"Are you alright?"
Boyd stood beside Maia, seeing her leaning against the wall, one foot propped up and her arms folded across her chest. "I'm fine Marcus. I just have a lot on my mind," the Alpha murmured, tucking her hair behind her ear and sighing. The two of them watched as Isaac ran along the length of the basement, attacking Derek who fended him off easily. The attack was repeated again and again, Isaac ending up on his back each time.
"Come on," Derek shouted, angry at how little Isaac seemed to be trying. Erica shrugged and rushed him as well, dispatched easily by the more experienced Alpha. "Give me something else, something unexpected!"
Erica came out of nowhere and jumped on Derek, kissing him passionately. He gave in to it for a moment before tossing her down beside Isaac, his mate shaking her head. "I think its time for a break," Maia said quietly, coming off of the wall and moving towards the majority of her pack. Isaac agreed with her, breathing labouredly because of his broken ribs. "I second that. I think I've broken about twenty bones in my body-" Derek growled and broke his arm, Maia roaring at him as Isaac yelped in pain. "And that makes twenty-one, you little shit." The Alpha female felt her wolf starting to rear up within her, full of wrath and indignation. "What the hell Derek," she asked, moving to crouch protectively in front of her Beta and glaring at her husband. "The three of you think that I'm teaching you how to fight? No, I'm teaching you how to survive because Maia and I will not always be there to protect you! We could die as easily as one of you by a hunter's hand- even by the lizard creature running around the Hills and you would be utterly defenseless how you are," Derek said, his mate sensing the protective tone in his words. He wasn't trying to hurt his pack- he was trying to make them stronger, better wolves. "And I… I couldn't live with myself knowing that I could have done more to save one of you if anything happened; so I'm trying to teach you everything I know as quickly as I can. I need you to work with me: Boyd, Erica, Isaac- I'm doing this for you."
"Boyd, take your brother upstairs and help him get a shower- Erica, get started on dinner please," Maia said, giving her young wolves a small smile and letting her eyes convey the message of how much she loved them. When they were gone she glanced over at Derek, noticing that his eyes were on her, staring, watching- his thoughts were in overdrive. He caught her gaze and moved towards his wife, sighing, "It started out as a joke didn't it, them being our children? But there as close to children as we will ever have, and Maia, it feels all too real now."
"Yes, it does… but that doesn't mean that you can go around breaking them down in an attempt to build them up," she shouted in a hushed whisper, rounding on him. "And especially not with Isaac- he's still very fragile; you know that Derek."
He growled at her, frustrated- Derek knew that she worried over Isaac, favored him above the others. True, she loved them all but there was something different about the wolf she had made versus the ones he himself had bitten. "Maia, you have no idea how well I understand Isaac. It takes so much restraint to try and be the Alpha, when all I want to do is take our cub- my cub- and curl up around him into a shield to keep him from all of those hurts. Its what I was made for, what I was born to do: take care of my pack," he said, grabbing her around the wrist and allowing his claws to pierce her flesh.
Maia snapped at him before pulling away, climbing the stairs to the upper hallway swiftly.
"Get washed up for dinner. I want to be at the lacrosse game by eight."
Maia climbed into the stands and sat between Boyd and Erica, the male wrapping his arm around her shoulders. He could smell worry on her- over the past few days, his nose had far surpassed what any human could ever hope to sense and he could tell one of his owns' disposition merely by a spike or drop in their chemical makeup.
"I'm alright Boyd," his Alpha said as she tried to soothe his own nerves, snuggling into his side. "I just want to keep an eye on Scott- he may not be part of the pack but he is one of our kind."
They watched the game closely, Maia wishing that she could still take the field. The opposing side had a behemoth on their team that the crowd was calling the Abomination, a player that was tearing up the Beacon Hills field. And then her ears flicked, hearing the one named Jackson talking to Scott quietly, "What are you doing? You could easily take him down- just lose control."
"I can't- not with Allison's grandfather sitting in the stands," Scott replied, Maia feeling herself pale.
She turned to see the Argent patriarch in the stands further away, his granddaughter beside him. Maia had only seen him once but knew that he had pulled strings with the League, pretty much a shot caller- and if it was true, he was to blame for much bad that had happened in her life. She saw him wrap his coat around Allison's shoulders before the girl started to dig in the pockets, Stiles moving past her; the exchange was quick, but the Alpha's ability to track was quicker.
Without even thinking about Derek- who was currently patrolling the area for any sign of the lizard creature- she turned to Erica, looking at Stiles' retreating back, "Follow him. I'll call to Derek."
Boyd was curious but let it go, more focused on the game than what mischief Stiles was getting himself into. The coach found himself short one player due to injuries and started searching the crowd before his eyes landed on Boyd, "Hey, you! Do you know how to play lacrosse?" The wolf looked at Maia and she smiled, leaning in to kiss his cheek.
"Have fun, son."
He stood up and everyone seemed in awe of him- he had gotten taller since the Bite and filled out with muscle, becoming even larger than he had been previously and he had been no small human.
Maia turned and locked eyes with Gerard, fearless and almost challenging. If he had not known her true nature before, he knew it then, seeing her eyes flash crimson.
There was a low rumbling growl of discontent from the tree line, much lower than humans could possibly hear and Maia turned to see Derek's eyes glowing against the darkness, growling in reply before she spoke. "Find Erica- she has the boy," the Alpha female said before tucking her hair behind her ears and cheering Boyd on loudly.
