"Calla?" I heard Stiles' voice in the distance but I couldn't put myself in the right mind to turn to him. My shoulders sagged as I stared at the passing trees as the bus bounced along the highway to the cross country meet. Stiles and Scott were sitting together in a seat on the other side of the aisle from me. Ethan was sitting a couple seats in front of me with Danny while Boyd and Isaac were sitting with each other a couple seats in front of Stiles and Scott. "Calla?" I was telling myself to turn towards him so I could answer him but my body wouldn't listen. "Callana Alana." My head snapped towards Stiles' direction at the sound of my first and middle name. "Finally, I just wanted to see if you were hungry or thirsty. I mean, you haven't eaten anything since Derek-" My breath hitched in my throat as I forgot how to breathe and I began to hypervantilate. My heart raced and pounded against its prison walls causing discomfort in her chest. I started choking on air as I tried to remember how to inhale and exhale. Everything around me began to feel like it wasn't real, like it was a dream and when I woke I would be in bed in my lover's arms. "Scott, she's having another panic attack. Inhaler." Stiles took an inhaler from Scott and placed it into my shaking hands. I fumbled with trying to get the inhaler right side up in my hands but my trembling hands woulnd't cooperate with me. Stiles took the inhaler from me and held it up to my mouth. I exhale deeply and when I started to inhale slowly, Stiles pressed down on the inhaler and I sucked in the air, holding my breath for ten seconds before exhaling deeply and sighing. "Sorry." I placed my head into my palms, my nails scraping my scalp.

"I can't believe he's dead." I murmured. "I can't believe Derek's dead."

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*Flashback*

"I know where they are." Scott exclaimed as he ran into Derek's loft. I was leaning on my palms which were firmly placed on the table in front of me, staring down at the blueprints. Peter, Derek, Boyd and Cora all surrounded the table with me as Scott walked towards us.

"Same building as the Argents, we know." Derek said.

"Cora and I followed the twins." Boyd informed Scott.

"Then they want you to know." Scott said.

"Or, more likely, they don't care." Peter suggested.

"What is this?"

"Isn't it obvious? The schemers are scheming, coming up with a coup de main, better known as a pre-emptive strike."

"You're going after them?"

"Tomorrow." I stated, straightening up and crossing my arms over my chest. "And you're going to help us."

*End of Flashback*

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"Hey, Scott, you're bleeding again." Stiles said and I looked over to see a new red blood stain forming on Scott's shirt. "And don't tell me that's just taking longer to heal, okay? Because I'm pretty sure that still bleeding means not healing like, at all."

"He's listening." Scott said, nodding his head towards Ethan. I looked to see Ethan's head slightly turned toward us, ears perked.

"Is he gonna do something?"

"Not in front of this many people."

"Okay, well, what about the two ticking time bombs sitting right near him?"

"They won't do anything while they're in my sight." I informed him. "They still have an alpha to listen to."

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*Flashback*

"They're one floor above them in the penthouse, right above Allison." Derek directed.

"So kill them first, that's the plan?" Scott questioned me.

"They won't even see it coming." Boyd reassured him.

"Why is the default plan always murder?"

"These alphas are a threat." I reminded him.

"Calla, you went out of your way to make sure that Boyd and Cora weren't killed on the full moon."

"That's different, Scott."

"How?"

"Boyd and Cora are pack. Derek, Peter, Isaac, they're also pack. These alphas are not my pack and I will do whatever I have to do to make sure my pack is safe. So if that means murdering a pack of alphas, then so be it."

"Just once, can someone try to come up with something that doesn't involve killing everyone?"

"You never get tired of being so blandly moral, do you?" Peter questioned Scott before turning to look at Derek and me. "Not that I disagree with him."

"I do." Cora snapped, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Why do we need this kid.

"This kid helped save your life." Derek reminded his little sister. "And you know we can't just sit back and wait for them to make the first move."

"You can't beat a pack of alphas." Scott said.

"That's why we're going after Deucalion, just him." Cora said.

"Cut off the head of the snake and the body dies." Boyd added.

