"What happened?"

Maia glared at Peter as he recounted what had happened in the woods, Derek snarling as his wife applied pressure on his wounds. She bared her teeth before putting her husband on his back, ripping open his shirt with ease and pulling out the pocketknife in her back pocket to cut the slugs out of his chest. "We don't have much time to rescue Boyd and Erica- the instinct to protect their Alphas is too strong for them to betray us," Maia said, throwing the first slug against the wall as her fingers burned from touching the wolfsbane. "Yeah, what about Scott then? You heard him as well as I did that night in the station," Derek said through his teeth, trying to keep himself from phasing and clawing Maia's face off. The teen looked at the Alpha female evenly, speaking through his teeth, "Gerard threathened my mom and Allison. Getting close to him was the only way to keep them safe."

The young werewolf answered his cellphone, stepping away from the others as he talked to his mother. But he could feel Maia's eyes on his back and knew that she could hear Melissa's every word, Scott nodding as he inhaled deeply. "I'll see you soon mom." She searched his face as he turned back to face her, the teen closing his cell phone.

"Apparently this isn't finished. We have to go."

"What the hell is this," Maia asked, her voice barely audible as she took in the sight in front of her.

From the neck up, Jackson was gratefully human, but otherwise, was wrapped in a clear cocoon, the hard fiber encasing his entire body. Mrs. McCall looked at the woman beside her, swallowing, "I have no idea what any of… this means. Is it bad?" Maia reached out and touched Jackson's hair almost tenderly, stroking his hair back before sighing. "It isn't good." Jackson twitched underneath her touch and everyone jumped back, the others freaking out about the corpse's movement. "Shit," Maia said as she yanked the zipper up, looking over her shoulder at Isaac. "Get Derek on the phone. Tell him that we haven't seen all the tricks in the Kanima's bag just yet; he's transforming.."

As Isaac stepped outside, he came face to face with Stiles, seeing how battered his face was. "Jesus kid, come here." The werewolf took the teen's face in his hand, his eyes lingering on both the welt across Stiles' cheek and his bruised and split lip. "Never figured you to be the one that would care Isaac," the shorter male replied, his eyes meeting the wolf's.

"Then obviously you don't know me very well."

Stiles moved into the room to talk to Maia as Isaac did her bidding, the Beta surprised when the door flung opened shortly, seeing the dark-skinned female start to blur into the night.

"Hey!"

Maia turned around to shake Isaac off, her eyes enraged. "Look Isaac, they have your brother and your sister and they are going to kill them because of me! I made a promise to protect you, all of you! I have to go to them," the Alpha female trying to keep her voice down as she attempted to reason with her pack mate. He only shook his head and reached out to grab her arm again, pulling her close, "You feel the bond as strong as I do, and you know that if anything were to happen to you that it would hurt a thousand times worse than if anything happened to them. Boyd and Erica? I could… I could stand to lose them; it would hurt like hell, but I'd keep going, just like you said. Losing you would be like losing a limb- it would be losing the will to live because I wouldn't want to. I wouldn't want to live without you!" She searched his eyes before reaching up to kiss him passionately after having not done so in weeks, her heart aching slightly as she realized what she had to do. The Alpha cupped his face in her hands, bringing his gaze to hers and inhaling deeply.

"Isaac, just do what I say: get the Kanima to the warehouse we holed up in when we first got together. Derek's going to meet you there, and I'll be there after I get the others- I promise. Nothing's going to happen to me, but you have to move fast. Hit the ground and don't stop running because I assure you, things are bad," Maia said seriously, kissing him one last time before she started to walk away. "But they're only getting worse."

The Alpha tore through the city and straight to the Argent house, hearing a warning bark just as she stepped onto the property. Maia allowed her eyes to scan the darkness, swallowing before nodding, "So here it begins… But if you don't mind, I'd like to first rescue my pups."

Maia kicked open the door to the Hunters' home, tossing aside the men like they were rag dolls, following her wolves' scent to the basement. She paused as she saw Chris Argent standing with his back to her in front of what looked like to be controls to the torture devices Erica and Boyd were rigged up in, snarling.

