"M-my dad?"

Isaac had stood up and taken a few steps back as soon as I had spoken. The colour drained from his face, making his blue eyes feel even more piercing.
"What are you talking about?" He interrogated, his voice a few octaves higher than usual.
Scott and I exchanged a glance. If I told Isaac about me, it would also mean explaining about Scott and Derek, which was more of a need to know basis… The more people who knew there were werewolves running about Beacon Hills, the more panic will be created. So I was going to have to lie to him. Something which I had tried to avoid doing ever since my run in with Jane at the party. Oh god.
"I just- I really don't know where to start. Isaac, sit down," I tried coercing him calmly, but in return, Isaac shook his head and furrowed his brow at me.
"No. Tell me what you are talking about. What about my dad?" I assumed that Isaac was being protective of his family – I knew that would be my first instinct if someone starting screaming and then mentioned one of my parents – but this was something different. His breathing had hitched up, as if he was panicking and his hands were curled into balls at his sides.
I had to say something. Or else I was going to lose him.

"I'm just kind of psychic, okay! It's like a… feeling I get. When someone's in trouble." I blurted out, toning it down as much as I could without stretching the lie too much.
Isaac blinked at me in disbelief and wrinkled his nose, "Psychic? Are you kidding?"
"Yeah," Stiles interjected, realising that Isaac was going to need a bit more persuading, "Like you had a feeling something was going to happen to the school bus and then the next day we come in and bam!"
I nodded and wrung my hands together, hoping that Isaac didn't think I am a complete freak.
Isaac took in a deep breath and asked quietly, "So my Dad's in danger?"
Well, from my point of view, it was his Dad doing the attacking, but I couldn't tell him that. Imagine someone, a friend, telling you that your Dad was a complete psycho...

A long whistling sound drew our attention to the lacrosse field. Coach Finstock was blowing on his whistle, cheeks red, "You know, as much as I hate having you on the field McCall, we're here to practice some sport, not chat about what you're having for tea tonight so get. Down. Here. Now!" He blew the whistle between the last four words and glared at us.
"Look, just don't worry about it, okay. We'll fix everything." My legs finally feel strong enough to stand, but when I move towards Isaac, he takes a step back, unknowingly breaking my heart at the same time. "Isaac please," I pleaded him, "There's a much bigger picture than you know. Don't worry about your Dad, it's probably nothing."
A big nothing that made me scream my head off and scribble through the pages of my sketchbook.
The boy gave me one last guarded look and said, "Just stay away from my family. Don't go poking your nose in other people's lives. Leave us alone."
And then he walked away, down the bleachers and onto the field without one glance back. He's gone. Isaac's gone.

Stiles made to follow him back to practice, but then turned and flapped his arms about as if an idea had just hit him over his head.
"What?" Scott asked hurriedly, not wanting to annoy Coach any more than he had to.
"Isaac's Dad. What if he's the Alpha?"

…

For once, I had an amazing night's sleep. I had come straight home after practice and threw myself into bed, exhausted. Then when I woke up this morning, I felt more rested than I had in a long time. I didn't even make myself a coffee, which made me more than a little suspicious. I thought it might have something to do with the drive home, when I made a promise to myself. I decided that if I was going to have to live with this future seeing curse, call it what you want, I was going to have to learn how to control it. I never wanted to be in a situation again where it takes three people to calm me down… and the way everyone had stared! Oh god, I felt ill just thinking about it. The embarrassment of fainting in the morning and then freaking out at lacrosse practise – I never wanted it to happen again.

While I put on some make up in the mirror, I stared myself in the eye and nodded, "Right. You are not going to have a day like yesterday. You are going to have a great day." I picked out an unused red lipstick that I had bought a while back (and then decided that I didn't have the confidence to pull it off) and tugged the lid off. It's amazing what red lips and a black line across your eye lid can do for self-confidence. I puckered my lips and narrowed my eyes, "So what if Isaac thinks you are a bit of a freak? You've lasted this far without a boyfriend, you can last a lot longer."
I sighed and put the lipstick in my bag. To be honest, I was a little disappointed that I hadn't got to know Isaac better. We were still lab partners and he was going to have to speak to me. I just knew now not to mention his dad again. He'd made it pretty clear that he wanted nothing to do with my 'psychic' warnings of danger, so I'd have to keep our conversations strictly work related from now on.
I stared at my reflection whilst shrugging on my black leather jacket and found that I liked what I saw. It was time to make peace with myself.
"Emily, you were not responsible for the death of the bus driver." My voice sounded strong and confident, and I felt the weight of blame lift slightly off my shoulders, "It was the Alpha. Not you. And once you figure out how to control your power, he'll pay for it."