"Only this isn't a snake, it's a hydra." Peter corrected him. "And like Scott says, they're all alphas."

"Deucalion's still the leader." Derek said.

"Let's hope so. Because you know what happened when Hercules cut a head off the hydra?"

"Two more grew back in its place." Scott answered.

"Somebody's been doing their summer reading."

*End of Flashback*

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The bus driver slammed on his brakes causing everyone to slam into the seat in front of them. I looked up the aisle to the front window to see a long line of stop cars on the highway. I couldn't even see the front of me. As I was looking to the front of the bus, something else caught my eye. My eyes landed on Boyd and I noticed his neon yellow eyes and claws extended. I couldn't believe that he was actually going to try something. I quickly stood up and raced down the aisle to him. Memories flashed through my mind as I made my way to him. I remembered the pleading look on Derek's face as he fell over the edge with Ennis. I remember trying my best to get to him, to grab him, to pull him back to safety. I remember screaming his name as Scott pulled me back so I wouldn't fall over to. I remember screaming at Scott to let go of me. I remember looking over the edge, three stories down to see Derek's crumbled body on an escalator.

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*Flashback*

I stood on the escalator steps and looked up at the hole three stories above me. Cora was on the escalator beside me, searching for clues on where the hell Derek and Ennis' bodies went. They were gone by the time the fight ended and we got down here. An object clattered from the escalators causing Cora and I to stand straight up and look up to see Peter standing there.

"It's just me, your uncle, Uncle Peter." Peter reassured Cora softly.

"Uncle Peter who killed Sister Laura." Cora snapped at him as we made our way up the steps to him.

"Mm, not my finest hour, no. But I'm hardly the only dysfunctional family member. Did Derek mention that he killed me too? Slashed my throat, ear to ear."

"So that means I should trust you?"

"Actually, I'm wondering if I can trust you."

"You've known me for seventeen years."

"I knew you for eleven, leaving the last six unaccounted for. And I'm not particularly fond of things unaccounted."

"What are you doing here?" I growled at him, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Same as you-Wondering where the bodies went. Wondering if they were carried out, or maybe if one of them managed to find enough strength to push themself up off the floor and walk out, leaving the three of us standing here to answer the all-important question."

"Which one?"

*End of flashback*

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I grabbed Boyd's hand and closed it into a fist to hide his claws, his yellow eyes already fading at the sight of his alpha female.

"Let go." Boyd growled at me.

"You got a plan." I said. "Tell me your brilliant plan, and I'll let go. What are you gonna do? Kill him, right here? And then what? What are you gonna do after that?"

"I don't care."

"I do. Give me a chance to figure something out, something that doesn't have to end with someone else dying." Boyd looked back at Ethan for a second before looking back at me.

"Okay." I got up and walked back my seat.

"Crisis averted?" Stiles asked me as I sat back down with a heavy sigh.

"Mm-hmm."

"Okay, good. 'Cause we got another problem. Ethan keeps checking his phone, like, every five minutes. It's like he's waiting for something, you know, like, a messgae or a signal of some kind. I don't know, something evil though, I can tell. I have a very perceptive eye for evil, but you know that."

"I don't like him sitting with Danny." Scott muttered.

"Yeah, neither do I. I'm gonna see what he's waiting for." Stiles pulled out his phone and sent a quick text message to Danny. A couple seconds passed before Danny looked at his phone and then turned around to look at us and shook his head before turning back around to face the front again. Stiles starting sending Danny text after text after text after text after text after text after text until finally Danny turned to Ethan and asked him something. Ethan quickly peered over his shoulder at us and we ducked behind our seats to hide. "That wasn't very subtle." We sat back up just as Stiles got a message from Danny. I leaned over to see what it said. Someone close to him is sick. Might not make it through the night.

"Ennis?"

"Okay, so does that mean, uh-"

"He's not dead."

"Not yet."

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"Jard, I'm warning." Coach growled at Jared who looked like he was going to vomit at any second now. "I'm an empathetic vomiter. You throw up, I'm gonna throw up right back on you. And it will be profoundly disgusting."

