"No, I won't go under

No, I won't back down

Bittersweet surrender

It's better now"

Weapon by Against the Current

After Stiles called his dad to report what happened, he, along with Sara and Isaac carried Brett and Lori out of the school as quickly as they could, bringing them to their cars to bring them to the animal clinic. Derek found them on their way to the parking lot, having been in the Hale vault, and he hopped into Sara's passenger seat. They left Scott, Liam, Boyd, and Kira to handle everything going on with Violet, Garrett, and the lacrosse game. While driving, Sara called Deaton to make sure he and Riichi were there and ready for a werewolf poisoned by wolfsbane.

When Sara pulled into the parking lot of the clinic, Lori was walking up in the back seat, clutching her head as she groaned.

"Lori, you alright?" Sara asked as she parked and turned off her car.

"Yeah," Lori answered weakly, rubbing her head while avoiding the bleeding cut on her forehead.

"Good, come on." Sara waved for her to follow while climbing out of her car.

Derek hurried over to Stiles' Jeep the moment it parked and helped Isaac drag the still-unconscious Brett out of it. Just in time too as yellow discharge bubbled and seeped from Brett's mouth and his body violently shook. Stiles opened the front door of the clinic for them to pass through unhindered, and Deaton directed them to set Brett on the table in the exam room.

Riichi grabbed a scalpel as they set him down and took off his jersey and lacrosse pads.

"What the hell is happening to this kid?" Stiles asked frantically while watching Brett's body shake.

Deaton could tell just by looking at him, seeing the bright, unnatural yellow as opposed to the standard purple of most wolfsbane. "He's been poisoned by a rare wolfsbane," he explained. "We need to make an incision, and you need to hold him as still as possible."

Derek, Isaac, Deaton, and Riichi went to one side while Stiles, Sara, and Lori held Brett down on the other side, the group pressing down on his arms and torso as hard as they could to keep him still while Riichi leaned over with the scalpel.

"Hold him still," Riichi said, hesitating as another fit of violent movement from Brett made him move. "I don't want to kill him."

After a few more moments and everyone giving it their all to keep Brett down, Riichi was able to cut into Brett's chest, just above the heart. As he cut into the flesh, yellow mist rose into the air, the wolfsbane dissipating once it was in the open, and the erratic movements from Brett's body slowed to a stop.

Deaton took the scalpel from Riichi, setting it on the counter behind him. "Alright, Sara, you need to burn what's left out of him," he said.

"What?" Lori asked, panic seeping into her voice.

"Opening an incision only slows the effect it has on the heart, exposing it to air," Deaton explained. "But to make sure the wolfsbane fully leaves his system, he needs it burned. And unless someone wants to use a blowtorch, Sara would be best."

"It's alright, Lori," she reassured softly. "I've done it before. Hold him down." Lori still had no idea what was going on, but she tightened her grip on her brother's shoulder anyway.

"What the hell is going on?" a voice asked, and they looked up to see Peter standing in the doorway watching the scene unfold.

"Are you going to stand there, or are you going to help?" Derek asked harshly, his gaze stern. He would've preferred to ask what Peter was even doing there, but that could wait.

Peter rolled his eyes but set his hands on Brett's ankles anyway, pushing down enough to make sure he couldn't kick.

Sara readied her hand over the long, deep cut in the middle of Brett's chest, then she set it ablaze. Brett's eyes snapped over as he was overcome with the burning pain and screamed, feeling the overwhelming sensation of his skin blistering under incredible heat and flame. Sara continued despite the agonizing sound of her friend in pain.

He passed out moments later, right before Sara finished.

With the cutting and burning done, and Brett back to being unconscious, the group stepped back with varying levels of fatigue and worry, but it all hit Lori the hardest. She turned away from everyone else in the room.

Lori wrung her hands and closed her eyes, murmuring, "The sun, the moon, the truth," to herself as her heartbeat threatened to rise. The others turned to look at her hiding off to the side watching as she muttered and took deep breaths. "The sun. . . the moon. . . the truth."

She went through the mantra once more before opening her eyes only to see everyone staring at her.

"'Three things cannot long be hidden,'" Deaton recited, looking at Lori with a new sense of realization. "'The sun, the moon, and the truth.' It's Buddhist."

