AN: Hey everyone! I know I have about thirty other stories going, but I've been on a Teen Wolf kick recently, and I just really love Peter and Werewolf!Stiles, so this was born. I hope you all like it and I hope to update my other stories soon. Please let me know what you think. Enjoy!
Verena bolted up right, her eyes flashing as the monitors she was hooked up to went haywire. Nurses flooded the room as the girl finally realized where she was. She recognized the smell of antiseptic from her cousin Laura dragging her along during her volunteer days. But why was she in a hospital? More importantly, how was she still alive? Last she remembered, she'd been watching her father burn as he tried desperately to find a way to get her out of their home. She must have passed out from smoke inhalation, or maybe her father had knocked her unconscious. She was surprised the man hadn't ripped out her throat in an attempt to save her the pain of burning alive. He'd asked if she'd wanted him to, but that would have left him alone, as everyone else in the house was already dead, either from, bullets, or each other when it became clear that there was no way out.
Talia, her aunt and their Alpha, had been the first to die, having evacuated everyone to the basement before joining them, but then a beam fell, aiming for a few of the younger cubs, and she had pushed them out of the way, allowing the burning wood to crush her instead. She could remember actually begging one of the hunters outside to shoot her, to end her aunt's pain-filled screams. They hadn't. Her father had ended up running back to his sister and saying something to her quietly. Verena had seen her aunt nod, and the screams had been cut off. Her Alpha was gone. The fire seemed to rage for hours. As it spread, the older wolves had become desperate, trying to find a way to at least get the younger ones to safety. That's when they had started shooting into the house. Anyone who came near a door or window was shot. Eventually, they had started running to the windows to get shot – better to die quickly than burn alive. They stopped when a bullet went through Michael's throat, and they had been forced to watch him bleed out on the floor, any attempt to reach him was met with a shot in a nonfatal area. She'd watched her aunt Iris break as her son died slowly and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Uncle Myron let out a howl of helpless rage. They were all dying.
Uncle Alexander held out the longest, she thought. His wife and youngest son were dead, none of them knew where Cora was, but his eldest two were still out there, and he tried to hold out for their sakes. God, he tried, but the flames eventually claimed him, just like they had Aunt Sylvia and Raven, who had been holding Sarah and Mason. Liam had been holding Lizzy. All three had been squalling in the charred arms of their parents and cousin when Verena had, calmly, gone over to Sylvia and took Sarah from her. She nuzzled the crying infant and growled softly in comfort. One twist of her wrist and the crying stopped. All that was left now were herself, her father, Lizzy and Mason. Her mother had driven a steak knife into her own throat hours ago, and her grandparents had been the first to be consumed by the blaze. Her father saw what she was doing and took a sobbing Mason from Raven. Another twist and crack, and Mason, too, was silent. Verena had gone to Lizzy and gently taken her from her father's arms. She'd pressed her face into her neck, tears streaming down her cheeks, and broke hers, just as she had her sister's. Just her and her father left. Sniffling, she went over to her mother's body and lay down beside her. She reached out a hand and began stroking her blonde hair. She'd always been jealous of her mother's hair. Golden and sleek, falling to the small of her back in gentle waves. She remembered closing her eyes, which were once more stinging with tears. A sob was ripped from her and she ended up choking on the feeding tube in her throat. Nurses came running into the room and the tube was removed. A soothing voice caught her attention.
"Verena? Can you hear me, sweetheart?" she looked into warm brown eyes and nodded, sure that her own were glassy with unshed tears. The woman smiled. She had a dark complexion and darker hair. She looked kind.
"Good. I need you to take a deep breath for me while I check your heartbeat, okay?"
Verena nodded, doing as she was told, taking a deep breath. Shooting the woman an apologetic look when she started coughing. Her mouth felt like cotton wool, and the taste of burning wood and wolfsbane was starting to make her sick. She smiled gratefully when the nurse handed her a glass of water, which she drank greedily. After three more glasses and a basic check-up – during which the nurse had introduced herself as Melissa McCall – Verena was sitting on her bed, staring at one the deputies for the Beacon County Sheriff's Department. The tag on his uniform read 'Stilinski'. She knew that name.
"A-are you Stiles' dad?" she asked curiously. He smiled at her.
"I am. Are you a friend of Stiles'?"
She shrugged.
"Kinda? He's one of the few people in our grade I can stand – besides Danny, my best friend who I have to share with Jackson Douchemore." She added with a slight pout, causing the Sheriff to laugh.
"Stiles doesn't like him either." He sighed, "Now, Verena, can you tell me what happened?"
Verena bit her lip.
"Depends on whether or not I might need a lawyer, sir." She admitted tiredly. He frowned.
"Why would you need a lawyer, Ms. Hale?"
She closed her eyes in pain.
"Because I'm a murderer." She whispered softly. The deputy's eyes widened in alarm.
"What do you mean?"
She took a deep breath.
"After… after Aunt Talia died, pushing some of my younger cousins out of the way of a falling support beam and the fire spread enough that we were all trapped in the basement. The others were all dead, either from the fire or bullets when one of us would get to close to an exit. It came down to just me, Dad, Lizzy, Mason, and Sarah. Liam, Sylvia, and Raven were still holding them, though they'd passed a few hours before. They were burning and in pain. I took Sarah from Sylvia and snapped her neck. My dad did the same with Mason, taking him from Raven's corpse. Then it was just little Lizzy left. She was the eldest of the three of them, and she was usually really protective of her younger brother and sister," she let out a watery chuckle, "it was kinda cute, honestly. But she was in so much pain, she didn't notice when they'd stopped crying. I don't think she even realized I had killed her." she finished brokenly, "Dad... Dad lost it at that point, I think. He started looking for a way to get me out, even though we both knew there wasn't one. I went and lay down next to mom, and played with her hair until I passed out. I didn't expect to wake up again. What..." she took a deep breath, fortifying herself, "What happened to my dad?" she asked shakily. She hadn't been told yet, no matter how often she asked. Deputy Stilinski frowned at her.
"He's in a coma, Ms. Hale. Can you tell me why you all went to the basement?"
"We have escape tunnels, but they were blocked."
The Sheriff frowned.
"Do you know how anyone might have found out about them? Or how your house caught fire?"
She laughed bitterly. Memories of her cousin Derek coming home and smelling like wolfsbane and sex flashed through her mind.
"Oh, I know exactly what happened." She told him darkly, "And I know who killed my family."
Noah didn't know what to make of the Hale child. On one hand, he was glad to see that she no longer blamed herself for her family's deaths, on the other, he had never met such a blood thirsty child. Or one so loyal. All throughout her tale – her cousin beginning to act strange, coming home smelling like a weird plant, spending most of his time with a substitute teacher from the high school – she had never blamed her cousin for his part in their family's deaths or the burning of their home. She had placed the blame for that solely at the feet of one Kate Argent. And that girl wanted blood for it.
Verena was staring at Stiles' dad in disbelief – she said Stiles' dad, because that was who was standing in front of her, offering her a home until she turned eighteen or her father woke from his coma. He'd found Laura's contact information in a note she'd left for Verena and the two had come to an arrangement – if Verena wanted it. The elder Stilinski had made it very clear that, no matter what Laura said, this was completely Verena's choice. It wasn't really a choice. She had no place to go, and this man was kind. She agreed to stay with him.