This story is in correlation with my other two Teen Wolf stories, Scars and No One Else! The three intertwine with each other quite often but in different points of view, so I would recommend reading those as well soeverything makes sense. I hope you enjoy!
Now that Rocky was getting bigger, Natalie decided to take him on walks around the town. But he was still technically a puppy, about 7 months old, so he still had so much energy and those walks quickly became runs. Natalie didn't mind though, she actually enjoyed running unlike most people her age. She needed the endorphin release time to time.
Stiles however didn't have that same mindset.
"Wait!" he called after Natalie and her Keeshond, painting as he struggled to catch up with them, "You guys need to… slow down… oh my god-" He doubled over in pain.
"You doing alright there, Stilinski?" Natalie asked, amused as always.
"Ah, man this sucks!" Stiles exclaimed, "This sucks so much!"
"Oh, that was easy!" The redhead bent down so she could scratch behind Rocky's ears. "See? Even Rocky's not tired yet."
"Rocky also has four legs and his ancestors are wolves! That's already two advantages he has over me."
Natalie shook her head and laughed at her boyfriend's reasoning. "Alright, fine. We'll walk the rest of the way. Just for you, dear."
"You're so kind." The couple trailed behind Rocky as he trotted along the sidewalk. "So, I have a question for you."
"Stiles if this one of those apocalypse questions again-"
"No, no, it's different, I promise!" Natalie raised an eyebrow and waited for Stiles to spew out whatever ridiculous thing he had in mind. "If you had to have any kind of super power, what would it be?"
This was actually an interesting question. Natalie had never thought about it before. Would she go for something that would be more beneficial to her or the entire human (or super human) population?
She thought about it deeply. "Well, I actually like how Scott can take away pain. That would be cool to have."
"Even though you would be the one feeling it?"
"Yeah. I mean… I just think back to when I was sick when we were younger. All of those chemo sessions and surgeries… they sucked. I felt like I was constantly in pain and I would've done anything for it all to just be over. Knowing that so many people are going through that right now, especially kids… no one deserves to go through that. But I would want to make it as easy for them as possible."
Stiles was completely in awe at the genuine answer she gave him. He knew her better than anyone. She may be quick to dish out sass and beat you up if she thought you deserved it, but she had one of the most caring hearts. Cancer makes you see life in an entirely different way. While things may be a little crazy now, Natalie was grateful to have gotten to this point. She wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
Not a lot of people were as lucky as she was when it came to beating the illness. So if she had the ability to make it just a little more tolerable for those who were fighting it, she would do it. Stiles loved that about her.
But what would their relationship be if he didn't give her a hard time about it. "Wow, she does have a heart." Natalie smacked his chest but he just laughed.
"Okay, well what about you? Clearly you've given it some thought. What is it, X-ray vision so you could see me naked through my clothes?"
"Damn, that's actually a really good one," Stiles snapped his fingers. Natalie deadpanned. "No actually, umm… it would be time travel. So I could spend at least one more day with my mom."
Hearing this made Natalie stop walking. It didn't really show on his face, but she knew how much Stiles missed his mom. And Claudia was like another mother to her. Not having her around made a huge on everyone's lives, especially Stiles and his dad. Natalie knew the two didn't really like to talk about her much, and she could see how sometimes it bothered him.
Natalie took both of his hands in hers. "I hope you know your mom is still with you. And she still loves you so much."
"I do," Stiles smiled sadly, rubbing the back of Natalie's hands with his thumbs, "I still miss her though."
"I know. And that's okay. But you're never alone, Stiles. I'm definitely not going anywhere. So I'm sorry but you're stuck with me forever." This made him let out a little chuckle.
Even though Stiles preferred to do a different kind of physical activity with Natalie, he was grateful for these moments that he could have with her. All their life consisted of nowadays was helping Scott with his wolfy ways and fighting bad guys. And sour wolves. He didn't get as much alone time with Natalie like he used to so he tried to take advantage of it as much as he could.
She was the only normalcy that he had now. And he was happy that he had her throughout all of this.
"Thank you," he said softly.
"For what?"
"For being the one thing that never changed."
A huge smile broke out on Natalie's face before raising up her heels so she could kiss Stiles. He wrapped his arms around her as he deepened the kiss.
If Rocky hadn't started barking at a squirrel and trying to run after it the two probably would've stayed in that position for hours.
"Alright, chill out, Rocky," Natalie scolded the dog as he started to tug on his leash, "Come on, let's run back to my house."
"What- you just said we could walk the rest of the way!"
"Uh uh, no bitching!" Stiles groaned and stomped his foot like a child. "Hey, if you beat me there, I'll let you grab my butt."
That was all Natalie needed to say before Stiles took off like the Flash. Oh, it was on. She held on tight to Rocky's leash and the two dashed behind the twitchy teen.
As predicted, the redhead was the declared winner of their race, beating Stiles by just ten seconds. It was actually a new record for them so Natalie was proud. Stiles did pout about losing but Natalie still let him grab her butt when the went up the front porch. She also grabbed him by the front of his jacket and started making out with him again. Stiles was enjoying himself so much but it ended very fast when he opened his eyes and saw Kurt glaring at him through the window.
"Holy sh-" The deputy shook his head before slowly closing the curtain. "I think your dad wants to kill me."
"He does not, Stiles," Natalie assured him, "He's known you your whole life. Why would he wanna kill you now?"
"Oh I don't know, maybe it's because I'm dating his only daughter! And I'm sure him seeing you eat my face right now isn't helping me much."