…

I marched into school and headed straight for the strawberry blonde girl that used to terrify me.
"Lydia," I beamed my red lips at the girl, who flipped her hair over her shoulder and returned the smile, "I can't make the bowling date tonight. Isaac and I aren't really speaking... But it was really nice of you to invite me." I meant it honestly. Despite her popularity, Lydia had been kind to me recently and I needed a normal girl friend now that Jane and the others seemed to be ignoring my existence.
Lydia pouted and blew out her cheeks, "Oh no…" But then her green eyes rolled over my face and choice of clothing before raising an eyebrow and objected, "Wait- he said no to all of this!" She waved a perfectly painted nailed hand up and down.
Laughing, I pushed back my hair and shook my head, "It's alright, I'm fine. Maybe another time?"
Before Lydia could answer, Allison strolled over and made a sad face, "Bad news guys, Scott's having to pick his Mom up from work tonight, so we can't make bowing."
Lydia leaned back on her locker and sighed overdramatically, "I'm not sitting in by myself with Jackson making me watch sports again!"
"Why don't we do something just the three of us?" I suggested, pushing away the nerves that were trying to crawl into my stomach. Hey, I deserve to have some fun!
It was as if Christmas had come early for Lydia. Her eyes lit up and she pulled me and Allison into a hug, "Yes! Girly night in! We can go and grab some films and talk about how ridiculous our boys are."

…

After a, thankfully, normal and not stressful day at school, I drove home and waited for Allison to pick me up. My Mom poked her head into my room and I was reapplying my lipstick.
"How are you feeling, Em?" She asked, sounding quite worried.
I hesitated before replying slowly, "Fiiiine, why?"
"Dad said he got a call from the school yesterday saying you fainted. But when I got home from work last night you were already asleep."
"Oh, don't worry, I'm fine," I flashed her a grin, "Just had a bit of a hectic day, that's all."
Her eyebrows knit together in concern, "Okay… Just know that you can come to me with anything, Emily, if there is anything going on. If you are having panic attacks again or…"
"Nope. I'm fine. Totally fine." My strong mind-set that had lasted all day almost crumbled, but I reminded myself that I had to keep my parents out of the werewolf mess. Maybe if I repeated that I was fine enough times, it would eventually become true…

Allison beeped her horn outside so I kissed my Mom on the cheek and hurried out. Lydia was already sat shotgun, so I jumped into the back and greeted my new friends.
"So I'm totally up for watching The Notebook, but Allison thinks it's way too soppy. Tell her it's not," Lydia chatted, curling her hair around one shoulder and twisting to look at me.
"Uh, I'm easy really. As long as it's nothing dead scary, I'll watch anything," I replied, seeing Allison rolling her eyes in the mirror, jokingly.
"How about we just go and have a look before we decide?" Allison suggested, before Lydia could get too persuasive about watching The Notebook.
"I'm not getting out, it's raining," Lydia retorted, folding her arms.
Allison pulled into a space at the video store and I stared around at the emptiness of the parking lot.
"Obviously no one wants to watch any movies tonight…" I muttered, pulling open the door and swinging my legs out. The rain splattered onto my legs and kicked up against my boots.
"Don't be too long," Lydia called to us, peering at herself in the mirror as Allison and I shut our doors and walked towards the empty building.
"Kinda creepy, right?" Allison whispered to me, walking cautiously through the main entrance. I nodded and followed close behind.

The video store was large and spacious, with the rows of DVDs stretching from wall to wall. In the centre of the room, an overhead light was flickering eerily amongst the dimly lit ceiling. I got a strange feeling in my stomach, as if we were being watched. Allison had slowed down her pace in front of me and was turning her head, surveying the room.
"Hello? Anyone around?" She called out. A phone began to ring, but went unanswered, echoing around the large space.
"Maybe they're in the back or something?" I mentioned, trying to put my mind at ease.
"…Maybe."

