"Rise and shine." Stiles said, hovering over me. I opened my eyes and tried to stand up, but I couldn't. I looked down at my hands and realized they were zip-cuffed to a wooden chair. My body and mouth were duct taped. I looked up at Stiles and whined in protest.
"I got him." Scott groaned from the bathroom, my eyebrows raised in question. He came out of the bathroom with Liam also duct taped to a chair.
"Guys we are going to take the tape off your mouth. Do you promise not to scream?" Liam nodded in agreement and all the boys looked towards me. I muffled a groan. Stiles ripped the tape off my mouth. The first thing that came out of my mouth was "What the hell?!"
"Okay Liam, you have seen many confusing things tonight. And more confusing things are going to happen because of the confusing things that happened tonight." Stiles began.
"What about her?" Liam asked, talking about me.
"Oh I already knew about this stuff… Which is why i'm wondering why I am duct tape to a chair!" I yelled, glaring at Stiles.
"Maybe you should tell them." Stiles commented to Scott.
"Tell us what?" Liam and I questioned in unison.
"Liam… what happened to you, what I did to you, which I had t do in order to save your life-"
"Oh spit it out already!" I interrupted.
"Is going to change you." Scott finished.
"Unless it kills you." Stiles pointed out.
"Stiles!" Scott and I yelled together, although my life would be better without Liam, I guess I didn't want him dead. Somewhere deep inside me, I am glad he came here. Muffled weeping came from beside me. Oh god. Scratch that. I shook my head and stifled a laugh.
"Would you just help me untie him?" Stiles and Scott began to break the tape loose. Liam stood up, slowly and grabbed the chair.
"Guys!" I tried to scream in warning. I lifted my hands above my head and pulled down, breaking the zip tie in record time. I grabbed Liam's arm in an attempt to stop him from punching Stiles.
"You stay away from that girl. Okay?" A little boy resembling Liam stood next to Dr. Geyer. Liam hung his head, "Look, Liam. Don't blame yourself for any of this, got it? I heard from other parents that she was bullying their kids, too. You punched her and it wasn't unjust."
"Dad, I really like this girl though." Liam cried. I caught on to the fact that they were talking about me. Wait. Liam used to like me? I must be seriously blind to not see that Liam of all people liked me.
"I know, buddy. Can I trust you on this?" The doctor held out his hand, Liam high-fived it and then did this really cool handshake. "'Member what we always say?"
"Partners in crime, two birds of a feather."
"I got him!" I could hear Stiles scream at the bottom of the stairs. I tried to stand up, but I soon remembered that I was duct taped to a chair. So I stood up, chair still intact. "Oh my god." I whispered, then I fell back on the chair, it breaking into different sized shards.
"Alexa! Are you okay?" Someone yelled, I couldn't make out who, but they actually sounded worried about me. It reminded me of Luca.
"Yeah, I'm good." I yelled back, before I knew it, feet stumbled up the stairs.
"How did you get out of that so quickly?" Scott asked pointing to the broken chair and gray duct tape lying on the floor of his bedroom.
"I was raised by hunters." I slyly commented.
"Fair enough. Look I need to get to my house before my dad calls your mom." Stiles told us.
"Why would he call Scott's mom?"
"Because there is a ninety- nine percent chance that I am with him." Stiles said, he left the house, leaving me and Scott in his living room.
"Look, what I did to day at the hospital, I'm really sorry. I just couldn't have Geyer seeing my face. If he did I would be at Rikers."
"Rikers?"
"A maximum security prison in New York City. Meg Chambers would be sitting in an eight-by-ten."
"Look I get it. And don't be sorry, I can tell you like someone else."
"I have only loved three people in my life. They are all dead."
"You aren't alone, okay? You have us." He put his hand on my shoulder, reassuringly.
"Oh! There was something you wanted to tell when I was zip-cuffed to a chair."
"Yeah… about that," he drug on, "tomorrow night is a full moon, and we just want to make sure when I scratched you, I didn't turn you."
"Only a bite can turn people though."
"I know, we just want to make sure, okay?"