"Satomi," Peter said, realizing the same thing as Deaton.

Lori looked from Deaton to Peter to Sara with wide eyes, and Sara held out her hand with a gentle expression.

"You're alright, Lori," Sara said. "Satomi's a friend."

"Is he going to be okay?" Lori asked, shakily, still wringing her hands.

Deaton nodded. "He will be fine with rest."

Lori looked at Sara since she didn't know Deaton.

"Dr. Deaton's dealt with wolfsbane poisoning before," Sara reassured her. "If he says Brett will be okay, you can trust him." Lori slowly nodded, breathing carefully.

"Why don't I look at that head wound?" Deaton offered, holding out his hand and moving around the table. Lori slowly followed him over to the corner where he pulled out an antiseptic and cotton balls from a cupboard.

While Deaton cleaned up Lori's wound, Derek picked up the discarded clothing and lacrosse gear, Riichi used water to make sure Brett needed no more healing, and Sara grabbed a hand towel to begin wiping off the expelled wolfsbane from around Brett's mouth.

Stiles watched Sara closely the moment she started cleaning him up, seeing the soft, sincere expression she had, and he remembered back to the scene he and Scott had seen outside of the locker rooms earlier that day.

"What are you doing?" Stiles asked.

Sara abruptly pulled her hand back, looking up at Stiles indignantly. "Nothing."

Stiles narrowed his eyes. "Really? An Isaac look-alike?"

Isaac frowned and crossed his arms. "He looks nothing like me."

"Really? You don't see it? Two tall, light-haired, well-built lacrosse players with blue eyes and anger problems that also happen to be werewolves?" Stiles waved his hands, appalled that Isaac couldn't see it.

Isaac really didn't want to agree, but he had to give in. "Okay, there's similarities but that doesn't mean he's anything like me."

"He's a hell of a lot nicer," Sara quietly jabbed as she turned away to rinse off the towel in the sink.

Stiles heard it plainly. "He's nicer?" he repeated, pointing at Brett. "The one who barreled into Liam? Flipping him over and breaking his arm?"

"Did I stutter?" Sara said, tilting her head while meeting Stiles' gaze.

Stiles hesitated, wondering why Sara was backing Brett when she had blatantly seen the altercation between Brett and Liam. It had to be more than her and Isaac being at odds. His eyes flickered between Brett, Sara, and Lori. Then it clicked. "Wait, you know him."

Sara gritted her teeth and looked away with a shrug. "We kind of had a thing."

Lori snorted at the wording from her spot over by Deaton. Sara gave Lori a side glare, but it didn't affect her. Deaton placed a bandage over the cut on her forehead. He could tell it had started healing, but it seemed slower than it should have been, so Deaton assumed it was deeper than he could tell by eyeballing it or that she wasn't letting herself heal as quickly as she truly could, likely from worry and stress over her brother. With Lori's age, it was possible she hadn't reached the full potential of her werewolf abilities, especially as her body was progressing through other natural changes.

Stiles didn't miss the interaction between Lori and Sara, knowing there was far more to the story than they were outright letting on. And he needed to know it all. "Excuse me, what?" he pressed. "Since when? How long?"

"Last semester for a few months," Sara answered simply, knowing he wouldn't give up unless he got the answers he sought after. "It ended a couple of days before school restarted."

Stiles' eyes widened even further. "And you didn't care to mention that you were dating another werewolf?"

Lori, with a cheeky grin, cut in, "I wouldn't call it dating." Deaton smiled softly as he backed away from Lori as she rejoined the group, and he began putting away the medical supplies he had gotten out.

Stiles groaned in disgust, wanting to vomit. "Gross. Really, Sara?"

"I didn't know about him, okay?" Sara hesitated, looking at Lori. "Them?" she clarified carefully.

Lori nodded. "Yeah."

"You don't smell like a werewolf," Isaac pointed out. "Neither does he."

It was then that Derek decided to impart some wisdom after watching the argument with minor intrigue and amusement. Oh, to be young with petty drama. "With practice, we can learn to hide our scent," Derek explained, "much like a kitsune hiding their spirit."

