Leila and Cole sat quietly in the back of the caddy, looking out their respective windows. The trip back had been long, but neither of them could seem to sleep. Every once and a while Lei would bug Cole with a question she had no clue how to answer.

Mara and Peter could very clearly tell something was wrong. Their eyes flitted between the road and them in the mirrors regularly, as they waited patiently for one of them to break the silence. They knew the meet had been cancelled clearly, but Cole had failed to explain much more through text. They knew something was up when Isaac hadn't followed them to the truck.

Cole continued to watch the pavement fly by as they drove further towards the edge of town.

Leila was the one to break the silence, as Cole knew she would. She cringed internally.

"What does imprinting mean to wolves?"

"Smooth." Cole muttered under her breath, shrinking in her seat. It wasn't totally direct, but their sister and Peter weren't stupid. It was clear where a line of questioning as such would start.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she shot forward, thankful she had put a seatbelt on as it threw her back into her seat. Mara had slammed on the breaks, pulling over in one swift motion. Before she could react, Both adults had turned on her with deeply irritated expressions.

"What the hell, Cole?"

Mara was looking at her with raised eyebrows, awaiting what she hoped for Cole's sake was a good reason.

"It was an emergency, we were all on drugs, darach, yada yada." She muttered once more, making circling motion with her hand.

"Why the hell wouldn't you call? I knew this trip was a bad…"

Cole rolled her eyes, sitting back straighter.

"This is why. Ever since we've been here, you've been strangling us. You didn't let us go to school for months."

Mara scowled.

"And when I did, two alpha's immediately did too."

Cole shrugged.

"We handled that. Just like we handled this. Without a scratch."

Mara stared at her, searching her eyes for a moment. Cole held her gaze with an unwavering one of her own. Mara's expression seemed to soften after a moment.

"I know you two can handle anything, but this isn't LA. It's not as easy to let go here."

Leila leaned forward to reach her had out. She placed it on Mara's arm with a squeeze.

"We can't forget our past, but we can't stay hung up on it either. You two have prepared us in every way you know. You have to trust that's enough."

Mara looked between her girls for a moment with a sigh. She knew they were right. They had grown so much in the last seven years. They were almost adults, and had their own things going on. She couldn't hold on to them forever. She couldn't keep hiding things they were old enough to understand. She felt a hand come up at her side and begin rubbing calmingly. She looked up to meet Peter's eyes for a moment. He looked at her with a light curiously as she stared. SHe deeply exhaled once more, before turning back to the teens.

"I know it's time we stopped treating you two like kids. We were planning to talk when we all got home. Can we make it till then?"

Everyone nodded in silent agreement.

Mara turned back to face forward once more, turning her keys in the ignition once more as Peter's hand came to rest atop her leg with a gentle squeeze.

-Flashback-

"What's on your mind, love?"

A light squeeze got Mara to look up from her swirling tea to her hand, which was now covered with Peter's. Her other hand continued to lazily circle the stir stick. Peter peered over his book at her, tilting his head in curiosity. She gave a small smile when she met his eyes.

"Just thinking."

He raised his eyebrow, staring at her for a minute. She gave him a confused look, as he rested the novel on the counter.

"You've got that look on your face. The look when you've decided something I'll have no say in."

She scowled at him playfully, replying in a teasing tone..

"You have a say sometimes. You will this time."

Now he fixed her with a look of curiosity, as her tone became more serious.

"We're tight in here as is, this place was just the only thing available. There's no room for the pack to expand. I've been thinking, if we need to move anyways, why not go home? Why don't we fix the old house up?"

"You missed the turn, dreamy. I thought WE had a long weekend." Cole teased, as her older sister seemingly forgot where they were headed. Her grin fell into a suspicious squint, seeing Mara with the slightest smirk through the mirror.

"Unless we aren't going there." Leila said slowly, watching the reactions of both adults closely. Peter and Mara looked at each other for a moment, before he spoke.

"Since I came back, we've been pretty low on space. Especially since last week. Your sister and I thought it was time to change things. To go back to how we were before."

Mara's grin widened as she looked out at the trees surrounding them.

"If you two hadnt been early, we would have had everything finished." She quipped.

Cole looked around outside as she felt the road become rough beneath them. They had turned into the forest. A route that felt all too nostalgic.

She turned to her younger sister who shared the same wide eyed look. They looked forward once more when the eldest spoke again.

"You're right about the past. It's not going away. It's time to stop letting it control us."

When they turned down the familiar gravel driveway, Cole felt a surge of warmth overwhelm the fears she had initially, at the sight before her. For a moment, she thought there was still wolfsbane in her system, and she was hallucinating. A quick glance at the mirror told her otherwise. The joy on Mara's face, and even the smile gracing Peter's, were a clear indication. They must have had it in the works since Peter had come back.

