What starts off as fifteen minutes turns into twenty, which turns to thirty. That's my limit though. I can only spend so much time waiting in the car like a creep in a nice neighborhood while my little cousin might be getting ass. Also, there's stuff that needs to be refrigerated in the back.

It's times like these I realize just how pathetic my life has become since coming to Beacon Hills. Sonya and Warren must never know or I'll never hear the end of it.

Scott drove, so I sit in the passenger seat, feet propped up on the dash and my phone to my face. The temperature has dropped to an uncomfortable level and the windows have since fogged up. It gives a Silent Hill kinda vibe that I'm not helping by reading a thread on askreddit about paranormal experiences. I'm tempted to comment that my little cousin went and got turned into a werewolf, but for some reason I feel it'd just get downvoted to hell.

"Ares!" I look up to see a dark figure through the fog - Scott - running to the Turtle. He slams into the door, hard enough to shake the car and maybe even dent the door. Which if he did, he's totally paying to fix it.

"What the hell?!"

"Open the door!" he exclaims, panic thick in his voice, and even as I lean over to flick open the lock, I can hear him fumbling with the keys. He throws open the door and all but falls in.

"Scott, what the fu...?" I start, looking up past him as he slams the door shut. A large, dark figure with glowing red eyes stands behind him. "You gotta be fuckin' kidding me," I breathe.

I grab his arm, hard, and pull him away from the door toward the middle as the figure - the Alpha - circles the Turtle. It pauses by my door and this time it's Scott who pulls me away from it, what sounds like a low growl coming from his throat. His eyes are glowing gold as he glares at the figure, fear replaced with the exact same murderous expression Aaron gets when someone other than him comments on the crazy that is our family. If I ever doubted Scott's Delgado heritage, I sure as shit don't anymore.

The Alpha raises a hand, presses a claw against my fogged window, and slowly draws a spiral. Scott and I exchange confused looks. When we look back at the window, the figure is gone.

"Okay, what the fucking fuck?!" I exclaim once I can get my voice to work. "Scott?" I look up at him as he leans back into his seat, eyes going back dark. "You okay? Did it get you?" He shakes his head, looking at me.

"Are you okay?" he asks. "Oh, God, has it been there the whole time?"

I shake my head. "I dunno. I…" I take a breath, and it catches in my throat. "Let's go before decides to come back." He looks at me for a second before nodding.

We just saw the alpha
(A)

The reaction is almost instantaneous.

"All I wanna do-"

Scott jumps at the ringtone, swerving a bit into the other lane. I take a breath to calm my nerves before answering.

"What happened?" is Derek's immediate greeting. "Are you okay?"

"We're fine," I say, and thank God I can say that. "It just scared the shit out of us." I look out the window and make sure there aren't any glowing red eyes following.

"Where are you?" he demands.

"We're heading home." I glance at Scott, then to the spiral on my window, which is almost gone.

"I'll meet you there," Derek says, and is off the line before I can argue.

Melissa is still at work when we get home. Scott and I have an unspoken agreement that neither of us are going to be alone, so we bring in the groceries as quickly as we can. Scott waits in the kitchen as I put away the things that need to be in the fridge, and when we walk up the stairs, I have a hold of his hand. He doesn't argue or pull away.

When we get to his room, Scott all but runs to close his window. I let out a sigh and drop in his bed, throwing an arm over my eyes.

"When's Derek getting he- Jesus Christ, Derek!" Scott exclaims when he turns on the lamp. I jump up and all but fall out of the bed, and lo and behold, Derek Hale sits in Scott's chair. "Can you stop doing that?!" Scott snaps, hand resting on his heart.

"I'm just gonna be over here having a panic attack," I tell them quietly, dropping back into the bed, grabbing a pillow, and curling into a ball.

"What happened?" Derek demands. "Where were you that it came after you?"

Scott hesitates and glances over at me. "We went to go get groceries."

"I highly doubt the Alpha would have approached you when you went to get eggs and milk." Derek ups the level of his glare. "Where were you?"

