaydra fell asleep. Nervous about the tension the next morning, she cautiously goes downstairs to see John handing her a plate.

"This mean I still get to live here, or is this my last meal?" Jaydra asks, somewhat joking, and somewhat serious.

John chuckles lightly at the comment. "I couldn't kick you out. Bobby would've kicked my ass."

Jaydra lets out a loud sigh of relief.

"I still wish you told me," John continues, making Jaydra look up at the Sheriff. "But after glancing over Henriksen's notes, I understand what you're coming from. He really doesn't have a case against you, but definitely against your brothers."

Jaydra nods and eats her food, before running out to her car to head off to school. But before she runs out to her car, Jaydra walks over to the couch where she threw her (Derek's) jacket a few nights before. She pulls on said jacket and runs out the door.

Before first period, Jaydra, Stiles, and Scott all race to the library to meet up with Allison, who was giving the trio information from the bestiary that Lydia could translate.

"It's everything Lydia could figure out," Allison says, reaching the meeting place. "And trust me, she was very confused . . ."

"What did you tell her?" Scott inquires.

Allison chuckles softly. "I told her that we were part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures."

Stiles slowly looks up and locks eyes with the Argent. "I am part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures . . ."

Jaydra's hand raises slightly. "Same here. But I mostly play Dragon Age and Neverwinter . . ."

"I've heard good things about Neverwinter!" Stiles grins over at his roommate.

"R-Right . . ." Allison says softly, looking back down at the bestiary on her tablet.

Scott shakes his head, looking back over at his secret girlfriend. "Okay, but does it say how to find out who's controlling him?"

Scrolling down the tablet page, Allison shakes his head. "Not really . . . But Stiles was right about the murderers."

"YES!" Stiles cheers, causing some of the other students in the library to look at the group strangely.

"It calls the Kanima a weapon of vengeance," Allison continues. "There's a story in there about this South American priest who uses the Kanima to execute murderers in his village-"

"All right, see?" Stiles argues. "So maybe it's not all that bad . . ."

Allison just sighs and continues reading, "Until the bond grew strong enough that it killed whoever he wanted to."

"All bad, all very, very bad . . ." Stiles implies, walking over to a bookshelf and pantomiming slamming his head against the book rack.

Allison waits until Stiles finishes at the bookshelf before continuing, "Here's the thing, though. The kanima's actually supposed to be a werewolf . . ."

"Wait, what?" Jaydra says, walking around to stand by Scott, reading the passage on the tablet as well. "But then how did we go from werewolf town to snakeville?"

"A Kanima can't be a werewolf until it resolves that in its past which manifested it . . ." Scott reads, a small quiver in his voice. It was hard to imagine that it was possible Scott could've been a Kanima.

Jaydra re-reads the passage again, before sighing and looking at the group. "Okay, if that means that Jackson could use a few thousand hours of therapy, I could've told you that the day I moved here."

Ignoring the hunter's jab at the Kanima in question, Allison looks over at Scott. "What if . . . What if it has something to do with his parents? His real parents?"

"Wait, he's adopted?" Jaydra questions, her green eyes narrowing.

Scott nods. "Yeah, but does anybody actually know what happened to them?" the young werewolf pup inquires.

"Lydia might," Stiles offers.

Scott looks over at his buzzcut friend. "What if she doesn't know anything?"

"Yeah, talking's kind of hard when you have restraining orders," Jaydra comments.

"Well . . ." Allison begins, cautiously looking at the group. "Jackson doesn't have a restraining order against me, so I'll talk to him myself!"

Visibly tensing up, Scott looks over at his girlfriend. "O-Okay, what do I do?"

"You have a make-up exam, remember?" Allison chides softly through the bookshelf, reaching through to touch Scott's hand. "Promise me."

~And I've mentally checked out of this conversation,~ Jaydra thought, moving to leave the aisle. "I'm heading off to my next class, keep me informed everyone."

ITSWYG

After her class finishes, Jaydra skips ahead and finds Stiles.

"Hey! Any lucky with Lydia?" the teenage hunter urges, walking with her roommate.

"No," Stiles says, sadly, only to grunt when a familiar female runs into him. Well, more like slam him up against the lockers, with some sharp, claws. "Hey, Erica . . ."