Natalie rolled her big brown eyes. "You're being dramatic, Stiles. It's not like he's gonna shoot you or anything."
When they walked in the house, they saw Terri setting up the dining room and Kurt polishing his gun. Both of their eyes widened in terror, Natalie for her boyfriend and Stiles for himself. Terri smiled at the two. "Oh, hi, Stiles! You staying for dinner tonight?"
"Yeah…" he answered shakily, "dinner sounds… delicious?" He leaned towards Natalie. "He has his gun out!"
"I see the gun out."
"Why does he have his gun out?"
"Oh, you know police officers. They can't go a second without them. It's like his baby."
"That doesn't make me feel any safer!"
Before the argument could go any further, Terri had Natalie fetch Zach from upstairs so they could have dinner. Hesitantly, he went to go sit down at the table across from Kurt, who was still polishing that damn gun. Stiles could already see his own reflection- how much longer was he gonna keep going?!
The Henderson siblings came down the stairs by the time the last plate of food was on the table. Dinner seemed to carry on as usual, everyone was eating, conversing, laughing. Everything was going great!
Except Stiles kept staring at the gun that was next to Kurt's T-bone steak.
"So," Kurt spoke up, making Stiles jump in his seat, "How's lacrosse going, Stiles? You've been playing a lot?"
"Oh, yeah, yeah," Stiles lied, laughing nervously, "You should've seen me at last week's game. I was keeping that bench warm like no one's business."
"That's good to hear." Obviously Kurt wasn't really paying attention to what the teen said as he spun his gun around his finger. "What are your intentions with my daughter?"
"And it's happening," Natalie grumbled, burying her face in her hands.
Stiles swallowed a gulp. "Uh… uh, you know… graduate, go to college together, all the normal couple stuff. And maybe even get married and have ten kids, who knows? Anything's possible!"
God, could this have been any more awkward? Everyone besides Stiles knew that Kurt was messing with him and really liked him, even though the two teens always seem to find their way into trouble. Stiles had always been a part of the family. So that meant ruffling up his feathers and making him sweat a bit. It was kinda fun! At least for Kurt.
He nodded his head in approval. "Good answer, kid. Just make sure you're using protection, alright?" He cocked his gun.
Stiles spat out his water and began to cough uncontrollably. Natalie gave his back a couple hard pats.
"Just let it out, babe, let it out. And for the love of God, Dad, will you please put your gun away before you give Stiles a heart attack!"
The next morning, Natalie walked into the school building with sunglasses on her face and a Starbucks coffee in her hands. She had her beats headphones on and was dancing along to the music playing. People were staring at her as she bobbed her head and swayed from side to side, but she didn't have a care in the world. It had been a pretty good morning so far- she got a free coffee because of a mix up, she was in love her car, and to top it all off, she woke up with no headaches. It was the first time in two weeks that that had happen. Natalie was feeling on top of the world and nothing could bring her down!
Or so she thought. She was mid-booty shake when she spun around and everything seemed to go in slow motion after that. Her jaw dropped and her coffee slipped out of her hand as she saw the sight before her.
Delilah Lambert had her arm hooked with Erica's as they strutted down the hallway. The brunette being with Erica wasn't the unusual part since Natalie knew the girls were best friends. But it was what Delilah was wearing that made her do a double-take. She was wearing a black and red lacy corset, a black motorcycle jacket, skinny jeans, and black ankle boot. Her makeup was also very bold and smokey. It was not the kind of look that Natalie had ever seen her in. Delilah was always known as the good girl who wore things that were more conservative. Both of the girls' hair were blowing behind them, which was weird considering they were indoors. But then Natalie felt her own hair getting messed up and realized she was standing underneath the AC. She rolled her eyes and stepped sideways.
The one thing that was the most odd about this Delilah was her demeanor. She was always one of the more popular girls, not Lydia-popular but still very well known and liked, but Natalie had known her to be on the more shy side but super bubbly and sweet and even a little sad if you looked close enough. Not this Delilah. No, right now she had her head up high and her ruby red lips were curled up in a smirk. It was like she ruled the school and she wanted everyone to know it. Everything only started to make sense when Erica looked back at Natalie and winked at her.
"Crap."
Natalie darted towards the other side of the school, almost bumping into Coach Finstock.
"Hey, get back here and clean up your mess or I'll make you join the lacrosse team in suicides, Henderson!" he yelled after her.
"Have Greenberg do it!" Natalie yelled back as she continued to run. She finally made it into her classroom, running into desks and tripping over backpacks. Her breathing got heavy when she got to Scott and Stiles who were already in their seats. "Dudes… you're not gonna believe this-"
"About Isaac being back? Yeah, we already know, Nat." Scott then pointed to said blond, whose eyes were glaring up at the board up front with that same dumb smirk that Natalie was ready to slap off these werewolves' faces.
Okay, she was gonna ask about that later but now she shook her head. "No, I mean about Isaac's girlfriend."
The boys snapped their heads towards the redhead. "Delilah Lambert?" Stiles asked. Natalie nodded. "What about her?"
"I think Derek turned her."
Class had ended and the trio walked out of the room together, discussing the latest in the monster world.
"Alright," Stiles said, "I only found one thing online called a kanima. It's a werejaguar from South America that goes after murderers."
Natalie groaned at the news. "Oh, now there are werejaguars? I swear if someone tells me that Frankenstein exists I'm going to flip a table."
"You mean Frankenstein's monster," Stiles corrected, "Frankenstein was the scientist that made the monster, not the actual monster itself."
