"What?"

Both boys ahead whipped back to look at Mara, her sudden break of silence echoing loudly against their straining ears. Her eyes were studying Scott.

"There's just….just something I can't get out of my head." He pauses for a moment, Mara watching him closely, Derek looking rather annoyed.

"The moon's rising, Scott." Derek replied impatiently. "What is it?"

"Risk and reward." He states.

Derek's look of annoyance grew. Mara cut in before he could complain.

"Why?"

"We're not measuring the risk with enough information. We don't know enough."

Mara's lips turned downwards in pensive thought.

"We know time's running out." Derek snapped angrily, beginning to lose the little calm he had.

"Yeah, but think about it. They put the triskele on your door four months ago. What have they been doing all this time? Why wait until now?"

Scott was right. Something was off. They had known that, but what choice was there.

"We don't have the time to figure out every little detail." He shot back at the younger wolf.

"What if this detail, the reason why they waited... what if it's the most important one?"

"Then we do nothing." He bites back. "And both of them are dead. I know what I'm risking. My life for theirs. And I won't blame you if you don't follow me."

Mara scowled at the insinuation.

"No, we've got your back."

"There." Leila points urgently at a list of building material on the blueprint.

"Hecatolite." Cole reads aloud, eyes raising to meet Peter's.

"Is that awful? That sounds awful." Stiles worried off to the side.

"Get 'em on the phone." Peter snapped sharply towards the pacing boy. "Call them. Now!"

Stiles started fumbling with his pocket, trying to get ahold of the device.

"Why, what's going on?"

Leila forcefully placed her phone on the table, stepping back. She looked up at everyone staring at her.

"'Cause Boyd and that girl aren't gonna kill each other. They're gonna kill them."

"Boyd? Boyd? It's me. It's Derek."

They peered through the jagged hole in the vault wall. Mara hung back, watching the tense, defensive posture of the large teen about 30 feet from them. She jumped when she heard Scott's phone ring out from his pocket, eyes shooting to him as he scrambled to answer.

"Stiles, now is not the best time." He hissed into the receiver. He moved to hang up the phone, but Mara grabbed his hand. They weren't dumb enough to call unless it was life or death.

"Scott! Scott! No, listen to me, okay?" The teens' frantic tone puts her on edge more than before.

"Look, you gotta get outta there. The walls of the vault are made with a mineral called hecatolite."

At that, she grabbed out forcefully on to dereks arm, forcing him back, and startling him.

"It scatters the moonlight."

"What does that mean?" Scott asked, looking back at her with wide eyes. Derek ignored her, turning his attention back to Boyd.

"We're here to get you out, okay?"

Mara pulled him back more forcefully, her claws poking into him, nodding her head in Scott and the phone's direction.

"Look, it keeps the moonlight out, okay? They haven't felt the full moon in months." Stiles near yells through the phone. Derek continued to be confused, but he didn't seem to care either.

"Think of it like the gladiators in the Roman colosseum." Mara starts, carefully watching Boyd through the hole. "They used to starve the lions for three days, making them more vicious, more out of control. Deucalion has kept them from shifting for three full moons, diminishing their tolerance to it."

"Scott, they're gonna be stronger…" Stiles adds in his ear.

"More savage, more bloodthirsty, they're the lions." Mara continues darkly, gaze breaking to look at Scott. "They're starved lions, and we just stepped into the colosseum."

"What do we do?" He asks looking at her, fear completely replacing the confusion in his expression.

"Cora?" Derek's voice cracked. Both of them turn their attention back to the vault, deeply startled.

Mara's heart fluttered in her chest.

Knowing she was in the vault was completely different from seeing her with her own eyes.

She forced herself to was no time now.

"Who?" Scott asked looking at Derek, confusion returning.

"Cora?" Derek asks again in disbelief, eyes glued to the younger girl.

"Get out." Cora growls through clenched teeth. "Get out now!"

"Scott? Hey, Scott! Scott!" Stiles yelled into his phone as they hung up.

"You know her?" Scott looked between the older wolves.

"She's my sister, my younger sister."

"What the hell is she doing here?" Scott yells, now looking at Cora with the same disbelief.

"Like I have a clue! I thought she was dead!" Derek suddenly turns on Mara. He looks at her, hurt evident in his eyes. "I knew you were hiding something from me. Why?" He yells. She looks at him, almost apologetic, but firm.

"You know why." She states, as calm as she could be considering their current position. "The same reason we didn't say anything about Erica."

They're interrupted by a vicious roar from Cora, followed by Boyd.

Both of them were gone, replaced by their inner beast. Both pairs of eyes glowed gold, fangs were bared, and their razor sharp claws were drawn at their sides.

Mara surprised both Derek and Scott by running past them, directly at Cora. Derek is quick to react, charging at Boyd, and Scott follows towards the bigger of their pack mates.

As she passes over the wall she can see the large, cool room. She also happened to notice they're all inside mountain ash, lined along the inner walls.

When a woman steps inside, completing the circle. The plan all made sense now.

Mara fought Cora, struggling to best defend herself and avoid hurting her niece.

Derek and Scott were equally occupied, barely holding their own against Boyd, even with their combined efforts.

They heard a voice yell out to them from the entrance to the vault.

"Look out!" Allison's voice echoed, making Mara's heart drop.

Derek takes a particularly nasty slash to his face, yelping and stumbling back though, without the warning it could have been his neck.. Boyd stabs his claws into Scotts stomach, and slams him into the wall of safety deposit boxes. Derek and Mara both see Allison crouch down to the line.

"No!" They both scream, but Mara is cut off by a shot to the gut. "Don't break the seal!" Derek finishes, throwing himself back at Boyd. He is quickly thrown again as Boyd forces Scott off his feet, causing a sickening whimper.

Allison swept the line away, and both feral werewolves lost interest in them.

They took off instantly, out of the bank and into the unsuspecting town.

I don't think anyone is on here anymore but i love this site.