If there's one thing a Beta knows it's 'what the Alpha says, goes'. Of course Mae Thorne never thought she'd get uprooted from her east coast home and moved all the way across the country during her senior year of high school, but her Alpha demanded it so that's what they had to do. Their pack wasn't a large one by any means. In fact it was just Mae, her parents, Ty, and their Alpha – Damon. Even though their pack was small, it didn't cut back on Damon's strength. Then again perhaps it was his viciousness that made him strong.
Mae was thinking about all of this during the cross-country trip to California. What really bugged her the most was that Damon didn't even tell them why they were moving. It wasn't surprising though since he didn't discuss anything with Mae ever.
Since she was none too happy with her Alpha about this move she decided to ride along with Ty in the moving van. It felt like they'd been on the road forever and was starting to doubt that they'd ever get there. Mae rested her feet up on the dashboard and pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes and looked out the window at the scenery that passed by. Between all the crappy rest stops and motels – not to mention being stuck in the van for hours on end on the road – she was starting to feel cabin feverish. There really wasn't anything she wouldn't give up for just a half an hour to go for a run.
Mae kinda zoned out a bit as she looked out the window. Her mind kept going back to the weird dreams she'd been having for the past week or two. In fact, she started having them right before the move started. The dreams were the same over and over again. She was looking through her own eyes and yet seeing herself in a completely different way. And every time Mae woke up she couldn't shake the feeling of dejavu.
There were a few times she almost told Ty about them. Ty was around her age and has been her friend for as long as she could remember and often confided things in him but this...for some reason she couldn't bring herself to talk about her dreams with him. Mae couldn't figure out why she felt she couldn't tell him so she just kept telling herself that a girl's gotta have her secrets.
"Feet down." Ty's words pulled Mae from her thoughts but she ignored him and pretended that she was sleeping. He wasn't buying that she was sleeping for a second. "You're not fooling me, Mae," he added. "Feet down."
Mae turned to face her friend and pulled her sunglasses down her nose a bit, just enough to show her eyes. "Not happening. I'm comfy."
Ty was only a few years older than Mae but he sounded like a grumpy old man when he replied with, "Don't make me pull this truck over."
Mae laughed incredulously at his threat and returned her sunglasses to their place over her eyes. "You wouldn't do that."
Ty took his eyes off the road for a moment to give her a look before moving his fingers a bit on the steering wheel. "If that's the way you want to play it, then you can explain to everyone why we had to pull over." He turned on the directional light to prove he was serious.
The last thing she wanted was to have to deal with Damon so she pulled her feet down and placed them on the floor with a scoff. "Better?" she sassed.
Ty nodded and turned off the directional light with a smug expression upon his face. "Much."
"You're an ass," she shot at him as she returned her sunglasses to the top of her head.
"And you're a brat," he responded without missing a beat.
Mae rolled her eyes and turned back to the window. She started drumming on her legs out of boredom. The truck's radio didn't work and since her cell charger was in one of the boxes she didn't have any music to take her mind off things. Her favorites were on repeat in her head but a change of pace would have been nice. With this in mind, she tried the radio again and sighed in frustration when complete silence came from the speakers.
Ty looked at her with a 'seriously?' expression. "It didn't work any other time, Mae. So why did you think it'd work now? Please, you must tell me your logic." He was trying to get under her skin a little bit in payback for all the times she had done the same to him.
"Will power," Mae answered and returned to drumming on her legs but soon tired of that. "How long until we get to Bacon Hills?"
Ty laughed at her question. "It's Beacon Hills. Say it with me now – Bea-con. Come on, I know you can do it."
Mae shoved him for that, but not hard enough to disrupt his driving. "Shut up. Now tell me, how much farther until Beacon Hills?" She made sure to put a lot of sarcastic emphasis on the correct pronunciation of their new hometown.
Ty didn't have to answer because at that moment they passed a sign reading 'Welcome to Beacon Hills'. Knowing that she'd seen it with her own eyes, he smirked. "You tell me."
"Shut up," she shot back and returned her sunglasses before returning her gaze out the window, ignoring Ty as he laughed.