"That's besides the point, Stiles!"
"Anyway," Scott said, bring his two best friends back into the conversation, "that thing was not a jaguar."
"Yeah, and I'm not exactly a murderer," Stiles scoffed.
"Yeah, but you did see it kill somebody, which is probably why it tried to kill you. And it's still trying to kill you, and it probably won't stop until you're dead."
Stiles's face fell with each word Scott said. He and Natalie stopped walking and called after Scott as he kept going.
"You know, sometimes I really begin to question this friendship."
The redhead laughed at her boyfriend's expense. "Damn, sucks to be you, huh, babe?"
"I don't know why you're laughing," Stiles said, "It saw you at the pool with me. That means you're an accomplice now and it wants to kill you too."
Natalie's face dropped at the realization. This is what she gets for being associated with these two idiots. She really needed to get new friends.
"Aw, man…" Stiles grabbed her hand and ran after Scott to get to their next class.
The trio reached economics, which was actually one of Natalie's favorite classes. Only because Coach Finstock was the teacher and she loved annoying him the whole time. Judging by the laughs she always got, apparently so did the rest of the class. Well, except for Coach, of course. She was probably going to give that man an aneurysm one of these days.
Scott and Stiles sat next to each other while Natalie had the seat behind her boyfriend. The three of them were talking amongst themselves about the whole situation about the kanima, Derek's pack, and now that Delilah was one of them. They went quiet and pretended to look over their notes when Jackson took the seat that was next to Natalie and behind Scott, much to the girl's dismay.
"Hey, fire-crotch and testicle left and right," he whispered at them.
Natalie rolled her eyes at the nickname as she took a sip of her water. How original.
"What the hell is a kanima?"
Water spilled out of Natalie's mouth and she coughed as the three of them turned to Jackson with wide eyes. How the hell would he know anything about that?! They were about to ask when Coach stood at the front of the class.
"Alright, listen up. A quick warning before we begin our review. Some of you, like McCall-" Said boy looked offended, "-might want to start their own study groups, because tomorrow's midterm is so profoundly difficult-" Coach let out a laugh, "- I'm not even too sure I could pass it."
"Way to be motivational, Coach," Natalie said, raising her water bottle up.
"Zip it, Henderson! Okay, I need a volunteer at the board to answer the first question." A bunch of students raised their hands, including Lydia. "Who's got it, huh?" He pointed to a random boy. "Come on, let's go, buddy."
While students were going up to the board one by one, Jackson was telling the trio about how Derek poisoned him with venom to test and see if he was the kanima. Spoiler alert- he wasn't. Although Natalie wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if he was.
"Paralyzed from the neck down," Jackson told them, "Do you have any idea what that feels like?"
Stiles frowned as he remembered what happened at the auto shop. "I'm familiar with the sensation."
"Wait, why would Derek test you?" Scott asked Jackson, "Why would he ask you?"
"How should I know?"
"Wait, they don't think it's Lydia, do they?" Natalie asked, becoming worried for her fellow redhead friend.
"I don't know," Jackson told her, "All I heard was her name and something about chemistry."
Coach interrupted them before they could go any further. "Jackson! Do you have something you want to share with the rest of the class?"
The jock stuttered and smiled nervously. "Um… just an undying admiration for my- my coach."
Kiss-ass.
"That's really kind of you," Coach smiled unusually. Then it quickly disappeared. "Now shut up! Shut it!" He turned his attention back to the rest the class. Anyone else?"
The trio leaned in towards each other. "How do we know it's not her?" Scott asked his best friends.
"Because I looked into the eyes of that thing, okay?" Stiles said, "And what I saw was pure evil."
"And when you look into Lydia's eyes, you only see about 50% evil," Natalie added.
Stiles snorted. "It's more like 60% evil."
"Dude!"
"Well am I wrong?"
After contemplating it in her head for a bit, Natalie threw her hands up. "Fine, but! It's no more than 40% on a good day."
"Nat, that's not a very good argument," Scott pointed out.
The redhead sighed. "I know. But Scotty, believe me, she's not the kanima. I just know it."
Her boys didn't say anything else, so the three of them went back to working on the review. Natalie went to look up at the board to see what problem they were on but her eyebrows furrowed when she saw Lydia standing up there with a chalk in her hand.
It was almost like Lydia was in some sort of trance. She was staring off into space with a blank expression. But then it turned into horror. Whimpers were slipping out and tears were rolling down her cheeks, smudging her eye makeup. Natalie was about to run up to the front of the room to get to Lydia but Coach had beaten her to it. He called her name a couple of times and then she finally seemed to break out of whatever was happening to her. But she was still panicking and looking around her like she was afraid someone or something was going to get her.
"Okay then," Coach said awkwardly, "anybody else wanna try answering? This time in English?" Everyone besides Scott, Stiles, and Natalie started to laugh, making the later feel bad for her friend.
That was the trio finally noticed what Lydia had written down on the board. They couldn't even tell what it was, just that the writing looked funny and it was all over the board in different patterns.
"What is that, Greek?" Scott asked in confusion as Stiles looked at his phone.
"No, actually, I think it's English."
Stiles showed the picture he had taken on his phone of the board to Scott and Natalie. He edit the picture so it was flipped and indeed, it was English. And it was freaky.
HELP ME.
"Derek is not going to kill her without proof," Scott said as he and his friends walked into chemistry.
"Alright, so he tests her like he did with Jackson, right?" Stiles wondered, "But when and where?"