"Please don't talk about throwing up." Jared pleaded. "It's not good."

"I might throw up on you just to make a point, Jared."

"It's not good. It's not good."

"Now the rest of you, don't think we're gonna miss this meet because of a slight traffic jam, a minor tornado warning, Jared. We're gonna make this thing. Nothing is gonna stop us! Stilinski, put your hand down."

"You know, there's, like, a food exit about half a mile up." Stiles informed him. "I don't know if we stop and then maybe-"

"We're not gonna stop."

"Okay, but if we stop-"

"Stilinski!" Coach blew his whistle to shut Stiles up. "Shut it! Seriously! It's a little bus! Stop asking me questions!" Stiles fell back into his seat and gave a heavy sigh.

"I hate him. That's it. I'm calling Lydia and Allison."

"How are they gonna help back in Beacon Hills?" Scott questioned him as Stiles pulled out his phone.

"They're not. They've been following us for hours." He turned around in his seat to look out the back door to see a black Toyota a couple cars behind us. "Pathetic." Stiles dialed Lydia's number and a couple seconds passed before she answered. "I know you guys are right behind us. Put me on speaker. Okay, look, Scott's still hurt and Calla keeps having panic attacks...No, he's not healing. I think he's actually getting worse. The blood's turning, like, a black color...I don't know. If she has another one, I swear she'll develop a panic disorder or something...What's wrong with them? I don't-Do I have a PhD in Lycanthropy? How am I supposed to know that?...Yeah, I've been trying...Reason? Have you met this guy?"

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"Coach, it's five minutes for a bathroom break, okay?" Stiles tried to reason with Coach. "We've been on this thing for, like, three hours-" Coach raised his whistle to his mouth and blew it, cutting Stiles off in midsentence. "It's sixty miles to the next rest stop-" Another blow to the whistle. "Being cooped up for hours is not good-" The whistle sounded again. "You know, our bladders aren't exactly-" There goes the whistle. "This is-" Whistle again. "Can you-" Whistle. "Please-" Whistle. "Let me talk!" Coach blew his whistle again and laughed. "Every time-" Whistle.

"Get back to your seat, Stilinski!" Coach yelled.

"Okay!"

"And Jared, keep your eyes on the horizon." Stiles started to make his way back to his seat but quickly turned back around to sit next to Jared. I didn't like the evil glint in Stiles' eyes as he spoke to Jared.

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Allison and Lydia met us at the door of the bus as students pushed and shoved each other to get off the bus and away from the stench. Stiles and I half dragged and half carried Scott off the bus and into the bathroom. We set him gentle on the ground and I knelt down beside him and lifted up his shirt to see the wound. Three jagged claw marks raked his left side with black blood now clotting the red blood beneath it.

"His body is trying to heal itself but somehow can't." I informed the others. "Give us a minute." I stood up and walked over to Stiles, Allison and Lydia.

"This shouldn't be happening." Allison said. "I've seen him heal from worse than this."

"Okay, what do we do then?" Stiles asked. "Do we just call an ambulance?"

"What if it's too late? What if they can't help?"

"We gotta do something."

"You know, it could be psychological." Lydia suggested.

"What do you mean, like, psychosomatic?"

"Somatoformic."

"Som-"

"A physical illness from a psychogenic cause. Yes, it's all in his head."

"All in his head? Because of Derek." I began to have shortness of breath again. My heart almost stopped and I took a step away from everyone as my hands began to shake and beads of sweat ran down my forhead. It felt like I was in a fun house with the swaying floor and everything. My hands tingled as I clutched them into fists and unclutched them to try to stop the shaking. A heat wave flashed over my entire body followed by a quick cold wave. I felt like I was going to burst out crying, just break down and give up. Like I just wanted to die but I didn't want to go crazy or lose control on a full moon if I didn't have him by my side. "Dammit. See? Told you. Panic attacks everytime you mention his name." Stiles pulled out the inhaler from his pocket and held it up to my mouth. I forced myself to exhale and inhaled the medicine causing me to breath regularly again. "You okay?" I nodded and clutched my hands into fists again as the shaking died down.