Lori looked up at Sara and said, "You're a kitsune?" Sara nodded with a little shrug. The controlling fire bit made more sense to Lori then.

"Wait, we can hide from other werewolves if we want?" Isaac asked. He looked at Derek. "Why didn't you teach us that?"

Derek gave him a low, 'are you kidding me' look. "You haven't been one a whole year yet. It's something that takes a lot of time and practice.

"Cora doesn't hide it because sometimes it's helpful for others to be able to know," Riichi pitched in as he moved away from Brett.

"I don't bother with it since I don't care," Peter added.

"We started learning when we were kids," Lori told them, and they all looked at her again. "We were born werewolves."

"Okay, that answers that," Stiles said, and he focused back on Sara. "So why didn't you say you were with anyone?"

"The girls, Riichi, and Boyd all knew."

"Please don't bring me into that," Riichi said, waving his hand with his back to them as he started organizing supplies. Brett's healing factor would kick in on its own once the residual effects of the wolfsbane wore off, so he had other things to do.

"So, everyone except me, Scott, or Isaac?" Stiles asked.

Sara's eyebrows pinched as she leaned back. "It's none of your business."

"It's not our business or you just didn't want Scott to know?"

She rolled her eyes in response.

"As entertaining as this pointless teenage drama is," Peter interrupted, "we have a much bigger problem at hand. These kids are part of Satomi's pack. How much do you want to bet the two other werewolves killed were part of her pack, too?"

"We should find them," Derek said.

"Wait, two others?" Lori asked, her voice growing higher.

"Do the names 'Carrie Hudson' or 'Demarco Montana' ring a bell?" Stiles asked.

Lori gasped, bringing a hand up to her mouth. "What? They're dead? Rie and Demarco are dead?"

"I'm sorry, Lori." Sara gently took her into her arms, holding her close, and Lori's arms tighten around her.

Lori didn't know what else to do as she tried to hold back tears. Her brother, who had been poisoned during a lacrosse scrimmage, was unconscious in the middle of an animal clinic surrounded by people she didn't know, aside from Sara who had been a supernatural creature like them the entire time without them knowing, and on top of that, she just learned two of their packmates had been killed as well. Her brother had almost been killed like them.

Sara ran her hand through Lori's short hair, and she noticed Stiles' once-hard gaze soften. He may be mad at her, but he still had a heart. And the young girl's life had just been turned upside down.

Isaac watched with mild interest, wondering what all he had missed while he was away with Chris. He knew from experience that Sara's comforting touch was reserved for very few, namely the people she considered herself close to, bonded with, or felt responsible for. How that extended to a female freshman werewolf that he had never met was beyond him. If anything, it should have only included Scott and Kira, last time Isaac had checked.

"Satomi hasn't said anything?" Derek asked softly.

Lori shook her head as she peeked out from Sara's shoulder. "We're all supposed to meet tomorrow in the preserve," she told them, her voice shaking. "She sounded concerned, but she'd make it more urgent if she knew they had died."

"She might only think they're missing," Deaton said.

Isaac stared down at Brett. "Which definitely isn't the case."


While they were dealing with a poisoned Brett and distraught Lori, Scott was tiding things over with the police: telling them that Brett had been taken to the hospital by Sara and Brett's sister Lori after he was attacked by Garrett on the field and that Violet had tried to attack Scott with a thermo-cut wire. He wanted to leave Sara and Lori's involvement in the matter as vague as possible, so they didn't have to be questioned by the police. Noah got the whole story though when talking to Scott privately, and he agreed.

Once Scott was done being questioned by the authorities, he had a separate line of questioning to get through from his dad in the hall outside of the locker room.

"Dad, really, I'm okay," Scott did his best to reassure.

"I should've been here," Rafael said with a sincere expression. "I said I would be at the games."

"Well, I mean, this was just a pre-season scrimmage," Scott tried to brush aside. "I didn't even tell you about it." For more reasons than just it being a scrimmage. While his dad was in the know, it didn't mean he wanted him near the supernatural chaos.

"But I promised your mom I'd be around so she could pick up some double shifts at the hospital. I should've been here."

Scott could tell he meant every word and every sincerity, seeing the way his dad was silently blaming himself for not being able to stop it, and while it didn't forgive the past eight years, it was a step in the right direction. "You're here now."