'So this is Beacon Hills, huh?' she thought to herself. 'What's so special about this place?' She still couldn't figure out for the life of her why Damon chose to move them there of all places. It just didn't make any sense.
Mae got out of the moving truck and closed the door behind her. She put her sunglasses back on the top of her head and looked at her new home with her hands placed on the back of her hips. "We're living here?" There were construction workers all over the place in this lot in the woods to rebuild the house that was burned down.
"Damon said they were supposed to be finished by now," Ty commented as he joined her. "Must be running behind."
"He's going to be pissed about that," Mae commented then looked seriously at Ty. "Why this place? I'm sure Damon could sure as hell afford a house that's intact."
Tyler didn't have the answer to that. "Above my pay-grade."
Mae's mother, Clara, came over at the moment saying, "More than half of the house is finished. If we can put up with the noise we can move in right now. The foreman said they'll be done within the next week."
Mae could tell by her mother's voice that she wasn't giving them a choice in the matter as to whether or not they could put up with the construction noise. They were moving in and that was that.
"We'll start unloading," Ty replied and went around to the back of the moving truck to get things started.
Clara looked at Mae with a heavy sigh. "This is a good thing, Mae. You'll see."
"Why here?" Mae asked, looking at her mother. "Damon is rich enough to buy a place that's already intact. I get that being in the middle of the woods is a plus, but come on."
"Not that you need to know, but a prominent pack lived here once and Damon wants to create the same legacy for himself." Clara pointed at her daughter, "Do not question your Alpha's decisions again. You know what will happen if you do."
Mae crossed her arms and scoffed before going to help Ty with the move. Yeah, Mae did know what would happen to 'insubordinate' Betas and had no plan to relive it.
Once everything was moved into the livable parts of the house, Mae went out to grab the last thing from the truck that just happened to be her most prized possession, her cello. The only thing Mae wanted more than going out for a run was to sit down and play her beloved instrument.
"I thought I told you to leave that thing back East," Damon's voice boomed when he saw Mae walk down the ramp with her cello case in hand.
"You did," Mae honestly answered. "And I didn't listen."
Damon went over to her and tried to pull it from her hands but Mae's eyes glowed yellow and growled protectively.
Before Damon could react, Ty ran over and said cautiously, "There are humans here."
Damon's posture straightened as he looked down at Mae. Being over six feet he easily towered over her. "If I hear one note coming from that thing not only will I destroy it, but you."
Ty didn't say anything to Mae until Damon was well into the house. "What the hell are you thinking? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"He's not taking away the only thing I love," Mae shot back, holding the case as close to her as she could.
"Damon is going to kick you out of the pack if he doesn't kill you first," Ty warned.
"He won't kill me. My dearest mother would hate him for it and would stop sharing his bed." Mae knew all about her mother's affair with Damon but didn't say a word about it until that moment. And 'dearest' was definitely sarcastic.
Ty couldn't argue with her there but he had another point. "And if he does kick you out? Then what? You gonna go through life as an Omega?"
"If that happens I don't have to become an Omega," Mae answered with clarity. "I'd just have to find a new Alpha."
Ty couldn't believe what he was hearing and threw up his hands in defeat before heading back into the house, moving around the workers he had to in order to get there.
Mae took a deep breath and picked up her cello case with the intention to going up to the house but paused when a blue Jeep pulled up and a young man got out.
"Hey," he greeted. "I heard someone bought this place but had to see it for myself."
"What's it to you?" Mae shot back a bit more fiercely than she normally would have.
"I knew the previous owner," he explained. "This is the Hale House. Or was anyway. I didn't even know Derek was selling it."
Mae thought the name sounded familiar but couldn't place it so she ignored the feeling and moved on. "Well clearly he did because my family and I live here now."
He was pretty curious, Mae could tell. Especially when he asked, "You going to the high school?"
"Senior year," Mae answered, hoping that'd get him going.
"I'm only a year behind you, cool." He made it sound far more interesting than what it really was.
Before he could get out another word, Mae said, "I have stuff to do." And on that note, she headed back to the house.
"Oh, okay! See you at school!" he called out before getting into his Jeep and driving away.