"Calla's panic attacks could be psychological too."

"No, my panic attacks are because I just lost the love of my life and I have no idea how I'm going to deal with it or how I am going to take care of a pack on my own!" I snapped.

"That's psychological." I glared at her.

"And Scott's not letting himself heal 'cause of you know what on you know who." Stiles added.

"So what do we do?" Allison asked and Lydia dug through her oversized purse and pulled out a needle and thread.

"Stitch him up." Lydia said. "I'm serious. Maybe all he needs to do is believe it's healing." We thought about it for a second before nodding our heads in agreement.

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Allison stood over the sink as she heated the needle with the flame of a lighter.

"He's going to need another shirt." She instructed. "Where's his bag?"

"I'm gonna to go get it." Stiles said. "I hate needles anyway, so-Uh, do you know what you're doing?"

"Yeah, my father taught me."

"Yeah, and my father taught me how to shoot a gun." I retorted. "Doesn't mean I do it on a regular basis."

"I know what I'm doing, Calla."

"How fast are you gonna-I mean, the bus, like, the bus could leave." Stiles said.

"Well, you just make sure it doesn't leave."

"I can help." Lydia said. "Come on." She pushed me and Stiles out of the bathroom leaving Allison to stitch Scott up.

"Let's go!" Coach yelled just as we stepped up to the side of the bus. "Everybody back on the bus!" We looked to the entrance of the bus to see Allison and Scott walking out, Scott's arm draped over Allison's shoulder. Lydia ran over to them.

"We need a few more minutes." I told Stiles. "Any ideas?"

"Yeah but you're not going to like it." He said. I looked at him with a confused look.

"Why?"

"Well, because, uh, because of...Derek." My heart jumped and tore and pounded against my ribs as my stomach lurched from side to side. "Derek." My hands shook as I brought to up to my temples, the blood pounding against the skin. "Derek." My knees threatened to buckle under me as the ground swerved beneath me. I tried to take a step away from Stiles, I tripped and fell to the ground, knocking the air from me. "Derek." I opened my mouth to inhale but it was like the world no longer provided oxygen and I was left here to suffocate.

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*Flashback*

"You didn't come alone." I heard the Deucalion's voice in the distance.

"Yeah." Scott's voice answered. "This is Isaac."

"I wasn't talking about Isaac." I walked through the dark abandoned mall towards the voices of Deucalion and Scott. Boyd and Cora stayed behind in the shadows as I walked into the moonlight with Derek closely behind me. Deucalion stood halfway up an escalator with Isaac and Scott standing at the bottom. They both turned to look at us.

"You knew I would do this?" Scott questioned me. "Calla, don't. You can't do this so no one gets hurt. If someone else dies-"

"Him." Derek cut Scott off. "Just him."

"Just me?" Deucalion questioned Derek. "Now, how's a blind man find his way into a place like this all on his own?" A sound of scraping concrete sounded to my left and I looked to see Kali using the claws on her hands and feet to slide down on a pillar, her canines sharp and red eyes looking for a fight. She growled at us as she took a defensive stance. Another growl sounded to the right and Ennis climbed up the escalators behind Isaac and Scott. They took a step away from him as Ennis made his way in front of them. The twins stood on the floor above us, looking down at the battleground.

*End of Flashback*

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I felt like someone was reaching into my chest and squeezing my lungs, trying to push every single breath, even the smallest breath out. Stiles crouched down beside me and I expected him to hand me the inhaler but he didn't.

"Calla, I know you're griefing. I know that, I really do." Stiles said. "You loved Derek more than your own life and everyone saw that. But you're still an alpha. You have a pack to take care of and to keep in control." Stiles looked past me and I turned my head slowly, still trying to gasp for breath, to see Isaac gripping Ethan's shirt and pounding his fist into his face over and over and over again. Boyd was standing to the side smiling. "Your pack needs you. Be the alpha that you are. I'm not telling you to stop griefing for Derek, just grief with your pack because your pack needs you and Derek would have wanted you to be the alpha of the pack." I sat there in silence staring at Isaac, Ethan and Boyd as a crowd started to form around them. Stiles' words sunk in and I knew that he was right. He was right. This wasn't about me. This is about my pack. My pack needs me and I needed to stop acting like an omega and start acting like an alpha. I grinded my teeth as I inhaled sharply through my nose, my lungs filling with air. "Atta girl. Let's go." Stiles helped me up and I ran over to Isaac and pushed to the crowd till I was in front.