Rafael glanced around at the police going in and out of the locker room and the students further down the hall trying to watch, and he had a question for his son, lowering his voice so no one would overhear, "This whole situation, does it have anything to do with. . ." Rafael trailed off, but his question was clear.

Scott tersely nodded. "Yeah." He took in a slow breath, his eyes darting around, then he focused on his dad again. "It's a long story, and we just told the sheriff about it this morning, but it has to do with a few of the murders lately."

"You kids and your secrets," Rafael muttered before something caught their attention.

Deputy Parrish was escorting a handcuffed Violet down the hall with Noah walking close behind.

"Jordan Parrish," Violet said after reading the deputy's nametag. Scott could hear the recognition in her voice, knowing the same thing he did: Jordan Parrish, the deputy, was on the dead pool as well, in the second part of the list that had just been cracked.

"Deputy Parrish," Parrish corrected sternly.

Violet met Scott's eye as she was escorted past him, a smirk on her face. But while Scott was focused on Violet, Rafael noticed the evidence bag in Noah's hand.

"Sheriff, what is that?" Rafael asked, pointing at it. "Is that the weapon?"

Noah held it up to look at it. "Yeah, it's a thermo-cut wire."

Scott and Noah watched the change pass over Rafael's expression, knowing from experience that he was going into his own "agent" mode, similar to how Noah or Stiles changed demeanor when they were piecing clues together or how the wolves changed when they were preparing for a fight.

Rafael turned to follow Parrish down the hall, with Noah keeping up as well. "Parrish, hold up!" Rafael called out.

While Scott had intended to follow, too, Liam stopped him, having been listening in after getting passed the cops and lacrosse team.

"Where's Boyd and Kira?" Scott asked.

"They took off," Liam answered. "I told Kira about Lydia cracking the second part of the dead pool, and Boyd didn't want her to be alone in case someone else was after them."

Scott slowly nodded. "That's good. With everything going on, no one should be alone right now." Then he noticed something off about Liam's behavior. He could see and smell the worry. "What's wrong?"

"Everyone's on it," Liam said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Not everyone," Scott tried to reassure. "Sara and Malia aren't. You're not."

"Not yet," Liam corrected. "There's still another third, right?"

Scott didn't know what to say to that, but his attention was grabbed by the sound of his dad's voice, and he listened in with his keen hearing.

In the adjacent hall, Rafael was saying, "Thermo-cut wire is a very unusual weapon, Violet." Liam realized, with the lack of attention on him, that Scott was listening to something, and he turned to look around the corner at the group further down the hall. "Now, we've got a file at the Bureau on something similar used in over a dozen murders."

Mockingly, Violet said, "I don't know what you're talking about. I just go to school here."

"Maybe we should call your parents then," Rafael quickly replied, undeterred by her lying and disinterest. He feigned realization. "Oh, no, that's right. You don't have any parents." He spotted the exact moment he had gotten under her skin, her expression shifting from mocking and amused to something harder. "That's why they call you the Orphans."

Violet narrowed her eyes at the agent, silently wondering who the hell he was and how he had figured her and Garrett out with so little to go on. Parrish smirked and dragged Violet away, her glancing back at Agent McCall as they went.

Rafael looked at Noah and said, "We need to find her boyfriend Garrett," before walking away, intending to follow the police cruiser with Violet all the way to the station.

Noah nodded and turned to Coach Finstock who was with a deputy nearby. "Coach, I'm gonna need both their locker numbers," Noah requested, then he addressed a few of the officers milling around. "And someone find me a set of bolt cutters."


Boyd and Kira stopped outside of Kira's house, and he watched as she picked at her nails in worry. Immediately after changing out of their lacrosse gear and grabbing their things, they bolted from the school. Boyd didn't care that his name was on the second part of the last; in fact, he had suspected it would be before getting confirmation, but Kira seeing her and her mother's names on it did something to her psyche. Even more so when she saw how much they were worth.

Less than three months prior, Kira had believed herself to be a normal girl with normal parents and a normal life, but now, she was a thunder kitsune who was worth four million dollars dead. And her mother was worth another four million dollars. She didn't know what to do or how to react.