Natalie pointed to the other side of the room. "I'm guessing here and now."
Standing on the other end was Erica, Isaac, and Delilah, the first two smiling almost villainously at the trio. All six of them looked at the empty seat next to Lydia then back at each other. Isaac and Erica started heading towards her but Natalie had beaten them to it, taking the empty seat. Scott and Stiles grabbed chairs and sat next to the girls as well for extra precaution. The trio just smiled at Lydia while she just looked at them weirdly. Behind them Derek's betas were sitting and they all were eying them like they were ready for a battle.
All except for Delilah. Stiles and Natalie noticed that Isaac's girlfriend was looking a little nervous, more like paranoid. Her head was down but her eyes were roaming around her. Plus her knee was bouncing up and down. The couple looked at each other, silently asking each other what her deal was.
"Einstein once said," Mr. Harris said, walking from the back of the room, "'Two things are infinite- the universe and human stupidity.' I myself have encountered human stupidity." He patted Stiles's shoulder, making the boy roll his eyes and Natalie accidentally let out a laugh. She shut up right as Mr. Harris glared at her. "So to combat the plague of ignorance in my class, you're going to combine efforts through a round of group experiments. Let's see if two heads are indeed better than one. Or in Mr. Stilinski's case, less than one."
Man, Mr. Harris is as boring as a rock but he can be funny without even trying. Natalie tried not to laugh again and when she looked at her boyfriend, he gave her a deadpan stare. She just patted his cheek and grinned.
"Erica, you take the first station," Mr. Harris instructed, "You'll start off with-"
All of the boys in the classroom except for Scott, Stiles, and Isaac raised their hands up, eager to pair up with the new bombshell. Natalie wanted to roll her eyes at how easy these boys are. Although the way the blonde beta was smirking at her was kind of making her wanna raise her hand also. These female werewolves had way too much power.
Their chemistry teacher looked unimpressed. "I didn't ask for volunteers. Put your little hormonal hands down." He looked at Scott. "Start with Mr. McCall. Next two."
Scott went off to work with Erica while Stile and Natalie were paired up together. Honestly, the two weren't even sure if the chemicals in the beaker in front of them were measured correctly. They just kept pouring liquids in there and tried to look as busy as possible while they were peering at their friends around the room. So if an explosion went off in class, you know who did it.
"Do you think it's her?" Stiles asked Natalie as he squinted at one of the rest tubes.
"It can't be," she said, "She doesn't seem like the killing type. Is she scary? Yeah, to say the least. But I know deep down… like way, way deep down, she's capable of having human emotion."
Her boyfriend shook his head. "Yeah, you really aren't good at talking her up. Remind me again why your friends with her?"
"It's like the saying goes, opposites attract."
"But you and I aren't much different from each other," Stiles pointed out, "We're practically the same person. But you know, you're hair's longer. And more… out there."
"Really?" Natalie scoffed, "Thats the only difference you can think of?"
"You saying there's more?"
"Well the fact that you and I have different genitalia is a big one. Plus the fact that I'm awesome and you're a total nerd."
Stuttering at the insult, Stiles threw down his pencil. "You know how I was saying earlier that I've been questioning my friendship with Scott? Well, now I'm beginning to question my relationship with you."
Natalie laughed as she grabbed his chin. "Oh, not after this, you won't." She gave Stiles a quick but loving kiss on the lips.
When she pulled away, Stiles had a huge dopey grin on his face. "Yep, that's why I keep you around." He kissed her again.
"No PDA in my class, you two," Mr. Harris yelled at them. Or really, talked at them loudly with his monotone voice, "I don't know why I even allowed you two to work together in the first place."
"Uh, maybe because you secretly believe in young love and are rooting for our happiness?" The couple grinned at their teacher.
"No."
Ding!
"Switch."
Now, Natalie was trying to be very careful about who she partnered up with this time. Does she go for Lydia so she can make sure none of the Wild Hog wannabes get to her or should she choose one of them so she could get more information out of them? Wanting to make sure her friend was protected, Natalie started to walk over to her friend.
But it seemed like she wasn't able to make that choice. A hand grabbed at her wrist, pulling her back slightly. Natalie had to hold back her groan when she saw that it was none other than Erica. The beta gave her a sinister smile.
"Hey, Natalie. Let's chat."
Stiles tried to focus more on the lab this time while still keeping an eye on Scott, who was paired up with Delilah, and Natalie. He could tell that his girlfriend was not having a good time with the beta and he could see her glancing over at Lydia to make sure she was doing okay. Meanwhile Stiles could sense Isaac's smug asshole face being amused by his spastic movements next to him.
"Just so you know, Natalie is one of Lydia's friends and really adamant on keeping her alive so if you touch a single hair on her head we're both gonna turn your little werewolf ass into a fur coat and give it to her as a birthday present."
Isaac laughed. "Really? You mean your girlfriend's gonna be the one doing all of the beating up while you'll be her little cheerleader from the sidelines?"
"Hey laugh all you want," Stiles shot back, "but if you see her coming at you with a baseball bat, you should be very afraid."
"To this day I still don't understand how a girl like Natalie ended up with a nerd like you."
"Funny, because I was about to say the same thing to you."
This seemed to humble Isaac just a bit when Stiles brought up the brunette next to Scott. "I don't get it either. I know she deserves better. But that doesn't mean I'll stop at nothing to protect her from any sort danger. And that also includes you and your little posse of dweebs."
"Mmm, you sure do have a lot of teenage angst," Stiles said sarcastically, "Maybe you should write about it in English class, you know? Channel all that negative energy."