"Isaac!" I yelled at him and he immediately dropped Ethan and cowered away from my alpha voice. Boyd also took a step back from me in fear.

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*Flashback*

We stood in silence as the alpha pack eyed Isaac, Scott, my pack and me with cautious. Derek let out a roar before charging at Deucalion which I had to admit was probably a stupid move. Kali jumped forward and kicked Derek back, raking her toenails across his cheek. Cora and Boyd went after Ennie while Scott and Isaac took care of the twins who jumped down from their perch, merging together to form on big alpha. I dove forward and crouched low to the ground, running my right leg under Kali's feet to trip her. She began to fall but quickly rolled across the ground to get back to her feet. She stood back up and Derek's scratched her across the chest causing her to grunt in pain. He grabbed her by the throat and kneed her in the stomach before elbowing her in the face. Kali regain the power of the fight by kicking Derek in the stomach, knocking him back. I stood up and grabbed her leg as she tried to kick him again. I started to twist her leg to break it but she swung her other leg up, scratching me in the face while flipping over me. I let go of her leg and cowered back in pain, leaving me open for her to kick me in the back. She turned to Ennis who had Boyd in a choke hold. She threw up her leg and scratched him in the chest causing him to cry out in agony. Ennis dropped him as Kali's leg made impact. I climbed to feet and stood side by side with Derek and surveyed the fight. The twins had Isaac and Scott by the back of their necks making them kneel to the ground. Kali was placing a firm hold on Cora's throat with her foot.

"Kill him." Deucalion said as Boyd coughed up blood. "The others can go. You're beaten." Deucalion started to walk down the steps as Derek looked from me to Deucalion to Boyd and back again. "Do it, Derek. Take the first step."

"Are we serious with these kids?" Kali gloated as she glared at Derek and me. "Look at them. They're alphas? To what? A couple of useless teenagers?"

"Some have more promise than others."

"Let him rise to the occasion then. What'll be, Derek? Pack or family?" Kali applied more pressure to Cora's throat causing her to gasp for air. I let out a soft, menacing growl at Kali. Derek looked at me for an answer, his red eyes filled with confusion. As I opened my mouth to say something, something whistle through the air and as a reaction, I ducked and covered my eyes as something flashed in front of me. The alphas growled in surprise as more flash arrows whistled through the air and exploded with the impact of the ground.

"Your eyes-Cover your eyes!" When the arrows stopped coming, I looked up to the floor above us to see Allison with his bow and quiver. I stood up and ran to Boyd to help him up. Cora and Derek joined and helped me drag him to the sidelines. Growling sounded behind me and I turned to see Ennis and Scott facing each other, growls rippling through their chests. They roared and charged at each other and collided with a strong force, knocking each other back. Ennis stumbled back while Scott skidded across the ground and when he looked back up, I gasped in shock. His eyes were a blood red. Blood red alpha color. He shook his head and they quickly returned back to neon yellow. Derek left my side to run at Ennis, slashing him in the back. Ennis quickly turned around and attempted to grab Derek by the throat but he ducked under Ennis' arm and slammed his fist into his face. They fought with each other and I didn't realize they were nearing the edge of the floor until it was too late. Scott noticed too and he slashed Ennis' leg causing Ennis to fall over the edge pulling Derek with him. I let go of Boyd and started running towards the edge.

"Derek!" I screamed. I outstretched my hand to grab his hand but Scott pulled me back before I could fall over after him. I screamed for him to let me go. I kicked and fought but the emotional pain caused me to shift back to human and I wasn't strong enough to fight off Scott's werewolf form.

*End of Flashback*