He was tearing up the field, blocking and bulldozing down the much weaker human players. The massive player they had nicknamed the Abomination went after Boyd and Maia tensed, knowing that they were going to collide, her wolf roaring with the need to protect- even from something that could not possibly harm him. The Abomination went down and she heard Boyd growl, the wolf turning towards her with eyes on fire. She stood and stared back at him, allowing her eyes to shift; she challenged him, trying to beat his wolf down to keep Boyd from phasing on the field. She could hear Scott telling him to leave the field, meeting the Omega's eyes repeatedly as he did her bidding. But Boyd was stubborn and remained on the field, his Alpha forced to simply sit and watch the chaos unfold. The referee whistled for the next play and Scott scored, pushing Boyd out of the way in a move that broke his leg- it was audible to everyone, those with and without supernatural hearing. Everyone rushed onto the field save for Maia, knowing that Scott's healing would kick in fast and that he would be fine. She stood and started towards the parking lot, calling for her fledgling, "Marcus!" He ran to her side and she climbed into Derek's Camaro, speeding off back towards their house.
Maia ripped the jersey from Boyd's shoulders once they were in the house, growling at him loudly. "I gave you a chance, child and you risk it all for what, some fool's glory? When I beckon you, I expect you to come running Boyd- you may have some dignity left when it comes to Derek, but not with me. I am your Alpha and if I have to, I will force you to back down," she snarled out, her words plagued with barks and snaps from her wolf as she fought the urge to phase. Maia's eyes seemed to burn with the intensity of the sun as she stared Boyd down, the werewolf suddenly unable to keep his feet as he fell to his knees. She forced him down onto all fours before bending down into his ear and roaring, "I am the Alpha and you will bow to me!"
"Maia!"
She was brought back by Isaac shouting her name, snapping back into composure as if a switch had been flipped. Boyd looked as if he were in immense pain, panting heavily and trying not to completely collapse under the immense weight of her words. Maia turned to her Beta, his eyes accusatory even as he moved to where Boyd was, "Come on brother. Come on…" He got Boyd to his feet and pulled an arm around his shoulders, starting towards the stairs. "You need to take a walk Maia," Isaac said, his words punctuated with growls. Without another word, Maia went to do just that, stomping through the forest.
She had thought she could pride herself on being- mostly- levelheaded when it came to her fledgling pack, but something tonight had triggered the Alpha instinct within her she had never truly tapped into; Maia had never sought subservience or obedience from her wolves, only loyalty in the face of adversity. Maybe it was the fact that the pack was being attacked from two sides, the wolves still much too young to realize how dangerous things were becoming for the five of them and that the Alpha pair was trying to cover all of their asses them safe.
A howl pierced the air and Maia's ears zeroed into the sound, her heart skipping a beat: she would know that wolf anywhere.
It was Derek.
She took off through the forest, phasing into her wolf as she burst out of the tree line in front of the school and following her mate's scent into the old pool. The first thing Maia saw was Stiles holding up Derek in the water, her mate looking at her, "Watch your back! Its venomous!" She turned and looked at the lizard creature as it stalked around the edge of the pool, letting out a snarl as her hackles raised. It darted towards her, snarling and lunged out at her left flank, its hands tipped with claws. Maia decided that the water was her best option, plunging in and phasing as Stiles swam towards her.
"The thing scratched Derek- he's paralyzed," the young boy said, exhausted. Her mate glared and Maia nodded, wrapping her arms around Derek. She nodded to Stiles, seeing how grateful he was to her, "Its alright. You can give him to me."
"Maia!"
Scott threw his hand out to her, Maia instead pushing Stiles towards him and watching the friends reunite. "Scott- move," the Alpha female shouted before snarling at the creature as it lurked on the opposite side of the pool. She scrambled out, pulling Derek with her even as she phased and the animal lunged at both her and Scott. Maia deflected its claws with a swipe of her own massive paw, its tail coming back around to smash the Omega into a mirror on the wall. She yelped as the creature pinned her down on her back, its razor-sharp talons raising up the side of her face. Derek shouted her name and she turned her face towards him, seeing how hard he was struggling to move. His wife phased back to her human form- if she was going to die, she was going to do it in her skin.
To her shock, the creature froze and brought its face down towards her, its tongue flicking out to drag along her cheekbone. It was a cold, burning sensation, Maia's bottom lip trembling even as she attempted to keep her fear at bay.
"Hey!"
Scott grabbed a piece of broken mirror, slashing at the creature who caught sight of its own reflection as it started towards the young werewolf. It seemed to confused, as if the sight of its own face frightened it and Maia inhaled with a gasp as it ran away, slinking into the darkness of the school.
The Alpha female scrambled to her feet and went to her mate, Derek pulling himself up into a sitting position to bring her into his arms. Scott pulled off his jacket to wrap it around her naked body, his fingers stroking her cheek, "Are you okay?" Maia nodded and leaned against her husband, closing her eyes. The Omega pulled out a small flash drive from his back pocket, holding it out to the Alpha pair and swallowing.
"I think this holds the key to whatever that is," Scott said, Derek reaching out for the flash drive and shaking his head. "I already know what the creature is- it's a Kanima. It was scared by its own reflection because it doesn't know what… or who it really is," Derek said, feeling Maia drop her forehead to his chest. She knew the stories as well as he did- he'd made sure to impart his family's collective wisdom of the supernatural on her, if only to keep her safe if confronted by things much more evil and deadly than themselves. "The Kanima is a shape shifter- like us," she continued, Scott looking down at her. "But its not right. Something went wrong."
The Omega nodded, trying to figure out how to simply get rid of it. "We can work together to fight, get it out of Beacon Hills- Derek, we know people who can help," he started, glowing crimson eyes shutting him up almost immediately.
"The Argents are no match for the Kanima. I will find it Scott. And I will kill it."