"Why are you asking Lydia about Jackson's real parents?" Erica hisses at Stiles, her eyes fading to a soft golden color.

Jaydra crosses her arms, realizing that Erica was solely focusing on Stiles that the young female beta didn't register the hunter.

"Why are you bringing out the claws on camera?" Jaydra calls out, making Erica focus on her and realize Jaydra's been there the whole time. "Careful, Derek doesn't like mistakes and neither do I, pup."

Retracting her claws, Erica looks back at Stiles. "If you're wondering about Jackson's parents, they're about half a mile from here. In Beacon Hills Cemetery."

"They're dead," Jaydra says, before running a hand through her hair. "Option I didn't see coming."

Stiles looks down at Erica. "Do you know how they died?"

"Maybe," Erica smirks, crossing her arms and walking away, knowing the teenager will follow. "If you tell me why you're so interested."

"Um-" Stiles starts, but he was interrupted when Erica turns and looks at him.

"It's him, isn't it?!" she gasps. "The test didn't work, but it's still him! It's Jackson!"

Stiles' eyes widen, looking over at Jaydra. "I-I'm so sorry! Now Derek's goi-"

Jaydra holds up her hands. "Easy, Stiles, Derek knows. It was a test for the bet-"

Suddenly, yelling is heard down the hallway, and sounds a lot like Scott.

Stiles, Erica, and Jaydra all take off running towards the source of the noise, only to see Scott knock Jackson out of the locker room, and stalking out of the room.

Acting on instinct, Jaydra runs over and hooks her arms around Scott, holding him back from killing Jackson in that second. But with Scott being a young, strong, werewolf, Jaydra feels her feet skid across the floor, closer to Jackson.

"STILES! Quit standing there and gawking and FUCKING HELP ME!" Jaydra snaps, her green eye glaring at Stiles, for the teenager to finally kick into gear and run over to help hold Scott back, while Erica tends to hold Jackson back.

"What the hell is going on here?!" a painfully familiar voice yells out, stepping into the groups field of visions. Mr. Harris. "Enough! What do you idiots think you're doing?!"

Looking around at the situation, Harris does the best course of action in his mind. "All of you, detention. Three o'clock." And with that, he takes his leave.

"Well, that could have gone better," Jaydra hums.

ITSWYG

When three o'clock comes around, the detention ruled students walk into the library. Jaydra, Scott, Stiles, and Erica all sit at one table, but when Jackson comes in, he seems to have a problem.

"We can't be in detention together," he says, motioning to the familiar trio. "I have a restraining order against these tools."

"These tools?" Harris asks, raising an eyebrow.

Shaking his head, Stiles raises his hand. "No, just us three tools."

"Fine, you three over here," Harris says, motioning to another table.

The trio stand and sit at the new table, but as they sit down, Scott stares down at Jackson.

"I'm going to kill him," he growls out.

Strangely, it was Stiles being the voice of reason. "No, you're not," he reasons. "You're going to find out who's controlling him and then you're going to help save him."

"No, you're right," Scott sighs, before his eyes narrow in on the jock. "Let's kill him."

"I have the tools," Jaydra offers, only rub the back of her head from the swap on the back of the head via Stiles.

"H-Hey, what if it's Matt?" Stiles suddenly offers. "I mean, this whole thing comes back to the video, right?"

"Danny said that Matt was the one who found the two hours of footage missing," Jaydra comments, shrugging off her jacket and laying her head on the table, using the jacket as a pillow, trying to think of what the next course of action will be.

"Exactly!" Stiles exclaims, motioning his arms wildly. "He's trying to throw suspicion off himself."

"So, he makes Jackson kill Isaac's dad, one of the Argents hunters, and the mechanic working on your jeep?" Scott lists off, trying to follow the same train of thought of Stiles.

"Yes! Exactly!" Stiles says.

Raising her head up, Jaydra asks the all-important question, "Why?"

"Because . . . Because he's evil . . .!" he finally yells out.

Scott chuckles softly, glad to have this small distraction from his burning anger from Jackson. "You just don't like him."

Stiles opens his mouth repeatedly before finally saying anything. "That guy . . . Bugs me," he finally says, before going to continue, "I don't know what it is . . . Just look at his face!"

Scott and Jaydra look up to see Matt eating out of a bag of chips, offering some to Jackson who just rolls his eyes.