"I think that we can avoid the bloodshed tonight Maia," he said, turning to face her. "It's a more than uncalled for."

"Release them. Now," Maia demanded, the human nodding and lowering the rigs. She moved to tear the tape from their mothers, unwary of how easily he was cooperating with her. "You know, we're not enemies- at least not where the Kanima is involved. We have a common enemy here Maia and it's not Jackson; and I can see clearly now that the lines between the natural and supernatural have blurred. I'm surprised by which side I've ended up on," Chris murmured, the Alpha female wrapping her arm around Erica's shoulder protectively. "I killed your wife." The male nodded and she could see the tightness in his eyes, preparing to kill him if she had to. "Yes, you did and we'll deal with that later. But right now, I have to protect Allison- Gerard has manipulated her the same way he did with Kate. I need your help to stop him."

Searching his eyes once more, Maia turned to her wolves, pushing them both towards the door. "Erica, get him home and stay there. Do not let anyone in unless its me or Derek- do you understand," she asked the wolves looking lost. "Where are you going Maia?" She bared her teeth and looked back at Chris, "To save the world…"

Once they were gone, she watched the hunter start to round up his arsenal in preparation for the battle, the Alpha looking at his back. "Look, I'll help you- and Allison- but we have to do this my way. Is that clear?"

"Crystal."

Derek waited in the warehouse with Peter, pacing anxiously as they waited on their pack mates. "I can't believe you haven't figured any of this out yet, this entire shit storm surrounding Maia. Hell, she gave you up-" The Alpha snarled at his uncle, his teeth snapping together menacingly. "You are not getting in my head Peter. I don't have time for your shit," Derek growled, hearing a vehicle pull up and moving towards the door. Isaac and Scott drug the body bag into the warehouse, the Alpha starting to slam the door before seeing another car racing up. "Peter…" The older wolf moved to stand in the doorway, growling, "Destroy him. Preferably now."

Derek yanked the bag open as Scott protested, trying to keep the Alpha from harming Jackson. "You promised to save him!"

"We're definitely past that now, don't you think-" Derek was silent as he looked down at Jackson, seeing him half-phased, the cocoon all but gone and the teen looking like nothing more than the average corpse. There was the sound of a arrow cutting through the air as Allison shot Peter, knocking him off of his feet and leveling her bow at Derek, "Get away from him." The Alpha did as she said, looking over her shoulder at Gerard and growling. "Why are you doing this," he asked scathingly, the old man smirking coldly. "Because you killed my daughter, you and this Peter. I want your head," Gerard replied, the Kanima rising up to hiss at Derek. He lashed out before Jackson buried his claws in Derek's midsection, lifting the Alpha off of his feet and throwing him across the room. Gerard then turned his attention on Scott, the young wolf growling as he stepped back, "You promised not to hurt them!"

"Shoot him."

Allison looked at her grandfather out of the corner of her eye before raising her bow again, preparing herself to kill Scott. She gasped as the bow flew from her hand, turning to look at her father, his gun raised. Chris stood beside Maia, the Alpha female snarling like a feral animal, "Like I said, we don't kill. Not anymore." Maia left him to deal with his daughter before going after Gerard, the Kanima coming for her throat. Without thinking she attacked first, realizing belatedly that all she had down was trigger his transformation. He whipped out his tail and wrapped it around her ankle, pulling her off her feet. The Alpha hit the ground hard and heard the creature hiss, preparing herself for the onslaught of pain before feeling it release her, moving to see Derek pinning it to the ground. "Not my wife," he roared, Isaac and Scott moving to help fight. Maia again turned her attention to Gerard, crossing the room to eviscerate him before again encountering an obstacle. Allison had apparently unarmed her father and had turned her vengeance on the Alpha female, coming at Maia with blade drawn.

Isaac darted between the women and received two blows to the chest, wheezing in pain as he met Allison's eyes. She paused for a moment before shaking him off of her knives, the Kanima appearing over her shoulder to pull her away from Maia.