"Took him to go see Allison," I say into the pillow. They both turn to face me. Scott has betrayed look in his eyes, and Derek's face warps in anger.

"Allison?" Derek growls, standing. "Dammit, Scott-"

"It's not like I knew it was going to show up!" Scott argues, but takes a step back when Derek advances.

"But you were distracted because of her! That girl is going to get you killed." He turns to face me. "And where were you when this happened?"

"Car," I say, sitting up to join the conversation like a normal person that didn't just almost maybe die. "Guard the groceries and all that," I say, but my voice is hollow.

Derek turns on Scott. "You left her in the car!?"

I glare at him, crossing my arms. Can't say I appreciate how he implies it wasn't my choice.

"I left myself in the car, thank you."

"She could have been killed and you wouldn't have even known!" Derek's eyes flash blue and Scott's go gold in response. Cool as it looks, something in my gut tells me something is going on that won't end well if I let it continue. I jump up and grab Derek's arm.

"Hey, I'm fine," I tell him, pulling him back a bit. "Look," I gesture to myself with an arm. "I'm whole, I'm alive, I'm not dead." He looks down at me, eyes still blue. "And even if it did go after me, you and Scott could totally just go avenge me, so is there really a problem?"

Derek looks down at me as if I just dishonored his cow. "You would be dead, Ares!"

And, okay, yeah he kinda has a point there. "And charming as you are, you'd find someone else to make you muffins," I tell him lightly, trying to ease the tension in the room. "But right now, there are more important things to talk about. Like why it didn't kill us when it could have."

Derek inhales sharply and holds it for a second, probably going to his happy place before exhaling. When he blinks, his eyes are that pretty hazel again. He looks to Scott, who also lost his glow eyes. "Did it talk to you?"

"Oh, yes, we had a nice conversation about the weather. No it didn't talk to me!"

"Did you get anything up off it then? An impression?"

Scott frowns in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Derek looks very done with this whole situation. "Remember your other senses are heightened. Communication doesn't have to be spoken. What kind of feeling did you get from him?"

Because apparently telepathy is part of these asshole werewolf powers. There's silence as Scott thinks. "Anger." And oh, sounds not very nice.

"Focused on you?"

Scott shakes his head after another moment of consideration. "No. No, not me. But definitely anger. I could feel it. Especially when he drew the spiral."

"Wait, the what?" Derek asks. Scott and I exchange looks as he goes on. "Say that again."

"Spiral. Or if that's too complicated a word, the swirly," I answer for Scott, bringing up my finger and drawing it in the air. "He drew it on my window." I pause. "Probably scratched it too, the asshole."

Derek goes still, and when I look up at him, he has a thoughtful expression on his face.

"You have this look on your face like you know what it means," Scott accuses.

Derek shakes his head. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it." He heads for the door.

"Wait, what?"

"No, you can't just do that," Scott says, grabbing Derek's shoulder to stop him. "You can't ask me to trust you and then keep things from me!"

I bring up a hand. "I have literally been saying this since day one."

"It means nothing," Derek says, sounding very much like someone who would rather drop the subject. He reaches for the door knob, only to stop short at Scott's next words.

"You buried your sister under a spiral."

I drop my face in my hands, because of course he doesn't have tact for this.. "Oh my god, Scott."

He ignores me. "What does it mean?"

Derek looks at him, then at me, before letting out a sigh. He drops a hand on Scott's shoulder, and honestly it's the nicest gesture I've seen him act toward Scott. "You don't want to know."

He walks out, closing the door behind him. I stare after him for a second before shaking my head and rushing after him.

"Der," I call, catching him at the top of the stairs. He looks back at me. "Dude, what was that?"

"Don't worry about it," he says, heading down the stairs. I follow him.

"Um, no, I think I will worry about it." He glances back at me as he goes for the front door. "You might think you can get away with not telling Scott these things, but that shit won't work with me." He reaches for the door, not answering, so I do the only thing I can think of to stop him: jump in front of the door and slam it back shut and lean against it with my back. This also puts me in the middle of Derek's personal space. He looks down at me, freezing in shock.