"Any other theories?" Scott asks, only to notice that Jackson gets up and leaves to go to the bathroom, with Harris behind him.

With the two gone, Jaydra, Scott, and Stiles all run to get to Erica's table.

"Stiles says you know how Jackson's parents died," Scott declares, sitting across from Erica.

"Maybe," she says, reading a book.

Noticing how cold she was to the others, Jaydra squeezes Erica's shoulders. "Talk."

Erica looks over and notices how serious Jaydra is, and starts explaining. "It was a car accident. My dad was the insurance investigator, and every time he sees Jackson drive by in his Porsche, he makes some comment about the huge settlement he'll be getting when he's eighteen."

Stiles' eyes widen. "Wait, so not only is Jackson rich now, but he's getting even richer at eighteen?!"

"Yep," Erica says.

"There is something so deeply wrong with that!" Stiles whines, laying his head down.

"That tells us that his parent's left him everything, but not exactly how they died," Jaydra comments.

Erica looks up, thinking. "You know what? I could try to find the insurance report on my dad's inbox. He keeps everything!" Erica reaches down to her messenger bag and pulls out her red laptop, opening it and logging on.

As Erica dug though the emails on her computer, a voice came over the loud speaker. "Scott McCall, please report to the principal's office."

Before Scott could grab his belongings, Jaydra looks over and calmly asks, "Should I start the cliché 'oooooooooo' trend?"

The young werewolf glares at the hunter with his chocolate brown eyes before getting up and leaving.

"I found it!" Erica squeals, after a few more minutes of searching.

"Look at the dates!" Stiles says, his finger moving close to the computer screen.

Erica's brown eyes scan over the screen. "Passengers arrived at the hospital DOA . . . The estimated time of death was nine twenty-six PM, June fourteenth, nineteen ninety-five . . ."

"And Jackson's birthday is June fifteenth . . ." Stiles informs.

"Man, this case is just getting weirder and weirder!" Jaydra hums, sitting back in her chair.

Her green eyes cast up to the ceiling as she tries to figure out what to do next. But that's interrupted when Harris walks back into the room and began to gather his stuff together to leave.

Just as the others begin to gather their stuff, Harris begins chuckling. "Oh, no, I'm sorry . . . Um, yes, I'm leaving. But none of you are." He lays his hands on top of the four carts filled with books. "You may go when you're done with the re-shelving. Enjoy the rest of your evening."

Jaydra's mouth drops open. "This is cruel and unusual punishment!" she yells out as Harris leaves the library.

Stiles looks over at her with a dead pan expression. "But you love reading . . ."

"THAT'S BESIDES THE POINT!" Jaydra snaps, letting her head fall and slam on the table, letting out a string of muffled curse words.

ITSWYG

After about twenty minutes, Scott returns to the library to see his friends putting away books. But when he meets up with Allison, Stiles and Jaydra, they quickly inform him about what they learned about Jackson.

"It means he was born after his mom died, by C-section," Stiles explains. "They had to pull him out of her dead body."

Allison walks back to the cart and picks up another pile of books. "So, was it an accident or not?"

"The word all over the report is inconclusive," Jaydra says, shelving her section of books.

Scott runs his hands through his hair. "Then his parents could have been murdered?"

"If they were," Stiles begins, pacing up and down the small aisle, "then it falls in line with the Kanima myth. You know? It seeks out and kills murderers."

"But is the Kanima hunting down the murderers because of the Jackson's motives, or the person controlling him?" Jaydra asks.

Scott slams the last book onto the shelf. "We have to talk to him. We have to tell him . . ."

"He's not going to li-" Allison starts, but to be cut off when Scott suddenly runs at the end of the aisle.

The werewolf part of his DNA comes to alert, walking around to check on everyone. And there lays Matt on the ground, a small cut on the back of his neck. As Scott gets close, Jackson suddenly races across the top of the bookshelves.

Looking down the aisle where Erica was standing, Scott yells out her name, seeing Jackson standing behind her. But it was too late. Jackson slices a small cut on the back of the neck, paralyzing her.

"ERICA!" Jaydra yells, running over to where Erica was, seeing her on the floor.

With wide eyes, Jaydra runs over to her young beta, pulling her close, wanting to protect her. Derek trusted Jaydra to protect their betas, but here lies Erica paralyzed and probably terrified.