"Not just yet, sweetheart."

Green eyes darted back and forth across the warehouse floor, seeing her incapacitated pack and feeling her haunches raised. Derek watched as she began to back away from Gerard, seeing how tense she was- Maia knew that he was dangerous and she had no way out. "So this is it. You finally have me right where you want me," she said, exhaling deeply, her hands in fists at her sides. Gerard nodded and looked at the Alpha, confirming her words evenly, "It was never about them, truly. Just a very nice consolatory prize: getting to rid the world of its lycanthropes, one dog at time."

"How far has the cancer spread Gerard?"

"Right now, its terminal, but just like you said, I have you right where I want you. The cancer won't be an issue once you give me the Bite," the older man said, Maia narrowing her eyes. "Or I'll kill him."

Gerard moved to stand over Derek, the paralyzed Alpha growling angrily at the gun pointed to his head. "Maia Hale, whatever you do, don't you dare bite him!" The woman realized that she had no choice, that he would not hesitate to kill her husband and that she had to give him exactly what he wanted. Derek could see the hopelessness in her eyes, looking at her, "You know as soon as you give him the Bite, he'll kill me anyway and he'll kill you too."

"I'd rather have you in death than to live without you," Maia said, crossing the room to Gerard. She took his arm and listened to the growing rattle of the warehouse walls before biting the old Argent, making sure to dig her teeth in to the bone. He growled before snatching his arm away, seeing a black goo start to ooze from the wound. "What? What did you do," Gerard questioned, dropping the gun as his hands started to shake. As frightened as Maia had seemed moments before, she seemed as if she was gloating now, narrowing her eyes at Gerard. She reached out to kick the gun away, watching the ooze drip from Argent's eyes and nose. "If you thought I was just some dumb woman, you were very, very wrong… That day, in your office, I smelled death on you. Your obsession with my kind gave you away, too invested and too falsely angry to be convicted to kill us all. You have several chances to kill me and you didn't- and so I knew I had to stop you. I had Scott work with you, to gain your trust and had him- and Stiles- switch your cancer meds with Mountain Ash powder.

"You're rejecting the Bite," Maia said as Gerard vomited a fountain of the tar-like substance and collapsed to the ground. The Alpha female reached down to pull Derek to her, trying to keep him away from the crazed elder. Gerard was incensed, screaming at the Kanima, "Kill them all!"

Instead the creature loosened its grip on Allison and she elbowed it in the face before it threw her onto the ground, the Kanima turning on Maia and Derek. There was a loud crash then, Maia and Derek throwing themselves out of the way as Stiles' Jeep barreled through the warehouse and slammed, full force, into Jackson. He only got back up and crawled onto the hood of the Jeep, Lydia jumping out and confronting the creature. "Jackson," she shouted, her voice layered thick with the law of the Alpha as the Kanima drew back a clawed hand as if to strike. Stiles scrambled out of the car to try and help her but Scott held him back, the human female holding her ground. "Jackson, come back to me."

Maia could see him starting to phase and climb off of the Jeep, seeing Derek and Peter both moving towards him.

"Stop!"

The order of the Alpha stopped Peter in his tracks, but Derek turned to look back at his wife, baring his teeth. "I am going to kill him Maia-" The woman snarled, seeing Jackson standing stock still, "No you are not. And that is an order!"

"Who are you to order me," Derek roared in reply, hearing a grisly growl from behind him.

Everyone turned to see five naked silhouettes standing in the blinding beam from Stiles' headlights, all with burning red eyes. They were intensely still, in identical half-crouched positions as if they were readying themselves to strike. "She's the Alpha," a quiet voice said forcefully, the feminine figure's gaze seeming to pin Derek to the floor. She inflicted the most piercing white eyes upon him, her husband watching as the red in her irises was consumed, finding himself falling to his knees as he tried to resist the best he could. "And now, you belong to me..."