Isaac shook his head. "Nah, I think I'm gonna channel it into killing Lydia. I'm not very good at writing."
Meanwhile, Natalie was still sitting next to Erica, growing more uncomfortable every second that the blonde was staring at her. But she wouldn't dare let her see her crumble.
"How come we aren't friends, Natalie?" Erica asked her, faking a kind smile.
Is this bitch crazy? "Oh, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that hitting my boyfriend and I upside the head with unidentifiable car parts doesn't make you seem like the friendly type, does it?"
"Well it seems like I have plenty of friends now."
"Yeah, and by the way, you might wanna be focusing on helping your one friend calm herself down before she gets all of your canine asses in trouble."
"She seems to be handling herself just fine to me," Erica said as she looked back at Delilah, "After all, she has a pretty damn good teacher to show her the ropes. Maybe you should think about joining us too." She leaned a little closer to the redhead. "I think we would make a badass team- me, Delilah, and you. We'd be like the Power Puff Girls."
"Oh, how could I ever pass up an opportunity like that," Natalie said sarcastically, "I swear you guys get hot overnight and you act like your shit doesn't stink."
Erica smiled devilishly. "So you think I'm hot?"
Struggling to find to words to get herself out of the hole she had dug herself in, Natalie's mouth gaped open like a fish.
"I'm done having this conversation." She pulled her pencil from behind her ear and wrote down her results.
"Think about it, Natalie- you're already hot now. Just imagine how many guys at this school you would have eating out of the palm of your hand if you were one of us."
Pointing her pencil at Stiles, Natalie said, "In case you've forgotten, I'm already spoken for and don't need anyone else."
"True, but word on the street is that you haven't put out yet." Natalie's jaw clenched as Erica got even closer, her lips almost brushing against her ear. "You might wanna change that soon. Stiles is a very hormonal teenage boy. You don't want him to leave you for the first girl that'll jump at the chance to get in bed with him now, do you?"
Ding!
"And switch."
This time, Natalie didn't even bother getting up to find a new partner. She knew that Erica was just trying to mess with her. But… what if she was right? There was no real reason why Stiles and Natalie haven't had sex yet. It was just something they haven't got to. Maybe Stiles was getting too antsy though. And not just him- she's been wanting to do it for a while now too! She was a little nervous, however. They've been in each other's lives forever and she was afraid of how much things would change even more between the two. What if it ruined their relationship completely?
But still, there was no doubt how much Stiles absolutely loved Natalie and she loved him. He wouldn't leave her because she didn't have sex with him…
Right?
Natalie was so deep in thought that she didn't even realize that Delilah had taken the seat next to her. She started mentally preparing herself for another round of harassment from the new beta, but it never came. In fact, Delilah was completely silent as she started working on the experiment. Huh… Natalie didn't see that coming. Finally realizing that she was actually focused on doing the work, Natalie decided to jot some notes down as well.
"Time," Mr. Harris soon called out, "If you've catalyzed the reaction correctly, you should now be looking at a crystal."
Delilah had pulled out what was in their beaker with a pair of tongs and low and behold, it was a crystal. Holy shit! That was awesome! But it wasn't too surprising for Natalie considering the fact that Delilah was almost as smart as Lydia. Natalie looked back at Scott and Stiles holding up their beaker, which held what appeared to be mush. They glared at the redhead when she laughed at their expense.
"Now for the part of that last experiment I'm sure you'll all enjoy- you can eat it."
Interesting. A hand held out a broken half of a crystal in front of Natalie's face. Delilah offered a shy but friendly smile along with the crystal, making Natalie a little skeptical.
Please don't tell her that it was laced…
But no, the brunette seemed to be genuine. Her nervous hands gave that away. So to ease the poor girl's mind, Natalie politely smiled back and took the crystal from her. She took a tiny nibble, unsure of what to expect from rock. Huh. Almost tastes like candy.
"Lydia!"
The crystal fumbled in Natalie's hands as she was startled by Scott's outburst. When she looked at her friend, Lydia was holding her own crystal that Isaac, who was then her last partner, gave to her. If you squinted real hard or had wolfy super-vision, you could see a clear liquid dripping from the crystal.
The kanima's venom.
Lydia shot Scott an annoyed and confused look. "What?"
Not wanting to embarrass himself even more in front of the now staring class, Scott said "Nothing," and sat back down.
The trio and the betas' attentions were all on Lydia as shit bit down into her crystal. Each of them waited in anticipation of whether she become paralyzed or immune.
Immune.
Feeling her heart drop down to the pit of her stomach, Natalie wanted to be in denial that the venom had no effect on her friend. She looked back at Scott and Stiles, who seemed to be just as upset as she was. They all knew what this meant.
This was the first test Lydia had ever failed in her life, and it just so happened to be the most important test of her life.
.Oh, this is bad. This is so very bad!
The trio along with Allison stepped into Coach Finstock's office so they could discuss the revelation that was Lydia being the kanima.
"Derek's outside waiting for Lydia," Scott told them.
"Waiting to kill her?" Allison asked.
"If he thinks she's the kanima, then yes. Especially after what happened in the pool."
No, no, no, this still didn't seem quite right. Something was off, Natalie knew it. "It's not her."
"Nat, she didn't pass the test," Scott told his best friend, "Nothing happened."
But Natalie still refused to accept that answer. "It's just not her, I can feel it…"
"It doesn't matter," Allison said, "because Derek still thinks it's her. So either we can convince him that he's wrong, or we've go to figure out a way to protect her."