"How are you so calm right now?" Kira asked, looking up at him. He didn't need to be able to smell chemo-signals or hear her racing heartbeat with her emotions clearly written on her face. "You're worth a million dollars."

Boyd cracked a dry grin. "I think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me." She smacked his arm and he let out a soft chuckle.

"This isn't the time for joking!" she exclaimed and turned to walk away.

"Alright, hey, I'm sorry," Boyd said, dropping his smile to don something more earnest as he reached out and set his hands on her upper arms. "It's a lot, I know, but the one thing I've learned since I got the bite is that there will never be an end to people wanting to kill me."

Kira's jaw dropped, and he realized that wasn't quite the right thing to say.

"That came out wrong. I mean—" Boyd cut himself off, thinking of how to word it. He looked into her eyes, eyes that he had come to love. "What I'm trying to say is that for most of my life I had nothing but a dead sister, an absent mother, and an overworked father." He paused as he saw Kira's expression shift into one of empathy, but he continued before she could say anything. "And the rush of power on my first full moon made every shitty aspect of my life worth it. It was the first time I had felt alive. . . Despite the hunters, the kanima, the Alpha Pack, the dead pool—despite the constant threat on my life, I wouldn't change it for the world."

He lowered his hands and took a step back. "Those threats aren't going anywhere. They'll change form, but that's it. They're not going away. And I can't dwell on that. I'd miss out on too much. I'd miss out on the friends I've made. I'd miss out on the second life I've been given. . ." Boyd bit his lip, glanced at the ground, and looked back up at her. "I'd miss out on the new family I have."

Kira took a step forward, gently grabbing his hand. "Boyd, I'm sorry," she said quietly.

He gave her a small smile while squeezing her hand in reassurance. "I don't blame you for taking everything hard," he felt the need to explain. "I'm not saying you need to have my outlook either. I don't want you to. It's cynical and harsh. And I want you to be able to worry about your family, about yourself. . . I'm just not worried about myself."

Kira tried to fight the blush and bashful smile that were creeping up, and she held his hand near her chin. "Well, I'm worried about you." She placed a kiss on his knuckles.

Boyd set his free hand on the back of her neck, caressing her cheek with his thumb. "I won't let anything happen to you."

He wouldn't. He couldn't.

He couldn't do anything to save his sister Alicia or his packmate-turned-crush Erica. But he would protect Kira.


Brett didn't wake up for a few more hours as the evening neared midnight, with the crowd around him having dispersed early on to do their own thing, like going home to get some sleep, disappearing as per usual, or preparing for what horrors the next day would bring. Only Sara, Lori, and Deaton remained.

When Brett did wake up, he groaned and rolled over onto his side, only for Lori to hurry over and help him up slowly.

"Welcome to the land of the living," Sara greeted, watching as Lori didn't let go of his arm.

"How are you feeling?" Deaton asked while handing Brett a cup of water as his eyes focused on unfamiliar surroundings.

"Like I've been hit by a bus," Brett said quietly. He looked at the cup of water and then around at the room. "Where am I? What the hell happened?"

"You're at the Beacon Hills Animal Clinic," Deaton answered. He watched Brett closely, from the way he had a difficult time sitting up to how he had to set down the cup of water shortly after taking a drink of it. "My name is Dr. Alan Deaton. You were poisoned with a rare form of wolfsbane. The worst has passed, but you'll continue to feel some of the effects for another day or two as your body heals. I recommend resting and drinking plenty of fluids."

"Why do I feel like there's a joke in me being taken to an animal clinic?" Brett asked as he swung his legs over the side of the exam table to make sitting upright easier.

"Dogs and cats aren't the only animals they treat, apparently," Lori told him.

Deaton smirked. "I have personal expertise treating wolves and foxes."

Brett finally met Sara's gaze from where she leaned against a counter. "Your eyes glowed."

"I'm one of the foxes Deaton treats," she said with a half-grin.

"She's a kitsune," Lori blurted with a beaming smile and excited glint in her eyes. "When Mom told us about kitsune once, I thought she was joking, but they're real! It was so cool! Her eyes glowed orange as fire sprouted from her palm and burned the wolfsbane out of you." She shook her head as she took a breath. "It was also terrifying, but awesome, too." She turned to Sara and Deaton. "That other guy from earlier, his eyes glowed orange too, but he was doing something with water."