Mae stopped at the porch stairs when Damon walked out, asking "Who was that?"
Mae turned around and saw the kid driving off before answering Damon. "Some kid who knew the previous owner. Didn't get a name but he seemed kinda like a spazz to me."
Damon accepted the answer and looked down at the cello case in her hand. "Not one note," he firmly stated before going inside.
Mae rolled her eyes with a sigh then followed.
A week later the renovations on the house were completed and it looked as good as new. Mae was sure as hell glad the noise was gone but wasn't took keen on starting school that day. Damon didn't see the point of enrolling her at all but Clara convinced him it'd be a good idea so she was to start that day.
"Almost ready?" Ty asked from the doorway of Mae's room.
Mae pulled on her black leather jacket and pulled her long brown hair out from the collar. "Just about," she replied and picked up her cello case. "The school has got to have a music room."
Ty looked a bit impressed with her thought process. "Good thinking. Now come on, you're going to be late."
"If Damon had his way I wouldn't be going at all," Mae replied as they walked down the stairs. "Guess my mother has more sway with him than I thought."
Mae didn't realize her father, Kyle, was within earshot until he walked around the corner and joined them at the bottom of the stairs. "Your mother has a way to get people to see what decision is best. Her sway has nothing to do with it." Kyle gave his daughter a bit of a look before adding, "Don't want to be late on your first day."
Ty pulled on Mae's sleeve a bit to get her going and they both left the house without a word.
Mae leaned on her cello case as she stood in front of Beacon Hills High School. She couldn't shake the feeling that she'd been there before and yet knew for a fact that she hadn't. A strong wave of dejavu moved over her, just like when she awoke from her dreams, but she ignored it. "One high school looks like all the others." She really didn't have another way to explain it and a mystery was not something she was in the mood for.
Mae was about to pick up her case and head inside when she felt someone approach her. She whipped around and saw the 'Spazz' that came to the house the day she moved in.
He held up his hands to show he meant her no harm. "Whoa, didn't mean to scare you."
"You didn't" she replied, a bit irritated.
He cleared his throat and said, "Well, I just wanted to say hi and introduce myself since you really didn't give me a chance to before."
Mae was waiting for him to go ahead and do it but he said nothing and just stared at her. "I'm not getting any younger here," she snapped. "You gonna tell me your name or am I going to have to keep referring to you as the Nosy Spazz?"
He chuckled and pointed at her. "You're funny."
"Actually, I'm Mae," she retorted, introducing herself.
"I'm Stiles," he replied with a grin because he liked her snark and just then the bell rang. "And we better get to class."
"Principal's office for me," Mae explained as she picked up her cello and started walking with him inside. "I don't have my class list yet."
"I can show you where it is," he offered.
Mae threw her hand out in front of her, "Lead the way." She really didn't want the assistance but Stiles was sort of amusing so she decided to put up with him.
Mae was about to walk through the doors when she thought she felt something. She turned around to look behind her but didn't see anything beyond the students that were trying to get inside.
"You coming?" Stiles asked, waiting for her.
"Yeah." Mae gave another quick glance behind her before heading into the school.
Derek needed to discuss something with Scott that couldn't wait so he went to the High School. He had just pulled into the parking lot when he saw her. But it couldn't be her. He had to be seeing things. There was no way he had just seen Paige in front of the school.
Derek had only caught a glimpse of the girl in the leather jacket leaning on a cello case when he drove by but it was like seeing a ghost. He felt as if he had just seen a ghost.
By the time he got his car parked and got out for a better look, all the students had filed into the building and the 'cello girl' was nowhere to be seen. He couldn't get the glimpse of her out of his head but finally he was able to put it into the back of his mind.
Paige was dead, he knew this, so there was no way he saw her. Feeling a bit better after reaffirming this, he went into the school to find Scott and take care of why he was there in the first place.
End Chapter 1
A/N: Hello, readers! I wrote 'The Return' quite awhile ago and thought it was time for a rewrite. For those who are familiar with the first version of 'The Return' there are plenty of details that have been changed so hopefully it'll be a fresh read for you. And for the new readers, hope you enjoy the story!
As always, thank you so much for reading! Hope you like it :)