Allison walked to the centre of the room, where the flickering light was and noticed the ladder underneath. But before I could ask anything, she stopped dead in her tracks.
"Emily. Call 911." Her voice was shaky and she didn't take her eyes off whatever it was she had spotted.
Curiosity overtook my common sense and I jogged to her side instantly. A pair of boots were sticking out from an aisle. Oh god. No. I stepped around Allison so I could see the whole of the body. A man in the video store uniform lay awkwardly on the floor – his glasses askew and his face fixed in horror. Blood was seeping out of his throat which had been ripped open with three deep gashes… All the breath left my body as I realised what had made that mark – claws.
I stepped backwards suddenly and stumbled over the ladder, falling flat on my bum. The ladder knocked over and landed with a crash beside me, pulling the cord of the flickering light down with it. It must have tripped the lights because the next second, the store plunged into darkness. Allison span around quickly and crouched down next to me, holding a finger over my heavily breathing mouth. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration, as if she could sense something I could not. I was trying to speak, to tell her to run, that it was probably the Alpha who killed the man, but all I could do was bite my lip and stay frozen in place.

From the light coming in from the window, I saw the outline of Allison's shadow stand up slowly. She bravely took a few tentative steps forwards. I peeked around the shelf of DVDs to watch her. Through the darkness, two red eyes appeared and Allison ducked down behind the shelf opposite me, her face aghast. She looked at me with wide eyes and shook her head, telling me to stay put. Fear racked up in my chest. The Alpha is here. Oh god. What if it wants me? Maybe it knows what I can do?
I plucked up the courage to peer around the corner again, but saw nothing but shadows. My mind imagined what things could be hiding in the shadows and I had to turn back again and shove my hand over my mouth in an attempt to stop panicking.
The sudden noise of DVDs being knocked off a shelf made me squeak in fear. But when I looked at Allison, her breathing was steady and she was in control. I ogled at her in awe. How is she so calm? Just then, an eerie creaking noise echoed around us as a shelf at the end of the store toppled over and crashed into another one. In a domino effect, the shelves began tumbling towards us. Allison jumped to her feet and sprinted towards me, tugging me up by the collar of my jacket.
"Run," She ordered, making for the door speedily.
I followed, my breathing short and quick.

But I wasn't fast enough.
Allison threw herself through the door a second before a shelf smashed over, blocking my exit. DVDs littered the floor and I had nowhere to go. Instinctively, I whipped around to face the shadows and screamed, my hands outstretched defensively. My eyes met with a monstrous figure, tall and bulky and covered in hair. The creature stopped mid sprint and sniffed at me with its long snout. My heart was bulging out of my chest and in that moment, I didn't dare breathe. It shivered, making it's coarse fur ripple. I'm going to die, I thought, as my hands shook in front of me. This thing is going to kill me. Like it killed the bus driver and the video store worker.

The monster took one last sniff at me before turning abruptly towards the window and leaping at it with giant strides. The glass made a deafening noise as it shattered across Allison's car, and I shielded my eyes away. I heard Lydia scream at the top of her lungs. But when I opened my eyes again, the creature was gone.
The video store was wrecked and I fell to my knees in shock, trying to process what had just happened. I had seen the Alpha. And it didn't kill me. Allison appeared outside and gaped at me through the broken glass. Lydia was clutching at her chest in the front seat, completely shaken.
"I think we'd better call Stiles's Dad," Allison managed to say, breaking the silence between us.
I nodded, the adrenaline of the incident leaving me, and sighed. So much for a quiet night in.

A.N.

Well this chapter didn't turn out how I planned it. It just sort of, happened :')
I said last time that there would be an Isaac moment, but it's been pushed to next chapter, so don't worry. I wanted to have Emily see how strong Allison is and kind of introduce her as a good role model for Em.
Anywho, I hope you are all still enjoying this, thank you to everyone who has favourite and followed. And to those who have reviewed: whatsunderneath, sillygame, femalewhovian, sillychick13, sarah0406, 16, vintagelove69 and evangeline-sibeliah (I really enjoyed your review and it influenced this chapter a lot!)
So thank you again :D The next chapter won't take long, I don't think :')