Before her, growing ever closer, was the Hale mansion. Not the burnt shell she remembered, that Derek had so insistently remained in. It was like she remembered as a little girl. The house she grew up in.

When they finally came to a stop in front of the garage, next to a large moving truck, Cole could feel a prick of tears behind her eyes.

Mara and Peter were quick to get out, heading straight up the front steps. Cole and Leila made their way out of the car slower, taking in the looming building.

It had been 6 years since they had seen their childhood home, and now it was back, the same as always, down to the shingling.

It felt bittersweet, as she remembered all the wonderful memories she had in every room, and the bad ones.

"I know we had a lot of history here."

Mara addressed her sisters as they wandered up the porch to them, standing with Peter's arm resting around her shoulders. He spoke to them with confidence they didn't recognise.

"Now that you two are grown up, we don't have to hide from that anymore. No more running. It's time to show everyone that the Hale pack isn't so easy to get rid of."

Peter flashed his newly red irises, dark like deucalions. All their eyes lit up in response, even Mara's purple ones.

Cole reached forward to wrap her arms around the best pseudo parent's she could have asked for. She felt Leila follow in behind her.

Things were deeply complicated, if what Allison said about Scott was true and Derek was actually alive. On top of the consequences of acquiring the power, and the issues they already had. Things were very much a mess, yet Cole couldn't help feel like they were doing pretty good.

"I'm glad the surprise went over so well." Peter commented as he entered the living area, looking over at the two girls splayed across the very cushy black leather couch. They turned the volume down on whatever awful horror they'd put on as they noticed him. They beamed at him as he came to sit on the tail of the L shaped couch.

Mara wasn't far behind him, entering the room with the sweet wolfdog in toe. He hopped up on the couch as she sat beside Peter, stepping on Cole in the process. She groaned as Cerberus settled across Mara's lap.

"Time for that talk, yeah?"

Lelia and Cole both straightened up, looking between each other.

"Ennis is dead. Peter killed him in a deal with Deucalion. We'll be dealing with that when it comes, but we didn't know if Derek was still alive then, so it made sense. I don't really know how it's going to work with both of them. We'll deal with that when it comes too I suppose."

The girls took a moment to process the load of information, nodding slowly. Mara crossed her arms after a minute.

"It's your turn."

The girls looked at eachother. Leila had a very uneasy look in her eyes. Details of their trip were not ones Cole was happily going to dive into again. Cole turned back to Mara.

"Honestly it's not much. The witch clearly wanted to drug us, maybe kill. She put wolfsbane in the Coaches whistle. Once we broke out of the spell we were fine, so I didn't bother to call."

Mara looked at her with wide eyes, but seemed to hold her opinion in.

"Next time, call anyways." She offered instead. Before Mara could ask anything else, Cole continued.

"Before we got there, when Scott was sick, Allison mentioned something about Scott."

That seemed to peak Peter's interest, as he looked at her closely waiting for the rest. Mara was much the same. She didn't miss the grateful look her younger sister shot her.

"She said when they fought the alpha's, when she was up above, just for a second, she swore his eyes went red."

Peter stared at her with an unreadable expression, as Mara looked up at him in confusion, as if to ask if he knew anything. Without hesitation, he suddenly rose and left the room.

"He-Hey!?" Mara yelled after him as they could hear him descending the basement stairs further inside. She looked back at the two girls as Cole spoke.

"I have no clue what that means, but if we have 3 alpha's here this is gonna be really complicated. Are we one big pack or 3 separate partial pack's? I guess this is like the opposite of a problem."

Cole chuckled as her sister sat, looking at a loss.

"Or are we a pack with Derek, and Scott and his friends? Or maybe kids vs adults? Young justice?"

"I'm glad you find it funny." Mara bit

They were cut off when Peter returned to the room, holding the familiar laptop. The Bestiary.

He looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. He placed the open macbook in front of them on an open page.

Fíor Alfa

"When I was the Alpha the first time, I did my research. I wanted the perfect beta. Scott fit that. Maybe too well."

Contrary to many beliefs, killing or inheriting were not the only way for a beta to become alpha.

"Difficult home life, single working parent, social...deficiencies."

Every century or so, one would emerge without the tainted dark red.

"Scott was different though. I almost picked Stiles for the same reasons, plus he was smarter. Lots of kids have issues, but what was special about him was his resilience."

An alpha without blood on his hands. Risen by his strength of character, virtue, his sheer force of will. Known to us as…

"A true alpha?" Mara asked finally, looking up to her mate curiously. "You think Scott is capable?"

"I'm sure of it."

Cole continued to read. Peter was right. Nobody had white knight syndrome worse than him, except maybe Mara. He had to save everyone. He always put everyone else first. Never satisfied unless his friends and family were.

"So he gets his own pack then?"