"What're you doing?"

"What's the spiral mean?"

"It's not important."

"It must be if the Alpha thought it was a good idea to deface my car for it!" I snap, shoving him back. He blinks down at me, face carefully neutral. "Derek, it isn't just you that's dealing with this shit, it's me and Scott too, and we have a right to know what's going on."

He stares down at me. "Move-"

"No."

He huffs, rolling his eyes. "We'll talk outside."

"Oh." I duck my head and slide out from in front of the door. He pulls it open and I follow him out, shaking my sleeves over my hands and wrapping my arms around my middle. I tell myself it's because it's cold out, but the cold has little to do with my shaking hands. He turns to face me once the door is shut behind me, and he has a frown on his face.

"You okay?"

I frown. "I thought we were going to talk about the spiral." And his magic eyebrows do the judgy thing. I drop my gaze to to his shoes. "I'm fine."

"Liar," he accuses, taking a step forward. I glance up at him, and there's nothing but concern in his eyes. "Asshole werewolf powers," he reminds me.

I crinkle my nose at him. "Can't you turn them off?"

He gives a small smile. "Not with you." He pauses. "Seriously, though. You're taking this all really…" he struggles to find the word, and in the end just gives up.

"Conceal, don't feel," I tell him. "Elsa makes a great life coach."

He frowns. "Ares."

"I'm fine. I just needa…" I think for a second. What do I need? I can't call Sonya and Warren about this. I can't call Alicia or Aaron, God knows I can't call Dad. Not when Elisa might answer. And I'm not about to worry Stiles with it right now. My shoulders fall and I hold my middle tighter, as if it'd ease the knot of dread in my stomach. Being alone sucks so much ass. "I dunno," I tell him quietly, not looking up at him. Derek doesn't speak. Instead, he takes a step forward and pulls me into his arms. I blink in surprise, because wow, Derek Hale's chest. "What're you doing?"

"Your life sucks," he says matter of factly, and that shit, throwing my words back at me.

I drop my head on his shoulder. "My life does suck. Your life sucks too. We should go to Huntington."

"Maybe after we deal with the Alpha." He pulls away and I immediately miss the warmth. Let it be known that Derek Hale gives great hugs. 10/10 would be hugged again.

"If we don't die first," I say. He rolls his eyes.

"Go back inside," he says, stepping back. "Tell Scott to work on finding his anchor."

"What about the swirly?"

"Goodnight, Ares," he calls over his shoulder as he hops down the steps.

"Der, that's not fair!"

He doesn't answer. I cross my arms and glare after him as he makes his way to the camaro, which was parked across the street. He glances back before crossing, his eyes flashing blue. A warning. I roll my eyes at him before turning to the door, pausing when I have it open. I glance back at him.

"Hey!" He pauses, looks back at me. "You'll be careful, right? With the stuff you're not telling us, you'll be careful?"

He stays still for a second, then nods once. And whatever, once is good enough for me.

Human Puppy (7 new messages)

good news. stiles is talking to me again!
i found my anchor!
its allison
but i have detention and youre gonna have to cover for me at deatons until i get there if i even end up going
youre the best
love you
3
(HP)

"You little shit," I mutter under my breath, then with more feeling when I notice the tiny exclamation point indicating my phone only has three percent of battery left, "you little shit." I shove my phone back in my pocket in annoyance and Deats looks up from his work at me, brow raised. "My phone didn't charge last night." I say, dropping my head mournfully. Deats is considerate enough to allow me a moment of silence. "Also, looks like you're stuck with me, Doc," I go on once the moment passes, taking the box of doggy meds he hands me. "Scotty's gonna be late, if he even shows up, and he told me to cover for him."

"Again?" Deaton shakes his head in amusement. "What is your cousin getting into, Ares?"

"Detention," I say lightly. Deats chuckles. "So you want me to stock these in the front?"

"Yes, please. And when you're done with that, the kitten Mr. Unwin brought in yesterday needs his medicine for his ringworms." I make a face, because seriously, shit's gross. "Remember gloves."