"Well, I really don't think he's gonna gonna do anything, not at school," Scott said.
"What about after school? What if we can prove that Derek's wrong?"
"By three o'clock?" Stiles asked.
"There could be something in the bestiary."
Stiles scoffed. "Oh, you mean the nine hundred page book written in Archaic Latin that none of us can read? Good luck with that."
In that second, a light bulb went off in Natalie's red head. She held her finger up. "You know, I think there might be someone who might be able to." Allison gave her a knowing look and nodded her head.
The person in their mind was Ms. Morrell, the school's guidance counselor. She also happened to have a lot of knowledge about dead languages, and hopefully, Archaic Latin would be one that she could translate for them. Like most people in this town, she gave Natalie a bit of an eery vibe. She had never had much of a conversation with Ms. Morrell, but she knew she was going to have to face her sooner or later.
After her session with Caroline Maxwell, Natalie refused to book an appointment with with her ever again. Her parents agreed, but they still thought she needed, you know… guidance and counseling. So, Ms. Morrell fit that bill. It was either start going to see her or Natalie would get her precious Trisha taken away. She didn't like the idea but she grudgingly agreed to it.
Now back to the current dilemma. Scott sighed. "Uh, I can talk to Derek, maybe convince him to give us a chance to prove that it's not her. I'll even call Anabelle for help to get him to reason with us. But if anything happens, you guys let me handle it, okay?" At that last part it was directed more at Allison.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"It means you can't heal like I do. I just don't want you getting hurt."
Taking that as a challenge, Allison dropped her bag on the desk and pulled out a crossbow. "I can take care of myself."
"Can I see that?" Natalie asked, in awe of the weapon. Allison handed it to her and Natalie inspected it carefully.
Wow. Allison really was the real life Katniss Everdeen. She was so cool. Way cooler than Natalie. All of these girls were. They had all of these powers and weapons and weren't afraid of anything. What did Natalie have? A baseball bat, a lousy taser, and grueling headaches. How lame.
Allison took notice of how Scott was looking at her. Solemn. Afraid for her safety. Derek and his betas were way too unpredictable and were ready to kill Lydia, even if it means getting through to those trying to protect her. Let's not forget the possibility of her best friend being the kanima. If anything happened to Allison, or any of his friends for that matter, Scott would never be able to forgive himself.
"What? Did something else happen?"
"I just don't want you getting hurt," Scott repeated, "Seriously, if anything goes wrong, you call me, okay? I don't care if your dad finds out. Call, text, scream, yell, whatever. I'll hear you and I'll find you as fast as I can." Allison was trying not to cry, they could tell. But she nodded her head. "We have until three."
He turned to walk out the door but he spun back around just as fast as he heard the sound of something released. He was able to catch a flying arrow that was just centimeters from his face. Along with Allison and Natalie, they deadpanned as they saw Stiles holding the huntress's crossbow.
Natalie held out her hand as her boyfriend placed the crossbow in it. "Ah. Sorry. Sorry. Sensitive trigger on that."
"That's my bad," Natalie said as she passed it along to Allison, "I swear, I can't take my eyes off you for more than two seconds…"
After her daily session with Ms. Morrell, Lydia strutted through the hallway towards the library. She turned a corner and as soon as she passed, Natalie's head poked out from behind the wall. Then Stiles's appeared above hers. Once the coast was clear, Stiles pointed towards the library and the two followed after the strawberry blonde. Everybody looked at them funny as they tried to act discreet, but they were way too spastic to succeed.
They followed Lydia into the library and tried to act as sneaky as possible. But she unexpectedly whipped her head around and caught them, making them jump slightly.
"What are you doing?" she asked them.
"What do you mean?" Stiles laughed, "It's a library, we're here to get our read on." He grabbed a random book from the shelf, which just so happened to be on wolves. Perfect. "See?"
"You guys are being weird."
"No, we're not," Natalie scoffed.
Lydia nodded her head towards Stiles, who was holding the open book upside down. "He's being weird."
"That's just his natural state." Natalie yanked the book from Stiles's hands and placed it back on the shelf. "We actually wanted to ask you if you wanted to be in a study group with us. You know, for Coach's midterm."
"Oh. Who else is in it?"
The couple looked at each other, unsure of how to answer. "Oh, you know…," Stiles said, "Allison, Scott, and uh…" He then saw Jackson sitting with Danny and Matt. "Jackson."
Hearing her ex boyfriend's name saddened her a little, but Lydia would be lying if she said she wasn't dying to be close to him again. So she slowly nodded at her friend's offer. "Okay."
"Great!" Natalie said as she looked at the text on her phone, "Allison's waiting right outside. You guys wait out their and I'll be right back."
She made her way towards the table Jackson, Danny, and Matt were sitting at and pulled up a chair across from them. She rested her chin on her hands and gave them a toothy grin.
"Hello, boys," she greeted. "If you guys don't mind, I actually need to borrow Jackson for our study group meeting."
Jackson was confused. "I'm not in a study group with you."
"Well, you are now." Natalie stood up and grabbed his arm. "Let's go, Jackass."
"Ow!" He winced as Natalie's hold tightened when he tried to get her off."Where are you taking me?"
"I told you, study group," Natalie told him as she dragged him out of the library, "Now that's the last question you're going to ask me so I suggest you shut it."
They went into the hallway and Jackson groaned at the sight of Lydia with Stiles and Allison. "Great, Lydia's coming with us? Ah!"