"My brother, Riichi," Sara said, answering the question Lori didn't quite ask. "A river kitsune. He was making sure Brett was healing properly."

"Your brother?" Brett's expression twisted in confusion. "I thought you said he died."

Sara shrugged. "Lived for about seven years thinking he did."

"Brutal," Lori muttered.

A few beats passed before Brett asked, "How did I get poisoned? And how'd you know it was wolfsbane?"

"On the field," Sara began. "Garrett, one of our freshman players, is secretly an assassin because that's a thing now." Based on her expression and tone of voice, they could all tell she was extremely unamused by the entire situation. "We thought he'd go after one of our own players, but apparently, you were the target. And that's how I figured out you're a werewolf."

Brett shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense."

Sara was confused for a moment as to why that didn't make sense until she realized the dead pool wasn't common knowledge. "Oh, right." She stood up straight and took out her phone, pulling up both parts of the list that Lydia had cracked and sent to her. "There's a hit list of supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills floating around." She handed her phone over to Brett so he and Lori could look at it. "My friend Lydia de-coded the second part of the list during the game which showed your name."

"What are these numbers?" Lori asked as her eyes scanned the list.

"How much each person is worth. The three-digit numbers are in the thousands while the one or two-digit numbers are in the millions."

"I'm worth a million dollars?" Brett read, his eyes widening as he looked up from the screen.

"I'm not on here," Lori said. She looked at Sara. "And neither are you."

"There's still one more part to decode," Deaton said. "It's likely that's where your names are, along with Satomi's."

"Where did this list come from?" Brett asked.

Sara shook her head. "No clue. We didn't even know about it until Lydia decoded the first part."

That made Brett skeptical. He knew from their previous conversations that this 'Lydia' that Sara was mentioning was a part of her friend group, particularly a former popular girl that had secretly been a genius. And a name on the list, Lydia Martin, was worth twenty million dollars. But none of that explained how she was decoding a hit list. "How did she do that?"

"Well, first she transcribed the code," Sara said.

"Lydia is a banshee," Deaton explained further, knowing that 'transcrib[ing] the code' didn't remotely answer Brett's question. "So, she's adept at predicting death, particularly as it relates to the supernatural. After transcribing the code, she learned the cipher key to decode it, unlocking the first section of the list. And as we learned earlier, I'm sorry to say that your packmates Demarco Montana and Carrie Hudson have already passed."

Brett's gaze hardened as it lowered to the floor. Lori leaned against her brother's arm as a subtle form of comfort.

"Does Satomi know?" Brett asked.

"Not that we are aware," Deaton answered. "We have two people that are going to look for her and the rest of your pack in the morning. If you recognize any more of those names, I'd recommend you call or text them to tell them to hide."

Brett and Lori looked at the phone screen again, as much as they didn't want to. "Lor, pull out your phone." Lori listened to Brett, taking her phone from her pocket. "Elias, Joanne, Reed, Tom, Richie, Jack, Cher, and Ange," he listed, and Lori collected their contacts into one group chat. "Tell them I was attacked, that Demarco and Rie were killed, and that they need to hide if they're not already with Satomi because our names are on a list."

Brett handed Sara back her phone as Lori sent the message out. "Why am I worth one million when the others are only two-hundred-fifty-kay?" he asked.

"We have no idea who made the list, what the parameters are, how the bounties were determined. . ." Sara trailed off with a heavy shrug. "We don't know anything about it, except that it's out there and that it adds up to one-hundred-seventeen million dollars which was stolen from the Hales' vault less than two weeks ago."

"That is. . ." Brett didn't even know what to say, letting his voice fade out as he shook his head and ran a hand through his hair.

"If I had to take a guess," Deaton began, grabbing their attention, "the worth assigned to everyone on the list is likely determined by how difficult they are to kill or how badly the creator wants them dead. Brett, you may be part of Satomi's pack, like the others listed, but you are friends with Sara, who is a kitsune, and she's close with Scott McCall, who is worth twenty-five million. Your being worth one million is likely because you are better defended or even in a better place to protect others on the list."