"The reminder was unnecessary," I say dryly, pushing the door open with my hip and moving to the shelves behind the front counter. It shouldn't take long to stock the stuff - flea and heartworm meds, pill pockets - but I really don't want to mess with the kitten, so I take my sweet time, singing under my breath. A fifteen minute jobs turns into a twenty minute job, and even that's too quick for my liking.

The kitten is black and orange, a mangy looking thing with bald patches on his tail and face. Deaton assured Scott and me that aside from ringworms and fleas, the kitten was fine.

"Okay, Tiny Feline," I say, pulling up my sleeves and a pair of plastic gloves on, "vamos a hacer esto, y no quiero que te llores."

Tiny Feline mews pitifully at me as I place him on the table and start applying the medicine. It could be worse, I guess. He could be one of those hell spawn cats that hiss and scratch. Instead, Tiny Feline just seems content with being touched, and purrs as I rub the medicine in between his ears.

"Pulgoso," I say, putting him away when I finally finish. He cries when I leave him in the cage, and it's all I can do to ignore him as I pull off my gloves and wash off the table, and then my hands and arms. Leaving the nasty little bug is harder than I thought it would be.

"Tiny Feline is so chill," I tell Deaton once I go back to the room he's in. He smiles, but doesn't look up from his paper. I lean against the table next to him and look over his shoulder. "Is that for the sick rotty?"

He nods. "All better now, though. Mr. King will be by to pick him up tomorrow."

"Good. I'm tired of cleaning up his puke."

Deaton laughs. "Scott didn't care much for it either."

Movement in the corner of my eye catches my attention, and I look up to the door, expecting Scott.

"Derek?"

Derek stands at the door, looking very much like he wants to punch someone in the throat. Deaton looks up, confused. He takes a step forward. "Can we help you?"

Derek looks at me past Deats before answering. "I need to talk to Ares," he says sharply. Deaton frowns at his tone and looks very much like he wants to tell Derek to get the seven hells out of his clinic. Which would be bad.

"You couldn't have texted me?" I say lightly, patting Deats' arm as I pass him. "It's cool, I'll be right back." Derek glares at the doctor as I walk up to him, grab his arm and pull him out of the room.

"What are you doing here?" Derek demands once we're out of earshot, back in the room with Tiny Feline.

"I work here, tonto."

"You need to leave."

I stare up at him. "Um. I like my paycheck, so no? What's this about?"

Derek huffs in annoyance and pulls a paper out of his pocket and all but shoves it in my hands. It's a news article. Deer found three months ago with a spiral carved in its side. I look up at Derek.

"What's the spiral mean, Der?"

He clenches his jaw. "It's a sign of revenge for us," he says. Us. Werewolves. So it's not just a crazy rogue Alpha, it's a crazy rogue Alpha out for revenge. That's just great. "They mentioned your boss in the article. He knows something."

I stare up at him before looking back down at the paper. Sheriff Stilinski is always bringing in weird shit that he thinks Deaton might know about. This one, the deer… "I remember when Sheriff Stilinski brought in the picture of this," I tell him. "He said he didn't know anything about it." I pause, dropping my head to the side as I try to recall Deaton's words. "Well, he said the actual killing of the deer was probably just some natural predator. Mountain lion, since those seem to be the go to lately. But the spiral…" I look up at Derek, who stares like he's trying to look into my soul. Kind of unnerving. Sonya would say it's hot, but Sonya's into the tall, dark, and secretive type. "Probably just some asshole who came across it and made it seem like some Slenderman shit."

"This isn't some Slenderman shit." He exhales, and it comes out more like a growl than anything else. "And you believe him?" His voice is accusing, and I'm not sure if it's meant to target me or Deaton.

"Well, yeah." I look back down at the paper, scan it for details. Nothing really worth mentioning; it's all very vague as these articles usually are. "He usually knows what he's talking about. You don't think he has…" He looks away, clenching his jaw. "Der. Dude, don't be stupid."

"Stupid?" he demands, voice hard.