"Seriously, what did I just say?" Natalie finally let go of him once they reached the other three. "You guys ready to go?"
"Lead the way, m'lady," Stiles said, gesturing in front of him. Everyone followed the fiery redhead down the hall.
"If we're doing a study group, we didn't we just stay in the library?" Lydia wondered.
"Because we're meeting with someone else," Stiles answered.
"Hmm. Well, why don't they just meet us in the library?"
Stiles and Natalie looked at each other and laughed nervously. "Oh, that would've been a great idea too." He patted Lydia's shoulder. "Too late."
But Lydia still wasn't having it. "Ok, hold on-"
"Lydia, shut up and walk," Jackson said angrily, grabbing the strawberry blonde's arm and dragging her out of the building.
Natalie was fuming. How dare Jackass put his hands on any girl like that? Let alone her friend! She gritted her teeth and raised her fist, ready to swing at Jackson. But Stiles and Allison grabbed Natalie before she could actually start a fight and almost carried her out of the school.
After they five teenagers got into Stiles's Jeep, he drove them all to Scott's house so they could all keep an eye on Lydia. Well, at least that's what Stiles, Natalie, and Allison's intentions were. They still really weren't sure what Jackson's purpose in being here was since he wasn't in the loop of what was happening entirely.
"If we're studying at Scott's house, then where's Scott?" Lydia asked.
God, rich people as so many questions. "Oh, he's supposed to meet us here," Natalie told her, "He should be here soon."
"I hope," Stiles said under his breath, his girlfriend elbowing him afterwards.
As soon as Stiles shut the door, he secured every single lock on it to make sure everything was secure. Jackson and Lydia gave him a funny look from his spastic movements.
"Uh, there's been a few break-ins around the neighborhood," he lied.
All of them glanced at each other uncomfortably. Then Natalie decided to grab a random chair and place it under the door handle for good measure. She smiled sheepishly. "There's also been a murder. So, safety first, kids!"
Jackson rolled his eyes. When he looked at Allison, she nodded her head towards Lydia, nonverbally telling the boy to keep her distracted so she would stop asking questions. He sighed.
"Lydia, follow me," he told her, "I need to talk to you."
"Seriously?" Lydia groaned but followed Jackson down to Scott's room anyway. "What is going on with everyone?"
While the former couple were talking in Scott's room for what seemed like hours, Allison sat on the couch in the living room, biting her nails and trying not to freak out about what was going to happen next. Stiles and Natalie were hanging out in the kitchen. He was searching through the fridge and she was sitting on the kitchen table. As she watched him, she was not able to get the conversation with Erica out of her mind. Natalie bit onto her bottom lip as she internally debated on whether she should even say anything or not.
"Hey, Stiles," she said before thinking about it, "can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, sure," he said as he continued to dig through the fridge, "What's up, Nat?"
"Does it bother you that we haven't had sex yet?"
The question had caught Stiles so off guard that he lifted his head and banged it against the top of the fridge, making him cry out and Natalie wince. He rubbed the back of his head as he turned to Natalie.
"Jesus, Nat," he said, "You need to at least give me a warning before you start asking me sex questions."
"Sorry," Natalie apologized, "But be honest with me. Does it?"
"What brought this on?" Stiles wondered.
Might as well just tell him. "During chemistry, Erica said that people knew that we haven't had sex yet."
"But we have done stuff."
"Come on, Stiles. You can make it to third base but you don't get the point until you get a home run."
Stiles raised his eyebrows. "I can't take whether it's hot or offensive that you just used a sports analogy on our sex life." The redhead deadpanned. "I mean, does it bother you?"
"No…" Natalie said, "Maybe?" She sighed in defeat. "I don't know. I just don't want you to think I don't want it. Because I do. I really do. I actually think about a lot more than I should."
"Wow. Never did I ever think I would hear Natalie Henderson's undying need to have sex with me."
"Anyway-" The redhead rolled her eyes. "I just… I just get scared that you're gonna get too frustrated if we wait too long and that-"
"What? That I'm gonna leave you?"
The way Natalie looked down at her feet was all the answer that Stiles needed. He felt bad. While sex does pop in his mind often (he was a sixteen year old boy- it was bound to be a constant thought), he never wanted to make Natalie feel like she was forced to do anything. And with everything going on with Sourwolf's pack and the giant lizard, there never seemed to be the perfect moment to go beyond what they've already done. He knew that Natalie knew that too.
But it seems that even the most badass girl could be insecure.
Stiles placed his hands on her thighs, making Natalie look up at him with those gorgeous big brown eyes. "You know I had a ten year plan on how I was gonna ask you out?"
"Bullshit," Natalie said in disbelief.
"It's true. Ask Scott, he would tell you. But I thought it was never going to happen. Now look where we are." He smiled softly. "So if I could wait ten years for you to be my girlfriend, then I'm sure I can wait a little longer for us to finally fornicate."
"You know you had me up until you used the word 'fornicate'."
"What can I say? I'm a romantic guy."
Natalie shook her head but laughed at Stiles's goofiness. He was about to lean forward to kiss her until his eyes focused on the window. She noticed this change. "What?"
"They're here."
The couple along with Allison went to the window. Stiles drew back the curtain and there Derek and his four betas were, standing, waiting, and ready.
"I'm calling Scott," Allison said, already dialing his number. It rang only once until Scott answered. "It's me."
"What's wrong?"
"You need to get here now," Allison told him, exchanging looks with Stiles and Natalie, "Like, right now."