He watched, struggling to move as Maia moved to stand in front of Jackson, seeing her digging her nails into his shoulder to bring him around fully. She looked at Jackson and found that his eyes were burning yellow, the teen letting out a deep growl that she responded to, listening to the soft purr in his throat. He then let out a roar as his head snapped back, the Alpha watching his teeth lengthen as he began to phase for the first time. She moved forward to bury her teeth in his throat, hearing the wolf snarl in pain before submitting to her.

"Maia-"

The Alpha female turned to see the second Alpha male looking at the place where Gerard had fallen, nodding, "Find the son of a bitch Deucalion, and bring him to me. Alive. Kali, Ennis- you go with him." The figure that had spoken to Derek and the man he had encountered that day in the store- the same one who had attacked him- both moved to do her bidding, being followed by what looked to be a huge, hulking mass of muscle, all three disappearing into the dark. Derek looked up at his wife, bowed on all fours underneath her and unable to move. "Maia! Release me," he demanded angrily, all of the veins in his neck and face bulging as he tried to rise. She moved to his side and reached out to stroke his hair, narrowing her eyes when he snapped at her.

"Derek, do you remember when I told you that there were people out to kill you," Maia questioned, using her hold on his hair to force him to look at the Alphas standing before him. "There they are, refraining themselves only because of me. I just saved your fucking life!"

"You just put me in chains!"

Maia snarled at him and smacked him upside the head, angered by his stubbornness. "If not for that, then you would be dead! Alphas either join the pack or I kill them- its the way I work, the way I rule my pack. And then they found out about you being alive after I told them that you were dead, and they gave me six months before they did my job for me. I told you once Derek, that I'm not living without you and if we have to live like this, with you underneath me? That's fine. I can accept that," she replied, her husband looking at her as he fought to raise his head.

"This is why you wanted a pack, to build your power," Derek asked hatefully, his wife smirking.

"No, not for me- it was to build yours. Help you prove worthy enough to join the ranks of our family," Maia answered plainly, cold blue eyes searching her face. "I already have a pack… or would a better word be army?"

He looked back up to see that the five werewolves' numbers had grown to over thirty, Maia looking over the crowd with a smile. She felt her eyes burn as Derek let out one last roar, his body slumping forward in defeat. He felt the change already taking over, knowing that he couldn't resist her- that he had never been able to resist anything she had ever demanded of him. Derek also knew what was expected of him and gritted his teeth, his loyalty to her and only her strengthening as he spoke, "I submit to you Maia. I'll join your pack."

"And you say that… as if you ever had a choice."

Derek's pack moved to stand behind their Alpha, seeing Maia standing between the two factions as the werewolves all experienced that familiar tug of a new bond, the four remaining Alphas turning to look at their own. She closed her eyes and mentally pulled them together, solidifying the way her pack was structured in her own mind. There was a new, greater rush of power, Maia feeling as if her nerve endings were on fire. And then she inhaled, nodding as she realized that she had seen her rather complicated plan come to fruition and succeed. She smiled when she opened her eyes again, her lovely mouth seeming as if it were full of daggers. "Welcome to the dawn of a new era, to a new way of life," she said charmingly, looking to where the Argents still stood, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

She expected a smart remark from one of the humans but got one from Derek instead, her husband rising up to meet her gaze. "You know, I may follow you Maia, but I will never bow to you," he said, inflicting the power of his red eyes on her. She only smiled and jerked her head to the pack, "We'll see about that, but until then fall in line."

Derek watched as she phased into a great white wolf- a wolf five to six times the size she had been as a normal Alpha- taking her place leading the phalanx that the lesser Alphas and the rest of the pack created as they followed her lead. Maia stepped towards Derek, meeting his eyes as she dipped her head towards him, holding his gaze. Without a choice, he moved to align himself just at her left flank, seeing the way the male there glared at him. The rest of the pack fell into line and phased, Maia rearing back to let out a powerful, triumphant howl.

The Alpha pack had come to Beacon Hills, and nothing would ever be the same again...

~FIN... for now~