"For you, I will. Where?"
"Lydia's boat house, I can have her text you the address. You do have a car right?"
"Yeah. I will be there. Who do you think like?"
"That is for you to figure out."
"Bye." I said with a laugh and let myself out.
xXx
When I got to school, I went straight to AP Spanish, even though I speak it fluently. No one needs to know that though. I mainly slept through that class, but when I exited the classroom, I was swarmed by a group of supernatural creatures. And Stiles. They led me out to where the busses were parked.
"Malia, Liam is going to be chained with you in the basement." Siles informed her. He had a worried look on his face, more like fear.
"I am not sharing my basement." Malia retorted back.
"Actually it's my basement. And my mom noticed how you tore it up last time." Lydia said.
"Wait, what is going on?" I questioned them.
Scott swiftly answered me "Every full moon, we shift. Liam is turning, his wrist, ankle and bite mark have healed. That's how we know. Anyways, Liam nor Malia can control the shift yet so we chain them in the basement."
"We can use the boathouse." Stiles suggested. I thought back to my shoulder and the claw marks. I was turning, too.
"If we are going to trick someone, why don't we use the trickster?" Lydia said, snapping me out of my trance.
"Who me? Uh-uh. No. No way. Why don't we use Alexa? Liam obviously likes her." Kira suggested, everyone else groaned.
"What?!" I screamed, "Liam Dunbar does not like me! If that sentence ever comes out of your mouth ever-" I lunged at her, but Stiles put his hand over my mouth and his arm over my torso, restraining me. He brought me to the other side of the bus in an attempt to calm me. I tried to fight him, but not knowing how to control my powers is what caused me to stop.
"Are you okay?" He asked me with concern coating his voice.
"I hate it when people ask me that."
"Is the total of your being in good health?"
"No." I confessed, I was definitely not okay.
"What's wrong?"
"Me."
"Alexa, there is nothing wrong with you."
"Yeah there is."
"Spill."
"I think I'm changing."
"Like, wolfy?"
"Yes, and when a hunter turns, they have to commit suicide. Although I just got here and I am best friends with banshees and werewolves, I am still loyal to my other half."
"No. No way in hell are we letting you do that, even if that means me having to follow you around and confiscate your weapons, I will."
"Stiles that's sweet, but it's my heritage. Let's just have to hope for the best tonight."
"I don't care about it your heritage, I care about you." Malia turned the corner, and I got really worried about if she heard what Stiles had just said.
"Is everything okay?" She asked.
"The world is rainbows and sunshine, my little pinkie puff." Again, she growled at him, or maybe me. Tough love.
"Kira just went to talk to Liam."
"Alexa, you are going to come with us to Lydia's boathouse, okay." I glared at him, praying to God that he wouldn't say anything about me shifting.
"We just want to make sure that you don't shift." Malia told me.
"I know. I get it."
"Let's go." Stiles said. He walked past me and his finger 'accidentally' curled around over mine, sending butterflies through me.
xXx
That night was mostly a blur. We went to Lydia's lake house and I ended up in the boat house with a psychotic Liam. Scott and the pack were right, Liam was a werewolf. So was I. I watched Scott and Kira slow dance. Boring. And then I blacked out.
This morning I felt like I was hungover, my head pounding. I looked around the room I was in, red string on a corkboard, a fairly messy bedroom. But it wasn't mine. I stood up, noticing the dark scarlet red satin pajamas I was currently dressed in matched the dark sky outside the window. My clothes were neatly folded on the desk, opposite the bed. My ring daggers on top of the pi le. The smell of smoke filled the room. I grabbed the silver daggers and sprinted down the wooden stairs.
I rounded the corner and saw someone standing by the oven. I went with my first instinct and threw the dagger, just barely missing the figure.
"Jesus!" Stiles yelled. He dropped the glass plate he was holding, "You're up. How are you feeling?"
"Like I got hit by a bus."
"Fantastic. Hungry?"
"For burnt eggs? Always." I grinned at his awful cooking. It reminded me of someone. An old friend.
"No, they're pancakes."