"Okay, I'm leaving now," Scott told her, "I'm on my way. I'll call Anabelle too."
After they hung up, Allison's thumb hovered over another number. Natalie noticed this. It was like the huntress was having a mind battle.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I think…" When Allison looked at her friend, it looked like she was trying not to cry. "I think I have to call my dad."
"No," Stiles said, "but if he finds you here, you and Scott-"
"I know. But what are we supposed to do? They're not here to scare us, okay? They're here to kill Lydia."
They weren't sure how long the three had been waiting for something to happen, but Scott still wasn't there and they needed to come up with a plan- fast. Stiles saw Allison holding her crossbow.
"I got an idea," he whispered, "Just shoot one of them."
"Are you serious?" Allison said incredulously.
"We told Scott we could protect ourselves, so let's do it. Or at least give it a shot, right?"
Allison swallowed down her hesitation and said, "Okay."
"They probably don't think we would fight back," Natalie said, "but if we can take one out, I'm sure we can scare the rest of them." She held up her taser. "I got this for backup as well."
"Do you really think a taser's gonna do anything?" Stiles asked her.
"Why not? I'm pretty sure one hit with this and we can cook them up like barbecue." Stiles just lowered Natalie's hand, making her pout.
"Just shoot one of them."
"Which one?" Allison asked as she looked out the window.
"Uh… Derek. Yeah, shoot him. Preferably in the head."
Natalie nodded. "I like that idea."
"If Scott was able to catch an arrow, Derek definitely can," Allison told them.
"Okay, uh, just shoot one of the other four then," Stiles suggested.
"You mean two."
Stiles furrowed his eyebrows. "No, I mean four." He and Natalie looked out the window to see that two of the betas were missing, confusing them all and making them even more on edge.
"Where the hell is Isaac and Delilah?"
Shaking, Allison took a few slow steps back and she raised her crossbow at the window, getting ready to shoot. All of a sudden, she was grabbed by the arm and spun around. She was met with a wolfed out Delilah. Delilah knocked her down onto the ground as Isaac threw down Stiles and Natalie. The couple stayed on the ground, frozen in fear as Isaac walked towards them, fangs out and eyes glowing golden. Allison had went to tell Lydia to run so Delilah went to go follow her. Natalie went to kick at Isaac's leg but he caught it. He threw her at the kitchen table, making her slide across it and knock over a glass vase.
Stiles tried to crawl over to his girlfriend but Isaac growled as he grabbed his jacket and dragged him away. Natalie tried to reach for his hands but Isaac was pulling on him way too fast. Right now she really wished that there was a course on how to fight werewolves if you were human.
"Stiles! Natalie!" they heard Allison call out from upstairs, "It's here!"
Fuck. The kanima. Out of the corner of her eye, Natalie saw her taser on the floor next to the broken glass. She saw Isaac was eying the weapon too, so she scrambled to grab it. But even though she was faster, the beta was faster and he caught it first. Natalie's doe eyes grew wider as Isaac pressed the button and the electrical waves rippled. As he aimed it at her, Stiles came up from behind him and threw another vase on the top of his head. It wasn't enough to knock him out, but it did make Isaac drop the taser.
"Nat, go find Allison!" Scott said as he climbed through an open window, "Now!"
Natalie grabbed the taser and booked it upstairs to see Erica paralyzed on the floor and Delilah holding Allison up against the wall by her neck. But Delilah was just standing there, not even looking like she was attempting to fight anymore. Allison heard Natalie at the door and nodded her head. After turning the taser on, the redhead crept up behind the beta and shocked Delilah in the neck. She immediately let go of Allison and collapsed on the floor, convulsing as if she was having a seizure.
"Holy shit," Natalie laughed breathily, looking at her taser, "Looks like this thing does work on werewolves."
Allison laughed along with her and together, the two girls grabbed the weakened betas and dragged them downstairs. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, they saw Scott and Isaac fighting and throwing each other around the living room. The blond stopped when he saw Delilah being held by her foot on the floor, electrical currents still running through her body. He roared and charged at the girls, but Allison loaded up her crossbow and aimed it at Isaac's head. As predicted, he caught it. But just like what happened with Erica, the arrow had been doused in the kanima venom and Isaac became paralyzed and he too dropped down to the floor.
The four teenagers gathered up the taken out werewolves and threw them off the porch at Derek's feet, said alpha grabbing Anabelle by the neck. Scott, Stiles, Natalie, and Allison stood on the porch side by side, standing taller and showing Derek that they would not back down if he dared try to come at them. The alpha chuckled as he let Anabelle go.
"I think I'm finally getting why you keep refusing me, Scott. You're not an omega like Anabelle. You're already an alpha of your own pack." Derek smiled cockily. "But you know you can't beat me."
"I can hold you off until the cops get here," Scott told him.
As if on cue, police sirens blared in the distance, making the alpha frown. Then they heard claws tapping on the roof and the four teens ran off the porch. When they looked up, the kanima was crawling up on the roof. It looked down on them and roared, making Scott hold on to Allison and Stiles to Natalie. It then took off into the night.
Furiously, Derek looked down at his fallen betas. "Get them out of here."
This next part was the real surprise of the night. Lydia, perfectly normal Lydia, stormed out of the house and stood in front of the people on the lawn.
"Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" she shrieked.
Scott looked into the direction the kanima took off. Realization dawned onto him and his friends next to him and he now knew who this monster was.
"It's Jackson."
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! If you can, please leave a review, favorite, and follow! I would truly appreciate it. Thank you and I'll be sure to update soon!