A loud ear-piercing sound cuts through the air, making the group look up to see a half-transformed Jackson standing in front of a black board, in a daze and writing on the board.

"Stay . . . out of . . . my way . . . or I'll kill . . . all of you . . ." Jaydra reads off, stilling holding Erica close.

As he finishes writing the words on the board, Jackson lets out a screeching noise and jumps out of the library window.

Letting a small sigh of relief out, Jaydra starts to relax, only to tense up again when Erica begins to shake in her arms.

"Oh no . . . STILES!" Jaydra calls out, immediately putting Erica on her side and talking to her calmly.

"I-Is she having a seizure?!" Stiles asks, skidding over.

Allison runs past the crisis and checks on Matt, making sure he only suffered the cut to the neck and nothing else. "He's alive . . ."

"We need to get her to a hospital!" Stiles says as Erica weakly reaches out and clings to his shirt.

"D-Derek . . . Only to Derek . . ." she barely gaps out, her body still shaking.

Jaydra jumps up and walks to the end of the aisle, pulling out her phone, speed dialing her Alpha.

"Derek," Jaydra gasps out softly when he picks up quickly. "Oh, thank God!"

The tone, and the way she said his name, put Derek on edge. "Jay? You okay? You sound panicked . . ."

Running a shaking hand through her hair, Jaydra quickly explains the situation. "And then Jackson attacked and got Erica. And we're heading to your place . . ."

"Hurry," was all that he said.

ITSWYG

Scott, Stiles, and Jaydra all rush to get Erica to Derek. When they get there, they get her into the train car with the best lighting, and Derek looks her over with his red eyes.

"Hold her up," the alpha orders, which Jaydra and Stiles are the one to do as Scott watches on.

"Is . . . Is she dying?" Stiles asks quietly.

Derek sighs, deciding not to be blunt with it. "She might . . . Which is why this going to hurt," he says, twisting and breaking her arm.

Erica screams out, her other hand squeezing Stiles' arm.

"Y-You broke her arm!" Stiles gasps out.

Derek nods. "It'll trigger the healing process," he explains. "I still got to get the venom out . . . This is where it's really going to hurt." Taking in a deep breath, Derek let's his claws extend, digging into her arm and drawing out blood.

"NOOO AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Erica shrieks out, blood pouring from the wounds. But as the venom slowly leaves her body, and as she begins to get weak, she looks up at Stiles. "Stiles . . . You make a good Batman . . ." She shortly passes out after that.

After Erica finally falls into a peaceful, non-seizure like, rest, Scott, Derek, and Jaydra all walk outside the train car. And Scott decides this is the PERFECT time to jump on Derek's case.

"You know who it is," he declares, glaring at the Alpha.

Nodding, Derek answers, "Jackson."

"You just wanted Erica to confirm it, didn't you?" Scott snarls, infuriated that Derek would stoop so low to use his own Beta to test a theory. But he lets out a soft breath, pushing his anger to the side. "But I'm going to help you stop him . . . As part of your pack."

Both Derek and Jaydra's head snap up at this declaration. Scott was always adamant about not joining the pack, so this is a big step.

"If you want me in, fine, but we'll do it on one condition," Scott says, making his stand clear. "We're going to catch him, and not kill him."

"And?" Derek asks, sensing a continuation to that sentence.

"And we do it my way," Scott finishes, turning to walk back into the train car to check on Erica.

Derek's greenish-brown eyes turn away from the train car to look at another member of his pack. His girlfriend. "You seem awfully quiet . . ."

Jaydra looks up at the Alpha, before turning away. "I let her get hurt . . . She was under my watch and she got hurt!"

Derek walks over, wanting to assure her that it's not her fault, only to notice that it wasn't the smell of sadness that Jaydra had on her when she first walked in.

Oh no, that scent of sadness faded into unyielding rage.

"When I see him, I'm going to beat Jackson's face in. I don't give two fucks if he was under someone's control or not, NOBODY messes with my pack!" Jaydra snarls, turning back to look at Derek, who moves close to the hunter and kisses her softly.

"Thank you . . ." he says under his breath.

The thank you was for two reasons. One was not blaming herself for the attack on Erica, and the second? For fully accepting the betas as her pack. Her family. And if it's anything Derek and Jaydra both need now, it's family.