"Scooch." I pushed Stiles out of the way and began to make breakfast for the both of us, "Whose bed did I just wake up in?"
"Mine." Stiles said.
"And where did you sleep?"
"Right next to you."I reached over the counter and slapped him.
"I was unconscious, you pervert."
"Get over yourself. For the record, I slept on top of the sheets I was babysitting you to make sure you were okay."
"So how did I get into these pajamas?"
"Lydia. Who else has silk pajamas?"
"These are satin."
"Whatever. How did you learn to cook?"
"Luca." I hung my head, dread pooled in the pit of my stomach as my heart sunk until it was a heavy weight in my abdomen.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know." He sat at the bar stool, his fingers laced together.
"It's okay. How do you want your eggs?"
"Cooked?" Stiles said.
"No shit sherlock! I figured you wanted them raw! Over easy or scrambled?"
"The ones with the yellow thing in the middle that looks like pee when you stab it."
"Oh my god." I began to fry up some eggs as he cleaned up the plate mess.
"This is delicious, seriously."
"Thanks." I smiled like an idiot as he inhaled my gourmet meal. He looked up at me and grinned, "What?"
"Nothing, I'm just noticing how beautiful your eyes are."
"Yours aren't bad either." He reached over and tucked a stray piece of dark brown hair behind my ear. His touch lingered for longer than it should have. I jumped up from the bar stool I was sitting at and threw my plate in the sink, "I am going to go get out of these stupid pajamas." I ran up the stairs, losing my footing on the last step. I gracefully smacked into the steps before me… gracefully.
I quickly began to change, contemplating what had just happened. I slipped into my shorts. I was just about to put on my Marines red sweatshirt when the door burst open, Stiles standing in the doorway. I tried to cover my black bra instead of actually putting my sweatshirt on.
"I heard you fall."
"Yeah, I'm a clutz."
"Are you sure?" He took a step toward me, putting his hand on my shoulder, rubbing it reassuringly.
"No." I confessed again. I don't know why I feel the urge to be totally honest with him. But I loved being able to tell him everything.
"Where does it hurt?" He said, guiding me to his bed. I now felt comfortable enough to let down my sweatshirt. I pointed to a raised green area on my shin.
"Let me go get some ice." Stiles said and walked out of the room. He came back with a bag wrapped in a towel. He sat next to me and put my leg in his lap. As he iced the huge bump on my leg, I finally put my sweatshirt on.
"Stiles? What happened last night?" I asked him.
"You aren't a werewolf."
"What? But what about my shoulder and… and the claw marks?"
"You are something else. We don't know what yet." He leaned over to me, trying to reassure me. Stiles winced as he did so, he was in pain.
"Are you okay?" I asked him. He backed away from me and stood up.
"Yeah , sometimes I just get cramps."
"Okay. Can I tell you a secret? You suck at lying." I hit him in the ribs and he cried out in pain. He fell to the floor in an instant. I gasped, feeling terrible at hurting him. Gently, I lifted up his shirt to find a white bandage covering right where I hit him. I unraveled the bandage slowly, watching him in case I hurt him more. When I finished, I saw three claw marks with dried blood flaking around them gruesomely.
"Stiles. What happened?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?! This is nothing?! Who did this?"
"No one."
"Stiles!"
"I am not going to tell you."
"Why?"
"Because I am trying to protect someone."
"Who?" I asked quietly. He looked up at me, innocence filled his hazel eyes, "Stiles, please tell me. I have confessed everything to you. Please tell me."
"I know you want to get justice, but you can't. Not for this."
"Stiles! Yes I can just tell me. Please."
"No."
"Why not?!" I yelled, "Who in the hell is so important to you that you can't tell me?"
"You." That one simple word made my heart ache. I had hurt him. Me. I sprinted out of the room and down the stairs, grabbing my daggers on the way out the door. I could hear him calling my name, begging me to come back. But every time he said it, I heard it as a curse.
Alexa Black could be no more. I had to get a new identity. Or no identity at all. I would finally have the chance to be with my brother. With Luca.