Sara let out a low whistle. "Deaton at it again dropping wisdom like rhymes."

"Who's Scott McCall, and why's he worth so much?" Lori asked.

"Scott is an alpha," Deaton relayed. "Not just any alpha, though. He's a True Alpha, having evolved a few months ago. Sara along with their friends are part of his, ah, unconventional pack." Deaton had a small smile at his nondescriptive use of the word 'unconventional.'

"And by unconventional, he means we're weird as shit." Sara side-eyed Deaton before focusing on Brett and Lori. "Scott's pack is made up of me, a kitsune, as well as a few werewolves, a werecoyote, another kitsune, a banshee, and a human. And as allies, we've got a Druid emissary," she gestured to Deaton who nodded, "three Hale's, three other kitsune, and a hunter."

Brett and Lori both looked surprised at the long list. "Wow," Brett said. "You weren't kidding with saying 'weird as shit.'"

"And that's just the SparkNotes."

After a few moments of tense silence passed, Deaton straightened up and said, "Why don't I give you a check-up and make sure you're healing properly, so you can go home and rest? Can't imagine sitting on that exam table is comfortable."

Brett rolled his neck and shoulders. "Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks."

After Deaton put Brett through the motions and checked Lori's head wound, which had fully healed by then thankfully, he gave them the green light for leaving. Brett pulled his jersey on and carried the rest of his lacrosse gear.

"I hope someone grabbed my gym bag," Brett said as they all climbed into Sara's car.

"I wonder what your teammates were told," Lori added, buckling her seatbelt in the backseat.

"I'll have to ask Noah or Scott," Sara said, starting up her car. Brett gave her a curious look from the passenger seat. "Ah, Noah as in Sheriff Stilinski. He's Stiles' dad: the human that awkwardly tried to defuse the tension between you and Liam at school."

"Oh, you mean the scrawny, sarcastic guy that did all the talking?" Brett clarified.

"Exactly."

Sara then pulled out of the parking lot, driving in the direction of Brett and Lori's house. Aside from the radio playing quietly, the car was silent, no one quite knowing what to say after everything. Previously, they had joked or teased near-constantly, but major secrets had been revealed, and none of the three were clear on where they stood with each other.

Drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, Sara said, "So, you're a werewolf."

"Your ex is a werewolf," Brett helpfully pointed out. He had figured out rather quickly who the ex-boyfriend was after overhearing Sara's conversation with the guy at the school before Liam noticed him. It helped that Sara had once confided in Brett that he reminded her a lot of her ex, making the connection even easier to figure out. And of course, Brett could smell the wolf part of him.

Sara huffed in amusement. "I'm well aware. Werewolves seem to be becoming my type just as much as attractive lacrosse players are. But we're talking about you."

"It should be obvious why I didn't tell you," he said while leaning on the car door.

"That's not what I'm curious about." Sara glanced over. "I'm assuming you've been hiding your scent the whole time; otherwise, everyone would've smelled you on me a lot earlier."

"Yeah, it makes it easier to stay hidden," he explained.

"But then on the topic of scents, you could definitely smell the others on me," she continued.

Brett shrugged. "I thought you were just a human who had befriended a few wolves. Most of my friends are human. It's not unheard of to accidentally scent mark humans we've grown fond of." He paused until he asked a question of his own. "Have you always known about werewolves? Or did you catch your ex on a full moon?"

Sara chuckled. "While I've seen him on a full moon, no. I found out about werewolves along with many other creatures when I was a kid learning that my mom's a kitsune."

"And you know how to hide your spirit which is why I never found out about you," Brett pointed out once he realized that part.

"That implies you've looked at me while shifting your eyes."

"I have," he admitted. "There's been a few times where we were, you know, getting busy, and my eyes shifted."

The corner of her mouth quirked up as she side-eyed him. "Kinky."

Brett sighed, setting his head back on the headrest. "Usually, I'd have something witty to say back, but I feel completely drained right now."

Sara shrugged. "It's alright, I'll be witty enough for the both of us."

Lori, having realized they forgot she was sitting in the car with them, spoke up, "You two are disgusting."

Both Brett and Sara chimed in with quiet, embarrassed sorrys.