"Yes, stupid! Just because you find some old news article that mentions him with the spiral doesn't mean he's connected to it." I wave the paper in my hand. "It mentions the Sheriff too, you gonna go accuse him of being involved too?"

"Ares." And there's something in his voice I haven't heard in awhile. Since he's last told me to stay out of his way when it came to Scott. I narrow my eyes at him, draw back.

"What, Derek?"

"He could be killing people!"

"You don't have any proof!"

His face warps into something dark, something I'd rather not see again. "I could find it." It sounds very much like a threat.

"It isn't proof when you have to fuckin' force it out of them," I snap. "And if you even think about doing what I think you're planning on doing, I will end you."

"Really?" Asshole sounds skeptical.

"Really." I shake my head. "Where the fuck did you even find this shit?"

He shakes his head. "Doesn't matter."

Ah, yes, back to keeping secrets. Very good. I take a breath. "Look, I gotta get back." I pause. "You're not gonna do anything dumb, are you?"

He doesn't look like he's going to answer until, "I'm going to keep an eye on him."

"You can't touch him," I order, pointing a finger at his nose. He narrows his eyes at it and I barely pull my hand away in time as he snaps at it. "I'm being serious!"

"I won't touch him," Derek says. It sounds like it physically hurts him to say it. Which is good, because that way I know he's telling the truth. "You'll be careful?"

"I'm always careful." He does the thing, the judge brows. "I am! Now get out before I get fired, please."

He looks like leaving is the last thing he wants to do. But finally he nods and turns to go. "I'll… I'll be close if you need anything," he says, pausing in the hall and sounding very much like the awkward stalker that he is.

"You'll use your asshole werewolf powers?" I ask.

"If it comes down to it." He smirks before walking away. He gets all of five steps away before I remember how super dead my phone is. "Hey! My phone is dead, so don't do anything stupid if you can't reach me, okay?"

He brings up a hand in acknowledgment, which is all I can really ask for.

Deaton looks visibly relieved when I walk back into the room he's in. "Worried, Deats?"

He smiles. "I was starting to think I would have to come out and show him a thing or two."

I snort. Deats is the last person I can imagine showing anyone a thing or two. "What is it with everyone thinking Der's so sketchy?" Deaton arches a brow. "Okay, so he looks like serial killer every now and then, but he's a very nice serial killer."

"Yes, I'm sure he is," he says with a chuckle before glancing down at his watch. "If Scott's in detention, I see no reason why you should suffer too." I drop my head to the side in confusion. "Go home, Ares. I'll see you tomorrow."

I gasp in melodramatic happiness. "Really? You'll be okay by yourself?" I think I did very good in not betraying the fact that he would no doubt be stalked by someone he thought was a serial killer, even a nice one.

"Really. I've been running this practice for a while before you and Scott invaded," he teases. "I think I can handle an hour or so by myself."

I bring my hands up and form a heart at him. "You're the best. I'll bring you tortillas tomorrow," I promise. "Just don't tell Sheriff Stilinski."

"It'll stay between the two of us," he says solemnly before smiling.

It's starting to get dark by the time I make it outside. I shouldn't be so surprised; it's still that horrible winter time where half the day is actually night, which everyone knows is dark and full of terrors. Derek's Camaro isn't out here anymore, if that's even how he got here the first time, what with his asshole werewolf powers.

As I let my Turtle heat up, my phone goes off. I frown, fishing it out of my pocket and catching sight of the new unopened message before my screen goes black, officially dead to the world. I frown.

"Hope that wasn't super important," I say to myself, dropping my it in the cup holder before searching for a station worth listening to.

Welp, after a lengthy absence, KH&MBB is back! I appreciate the patience. Spring semester is always worse. Anywho, super huge thanks to everyone who has followed and reviewed, and if you're new and liked it so far, be sure to follow and review! Those are always great.

So, about the tumblr, it's still kinda bare, but I'm trying to make it more active. I'm going to be posting a preview of the next chapter after posting one here, so check that out. It's on my profile, along with more details on what's going to be going on there.

Next chapter will hit "Night School"!